1. Evaluations of the Programme shall be carried out so that they feed into the decision-making process in a timely manner. They shall contain a qualitative assessment of the progress made towards the achievement of the general objectives of the Programme laid down in Article 3.
2. In addition to regularly monitoring the Programme, the Commission shall conduct an interim evaluation of the Programme which shall be carried out once there is sufficient information available about its implementation, but no later than four years after the start of the implementation of the Programme. The interim evaluation shall form the basis for adjusting the implementation of the Programme, as appropriate, also taking into account new relevant technological developments.
3. At the end of the implementation of the Programme, but no later than four years after the end of the period specified in Article 1, the Commission shall carry out a final evaluation of the Programme.
The final evaluation shall assess long-term impacts of the Programme and its sustainability.
4. The evaluation reporting system shall ensure that recipients of Union funds collect data for programme evaluation in an efficient, effective and timely manner and at the appropriate level of granularity.
5. The Commission shall submit the interim evaluation referred to in paragraph 2 and the final evaluation referred to in paragraph 3 to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions.