Declaration of Expenditure (EAFRD) | 2021 Support Materials MS

All Users who have the role MSPA (Paying Agency) or MSCB (Coordinating Body) on a Node (top or lower Node) where the Declaration EAFRD was created can download XML files for expenditure and sign for any paying agency. In fact, in terms of security, SFC2021 only recognizes that Users have the MSPA or MSCB role for a given Node, but it does not know that such a User actually serves a paying agency or not. Moreover, for reasons of flexibility/ease (as some MS do not have a Coordinating Body), there is no real distinction between the MSPA and MSCB roles, both can create, upload files, sign and send the Declaration EAFRD to the Commission. It is up to the Member State to ensure that the right people upload and sign for the right paying agencies, and also to ensure that the right person sends the Declaration to the Commission.

If some MS with several Paying Agencies want to submit a Declaration of Expenditure EAFRD inside which some Paying Agencies have nothing to declare/correct, then they have the choice between:

• not adding any XML files for these Paying Agencies. In this case, SFC2021 will not create a section for these Paying Agencies inside the Declaration and they will not have to sign for these Paying Agencies.
• adding one XML file for each of these Paying Agencies, containing one or several (one is enough but several can be added if needed) Budget code line(s) with amount/corrections declared=0 (only the Budget code and the Contribution rate should be filled). In this case, SFC2021 will create a section for each of these Paying Agencies, and each of them will have to provide a signature before submitting the Declaration to EC.

Each Paying Agency declaring amounts can upload one XML file for "Expenditure & Adjustments", "Open Advances", and "Financial Instruments". In the XML file header, there is a mandatory field (CATS code) that identifies the Paying Agency. The uploaded data will be displayed in SFC per Paying Agency.

Afterwards, each Paying Agency must sign individually before the Coordinating Body can submit the complete Declaration containing all data from all Paying Agencies for the CAP plan. This ensures that the Paying Agency and the reported amounts can always be identified.

It is important to note that the ceiling checks and ringfencing compliance are carried out for the CAP plan as a whole, and not per region or Paying Agency.

Paying Agencies having no amounts to declare can choose between two actions. Check this FAQ.