CHAPTER VII

The Commission decisions approving Interreg programmes pursuant to Article 18 of this Regulation shall meet the requirements necessary to constitute financing decisions within the meaning of Article 110(2) of the Financial Regulation with regard to the ERDF and the support by an external financing instrument of the Union under shared management. The ERDF contribution and, where applicable, the support from external financing instruments of the Union to each Interreg programme shall be paid, in accordance with Article 47(2), into a single account with no national subaccounts. The Commission shall pay a pre-financing based on the total support from each Interreg fund, as set out in the decision approving each Interreg programme pursuant to Article 18, subject to available funds, in yearly instalments as follows and before 1 July of the years 2022 to 2026, or, in the year of the approving decision, not later than 60 days after that decision is adopted: 2021: 1 %; 2022: 1 %; 2023: 3 %; 2024: 3 %; 2025: 3 %; 2026: 3 %. Where Interreg programmes are supported by the ERDF and IPA III CBC and where the contribution from the ERDF is 50 % or less of the total Union allocation, the Commission shall pay a pre-financing in accordance with the relevant provision of the IPA III Regulation. Where Interreg programmes are supported by the ERDF and either NDICI or both NDICI and IPA III, and where the contribution from the ERDF is 50 % or less of the total Union allocation, the Commission shall pay a pre-financing in accordance with Article 22(5) of Regulation (EU) 2021/947, taking into account the actual financial needs. Articles 96 and 97 of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 shall apply mutatis mutandis to the pre-financing pursuant to the first subparagraph of this paragraph. The amount paid as pre-financing shall be cleared from the Commission accounts each year for 2021 and 2022 and not later than with the final accounting year for 2023 and subsequent years as well as for amounts paid as pre-financing set out pursuant to paragraphs 3 and 4. The managing authority shall ensure that any amount paid as a result of an irregularity is recovered from the lead or sole partner. Partners shall repay to the lead partner any amounts unduly paid. The Member States, third countries, partner countries or OCTs participating in a given Interreg programme may decide that the lead or sole partner and the programme’s managing authority are not obliged to recover an amount unduly paid that does not exceed EUR 250, not including interest, in contribution from any of the Interreg funds to an operation in an accounting year. No information needs to be provided to the Commission beyond the information about making a decision pursuant to the first subparagraph. Where the lead partner does not succeed in securing repayment from other partners or where the managing authority does not succeed in securing repayment from the lead or sole partner, the Member State, third country, partner country or OCT on whose territory the partner concerned is located or, in the case of an EGTC, is registered, shall reimburse the managing authority any amounts unduly paid to that partner. The managing authority shall be responsible for reimbursing the amounts concerned to the general budget of the Union, in accordance with the apportionment of liabilities among the participating Member States, third countries, partner countries or OCTs set out in the Interreg programme. Once the Member State, third country, partner country or OCT has reimbursed the managing authority any amounts unduly paid to a partner, it may continue or start a recovery procedure against that partner pursuant to its national law. In the event of successful recovery, the Member State, third country, partner country or OCT may use those amounts for the national co-financing of the Interreg programme concerned. The Member State, third country, partner country or OCT shall not have any reporting obligations towards the programme authorities, the monitoring committee or the Commission with regard to such national recoveries. Where a Member State, third country, partner country or OCT has not reimbursed the managing authority any amounts unduly paid to a partner pursuant to paragraph 4 of this Article, those amounts shall be subject to a recovery order issued by the Commission which shall be executed, where possible, by offsetting to the Member State, third country, partner country or OCT, respectively. Such recovery shall not constitute a financial correction and shall not reduce the support from the ERDF or any external financing instrument of the Union to the respective Interreg programme. The amount recovered shall constitute assigned revenue in accordance with Article 21(3) of the Financial Regulation. With regard to amounts not reimbursed to the managing authority by a Member State, the offsetting shall concern subsequent payments to the same Interreg programme. The managing authority shall then offset with regard to that Member State in accordance with the apportionment of liabilities among the participating Member States set out in the Interreg programme in the event of financial corrections imposed by the managing authority or the Commission. With regard to amounts not reimbursed to the managing authority by a third country, partner country or OCT, the offsetting shall concern subsequent payments to programmes under the respective external financing instruments of the Union.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-11-02 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.