Update to the contribution to the progress report on the process of accession of the republic of macedonia to the european union

3.11AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT

3.11.1 Horizontal issues

The Rulebook on establishments of the farm registry has been adopted and published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia No. 62/08. With respect to the initial data on farmers that have applied for subsidies in 2008; the data has been collected and entered into the farm registry. The farmers that did not apply for these subsidies in 2008 may enter their data into the farm registry in the forthcoming period in accordance with the Rulebook. The hardware and software necessary for the electronic version of the farm registry have been procured. By the end of the year it is expected that the farm registry will be established and will be fully operational.

In respect to Direct Payments the Rulebook on Direct Payments in Agriculture is in the progress of drafting and TAIEX expertise is envisaged to assist in these.
In terms of LPIS, with respect to the preparation of tender documents for technical assistance and tender documents for hardware and software necessary for establishment of the LPIS, technical assistance has been provided.
In terms of the Agriculture Market Information System - AMIS the initial pilot product groups, representative markets, as well as reporters are already defined. The necessary software and hardware for the AMIS is under the process of installation, and as of September 2008 the data collection for the designated pilot-product groups and representative markets have begun.
Budget for 67 new employments in the Ministry of Agriculture is ensured. These employments will be in the Departments which have competencies in areas connected to the EU acquis. For this purpose the internal systematisation and organisation of the Ministry of Agriculture has been amended.
3.11.2 Common Market Organisations

Draft Rulebooks are prepared on CMO related to Fruit and vegetables and Eggs and poultry. TAIEX expertise is envisaged to assist this activity.

There is certain progress in respect to the Wine CMO. The Rulebook on supporting documents and inwards and outwards registers for grape and wine products have been adopted and published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia No. 117/08 A Rulebook on Vineyards Registry and identification of producers; A Rulebook on wine producers registry; A Rulebook on Declaration of harvested grape and the stocks of grape and wine from previous years and stocks of imported wine and musk; A Rulebook on Planting Permissions; are in adoption procedure.
Flowers, Decorative and Life Plants, Ornamental Plants – with the assistance of the TAEX, a study visit has been organized to an EU member state in order to obtain specialised knowledge and experience necessary for introduction of this CMO in the Republic of Macedonia.
3.11.3 Rural Development

In respect to the progress regarding the legislative framework a draft version of the following secondary legislation is being prepared and is in the phase of adoption: Rulebook on designating rural areas in the Republic of Macedonia; list of rural areas in the R. of Macedonia; Rulebook designating less favourite Ares in R. of Macedonia; list of less favourite areas in R. of Macedonia.

In respect to the IPARD during June and July 2008, updated guidelines for further modification actions were received from the EC and the actions taken in this respect have started with priority to be finalised in August. This is in the process of preparation in cooperation with the IPARD Agency in order to have a “steady version” of the IPARD Programme for finalising the implementing procedures before the national accreditation is initiated.
Concerning the development of internal manual of procedure and operating guidelines for the work of the Managing Authority, the separate draft procedures and guidelines were prepared in final draft for the programme preparation and modification, coordination, publicity and reporting. The procedures for programme monitoring and evaluation are still under preparation following the guidelines for monitoring delivered by EC.
Self-assessment of the MA was conducted by the Ministry of Finance Internal Auditors appointed for auditing EU funds. Audit report with the finding from the self-assessment is finalised and shall be sent to EC.
In June and July 2008, in respect to the implementation on IPARD in the Agency for financial support for agriculture and rural development a procedure for takeover of 3 civil servants has been continued and a public announcement was posted for 4 employees on temporary contractual basis. Also due to the Internal procedures and training the forth version 4.0 of Draft internal procedures of work and the overall accreditation package has been prepared.
Employees of the Agency attended the following trainings:

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  EU Basic for the new employees from different sectors,
  
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  Introduction to the legislative of EU for the new employees from different sectors as a second part from the training for EU Basic
  
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  second part for PRAG Basic for one employee from the sector for authorization of payment and one from the sector for internal audit,
  
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  Managing with conflicts and managers ethics for two employees from the Unit for Human Resources Management,
  
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  Risk Management for one employee from the sector for authorization of payment and one from the sector for internal audit,
  
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  Changes in the institution for two employees from the Unit for Human Resources Management,
  
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  training for irregularities for the employees in the Unit for Legal Affairs
  
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  The TAIEX seminar for Monitoring and Evaluation.
  
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  The representative of the Internal Audit participated on a Self-assessment workshop organized by the Turkish Paying Agency.
  

Furthermore, the CEI co-funded project in cooperation with the Austrian Paying Agency has started. The projects aim is to assist the Macedonian Paying Agency in the process of accreditation. Four experts have already visited the Agency in period of two weeks for the main IPARD functions such as: approval of projects, authorisation of payment, execution of payment, accounting, internal audit and on the spot control.

3.11.4 Organic Production

The draft of the new Law on Organic Agriculture Production is prepared and is approximated with the new Regulation 834/2007. In addition to this a TAIEX expert mission is provided and after the completion of the TAIEX mission and the implementation of the expert suggestions and recommendations into the draft law, the law will be submitted for adoption.

Also, a public announcement for financial assistance for scientific research projects in the area of organic production has been realised.