It does not really matter actually who signs first as long as the Authority concerned does not edit the Accounts anymore otherwise previous signatures will be removed.
Therefore, always keep in mind the following rules:
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.
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:
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.
The acknowledgement of receipt is signed with an electronic certificate guaranteeing the date and time of the signature as well as the integrity of this document. The certificate used to sign this document is held by the European Commission and can be verified by the corresponding public key.
The first step to validate the signature is to install the certificate in Acrobat.
(This step is only necessary once per machine)
