Section 3

The establishment by the authorising officer responsible of an amount receivable shall constitute recognition of the right of the Union in respect of a debtor and establishment of entitlement to demand that the debtor pay the debt. The recovery order shall be the operation by which the authorising officer responsible instructs the accounting officer to recover the amount established. The debit note shall be to inform the debtor that: the Union has established the amount receivable; if payment of the debt is made before the deadline, no default interest will be due; failing reimbursement by the deadline referred to in point (b) the debt shall bear interest at the rate referred to in Article 83, without any prejudice to any specific regulations applicable; failing reimbursement by the deadline referred to in point (b) the institution shall effect recovery either by offsetting or by enforcement of any guarantee lodged in advance; the accounting officer may effect recovery by offsetting before the deadline referred to in point b), where it is necessary to protect the Union’s financial interests when he has justified grounds to believe that the amount due to the Commission would be lost, after the debtor has been informed of the reasons and date of the recovery by offsetting; if, after taking all the steps set out in points (a) to (e) of this subparagraph, the amount has not been recovered in full, the institution shall effect recovery by enforcement of a decision secured either in accordance with Article 79(2) of the Financial Regulation or by legal action. The Authorising officer shall print out the debit note and send it to the debtor. The accounting officer shall be informed of that dispatch through the financial information system. To establish an amount receivable the authorising officer responsible shall ensure that: the receivable is certain, meaning that it is not subject to any condition; the receivable is of fixed amount, expressed precisely in cash terms; the receivable is due and is not subject to any payment time; the particulars of the debtor are correct; the amount to be recovered is booked to the correct budget item; the supporting documents are in order; and the principle of sound financial management is complied with, in particular with regard to the criteria referred to in point (a) of Article 91(1). The establishment of an amount receivable shall be based on supporting documents certifying the Union’s entitlement. Before establishing an amount receivable the authorising officer responsible shall personally check the supporting documents or, on his own responsibility, shall ascertain that this has been done. The supporting documents shall be kept by the authorising officer in accordance with Article 48. Without prejudice to any specific provisions deriving from the application of sector-specific regulations, any amount receivable not repaid on the deadline referred to in Article 80(3)(b) shall bear interest in accordance with paragraphs 2 and 3 of this Article. The interest rate for amounts receivable not repaid on the deadline referred to in Article 80(3)(b) shall be the rate applied by the European Central Bank to its principal refinancing operations, as published in the C series of the Official Journal of the European Union, in force on the first calendar day of the month in which the deadline falls, increased by: eight percentage points where the obligating event is a public supply and service contract referred to in Title V; three and a half percentage points in all other cases. Interest shall be calculated from the calendar day following the deadline referred to in Article 80(3)(b) and specified in the debit note up to the calendar day on which the debt is repaid in full. The recovery order corresponding to the amount of the default interest shall be issued when this interest is actually received. In the case of fines, where the debtor provides a financial guarantee which is accepted by the accounting officer instead of payment, the interest rate applicable from the deadline referred to in Article 80(3)(b) shall be the rate referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article as in force on the first day of the month in which the decision imposing a fine has been adopted and increased only by one and a half percentage points.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-11-04 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.