Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/2773 of 13 December 2023 correcting Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/128 as regards certain provisions for EAGF and EAFRD for audit methods, the scrutiny of transactions and the management declaration

• CELEX: Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/2773
• Articles: 3

Article 1

Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/128 is corrected as follows:

(1)

Article 7(4) is replaced by the following:

‘4.   Substantive testing of expenditure shall cover the verification of legality and regularity of the underlying transactions at the level of the final beneficiaries as regards the measures laid down in Regulations (EU) No 228/2013, (EU) No 229/2013, (EU) No 1308/2013 and (EU) No 1144/2014, as well as for the crop-specific payment for cotton and support for early retirement under Title III, Chapter II, Section 3, Subsection 2, and Article 155(2), respectively, of Regulation (EU) 2021/2115. For those purposes, the certification body may accompany the paying agency when it carries out secondary level on-the-spot checks. The certification body shall not accompany the paying agency when it carries out initial on-the-spot checks, with the exception of those situations where it would be physically impossible to re-verify the initial check carried out by the paying agency.’

;

(2)

in Article 64, second paragraph, in point (a), the introductory sentence is replaced by the following:

‘Article 2, Article 3(1), first subparagraph, Article 3(2), Article 4(1), point (b), Articles 5, 6 and 7, Articles 21 to 25, Articles 27, 28 and 29, Article 30(1), points (a), (b) and (c), Article 30(2), (3) and (4), and Articles 31 to 40 of that Implementing Regulation shall continue to apply:’;

(3)

Annex I is replaced by the text in the Annex to this Regulation.

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union .

It shall apply from 1 January 2023.

Schedules & Appendices

ANNEX

ANNEX

‘ANNEX I

Management declaration – Paying Agency as referred to in Article 4

I, …, Director of the … Paying Agency, present the accounts for this Paying Agency for the financial year 16/10/xx to 15/10/xx+1.

I declare, based on my own judgement and on the information at my disposal, including, inter alia, the results of work of the internal audit service, that:

—

the accounts presented give, to the best of my knowledge, a true, complete and accurate view of the expenditure and receipts for the financial year referred to above. In particular, all debts, advances, guarantees and stocks known to me have been recorded in the accounts, and all receipts collected relating to the EAGF and the EAFRD have been properly credited to the appropriate funds;

—

I have put in place a system which provides reasonable assurance:

(i)

that payments are legal and regular in relation to expenditure incurred and payments made for support schemes under Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013 in respect of the calendar year 2022 and before; as regards the measures laid down in Regulations (EU) No 228/2013, (EU) No 229/2013, (EU) No 1308/2013 and (EU) No 1144/2014; for aid schemes referred to in Article 5(6), first subparagraph, point (c), and Article 5(7) of Regulation (EU) 2021/2117 of the European Parliament and of the Council in relation to expenditure incurred and payments made for operations implemented pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 after 31 December 2022 and until the end of those aid schemes; and as regards the EAFRD, in relation to expenditure incurred by the beneficiaries and payments made by the paying agency in the framework of the implementation of rural development programmes pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 1305/2013;

(ii)

that the governance systems as referred to in Article 9(3), first subparagraph, point (d)(ii), of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116 are functioning properly and ensure that the expenditure was made in accordance with Article 37 of that Regulation;

(iii)

on the quality and reliability of the reporting system and of data on indicator as regards types of interventions referred to in Regulation (EU) 2021/2115 and that the expenditure matches the corresponding reported output and that it has been effected in accordance with the applicable governance systems.

The expenditure entered in the accounts was used for its intended purpose, as defined in Regulation (EU) 2021/2116.

Furthermore, I confirm that effective and proportionate anti-fraud measures under Article 59 of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116 are in place and take account of the risks identified.

That assurance is, however, subject to the following reservations:

Finally, I confirm that I am not aware of any undisclosed matter which could be damaging to the financial interest of the Union.

Signature

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