L 46/8 Official Journal of the European Union 19.2.2013 REGULATIONS COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING REGULATION (EU) No 135/2013 of 18 February 2013 amending Implementing Regulation (EU) No 926/2011 for the purposes of Council Decision 2009/470/EC as regards Union financial aid to the EU reference laboratories for feed and food and the animal health sector THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION, Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, Having regard to Council Decision 2009/470/EC of 25 May 2009 on expenditure in the veterinary field (), and in particular Article 31(2) thereof, Whereas: (1) O] 0] Commission  Implementing  Regulation (EU) No 926/2011 of 12 September 2011 for the purposes of Council Decision 2009/470/EC as regards Union financial aid to the EU reference laboratories for feed and food and the animal health sector (%) lays down rules as regards the arrangements for the granting of Union financial aid for the activities of EU reference laboratories, including for the organisation of workshops and the conditions according to which that aid is granted. In order to limit the administrative burden for EU reference laboratories and the Commission, the organi- sation of workshops should be subject to the same rules as other activities of those laboratories. The submission by those laboratories of specific financial and technical reports on workshops should therefore no longer be required. Accordingly, the Commission should no longer be required to make specific payments following the submission and approval of those reports. Implementing Regulation (EU) No 926/2011 should therefore be amended accordingly. As the amendments to Implementing Regulation (EU) No 926/2011, introduced by this Regulation, will have no negative impact for the EU reference laboratories, this Regulation should apply retroactively from 1 January 2013. This retroactivity is necessary in order to ensure an equal treatment between EU reference laboratories in cases where workshops have been organised before the date of entry into force of this Regulation. The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health, L 155, 18.6.2009, p. 30. L 241, 17.9.2011, p. 2. HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: Article 1 Implementing Regulation (EU) No 926/2011 is amended as follows: 1) Article 6 is replaced by the following: ‘Article 6 Payment of the aid The balance of Union financial aid for work programmes shall be paid to laboratories following their submission of the financial and technical reports referred to in Article 11(1) and the approval of those reports by the Commission.’; in Chapter II, the title is replaced by the following: ‘CHAPTER 1I ACTIVITIES OF THE LABORATORIES’; Article 9 is amended as follows: (a) the title is replaced by the following: ‘Article 9 Definitions’; (b) the following paragraph is added: ‘A workshop is defined as an annual date for information and coordination to which all National Reference Laboratories are invited by the laboratories.; Articles 10 and 11 are replaced by the following: ‘Article 10 Eligibility 1. Expenditure relating to the following items shall be eligible under the laboratories’ work programme: (a) staff dedicated to the activities of the laboratories; (b) subcontracting; (¢) capital equipment; (d) consumables; (¢) the shipment of samples for comparative tests; (f) missions;