General principles
Article 54
1. Notwithstanding Article 49, support shall be paid once it is ascertained that either an overall operation or all the individual actions which are part of the overall operation covered by the support application, according to the choice made by the Member State for the management of the support measure concerned, have been fully implemented and subjected to administrative and, where applicable, on-the-spot checks in accordance with Section 1 of Chapter IV of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1150. 2. Where support is normally payable after implementation of the overall operation, support shall nevertheless be paid for the individual actions implemented if checks show that the remaining actions could not be carried out due to force majeure or exceptional circumstances within the meaning of Article 2(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013. 3. If checks show that an overall operation covered by the support application has not been fully implemented for reasons other than force majeure or exceptional circumstances within the meaning of Article 2(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013, and where support has been paid after individual actions which are part of the overall operation covered by the support application, Member States shall recover the support paid. In such cases, if an advance has been paid, Member States may decide to apply a penalty. 4. Paragraphs 1 and 3 shall not apply where operations supported under Articles 46 and 47 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 respectively are not implemented on the total surface for which support was requested. In such cases, Member States shall pay the amount corresponding to the part of the operation that has been implemented or, in case of advanced payments, recover the amount paid in relation to the part that has not been implemented. The amount of support shall be calculated on the basis of the difference between the area approved following administrative checks on the support application or modified in accordance with Article 53 of this Regulation and the area where the operation has been actually implemented, determined by the on-the-spot checks following implementation. Where the difference does not exceed 20 %, the support shall be calculated on the basis of the area determined by the on-the-spot checks following implementation. Where the difference is more than 20 % but no more than 50 %, the support shall be calculated on the basis of the area determined by the on-the-spot checks following implementation and reduced by twice the difference found. Where the difference exceeds 50 %, no support shall be granted for the operation concerned.