CHAPTER 4

The Union body shall present to the Commission requests for payment of all or part of the Union contribution pursuant to Article 19(6) under terms and at intervals agreed with the Commission. The interest generated by funds paid to the Union body by the Commission by way of the contribution shall not be due to the budget. When the authorising officer has sufficient and reliable information in respect of any measure or situation which may give rise to an amount owing to the Union body, the authorising officer shall make an estimate of the amount receivable. The estimate of the amount receivable shall be adjusted by the authorising officer as soon as he or she is aware of an event modifying the measure or the situation which gave rise to the estimate being made. When establishing the recovery order on a measure or situation that had previously given rise to an estimate of amounts receivable, that estimate shall be adjusted accordingly by the authorising officer. If the recovery order is drawn up for the same amount as the original estimate of amounts receivable, that estimate shall be reduced to zero. The establishment of an amount receivable is the act by which the authorising officer: verifies that the debt exists; determines or verifies the reality and the amount of the debt; verifies the conditions according to which the debt is due. Any amount receivable that is identified as being certain, of a fixed amount and due shall be established by a recovery order to the accounting officer followed by a debit note sent to the debtor, both drawn up by the authorising officer. Amounts wrongly paid shall be recovered. Any debt not repaid on the due date laid down in the debit note shall bear interest in accordance with Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1268/2012. In duly substantiated cases, certain routine revenue items may be established provisionally. Provisional establishment shall cover the recovery of several individual amounts which need not therefore be established individually. Before the end of the financial year, the authorising officer shall amend the amounts established provisionally to ensure that they correspond to the amounts receivable actually established. The authorisation of recovery is the act by which the authorising officer instructs the accounting officer, by issuing a recovery order, to recover an amount receivable which that authorising officer has established. The accounting officer shall act on recovery orders for amounts receivable duly established by the authorising officer. The accounting officer shall exercise due diligence to ensure that the Union body receives its revenue and shall ensure that its rights are safeguarded. If actual recovery has not taken place by the due date stipulated in the debit note, the accounting officer shall inform the authorising officer and immediately launch the procedure for effecting recovery by any means offered by the law, including, where appropriate, by offsetting and, if this is not possible, by enforced recovery. The accounting officer shall recover amounts by offsetting them against equivalent claims that the Union body has on any debtor who in turn has a claim on the Union body. Such claims shall be certain, of a fixed amount and due. Where the authorising officer plans to waive or partially waive recovery of an established amount receivable, he or she shall ensure that the waiver is in order and is in accordance with the principles of sound financial management and proportionality. The waiver decision shall be substantiated. The authorising officer may delegate the waiver decision only for amounts receivable of less than EUR 5000. The waiver decision shall state what action has been taken to secure recovery and the points of law and fact on which it is based. The authorising officer shall cancel an established amount receivable in full or in part when the discovery of a mistake reveals that the amount had not been correctly established. Such cancellation shall be by decision of the authorising officer and shall be suitably substantiated. Upon actual recovery of the sum due, the accounting officer shall make an entry in the accounts and shall inform the authorising officer. A receipt shall be issued in respect of all cash payments made to the accounting officer. Partial reimbursement by a debtor subject to several recovery orders shall first be posted on the oldest entitlement unless otherwise specified by the debtor. Any partial payments shall first cover the interest. The accounting officer, in collaboration with the authorising officer, may allow additional time for payment only at the written request of the debtor, with due indication of the reasons, and provided that the following two conditions are fulfilled: the debtor undertakes to pay interest at the rate specified in Article 83 of Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1268/2012 for the entire additional period allowed, starting from the deadline referred to in Article 80(3)(b) of Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1268/2012; in order to safeguard the rights of the Union body, the debtor lodges a financial guarantee covering the debt outstanding in both the principal sum and the interest, which is accepted by the Union body’s accounting officer. The guarantee referred to in point (b) of the first subparagraph may be replaced by a joint and several guarantee by a third party approved by the Union body’s accounting officer. In exceptional circumstances, following a request by the debtor, the accounting officer may waive the requirement of a guarantee referred to in point (b) of the first subparagraph of paragraph 1 when, on the basis of his assessment, the debtor is willing and able to make the payment in the additional time period but is not able to lodge such guarantee and is in a distressed situation. The accounting officer shall keep a list of amounts due to be recovered. Union body’s entitlements shall be grouped in the list according to the date of issue of the recovery order. The accounting officer shall also indicate decisions to waive or partially waive recovery of established amounts. The list shall be added to the Union body’s report on budgetary and financial management. The Union body shall establish a list of Union body entitlements stating the names of the debtors and the amount of the debt, where the debtor has been ordered to reimburse by a court decision that has the force of res judicata and where no or no significant reimbursement has been made for one year following its pronouncement. The list shall be published, with due regard to the protection of personal data in accordance with the requirements of Regulation (EC) No 45/2001. As far as personal data referring to natural persons are concerned, the information published shall be removed once the amount of the debt has been fully reimbursed. The same shall apply to personal data referring to legal persons for whom the official title identifies one or more natural persons. The decision to include the debtor on the list of Union body entitlements shall be taken in compliance with the principle of proportionality and shall take into account, in particular the significance of the amount. Entitlements of the Union body in respect of third parties and entitlements of third parties in respect of the Union body shall be subject to a limitation period of five years. Where the Union body collects fees and charges referred to in Article 6(1)(a), an overall provisional estimate of such fees and charges shall be made at the beginning of each financial year. Where fees and charges are entirely determined by legislation or decisions of the management board, the authorising officer may abstain from issuing recovery orders and directly draw up debit notes after having established the amount receivable. In this case all details of the Union body’s entitlement shall be registered. The accounting officer shall keep a list of all debit notes and provide the number of the debit notes and the global amount in the Union body’s report on budgetary and financial management. Where the Union body uses a separate invoicing system, the accounting officer shall regularly, and at least on a monthly basis, enter the accumulated sum of fees and charges received into the accounts. The Union body shall provide services by virtue of the tasks entrusted to it only after the corresponding fee or charge has been paid in its entirety. However, in exceptional circumstances, a service may be provided without prior payment of the corresponding charge or fee. In cases where service has been provided without prior payment of the corresponding charge or fee, Articles 60 to 66 shall apply.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-11-01 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.