Interruption of the payment deadline
Article 41
1. The payment deadline following a request for payment may be interrupted by the authorising officer by delegation within the meaning of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 for a maximum period of six months, when at least one of the following conditions is met: (a) further to information provided by a national or Union audit body, there is clear evidence to suggest a significant deficiency in the functioning of the management and control system; (b) the authorising officer by delegation has to carry out additional verifications following information brought to his attention alerting him that expenditure in a payment request is linked to an irregularity having serious financial consequences; (c) one or more documents required under Article 44(1) were not submitted. The Member State concerned may agree to an extension of the interruption period for an additional three months. 2. The authorising officer by delegation shall limit the interruption to the part of the expenditure covered by the payment request affected by the elements referred to in the first subparagraph of paragraph 1, unless it is not possible to identify the part of expenditure affected. The authorising officer by delegation shall inform the Member State and the Responsible Authority immediately in writing of the reason for the interruption and shall ask them to remedy the situation. The interruption shall be ended by the authorising officer by delegation as soon as the necessary measures have been taken.