Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/646 of 5 April 2017 amending Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/378 laying down rules for the application of Regulation (EU) No 514/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to the implementation of the annual clearance of accounts procedure and the implementation of the conformity clearance

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

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

Having regard to 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 (1), and in particular Article 47(6) thereof,

Whereas:

(1) The first annual accounts clearance exercise carried out pursuant to Article 1 of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/378 (2) highlighted the need to clarify the situation of annual pre-financing amounts that are not fully cleared by the annual accounts submitted.

(2) It is necessary to establish arrangements for the implementation of the conformity clearance and in particular rules on criteria for determining the level of financial correction that the Commission can apply pursuant to Article 47 of Regulation (EU) No 514/2014 following the completion of that procedure.

(3) To ensure legal certainty and equal treatment of all Member States, it is essential to clarify the criteria for determining deficiencies in the effective functioning of the management and control systems, define the main types of such deficiencies and set out the criteria for determining the level of financial correction.

(4) Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/378 should therefore be amended.

(5) The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the ‘Asylum, Migration and Integration and Internal Security Funds’ Committee,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/378 is amended as follow:

(3) a new annex is added as set out in the Annex to this Regulation.

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in the Member States in accordance with the Treaties.

Done at Brussels, 5 April 2017.

For the Commission The President Jean-Claude JUNCKER

(1) OJ L 150, 20.5.2014, p. 112.

(2) Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/378 of 2 March 2015 laying down rules for the application of Regulation (EU) No 514/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to the implementation of the annual clearance of accounts procedure and the implementation of the conformity clearance (OJ L 64, 7.3.2015, p. 30).