Final balance

The grant shall be liquidated to the Grant Beneficiary by the Contracting Authority in one payment within 45 days after approving the final reports accompanied by:

• a request for payment of the balance conforming to the model in Annex V;
• an expenditure verification report (see Annex VII if required (see Payment arrangements).

The Contracting Authority may suspend the time-limit for approval of a report by notifying the partner that the report cannot be approved and that it finds it necessary to carry out additional checks. In such cases, the EC may request clarification, alteration or additional information, which must be produced within 30 days of the request. The time-limit starts running again on the date the required information is received.

The EC may suspend the time-limit of 45 days for payment by notifying the partner that the request for payment is inadmissible, either because the amount in question is not due or because proper supporting documents have not been supplied or it thinks it necessary to conduct further checks, including on-the-spot checks, to make sure that the expenditure is eligible. The time-limit for payment shall start running again on the date on which a correctly formulated request for payment is recorded.

To sum up:

Any report shall be considered approved if there is no written reply from the Contracting Authority within 45 days of its receipt accompanied by the required documents.

Once the time-limit referred to above has expired, the Grant Beneficiary may, within two months of receipt of the late payment, claim default interests:

• at the discount rate applied by the Central Bank of the country of the Contracting Authority if payments are in the currency of that country;
• at the rate applied by the European Central Bank if payments are in EURO.

The Contracting Authority may also suspend payments in cases where there are suspected or established errors, irregularities or fraud committed by the Grant Beneficiary.

Similarly, the Grant Beneficiary undertakes to repay any unspent amounts within 45 days of the issuing of the debit note, the latter being the letter by which the Contracting Authority requests the amount owed by the Grant beneficiary.



Sources and useful links:

• General Conditions, art. 15 and 18