Definition of lead beneficiaries and other beneficiaries
According to Article 96 (3) of the IPA Implementing Regulation, if there are several final beneficiaries of an operation in each participating country, they shall appoint a lead beneficiary among themselves prior to the submission of the proposal for an operation. The lead beneficiary shall assume the responsibilities set out below regarding the implementation of the operation.
Responsibilities of Lead Beneficiaries and other Beneficiaries
Responsibilities of lead beneficiaries
According to the provisions of Article 96 (3) of the IPA Implementing Regulation, the lead beneficiary shall assume the following responsibilities for the part of the operation taking place in the respective country :
·It shall lay down the arrangements for its relations with the final beneficiaries participating in the part of the operation taking place in the respective country in an agreement comprising, inter alia, provisions guaranteeing the sound financial management of the funds allocated to the operation, including the arrangements for recovering amounts unduly paid;
·It shall be responsible for ensuring the implementation of the part of operation taking place in the respective country;
·It shall be responsible for transferring the Community contribution to the final beneficiaries participating in the part of operation taking place in the respective country;
It shall ensure that the expenditure presented by the final beneficiaries participating in the part of operation taking place in the respective country has been paid for the purpose of implementing the operation and corresponds to the activities agreed between the final beneficiaries participating in the operation.
The lead beneficiaries from the participating countries shall ensure a close co-ordination among them in the implementation of the operation.
Responsibilities of other beneficiaries
Each beneficiary participating in the operation shall:
·Participate in the operation;
·Be responsible for ensuring the implementation of the operations under its responsibility according to the project plan and the agreement signed with the lead beneficiary;
·Co-operate with the other partner beneficiaries in the implementation of the operation, the reporting for monitoring;
·Provide the information requested for audit by the audit bodies responsible for it;
·Assume responsibility in the event of any irregularity in the expenditure which was declared, including eventual repayment to the Commission;
·Be responsible for information and communication measures for the public.
Functional Lead Partner
In case of joint projects (where Lead Beneficiaries from both sides are participating and are separately contracted by the Contracting Authorities of SRB and of MNE) the 2 Lead Beneficiaries shall appoint among themselves a Functional Lead Partner prior to the submission of the project proposal.
The Functional Lead Partner is:
·Responsible for the overall coordination of the project activities on both side of the border;
·Responsible for organising joint meetings of project partners;
·Responsible for reporting to the JTS on the overall progress of the joint project.
Project Generation
The Joint Technical Secretariat will proactively support the Lead Beneficiaries and other beneficiaries throughout the life cycle of operations, i. e. during preparation starting from development of applications, and implementation of operations until complete finalisation of the respective operation. A comprehensive schedule of general info days will be organised to promote the Cross–border programme, followed by more focused info days, workshops and partner search events in the context of calls for proposals. This will be supported by appropriate publicity material, a regularly updated programme website and other events to ensure a stakeholder network is built and good practice experiences are shared.
Operations selected shall include final beneficiaries from both countries which shall co–operate in at least one of the following ways: joint development, joint implementation, joint staffing and joint financing.
