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How to produce a good final report ?How to treat unfinished, non-

operational or suspended projects?Commission’s views

European Commission

Dominique LEVIEIL, DG for maritime Affairs and Fisheries

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• Final Reports (FR) should enable EC to check that– assistance was properly executed – financial management of EC funds was sound (+ Winding-up Decl.)– programme’s objectives have been attained– programme was coherent with EU policies

• EC will assess FR quality within 5 months of receipt for– Completeness relative to legal requirements– Consistency and coherence (with financial information and with

Winding-up Declaration)– Credibility of content (on basis of documentation and data provided)

• FR must be examined & approved by Monitoring Committee (MC) for 2000-2006 period MS responsible for ensuring quality of FR (completeness, coherence, etc…)

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• To speed up closure process, possible to split multifund programme by Structural Fund produce 1 FR / SF

• Content and structure of FR – structure similar to that of Annual Reports (AR),– updated synthesis of information from previous AR and completed

as appropriate (e.g. as per EC requests)– add chapter for 2008 and (if appropriate) early 2009 AR

• The higher the quality of FR– the easier the approval by the MC and the EC– the easier the dialogue that might be necessary with the EC to

improve this quality – the lower the risk that MS be unable to improve this quality, thus– the lower the risk of EC financial corrections

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Information to be included (Art. 37.2 of R(EC) 1260/99)

1. Changes in general conditions of relevance

2. Physical implementation of priorities and measures

3. Financial implementation of priorities and measures

4. Steps taken to ensure quality & effectiveness of implementation

5. Steps taken to ensure compatibility with EC policies and to ensure coordination of EC assistance

6. Financing of major projects and global grants

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• 1 - Important changes in general conditions in the period 2000-2008 which are of relevance to the implementation of the assistance, in particular:– main socio-economic trends;– changes in national, regional, sectoral policies ;– changes in the objective 3 policy frame of reference.

• Where applicable, their implications for the mutual consistency of assistance:– from the different Funds– between Fund assistance and that from other financial

instruments (Community initiatives, EIB loans, EAGGF-Guarantee, etc.)

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2 - Physical implementation of priorities & measures – Description of achievements in relation to specific

objectives and targets of priorities & measures

– Quantification of the related indicators, whenever they lend themselves to quantification in the OP/SPD and the PC: physical / output; result; impact

– at the appropriate level (programme, priority or measure).

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3 - Financial implementation of priorities & measuresSummary table(s) (with diagrams if appropriate) showing:

– for each measure, the total certified expenditure actually paid out and to be paid out by the paying authority and the respective EU contribution

– the financial performance against the last approved financial plan by using the financial indicators (Article 36.2.c), with an indication, where applicable, of the decommitments made in accordance with the “n+2" rule (Article 31.2§2)

– the total expenditure broken down by field of intervention at measure level (Article 36.1)

– a list (by priority and measure) of unfinished, non-operational or suspended projects due to legal or administrative proceedings (see new table in “Register of Q & A”)

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OP TITLE

CCI NUMBER

Closure of Structural Funds 2000-2006 AssistanceSummary table of unfinished and non operational projects, suspended projects due to judicial or administrative proceedings

(to be attached to the final report)

CERTIFIED EXPENDITURE PAID OUT OR TO BE PAID

OUT3)

(in EUR)

PROJECT REFERENCE

PROJECT TITLE

COMMUNITY CONTRIBUTION

(in EUR)

UNFINISHED AND NON-OPERATIONAL

PROJECTS4)

SUSPENDED PROJECTS DUE TO ADMINISTRATIVE

PROCEEDINGS5)

SUSPENDED PROJECTS DUE TO JUDICIAL

PROCEEDINGS5)

5) Please put an "X" in the relevant box.

PRIORITY MEASURE 1)2)

(2)   Measures funded by FIFG shall be presented at the level of total amount of the financial implementation and in conformity with the Annex IV of Commission Regulation (EC) 366/2001 of 22 February 2001.

(1)   Measures funded by EAGGF Guarantee Section and referring to Article 33 of Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 shall be presented at the level of the total amount of the financial implementation.

3) The total certified expenditure actually paid out and to be paid out by the paying authority and the respective community contribution broken down by project. Total cost or public expenditure total, depending on the option taken (for FIFG is always total cost).

4) Please put an "X" in the relevant box and please qualify whether it is envisaged that such projects will be co-financed or not from Community funds under the next programming period.

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Unfinished or non operational projects – to be co-financed in 2007-2013:

• each one of them to be split into at least 2 distinct financial and physical or developmental stages

• co-financing rules and eligibility conditions to be met in each period

• expenses for completion or making operational 1st phase would be acceptable in 2nd phase (legal and financial commitment by decision of responsible authority) but MS must ensure no double payment

– to be completed at MS own expenses :• 2 years delay from FR submission deadline (18 months from final

date of eligibility) for MS to demonstrate to EC that each project has been completed or made operational

• otherwise EC to recover Community funds

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Operations suspended due to judicial or administrative proceedings may be:– either withdrawn &/or replaced in programme and relevant

documents (FR) by another operation (possibly from over-programming) complying with all relevant regulatory provisions. MS then remain responsible for financial consequences or irrevocable amounts

– or retained in programme, but without any possibility to be later replaced by another operation (even from over-programming and even if completed within final date for eligibility of expenditure).

– If operations affected by decision with suspensory effect concern irregularities and if above applicable thresholds, OLAF should be informed of follow-up

– In the latter case, special report might be required as per Art 5(2) of R(EC) 1681/94, for projects for which recovery is impossible

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4 - Steps taken by the MA / MC to ensure the quality and effectiveness of implementation, in particular :– monitoring, financial control (day-to-day management checks) and

evaluation measures, including data collection arrangements – summary of any significant problem encountered in managing the

assistance and any measure taken, including actions on• comments or recommendations for adjustments made by EC following

annual review meetings (Art. 34.2) • observations or requests for corrective measures (Art. 38.4) made by

EC following the annual audit meeting (+ report Art. 13 of 438/2001) , particularly regarding the financial impact of any irregularities detected

• observations or requests made by EC following report Art. 13 of 438/2001 , in particular regarding 5% checks of Art. 10 (cf. Winding-up declaration)

– use made of technical assistance (incl. to prepare 2007-13)– Information & publicity of the assistance towards potential beneficiaries and

the general public (Art. 46 + Action Plan pursuant to 1159/2000 )– Summary of the results of the main evaluations carried out on the

programme including e.g. thematic evaluations, and any measure taken to address the recommendations made

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• 5 - Statement by the Managing Authority, noting the problems encountered and the steps taken to ensure (pursuant to Art. 12) compatibility with EC Treaty, EC policies (CAP, CFP…) including the rules on– competition, – the award of public contracts, – environmental protection and improvement – the elimination of inequalities and the promotion of equality between

men and women • Steps taken to ensure coordination of all the Community

structural assistance such as CSF (art 17.1) and objective 2 SPD (art 19.2.2), where appropriate.

• 6 - Achievements and financing of (where appropriate):– major projects– global grants. Information on small global grants in favour of NGOs

and other local partners (Art. 4.2 of 1784/99) should also be included

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