Regulation (EU) No 223/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2014 on the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived

TITLE I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1

Subject matter and purpose

This Regulation establishes the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived ('the Fund') for the period from 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2020 and determines the objectives of the Fund, the scope of its support, the financial resources available and their allocation for each Member State, and lays down the rules necessary to ensure the effectiveness and efficiency of the Fund.

Article 2

Definitions

The following definitions apply:

(1) 'basic material assistance' means basic consumer goods of a limited value and for the personal use of the most deprived persons for example clothing, footwear, hygiene goods, school material and sleeping bags;

(2) 'most deprived persons' means natural persons, whether individuals, families, households or groups composed of such persons, whose need for assistance has been established according to the objective criteria set by the national competent authorities in consultation with relevant stakeholders, while avoiding conflicts of interest, or defined by the partner organisations and which are approved by those national competent authorities and which may include elements that allow the targeting of the most deprived persons in certain geographical areas;

(3) 'partner organisations' means public bodies and/or non- profit organisations that deliver food and/or basic material assistance, where applicable, combined with accompanying measures directly or through other partner organisations, or that undertake activities aiming directly at the social inclusion of the most deprived persons, and whose operations have been selected by the managing authority in accordance with point (b) of Article 32(3);

(4) 'national schemes' means any scheme having, at least partly, the same objectives as the Fund and which is being implemented at national, regional or local level by public bodies or non-profit organisations;

(5) 'food and/or basic material assistance operational programme' (also referred to as 'OP I') means an operational programme supporting the distribution of food and/or basic material assistance to the most deprived persons, combined where applicable with accompanying measures, aimed at alleviating the social exclusion of most deprived persons;

(6) 'social inclusion of the most deprived persons operational programme' (also referred to as 'OP II') means an operational programme supporting the activities outside active labour market measures, consisting in non-financial, non-material assistance, aimed at the social inclusion of the most deprived persons;

(7) 'operation' means a project, contract or action selected by the managing authority of the operational programme concerned, or under its responsibility, contributing to the objectives of the operational programme to which it relates;

(8) 'completed operation' means an operation that has been physically completed or fully implemented and in respect of which all related payments have been made by beneficiaries and the support from the corresponding operational programme has been paid to the beneficiaries;

(9) 'beneficiary' means a public or private body responsible for initiating or initiating and implementing operations;

(10) 'end recipient' means the most deprived person or persons receiving support as defined in Article 4 of this Regulation;

(11) 'accompanying measures' means activities provided in addition to the distribution of food and/or basic material assistance with the aim of alleviating social exclusion and/or tackling social emergencies in a more empowering and sustainable way, for example guidance on a balanced diet and budget management advice;

(12) 'public expenditure' means a public contribution to the financing of operations the source of which is the budget of national, regional or local public authorities, the budget of the Union related to the Fund, the budget of public law bodies or the budget of associations of public authorities or any body governed by public law within the meaning of Article 1(9) of Directive 2004/18/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (¹);

(13) 'intermediate body' means any public or private body which acts under the responsibility of a managing or certifying authority, or which carries out duties on behalf of such an authority in relation to beneficiaries' implementing operations;

(14) 'accounting year', means the period from 1 July to 30 June, except for the first accounting year of the programming period, in respect of which it means the period from the start date for eligibility of expenditure until 30 June 2015. The final accounting year shall be from 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024;

(15) 'financial year' means the period from 1 January to 31 December;

(16) 'irregularity' means any breach of Union law or of national law relating to its application, resulting from an act or omission by an economic operator involved in the implementation of the Fund, which has, or would have, the effect of prejudicing the budget of the Union by charging an unjustified item of expenditure to the budget of the Union;

(17) 'economic operator' means any natural or legal person or other entity taking part in the implementation of assistance from the Fund, with the exception of a Member State exercising its prerogatives as a public authority;

(18) 'systemic irregularity' means any irregularity, that may be of a recurring nature, with a high probability of occurrence in similar types of operations, which results from a serious deficiency in the effective functioning of a management and control system, including a failure to establish appropriate procedures in accordance with this Regulation;

(19) 'serious deficiency in the effective functioning of a management and control system' means a deficiency for which substantial improvements in the system are required, which exposes the Fund to significant risk of irregularities, and the existence of which is incompatible with an unqualified audit opinion on the functioning of the management and control system.

Article 3

Objectives

This objective and the results of the implementation of the Fund shall be qualitatively and quantitatively assessed.

Article 4

Scope of support

With the view to augmenting and diversifying the supply of food for the most deprived persons, as well as reducing and preventing food wastage, the Fund may support activities related to the collection, transport, storage and distribution of food donations.

The Fund may also support accompanying measures, complementing the provision of food and/or basic material assistance.

Article 5

Principles

The Commission and the Member States shall take appropriate steps to prevent any discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation in obtaining access to the Fund, and to programmes and operations supported by the Fund.

TITLE II

RESOURCES AND PROGRAMMING

Article 6

Global resources

Article 6a

Additional resources in response to the crisis associated with the outbreak of COVID-19

By way of derogation from Article 59(1) of this Regulation, the budget commitments for the additional resources shall be decommitted in accordance with the rules to be followed for the closure of the programmes.

In addition to the initial pre-financing set out in the first subparagraph, the Commission shall pay 4 % of the REACT-EU resources allocated to programmes for the year 2021 as additional initial pre-financing in 2022. For programmes in Member States which have had a level of arrivals of persons from Ukraine greater than 1 % of their national population between 24 February 2022 and 23 March 2022, that percentage shall be increased to 34 %.

The amount paid as initial pre-financing referred to in the first and second subparagraphs shall be totally cleared from the Commission accounts not later than when the operational programme is closed.

Article 7

Operational programmes

An OP I shall set out:

(a) an identification of and a justification for selecting the type or types of material deprivation to be addressed under the operational programme and, for each type of material deprivation addressed, a description of the main characteristics of the distribution of food and/or basic material assistance and, where appropriate, of the accompanying measures to be provided, having regard to the results of the ex ante evaluation carried out in accordance with Article 16;

(b) a description of the corresponding national scheme or schemes for each type of material deprivation addressed;

(c) a description of the mechanism setting the eligibility criteria for the most deprived persons, differentiated where necessary by type of material deprivation addressed;

(d) the criteria for the selection of operations and a description of the selection mechanism differentiated where necessary by type of material deprivation addressed;

(e) the criteria for the selection of the partner organisations differentiated where necessary by type of material deprivation addressed;

(f) a description of the mechanism used to ensure complementarity with the ESF;

(g) a financing plan containing a table specifying, for the whole programming period, the amount of the total financial appropriation in respect of support from the operational programme, indicatively broken down by type of material deprivation addressed as well as the corresponding accompanying measures.

An OP II shall set out:

(a) a strategy for the programme contribution to the promotion of social cohesion and poverty reduction in accordance with the Europe 2020 strategy, including a justification for the choice of assistance priority;

(b) the specific objectives of the operational programme based on an identification of national needs, having regard to the results of the ex ante evaluation carried out in accordance with Article 16. The ex ante evaluation shall be submitted to the Commission at the same time as the operational programme;

(c) a financing plan containing a table specifying, for the whole programming period, the amount of the total financial appropriation in respect of support from the operational programme, indicatively broken down by type of action;

(d) the identification of the most deprived persons to be targetted;

(e) the financial indicators relating to the corresponding expenditure allocated;

(f) the expected results for the specific objectives and the corresponding programme specific output and result indicators with a base line and target values;

(g) a description of the type and examples of actions to be supported and their expected contribution to the specific objectives referred to in point (b) including the guiding principles for the selection of operations and, where appropriate, the identification of the types of beneficiaries;

(h) a description of the mechanism to ensure complementarity with the ESF, as well as to prevent overlap and double-financing of operations.

In addition, each operational programme shall set out:

(a) the identification of the managing authority, the certifying authority where applicable, the audit authority and the body to which payments are to be made by the Commission and a description of the monitoring procedure;

(b) a description of the measures taken to involve all relevant stakeholders as well as, where appropriate, the competent regional, local and other public authorities in the preparation of the operational programme;

(c) a description of the planned use of technical assistance in accordance with Article 27(4), including actions to reinforce the administrative capacity of the beneficiaries in relation to the implementation of the operational programme;

(d) a financing plan containing a table specifying for each year in accordance with Article 20 the amount of the financial appropriation envisaged for support from the Fund and the co-financing in accordance with Article 20.

The partner organisations referred to in point (e) of Article 7(2) that deliver directly the food and/or basic material assistance shall themselves or in cooperation with other organisations undertake activities, where appropriate consisting of a re-orientation towards competent services, that complement the provision of material assistance, aiming at the social inclusion of the most deprived persons, whether or not these activities are supported by the Fund. However, such accompanying measures shall not be compulsory in cases where the food and/or basic material assistance is provided solely to most deprived children in childcare or comparable facilities.

Article 8

Adoption of operational programmes

Article 9

Amendment of operational programmes

A Member State shall notify the Commission of any decision to modify the elements referred to in the first subparagraph within one month of the date of that decision. The decision shall specify the date of its entry into force, which shall not be earlier than the date of its adoption.

The first and second subparagraphs shall also apply for the purposes of modifying elements of an operational programme addressing migratory challenges as a result of the military aggression by the Russian Federation.

Article 10

Exchange of good practices

The Commission shall facilitate, including by means of a website, the exchange of experience, capacity building and networking, as well as dissemination of relevant outcomes in the area of non-financial assistance to the most deprived persons.

Relevant organisations that do not make use of the Fund may also be included.

In addition, the Commission shall consult, at least once a year, the organisations which represent the partner organisations at Union level on the implementation of support from the Fund and, following such consultation, shall report back to the European Parliament and to the Council in due course.

The Commission shall also facilitate the online dissemination of relevant outcomes, reports and information in relation to the Fund.

TITLE III

MONITORING AND EVALUATION, INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION

Article 11

Monitoring committee for an OP II

Article 12

Functions of the monitoring committee for an OP II

The monitoring committee shall examine all issues that affect the performance of the programme. It shall examine in particular:

(a) progress made towards achieving the specific targets of the operational programme on the basis of the documents submitted by the managing authority, including evaluation findings;

(b) implementation of the information and communication actions;

(c) actions, which take into account and promote equality between men and women, equal opportunities and non-discrimination.

The monitoring committee shall examine and approve:

(a) the methodology and criteria for selection of operations in line with the guiding principles as set out in point (f) of Article 7(3);

(b) the annual and final implementation reports;

(c) any proposal by the managing authority for an amendment to the operational programme.

It shall monitor actions taken as a result of its observations.

Article 13

Implementation reports and indicators

By way of derogation from the first subparagraph, the deadline for the submission of the annual implementation report for the year 2019 shall be 30 September 2020.

The Member States shall consult the relevant stakeholders, while avoiding conflicts of interest, on the implementation reports of OP I. A summary of the comments of those relevant stakeholders shall be annexed to the report.

Where the Commission does not provide observations to the Member State within this time limit, the reports shall be deemed to be accepted.

Article 14

Review meetings

Article 15

General provisions on evaluation

Article 16

Ex ante evaluation

Ex ante evaluations of OP I shall appraise the following elements:

(a) the contribution to the Union objective of at least 20 million fewer people living in poverty or at risk of poverty and social exclusion by 2020, having regard to the selected type of material deprivation to be addressed and taking into account national circumstances in terms of poverty and social exclusion and material deprivation;

(b) the internal coherence of the proposed operational programme and its relation with other relevant financial instruments;

(c) the consistency of the allocation of budgetary resources with the objectives of the operational programme;

(d) the contribution of the expected outputs to the results and thus to the objectives of the Fund;

(e) the involvement of relevant stakeholders;

(f) the suitability of the procedures for monitoring the operational programme and for collecting the data necessary to carry out evaluations.

Ex ante evaluations of OP II shall appraise the following elements:

(a) the contribution to the promotion of social cohesion and poverty reduction in accordance with the Europe 2020 strategy, taking into account national needs;

(b) the internal coherence of the proposed programme and its relation with other relevant instruments, in particular the ESF;

(c) the consistency of the allocation of budgetary resources with the objectives of the programme;

(d) the relevance and clarity of the proposed programme specific indicators;

(e) how the expected outputs will contribute to results;

(f) whether the quantified target values for indicators are realistic, having regard to the support from the Fund envisaged;

(g) the rationale for the form of support proposed;

(h) the adequacy of human resources and administrative capacity for management of the programme;

(i) the suitability of the procedures for monitoring the programme and for collecting the data necessary to carry out evaluations;

(j) the adequacy of planned measures to promote equal opportunities between men and women and to prevent any discrimination.

Article 17

Evaluation during the programming period

Article 18

Ex post evaluation

At its own initiative and in close cooperation with the Member States, the Commission shall carry out, with the assistance of external experts, an ex-post evaluation, to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of the Fund and the sustainability of results obtained, as well as to measure the added value of the Fund. This ex post evaluation shall be completed by 31 December 2024.

Article 19

Information and communication

The managing authority shall, in order to ensure transparency in the support of the Fund, maintain a list of operations supported by the Fund in a spread sheet data format, which allows the data to be sorted, searched, extracted, compared and easily published on the internet. The list of operations shall include at least the following information:

(a) the name and address of the beneficiary;

(b) the allocated amount of Union funding;

(c) for OP I, the type of material deprivation addressed.

The managing authority shall update the list of operations at least every twelve months.