Section 1 — General provisions
Paying agencies’ accounts
1. Each paying agency shall keep a set of accounts covering only the expenditure and revenue referred to in Article 5(1) and Articles 6 and 45 of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116 and the use of the funds made available to it to defray the corresponding expenditure. Those accounts shall enable the financial data for the Funds to be distinguished and provided separately.
Member States shall make available for the Commission the information of the expenditure effected and assigned revenue received on its request.
2. The paying agencies of the Member States which have not adopted the euro shall keep accounts covering the amounts expressed in the currency in which the expenditure was incurred and the revenue received. However, to enable all their expenditure and revenue to be consolidated, they must be able to provide the corresponding data in national currency and in euro.
3. As regards the EAFRD, each paying agency shall keep accounts enabling all the operations for each plan and each intervention to be identified. Such accounts shall include in particular:
(a)
the amount of public expenditure and the amount of the Union contribution paid for each operation;
(b)
the amounts to be recovered from beneficiaries for irregularities or negligence found;
(c)
the amounts recovered, with an indication of the original operation.
Section 2 — EAGF accounts
Establishment of the declaration of expenditure
1. The amount of the payment to be granted to a beneficiary under the EAGF shall be determined by the Member States in the framework of the control systems as referred to in Title IV of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116.
2. The expenditure effected and to be declared to the EAGF shall take account of penalties applied in the framework of Member States’ control systems in case of non-compliances.
3. The amount resulting from the application of paragraph 2 shall serve for types of intervention in the form of direct payments referred to in Article 16 of Regulation (EU) 2021/2115 and the programmes for the outermost regions of the Union and the smaller Aegean islands as laid down in Regulation (EU) No 228/2013 and Regulation (EU) No 229/2013, respectively, as a basis for the reduction of payments referred to in Article 17 of Regulation (EU) 2021/2115 and for the application of financial discipline referred to in Article 17 of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116.
4. The amount resulting from the application of paragraph 2 and in the specific case of direct payments and the programmes referred to in paragraph 3, the amount resulting from the application of paragraphs 2 and 3 shall constitute the amount to be declared to the Commission.
5. The expenditure declared to the EAGF shall serve as a basis for the verification of the financial ceilings set by Union law.
6. The amount resulting from the application of paragraphs 2 and 3 shall serve as a basis for the calculation of administrative penalties in relation to conditionality as referred to in Title IV, Chapters IV and V, of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116.
7. By way of derogation from paragraph 3, Member States may pay advances for direct payments without applying the adjustment rate for financial discipline referred to in Article 17 of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116 to beneficiaries in respect of the aid applications for a given year. The balance payment to be granted to beneficiaries as from 1 December shall take into account the adjustment rate for financial discipline applicable at that time for the total amount of direct payments in the corresponding calendar year.
Communication of information by Member States
1. In accordance with Article 90(1), point (c)(i) and (ii), of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116, Member States shall send to the Commission, electronically and by the seventh day of each month at the latest, the information and documents on expenditure and assigned revenue referred to in Articles 11 and 12 of this Regulation, and in particular the declaration of expenditure drawn up in accordance with paragraph 2 of this Article.
However, the communication on expenditure effected and assigned revenue received between 1 and 15 October shall be sent by 25 October at the latest.
All relevant information shall be provided on the basis of the model made available by the Commission to Member States through information systems.
2. The declaration of expenditure referred to in paragraph 1 shall consist of at least:
(a)
a statement, drawn up by each paying agency, broken down according to the nomenclature of the Union budget and by expenditure and assigned revenue, based on a detailed nomenclature made available within the information systems to the Member States covering:
(i)
the expenditure effected and assigned revenue received during the preceding month;
(ii)
total expenditure effected and assigned revenue received from the beginning of the financial year until the end of the preceding month;
(iii)
estimates of expenditure and assigned revenue covering separately the next three months and, as appropriate, the total of estimates of expenditure and assigned revenue to the end of the financial year.
Where the estimates for the next three months, as referred to in the first subparagraph, point (iii), fall in the next financial year, only the total per month needs to be provided;
(b)
the accounts evidencing expenditure and revenue relating to public intervention.
3. All the financial information required under this Article shall be communicated in euro.
General rules on the declaration of expenditure and on assigned revenue
1. Without prejudice to the special provisions on declarations of expenditure and revenue relating to public storage referred to in Article 12, expenditure and assigned revenue declared by paying agencies in respect of a given month shall correspond to payments and receipts actually effected during that month.
That expenditure and assigned revenue shall be entered in the accounts of the EAGF budget in respect of the corresponding financial year.
However:
(a)
expenditure which may be paid prior to the implementation of the provision permitting it to be wholly or partially borne by the EAGF may be declared only:
(i)
in respect of the month during which the provision in question was implemented; or
(ii)
in respect of the month following implementation of that provision;
(b)
revenue assigned to the EAGF shall be declared in respect of the month during which the time limit for payment of the corresponding amounts, laid down in Union legislation, expires. Where corrections to assigned revenue lead, at paying agency level, to the declaration of negative revenue assigned for a budget line, surplus corrections shall be carried over to the following month.
2. Expenditure and assigned revenue shall be taken into consideration on the date on which the account of the paying agency was debited or credited. However, for payments, the date to be taken into consideration may be the date on which the agency concerned issued the payment document and sent it to a financial institution or to the beneficiary. Each paying agency shall use the same method throughout the financial year.
3. Payment orders which are not executed and payments debited to the account, then re-credited, shall be shown in the accounts as deductions from expenditure in respect of the month during which the failure to execute or the cancellation is reported to the paying agency.
4. Where payments due under the EAGF are encumbered by claims, they shall be deemed to have been effected in their entirety for the purpose of applying paragraph 1:
(a)
on the date of the payment of the sum due to the beneficiary, if the claim is less than the expenditure settled;
(b)
on the date of set-off, if the expenditure is less than or equal to the claim.
Special rules on declarations of expenditure relating to public storage
1. The operations to be taken into consideration for drawing up declarations of expenditure relating to public storage shall be those entered at the end of a given month in the accounts of the paying agency, which have taken place from the beginning of the accounting year within the meaning of Article 3(3), first subparagraph, point (a) of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/127 up to the end of that month.
2. Such declarations of expenditure shall comprise the values and amounts determined in accordance with Articles 17and 18 of this Regulation and Article 4 of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 906/2014 ( 14 ) entered in the accounts by paying agencies during the month following that to which the operations relate.
However:
(a)
in the case of operations carried out in the course of September, the values and amounts shall be entered in the accounts by paying agencies by 15 October at the latest;
(b)
in the case of the overall depreciation amounts referred to in Article 3(1), point (e), of Delegated Regulation (EU) No 906/2014, the amounts shall be entered in the accounts on the date laid down in the decision providing for them.
Payment decision by the Commission
1. On the basis of the data sent in accordance with Article 10(1) of this Regulation, the Commission shall decide to make the monthly payments pursuant to Article 21(3) of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116, without prejudice to the corrections which may be made by means of subsequent decisions in accordance with Articles 53, 54 and 55 of that Regulation, and taking into account the reductions and suspensions decided in accordance with Articles 39 to 42 of that Regulation.
2. If the total expenditure declared by Member States for the following financial year exceeds three quarters of the EAGF total appropriations for the current financial year, the advance commitments referred to in Article 11(2), point (b), of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 and the corresponding monthly payments shall be granted in proportion to the declarations of expenditure, up to a maximum of 75 % of the appropriations for the current financial year. The Commission shall take the balance of amounts not reimbursed to Member States into account in decisions on subsequent reimbursements.
Making resources available to Member States
By deciding to make the monthly payments, the Commission shall place at the disposal of the Member States, within the framework of the budget appropriations, the resources needed to cover expenditure to be financed by the EAGF, less the corresponding amount of assigned revenue, in the account opened by each Member State.
When the amount established by the Commission for the application of Article 13(1) is negative for a Member State in total or for a given budget line, the effective offsetting may be deferred to the following months.
Communication under public intervention
1. Paying agencies shall transmit to the Commission:
(a)
at the Commission’s request, the documents and information referred to in Article 3(7) of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/127 and the additional national administrative provisions adopted for the application and management of intervention measures;
(b)
by the day provided for in Article 10(1), of this Regulation, the information on public storage, on the basis of the models made available by the Commission to Member States through information systems.
2. The relevant information systems referred to in Article 25 shall be used to perform the notifications and information exchanges and to draw up the documents relating to public intervention expenditure.
Content of the public storage accounts to be kept by paying agencies
1. The stock accounts provided for in Article 3(3), first subparagraph, point (a), of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/127 shall contain the following categories of elements, shown separately:
(a)
the quantities of products recorded on entry into and removal from storage, with or without physical movement;
(b)
the quantities used for free distribution to the most deprived persons under the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived, and accounted for under Article 4(3) of Delegated Regulation (EU) No 906/2014, distinguishing those which are the subject of a transfer to another Member State;
(c)
quantities taken as samples, distinguishing samples taken by purchasers;
(d)
the quantities which, after checking by visual examination in the context of the annual stock-taking or during the inspection after taking into intervention, may no longer be repackaged and are the subject of direct sales;
(e)
quantities missing, for identifiable or unidentifiable reasons, including those corresponding to the legal tolerance limits;
(f)
quantities which have deteriorated;
(g)
surplus quantities;
(h)
missing quantities exceeding the tolerance limits;
(i)
quantities which have entered into storage and been found not to meet the requirements and for which taking-over has therefore been refused;
(j)
net quantities in storage at the end of each month or accounting year, which are carried forward to the next month or accounting year.
2. The financial accounts provided for in Article 3(3), first subparagraph, point (a), of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/127 shall contain:
(a)
the value of the quantities referred to in paragraph 1, point (a), of this Article, showing separately the value of the quantities bought in and of the quantities sold;
(b)
the book value of the quantities used or taken into account under the free distribution arrangements referred to in paragraph 1, point (b), of this Article;
(c)
the financing costs referred to in Article 3(1), point (a), of Delegated Regulation (EU) No 906/2014;
(d)
expenditure on physical operations as referred to in Article 3(1), points (b) and (c), of Delegated Regulation (EU) No 906/2014;
(e)
amounts resulting from depreciation as referred to in Article 3(1), point (e), of Delegated Regulation (EU) No 906/2014;
(f)
the amounts collected or recovered from sellers, purchasers and storers, other than those referred to in Article 21 of this Regulation;
(g)
the amount from direct sales carried out after the annual stock-taking or following checks after products are taken into intervention storage;
(h)
losses and gains on removals of products, taking account of depreciation as referred to in point (e) of this paragraph;
(i)
other debits and credits, in particular those corresponding to the quantities referred to in paragraph 1, points (c) to (g), of this Article;
(j)
the average book value, expressed per tonne.
Accounting related to public intervention
1. The elements referred to in Article 16 shall be booked for the quantities, values, amounts and averages actually recorded by paying agencies or for the values and amounts calculated on the basis of the standard amounts established by the Commission.
2. The records and calculations referred to in paragraph 1 shall be made subject to the application of the following rules:
(a)
the removal costs relating to quantities for which quantitative losses or deterioration have been recorded, in accordance with the rules laid down in Annexes VI and VII to Delegated Regulation (EU) No 906/2014, shall be entered in the accounts only for the quantities actually sold and removed from storage;
(b)
quantities recorded as missing on transfer between Member States shall not be deemed to have entered storage in the Member State of destination and shall not be covered by standard entry costs;
(c)
the standard entry and removal costs fixed for transport and transfer shall be entered in the accounts if those costs are not considered, under the Union rules, to be an integral part of the transport costs;
(d)
unless specific Union rules provide otherwise, amounts accruing from sales of products which have deteriorated and any other amounts received in this context shall not be entered in the EAGF account records;
(e)
any surplus quantities recorded shall be entered in the accounts as a negative amount, in the missing quantities in the stock situation and movements. Those quantities shall be included when determining the quantities exceeding the tolerance limit;
(f)
samples other than those taken by purchasers shall be entered in the accounts in accordance with point 2(a) of Annex VII to Delegated Regulation (EU) No 906/2014.
3. Corrections made by the Commission, as regards the elements referred to in Article 16 for the current accounting year, shall be notified to the Committee on the Agricultural Funds. They may be notified to the Member States on the occasion of a monthly payment decision or, failing that, at the time of the decision on the clearance of accounts. They shall be entered in the accounts by paying agencies under the terms of that decision.
Dates for entering expenditure and revenue and product movements in the accounts for public intervention
1. The various items of expenditure and revenue shall be entered in the accounts on the date on which the physical operation under the public intervention measure takes place and by using the exchange rate as referred to in Article 3(2) of Delegated Regulation (EU) No 906/2014.
However, the following dates shall apply in the cases set out below:
(a)
the date of receipt, in the case of amounts received or recovered, as referred to in Article 16(2), points (f) and (g), of this Regulation;
(b)
the date of actual payment of costs relating to physical operations, where such costs are not covered by standard amounts.
2. The various elements relating to the physical movement of products and the management of stocks shall be entered in the accounts on the date on which the physical operation under the intervention measure takes place.
However, the following dates shall apply in the cases set out below:
(a)
the date of taking-over of products by the paying agency, in accordance with Article 22(2) of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1240 ( 15 ) , for quantities entering public storage without any change in the place of storage;
(b)
regarding missing or deteriorated and surplus quantities, the date of the finding as to the facts in the case of missing or deteriorated and surplus quantities;
(c)
the date of actual removal from storage, in the case of direct sales of products remaining in storage which can no longer be repackaged after visual examination in the context of the annual stock-taking or during the inspection after taking into intervention;
(d)
the last day of the accounting year, for any losses exceeding the tolerance limit referred to in Article 4(2) of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/127.
Amount financed under public intervention
1. The amount to be financed under the intervention measures referred to in Article 2 of Delegated Regulation (EU) No 906/2014 shall be determined on the basis of the accounts drawn up and kept by paying agencies in accordance with Article 3(3), first subparagraph, point (a) of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/127, and to which the various items of expenditure and revenue referred to in Article 16 of this Regulation are debited and credited, respectively, taking account where necessary of amounts of expenditure fixed under the sectoral agricultural legislation.
2. Paying agencies or coordinating bodies as appropriate shall transmit to the Commission, each month and each year, by electronic means, on the basis of the models made available by the Commission to Member States through information systems, the information needed for the financing of public storage expenditure and the accounts evidencing expenditure and revenue relating to public storage in the form of tables, by the day provided for in Article 10(1) and by the date provided for in Article 33(2).
Declarations of public intervention expenditure and revenue
1. Financing by the EAGF under the intervention measures referred to in Article 2 of Delegated Regulation (EU) No 906/2014 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 information system set up by the Commission and included by the paying agency in its declaration of expenditure drawn up in accordance with Article 12 of this Regulation.
2. Sums recovered in accordance with Article 53 of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116 and amounts received or recovered from sellers, purchasers and storers, which meet the criteria laid down in Article 45 of that Regulation shall be declared to the EAGF budget in accordance with Article 10(2), point (a), of this Regulation.
Section 3 — EAFRD accounts
Forecast of funding requirements
For each CAP Strategic Plan as referred to in Article 118 of Regulation (EU) 2021/2115, and in accordance with Article 90(1), first subparagraph, point (c)(ii), of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116, Member States shall send to the Commission, twice per year, by 31 January and 31 August at the latest, their forecasts of the amounts to be funded by the EAFRD for the financial year. In addition, Member States shall send an updated estimate of their funding requests for the following financial year.
Those forecasts and that updated estimate shall be sent on the basis of the model made available by the Commission to Member States through information systems.
Declarations of expenditure
1. Paying agencies shall declare expenditure and recovered amount for each rural development type of intervention and technical assistance under the CAP Strategic Plan as referred to in Article 118 of Regulation (EU) 2021/2115 for each of the reference periods, referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article, on the basis of the model made available by the Commission to Member States through information systems.
For each CAP Strategic Plan, paying agencies shall specify in a declaration of expenditure at least the following:
(a)
the amount of eligible public expenditure, excluding additional national financing as referred to in Article 115(5) of Regulation (EU) 2021/2115, for which the paying agency has actually paid the corresponding EAFRD contribution during each of the reference periods referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article;
(b)
the information on financial instruments as referred to in Article 32(4) and (5) of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116;
(c)
the additional information on advances paid to beneficiaries as referred to in Article 44(3) of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116;
(d)
the amount recovered during the current period as referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article, in respect of the CAP Strategic Plan;
(e)
the amount recovered during the current period as referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article in respect of the EAFRD rural development programmes from 2007 onwards, for which Member States is no more obliged to send interim declaration of expenditure;
(f)
the amounts related to technical assistance.
The expenditure effected and to be declared to the EAFRD shall take account of penalties applied in the framework of Member States’ management and control system in case of non-compliance.
2. Once the Commission has approved a CAP Strategic Plan, Member States shall send to the Commission, in accordance with Article 90(1), first subparagraph, point (c)(i), of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116, their declarations of expenditure by the following deadlines:
(a)
by 30 April at the latest in the case of expenditure in the period 1 January to 31 March;
(b)
by 31 July at the latest in the case of expenditure in the period 1 April to 30 June;
(c)
by 10 November at the latest in the case of expenditure in the period 1 July to 15 October;
(d)
by 31 January at the latest in the case of expenditure in the period 16 October to 31 December.
If in a Member State the CAP Strategic Plan is implemented by more than one paying agency, the coordinating body shall ensure that the declarations of expenditure are transmitted on the same day.
However, all expenditure paid by paying agencies to the beneficiaries in accordance with Article 86 of Regulation (EU) 2021/2115 until the end of the last period, as specified in the first subparagraph of this paragraph, prior to the approval of a CAP Strategic Plan as referred to in Article 118 of that Regulation, is made under the Member States’ responsibility and shall be declared to the Commission in the first declaration of expenditure following the approval of that plan. Recovered amounts for the corresponding period, as referred to in paragraph 1, second subparagraph, points (d) and (e), of this Article shall also be declared in that declaration. The same rule shall apply mutatis mutandis in case of amendment of a CAP Strategic Plan as referred to in Article 119 of Regulation (EU) 2021/2115, except for financing plan adjustments as referred to in Article 23 of this Regulation.
As regards financial instruments set up in accordance with Article 58 of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 and Article 80 of Regulation (EU) 2021/2115, the expenditure shall be declared in the financial year when the conditions as referred to in Article 32(3) and (4) of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116 are met and it had been effected by the paying agency before the end of the financial year.
All the financial information required under this Article shall be communicated in euro.
Calculation of the amount to be paid
1. The Union contribution to be paid in respect of the eligible public expenditure, excluding additional national financing as referred to in Article 115(5) of Regulation (EU) 2021/2115, shall be mentioned in the financing plan in force on the first day of the reference period and calculated as regards the CAP Strategic Plans referred to in Article 118 of that Regulation as follows:
(a)
for each reference period referred to in Article 22(2) of this Regulation on the basis of the EAFRD contribution rate as provided for in Article 91 of Regulation (EU) 2021/2115 and approved by the Commission in accordance with Article 118 of that Regulation;
(b)
for certain eligible types of expenditure, referred to in Article 155 of Regulation (EU) 2021/2115 in the period 2023–2027, on the basis of the contribution rate of the intervention set in the CAP Strategic Plan, subject to the conditions in that Article;
(c)
technical assistance on the basis of a flat rate, as referred to in Article 94(2) of Regulation (EU) 2021/2115.
The calculation shall take account of the corrections to the Union contribution as declared in the declaration of expenditure for that period.
2. Without prejudice to the ceiling provided for in Article 30(2) of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116, where the combined total of the Union contribution paid to the CAP Strategic Plan exceeds the contribution to a type of intervention, as regards the EAFRD, the amount to be paid shall be reduced to the amount programmed for that type of intervention. Any Union contribution excluded as a result may be paid later provided that an adjusted financing plan has been submitted by the Member State and approved by the Commission.
Automatic decommitment
In case a Member State does not submit a revised financing plan, as provided for in Article 34(6) of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116, and the related amendment of the CAP Strategic Plan by 30 June, the Commission shall reduce the amounts allocated to each type of intervention pro rata, by amending the decision approving the Member State’s CAP Strategic Plan no later than 30 September.
Section 4 — Common provisions for the Funds
Electronic exchange of information and documents
1. The Commission shall define the information systems enabling electronic exchanges of documents and information between it and the Member States for the communications and consultation of information provided for in Article 90 of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116 and the necessary arrangements for their application. It shall inform the Member States of the general conditions for implementing those systems via the Committee on the Agricultural Funds.
2. The information systems referred to in paragraph 1 shall be able to process in particular:
(a)
the data required for financial transactions, in particular those relating to the annual accounts of paying agencies, declarations of expenditure and assigned revenue and the transmission of information and documents referred to in Article 3 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/127 and Articles 8, 10, 11, 12, 14, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23 and 32 of this Regulation;
(b)
documents of common interest enabling the monthly and interim declarations of expenditure and annual accounts to be monitored and the information and documents which paying agencies must make available to the Commission to be consulted;
(c)
the Union texts and Commission guidelines on the financing of the Common Agricultural Policy by authorities accredited and designated under Regulation (EU) 2021/2116, and the guidelines on the harmonised application of the relevant legislation.
3. The form and content of the documents referred to in Articles 10, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23 and 32 shall be made available by the Commission to Member States by way of models through information systems.
Those models shall be adapted and updated by the Commission, after having informed the Committee on the Agricultural Funds.
4. The information systems referred to in paragraph 1 may contain the tools required for storing the data and for managing the accounts of the Funds by the Commission.
5. Data on financial transactions shall be communicated, entered and updated in the information systems referred to in paragraph 1 under the responsibility of paying agencies, by paying agencies themselves or by bodies to which that function has been delegated, where applicable via the coordinating bodies accredited in accordance with Article 9(4) and Article 10 of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116.
6. Where a document sent pursuant to Article 90(1), point (c),(i) and (iii), of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116 or a procedure in the information systems require the signature or the approval of an authorised person at one or more of the stages of that procedure, that compulsory electronic signature or approval shall be done in compliance with Regulation (EU) No 910/2014.
7. The electronic and digitised documents shall be kept for the whole of the period provided for in Article 3(3), first subparagraph, point (a), of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/127.
8. Where there is a malfunction in an information system or no stable connection, the Member State may, with the prior approval of the Commission, send the documents in another form, under the conditions laid down by the Commission.
Requirements for the reimbursement of expenditure for the Funds
1. Declarations of expenditure for the Funds shall be entered in the form of structured data by accredited paying agencies or the accredited coordinating body on the basis of the model made available by the Commission to Member States through information systems.
2. EAGF and EAFRD expenditure and EAGF assigned revenue declared in respect of a period may contain corrections to data declared in respect of the preceding declaration periods of the same financial year.
3. EAGF and EAFRD expenditure and assigned revenue to be charged to the financial year not introduced respectively in the monthly and interim declarations may be corrected only in the annual accounts to be sent to the Commission in accordance with Article 90(1), first subparagraph, point (c)(iii), of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116.
4. The Union contribution shall be paid by the Commission, subject to resource availability, into the account(s) opened by each Member State.
5. Each Member State shall notify the Commission of the name or number of the account(s) in accordance with the format made available to it by the Commission.
Suspension of payments
The implementing acts determining 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 shall take account of the suspension of payments decided in accordance with Articles 40(1) and (2), 41(2) and 42(2) of that Regulation.
Action plans in relation to the multi-annual performance monitoring
1. Following the assessment of the justification submitted by the Member State in the context of the performance review referred to in Article 135 of Regulation (EU) 2021/2115, the Commission may ask the Member State concerned to submit an action plan as referred to in Article 41 of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116. The Member State shall submit an action plan within 2 months after receiving the Commission request. In that action plan the Member State shall propose concrete remedial actions to address the shortcomings and identify the interventions, which affect the performance of the CAP Strategic Plan, in particular as regards deviations from milestones set to achieve the specific objectives laid down in Article 6(1) of Regulation (EU) 2021/2115. The remedial actions shall be described in sufficient detail to enable the Commission assessing whether the action plan is appropriate to remedy these shortcomings, including, where relevant, the actions to improve the performance of the concerned interventions.
2. For each of the actions the Member State shall set the planned implementation deadline which shall not be later than 2 years from the time the action plan is launched. In order to enable the review of the expected timeframe for execution of the action plan, Member State shall also set up progress indicators towards that deadline which shall be at least every 3 months throughout the duration of the action plan.
3. Within a period of 2 months after receipt of the action plan from the Member State concerned, the Commission shall, where appropriate, inform that Member State in writing of its objections to the submitted action plan and request its modification. The Member State concerned shall provide further clarifications or submit an updated action plan within 2 months after receiving the Commission comments.
4. Following the period referred to in paragraph 3, the Commission shall inform the Member State in writing within a period of 2 months, whether it considers that the action plan is sufficient to address the shortcomings affecting the performance of the CAP Strategic Plan. In case of a positive assessment, the receipt of that assessment by the Member State shall be considered as the date of launching the implementation of the action plan. The launching date is without prejudice to the possibility for the Member State concerned to start implementing remedial actions earlier. In case of a negative assessment, the Commission shall inform the Member State concerned of its intention concerning the suspension of payments, referred to in Article 41(2) of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116.
5. Member States shall prepare the action plans and report on the progress in their implementation in line with the respective template provided by the Commission at the moment of the submission of the annual performance report, in accordance with Article 9(3), first subparagraph, point (b), of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116. The template shall be available and used in electronic form.
Action plans in relation to deficiencies in the governance systems
1. Member State shall submit the action plan referred to in Article 42 of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116 within 2 months after receiving the Commission request. In its action plan, the Member State concerned shall propose concrete actions to address each of the serious deficiencies indicated by the Commission. The corrective actions shall be adequately described so as to enable the Commission to assess whether the action plan is sufficient to remedy the deficiencies.
2. For each of the actions Member State shall set the planned implementation deadline which shall not be later than 2 years from the date of the launching of the action plan. In order to enable the review of progress indicators, Member State shall also set milestones towards that deadline which shall be at least every 3 months throughout the duration of the action plan.
3. Within 2 months after receipt of the action plan from the Member State concerned, the Commission shall, where appropriate, inform that Member State in writing of its objections to the submitted action plan and request its modification. The Member State concerned shall provide further clarifications or submit an updated action plan within 2 months after receiving the Commission comments. In duly justified cases, this period may be extended.
4. Following the exchanges referred to in paragraph 3, and not later than 2 months after receiving the latest communication from the Member State, the Commission shall inform the Member State in writing of its assessment. In case of a positive assessment, the receipt of that assessment by the Member State shall be considered as the date of launching the implementation of the action plan. The launching date is without prejudice to the possibility for the Member State concerned to start implementing remedial actions earlier. In case of a negative assessment due to a manifestly insufficient action plan, the Commission shall inform the Member State concerned of its intention concerning the suspension of payments, referred to in Article 42(2) of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116.
5. Where there is insufficient progress in the implementation of the action plan or it has not been submitted in accordance with the written request of the Commission, the Commission shall inform the Member State concerned of its intention concerning the suspension of payments, referred to in Article 42(2) of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116.
6. For recurrent serious deficiencies revealed in the quality assessment reports referred to in Articles 68(3), 69(6) and 70(2) of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116, the Commission shall request an action plan in accordance with Article 42 (1) of that Regulation, if the same deficiencies are detected without any improvement in the second consecutive year.
7. Member States shall prepare the action plans and report on the progress in their implementation in accordance with the respective template provided by the Commission. The template shall be available and used in electronic form.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
