Commission Regulation (EU) No 80/2010 of 28 January 2010 amending Regulation (EC) No 718/2007 implementing Council Regulation (EC) No 1085/2006 establishing an instrument for pre-accession assistance (IPA)

Within the overall framework defined by the structures and authorities as set out in Article 21, the functions described in Article 28 may be grouped and assigned to specific bodies within or outside the operating structures designated. This grouping and assignation shall respect the appropriate segregation of duties imposed by Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 and ensure that the final responsibility for the functions described in the said Article shall remain with designated operating structure. Such a structure shall be formalised in written agreements and shall be subject to accreditation by the national authorising officer and the conferral of management by the Commission.’;

Any interest earned on any of the component-specific euro accounts opened by the national fund in the event of decentralised management remains the property of the beneficiary country. Interest generated by the financing by the Community of a programme shall be posted exclusively to that programme, being regarded as a resource for the beneficiary country in the form of a national public contribution, and shall be declared to the Commission, at the time of the final closure of the programme.’;

In the case of centralised and joint management, the Commission may undertake any actions it deems necessary to monitor the programmes concerned. In the case of joint management, these actions may be carried out jointly with the international organisation(s) concerned. The national IPA coordinator may be associated with the monitoring actions.’;

In the case of participation in Community programmes and agencies, implementation shall consist in the payment, to the programme and agency budget, of the part of the financial contribution of the beneficiary country which is financed under IPA. The payment shall be made by the national fund in the case of decentralised management and by ministries or other public bodies concerned in the beneficiary countries in the case of centralised management. In the latter case, there will be no pre-financing payments of the Community contribution by the Commission.’;

1 Programmes under the transition assistance and institution building component shall be subject to ex-ante as well as interim and/or ex-post evaluation, in accordance with Article 57.

2 Prior to the conferral of management powers on the beneficiary country, all evaluations shall be carried out by the Commission. After the conferral of management powers, the beneficiary country shall be responsible for carrying out interim evaluation, as appropriate, without prejudice to the Commission’s rights to perform any ad-hoc evaluations it deems necessary. Responsibility for ex-ante and ex-post evaluations shall remain with the Commission even after the conferral of management powers, without prejudice to the beneficiary country’s right to carry out any such evaluations as it deems necessary.

3 In line with Article 22 of the IPA Regulation, the relevant evaluation reports shall be sent to the IPA Committee for discussion.’;

1 For cross-border programmes concerning the cooperation referred to under Article 86(1)(a), the final beneficiaries of an operation shall appoint a lead beneficiary among themselves prior to the submission of the proposal for the operation. The lead beneficiary shall be established in one of the participating countries and shall assume the following responsibilities: (a) it shall lay down the arrangements for its relations with the final beneficiaries participating in the operation in an agreement comprising, inter alia, provisions guaranteeing the sound financial management of the funds allocated to the operation, including the arrangements for recovering amounts unduly paid; (b) it shall be responsible for ensuring the implementation of the entire operation; (c) it shall be responsible for transferring the Community contribution to the final beneficiaries participating in the operation; (d) it shall ensure that the expenditure presented by the final beneficiaries participating in the operation has been paid for the purpose of implementing the operation and corresponds to the activities agreed between the final beneficiaries participating in the operation; (e) it shall verify that the expenditure presented by the final beneficiaries participating in the operation has been validated by the controllers referred to in Article 108.

2 For cross-border programmes concerning cooperation referred to under Article 86(1)(a) implemented under the transitional arrangements laid down in Article 99: (a) the final beneficiaries of an operation in the participating Member States shall appoint a lead beneficiary among themselves prior to the submission of the proposal for the operation. The lead beneficiary shall be established in one of the participating Member States and shall assume the responsibilities under points (a) to (e) of paragraph 1 for the part of the operation taking place in the Member States; (b) the final beneficiaries of an operation in each participating beneficiary country shall appoint a lead beneficiary among themselves prior to the submission of the proposal for the operation. The lead beneficiaries shall be established in the respective participating beneficiary country and shall assume the responsibilities listed under points (a) to (d) of paragraph 1 for the part of the operation taking place in the respective country. The lead beneficiaries of the participating Member States and beneficiary countries shall ensure a close coordination of the implementation of the operation.

3 For cross-border programmes concerning cooperation referred to under Article 86(1)(b), the final beneficiaries of an operation in each participating beneficiary country shall appoint a lead beneficiary among themselves prior to the submission of the proposal for an operation. The lead beneficiaries shall be established in the respective participating beneficiary country and shall assume the responsibilities listed under points (a) to (d) of paragraph 1 for the part of the operation taking place in the respective country. The lead beneficiaries of the participating beneficiary countries shall ensure a close coordination of the implementation of the operation.

4 Each final beneficiary participating in the operation is responsible for irregularities in the expenditure which it has declared.’;

The provisions laid down in Article 40(9) apply mutatis mutandis.’;

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