Admissibility of applications
Article 10
1. An application submitted by an operator for support from the EMFF shall be inadmissible for an identified period of time laid down pursuant to paragraph 4 of this Article, if it has been determined by the competent authority that the operator concerned: (a) has committed a serious infringement under Article 42 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1005/2008 ( 21 ) or Article 90(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009; (b) has been involved in the operation, management or ownership of fishing vessels included in the Union IUU vessel list as set out in Article 40(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1005/2008, or of vessels flagged to countries identified as non-cooperating third countries as set out in Article 33 of that Regulation; (c) has committed a serious infringement of the CFP rules identified as such in other legislation adopted by the European Parliament and by the Council; or (d) has committed any of the offences set out in Articles 3 and 4 of Directive 2008/99/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 22 ) , where the application is made for support under Chapter II of Title V of this Regulation. 2. The beneficiary, after submitting the application, shall continue to comply with the conditions referred to in points (a) to (d) of paragraph 1 throughout the period of implementation of the operation and for a period of five years after the final payment to that beneficiary. 3. An application submitted by an operator shall be inadmissible for an identified period of time laid down pursuant to paragraph 4 of this Article, if it has been determined by the competent authority that that operator has committed a fraud, as defined in Article 1 of the Convention on the protection of the European Communities’ financial interests ( 23 ) , in the context of the European Fisheries Fund (EFF) or the EMFF. 4. The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 126 concerning: (a) the identification of the period of time referred to in paragraphs 1 and 3 of this Article which shall be proportionate to the nature, gravity, duration and repetition of the serious infringement, offence or fraud, and shall be of at least one year’s duration; (b) the relevant starting or ending dates of the period of time referred to in paragraphs 1 and 3 of this Article. 5. Member States shall require that operators submitting an application under the EMFF provide to the managing authority a signed statement confirming that they respect the criteria listed in paragraph 1 of this Article and declaring that they have not committed a fraud under the EFF or the EMFF as referred to in paragraph 3 of this Article. Member States shall verify the veracity of that statement before approving the operation, based on the information available in the national register of infringements referred to in Article 93 of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009, or any other available data. For the purposes of the first subparagraph, a Member State shall provide, on request from another Member State, the information contained in its national register of infringements referred to in Article 93 of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009.