Interruption of the payment deadline
Article 61
1. The authorising officer by delegation within the meaning of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 may interrupt payment deadline for a payment request for a maximum period of six months in any of the following circumstances: (a) following information provided by a national or Union audit body, there is a 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 coming to his attention alerting him that expenditure is linked to an irregularity having serious financial consequences; (c) there is a failure to submit one of the documents required under Article 77; (d) there is a failure to submit one of the documents required under Articles 60 and 64. The Managing Authority may agree to an extension of the interruption period for another 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 the expenditure affected. The authorising officer by delegation shall inform the Member State hosting the Managing Authority and the Managing Authority immediately of the reasons for 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. This interruption may be extended beyond six months if the necessary measures have not been taken.