Admissibility of applications
Article 11
1. An application for support submitted by an operator shall be inadmissible for an identified period of time laid down pursuant to paragraph 4 of this Article, if it has been determined by the competent authority that the operator concerned: (a) has committed serious infringements under Article 42 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1005/2008 ( 30 ) or Article 90 of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009 or under other legislation adopted by the European Parliament and the Council within the framework of the CFP; (b) has been involved in the operation, management or ownership of a fishing vessel included in the Union IUU vessel list as set out in Article 40(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1005/2008, or of a vessel flying the flag of countries identified as non-cooperating third countries as set out in Article 33 of that Regulation; or (c) has committed any of the environmental offences set out in Articles 3 and 4 of Directive 2008/99/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 31 ) , where the application for support is submitted under Article 27 of this Regulation. 2. If any of the situations referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article occurs throughout the period between submitting the application for support and five years after the final payment, the support paid from EMFAF and related to that application shall be recovered from the operator, in accordance with Article 44 of this Regulation and Article 103 of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060. 3. Without prejudice to more far-reaching national rules as agreed on in the Partnership Agreement with the Member State concerned, an application for support submitted by an operator shall be inadmissible for an identified period of time laid down pursuant to paragraph 4 of this Article, if it has been determined through a final decision by the competent authority concerned that the operator has committed fraud, as defined in Article 3 of Directive (EU) 2017/1371, in the context of the EMFF or the EMFAF. 4. The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts, in accordance with Article 62, supplementing this Regulation concerning: (a) the identification of the threshold triggering, and the period of time of, the inadmissibility referred to in paragraphs 1 and 3 of this Article, which shall be proportionate to the nature, gravity, duration and repetition of the serious infringements, offences or fraud committed, and shall be of at least one year’s duration; (b) in accordance with Article 44 of this Regulation and Article 103 of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060, the arrangements for recovering the support granted pursuant to paragraph 2 of this Article, which shall be proportionate to the nature, gravity, duration and repetition of the serious infringements or offences committed; (c) the relevant starting or ending dates of the periods of time referred to in paragraphs 1 and 3 and the conditions for a reduced period of inadmissibility. 5. Member States may apply, in accordance with national rules, a longer inadmissibility period than that laid down pursuant to paragraph 4. Member States may apply an inadmissibility period also to applications for support submitted by operators engaged in inland fishing who have committed serious infringements, as defined by national rules. 6. Member States shall require that operators submitting an application for support under the EMFAF provide to the managing authority a signed statement confirming that they do not fall under any of the situations listed in paragraphs 1 and 3 of this Article. Member States shall verify the veracity of that statement before approving the application, based on the information available in the national registers of infringements referred to in Article 93 of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009, or any other available data. For the purposes of the verification referred to in the first subparagraph of this paragraph, a Member State shall provide, on request from another Member State, the information contained in its national register of infringements referred to in Article 93 of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009.