Technical Assistance for the Establishment of FLC and Support for the Implementation of CBC Programmes This project is financed by EU Republic of Serbia,

Technical Assistance for the Establishment of FLC and Support for the Implementation of CBC Programmes

This project is financed by

EU

Republic of Serbia, Ministry of Finance

This Project is implemented by

a consortium led by EWC

First Level Control and the responsibilities of the Serbian

Authorities

Mark Barrett

Belgrade 26/09/12


This project is financed by EU

Republic of Serbia,Ministry of Finance

This Project is implemented by a consortium led by EWC

3 stages of successful project implementation

“Get the money” – Well designed programmes, projects that match the objectives, are well written, logical and able to be implemented.

“Spend the money” – Ability to finance, contract and manage. Realistic procurement plans, implementation schedules and budgets

“Keep the money” (or get reimbursed for the expenditure) - Make sure that expenditure is eligible, that it is carried out properly, that it is documented and reported correctly.





Shared management: contracts are signed and payments are made by bodies with authority over the whole programme area (‘joint’ bodies) and these are always located in the relevant Member State. These are currently the programmes with Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania. The CBC Adriatic Programme is phasing-out and since 2010 the South-East Europe Programme is under a transitional (centralised) mode, expected to switch to shared management with the 3rd CfP in 2012;

3 Types of Management Systems





Centralised management: contracts are signed and payments made by the EU Delegations in each of the participating countries. These are currently the programmes with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Montenegro;

Decentralised management: when the EU delegates the contracting and payment to national authorities in non-MS. Currently decentralised management mode is not available for Serbia and will become available when the EU confers management powers for any or all of the programmes under the previous bullet.

3 Types of Management Systems





According to Art. 108 of the IPA Implementation Regulation 718/2007, with its subsequent modifications and amendments:

“…in order to validate the expenditure, each participating country shall set up a control system making it possible to verify the delivery of the products and services co-financed, the soundness of the expenditure declared for operations or parts of operations implemented on its territory, and the compliance of such expenditure and of related operations, or parts of those operations, with Community, when relevant, and its national rules.

For this purpose each participating country shall designate the controllers responsible for verifying the legality and regularity of the expenditure declared by each final beneficiary participating in the operation...”

Need for Control





The main objective of the First Level Control (FLC) is to guarantee that the costs charged under the IPA CBC Programmes are justified and that payments claimed by the Project Partners are in accordance with the legal and financial clauses of the subsidy contract and within the rules governing the IPA programmes, the European Community regulations and the respective national legislation.

The First Level Control is the first step in the process of certifying projects’ expenditures, and it is performed before the EC reimbursement takes place. It is the main and most extensive control level – covers 100% of expenditures made by project partners.

First Level/Financial Control





Programme Serbian PPs Prog. Value Serbian PPs Prog. Value

Currently Contracted Upcoming Contracts

SRB-MNE 13 1,065,000 16 1,700,000

CRO-SRB 11 1,550,000 18* 2,300,000*

SRB-BiH 18 1,750,000 26* 2,790,000*

SEE 16 1,864,000 10 1,340,000

Totals 58 6,229,000 70 8,130,000

Centralised Management (IPA/IPA)





Programme Serbian PPs Prog. Value Serbian PPs Prog. Value

Currently Contracted Upcoming Contracts

BUL-SRB 58 3,867,000 77 9,179,000

ROM-SRB 50 6,568,000 55 16,442,000

HUN-SRB* 166 13,297,000 60 15,102,000

ADR 12 1,878,000 3 1,500,000

SEE ** ** 17 4,700,000

Totals 286 25,610,000 212 46,923,000

Shared Management





Money is used in the most effective manner to achieve the agreed objectives Public accountability

Your local citizens/beneficiaries Serbian Government European Commission Member State citizens

Responsibility to “keeping the money”





Financial statements are correct, accurate and complete Correct

Funds have been applied in accordance with EC Regs, Programme rules, National Legislation

Accurate Values included are free of material error

Complete All relevant items have been included

To keep the money both parties must ensure…





It is important that project financial management and reporting and the financial control work in partnership to ensure that projects and beneficiaries get to “keep the money” and that all stakeholders are confident that the money has been spent in the correct manner. First Level Control is a fundamental and essential part of the programme and project system and we hope our project has gone some way in assisting FLC in doing their job more effectively and efficiently.

THANK YOU!

“Keeping the money”

Documents

Technical Assistance for the Establishment of FLC and Support for the Implementation of CBC Programmes This project is financed by EU Republic of Serbia,