EAGGF Guarantee section: measures in respect of certains beneficiaries of operations financed by the fund

Parliament approved the Commission proposal subject to 13 amendments. These amendments were aimed at: - including the Commission among the bodies to receive information on the operators presenting a risk of non-reliability in connection with operations financed by the Guarantee Section of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund; - clarifying the definition of an operator presenting a risk of non-reliability as those operators who, according to a final decision by an administrative or judicial authority, had committed an irregularity and those who had been the subject of primary administrative or judicial findings of fact and were therefore the subject of suspicions; - defining for the purposes of the regulation the concepts of "irregularity", fraud against the Community's financial interests and "abuse of Community law"; - specifying the information that the Member States should provide; - completing the additional measures provided for by the regulation; - expressly recognising the operator's right to be informed and to inspect the relevant file; - ensuring that the Commission presented a report to the European Parliament on the application of this regulation within two years of its entry into force. It should submit any proposals for amendment of the regulation under the terms of Article 189b of the EC Treaty; The Commission accepted all these amendments. - ensuring that if a Member State failed to fulfil its obligations the Commission would initiate the identification procedures and the rules relating to notification together with the procedures laid down in Article 169 of the EC Treaty; The Commission did not accept this amendment. �