Modification of Commission Implementing Regulation No.1828/2006 - Simplifying and clarifying provisions

1. Modification of Commission Implementing Regulation No 1828/2006Lucie ŽáčkováDG REGIO, Unit D1CoordinationLeif HognasDG REGIO, Unit J1 Coordination of audit Train the Trainers European Commission Seminar for managing and certifying authorities Brussels, 09 June 2009

2. The general objectives of the modification • To simplify and clarify the existing provisions based on the experience to-date • To adapt the text to the changes recently made in the General and Fund-specific Regulations • To correct technical errors

3. Publicity and information issues • Article 8: More flexibility in fulfilling the publicity requirements in case of purchase of a physical object • Article 9: Activities implemented via a few operations of different funds: possibility of one visual identity for operations • Annex I: Correction of a technical mistake

4. Financial engineering (Articles 43 - 46) • Simplification of the provision on a business plan • Clarification about the possibility to combine grants and support from financial engineering instruments to the same enterprise, PPP or other urban project • Increase of eligible management costs by 0.5% for outermost regions

5. Eligibility issues Article 47 on housing interventions • Aligning with changes of ERDF regulation: • Deletion of reference to energy efficiency • More flexibility: • criteria for selection of areas: one criteria instead of three • no need to define benchmarking values • deletion of definition of "common parts“

6. Eligibility issues (cont.) Rules for ETC programmes: • Article 50: Expenditure by public authorities relating to the implementation of operation • Clarification of “additional costs” to make clear that they must derive directly from the operation • Article 52:Overheads • The Article will only apply for operations selected before the date of entry into force of the amendment and if MS does not use the provision of the revised ERDF regulation

7. Financial issuesAnnex X • Simplifying information in the statement of expenditure: • no reporting on annual breakdown of the total certified eligible expenditure as not relevant for the Commission • no need to include expenditure on operations subject to partial closure as it is provided in Annex XIV • deletion of the reference to major projects (for interim payments only) in the light of the changes in Article 56 of General Regulation • clarification regarding the interests received

8. Financial issues (cont.)Annex XIV • Simplifying information in the statement of expenditure for partial closure: • Deleting the reference to transitional support as not needed • Aligning with the information and template required in Annex X

9. Annual and final reporting(Annex XVIII) • Clarification on the use of physical indicators by explaining the information required at the level of achievements, baseline and targets • No need for separate reporting on private expenditure as not required by General Regulation • Clarifying reporting on publicity and information measures by deleting unnecessary information and aligning it with Article 4

10. Annual and final reporting (cont.)(Annex XVIII) • Improving reporting on major projects by specifying which information is required : • ongoing major projects: timetable, financing • completed major projects: date of completion, total final costs, key output and result indicators

11. Information on major projects (Annex XX to XXII) • Annex XX: • Reduction of the number of structured data to be encoded as limited relevance or provided somewhere else • Use of core indicators to strengthen the reporting mechanisms • Annex XXI and XXII: • Use of infrastructure form for all types of projects, including where state aid is involved • Clarification of the funding gap methodology in line with the existing guidance (Article 55 and CBA guide) • Reporting on expenditure certified before submission of the application to the Commission (recovery plan)

12. Reporting procedure on irregularities

13. Reporting procedure on irrecoverable amounts

14. Management and audit issues: co-operation with Member States • Articles 33, 35: -streamlining contacts with MS on irregularities by merging the provisions in articles 33 and 35 to avoid overlaps between various committees dealing with irregularities. -as a result, Article 35 is cancelled

15. Audit issuesClarification of rules for ETC programmes • Article 13 paragraphs 2, 3 and 4 modified to add reference to “relevant controllers” for ETC in relation to management verifications • Article 18 paragraphs 2 and 3 modified to make clear that the closure declaration for an ETC programme covers the whole programme and all expenditure

16. Audit issuesSampling in case of small populations Annex IV is modified by the addition of a paragraph 5 to cover the case where the number of operations is to small to allow a statistical sampling method. In line with the guidance document on sampling, it is stated that: • a non-statistical method may be used • the method must ensure random selection • the size of the sample must be based on level of assurance from system and be sufficient for AA to draw valid conclusions

17. Audit issuesList of data on operations: Annex III • Deletion of unnecessary information • Aligning with the new provisions in the Fund-specific regulations (simplified costs) • Clarification of fields linked to financial management to align it with the wording of the respective provisions in the General and the Implementing Regulations