L171/90 Official Journal of the European Union 23.6.2006 COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 885/2006 of 21 June 2006 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 as regards the accreditation of paying agencies and other bodies and the clearance of the accounts of the EAGF and of the EAFRD THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 of 21 June 2005 on the financing of the common agricultural policy (1), and in particular Article 42 thereof, Whereas: Following the adoption of Regulation (EC) No 1 290/2005, new detailed rules should be laid down as regards the accreditation of paying agencies and other bodies as well as the clearance of the accounts of the European Agricul- tural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) and of the European Agricul- tural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD). Commission Regulation (EC) No 1663/95 of 7 July 1995 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EEC) No 729/70 regarding the procedure for the clearance of the accounts of the EAGGF Guarantee Section (2) should therefore be repealed and replaced by a new Regulation. Paying agencies should only be accredited by Member States if they comply with certain minimum criteria estab- lished at Community level. Those criteria should cover four basic areas: internal environment, control activities, infor- mation and communication, and monitoring. Member States should be free to lay down additional accreditation criteria to take account of any specific features of a paying agency. Member States should be obliged to keep their paying agencies under constant supervision and to establish a sys- tem for the exchange of information on possible cases of non-compliance. A procedure should be put in place to deal with such cases, including the obligation to draw up a plan to remedy any identified deficiencies within a time limit to be determined. Expenditure effected by paying agencies whose accreditation is maintained by their Mem- ber State even though they have failed to implement such a remedial plan within the determined time limit should be subject to the conformity clearance procedure provided for in Article 31 of Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005. () OJL209,11.8.2005, p. 1. Regulation as amended by Regulation (EC) No 320/2006 (O] L 58, 28.2.2006, p. 42). (3 OJ L 158, 8.7.1995, p. 6. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 465/2005 (O] L 77, 23.3.2005, p. 6). ) Detailed rules should be laid down as regards the content and format of the statement of assurance referred to in Article 8(1)(c)(iii) of Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005. The role of the coordinating body referred to in Article 6(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 should be clarified and the criteria for its accreditation laid down. In order to ensure that the certificates and reports to be drawn up by the certification bodies referred to in Article 7 of Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 are of assistance to the Commission in the clearance of accounts procedure, their content should be specified. In order to allow the Commission to clear the accounts pursuant to Article 30 of Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005, it is necessary to specify the content of the paying agen- cies’ annual accounts and to establish a date for the trans- mission of those accounts and other relevant documents to the Commission. The period during which the paying agencies must keep the supporting documents regarding all expenditure and assigned revenues at the disposal of the Commission should also be clarified. Moreover, it should be specified that the Commission establishes the form and content of the accounting infor- mation which the paying agencies must forward to it. In this context, it is also appropriate to include in this Regu- lation the rules regarding the use of such accounting infor- mation presently set out in Commission Regulation (EC) No 2390/1999 of 25 October 1999 laying down form and content of the accounting information to be submit- ted to the Commission for the purpose of the clearance of the EAGGF Guarantee Section accounts as well as for monitoring and forecasting purposes (3). Regulation (EC) No 2390/1999 should therefore be repealed. Detailed provisions should be laid down for both the pro- cedure for the clearance of accounts provided for in Article 30 of Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 and the con- formity clearance procedure provided for in Article 31 of that Regulation, including a mechanism whereby the resulting amounts are, as the case may be, deducted from or added to one of the subsequent payments made to the Member States. (}) OJ L 295, 16.11.1999, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regula- tion (EC) No 1359/2005 (O] L 214, 19.8.2005, p. 11).