Legal provisions of COM(2020)138 - Amendment of Regulations as regards specific measures to provide exceptional flexibility for the use of the ESIF in response to the COVID-19 outbreak

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dossier COM(2020)138 - Amendment of Regulations as regards specific measures to provide exceptional flexibility for the use of the ESIF in response ...
document COM(2020)138 EN
date April 23, 2020

Contents

Article 1 - Amendment to Regulation (EU) No 1301/2013

In Article 3(3) of Regulation (EU) No 1301/2013, point (d) is replaced by the following:

‘(d)undertakings in difficulty as defined in Union State aid rules; undertakings receiving support complying with Temporary Framework for State aid measures (*1) or Commission Regulations (EU) No 1407/2013 (*2), (EU) No 1408/2013 (*3) and (EU) No 717/2014 (*4) shall not be regarded as undertakings in difficulty for the purpose of this point;

Article 2 - Amendments to Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013

Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 is amended as follows:

(1)in Part Two, Title II, the following Chapter is added:

‘CHAPTER V

Exceptional measures for the use of the ESI Funds in response to the COVID-19 outbreak

Article 25 - a Exceptional measures for the use of the ESI Funds in response to the COVID-19 outbreak

1. By way of derogation from Article 60(1) and the first and fourth subparagraphs of Article 120(3), at the request of a Member State, a co-financing rate of 100 % may be applied to expenditure declared in payment applications during the accounting year starting 1 July 2020 and ending 30 June 2021 for one or more priority axes in a programme supported by the ERDF, the ESF or the Cohesion Fund.

Requests for modification of the co-financing rate shall be submitted in accordance with the procedure for the amendment of programmes set out in Article 30 and shall be accompanied by a revised programme or programmes. The co-financing rate of 100 % shall apply only if the relevant amendment of the operational programme is approved by the Commission before the submission of the final application for an interim payment in accordance with Article 135(2).

Before submitting the first payment application for the accounting year starting 1 July 2021, Member States shall notify the table referred to in point (d)(ii) of Article 96(2) confirming the co-financing rate which was applicable during the accounting year ending 30 June 2020 for the priorities concerned by the temporary increase to 100 %.

2. In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, the resources available for programming for the year 2020 for the Investment for growth and jobs goal may, at the request of a Member State, be transferred between the ERDF, the ESF and the Cohesion Fund, irrespective of the percentages referred to in points (a) to (d) of Article 92(1).

For the purpose of those transfers, the requirements laid down in Article 92(4) shall not apply.

Transfers shall not affect resources allocated to the YEI in accordance with Article 92(5) or to the aid for the most deprived under the Investment for growth and jobs goal in accordance with Article 92(7).

Resources transferred between the ERDF, the ESF and the Cohesion Fund under this paragraph shall be implemented in accordance with the rules of the Fund to which the resources are transferred.

3. By way of derogation from Article 93(1) and in addition to the possibility provided for in Article 93(2), resources available for programming for the year 2020 may, at the request of a Member State, be transferred between categories of regions in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.

4. Requests for transfers under paragraphs 2 and 3 of this Article shall be submitted in accordance with the procedure for amendment of programmes set out in Article 30, shall be duly justified and shall be accompanied by the revised programme or programmes identifying the amounts transferred by Fund and by category of region, where relevant.

5. By way of derogation from Article 18 of this Regulation and the Fund-specific Regulations, financial allocations set out in requests for programme amendments submitted or transfers notified pursuant to Article 30(5) of this Regulation, on or after 24 April 2020, shall not be subject to the requirements on thematic concentration set out in this Regulation or the Fund-specific Regulations.

6. By way of derogation from Article 16, as from 24 April 2020, Partnership Agreements shall not be amended and programme amendments shall not entail the amendment of Partnership Agreements.

By way of derogation from Articles 26(1), 27(1), 30(1) and 30(2), as from 24 April 2020 the consistency of programmes and of their implementation with the Partnership Agreement shall not be verified.

7. For operations that foster crisis response capacities in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak as referred to in the second subparagraph of Article 65(10), Article 65(6) shall not apply.

By way of derogation from point (b) of Article 125(3), such operations may be selected for support by the ERDF or the ESF prior to the approval of the amended programme.

8. For the purposes of point (b) of Article 87(1), where the COVID-19 outbreak is invoked as a reason of force majeure, information on the amounts for which it has not been possible to make a payment application shall be provided at an aggregate level by priority for operations whose total eligible cost is less than EUR 1 000 000.

9. The annual report on implementation of the programme referred to in Article 50(1) for the year 2019 shall be submitted by 30 September 2020 for all ESI Funds, by way of derogation from the deadlines set out in the Fund-specific Regulations. The transmission of the summary report to be prepared by the Commission in 2020, in accordance with Article 53(1), may be postponed accordingly.

10. By way of derogation from point (g) of Article 37(2), no review or update of the ex ante assessments shall be required where changes in financial instruments are necessary to provide an effective response to the COVID-19 outbreak.

11. Where financial instruments provide support in the form of working capital to SMEs pursuant to the second subparagraph of Article 37(4) of this Regulation, new or updated business plans, or equivalent documents, and evidence allowing verification that the support provided through the financial instruments has been used for its intended purpose as part of the supporting documents, shall not be required.

By way of derogation from Regulation (EU) No 1305/2013, such support may also be provided by the EAFRD under measures referred to in Regulation (EU) No 1305/2013 and relevant to the implementation of financial instruments. Such eligible expenditure shall not exceed EUR 200 000.

12. For the purposes of the second subparagraph of Article 127(1), the COVID-19 outbreak shall constitute a duly justified case that audit authorities may invoke, based on their professional judgement, to use a non-statistical sampling method for the accounting year starting 1 July 2019 and ending 30 June 2020.

13. For the purposes of application of point (f) of Article 30(1) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 of the European Parliament and of the Council (*5), the condition that appropriations are for the same objective shall not apply in respect of transfers under paragraphs 2 and 3 of this Article.

(*5)  Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 July 2018 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union, amending Regulations (EU) No 1296/2013, (EU) No 1301/2013, (EU) No 1303/2013, (EU) No 1304/2013, (EU) No 1309/2013, (EU) No 1316/2013, (EU) No 223/2014, (EU) No 283/2014, and Decision No 541/2014/EU and repealing Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 (OJ L 193, 30.7.2018, p. 1).’;"

(2)in Article 130, the following paragraph is added:

‘3.   By way of derogation from paragraph 2, the contribution from the Funds or the EMFF through payments of the final balance for each priority per Fund and per category of regions in the final accounting year shall not exceed, by more than 10 %, the contribution from the Funds or the EMFF for each priority per Fund and per category of regions as laid down in the decision of the Commission approving the operational programme.

The contribution from the Funds or the EMFF through payments of the final balance in the final accounting year shall not exceed the eligible public expenditure declared or the contribution from each Fund and category of regions to each operational programme as laid down in the decision of the Commission approving the operational programme, whichever is the lower.’.

Article 3 - Entry into force

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

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.