1.Subject to the documentary evidence provided by the beneficiary Member State in the annual report referred to in Article 13, an investment shall be deemed discontinued in either of the following cases:
(a)the project proponent or the scheme managing authority has not financed the investment for the period exceeding two consecutive years;
(b)the project proponent has not spent the total amount of the revenues from the Modernisation Fund disbursed to the investment within five years from the date of the relevant disbursement decision of the Commission.
Point (b) shall not apply to schemes.
2.By the decision adopted in accordance with Article 8, the Commission shall modify the amount already disbursed for the discontinued investment by deducting any amount not yet paid by the beneficiary Member State to the project proponent or the scheme managing authority. Any such unpaid amount shall increase the resources in the Modernisation Fund available to the concerned Member State in accordance with Article 5(2)(b), and it shall be set off against any future payment by the EIB to the Member State concerned under Article 9.
3.Without prejudice to paragraph 1 of this Article, prior to the closing date of the statement of the available funds referred to in Article 5(3), the beneficiary Member State may inform the Commission about a discontinued investment and request a modification of the disbursement decision in accordance with paragraph 2 of this Article. This request may concern the amounts not yet paid to the project proponent or the scheme managing authority and the amounts already paid to the project proponent or the scheme managing authority, but subsequently recovered by the beneficiary Member State. The beneficiary Member State shall provide the relevant documentary evidence justifying the request. Paragraph 2 of this Article shall apply to modification of the disbursement decision, the increase of the resources in the Modernisation Fund available to the concerned Member State, and the setting off of the amount returned to the Fund against any future payment by the EIB to the Member State.