1. Amounts wrongly paid shall be recovered.
2. The accounting officer shall act on recovery orders for amounts receivable duly established by the authorising officer or authorising officer responsible. He/she shall exercise due diligence to ensure that Europol receives its revenue and shall see that its rights are safeguarded.
3. Where the authorising officer responsible is planning to waive or partially waive recovery of an established amount receivable, he/she shall ensure that the waiver is in order and complies with the principle of sound financial management and proportionality.
Such a waiver shall be by a duly substantiated decision of the authorising officer. The authorising officer may delegate such a decision only for amounts receivable of less than EUR 5 000.
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.
4. The authorising officer responsible shall cancel an established amount receivable when the discovery of a mistake as to a point of law or fact reveals that the amount had not been correctly established. Such cancellation shall be by decision of the authorising officer responsible and shall be suitably substantiated.
5. The authorising officer responsible shall adjust the amount of an established debt upwards or downwards when the discovery of a factual error entails the alteration of the amount of the debt, provided that this correction does not involve the loss of the established entitlement of Europol. Such an adjustment shall be by decision of the authorising officer responsible and shall be suitably substantiated.
1. Upon actual recovery of the sum due, the accounting officer shall make an entry in the accounts and shall inform the authorising officer responsible.
2. A receipt shall be issued in respect of all cash payments made to the accounting officer.
1. If actual recovery has not taken place by the due date stipulated in the debit note, the accounting officer shall inform the authorising officer responsible 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.
2. The accounting officer shall recover amounts by offsetting them against equivalent claims that Europol has on any debtor who himself or herself has a claim on Europol that is certain, of a fixed amount and due, provided that offsetting is legally possible.
The accounting officer, in collaboration with the authorising officer responsible, may allow additional time for payment only at the written request of the debtor, with due indication of the reasons, provided that the following two conditions are met:
(a)
the debtor undertakes to pay interest at the rate specified in Article 86 of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2342/2002 for the entire additional period allowed, starting from the date set in the debit note;
(b)
in order to safeguard the rights of Europol, the debtor provides a financial guarantee covering both the principal sum and the interest.
The accounting officer shall keep a list of amounts due to be recovered, in which Europol’s entitlements are grouped according to the date of issue of the recovery order. He/she shall also indicate decisions to waive or partially waive recovery of established amounts. The list shall be added to Europol’s report on budgetary and financial management.
Europol shall establish a list of Europol’s entitlements stating the names of the debtors and the amount of the debt, where the debtor has been ordered to pay by a Court decision that has the force of res judicata and where no or no significant payment has been made for one year following its pronouncement. The list shall be published, taking account of the relevant legislation on data protection.
Entitlements of Europol in respect of third parties and entitlements of third parties in respect of Europol shall be subject to a limitation period of five years which shall be laid down in the contracts and grant agreements concluded by Europol.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
