5.4.2001 Official Journal of the European Communities L95/27 COMMISSION DECISION of 20 March 2001 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Decision 2000/596/EC as regards the eligibility of expenditure and reports on implementation in the context of actions co-financed by the European Refugee Fund (notified under document number C(2001) 736) (2001/275[EC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Council Decision 2000/596/EC of 28 September 2000 establishing a European Refugee Fund ('), and in particular Article 14(2), Article 20(3) and Article 24(2) thereof, Having consulted the Advisory Committee referred to in Article 21(1) of Decision 2000/596/EC, Whereas: (1)  In order to ensure the efficient implementation of the Fund in the Community, in accordance with the princi- ples of sound management, a series of common rules should be adopted on the eligibility of expenditure from the Fund. 2)  In order to ensure that the reports required under Article 20(2) of Decision 2000/596/EC serve the purpose of securing proper monitoring of the implementation of the Fund, standard models should be produced, HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: CHAPTER 1 Scope Article 1 This Decision shall apply to the co-financing of implementa- tion programmes provided for in Article 8 of Decision 2000/ 596/EC, which are managed by the Member States. Atticle 2 For the purposes of this Decision: (a) ‘measure’ shall mean one of the areas referred to in Article 4 of Decision 2000/596/EC; (b) ‘action’ shall mean the means whereby a Member State implements the measures referred to in point (a) to achieve the objective of the European Refugee Fund. An action may consist of several different projects; () O L 252, 6.10.2000, p. 12. (c) ‘project’ shall mean the specific, practical means deployed to implement all or part of an action by the beneficiaries of subsidies. Each project will have a well-defined description, duration, budget, goals, staff assigned to it, and will be implemented by a named organisation, or a group of organisations; (d) ‘beneficiaries of subsidies’ shall mean the organisations (NGOs, federal, national, regional or local authorities, other non-profit organisations) responsible for implementing projects. CHAPTER 2 Rules on eligibility Article 3 The rules set out in Annex I to this Decision shall be used to determine the eligibility of expenditure under the implementing programmes referred to in Article 8 of Decision 2000/596/EC. The provisions of this Decision shall not prevent Member States from applying stricter national eligibility rules than those contained in this Decision. CHAPTER 3 Reports on implementation Atrticle 4 1. The summary report on implementation of the action in progress, referred to in Article 20(2) of Decision 2000/596/EC shall be presented using the model provided in Annex IL 2. The financial accounts and report on implementation of the action referred to in Article 20(3) of Decision 2000/596/EC shall be presented using the model provided in Annex IIL Atticle 5 This Decision is addressed to the Member States. Done at Brussels, 20 March 2001. For the Commission Anténio VITORINO Member of the Commission