INTERREG IIIB PROGRAMME “ALPINE SPACE“ FORALPS kick-off meeting March 10th & 11th, 2005 Trento (I)

INTERREG IIIB PROGRAMME “ALPINE SPACE“

FORALPS kick-off meetingMarch 10th & 11th, 2005

Trento (I)

AGENDA

CONTRACTUAL ARRANGEMENTS

– Partnership Agreement

– Subsidy Contract

REPORTING OBLIGATIONS AND FINANCIAL CONTROL

– Activity Report

– Financial Report

– I&P Report

– First Level Control

– Second Level Control

Contractual arrangements

JTS

European Commission

Managing Authority/Paying Authority


Regulations

Regulations

• 1260/1999: General Provisions

• 1685/2000 in the version of No. 448/2004: Eligibility

• 1159/2000: Information and Publicity

• 438/2001: Management and Control Systems

• 448/2001: Financial Corrections

JTS

European Commission


Lead Partner


Regulations

Partnership Agreement

Agreement

Project Partner

Partner State


• Contributions to the project

• Obligations of Lead Partner and Project Partners

• Responsibilities of Lead Partner and Project

Partners

• Request for Payments

• Audit

• Change/Loss of Partners

JTS

European Commission


Lead Partner


Regulations

Subsidy Contract


Agreement

Project Partner

Partner State

Subsidy Contract

• Funding

• Request for Payments

• Changes in the project partnership

• Obligations of Lead Partner

• Audit rights

• MA‘s right of withdrawal

JTS

European Commission


Lead Partner


Regulations

Subsidy Contract


Agreement

Subcontractor Subcontractor

Subcontract

Subcontract

Project Partner

Partner State

Financial flows and

reporting obligations

MA/JTS

European Commission


Lead Partner

Subcontractor

Financial flows and reporting obligations

= ERDF-funding

= national funding

JTS

services, invoices

payment

1st level control

reports incl. certifications of

expenditure

progress reports (activity and financial report) Partner State

Project Partner

Periodical and Final Progress Reports

1.: LP and PP report expenditure

1st level control

2.: certifies expenditure

Lead Partner3.: PPs submit activity and financial report

Joint Technical Secretariat/MA4.: LP submits aggregated activity, financial and I&P report

Managing Authority/Paying Authority5.: JTS verifies the plausibility of the reported activities and expenditure 6.: MA checks and

approves the progress report

Project Partner

7.: PA releases ERDF funds

Elisa Daffarra

I would propose a different formulation instead of "JTS verifies the eligibility of the reported cost", which is not our task, "JTS verifies the plausibility of the reported activities and expenditure".

Documents to be submitted

• Activity, financial and I&P report (incl. certifications of expenditure)

originals per post to MA

per E-Mail to MA and JTS• One copy of each publication produced

(brochures, leaflets, articles, CD-ROM)

per post to the JTS

Some hints for reporting

• Use the provided forms! Please do not change the lay out of the

documents.

• Check your subsidy contract for reporting obligations!

• Be short and precise!

• Refer to your approved application!

• Don‘t hesitate to report problems, and failures (in time!)!

• In case of doubt consult the manual, JTS, NCP or MA!

Information and Publicity

Why to implement I&P measures

• To ensure greater transparency in the use of public funds.

• To increase awareness of the joint action of the European Union in partnership with the Member States in supporting financially the project activities.

• To inform on EU-funded project activities and disseminate results and best practices.

I&P measures

Information events Publications

Description in the I&P report

Description in theI&P report and delivery

I&P officercheck

Submission to MA/PA Recommendations to the LP

Implementing and reporting of I&P measures

I&P officer check

Congruency:

• AF PR I&P Report

• I&P Report supporting documents

• I&P measures Reg.(EC)1159/2000

Hints for implementing I&P measures

• If you don‘t use the Joint AS/EU logo, the regulation requests always the mention of the co-funding (through ERDF) to finance the project actions.

• The presence of the EU logo is always mandatory when the national/local emblem is portrayed.

• The languages used in the publication must be the ones related to the partnership; in any case use the principle of “target-tailored communication“ and “good sense“.

• Indicate in the publication the contact references where to get information on the Programme.

Financial Control -

First Level Control

The first level control

Any expenditure related to a project will be certified by

a responsible national authority or private institution

authorised to do so.

The certification of expenditure / the first level control

shall confirm – the delivery of the products and services co-financed,– the reality and eligibility of expenditure claimed and– that national and community rules, especially Commission

Regulation (EC) 1685/2000, have been respected.

The first level control in the single Member States

• Austria: depending on the type of national co-funding different rules for first level control

• France: the public authority that is responsible for the evaluation of the project carries out the first

level control

• Germany:depending on the type of national co-funding different rules for first level control

• Italy: the first level control is carried out by an independent external auditor selected by the

Italian Ministry of Infrastructures and Transport

•Slovenia: the first level control is carried out by the Ministry of the Environment, Spatial Planning and

Energy, depending on the type of national co-funding different rules for first level control

Implementation of the first level control

Which documents have to be submitted?

• Receipted invoices• accounting documents of equivalent probative value

What has to be checked?

• 100% of the project costs indicated for the respective Project Partner in table 8.2 of the application form independent from the co-funding rate

What kind of expenditure is eligible?

• Regulated by Commission Regulation (EC) No 1685/2000

Content of the first level control manual

• Basic documents

• Process of ERDF-Cofunding

• First level control (certification of expenditure)

• Description of the organisation of the first level control in the single member states

• Implementation of the first level control– Which documents have to be submitted?– What has to be checked?– What kind of expenditure is eligible?– How to handle revenues?– What has to be done after finishing the control?

Some hints

• For Austrian and German project participants a confirmation of the reliability of the first level control has to be provided (an agreement between the flc body and the responsible national authority)

• Time management (coordination with the FLC body) is very important!

• Cooperate with the FLC bodies!

Financial Control -

Second Level Control

The second level control - Sample checks

Art. 10 Commission Regulation (EC) No 438/2001:

• Member States shall organise checks on operations on an appropriate

sampling basis, designed in particular to– verify the effectiveness of the management and

controlsystems in place– verify selectively, on the basis of risk analysis,

expenditure declarations made at the various levels

concerned.

• The checks carried out before the winding-up of each assistance shall

cover at least 5% of the total eligible expenditure and be based on a

representative sample of the operations approved.

THANKS FOR YOUR KIND ATTENTION