(a)

In Article 15(4), the following sentence is added to the second subparagraph:

‘With regard to Croatia, the date for this verification shall be 31 December 2017.’.

(b)

In Article 18(1), the first subparagraph is replaced by the following:

‘1.   The resources available for commitment from the Funds for the period 2007 to 2013 shall be EUR 308 417 037 817 at 2004 prices in accordance with the annual breakdown shown in Annex I.’.

(c)

Article 19 is replaced by the following:

‘Article 19

Resources for the Convergence objective

Overall resources for the Convergence objective shall amount to 81,56 % of the resources referred to in Article 18(1) (i.e. a total of EUR 251 529 800 379) and shall be distributed between the different components as follows:

(d)

In Article 20, the introductory part is replaced by the following:

‘Overall resources for the Regional competitiveness and employment objective shall amount to 15,93 % of the resources referred to in Article 18(1) (i.e. a total of EUR 49 127 784 318) and shall be distributed between the different components as follows:’.

(e)

In Article 21, paragraphs 1 and 2 are replaced by the following:

‘1.   Overall resources for the European territorial cooperation objective shall amount to 2,52 % of the resources referred to in Article 18(1) (i.e. a total of EUR 7 759 453 120) and, excluding the amount referred to in paragraph 22 of Annex II, shall be distributed between the different components as follows:

2.   The contribution from the ERDF to the cross-border and sea-basin programmes under the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument and to the cross-border programmes under the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 1085/2006 shall be EUR 817 691 234, as a result of the indication of each Member State concerned, deducted from their allocations under paragraph 1(a). These ERDF contributions shall not be subject to reallocation between the Member States concerned.’.

(f)

In Article 22, the following paragraph is added:

‘By way of derogation from the first paragraph, Croatia may distribute its financial allocation under the European territorial cooperation objective among the three components referred to in Article 21(1)(a) to (c) with a view to achieving a high level of efficiency and simplification.’.

(g)

Article 23 is replaced by the following:

‘Article 23

Resources for the performance reserve

Three per cent of the resources referred to in Article 19(a) and (b) and Article 20 may be allocated by the Member States, with the exception of Croatia, in accordance with Article 50.’.

(h)

Article 28 is amended as follows:

(i)

In Article 29, the following paragraph is added:

‘5.   Paragraphs 1 to 4 shall not apply to Croatia.’.

(j)

In Article 32(3), the following subparagraph is added:

‘With regard to Croatia, the Commission shall adopt the decision approving an operational programme to be financed under the programming period 2007-2013 no later than 31 December 2013. Croatia shall in this operational programme take into account any observations made by the Commission and submit it to the Commission no later than three months from the date of accession.’.

(k)

In Article 33(1), the following subparagraph is added:

‘With regard to Croatia, operational programmes adopted before the date of accession may be revised for the sole purpose of a better alignment with this Regulation.’.

(l)

In Article 49(3), the following subparagraph is added:

‘With regard to Croatia's operational programmes the ex post evaluation shall be completed by 31 December 2016.’.

(m)

The following Article is inserted:

‘Article 51a

Articles 50 and 51 shall not apply to Croatia.’.

(n)

Article 53(3) is replaced by the following:

‘3.   For operational programmes under the European territorial cooperation objective in which at least one participant belongs to a Member State whose average GDP per capita for the period 2001 to 2003 was below 85 % of the EU-25 average during the same period, or for such programmes where Croatia is a participating country, the contribution from the ERDF shall not be higher than 85 % of the eligible expenditure. For all other operational programmes, the contribution from the ERDF shall not be higher than 75 % of the eligible expenditure co-financed by the ERDF.’.

(o)

In Article 56(1), the following subparagraph is added:

‘With regard to Croatia, expenditure shall be eligible for a contribution from the Funds between the starting date of eligibility of expenditure as fixed in accordance with the instruments adopted under Regulation (EC) No 1085/2006 and 31 December 2016. However, for operational programmes adopted after accession, expenditure for a contribution from the Funds shall be eligible from the date of accession, unless a later date is specified in the decision on the operational programme concerned.’.

(p)

In Article 56(3), the following subparagraph is added:

‘Notwithstanding specific provisions on eligibility as laid down in Article 105a, the criteria fixed by the monitoring committee of operational programmes for Croatia shall not apply to operations for which the approval decision has been adopted before the date of accession and which have been part of the instruments adopted under Regulation (EC) No 1085/2006.’.

(q)

Article 62(1) is amended as follows:

(r)

In Article 67(1), the following subparagraph is added:

‘With regard to Croatia, the managing authority shall send a final report on the implementation of the operational programme by 31 March 2018.’.

(s)

Article 71 is amended as follows:

(t)

In Article 75, the following paragraph is inserted:

‘1a.   With regard to Croatia, the respective budget commitments from the ERDF, the Cohesion Fund and the ESF for 2013 shall be made based on the decision referred to in Article 28(3) before the Commission takes any decision on the revision of an adopted operational programme. The decision referred to in Article 28(3) shall constitute a financing decision within the meaning of Article 75 of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 for any budget commitment in favour of Croatia.’.

(u)

In Article 78(2)(c), the following sentence is added:

‘With regard to Croatia, they shall be covered by expenditure paid by beneficiaries in implementing the project and supported by receipted invoices or accounting documents of equivalent probative value at the latest three years after the year of the payment of the advance or on 31 December 2016, whichever is the earlier; if they are not, the next statement of expenditure shall be corrected accordingly.’.

(v)

In Article 82, the following paragraph is inserted:

‘1a.   With regard to Croatia, following the acceptance of the report as referred to in Article 71(2a) and following the respective budget commitments as referred to in Article 75(1a), a single pre-financing amount for the rest of the 2007 to 2013 period shall be paid in a single instalment and will represent 30 % of the contribution from the Structural Funds and 40 % of the contribution from the Cohesion Fund to the operational programme.’.

(w)

In Article 89(1), the following subparagraph is added:

‘With regard to Croatia, an application for payment comprising the documents listed in point (a) (i) to (iii) shall be sent by 31 March 2018.’.

(x)

In Article 93, the following paragraph is inserted:

‘3a.   By way of derogation from paragraphs 1 to 3, with regard to Croatia the Commission shall apply the de-commitment mechanism set out in paragraph 1 in the following way:

(y)

In Article 95, the following paragraph is inserted after the second paragraph:

‘By way of derogation from the first and second paragraphs, with regard to Croatia the deadlines referred to in Article 93(3a) shall be interrupted under the conditions set out in the first paragraph of this Article in respect of the amount relating to the operations concerned.’.

(z)

In Article 98(2), the following subparagraph is added:

‘With regard to Croatia, the resources from the Funds released in this way may be reused by Croatia until 31 December 2016.’.;

(za)

The following Article is inserted:

‘Article 105a

Specific provisions following the accession of Croatia

1.   Programmes and major projects which, on the date of accession of Croatia, have been approved under Regulation (EC) No 1085/2006 and the implementation of which has not been completed by that date, shall be considered to have been approved by the Commission under this Regulation, with the exception of programmes approved under the components referred to in points (a) and (e) of Article 3(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1085/2006.

In addition, the following programmes falling under the component referred to in point (b) of Article 3(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1085/2006 shall also be excluded:

Without prejudice to paragraphs 2 to 7, the provisions governing the implementation of operations and major projects approved pursuant to this Regulation shall apply to those operations and major projects.

2.   Any procurement procedure relating to operations within the programmes or relating to major projects referred to in paragraph 1 which, on the date of accession, has already been the subject of an invitation to tender published in the Official Journal of the European Union shall be implemented in accordance with the rules laid down in that invitation to tender. Article 165 of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 shall not apply.

Any procurement procedure relating to operations within the programmes or relating to major projects referred to in paragraph 1 which, on the date of accession, has not yet been the subject of an invitation to tender published in the Official Journal of the European Union shall be implemented in compliance with the Treaties or the acts adopted under the Treaties as well as with Article 9 of this Regulation.

Other operations than those referred to in the first and second subparagraphs and for which calls for proposals were launched in accordance with Article 158 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 718/2007 or for which applications had been submitted to the competent authorities before the date of accession, and for which the contracting could only be finalised after that date, shall be implemented in accordance with the conditions and eligibility rules published in the relevant call for proposals or those communicated in advance to potential beneficiaries.

3.   Payments made by the Commission under programmes referred to in paragraph 1 shall be considered as a contribution from the Funds under this Regulation and shall be posted to the earliest open commitment including IPA commitments.

Any part of commitments made by the Commission under programmes referred to in paragraph 1 still open on the date of accession shall be governed by this Regulation from the date of accession.

4.   For operations approved under Regulation (EC) No 1085/2006 for which approval was given or for which the respective grant agreements with final beneficiaries were signed before the date of accession, the rules governing the eligibility of expenditure in accordance with, or based on, Commission Regulation (EC) No 718/2007 shall remain applicable, except in duly justified cases to be decided on by the Commission at Croatia's request.

The eligibility rule established in the first subparagraph applies also to major projects referred to in paragraph 1 for which bilateral project agreements were signed before the date of accession.

5.   With regard to Croatia, any reference to the Funds as defined in the second paragraph of Article 1 shall be construed as also including the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance established by Regulation (EC) No 1085/2006.

6.   Specific deadlines applicable to Croatia shall also apply to the following cross-border programmes falling under the component referred to in Article 3(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 1085/2006, where Croatia is a participating country:

Specific deadlines applicable to Croatia under this Regulation do not apply to operational programmes under the transnational and interregional components under the European territorial cooperation objective, where Croatia is a participating country.

7.   If any measures are necessary to facilitate Croatia's transition from the pre-accession regime to that resulting from the application of this Article, the Commission shall adopt the required measures.’.

(zb)

Annex I is replaced by the following:

(zc)

Annex II is amended as follows:

(zd)

Annex III is replaced by the following: