Non-compliance with the latest payment deadline
1. Payments to a beneficiary made after the latest possible payment date may be considered eligible under the circumstances and conditions laid down in paragraphs 2 to 6.
2. Where European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) expenditure under Article 5(2) or European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) expenditure under Article 6 for interventions referred to in Article 65(2) of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116 effected after the deadline laid down by Union law is equal to the threshold of 5 % or less of the expenditure effected before the deadlines for the EAGF and the EAFRD respectively, no reduction of the monthly or interim payments shall be made.
Where EAGF or EAFRD expenditure effected after the deadlines laid down by Union law is above the threshold of 5 % for the EAGF and the EAFRD respectively, all further expenditure effected late shall be reduced in accordance with the following rules:
(a)
for EAGF expenditure:
(i)
expenditure effected in the first month following the month in which the payment deadline expired shall be reduced by 10 %;
(ii)
expenditure effected in the second month following the month in which the payment deadline expired shall be reduced by 25 %;
(iii)
expenditure effected in the third month following the month in which the payment deadline expired shall be reduced by 45 %;
(iv)
expenditure effected in the fourth month following the month in which the payment deadline expired shall be reduced by 70 %;
(v)
expenditure effected later than the fourth month following the month in which the payment deadline expired shall be reduced by 100 %;
(b)
for EAFRD expenditure:
(i)
expenditure effected between 1 July and 15 October of the year in which the payment deadline expired shall be reduced by 25 %;
(ii)
expenditure effected between 16 October and 31 December of the year in which the payment deadline expired shall be reduced by 60 %;
(iii)
expenditure effected later than 31 December of the year in which the payment deadline expired shall be reduced by 100 %.
3. By way of derogation from paragraph 2, the following conditions shall apply:
(a)
where for expenditure for interventions in the form of direct payments or EAFRD expenditure the threshold referred to in paragraph 2, first subparagraph, has not been used in full for payments made in respect of calendar year N no later than 15 October of year N + 1 for the EAGF and no later than 31 December of year N + 1 for the EAFRD and the remainder of the threshold exceeds 2 %, that remainder shall be reduced to 2 %;
(b)
during a financial year N + 1, payments for interventions in the form of direct payments, other than payments provided for in Regulations (EU) No 228/2013 and (EU) No 229/2013, in respect of calendar years N-1 or earlier made after the payment deadline shall only be eligible for financing by the EAGF if the total amount of interventions in the form of direct payments made within financial year N+1, where applicable corrected to amounts before the adjustment provided for in Article 17 of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116, does not exceed the ceiling laid down in Annex V to Regulation (EU) 2021/2115 in respect of calendar year N, in accordance with Article 87(1) of that Regulation;
(c)
expenditure exceeding the limits referred to in point (a) or (b) shall be reduced by 100 %.
The amounts of the reimbursements referred to in Article 17(3), second subparagraph, of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116 shall not be taken into account to check whether the condition laid down in the first subparagraph, point (b), of this paragraph is fulfilled.
4. Where exceptional management conditions are encountered for certain interventions and measures or where justified reasons are advanced by the Member States, the Commission shall apply either different time scales from those laid down in paragraphs 2 and 3, and/or lower reductions or apply no reduction at all.
However, the first subparagraph shall not apply for expenditure exceeding the ceiling referred to in paragraph 3, first subparagraph, point (b).
5. Checks on compliance with the payment deadline shall be made once each financial year on expenditure made by 15 October.
Any overrun of payment deadline shall be taken into account in the accounts clearance decision referred to in Article 53 of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116, at the latest.
6. The reductions referred to in this Article shall be applied without prejudice to the subsequent decision on annual performance clearance, referred to in Article 54 of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116 and the conformity procedure, referred to in Article 55 of that Regulation.
Non-compliance with the earliest date of payment
As regards EAGF expenditure, if Member States are allowed to pay advances up to a certain maximum amount before the earliest payment date laid down by Union law, this expenditure shall be considered as expenditure eligible for Union financing. Any expenditure paid above this maximum amount shall be ineligible for Union financing except in duly justified cases where exceptional management conditions are encountered for certain interventions or measures or where justified reasons are provided by the Member States. In such cases, the expenditure paid above the maximum amount shall be eligible for Union financing subject to a reduction of 10 %.
The corresponding reduction shall be taken into account in the accounts clearance decision referred to in Article 53 of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116, at the latest.
Compensation by paying agencies
1. In its decision on the monthly payments to be adopted pursuant to Article 21(3) of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116, the Commission shall establish the balance of the expenditure declared by each Member State in its monthly declarations, less the assigned revenue which that Member State has included in its declarations of expenditure. This set-off shall be regarded as equivalent to collection of the corresponding revenue.
Commitment appropriations and payment appropriations generated by assigned revenue shall be open once this revenue has been assigned to budget lines.
2. If the amounts referred to in Article 45(1), point (b), of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116 were withheld before the payment of the aid concerned by the irregularity or negligence, they shall be deducted from the corresponding expenditure.
3. The amounts of the EAFRD contributions recovered from beneficiaries under the Member State’s CAP Strategic Plan concerned during each reference period shall be deducted from the amount to be paid by the EAFRD in the declaration of expenditure for that period.
4. The greater or lesser amounts resulting, where applicable, from the annual financial clearance may be re-used under the EAFRD and shall be added to or deducted from the amount of the EAFRD contribution when the first declaration after the clearance of accounts decision is drawn up.
5. Financing from the EAGF shall be equal to the expenditure, calculated on the basis of the information notified by the paying agency, after deduction of any revenue accruing from the intervention measures, validated by the computerised system set up by the Commission and included by the paying agency in its declaration of expenditure.
Late adoption of Union budget
1. If the Union budget has not been adopted by the beginning of the budgetary year, the monthly payments referred to in Article 21 of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116 and the interim payments referred to in Article 32 of that Regulation shall be made proportionally to the authorised appropriations per chapter as a percentage of the declarations of expenditure received from each Member State, for the EAGF and the EAFRD respectively, and within the limits laid down in Article 16 of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046.
The Commission shall take into account the balance of amounts not reimbursed to the Member States in subsequent payments.
2. As regards the EAFRD, if the Union budget has not been adopted by the beginning of the budgetary year as regards the budgetary commitments referred to in Article 29 of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116, the first annual instalments following the adoption of the Member States’ CAP Strategic Plans shall respect the order of adoption of those plans. The budget commitments for the subsequent annual instalments shall be made in the order of the Member States’ CAP Strategic Plans having exhausted the respective commitments. The Commission may make partial annual commitments to the Member States’ CAP Strategic Plans if the available commitment appropriations are limited. The remaining balance for those plans shall be committed only once additional commitment appropriations become available.
Deferral of monthly payments
The monthly payments referred to in Article 21 of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116 to the Member States may be deferred where the communications as referred to in Article 90(1), point (c)(i) and (ii), of that Regulation arrive late or contain discrepancies, which necessitate further checks. The Commission shall inform the Member States concerned in due time of its intention to defer payments.
Suspension of payments in relation to the annual clearance
1. Where the Commission suspends the monthly payments referred to in Article 21(3) of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116 pursuant to Article 40(1), first subparagraph, of that Regulation, the following rates of suspension of payments shall apply:
(a)
if the Member State does not submit the documents referred to in Articles 9(3) and 12(2) of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116 by 1 March, 1 % of the total amount of the monthly payments referred to in Article 21(3) of that Regulation;
(b)
if the Member State does not submit the documents referred to in Articles 9(3) and 12(2) of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116 by 1 April, 1,5 % of the total amount of the monthly payments referred to in Article 21(3) of that Regulation.
2. The suspension shall be lifted after the submission of all the relevant documents referred to in Articles 9(3) and 12(2) of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116.
Suspension of payments in relation to the performance clearance
1. Where the Commission suspends the monthly payments referred to in Article 21(3) of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116 or the interim payments referred to in Article 32 of that Regulation pursuant to Article 40(2) of that Regulation following the performance clearance as referred to in Article 54 of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116, the rate of suspension shall correspond to the difference between the reduction rate applied pursuant to Article 54(1) of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116 and 50 percentage points, multiplied by 2. The rate of suspension to be applied shall not be less than 10 %.
2. The suspensions referred to in paragraph 1 shall be without prejudice to Articles 53 and 55 of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116.
Applicable exchange rate for drawing up declarations of expenditure
1. In accordance with Article 94(4) of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116, as regards the EAGF, for drawing up their declarations of expenditure, Member States which have not adopted the euro shall apply the same exchange rate as that which they used to make payments to beneficiaries or receive revenue, in accordance with Chapter V of this Regulation and the sectoral agricultural legislation.
2. As regards the EAFRD, for drawing up their declarations of expenditure, Member States which have not adopted the euro shall apply, for each payment or recovery operation, the last-but-one exchange rate established by the European Central Bank prior to the month in which the operations are registered in the accounts of the paying agency.
3. As regards the clearance decisions referred to in Articles 53 and 54 of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116 and the conformity procedure referred to in Article 55 of that Regulation, the first exchange rate established by the European Central Bank after the date of adoption of the clearance implementing acts shall be used.
4. In cases other than those referred to in paragraphs 1, 2 and 3, as well as for operations for which an operative event has not been laid down by Union law, the applicable exchange rate for Member States which have not adopted the euro shall be the last-but-one exchange rate established by the European Central Bank before the month in respect of which the expenditure or assigned revenue is declared.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
