Regulation (EU) No 514/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 laying down general provisions on the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund and on the instrument for financial support for police cooperation, preventing and combating crime, and crisis management

CHAPTER I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1

Purpose and scope

This Regulation lays down general rules for the implementation of the Specific Regulations with regard to:

(a) the financing of expenditure;

(b) partnership, programming, reporting, monitoring and evaluation;

(c) the management and control systems to be put in place by the Member States; and

(d) the clearance of accounts.

Article 2

Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions apply:

(a) ‘Specific Regulations’ means — Regulation (EU) No 516/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council (¹); — Regulation (EU) No 513/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council (²); and — any other regulation which provides for the application of this Regulation;

(b) ‘programming’ means the process of organisation, decision-making and financing in several stages intended to implement, on a multiannual basis, the joint action by the Union and the Member States to achieve the objectives of the Specific Regulations;

(c) ‘action’ means a project or group of projects selected by the Responsible Authority of the national programme concerned, or under its responsibility, contributing to the general and specific objectives pursued by the Specific Regulations;

(d) ‘Union action’ means a transnational action or action of particular interest to the Union as defined in the Specific Regulations;

(e) ‘project’ means the specific practical means deployed to implement all or a part of an action by a beneficiary of a Union contribution;

(f) ‘emergency assistance’ means a project or group of projects addressing an emergency situation as defined in the Specific Regulations;

(g) ‘beneficiary’ means the recipient of a Union contribution under a project, whether a public or private body, international organisation or the International Committee of the Red Cross (‘ICRC’), or the International Federation of National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

CHAPTER II

PRINCIPLES OF ASSISTANCE

Article 3

General principles

The Commission and the Member States, together with the EEAS where appropriate, shall ensure that actions in and in relation to third countries are carried out in synergy and in coherence with other actions outside the Union supported through Union instruments. They shall, in particular, ensure that those actions:

(a) are coherent with the Union’s external policy, respect the principle of policy coherence for development and are consistent with the strategic programming documents for the region or country in question;

(b) focus on non-development-oriented measures;

(c) serve the interests of the Union’s internal policies and are consistent with activities undertaken inside the Union.

Article 4

Compliance with Union and national law

Actions financed by the Specific Regulations shall comply with applicable Union and national law.

Article 5

Protection of the financial interests of the Union

CHAPTER III

FINANCIAL FRAMEWORK FOR UNION ACTIONS, EMERGENCY AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE

Article 6

Implementation framework

Article 7

Emergency assistance

Article 8

Union actions and emergency assistance in or in relation to third countries

Where such actions are implemented directly, the following entities shall be allowed to submit grant applications:

(a) Member States;

(b) third countries, in duly justified cases where a grant is necessary to achieve the objectives of this Regulation and the Specific Regulations;

(c) joint bodies set up by third countries and the Union or by Member States;

(d) international organisations, including regional organisations, UN bodies, departments and missions, international financial institutions and development banks and institutions of international jurisdiction in so far as they contribute to the objectives of the Specific Regulation(s) concerned;

(e) the ICRC and International Federation of National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies;

(f) non-governmental organisations established and registered in the Union and in the countries associated with the implementation, application and development of the Schengen acquis;

(g) Union agencies for emergency assistance.

Article 9

Technical assistance at the initiative of the Commission

The measures and activities referred to in paragraph 1 may include:

(a) assistance for project preparation and appraisal;

(b) support for institutional strengthening and administrative capacity building for the effective management of this Regulation and the Specific Regulations;

(c) measures related to the analysis, management, monitoring, information exchange and implementation of this Regulation and the Specific Regulations, as well as measures relating to the implementation of control systems and technical and administrative assistance;

(d) evaluations, expert reports, statistics and studies, including those of a general nature concerning the operation of the Specific Regulations;

(e) actions to disseminate information, support networking, carry out communication activities, raise awareness and promote cooperation and exchanges of experience, including with third countries. To bring about greater efficiency in communication to the public at large and stronger synergies between the communication activities undertaken at the initiative of the Commission, the resources allocated to communication actions under this Regulation shall also contribute to covering the corporate communication of the political priorities of the Union, provided that those are related to the general objectives of this Regulation and the Specific Regulations;

(f) the installation, updating, operation and interconnection of computerised systems for management, monitoring, audit, control and evaluation;

(g) the design of a common framework for evaluation and monitoring, as well as a system of indicators, taking into account, where appropriate, national indicators;

(h) actions to improve evaluation methods and the exchange of information on evaluation practices;

(i) conferences, seminars, workshops and other common information and training measures on the implementation of this Regulation and the Specific Regulations for competent authorities and beneficiaries;

(j) actions related to fraud detection and prevention;

(k) actions related to audit.

CHAPTER IV

NATIONAL PROGRAMMES

SECTION 1

Programming and Implementation framework

Article 10

Programming

The objectives of the Specific Regulations shall be pursued within the framework of the multiannual programming for the period 2014-20, subject to a mid-term review in accordance with Article 15.

Article 11

Subsidiary and proportionate intervention

Article 12

Partnership

Article 13

Policy dialogue

Article 14

Preparation and approval of national programmes

Each proposed national programme shall cover the financial years of the period from 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2020, and shall consist of the following elements:

(a) a description of the baseline situation in the Member State, completed with the necessary factual information to assess the requirements correctly;

(b) an analysis of requirements in the Member State and the national objectives designed to meet those requirements during the period covered by the programme;

(c) an appropriate strategy identifying the objectives to be pursued with the support of the Union budget, with targets for their achievement, an indicative time-table and examples of actions envisaged to meet those objectives;

(d) a description of how the objectives of the Specific Regulations are covered;

(e) the mechanisms that ensure coordination between the instruments established by the Specific Regulations and other Union and national instruments;

(f) information on the monitoring and evaluation framework to be put in place and the indicators to be used to measure progress in the implementation of the objectives pursued in relation to the baseline situation in the Member State;

(g) implementing provisions for the national programme containing the identification of the competent authorities, and a summary description of the envisaged management and control system;

(h) a summary description of the approach chosen for the implementation of the partnership principle laid down in Article 12;

(i) a draft financing plan indicatively broken down by each financial year of the period, including an indication of technical assistance expenditure;

(j) the mechanisms and methods to be used to publicise the national programme.

Before approving a proposed national programme, the Commission shall examine:

(a) its consistency with the objectives of the Specific Regulations and the outcome of the policy dialogue referred to in Article 13(1);

(b) the distribution of Union funding between objectives in the light of the requirements of the Specific Regulations and, where relevant, the justification for any deviation from the minimum shares set in the Specific Regulations;

(c) the relevance of the objectives, targets, indicators, the time-table and examples of actions envisaged in the proposed national programme in the light of the strategy proposed by Member States;

(d) the relevance of the implementing provisions referred to in point (g) of paragraph 2 in the light of the actions envisaged;

(e) the compliance of the proposed programme with Union law;

(f) the complementarity with support provided by other Union funds, including the European Social Fund;

(g) where applicable under a Specific Regulation, for objectives and examples of actions in or in relation to third countries, coherence with the principles and general objectives of the Union’s external action and foreign policy related to the country or region concerned.

Article 15

Mid-term review

Article 16

Financing structure

Article 17

General principles of eligibility

In accordance with the Specific Regulations, for expenditure to be eligible, it must be:

(a) within the scope of the Specific Regulations and their objectives;

(b) needed to carry out the activities covered by the project concerned;

(c) reasonable and comply with the principles of sound financial management, in particular value for money and cost-effectiveness.

Article 18

Eligible expenditure

Eligible expenditure may be reimbursed in the following ways:

(a) reimbursement of eligible costs actually incurred and paid, together with, where applicable, depreciation;

(b) standard scales of unit costs;

(c) lump sums;

(d) flat-rate financing determined by the application of a percentage to one or more defined categories of costs.

The amounts referred to in points (b), (c) and (d) of paragraph 1 shall be established in one of the following ways:

(a) a fair, equitable and verifiable calculation method based on: (i) statistical data or other objective information; (ii) the verified historical data of individual beneficiaries; or (iii) the application of the usual cost accounting practices of individual beneficiaries;

(b) in accordance with the rules for application of corresponding scale of unit costs, lump sums and flat rates applicable in Union policies for a similar type of project and beneficiary;

(c) in accordance with the rules for application of corresponding scale of unit costs, lump sums and flat rates applied under schemes for grants funded entirely by the Member State concerned for a similar type of project and beneficiary.

Where the implementation of a project gives rise to indirect costs, they may be calculated as a flat rate in one of the following ways:

(a) a flat rate of up to 25 % of eligible direct costs, provided that the rate is calculated on the basis of a fair, equitable and verifiable calculation method or a method applied under schemes for grants funded entirely by the Member State concerned for a similar type of project and beneficiary;

(b) a flat rate of up to 15 % of eligible direct staff costs without there being a requirement for the Member State concerned to perform a calculation to determine the applicable rate;

(c) a flat rate applied to eligible direct costs based on existing methods and corresponding rates, applicable in Union policies for a similar type of project and beneficiary.

Depreciation costs may be considered as eligible where the following conditions are met:

(a) the eligibility rules of the national programme allow for it;

(b) the amount of the expenditure is duly justified by supporting documents having equivalent probative value to invoices for eligible costs where reimbursed in the form referred to in point (a) of paragraph 1;

(c) the costs relate exclusively to the period of support for the project;

(d) support from the Union budget has not contributed towards the acquisition of the depreciated assets.

Article 19

Ineligible expenditure

The following costs shall not be eligible for a contribution from the Union budget under the Specific Regulations:

(a) interest on debt;

(b) the purchase of land not built upon;

(c) the purchase of land built upon, where the land is necessary for the implementation of the project, in an amount exceeding 10 % of the total eligible expenditure for the project concerned;

(d) value added tax (VAT), except where it is non-recoverable under national VAT law.

Article 20

Technical assistance at the initiative of the Member States

The measures referred to in paragraph 1 may include:

(a) expenditure relating to the preparation, selection, appraisal, management and monitoring of the programme, actions or projects;

(b) expenditure relating to audits and on-the-spot controls of actions or projects;

(c) expenditure relating to evaluations of the programme, actions or projects;

(d) expenditure relating to information, dissemination and transparency in relation to the programme, actions or projects, including expenditure resulting from the application of Article 53 and expenditure on campaigns to inform and raise awareness about the programme’s purpose, organised, inter alia, at a local level;

(e) expenditure on the acquisition, installation and maintenance of computerised systems for the management, monitoring and evaluation of this Regulation and the Specific Regulations;

(f) expenditure on meetings of monitoring committees and sub-committees relating to the implementation of actions; including the costs of experts and other participants in those committees and including third-country participants, where their presence is essential to the effective implementation of programmes, actions or projects;

(g) expenditure for the reinforcement of the administrative capacity for the implementation of this Regulation and the Specific Regulations.

SECTION 2

Management and Control

Article 21

General principles of management and control systems

For the implementation of its national programme, each Member State shall set up management and control systems, which shall provide for:

(a) a description of the functions of each authority involved in management and control, and the allocation of functions within each authority;

(b) compliance with the principle of separation of functions between and within such authorities;

(c) procedures for ensuring the correctness and regularity of expenditure declared;

(d) computerised systems for accounting, for the storage and transmission of financial data and data on indicators, for monitoring and for reporting;

(e) systems for reporting and monitoring where the Responsible Authority entrusts the execution of tasks to another body;

(f) arrangements for auditing the functioning of the management and control systems;

(g) systems and procedures to ensure an adequate audit trail;

(h) the prevention, detection and correction of irregularities, including fraud, and the recovery of amounts unduly paid, together with any interest on late payments.

Article 22

Responsibilities under shared management

In accordance with the principle of shared management, Member States and the Commission shall be responsible for the management and control of national programmes in accordance with their respective responsibilities laid down in this Regulation and the Specific Regulations.

Article 23

Responsibilities of beneficiaries

Beneficiaries shall fully cooperate with the Commission and competent authorities when they carry out their functions and tasks in relation to this Regulation and the Specific Regulations.

Article 24

Responsibilities of Member States

Article 25

Competent authorities

For the purposes of this Regulation and the Specific Regulations, the competent authorities are:

(a) a Responsible Authority: a public sector body of the Member State concerned, which is the designated body within the meaning of Article 59(3) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 and which shall be solely responsible for the proper management and control of the national programme and shall handle all communication with the Commission;

(b) an Audit Authority: a national public authority or body, which is functionally independent of the Responsible Authority and which shall be responsible for issuing annually the opinion referred to in the second subparagraph of Article 59(5) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012;

(c) where appropriate, one or more Delegated Authorities: any public or private body which carries out certain tasks of the responsible authority under the responsibility of the Responsible Authority.

Article 26

Designation of Responsible Authorities

To ensure the sound operation of this system, the Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 58 concerning:

(a) minimum conditions for the designation of the Responsible Authorities with regard to the internal environment, control activities, information and communication, and monitoring, as well as rules on the procedure for making and ending the designation;

(b) rules relating to supervision and the procedure for reviewing the designation of Responsible Authorities;

(c) the obligations of the Responsible Authorities as regards public intervention, as well as on the content of their management and control responsibilities.

Article 27

General principles on controls by Responsible Authorities

The Commission shall adopt, by way of implementing acts, the necessary rules aiming at achieving a uniform application of this Article. Those rules may in particular relate to the following: