The revenue from interest generated on operations financed under commitments made under previous EDFs and on the funds of the 10th EDF managed by the Commission and deposited with the paying agents in Europe referred to in Article 37(1) of Annex IV to the ACP-EC Partnership Agreement shall be credited to one or more bank accounts opened in the name of the Commission and shall be used in accordance with the terms of Article 6. The use of the revenue from interest generated on the funds of the 10th EDF managed by the EIB, will be determined in the framework of the Financial Regulation referred to in Article 10(2).

details of amounts still to be recovered should be included in the annual accounts of paying agencies;

The paying agency shall remain responsible for the efficient management of the funds concerned and for updating accounting records.

they must as a minimum permit the paying agency to comply with the accreditation criteria and to meet the deadlines laid down for the submission of monthly and annual accounts.

Each paying agency shall keep accounts covering exclusively the use of the funds made available to it to defray expenditure on the measures provided for in the rural development programming documents.

For countries whose currency is not the euro on the date of such entry, advances under paragraph 1 shall be entered in the accounts using the rate of exchange prevailing on the penultimate Commission working day of the month preceding that in which the paying agencies enter the advance in the accounts.

Without prejudice to Article 192 of the Convention, the revenue accruing from interest on the funds deposited with the paying agents in Europe referred to in Article 319(4) of the Convention shall be credited to one or more bank accounts opened in the name of the Commission.

The revenue accruing from interest on the appropriations referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article deposited with the paying agents in Europe referred to in Article 37(1) of Annex IV to the ACP-EC Agreement shall be credited to one or more bank accounts opened in the name of the Commission, and shall be used in accordance with the terms of Article 10.

For the month during which the decision is adopted approving a rural development programming document or a single programming document under Objective 2 as regards rural development measures financed by the EAGGF Guarantee Section, the paying agencies may enter in the accounts as expenditure an advance not exceeding 12,5 % of the average annual EAGGF contribution provided for in the programming document, covering the expenditure referred to in Article 48(1).

The accounting officer may effect payments in local currency from the paying agent account in the ACP State or OCT and payments in foreign currency from one or more paying agent accounts in the Community.

Clearance of the paying agencies' accounts

The reference number identifying the payment clearly in the paying agency's accounts.

List of paying agencies for which the accounts are disjoined and are subject of a later clearance decision

The reference number identifying the payment clearly in the paying agency's accounts as an advance or an amount recovered.

With the exception of the paying agencies referred to in Article 2 the accounts of the paying agencies of the Member States concerning expenditure financed by the EAGGF Guarantee Section in respect of the 2002 financial year are hereby cleared.

(7) In the light of the verifications made, the information submitted by certain other Paying Agencies requires additional inquiries and their accounts cannot be cleared in this decision.

(6) For certain paying agencies, in the light of the verifications made, the annual accounts and the accompanying documents permit the Commission to take a decision on the completeness, accuracy and veracity of the accounts submitted.

The Commission shall, before 30 April of the year following the financial year concerned, on the basis of the information referred to in Article 6(l)(b), clear the accounts of the paying agencies.

Each paying agency shall keep accounts covering exclusively the use of the funds made available to it to defray expenditure on the measures provided for in the rural development programming documents.

That procedure also applies to the lodging of signatures of national and regional authorising officers and their deputies for operations in paying agent accounts opened in the ACP States or the OCTs and, where appropriate, in the accounts opened in the Member States.

For the 2002 financial year, the accounts of the Member States' paying agencies in respect of expenditure financed by the EAGGF Guarantee Section, shown in Annex II, are disjoined from this Decision and shall be the subject of a future clearance Decision.

The advance under paragraph 1 shall be entered in the accounts, for those countries whose currency is not the euro on the date of such entry, using the rate of exchange prevailing on the penultimate Commission working day of the month preceding that in which the paying agencies enter the advance in the accounts.

(1) Under Article 7(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1258/1999, the Commission, on the basis of the annual accounts submitted by the Member States, accompanied by the information required for clearance and a certificate regarding the veracity, completeness, and accuracy of the accounts transmitted clears the accounts of the paying agencies referred to in Article 4(1) of this Regulation.

Without prejudice to Article 192 of the Convention, the revenue accruing from interest on the funds deposited with the paying agents in Europe referred to in Article 319(4) of the Convention shall be credited to one or more bank accounts opened in the name of the Commission.

The financial institutions in the OCT with which the Commission opens accounts in accordance with Part I, Title III, Chapter 3, Section 4 of the EDF Financial Regulation for the purposes of implementing cooperation with the OCT shall exercise the functions of 'Paying Agents'.

Each Member State shall, taking into account its constitutional and institutional structures, limit the number of accredited paying agencies to the minimum necessary in order to effect the expenditure referred to in Articles 2 and 3 under satisfactory administrative and accounting conditions.

The revenue accruing from interest on the funds referred to in paragraph 1 deposited with the paying agents in Europe referred to in Article 37 of Annex IV to the ACP-EC Agreement shall be credited to one or more bank accounts opened in the name of the Commission, and shall be used in accordance with Article 9 of the Internal Agreement and with this Regulation.

Whereas, during the clearance of accounts, the Commission is able to determine within a reasonable time the total expenditure to be entered against the Guarantee Section in the general account only if it has satisfactory assurance that the national controls are adequate and transparent and that the paying agencies verify the legality and regularity of the payment requests which they execute;

As a consequence, expenditure incurred by the EAGGF Guarantee Section on measures under Regulations (EEC) No 2078/92, (EEC) No 2079/92 and (EEC) No 2080/92 since 16 October 1999 fall within the 2000 budget year and must be taken into account under the allocation for the period 2000 to 2006. Furthermore, payments made by the paying agencies from 16 October to 31 December 2006 are to be charged against the 2007 budget year.

For the month during which the decision is adopted approving a rural development programming document or a single programming document under Objective 2 in the case of rural development measures financed by the EAGGF Guarantee Section, the paying agencies may enter in the accounts as expenditure an advance not exceeding 12,5 % of the average annual EAGGF contribution provided for in the programming document, covering the expenditure referred to in Article 41(1).

whereas, for that purpose, it should be stipulated that only expenditure effected by paying agencies accredited by the Member States should be financed; whereas, moreover, in order to ensure the transparency of national controls, in particular as regards authorisation, validation and payment procedures, the number of authorities and bodies to which these responsibilities are delegated should, where appropriate, be restricted taking account of the constitutional arrangements of each Member State;

whether the annual accounts referred to in Article 4 (1) (a) of this Regulation are in accordance with the books and records of the paying agencies,

for expenditure referred to in Article 5 (1), the dates on which the paying agency enters them into the accounts in accordance with paragraph 2 of that Article;

However, if the paying agency of a non-participating Member State is capable of converting into national currency the amounts paid to beneficiaries in euro at the exchange rate applied on the day of payment, the complete accounts of that paying agency may be maintained in national currency.

Such accounts must be made available to the public at the issuer's offices or at those of the financial organisations retained to act as the latter's paying agents.

The amounts of expenditure referred to in paragraph 1 shall be entered in the accounts by the paying agencies during the month following that to which the operations refer.

The paying agencies must keep accounts of expenditure on the measures provided for in Article 5(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1259/1999 that are separate from the accounts of other expenditure on rural development.

Each paying agency shall keep accounts covering only the use of the funds made available to it to defray the expenditure referred to in Article 1 (2) of Regulation (EEC) No 729/70.

The paying agencies of non-participating Member States in the euro must maintain separate accounts according to the currency in which the payments have been made to the beneficiaries.

Amounts withheld from the aid payments referred to in Articles 3 and 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1259/1999 must be credited to a special account opened for each paying agency or to a special single account opened by each Member State.

The Commission shall, before 30 April of the year following the financial year concerned, on the basis of the information referred to in Article 6(1)(b), clear the accounts of the paying agencies.

Member States participating in the euro may choose, during the transitional period referred to in the sixth indent of Article 1 of Regulation (EC) No 974/98, to keep the accounts at the level of the paying agency:

These amounts shall be credited to the paying agency's account as referred to in paragraph 2 or, where applicable, to a separate account intended exclusively for financing the additional Community support referred to in Article 5(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1259/1999.

The amounts thus retained from the aid payments must be credited to a specific account opened for each paying agency or on a specific unique account opened at the level of the Member State and intended exclusively for the financing of the additional Community support.

Whereas the reform of the procedure for the clearance of the accounts, put into effect by Council Regulation (EC) No 1287/95, provides for the establishment of detailed rules regarding the certification and clearance of the annual accounts of accredited paying agencies;

Before accrediting any paying agency, the competent authority shall be satisfied that the administrative and accounting arrangements of the body concerned offer the guarantees referred to in Article 4 (1) (a) of Regulation (EEC) No 729/70.

If, in accordance with paragraphs 8 and 9, the paying agencies of a Member State may choose between the euro, units of national currency and the national currency for their accounts, it is not obligatory that they all adopt the same choice.