Suspension of payments
Article 137
1. 1. Where the Member State concerned does not respond to the Commission’s request within the period mentioned in Article 136 of this Regulation, or where it provides an unsatisfactory response, the Commission may adopt on the basis of the information available at that time a decision to suspend all or part of payments of the Union financial assistance to that Member State (hereinafter referred to as ‘suspension decision’) as referred to in Article 103(1) of the Control Regulation. 2. The suspension decision shall summarise the relevant issues of fact and law, shall include the assessment of the Commission with regard to the conditions referred to in Article 103(1) and (6) of the Control Regulation and shall set the part of the payment that is suspended. The suspension decision shall call upon the Member State concerned to take remedial actions within a prescribed period which shall not exceed 6 months. 3. The amount of payments to be suspended shall be decided by applying a rate which shall be determined taking into account the criteria set in Article 103(5) of the Control Regulation.