(a) at the request of the ACP State concerned, participate and give assistance in the preparation of projects and programmes and in negotiating technical assistance contracts;
(b) participate in appraising projects and programmes, preparing tender dossiers, and seeking ways to simplify project and programme appraisal and implementation procedures;
(c) prepare financing proposals;
(d) for accelerated procedures, direct agreement contracts, and contracts for emergency assistance, approve, before the national authorizing officer issues them, the invitation to tender dossier within 30 days of its submission to him by the national authorizing officer;
(e) for all cases other than those mentioned in (d), transmit the invitation-to-tender dossier to the chief authorizing officer for approval within 30 days of its submission to the delegate by the national authorizing officer;
(f) be present at the opening of tenders, and receive copies of them and of the results of their examination;
(g) approve within 30 days the national authorizing officer's proposal for the placing of the contract for all:
(i) direct-agreement contracts;
(ii) service contracts;
(iii) contracts relating to emergency assistance; and
(iv) contracts by accelerated procedures, works contracts worth less than ECU 5 million and supply contracts worth less than ECU 1 million;
(h) approve within 30 days the national authorizing officer's proposal for the placing of the contract not covered by paragraph (g) wherever the following conditions are fulfilled; the tender selected is the lowest of those conforming to the requirements of the tender dossier, meets all the selection criteria stated therein, and does not exceed the sum earmarked for the contract;
(i) where the conditions set out in point (h) are not fulfilled, forward the proposal for the placing of the contract to the chief authorizing officer who shall decide thereon within 60 days of the receipt by the delegate. Where the price of the selected tender exceeds the sum earmarked for the contract, the chief authorizing officer shall, upon giving approval to the award, make the necessary financial commitment;
(j) endorse contracts and estimates in the case of direct labour, riders thereto, as well as payment authorizations issued by the national authorizing officer;
(k) ensure that the projects and programmes financed from the resources of the Fund managed by the Commission are properly executed from the financial and technical viewpoints;
(l) cooperate with the national authorities of the ACP State where he represents the Commission in evaluating operations regularly;
(m) maintain close and continuous contacts with the national authorizing officer for the purpose of analysing and remedying specific problems encountered in the implementation of development finance cooperation;
(n) in particular, make regular checks to see that operations are proceeding in accordance with the schedule laid down in the advance timetable in the financing decision;
(o) communicate to the ACP State all information and relevant documents on the procedures for implementing development finance cooperation especially as regards appraisal criteria and tender evaluation criteria;
(p) on a regular basis inform the national authorities of Community activities which may directly concern cooperation between the Community and the ACP States.
Article 318.
At the end of each year of the period of the Convention, the delegate shall prepare a report on the implementation of the national indicative programme and regional programmes in particular as it relates to operations of the Fund managed by the Commission and covering inter alia:
(a) the amount of the indicative programme, commitments, disbursements and the timetable for the implementation of the indicative programme and regional programmes;
(b) a progress report on projects and programmes;
(c) an assessment of the operations of the Fund in the ACP State and regional programmes.
A copy of the report shall be submitted simultaneously to the ACP States concerned and the Community.
Section 4. Payments and Paying Agents
Article 319.
1. For the purpose of effecting payments in the national currencies of the ACP States, accounts denominated in the currencies of the Member States or in ecus shall be opened in each ACP State in the name of the Commission with a national public or semi-public financial institution, chosen by agreement between the ACP State and the Commission. This institution shall exercise the functions of national paying agent.
2. The accounts referred to above shall be replenished by the Commission in the currency of one of the Member States or in ecus, based on estimates of future cash requirements, which shall be made sufficiently in advance to avoid need for pre-financing by ACP States and to prevent delayed disbursements.
3. The national paying agent shall receive no remuneration for its services, and no interest shall be payable by it on deposited funds.
4. For the purpose of effecting payments in ecus, accounts denominated in ecus shall be opened in the name of the Commission with financing institutions in the Member States. These institutions shall exercise the functions of paying agents in Europe. Payments from these accounts, which shall be executed on the instruction of the Commission or by the delegate acting on its behalf, may be made in respect of expenditure authorized by the national authorizing officer or by the chief authorizing officer with the prior authorization of the national authorizing officer.
5. Within the limits of the funds available in the accounts, the paying agents shall make. disbursements authorized by the national authorizing officer or, as appropriate, the chief authorizing officer, after verifying that the supporting documents provided are substantially correct and in order, and that the discharge given for payment is valid.
6. The procedures for clearance, authorization and payment of expenditure shall be completed within a period of 90 days from the date on which the payment becomes due. The national authorizing officer shall process and deliver the payment authorization to the delegate not later than 45 days before the due date.
7. Claims for delayed payments shall be borne by the ACP State or States concerned, and by the Commission from its own resources, for that part of the delay for which each party is responsible in accordance with paragraph 8.
8. The paying agents, the national authorizing officer, the delegate and the responsible Commission departments shall remain financially liable until the Commission gives final clearance for the operations for the execution of which they are responsible.
Section 5. Monitoring and Evaluation
Article 320.
The objective of monitoring and evaluation shall consist in the external assessment of development operations (preparation, implementation and subsequent operation) with a view to improving the development effectiveness of ongoing and future operations. This work shall be done jointly by the ACP States and the Community.
Article 321.
1. More specifically, this work will notably serve the following purposes:
(a) provide regular, joint and independent monitoring and evaluation of the Fund's operations and activities;
(b) organize the joint monitoring and evaluation of ongoing and completed operations, and compare the results of operations with their objectives. Administration, functioning and maintenance of operations should systematically be reviewed;
(c) account to the Council of Ministers for the outcome of the evaluation work and feed that experience back into the design and execution of future operations;
(d) ensure that the ACP States' comments are sought on all monitoring and evaluation reports, and further ensure, in all cases, that the ACP States' experts participate directly in monitoring, evaluation and preparation of the reports;
(e) ensure that the ACP States and the Community regularly programme evaluation work;
(f) synthesize results of monitoring and evaluation by sector, instrument, theme, country and region. To this end:
(i) reports on the results of monitoring and evaluation shall be drawn up and published at agreed intervals;
(ii) an annual review of operations performance results shall be prepared;
(g) ensure the adequate operational feed-back of monitoring and evaluation results into development policy and practice, by devising effective feed-back mechanisms, organizing seminars and work-shops and producing and distributing concise documentation highlighting the most important findings, conclusions and recommendations and, through a process of discussion and follow-up with policy and operating staff, bring that experience to bear on the design and execution of future operations and help to re-orient them;
(h) identify and disseminate lessons that can contribute to improvements in the design and implementation of future operations;
(i) collect and exploit relevant information available with national and international development cooperation organizations.
2. Areas of work to be covered will notably include the following:
(a) development sectors;
(b) development instruments and themes;
(c) country and regional reviews;
(d) individual development operations.
Article 322.
In order to ensure its practical relevance to the objectives of the Convention and to improve the exchange of info mation, the Commission shall:
(a) maintain close contacts with national evaluation units in ACP States and in the Community, as well as with the national authorizing officers, Commission delegations and other interested services in the ACP national administrations and regional organizations;
(b) assist the ACP States in initiating or strengthening monitoring and evaluation capacities, through consultation or through courses on monitoring and evaluation.
Article 323.
The ACP-EEC Development Finance Cooperation Committee shall ensure the joint character of monitoring and evaluation operations in accordance with the joint declaration in Annex LV.
Section 6. ACP-EEC Development Finance Cooperation Committee
Article 324.
The Council of Ministers shall examine at least once a year whether the objectives of development finance cooperation are being attained and shall examine the general and specific problems resulting from the implementation of that cooperation. This examination shall also cover regional cooperation and measures in favour of least-developed, landlocked and island ACP States.
Article 325.
To this end, an ACP-EEC Development Finance Cooperation Committee, hereinafter referred to as "the ACP-EEC Committee", shall be set up within the Council of Ministers. The Committee shall:
(a) collect information on existing procedures relating to the implementation of development cooperation and give any necessary clarification required on these procedures;
(b) examine, at the request of the Community or the ACP States and on the basis of concrete examples, any general or specific problems arising from the implementation of development cooperation;
(c) examine any problems in connection with the implementation of the timetables of commitments and disbursements and for implementation of projects and programmes, with a view to facilitating the removal of any difficulties and bottlenecks discovered;
(d) ensure that the objectives and principles of devel- opment cooperation are attained;
(e) help to establish general guidelines for development cooperation;
(f) formulate or adapt general conditions applicable to the award and performance of contracts in accordance with the provisions of the Convention;
(g) review the results of monitoring and evaluation, and formulate any suggestions with a view to ensuring the effective implementation of monitoring and evaluation work and: further consider proposals for future monitoring and evaluation activities;
(h) review measures taken to ensure the cost-effectiveness of technical cooperation schemes and in particular the encouragement and development of ACP States' national and/or regional manpower capacities;
(i) review the measures taken to ensure improved conditions and a better environment for the award of contracts to ACP firms;
(j) examine the ways in which the instruments provided for in the Convention have been utilized to contribute to the attenuation of the financial burden caused by the, debt of ACP States;
(k) examine the economic, technical, legal and institutional instruments deployed within the framework of the Convention to attain the objectives of promoting private investment in order to discover the obstacles which currently hamper the development of the ACP States, as well as to determine the actions required to remove these obstacles;
(l) review the measures which will facilitate an increased and more stable flow of private capital, and which will enhance:
(i) joint financing of productive investment with the private sector;
(ii) access by interested ACP States to international finance markets;
(iii) the creation, activity and effectiveness of domestic financial markets;
(m) review the issues relating to the promotion and protection of investment in the ACP States and the Member States of the Community which affect their development cooperation;
(n) report to the Council on any matter examined by it, and submit to the Council any suggestions likely to improve or expedite the implementation of development cooperation;
(o) prepare and submit to the Council the results of evaluation of projects and programmes;
(p) follow up and implement guidelines and resolutions adopted by the Council on development cooperation;
(q) perform such other tasks as are entrusted to it by the Council.
Article 326.
1. The ACP-EEC Committee, which shall meet every quarter, shall be composed, on a basis of parity, of representatives of the ACP States and of the Community appointed by the Council of Ministers, or their authorized representatives. It shall meet at ministerial level whenever one of the parties so requests and at least once a year. A representative of the Bank shall be present at committee meetings.
2. The Council of Ministers shall lay down the ACP-EEC Committee's rules of procedure, in particular the conditions for representation and the number of members of the committee, the detailed arrangements for their deliberations and the conditions for holding the chair.
3. The ACP-EEC Committee may convene meetings of experts to study the cause of any difficulties and bottlenecks which may impede the efficient implementation of development cooperation. These experts shall make recommendations to the Committee on possible ways of removing such difficulties and bottlenecks.
4. Where a specific problem arising from the implementation of financial or technical cooperation is submitted to the committee, the committee shall examine it within 60 days of its submission with a view to providing an appropriate solution.
5. (a) The ACP-EEC Committee shall regularly review progress made in the implementation of regional cooperation. It shall in particular examine problems and policy issues submitted to it by the ACP States or by the Community and make any appropriate proposals.
(b) Implementation of the provisions under development of services will be monitored and followed up by the ACP-EEC Committee.
6. The ACP-EEC Committee shall review the implementation of special measures in favour of least- developed, landlocked and island ACP States and in particular those which are identified as desirable in order to improve the attractiveness of those States to private investors.
Article 327.
1. To facilitate the work of the committee:
(a) the ACP States and their beneficiary regional organizations in collaboration with the ACP Secretariat, on the one hand, and the Commission in collaboration with the Bank, on the other hand, shall submit to the committee annual reports on the management of development finance cooperation;
(b) an annual report on monitoring and evaluation operations/activities will be submitted to the committee in accordance with the joint declaration in Annex LV;
(c) the Commission, in collaboration with the Bank, shall produce reports for the information of the committee on results of coordination in the field of investment and private sector support;
(d) the Commission shall produce reports and studies for the information of the committee on:
- investment flows between the Community and the ACP States; economic, legal or institutional obstacles hampering those investments; measures which will facilitate private capital movements, joint financing, access by the ACP States to international financial markets and the operation of domestic financial markets,
- activities undertaken by national and interna- tional systems of investment guarantee,
- investment promotion and protection agreements between Community Member States and ACP States.
2. The ACP-EEC Committee shall examine the reports on development finance cooperation, monitoring and evaluation and investment which shall be submitted to it pursuant to paragraph 1. It shall:
(a) prepare an annual progress report, which shall be examined by the Council of Ministers at its annual meeting on the definition of the general guidelines for development finance cooperation;
(b) submit to the Council any observations, information or proposals on the problems concerning the implementation of the economic development finance cooperation, and also on the general problems of this cooperation; and
(c) draw up for the attention of the Council of Ministers, recommendations and resolutions relating to measures directed towards attainment of the objectives of development finance cooperation, within the framework of the powers conferred upon it by that Council.
3. On the basis of the information referred to in paragraph 2, the Council of Ministers shall establish the general guidelines for development finance cooperation and shall adopt resolutions or guidelines on the measures to be taken by the Community and the ACP States in order to ensure that the objectives of such cooperation are attained.
Title IV. GENERAL PROVISIONS FOR THE LEAST-DEVELOPED, LANDLOCKED AND ISLAND ACP STATES
Article 328.
Special attention shall be paid to the least-developed, landlocked and island ACP States and the specific needs and problems of each of these three groups of countries in order to enable them to take full advantage of the opportunities offered by the Convention, so as to step up their respective rates of development.
Independently of the specific measures and provisions for the least-developed, landlocked and island countries in the different chapters of the Convention, special attention shall be paid, in respect of these groups, to:
- the strengthening of regional cooperation,
- transport and communications infrastructure,
- the efficient exploitation of marine resources and: the marketing of products so produced and, in the case of landlocked countries, inland fisheries,
- structural adjustment where account will be taken of the level of development of these countries and equally, at the implementation stage, of the social dimension of adjustment,
- the implementation of food strategies and integrated development programmes.
Chapter 1. Least-developed ACP States
Article 329.
The least-developed ACP States shall be accorded special treatment in order to enable them to overcome the serious economic and social difficulties hindering their development, so as to step up their respective rates of development.
Article 330.
1. The following shall be considered least-developed
- ACP States for the purposes of this Convention:
Antigua and Barbuda Mauritania
Belize
Mozambique
Benin
Niger
Botswana
Rwanda
Burkina Faso
Saint Christopher and Nevis
Burundi
Cape Verde
Saint Lucia
Central African Republic
Chad
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Comoros
Sao Tomé and Principe
Djibouti
Seychelles
Dominica
Sierra Leone
Equatorial Guinea
Solomon Islands
Ethiopia
Somalia