Legal provisions of COM(2009)384 - Amendment of Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 concerning general provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund and the Cohesion Fund as regards simplification of certain requirements and as regards certain provisions relating to financial management

Please note

This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.

dossier COM(2009)384 - Amendment of Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 concerning general provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the ...
document COM(2009)384 EN
date June 16, 2010

Contents

Article 1

Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 is hereby amended as follows:

(1)Article 39 is replaced by the following:

‘Article 39

Content

As part of an operational programme or operational programmes, the ERDF and the Cohesion Fund may finance expenditure comprising a series of works, activities or services intended in itself to accomplish an indivisible task of a precise economic or technical nature which has clearly identified goals and whose total cost exceeds EUR 50 million (hereinafter a major project).’;

(2)Article 40 is amended as follows:

(a)in the first paragraph, the introductory part is replaced by the following:

‘The Member State or the managing authorities shall provide the Commission with the following information on major projects:’,

(b)point (d) is replaced by the following:

‘(d)a timetable for implementing the major project and, where the implementation period is expected to be longer than the programming period, the phases for which Union co-financing is requested during the 2007 to 2013 programming period;’;

(3)in Article 41, paragraphs 1 and 2 are replaced by the following:

‘1.   The Commission shall appraise the major project, if necessary consulting outside experts, including the EIB, in the light of the factors referred to in Article 40, its consistency with the priorities of the operational programme or programmes concerned, its contribution to achieving the goals of those priorities and its consistency with other Union policies.

2. The Commission shall adopt a decision as soon as possible but no later than three months after the submission by the Member State or the managing authority of a major project, provided that it is submitted in accordance with Article 40. That decision shall define the physical object, the amount to which the co-financing rate for the priority axis of the operational programme or programmes concerned applies, and the annual plan or plans of financial contribution from the ERDF or the Cohesion Fund.’;

(4)Article 44 is amended as follows:

(a)the first paragraph is replaced by the following:

‘As part of an operational programme, the Structural Funds may finance expenditure in respect of an operation comprising contributions to support any of the following:

(a)financial engineering instruments for enterprises, primarily small and medium-sized ones, such as venture capital funds, guarantee funds and loan funds;

(b)urban development funds, that is, funds investing in public-private partnerships and other projects included in an integrated plan for sustainable urban development;

(c)funds or other incentive schemes providing loans, guarantees for repayable investments, or equivalent instruments, for energy efficiency and use of renewable energy in buildings, including in existing housing.’,

(b)in the second paragraph, the introductory part is replaced by the following:

‘Where such operations are organised through holding funds, that is, funds set up to invest in several venture capital funds, guarantee funds, loan funds, urban development funds, funds or other incentive schemes providing loans, guarantees for repayable investments, or equivalent instruments, for energy efficiency and use of renewable energy in buildings, including in existing housing, the Member State or the managing authority shall implement them through one or more of the following forms:’;

(5)Article 48(3) is replaced by the following:

‘3.   During the programming period, Member States shall carry out evaluations linked to the monitoring of operational programmes in particular where that monitoring reveals a significant departure from the goals initially set. Where proposals are made for the revision of operational programmes, as referred to in Article 33, analyses shall be provided on the reasons for the revision, including any implementation difficulties, and the expected impact of the revision, including that on the strategy of the operational programme. The results of such evaluations or analyses shall be sent to the monitoring committee for the operational programme and to the Commission.’;

(6)in Article 55, paragraphs 3 and 4 are replaced by the following:

‘3.   Where it is objectively not possible to estimate the revenue in advance, the net revenue generated within five years of the completion of an operation shall be deducted from the expenditure declared to the Commission.

4. Where it is established that an operation has generated net revenue that has not been taken into account under paragraphs 2 and 3, such net revenue shall be deducted by the certifying authority at the latest on submission of the documents for the operational programme referred to in Article 89(1)(a). The application for payment of the final balance shall be corrected accordingly.’;

(7)in Article 56(3), the second subparagraph is replaced by the following:

‘Where a new category of expenditure as referred to in Table 1 of Part A of Annex II to Commission Regulation (EC) No 1828/2006 (8) is added at the time of the revision of an operational programme referred to in Article 33 of this Regulation, any expenditure falling under such category shall be eligible from the date of the submission to the Commission of the request for revision of the operational programme.

(8)Article 57 is amended as follows:

(a)paragraph 1 is replaced by the following:

‘1.   The Member State or managing authority shall ensure that an operation comprising investment in infrastructure or productive investment retains the contribution from the Funds only if it does not, within five years from its completion, undergo a substantial modification which is caused by a change in the nature of ownership of an item of infrastructure or the cessation of a productive activity and which affects the nature or the implementation conditions of the operation or gives to a firm or a public body an undue advantage.

Actions falling within the scope of assistance from the ESF shall be considered as not having retained the contribution only where they are subject to an obligation for maintenance of investment under the applicable rules on State aid within the meaning of Article 107 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and where they undergo a substantial modification as a result of the cessation of productive activity within the period laid down in those rules.

Member States may reduce the time limit set out in the first subparagraph to three years in cases concerning the maintenance of investments by small and medium-sized enterprises.’,

(b)the following paragraph is added:

‘5.   Paragraphs 1 to 4 shall not apply to any operation which undergoes a substantial modification as a result of the cessation of the productive activity due to a non-fraudulent bankruptcy.’;

(9)in Article 67(2), point (b) is replaced by the following:

‘(b)quantification of the financial indicators referred to in Article 66(2) expressing the cumulative financial implementation of the operational programme, detailing for each priority axis the following:

(i)the total amount of certified eligible expenditure paid by beneficiaries and the corresponding public contribution;

(ii)the ratio between the total amount of certified eligible expenditure paid by the beneficiaries and the total funding of the programme including Union funding and national counterpart.

Where appropriate, financial implementation in areas receiving transitional support shall be presented separately within each operational programme;’;

(10)Article 78 is amended as follows:

(a)in paragraph 2:

(i)point (a) is replaced by the following:

‘(a)they shall be subject to a guarantee provided by a bank or other financial institution established in a Member State;’;

(ii)the following subparagraph is added:

‘A facility provided as a guarantee by a public entity or by the Member State itself shall be considered equivalent to a guarantee referred to in point (a) in the first subparagraph.’,

(b)in paragraph 6:

(i)point (d) is replaced by the following:

‘(d)eligible management costs or fees; and’;

(ii)the following point is added:

‘(e)any loans or guarantees for repayable investments from funds or other incentive schemes providing loans, guarantees for repayable investments, or equivalent instruments, for energy efficiency and use of renewable energy in buildings, including in existing housing.’,

(c)paragraph 7 is replaced by the following:

‘7.   Interest generated by payments from operational programmes to funds as defined in Article 44 shall be used to finance any of the following:

(a)urban development projects in the case of urban development funds;

(b)financial engineering instruments for small and medium-sized enterprises;

(c)in the case of funds or other incentive schemes providing loans, guarantees for repayable investments, or equivalent instruments, for energy efficiency and use of renewable energy in buildings, including in existing housing.

Resources returned to the operation from investments undertaken by funds as defined in Article 44 or left over after all guarantees have been honoured shall be reused by the competent authorities of the Member States concerned for the benefit of urban development projects, of small and medium-sized enterprises or for energy efficiency and use of renewable energy in buildings, including in existing housing.’;

(11)Article 82(1) is amended as follows:

(a)in the second subparagraph, the following point is added:

‘(f)for Member States that were granted loans in 2009 in accordance with Council Regulation (EC) No 332/2002 of 18 February 2002 establishing a facility providing medium-term assistance for Member States' balances of payments (9) or for Member States with a decrease in GDP in 2009 of more than 10 % in real terms in comparison to 2008: in 2010, 2 % of the contribution from the Cohesion Fund and 4 % of the contribution from the ESF to the operational programme.

(b)the following subparagraph is added:

‘For the purpose of applying the criteria referred to in point (f) of the second subparagraph, GDP figures shall be based on Community statistics published in November 2009 (10).

(12)in Article 88(3), the following subparagraph is added:

‘However, in cases where irregularities in operations which have been subject to a declaration of partial closure are detected by the Member State, Article 98(2) and (3) shall apply. The statement of expenditure referred to in paragraph 2(a) of this Article shall be adjusted accordingly.’;

(13)Article 93 is amended as follows:

(a)paragraph 1 is replaced by the following:

‘1.   The Commission shall automatically decommit any part of the amount calculated in accordance with the second subparagraph in an operational programme that has not been used for payment of the pre-financing or interim payments or for which an application for payment has not been sent in conformity with Article 86 by 31 December of the second year following the year of budget commitment under the programme, with the exception mentioned in paragraph 2.

For the purpose of the automatic decommitment, the Commission shall calculate the amount by adding one sixth of the annual budget commitment related to the 2007 total annual contribution to each of the 2008 to 2013 budget commitments.’,

(b)the following paragraph is inserted:

‘2a.   By way of derogation from the first subparagraph of paragraph 1 and from paragraph 2, the deadlines for automatic decommitment shall not apply to the annual budget commitment related to the 2007 total annual contribution.’;

(14)Article 94 is replaced by the following:

‘Article 94

Period of interruption for major projects and aid schemes

1. Where the Member State submits a major project application which meets all the requirements laid down in Article 40, the amounts potentially concerned by automatic decommitment shall be reduced by the annual amounts concerned by such major projects.

Where the Commission takes a decision to authorise an aid scheme, the amounts potentially concerned by automatic decommitment shall be reduced by the annual amounts concerned by such aid schemes.

2. For the annual amounts referred to in paragraph 1, the starting date for the calculation of the automatic decommitment deadlines referred to in Article 93 shall be the date of the subsequent decision necessary in order to authorise such major projects or aid schemes.’.

Article 2 - Transitional measures

In order to meet the exceptional circumstances of the transition to the decommitment rules introduced by this Regulation, appropriations which have been cancelled because of decommitments made by the Commission for the financial year 2007 in the implementation of Article 93(1) and Article 97 of Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 as amended by Regulation (EC) No 284/2009, pursuant to Article 11 of the Financial Regulation, shall be reconstituted to the extent necessary for the implementation of the second subparagraph of Article 93(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 as amended by this Regulation.

Article 3 - Entry into force

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

However, Article 1(5) and (7) shall apply from 1 August 2006, points (8), (10)(a), (10)(b)(i), (13) and (14) of Article 1 shall apply from 1 January 2007 and points (4), (10)(b)(ii) and (10)(c) of Article 1 shall apply from 10 June 2009.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.