Effective as of 1 January 2007 Promulgated, SG, No 78 of 28 September 2007

Transcription

1 DECREE No 231 OF 20 SEPTEMBER 2007 ON ADOPTION OF DETAILED RULES FOR ELIGIBILITY OF EXPENDITURE UNDER OPERATIONAL PROGRAMME ADMINISTRATIVE CAPACITY, CO-FINANCED BY THE EUROPEAN SOCIAL FUND, FOR THE FINANCIAL FRAMEWORK Effective as of 1 January 2007 Promulgated, SG, No 78 of 28 September 2007 THE COUNCIL OF MINISTERS DECREED: Article 1. The detailed rules for eligibility of expenditure under Operational Programme Administrative Capacity (OPAC), co-financed by the European Social Fund (ESF), hereinafter referred to as The Rules, shall hereby be adopted. Article 2. In order to qualify as eligible the expenditure, made under OPAC, must simultaneously conform to the following requirements: 1. it must be paid for activities, determined and carried out under the responsibility of the OPAC Managing Authority, in accordance with the selection criteria for operations, approved by the OPAC Monitoring Committee and with Decree No 62 of the Council of Ministers of 2007 on adoption of national rules for eligibility of expenditure under the Operational Programmes, co-financed by the Structural Funds and the Cohesion Fund of the European Union, for the financial framework (SG, No 27 of 2007) and these rules; 2. it must be paid by a beneficiary, designated in the Operational Programme under the respective sub-priority or by its partners in the cases, where the latter would be eligible in accordance with the selection criteria for operations, approved by the OPAC Monitoring Committee; 3. it must be based on unit prices, not exceeding the market prices; 4. it must be actually incurred and paid during the eligibility period of expenditure under Article 3; 5. it must be included in the agreement for providing grant financial aid or in the order within the meaning of Article 3 of Decree No 121 of the Council of Ministers of 2007 laying down the terms and conditions for providing grant under the Operational Programmes, co-financed from the Structural Funds and the Cohesion Fund of the European Union and from the PHARE Programme of the European Union (SG, No 45 of 2007); 6. the selection of contractor must be carried out in accordance with the applicable national legislation and more specifically with the Law on the Public Procurement and the regulations on its implementation or with Decree No 55 of the Council of Ministers of 2007 on the terms and conditions for selection of contractor on the part of beneficiaries of contracted grant from the Structural Funds of the European Union and from the PHARE Programme of the European Union (SG, No 24 of 2007); 7. it must be paid against invoices or where not applicable against accounting

2 documents of equivalent strength as evidence in accordance with Bulgarian legislation; 8. it must be traceable based on an effectively functioning audit trail; 9. it must not be funded from any other source from the national budget, the budget of the European Communities or any other donor programme. Article 3. The eligibility period of expenditure, actually paid by the OPAC beneficiaries, shall be in accordance with Article 3(1) of Decree No 62 of the Council of Ministers of Article 4. (1) Indirect expenditure shall be eligible under OPAC, if declared based on a flat rate not exceeding 20 percent of direct eligible expenditure for the activity. (2) Indirect expenditure, declared on the basis of a flat rate, may not exceed the total value of similar expenditure of the beneficiary, part of which they are by accountancy data. Article 5. (1) Expenditure, made by OPAC beneficiaries, shall be in monetary form, with the exception of expenditure under paragraph (2). (2) Eligible shall be the following non-monetary expenditure, provided the amount would be accounted for based on accounting documents of evidential value, equivalent to that of invoices: 1. expenditure for depreciation of depreciatable assets, directly related to the project goals, provided that: a) the assets would not be purchased, even in part, using resources from the national budget, the budget of the European Communities or any other donor programme; b) the depreciation cost would be charged in accordance with the accountancy legislation and be approved in an amount, not exceeding the figure of the maximum depreciation rate, allowable for tax purposes for the specific asset, in accordance with the Law on the Corporate Income Taxation; the persons not charging depreciation under the procedure of the accountancy legislation, shall determine the depreciation costs under the procedure, envisaged in the Law on the Corporate Income Taxation; c) expenditure shall relate only for the period of co-financing of the respective project; 2. In-kind contribution shall be an eligible cost, subject to the following conditions: a) it had been expressly indicated as an eligible cost in the Application Guidelines under OPAC; b) co-financing from the ESF would not exceed the total eligible expenditure, after subtracting from it the value of the in-kind contribution; c) the in-kind contribution shall relate to activities and costs, eligible for the respective project; d) the value of the in-kind contribution would have been determined by an independent appraiser, independent auditor or by a duly authorized official body in cases of real estate; e) in case of unpaid voluntary labour its value would have been determined by taking into account of the number of hours and the average salary or the average hourly or daily rates of remuneration for equivalent labour for the respective branch.

3 Article 6. The following expenditure shall be eligible: 1. costs for services, related to filling out of application forms and/or preparation of project proposal, if the selection of contractor for this service is carried out in accordance with the requirements of the Law on the Public Procurement and the regulations on its implementation or with Decree No 55 of the Council of Ministers of 2007 and the proposal had been approved for financing under OPAC; 2. costs, related to activities of ensuring publicity and awareness of the implementation of projects; 3. costs, related to providing training in connection with performance of activities under OPAC; 4. costs for business trips (travel, daily subsistence allowance) in accordance with national legislation in connection with the performance of activities under OPAC; 5. leasing costs provided that: a) the lessee would be an OPAC beneficiary; b) the lease would be required for performance of the OPAC activities; c) the lease payments would be due and paid prior to expiry of the term of fulfilment of the financing contract under the OPAC; d) the lease would be more advantageous than renting of the same asset; e) the cost of lease contributions, as well as the acquisition of an asset by means of lease contract, would be evidenced by invoice or an equivalent basic accounting document; f) the maximum eligible expenditure would not exceed the market price for purchase of the asset; 6. costs for technical and financial expert evaluations, if directly related to activities, funded under the project and required for their preparation or performance; 7. bank charges for opening and service of accounts, set up upon request of the managing authority, in cases where co-financing by the ESF requires setting up of a separate bank account for implementation of the specific project; the requirement for setting up of a bank account shall be regulated in the Application Guidelines, expressly mentioning the account type and the treatment of interest, accruing to such account; 8. accounting and audit costs, as well as insurance costs, if envisaged in the Application Guidelines of OPAC on a case-by-case basis; 9. costs for development and/or acquisition software, including information systems; 10. costs for funding remunerations and supplements to the pay of employees, including social insurance contributions in accordance with national legislation, for activities performed under the project beyond the scope of their official duties; the expenditure for remunerations for work performed shall be accounted for on the basis of actual salaries of the respective employees and must be in proportion to the hours worked on the project; 11. expenditure for remunerations and other income paid by third parties in favour of the participants in a certain activity and certified by the beneficiary; 12. other expenditure, eligible for ESF, directly related to performance of activities under OPAC. Article 7. (1) The expenditure, related to the preparation, management, monitoring and

4 evaluation, information and control of OPAC shall be eligible for funding under the Priority Axis Technical Assistance, such as: 1. costs related to the organization and conduct of the sessions of the Monitoring Committee, as well as of their sub-committees and working groups; 2. costs, related to performance of audits and on-the-spot checks of projects, funded by OPAC; 3. costs for organizing and conducting seminars and conferences, working meetings and session for improvement of the organization and methodology of work of experts of the managing authority; 4. costs incurred by the managing authority, related to activities of ensuring publicity and awareness regarding OPAC and its implementation, including preparation, copying and publication of promotional materials; conduct of information campaigns; development and maintenance of a website, etc.; 5. costs for evaluation of the implementation of OPAC; 6. costs for preparation of statistical and comparative data and analyses; 7. costs for training of employees, assigned to management and implementation of OPAC, including costs for renting of rooms, equipment, catering, trainers fees, as well as preparation and distribution of training materials; 8. costs for business travel of employees of the managing authority and the Internal Audit Unit, of members of the OPAC Monitoring Committee and their deputies, including on trips in-country and abroad, related to management and implementation of OPAC, such as: conduct of audits and on-site inspections; participation in trainings, internships, working groups and meetings, related to the management of the Structural Funds of the European Union; the costs for business travel must not exceed the limits, imposed by national legislation; 9. costs for renting and lease; 10. costs for purchase and/or insurance of equipment under complementary financing terms under Article 9; 11. costs for translation and interpretation, including renting of the equipment required; 12. costs for preparation of programming documents for the following programming period; 13. costs for the managing authority, related to the selection of projects under OPAC (including for outside expertise); 14. other expenditure, eligible for ESF directly related to the implementation of Priority Axis Technical Assistance. (2) In cases where the OPAC Managing Authority are beneficiary, eligible for funding under Priority Axis Technical Assistance shall also be the expenditure under Article 6, where applicable. Article 8. (1) Expenditure for remunerations and supplements to the pay of civil servants and/or other persons for performance of activities in connection with the preparation, management, monitoring, evaluation, information and control of OPAC shall be eligible for funding under Priority Axis Technical Assistance, if such activities are defined in:

5 1. their job descriptions or tasks/duties, assigned outside the job descriptions and/or in the contracts of their appointment; 2. the service contracts for performance of any of the activities, enumerated above, if the activity remains outside the scope of the job descriptions of the persons. (2) Costs for social and health insurance contributions, payable by the employer on the basis of the remunerations paid within the meaning of paragraph (1) shall be eligible. Article 9. The expenditure for activities, meeting the requirements of funding in a complementary way under Article 11 of Decree No 62 of the Council of Ministers of 2007 shall be eligible for funding from OPAC and provided that: 1. the expenditure are made in accordance with the detailed rules for eligibility of expenditure under an Operational Programme, entirely funded by the ERDF, and the applicability of the respective detailed rules shall be determined in the Application Guidelines; 2. the possibility, specific parameters and terms of applying funding in complementary way shall be expressly indicated in the Application Guidelines. OPAC: Article 10. The following expenditure shall be not eligible for financing under 1. refundable value added tax; 2. loans and/or interest on loans; 3. commissions and losses from foreign currency exchange; 4. dividends and profit; 5. costs for guarantees, provided by banks or other financial institutions; 6. costs under contracts with sub-contractors under Article 5 (1) of Decree No 62 of the Council of Ministers of 2007; 7. fines, financial sanctions and costs for dispute settlement; 8. charges, administrative costs and insurance costs, related to the lease contract; 9. construction of buildings; 10. purchase of furnishings, equipment, vehicles, infrastructure, real estate and land, repair and reconstruction of buildings, except for the expenditure, to which Article 9 would apply; 11. expenditure for purchase of used equipment. Article 11. (1) Prior to determining the final amount of grant under OPAC, but not later than the time of approval of the last request for reimbursement of expenditure, all revenue, generated under the said project, shall be subtracted from the value of eligible expenditure for this project. (2) The rule under paragraph (1) shall not apply in the cases, where co-financing on the part of the beneficiary would be available and the revenue generated would be the result exclusively of the co-financing by the beneficiary.

6 SUPPLEMENTARY PROVISIONS 1. Within the meaning of this Decree: 1. Beneficiary and Specific Beneficiary shall have the meanings, defined in 1, p.p. 3 and 6 of Decree No 121 of the Council of Ministers of 2007 laying down the terms and conditions for providing grant under the Operational Programmes, co-financed from the Structural Funds and the Cohesion Fund of the European Union and from the PHARE Programme of the European Union. 2. Indirect expenditure shall be the expenditure, which is indirectly relevant to the activities under the respective project and which form part of the total amount of the expenditure, determined as a flat rate in the cases, where a precise determination of the portion of the expenditure, relevant to the respective activities under the project is not feasible. 3. Market price shall be the price within the meaning of 1, p. 8 of the Supplementary Provisions of the Tax - Insurance Procedure Code, determined by the methods of determining market prices within the meaning of 1, p. 10 of the same provisions. 4. Direct expenditure shall be expenditure, which is directly relevant to the activities under the respective project and had been performed entirely for the implementation of the specific project only. 5. Revenue shall be all income from the project during the period of its cofinancing, received from sales, rent, services, interest, receivables/charges or other equivalent income. 2. Within the meaning of this Decree and of Article 2 (3) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 Operation shall denote a project. TRANSITIONAL AND FINAL PROVISIONS 3. This Decree shall be adopted on the basis of the Treaty of Accession of the Republic of Bulgaria to the European Union, Article 56 (4) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006, in connection with 4 of Decree No 62 of the Council of Ministers of 2007 on adoption of national rules for eligibility of expenditure under the Operational Programmes, co-financed by the Structural Funds and the Cohesion Fund of the European Union, for the financial framework. 4. Instructions on the detailed rules for eligibility of expenditure shall be indicated, on a case-by-case basis, in the respective Application Guidelines under OPAC, and shall comply with the Community legislation, the national legislation and this Decree. 5. The implementation of this Decree shall be assigned to the Minister of State Administration and Administrative Reform.

7 6. This Decree shall enter into force as of 1 January 2007.