CHAPTER 2

For each year from 2016 until and including 2025, Member States shall submit to the Commission by the deadline set out in Article 59(5) of the Financial Regulation, the following documents referred to in that Article, namely: the accounts referred to in Article 49(1) of this Regulation, for the preceding accounting year; the management declaration and the annual summary referred to in point (e) of Article 32(4) of this Regulation, for the preceding accounting year; the audit opinion and the control report referred to in points (a) and (b) of Article 34(5) of this Regulation for the preceding accounting year. The accounts referred to in point (a) of the first subparagraph of Article 59(5) of the Financial Regulation shall be submitted to the Commission for each operational programme. The accounts shall cover the accounting year and shall include the following: the total amount of eligible public expenditure entered into the accounting systems of the certifying authority which has been included in payment applications submitted to the Commission, in accordance with Article 41 and Article 45(2), by 31 July following the end of the accounting year, the total amount of the corresponding eligible public expenditure incurred in implementing operations, and the total amount of corresponding payments made to beneficiaries under Article 42(2); the amounts withdrawn and recovered during the accounting year, the amounts to be recovered as at the end of the accounting year and the irrecoverable amounts; a reconciliation between the expenditure stated pursuant to point (a) and the expenditure declared in respect of the same accounting year in payment applications, accompanied by an explanation of any differences. Where expenditure previously included in an application for interim payment for the accounting year is excluded by a Member State from its accounts, due to an ongoing assessment of that expenditure's legality and regularity, any or all of that expenditure subsequently found to be legal and regular may be included in an application for interim payment relating to subsequent accounting years. The Commission shall, in order to lay down uniform conditions for the implementation of this Article, adopt implementing acts setting out the model for the accounts referred to in this Article. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 63(3). By 31 May of the year following the end of the accounting period, the Commission shall, in accordance with Article 59(6) of the Financial Regulation, carry out an examination of the documents submitted by the Member State under Article 48 of this Regulation. Upon request by the Commission, the Member State shall provide all necessary additional information to enable the Commission to determine whether the accounts are complete, accurate and true by the deadline set out in the first subparagraph of this paragraph. The Commission shall accept the accounts where it is able to conclude that the accounts are complete, accurate and true. The Commission shall reach such a conclusion where the audit authority has provided an unqualified audit opinion regarding the completeness, accuracy and veracity of the accounts unless the Commission has specific evidence that the audit opinion on the accounts is unreliable. The Commission shall inform the Member State by the deadline set out in paragraph 1 whether it is able to accept the accounts. If for reasons attributable to Member State, the Commission is unable to accept the accounts by the deadline set out in paragraph 1 the Commission shall notify the Member States specifying the reasons in accordance with paragraph 2 and the actions which are required to be undertaken and the time period for their completion. At the end of that period the Commission shall inform the Member State whether it is able to accept the accounts. Issues related to legality and regularity of the underlying transactions concerning expenditure entered in the accounts shall not be taken into account for the purposes of acceptance of the accounts by the Commission. The procedure for examination and acceptance of the accounts shall not interrupt the treatment of applications for interim payments and shall not lead to suspension of payments, without prejudice to Articles 46 and 47. On the basis of the accepted accounts the Commission shall calculate the amount chargeable to the Fund for the accounting year and the consequent adjustments in relation to the payments to the Member State. The Commission shall take into account: the amounts in the accounts referred to in point (a) of Article 49(1), and to which the co-financing rate defined in Article 20 is to be applied; the total amount of payments made by the Commission during that accounting year, consisting of the amount of interim payments paid by the Commission in accordance with Article 21 and Article 40(1). After the calculation carried out under paragraph 6 of this Article, the Commission shall pay any additional amount due within 30 days of the acceptance of the accounts. Where there is an amount recoverable from the Member State, it shall be subject to a recovery order issued by the Commission which shall be executed, where possible, by offsetting against amounts due to the Member State under subsequent payments to the same operational programme. Such recovery shall not constitute a financial correction and shall not reduce support from the Fund to the operational programme. The amount recovered shall constitute assigned revenue in accordance with Article 177(3) of the Financial Regulation. Where after applying the procedure set out in paragraph 4, the Commission is unable to accept the accounts, the Commission shall determine, on the basis of the available information and in accordance with paragraph 6, the amount chargeable to the Fund for the accounting year, and shall inform the Member State. Where the Member State notifies the Commission of its agreement within two months of the transmission by the Commission of the information, paragraph 7 shall apply. In the absence of such agreement, the Commission shall adopt a decision, by means of implementing acts, setting out the amount chargeable to the Fund for the accounting year. Such decision shall not constitute a financial correction and shall not reduce support from the Fund to the operational programme. On the basis of the decision, the Commission shall apply the adjustments to the payments to the Member State in accordance with paragraph 7. The acceptance of the accounts by the Commission, or a decision by the Commission under paragraph 8, shall be without prejudice to the application of corrections under Articles 55 and 56. Member States may replace irregular amounts which are detected after the submission of the accounts by making the corresponding adjustments in the accounts for the accounting year in which the irregularity is detected, without prejudice to Articles 55 and 56. The managing authority shall ensure that all supporting documents regarding expenditure supported by the Fund on operations for which the total eligible public expenditure is less than EUR 1000000, are made available to the Commission and the European Court of Auditors upon request for a period of three years from 31 December following the submission of the accounts in which the expenditure of the operation is included. In the case of operations other than those referred to in the first subparagraph, all supporting documents shall be made available for a two year period from 31 December following the submission of the accounts in which the final expenditure of the completed operation is included. A managing authority may decide to apply to operations for which the total eligible expenditure is less than EUR 1000000 the rule referred to in second subparagraph. The time period referred to in the first subparagraph shall be interrupted either in the case of legal proceedings or by a duly justified request of the Commission. The managing authority shall inform beneficiaries of the start date of the period referred to in paragraph 1. The documents shall be kept either in the form of the originals, or certified true copies of the originals, or on commonly accepted data carriers including electronic versions of original documents or documents existing in electronic version only. The documents shall be kept in a form which permits the identification of data subjects for no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which the data were collected or for which they are further processed. The procedure for certification of conformity of documents held on commonly accepted data carriers with the original document shall be laid down by the national authorities and shall ensure that the versions held comply with national legal requirements and can be relied on for audit purposes. Where documents exist in electronic form only, the computer systems used shall meet accepted security standards that ensure that the documents held comply with national legal requirements and can be relied on for audit purposes. In addition to the documents referred to in Article 48, for the final accounting year from 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024, Member States shall submit a final implementation report for the operational programme. The final balance shall be paid no later than three months after the date of acceptance of accounts of the final accounting year or one month after the date of acceptance of the final implementation report, whichever date is later.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-11-01 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.