Conditions in relation to financing for category 2
1. Financing for category 2 for the year N shall only become due provided that the Member States increase cumulatively their respective overall national border guard staffing through the recruitment of new staff in the period concerned.
2. The increase of the overall national border guard staffing in the Member State concerned shall be calculated annually by comparing the number of staff on 31 December of Year N and the number of staff on 30 April 2019 in activity in the relevant entities of the authorities concerned or, where applicable, of all main national authorities contributing to the standing corps via secondments.
3. By 29 November 2020 at the latest, Member States shall inform the Agency about their overall national border guard staffing on 30 April 2019, using the template in Annex I.
Monitoring of the applicable conditions for financing for category 2
1. Member States shall provide via their central national authorities the relevant information confirming the fulfilment of the conditions related to the financing for category 2 for the year N filling out the template set out in Annex II. The Agency shall verify the relevant information in the framework of the vulnerability assessment in the year N + 1.
2. Member States shall ensure that the information provided is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Agency to verify the fulfilment of the conditions for financing for category 2.
3. The central national authority shall have access upon its request to all relevant documentation held by respective national authorities that may relate to the management of the financial support under Article 61 of Regulation (EU) 2019/1896.
Recovery of advance payment for category 2
1. When submitting the request for annual payment, the Member States shall inform the Agency if the overall effective increase of staffing in year N was lower than the number for which the Member State has received an advance payment in year N.
2. Based on the information received from the Member States, further to the audit, or where the verifications made through the vulnerability assessment carried out in year N + 1 demonstrate a lower overall effective increase of staffing referred to in paragraph 1, the Agency shall recover the amount corresponding to the difference by issuing a debit note to the Member State concerned. The Agency may decide, in agreement with the Member State, not to recover the amounts and to adjust the payment of the subsequent year accordingly.
