Section 1 — General rules
Information to be collected on the identification of beneficiaries
1. Member States shall ensure that beneficiaries provide in the aid applications and payment claims the information necessary for their identification, including, where applicable, the identification of the group, as defined in Article 2(11) of Directive 2013/34/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 24 ) in which they participate as of a certain date to be set by the Member State. That information shall include at least:
(a)
name of the entity;
(b)
VAT or tax identification number;
(c)
name of the parent entity and VAT or tax identification number;
(d)
ultimate parent and VAT or tax identification number;
(e)
subsidiaries and VAT or tax identification numbers.
The information referred to in the first subparagraph may be used when drawing up the check sample referred to in Article 60(1), second subparagraph, of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116. The information may, in particular, be used to carry out checks as regards circumvention as referred to in Article 62 of that Regulation.
2. The information on the identification of groups as referred in paragraph 1, first subparagraph, points (a), (b) and (c), shall be published ex-post by the Member State, in accordance with Article 98 of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116.
Requirements for the data-mining tool
1. In order to make use on a voluntary basis of the data-mining tool referred to in Article 59(2) of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116 to be made available by the Commission for the checks under Article 60 of that Regulation, Member States shall ensure that:
(a)
the management and control systems, including the integrated administration and control system referred to in Article 65(1) of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116, can be linked electronically to the tool and, in order to minimise the administrative burden and manual intervention, the exchange of data shall be automatic and in machine-readable format;
(b)
the information and the checks performed with the data-mining tool can automatically fed back to the management and control systems, and can be recorded and stored there.
2. Where the Member State decides to use the information collected under Article 44 of this Regulation when drawing up the check sample referred to in Article 60(1), second subparagraph, of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116, the information may be verified by means of that data-mining tool.
Section 2 — Scrutiny of transactions
Scrutiny by Member States
1. The systematic scrutiny of the commercial documents of undertakings referred to in Article 77(1) of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116 shall apply, for each period of scrutiny referred to in paragraph 4 of this Article, to a number of undertakings which may not be less than half the undertakings whose receipts or payments, or the sum thereof, under the system of financing by the EAGF, exceeded EUR 150 000 for the EAGF financial year preceding the beginning of the period of scrutiny in question.
2. In relation to each scrutiny period, Member States shall, without prejudice to their obligations laid down in Article 77(1) of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116, select the undertakings to be scrutinised on the basis of a risk analysis for all measures where it is practicable to do so. Member States shall communicate to the Commission the risk analysis as part of the control plan referred in Article 80(1) of that Regulation.
3. For measures for which a Member State considers the use of a risk analysis not to be practicable, it shall be compulsory to scrutinise undertakings which receive payments exceeding EUR 350 000 within the system of financing by the EAGF and which were not scrutinised in accordance with this Regulation and Title IV, Chapter III, of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116 during either of the two preceding scrutiny periods.
4. The scrutiny period shall run from 1 July to 30 June of the following year.
Mutual assistance
Member States shall send a request for mutual assistance referred to in Article 79 of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116 to each Member State in which an undertaking as referred to in that Article is established. The request shall contain all the details necessary to enable the Member State of destination to identify the undertakings and to undertake its scrutiny obligations. The Member State of destination shall be responsible for the scrutiny of such undertakings in accordance with Article 77 of that Regulation.
Annual control plans and reports
1. The control plan for scrutiny and the report referred to in Article 80 of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116 shall be drawn up in accordance with the specimen form set out in Annexes VI and VII to this Regulation.
2. The information to be submitted under this Article shall be communicated in electronic form.
3. The Commission shall inform annually the Member States of the results of the scrutiny.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
