CHAPTER 5

Every item of expenditure shall be committed, validated, authorised and paid. Every commitment of expenditure shall be preceded by a financing decision. The annual work programme of the Union body shall be equivalent to a financing decision for the activities it covers, provided that the elements set out in Article 32(3) are clearly identified. Administrative appropriations may be implemented without a prior financing decision. A budgetary commitment is the operation by which the appropriation necessary to cover subsequent payments to honour legal commitments is reserved. A legal commitment is the act whereby the authorising officer enters into or establishes an obligation which results in a charge. Budgetary commitments shall fall into one of the following three categories: individual: the budgetary commitment is individual when the recipient and the amount of the expenditure are known; global: the budgetary commitment is global when at least one of the elements necessary to identify the individual commitment is still not known; provisional: the budgetary commitment is provisional when it is intended to cover routine administrative expenditure and either the amount or the final payees are not definitively known. The provisional budget commitment shall be implemented either by the conclusion of one or more individual legal commitments giving rise to an entitlement to subsequent payments or, in exceptional cases relating to expenditure on staff management, directly by payments. Budgetary commitments for actions extending over more than one financial year may be broken down over several years into annual instalments only where the constituent act or basic act so provides or where they relate to administrative expenditure. In respect of any measure which may give rise to expenditure chargeable to the budget of the Union body, the authorising officer shall make a budgetary commitment before entering into a legal commitment with third parties. The obligation to make a budgetary commitment before entering into a legal commitment as provided for in paragraph 1, shall not be applicable to legal commitments concluded following a declaration of a crisis situation in the framework of a business continuity plan, in accordance with the procedures adopted by the Union body. Global budgetary commitments shall cover the total cost of the corresponding individual legal commitments concluded up to 31 December of year N+1. Subject to Articles 69(4) and 87(2) individual legal commitments relating to individual or provisional budgetary commitments shall be concluded by 31 December of year N. At the end of the periods referred to in the first and the second subparagraph, the unused balance of such budgetary commitments shall be decommitted by the authorising officer. The amount of each individual legal commitment adopted following a global budgetary commitment shall, prior to signature, be registered by the authorising officer in the budgetary accounts and booked to the global budgetary commitment. The budgetary and legal commitments entered into for actions extending over more than one financial year shall, except in the case of staff expenditure, have a final date for implementation set, in accordance with the principle of sound financial management. Any parts of such commitments which have not been executed six months after the date referred to in the first subparagraph of this paragraph shall be decommitted in accordance with Article 16. The amount of a budget commitment corresponding to a legal commitment for which no payment within the meaning of Article 75 has been made within two years of the signing of the legal commitment shall be decommitted, except where that amount relates to a case under litigation before judicial courts or arbitral bodies or where there are special provisions laid down in basic acts. When adopting a budget commitment, the authorising officer shall ensure that: the expenditure has been charged to the correct item in the budget of the Union body; the appropriations are available; the expenditure is in compliance with the applicable provisions, in particular those of the constituent act, the financial rules of each Union body and all acts adopted pursuant to them; the principle of sound financial management is respected. When registering a legal commitment by physical or electronic signature, the authorising officer shall ensure that: the commitment is covered by the corresponding budgetary commitment; the expenditure is legal and regular and in compliance with the applicable provisions, in particular those of the constituent act, the financial rules of each Union body and all acts adopted pursuant to them; the principle of sound financial management is respected. Validation of expenditure is the act whereby the authorising officer: verifies the existence of the creditor’s entitlement; determines or verifies the reality and the amount of the claim; verifies the conditions according to which payment is due. Validation of any expenditure shall be based on supporting documents attesting the creditor’s entitlement, on the basis of a statement of services actually rendered, supplies actually delivered or work actually carried out, or on the basis of other documents justifying payment, including recurring payments of subscriptions or training courses. The authorising officer shall personally check the supporting documents or shall, on his own responsibility, ascertain that this has been done, before taking the decision validating the expenditure. The validation decision shall be expressed by the signing of a ‘passed for payment’ voucher by the authorising officer. In a non-computerised system, ‘passed for payment’ shall take the form of a stamp incorporating the signature of the authorising officer. In a computerised system, ‘passed for payment’ shall take the form of validation using the personal password of the authorising officer. The authorisation of expenditure is the act by which the authorising officer, having verified that the appropriations are available, instructs the accounting officer, by issuing a payment order, to pay an amount of expenditure which the authorising officer has validated. Where periodic payments are made with regard to services rendered, including rental services, or goods delivered, and subject to the authorising officer’s risk analysis, the authorising officer may order the application of a direct debit system. The payment order shall be dated and signed by the authorising officer, then sent to the accounting officer. The supporting documents shall be kept by the authorising officer in accordance with Article 44(5). Where appropriate, the payment order sent to the accounting officer shall be accompanied by a document certifying that the goods have been entered in the inventories referred to in Article 106(1). Payment shall be made on production of proof that the relevant action has been carried out in accordance with the provisions of the basic act or the contract or grant agreement, and shall cover one of the following operations: payment of the entire amount due; payment of the amount due in any of the following ways: pre-financing, which may be divided into a number of payments after the signature of the contract or grant agreement or after notification of the grant decision; one or more interim payments as a counterpart of a partial execution of the action; payment of the balance of the amounts due where the action is completely executed. Pre-financing shall provide a float. It may be split into a number of payments in accordance with sound financial management. An interim payment, which may be repeated, may cover expenditure incurred for the implementation of the decision or agreement or to pay for services, supplies or works completed and/or delivered at interim stages of the contract. It may clear pre-financing in whole or in part, without prejudice to the provisions of the basic act. The closure of the expenditure shall take the form of the payment of the balance which may not be repeated and which clears all preceding expenditure, or a recovery order. A distinction shall be made in the budgetary accounting between the different types of payment referred to in paragraph 1 at the time each payment is made. Payment of expenditure shall be made by the accounting officer within the limits of the funds available. The payment of expenditure shall be carried out within the time limits specified in, and in accordance with Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 and Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1268/2012.

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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.