Automatic decommitment for rural development programmes
Article 38
1. The Commission shall automatically decommit any portion of a budget commitment for a rural development programme that has not been used for the purpose of prefinancing or for making interim payments or for which no declaration of expenditure fulfilling the requirements laid down in Article 36(3) has been presented to it in relation to expenditure effected by 31 December of the third year following that of the budget commitment. 2. The part of budget commitments that is still open on the last eligibility date for expenditure as referred to in Article 65(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 for which no declaration of expenditure has been made within six months of that date shall be automatically decommitted. 3. In the event of legal proceedings or of an administrative appeal having suspensory effect, the period for automatic decommitment referred to in paragraph 1 or paragraph 2 shall, in respect of the amount relating to the operations concerned, be interrupted for the duration of those proceedings or that administrative appeal, provided that the Commission receives a substantiated notification from the Member State by 31 December of year N + 3. 4. The following shall be disregarded in calculating the automatic decommitment: (a) that part of the budget commitments for which a declaration of expenditure has been made but for which reimbursement has been reduced or suspended by the Commission at 31 December of year N + 3; (b) that part of the budget commitments which a paying agency has been unable to disburse for reasons of force majeure seriously affecting the implementation of the rural development programme. National authorities claiming force majeure shall demonstrate the direct consequences on the implementation of all or part of the programme. By 31 January, the Member State shall send to the Commission information on the exceptions referred to in the first subparagraph concerning the amounts declared by the end of the preceding year. 5. The Commission shall inform Member States in good time if there is a risk of automatic decommitment. It shall inform them of the amount involved as indicated by the information in its possession. The Member States shall have two months from receiving this information to agree to the amount in question or present observations. The Commission shall carry out the automatic decommitment not later than nine months after the last time-limit resulting from the application of paragraphs 1 to 3. 6. In the event of automatic decommitment, the EAFRD contribution to the rural development programme concerned shall be reduced, for the year in question, by the amount automatically decommitted. The Member State shall produce a revised financing plan splitting the reduction of the aid between the measures for approval by the Commission. If it does not do so, the Commission shall reduce the amounts allocated to each measure pro rata.