Article 6 Protection of Community financial interests

The Commission and the Agency shall ensure that, when actions funded under this Regulation are implemented, the financial interests of the Community are protected by the application of preventive measures against fraud, corruption and any other illegal activities, by means of effective checks and the recovery of any amounts unduly paid and, where irregularities are detected, by effective, proportional and dissuasive penalties, in accordance with Council Regulations (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95^f1 and (Euratom, EC) No 2185/96^f2 and Regulation (EC) No 1073/1999 of the European Parliament and of the Council^f3.

For the Community actions funded under this Regulation, the notion of irregularity referred to in Article 1(2) of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95 shall mean any infringement of a provision of Community law or any breach of a contractual obligation resulting from an act or omission by an economic operator, which has, or would have, the effect of prejudicing the general budget of the European Union or budgets managed by it, by an unjustified item of expenditure.

The Commission and the Agency shall, each within its respective sphere of competence, ensure that best value for money is achieved in the funding of Community actions under this Regulation.