Certification
Article 5
1. The competent authority shall designate the certification body provided for in Article 12 of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116. Where there is more than one certification body in a Member State, that Member State may designate a public certification body at the national level to be responsible for coordination. 2. The certification body shall organise its work in an effective and efficient manner, and carry out its checks within an appropriate time frame, taking into account the nature and the timing of the transactions for the financial year concerned. 3. The opinion to be provided by the certification body in accordance with Article 12(1) of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116 shall be drawn up annually. That opinion shall be based on the audit work to be carried out in accordance with Articles 6 and 7 of this Regulation. 4. The certification body shall draw up a report of its findings. The report shall also cover the delegated functions of the paying agency in accordance with Section 1.(D) of Annex I to Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/127. The report shall state whether, for the period covered by the report: (a) the paying agency complied with the accreditation criteria; (b) the paying agency’s procedures were such as to give reasonable assurance that the expenditure charged to the Funds was effected in compliance with Union rules, thus ensuring that: (i) as regards the types of intervention referred to in Regulation (EU) 2021/2115, the expenditure has corresponding reported output and that it has been effected in accordance with the applicable governance systems, and that recommendations for improvements, if any, have been followed up; (ii) the underlying transactions were legal and regular, as regards the measures laid down in Regulations (EU) No 228/2013, (EU) No 229/2013, (EU) No 1308/2013 and Regulation (EU) No 1144/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 13 ) , 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, and that recommendations for improvements, if any, have been followed up; (c) the performance reporting on output indicators for the purpose of the annual performance clearance referred to in Article 54 of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116 and the performance reporting on result indicators for the multiannual performance monitoring referred to in Article 134 of Regulation (EU) 2021/2115, demonstrating that Article 37 of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116 is complied with, was correct; (d) the annual accounts referred to in Article 33 of this Regulation were kept in accordance with the books and records of the paying agency; (e) the statements of expenditure and of public intervention operations were a materially true, complete and accurate record of the operations charged to the Funds; (f) the financial interests of the Union were properly protected as regards advances paid, guarantees obtained, intervention stocks and amounts to be collected. The report shall include information on the number and qualifications of staff conducting the audit, the work done, the systems examined, the level of materiality and confidence obtained where applicable, any weaknesses found and recommendations made for improvement and the operations of both the certification body and other audit bodies, internal and external to the paying agency, from which all or part of the certification body’s assurance on the matters reported was gained.