Communication of information
1. In addition to the provisions laid down in the sectoral Regulations, Member States shall send to the Commission the following information, declarations and documents:
(a)
for accredited paying agencies and accredited coordinating bodies:
(i)
their accreditation document;
(ii)
their function (accredited paying agency or accredited coordinating body);
(iii)
where relevant, the withdrawal of their accreditation,
(b)
for certification bodies:
(i)
their name;
(ii)
their address,
(c)
for measures relating to operations financed by the Funds:
(i)
declarations of expenditure, which also act as payment requests, signed by the accredited paying agency or the accredited coordinating body and accompanied by the requisite information;
(ii)
estimates of their financial requirements, with regard to the EAGF and, with regard to the EAFRD, an update of estimated declarations of expenditure which will be submitted during the year and estimated declarations of expenditure in respect of the following financial year;
(iii)
the management declaration and the annual accounts of the accredited paying agencies;
(iv)
an annual summary of the results of all available audits and checks carried out in accordance with the schedule and detailed provisions laid down in the sector specific rules.
The annual accounts of accredited paying agencies relating to EAFRD expenditure shall be submitted at the level of each programme.
2. Member States shall inform the Commission in detail of the measures taken to implement the good agricultural and environmental condition referred to in Article 94 and the details of the farm advisory system referred to in Title III.
3. Member State shall inform the Commission regularly of the application of the integrated system referred to in Chapter II of Title V. The Commission shall organise exchanges of views on this subject with the Member States.
Confidentiality
1. Member States and the Commission shall take all necessary steps to ensure the confidentiality of the information communicated or obtained under inspection and clearance of accounts measures implemented under this Regulation.
The rules laid down in Article 8 of Regulation (Euratom, EC) No 2185/96 shall apply to that information.
2. Without prejudice to national provisions relating to legal proceedings, information collected in the course of scrutiny as provided for in Chapter III of Title V shall be protected by professional secrecy. It shall not be communicated to any persons other than those who, by reason of their duties in the Member States or in the institutions of the Union, are required to have knowledge thereof for the purposes of performing those duties.
Commission powers
The Commission may adopt implementing acts laying down rules on:
(a)
the form, content, intervals, deadlines and arrangements for transmitting or making available to the Commission:
(i)
declarations of expenditure and estimates of expenditure and their updates, including assigned revenue;
(ii)
management declaration and annual accounts of the paying agencies, as well as the results of all available audits and controls carried out;
(iii)
the account certification reports;
(iv)
the names and particulars of accredited paying agencies, accredited coordinating bodies and certification bodies;
(v)
arrangements for taking account of and paying expenditure financed by the Funds;
(vi)
notifications of financial adjustments made by Member States in connection with rural development operations or programmes, and summary reports on the recovery procedures undertaken by the Member States in response to irregularities;
(vii)
information on the measures taken pursuant to Article 58.
(b)
the arrangements governing exchanges of information and documents between the Commission and the Member States, and the implementation of information systems, including the type, format and content of data to be processed by these systems and the corresponding data storage rules;
(c)
the notification to the Commission by Member States of information, documents, statistics and reports, as well as the deadlines and methods for their notification.
Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 116(3).
