Each Member State may demand that operations approved directly by the Commission shall be discussed at a future meeting of the EDF Committee.

This document shall be the subject of an exchange of views between the Member States and the Commission in the framework of the EDF Committee.

The Commission shall inform the EDF Committee of these allocations as well as of any provision made in accordance with Article 3(4) of Annex IV.

The proposals referred to in Article 25(1), together with the opinion of the EDF Committee, shall be submitted to the Commission for its decision.

After the EDF Committee referred to in Article 21, acting by a qualified majority, has delivered its opinion, the Commission shall use such revenue:

Where the additional commitment referred to in (a) exceeds ECU 4 million but is under 20 % of the initial commitment, the EDF Committee's opinion shall be sought under simplified, expedited procedures to be laid down, on the basis of Commission proposals, when the Rules of Procedure of the EDF Committee are adopted.

The Council shall decide on it according to the same voting procedure as the EDF Committee within a period which, as a general rule, may not exceed two months.

If the EDF Committee still refuses to deliver a favourable opinion, the Commission shall inform the ACP State or States concerned, which may then request either:

The EDF Committee shall deliver its opinion in accordance with the provisions of Article 21 and in accordance with its Rules of Procedure referred to in Article 21(2).

Following the consultations referred to in paragraph 1, the Commission may submit a revised or extended proposal to the EDF Committee at one of its subsequent meetings.

between EUR 500000 and EUR 2 million, the Commission will provide the EDF Committee with a succinct ex ante information at least two weeks before the decision is taken;

A Committee (hereinafter called 'the EDF Committee`) consisting of representatives of the Governments of the Member States shall be set up under the auspices of the Commission, for the Fund resources it administers.

If the Commission decides to depart from the opinion expressed by the EDF Committee or if the Committee has not delivered a favourable opinion, the Commission shall either withdraw the proposal or, at the earliest opportunity, refer the proposal to the Council, which shall decide on it according to the same voting procedure as the EDF Committee within a period which, as a general rule, may not exceed two months.

During the review process, the EDF Committee shall deliver its opinion in accordance with the provisions of Article 27 on the basis of a summary document to be submitted by the Commission.

In this context, the thresholds for referral of financing proposals to the EDF Committee in Article 24 and the decision-making procedure set out in Article 27 may be reviewed in the year 2003.

The Commission shall send the draft estimate to the EDF Committee and to the corresponding Committees for the operations in respect of which the intervention of the Agency is or will be necessary.

A Committee (hereinafter called "the EDF Committee") consisting of representatives of the governments of the Member States shall be set up at the Commission for the European Development Fund resources which the Commission administers.

Within the period specified for the mid-term and end-of-term reviews, the EDF Committee shall deliver its opinion in accordance with Article 27 on the basis of a document to be provided by the Commission, on:

between EUR 2 million and EUR 8 million, the Commission will provide the EDF Committee with ex ante information according to the criteria specified in paragraph 5 at least two weeks before the decision is taken;

If the Commission decides to depart from the opinion expressed by the EDF Committee, or if the committee has not delivered a favourable opinion, the Commission shall either withdraw the proposal or, at the earliest opportunity, refer the proposal to the Council.

The EDF Committee shall give its opinion, in accordance with the procedure defined in Article 27, on the method used in the application of the general criteria for resource allocation, as presented by the Commission.

The EDF Committee shall deliver its opinion on the draft RCS and its indicative programme in accordance with the procedure set out in Article 27, taking into account the provisions of Article 23(1) of this Agreement.

Without first seeking the opinion of the EDF Committee, the Commission is authorised to approve operations with a value less than or equal to EUR 8 million and representing less than 25 % of the indicative programme.

mid-term appraisal of projects and programmes where requested by the EDF Committee when approving the financing proposals, or where this appraisal gives rise to substantial modifications to the project or programme concerned.

Before the expiry of the 9th EDF, the Member States shall set a date beyond which the funds of the 9th EDF may no longer be committed.

The Commission, the Bank and the Member States shall take all necessary measures, in particular in relation to the process of the EDF Committee opinion referred to in paragraph 4, to ensure that the time frames for these reviews are respected.

If the EDF Committee requests substantial changes to one of the proposals referred to in Article 25(1), or in the absence of a favourable opinion on the proposal, the Commission shall consult the representatives of the ACP State or States concerned.

The EDF Committee shall focus its work on the substantive problems of cooperation on a country-by-country basis and seek appropriate coordination of the approaches and operations of the Community and its Member States in the interests of consistency and complementarity.

If it is not possible to reach the consensus referred to in the first paragraph, and at the request of a Member State or the Commission, the EDF Committee will also give its opinion acting by a qualified majority in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 21.

The Commission shall decide, case by case, on the allocation and level of a second instalment of the indicative programme following an exchange of views with the Member States in the EDF Committee pursuant to Article 23, on the basis of a summary document from the Commission departments.

This document shall be examined by the representatives of the Member States, the Commission and the Bank, within the EDF-Committee referred to in Article 21, in order to assess the general framework of the Community's cooperation with each ACP State and to ensure, as far as possible, consistency and complementarity between Community aid and aid from the Member States.

The Member States and the Commission shall also communicate to each other, by means of regular meetings between the Commission and Member State representations on the spot, bilateral contacts or meetings of Member State and Commission experts and in the context of the proceedings of the EDF Committee referred to in Article 21, any information they possess on other bilateral, regional or multilateral aid granted to or envisaged for ACP States.

Any balances remaining from previous EDFs on the date of entry into force of the Financial Protocol to the ACP-EC Agreement, as well as any amounts that will be de-committed at a later date from ongoing projects under these EDF, shall be transferred to the 9th EDF.

The Commission is also authorised to approve, without seeking the EDF Committee's opinion, the additional commitments required to cover expected or actual overspending under a project or programme referred to in paragraphs 1(a) and (b), where the overspending or additional amount required does not exceed 20 % of the initial commitment fixed in the financing decision and/or EUR 5 million, and does not entail any substantial modification to the project.

The Commission is also authorised in the circumstances provided for in (b), to approve, without seeking the EDF Committee's opinion, the additional commitments required to cover expected or actual overspending under a project or programme referred to in paragraphs 1(b) and 2, to cover additional financing requirements for structural adjustment tranches which are the subject of the proposals referred to in paragraph 1(c), where the overspending or additional amount required does not exceed 20 % of the initial commitment fixed in the financing decision.