The Role of National Administration in Managing and Programming of EU funds Decentralised Implementation System (DIS) is a system where the

EC confers the management of certain activities to the beneficiary country, while keeping overall final responsibility for enforcement of the EU budget. The purpose of the decentralization of fund management is to enable the candidate country to manage EU funds without seeking approval and being checked by the EC. It is necessary to distinguish between two forms of decentralization: the decentralization with the ex-ante controls by the EC and decentralization without ex-ante controls. Decentralization with the ex-ante controls by the Delegation of the European Union is a form of decentralization in which the tender procedures, contracting and payments are made by the national administration bodies of Serbia, but with prior control and approval of the Delegation of the EU. Decentralization without ex-ante control is a form of decentralization in which the EU delegation does not check and does not approve each individual transaction. Key functions and institutions within the system of decentralized management of EU funds are: Competent Accrediting Officer, Representative of the Government or other official of higher rank appointed by the Government and who is responsible for issuing, monitoring, and possibly the suspension of the function of the national authorizing officer and the National Fund, the National authorizing officer, the officer of high rank in the Government or the state administration of the beneficiary country , being the head of the National Fund and bears the entire financial responsibility for the functioning of the system, National Fund, the body responsible for managing the central account on which the EC pays funds for the beneficiary country, after signing the Financial Agreement, National IPA Coordinator, High civil officer appointed by the Government, that provides coordination of the assistance from the pre-accession instrument and manages the process of programming, the Audit Authority, expert body appointed by the country beneficiary of funds, completely independent of other structures in the system, which is responsible for verification of the functioning of the managing and control system . In addition to key functions and institutions, for DIS, also it is needed to establish Operating Structures. Operating structures are the bodies responsible for management and implementation of assistance programs under the IPA Regulation (1085/2006, Council Regulation on the establishment of the instrument for pre-accession assistance - IPA Regulation) for each IPA component, with the exception of the functions performed by NIPAC, NAO and NF. DIS accreditation is a mandatory requirement, after the EU grants the status of a candidate country. Annual programming process consists of project identification, preparation and submission of the package of proposals that together make up the annual National Program of the EC. The strategic framework consists of the following documents: European Partnership, Stabilization and Association Agreement, Multi-annual Indicative Planning Document and Progress Report, on one hand and the National Program for Integration of the Republic of Serbia in the EU, the document Needs of the Republic of Serbia for International Assistance, national and sectional strategies and the annual operational work plans. Based on these analyzes priority projects are identified for the program year. Full calendar of activities relating to the identification of priorities and formulation of proposals that are to be financed from IPA funds is established in the Annual Action Plan for Programming and Reporting on EU funds and the Annual Action Plan for Programming and Reporting on EU funds and International Assistance.