## Article 41 - Applicable law 

41.1. This contract shall be governed by the law of the country of the contracting authority or, where the contracting authority is the European Commission, by the applicable European Union law complemented where necessary by the law of Belgium. 

## Article 42 - Administrative sanctions 

## FINAL PROVISIONS 

42.1. Without prejudice to the application of other remedies laid down in the contract, a sanction of exclusion from all contracts and grants financed by the EU, may be imposed, after an adversarial procedure in line with the applicable Financial Regulation,, upon the contractor who, in particular, 

a) is guilty of grave professional misconduct, has committed irregularities or has shown significant deficiencies in complying with the main obligations in the performance of the contract or has been circumventing fiscal, social or any other applicable obligations, including through the creation of an entity for this purpose. The duration of the exclusion shall not exceed the duration set by final judgement or final administrative decision or, in the absence thereof, three years; 

b) is guilty of fraud, corruption, participation in a criminal organisation, money laundering, terrorist-related offences, child labour or trafficking in human beings. The duration of the exclusion shall not exceed the duration set by final judgement or final administrative decision or, in the absence thereof, five years; 

42.2. In the situations mentioned in Article 42.1, in addition or in alternative to the sanction of exclusion, the contractor may also be subject to financial penalties up to 10% of the total contract price. 

42.3. Where the contracting authority is entitled to impose financial penalties, it may deduct such financial penalties from any sums due to the contractor or call on the appropriate guarantee. 

42.4. The decision to impose administrative sanctions may be published on a dedicated internet-site, explicitly naming the contractor. 

## Article 43 - Verifications, checks and audits by European Union bodies 

43.1. The contractor shall allow the European Commission, the European Anti-Fraud Office and the European Court of Auditors to verify, by examining the documents and to make copies thereof or by means of on-the-spot checks, including checks of documents (original or copies), the implementation of the contract. In order to carry out these verifications and audits, the EU bodies mentioned above shall be allowed to conduct a full audit, if necessary, on the basis of supporting documents for the accounts, accounting documents and any other document relevant to the financing of the project. The contractor shall ensure that on-the-spot accesses is available at all reasonable times, notably at the contractor's offices, to its computer data, to its accounting data and to all the information needed to carry out the audits, including information on individual salaries of persons involved in the project. The contractor shall ensure that the information is readily available at the moment of the audit and, if so requested, that data 

