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Recovery of fines, other penalties or sanctions imposed by Union institutions

1. Where an action is brought before the Court of Justice of the European Union against a decision of a Union institution imposing a fine, other penalty or sanction under the TFEU or the Euratom Treaty and until such time as all legal remedies have been exhausted, the debtor shall either provisionally pay the amounts concerned on the bank account designated by the accounting officer of the Commission or lodge a financial guarantee acceptable to the accounting officer of the Commission. The guarantee shall be independent of the obligation to pay a fine, other penalty or sanction and shall be enforceable on demand. It shall cover the claim as to principal and interest that the debtor shall pay in the case referred to in paragraph 3, point (b), at the rate applied by the European Central Bank to its principal refinancing operations, as published in the C series of the Official Journal of the European Union, in force on the first calendar day of the month in which the decision imposing a fine, other penalty or sanction has been adopted, increased by one and a half percentage points, as from the deadline set in the decision of the Union institution imposing a fine, other penalty or sanction.

2. The Commission may invest the provisionally collected amounts in financial assets, prioritising the aim of security and liquidity of the monies in accordance with the principle of sound financial management.

3. After the exhaustion of all legal remedies and where the fine, other penalty or sanction has been confirmed by the Court of Justice of the European Union, or where the decision imposing such a fine, other penalty or sanction may no longer become subject to an appeal before the Court of Justice of the European Union, one of the following measures shall be taken:

(a) the provisionally collected amounts and the return on them shall be entered in the budget in accordance with Article 107(2);

(b) where a financial guarantee has been lodged, it shall be enforced and the corresponding amounts entered in the budget. Where the amount of the fine, other penalty or sanction has been increased by the Court of Justice of the European Union, the first subparagraph, points (a) and (b), of this paragraph shall apply up to the amounts of the original decision of the Union institution or, if applicable, to the amount laid down in a former judgment by the Court of Justice of the European Union in the same proceedings. The accounting officer of the Commission shall collect the amount corresponding to the increase and the interest due as specified in Article 99(4), which shall be entered in the budget.

4. Where the fine, other penalty or sanction has been cancelled or its amount has been reduced, one of the following measures shall be taken:

(a) the provisionally collected amounts or, in the event of a reduction, the relevant part thereof shall be repaid to the third party concerned;

(b) where a financial guarantee has been lodged, it shall be released accordingly. The amount or the relevant part thereof referred to in the first subparagraph, point (a), shall be increased by interest at the rate applied by the European Central Bank to its principal refinancing operations, as published in the C series of the Official Journal of the European Union in force on the first calendar day of the month in which the decision imposing a fine, other penalty or sanction was adopted, increased by one and a half percentage points. Repayments under the first subparagraph, point (a), of this paragraph shall be made within 60 days of the cancellation or reduction of the fine, other penalty or sanction, except where the necessary supporting documents have not been timely produced to identify the third party concerned or its bank account. Upon the expiry of that time limit, the creditor shall be entitled to interest in accordance with the conditions laid down in Article 116(5).