Article 62
1. In respect of any measure which may give rise to expenditure chargeable to the budget, the authorising officer responsible must first make a budget commitment before entering into a legal obligation with third parties. 2. Global budget commitments shall cover the total cost of the corresponding individual legal commitments concluded up to 31 December of year n +1 . Individual legal commitments relating to individual or provisional budget commitments shall be concluded by 31 December of year n . At the end of the periods referred to in the first and second subparagraphs, the unused balance of these budget commitments shall be decommitted by the authorising officer responsible. 3. The legal commitments entered into for actions extending over more than one financial year and the corresponding budget commitments shall, save in the case of staff expenditure, have a final date for implementation set in compliance with the principle of sound financial management. Any parts of such commitments which have not been executed six months after that final date shall be decommitted in accordance with Article 11. The amount of a budget commitment corresponding to a legal commitment for which no payment within the meaning of Article 67 has been made in a period of three years following the signing of the legal commitment shall be decommitted.