Checks
Article 8
1. Member States shall carry out checks to verify that the conditions for granting Union financing are met. Those checks shall consist of both administrative and on-the-spot checks and follow the general principles laid down in Article 59 of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013. 2. Regarding on-the-spot checks Member States shall require verification of the following: (a) the correct implementation of the measures included in the apiculture programmes, in particular investment and service measures; (b) the expenditure actually incurred is at least equivalent to the financial support requested, (c) where relevant, the number of beehives declared is consistent with the number of beehives found to be kept by the applicant taking into account additional data provided by the beekeeper on activity during the apiculture year concerned. 3. Member States shall ensure that at least 5 % of the applicants for aid within the framework of their apiculture programmes are subject to on-the spot checks. The samples for checks shall be drawn from the entire population of applicants and shall include: (a) a number of applicants randomly selected in order to obtain a representative error rate; (b) a number of applicants selected on the basis of a risk analysis based on the following criteria: (i) the amount of financing allocated to the beneficiaries; (ii) the nature of the actions financed under the apiculture measures; (iii) the conclusions of previous on-the-spot checks; (iv) other criteria to be defined by the Member States.