Decision of the Scottish Ministers on application for reimbursement
17.—(1) No later than the expiry of the period of 60 days beginning on the date on which the Scottish Ministers receive an application under regulation 14(1), they must—
(a)calculate the amount to be reimbursed, if any, by—
(i)calculating the claimed expense of conducting the ballot in accordance with paragraphs (2) and (3), and
(ii)subtracting from that amount any expense that they consider not to have been reasonably incurred in the conduct of the ballot,
(b)notify the Part 5 community body in writing of the amount calculated under sub-paragraph (a) and the reasons for any decisions made in the course of making that calculation, and
(c)pay to the Part 5 community body the amount calculated under sub-paragraph (a), if it is an amount greater than zero.
(2) When calculating the expense of conducting the ballot, the Scottish Ministers must disregard any cost, or part thereof, identified in the application that they consider to be—
(a)directly attributable to activities other than those specified in regulation 8, 9 and 10, or
(b)incurred retrospectively.
(3) For the purpose of paragraph (2)(b), an expense is incurred retrospectively if it is incurred after the provision of the goods or services to which it relates, where those goods or services were originally provided on a no-cost basis.