Automatic decommitment for CAP Strategic Plans

1.   The Commission shall automatically decommit any portion of a budgetary commitment for interventions for rural development in a CAP Strategic Plan that has not been used for the purposes of prefinancing or for making interim payments or for which it has received no declaration of expenditure fulfilling the requirements laid down in Article 32(6), points (a) and (c), in relation to expenditure effected by 31 December of the second year following that of the budgetary commitment.
2.   The part of budgetary commitments that is still open on the last eligibility date for expenditure as referred to in Article 86(4) of Regulation (EU) 2021/2115 for which no declaration of expenditure has been made within six months of that date shall be automatically decommitted.
3.   In the event of legal proceedings or of an administrative appeal having suspensory effect, the period for automatic decommitment referred to in paragraph 1 or 2 shall, in respect of the amount relating to the operations concerned, be interrupted for the duration of those proceedings or that administrative appeal, provided that the Commission receives a reasoned notification from the Member State by 31 January of year N + 3.
4.   The following shall be disregarded in calculating the automatic decommitment:
(a)
that part of the budgetary commitments for which a declaration of expenditure has been made but for which reimbursement has been reduced or suspended by the Commission on 31 December of year N + 2;
(b)
that part of the budgetary commitments which a paying agency has been unable to disburse for reasons of force majeure seriously affecting the implementation of the CAP Strategic Plan; national authorities claiming force majeure shall demonstrate the direct consequences on the implementation of all or part of the interventions for rural development in the CAP Strategic Plan.
By 31 January of each year, the Member State shall send to the Commission information on the exceptions referred to in the first subparagraph concerning the amounts declared by the end of the preceding year.
5.   The Commission shall inform Member States in good time if there is a risk of automatic decommitment. It shall inform them of the amount involved as indicated by the information in its possession. The Member States shall have two months from the date upon which they receive that information to agree to the amount concerned or to submit comments. The Commission shall carry out the automatic decommitment not later than nine months after the expiry of the last time-limit referred to in paragraphs 1, 2 and 3.
6.   In the event of automatic decommitment, the EAFRD contribution to the CAP Strategic Plan concerned shall be reduced, for the year in question, by the amount automatically decommitted. The Member State concerned shall produce a revised financing plan splitting the reduction of the aid among the types of intervention for approval by the Commission. If it does not do so, the Commission shall reduce the amounts allocated to each type of intervention pro rata.