Legal provision for the establishment and operation of the MA:

COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 1085/2006 of 17 July 2006 establishing an Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA)
Article 9 - Cross-Border Cooperation Component, item 3
Article 13 - Management of Assistance, reporting, item 2

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 718/2007 of 12 June 2007 implementing Council Regulation (EC) No 1085/2006 establishing an instrument for pre-accession assistance (IPA)
Article 102 - Designation of authorities
Article 103- Functions of the managing authority

Programme partners of Bulgaria and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia have agreed that the responsibility of a Single Managing Authority (MA) will be given to the Directorate General Programming of Regional Development at Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works of the Republic of Bulgaria.

The Managing Authority is responsible for managing and implementing the cross-border programme in accordance with the principle of sound financial management and in particular for:

• ensuring that operations are selected for funding in accordance with the criteria applicable to the cross-border programme and that they comply with applicable Community and national rules for the whole of their implementation period;
• ensuring that there is a system for recording and storing in computerised form accounting records of each operation under the cross-border programme and that the data on implementation necessary for financial management, monitoring, verifications, audits and evaluation are collected;
• verifying the regularity of expenditure. To this end, it shall satisfy itself that the expenditure of each final beneficiary participating in an operation has been validated by a controller.
• ensuring that the operations are implemented according to the public procurement provisions (adopted by the JMC) referred to in Article 121 (1) of Commission Regulation (EC) No 718/2007 of 12 June 2007; ensuring that final beneficiaries and other bodies involved in the implementation of operations maintain either a separate accounting system or an adequate accounting code for all transactions relating to the operation without prejudice to national accounting rules;
• ensuring that the evaluations of cross-border programmes are carried out in accordance with Article 109 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 718/2007 of 12 June 2007;
• setting up procedures to ensure that all documents regarding expenditure and audits required to ensure an adequate audit trail are held in accordance with the requirements of Article 134 of Commission Regulation (EC) No. 718/2007 of 12 June 2007;
• ensuring that the certifying authority receives all necessary information on the procedures and verifications carried out in relation to expenditure for the purpose of certification;
• nominating Bulgarian representatives and guiding the work of the Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) and in cooperation with the Joint Technical Secretariat (JTS) providing it with the documents required to permit the quality of the implementation of the cross-border programme to be monitored in the light of its specific goals;
• participating in preparation of job descriptions, selection of the experts and signing contracts with all members in the JTS (Main and Branch JTS).
• drawing up and, after approval by the joint monitoring committee, submitting to the Commission the annual and final reports on implementation of Commission Regulation (EC) No. 718/2007 of 12 June 2007;
• inform about the programme and calls for project proposals in cooperation with the Joint Technical Secretariat (JTS) as well as ensure compliance with the information and publicity requirements laid down in Article 62 of Commission Regulation (EC) No. 718/2007 of 12 June 2007;
• after a selection procedure nominates financial controllers and assessors from Bulgarian side;
• signing Framework Agreements and contracts for a definite service with the assessors and controllers;
• laying down the implementing arrangements for each operation and enters into agreement (signing contract) with the lead beneficiary.
• carrying out monitoring of the programme by reference to financial indicators, as well as the indicators referred to in Article 94(1) (d).
• signing on behalf of Bulgaria the bilateral Memorandum of Understanding.
• approves any addendums to the contract with the lead beneficiary that do not change duration and budget of the project (for example: change of address, bank account, experts, etc.);
• submits to the Commission a description of the management and control systems accompanied by an assessment report on their compliance with Articles 101 and 105 of Commission Regulation (EC) No. 718/2007 of 12 June 2007.