343Commission Regulation (EC) No 296/96 of 16 February 1996 on data to be forwarded by the Member States and the monthly booking of expenditure financed under the Guarantee Section of the Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) and repealing Regulation (EEC) No 2776/88 (OJ 1996 L 39, p. 5), provides, in recital 4 in the preamble:‘Whereas the common agricultural regulations include deadlines for payment of aids to beneficiaries by Member States; whereas all payments effected after those deadlines, and for which the delay in payment is unjustified, must be regarded as ineligible, and therefore cannot, in principle be the subject of an advance on the booking of expenditure; whereas, however, in order to modulate the financial impact in proportion to the delay incurred in payment, the reduction in the advances should be graduated as a function of the size of the delay recorded.’