Suspension of payments in relation to deficiencies in the governance systems

1.   In the event of serious deficiencies in the proper functioning of the governance systems, the Commission shall, where necessary, ask the Member State concerned to submit an action plan including the necessary remedial actions and clear progress indicators. That action plan shall be established in consultation with the Commission. The Member State concerned shall respond within a period of two months of the Commission’s request in order to assess the need for an action plan.
The Commission shall adopt implementing acts laying down rules on the structure of the action plans and the procedure for setting up the action plans. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 103(3).
2.   If the Member State fails to submit or to implement the action plan referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article, or if that action plan is manifestly insufficient to remedy the situation, or if it has not been implemented in accordance with the written request of the Commission referred to in that paragraph, the Commission may adopt implementing acts suspending the monthly payments referred to in Article 21(3) or the interim payments referred to in Article 32.
The suspension shall be applied in accordance with the principle of proportionality to the relevant expenditure effected by the Member State where the deficiencies exist, for a period to be determined in the implementing acts referred to in the first subparagraph of this paragraph which shall not exceed 12 months. If the conditions for the suspension continue to be met, the Commission may adopt implementing acts prolonging that period for further periods not exceeding 12 months in total. The amounts suspended shall be taken into account when adopting the implementing acts referred to in Article 55.
3.   The implementing acts provided for in paragraph 2 shall be adopted in accordance with the advisory procedure referred to in Article 103(2).
Before adopting such implementing acts, the Commission shall inform the Member State concerned of its intention and shall ask it to respond within a period which shall not be less than 30 days.
4.   The implementing acts determining the monthly payments referred to in Article 21(3) or the interim payments referred to in Article 32 shall take into account implementing acts adopted under paragraph 2 of this Article.