Council Regulation (EU) 2015/323 of 2 March 2015 on the financial regulation applicable to the 11th European Development Fund

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on European Union and to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to the Partnership Agreement between the members of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States of the one part, and the European Community and its Member States, of the other part, as last amended⁽¹⁾ (‘ACP-EU Partnership Agreement’),

Having regard to the Internal Agreement between the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States of the European Union, meeting within the Council, on the financing of European Union aid under the multiannual financial framework for the period 2014 to 2020, in accordance with the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement, and on the allocation of financial assistance for the Overseas Countries and Territories to which Part Four of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union applies⁽²⁾ (‘the Internal Agreement’), and in particular Article 10(2) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of the Court of Auditors⁽³⁾,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Investment Bank,

Whereas:

1. The detailed rules for the payment of the contributions by the Member States to the 11th European Development Fund (EDF), set up by the Internal Agreement, should be determined.

2. The conditions in accordance with which the Court of Auditors must exercise its powers in respect of the 11th EDF should be laid down.

3. The detailed rules for the financial implementation of the 11th EDF concerning in particular the applicable principles; the constitution of its resources; the financial actors and entities entrusted with budget-implementation tasks; the financing decisions, commitments and payments; the types of financing including procurement, grants, financial instruments and Union trust funds; the presentation of the accounts and accounting; the external audit by the Court of Auditors and discharge by the European Parliament; and the Investment Facility managed by the European Investment Bank (EIB), should be determined.

4. For the sake of simplification and coherence, this Regulation should be aligned, as far as possible, with Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council⁽⁴⁾ and Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1268/2012⁽⁵⁾. Such alignment should be achieved by direct references to those regulations and should, on the one hand, allow for an easy identification of specificities in the financial implementation of the 11th EDF and, on the other hand, reduce the diversity of Union funding rules in the area of external action that creates an unnecessary burden for the recipients, the Commission as well as other actors involved.

5. It should be recalled that the framework for financial implementation of the 11th EDF is constituted, in addition to this Regulation, by several instruments, namely by the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement, in particular its Annex IV, by the Internal Agreement, by Council Decision 2013/755/EU⁽⁶⁾ (‘the Overseas Association Decision’), and by Council Regulation (EU) 2015/322⁽⁷⁾ (‘the Implementation Regulation’).

6. The financial implementation of the 11th EDF should be guided by the principles of unity and budgetary accuracy, unit of account, universality, specification, sound financial management and transparency. Having regard to the multiannual set-up of the 11th EDF, the budgetary principle of annuality should not apply to the 11th EDF.

7. The resources for support measures to improve the impact of the 11th EDF programmes pursuant to Article 6 of the Internal Agreement should also be used to improve financial management and forecasting of the 11th EDF.

8. The rules concerning the financial actors namely the authorising and accounting officers, the delegation of their tasks as well as their liability should be aligned with Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 as the Commission exerts the same executive responsibility when implementing the 11th EDF.

9. Detailed rules should be established in accordance with which the authorising officer empowered by the Commission establishes the necessary arrangements with the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of States (‘the ACP States’) and the overseas countries and territories (‘OCTs’) to ensure the proper execution of operations, in close cooperation with the national, regional, intra-ACP or territorial authorising officer designated by the ACP States or OCTs.

10. The rules on indirect management which entail the entrustment of budget-implementation tasks and of its conditions and limits should be aligned with Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012. In addition, a provision on sub-delegation of budget-implementation tasks reflecting that contained in Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 of the European Parliament and the Council⁽⁸⁾ should be laid down in order to ensure a coherent implementation of funding of external action. This Regulation should nonetheless contain specific provisions on temporary actors acting as the national authorising officer, on entrustment by the ACP States and OCTs to a service provider, and on strengthening the protection of Union financial interests in the case of indirect management with ACP States and OCTs.

11. While EDF resources will not be implemented under shared management, this Regulation should enable that in the framework of regional cooperation between ACP States and OCTs, on the one hand, and the Union's outermost regions, on the other hand, EDF resources and support from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) favouring the Union's outermost regions can be implemented by the same entity in accordance with this Regulation as regards EDF resources and under shared management as regards the ERDF.

12. The provisions on financing decisions should be aligned with those of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 where the Commission implements the 11th EDF.

13. The rules on commitments should be aligned with those of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 with the exception of provisional commitments which should not be available in the 11th EDF. In addition, an extension of deadlines should be provided where it is necessary for actions carried out in indirect management by ACP States or OCTs.

14. The time limits for payments should be aligned with those of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012. Special provisions should be laid down for cases in which ACP States and OCTs are not entrusted with carrying out payments under indirect management and where, consequently, the Commission continues to carry out payments to recipients.

15. Various implementation provisions concerning the internal auditor, good administration and redress, the IT system, electronic transmission, e-Government, the administrative and financial penalties, and the use of the central exclusion database, should be aligned with those of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012. In addition, the protection of Union financial interests through the application of administrative penalties should be strengthened and clarified where the 11th EDF is implemented under indirect management with ACP States and OCTs.

16. The rules on procurement, grants, prizes, and experts should be aligned with those of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012. The rules on financial instruments and Union trust funds should be aligned with adjustments due to the nature of the 11th EDF. Budget support to OCTs should take the institutional links with the Member States concerned into account.

17. Short-term technical assistance and advice which Member States that acceded to the Union following a transition process received under the TAIEX programme and with which they had positive experience, should be available to ACP States and OCTs, where appropriate. In order to benefit from such assistance and advice in the long term, it should be possible to provide appropriate support to centres of knowledge and excellence on governance and reform in the public sector.

18. The rules on presentation of the accounts and accounting, and on external audit and discharge, should reflect those of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 in order to provide a coherent framework for implementation and reporting.

19. The conditions in accordance with which the EIB manages certain 11th EDF resources should be laid down.

20. The provisions concerning scrutiny by the Court of Auditors of the 11th EDF resources managed by the EIB should comply with the tripartite agreement concluded between the Court of Auditors, the EIB, and the Commission as provided for in Article 287(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).

21. The transitional provisions should lay down the rules on treating balances and revenue from previous European Development Funds as well as the application of this Regulation to residual operations under those funds.

22. In order to allow for timely programming and implementation of the 11th EDF programmes, this Regulation should enter into force on the third day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union,

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