Section 16 of the Administrative Cost Act (Verwaltungskostengesetz) provides that the performance of an official act on application may be made conditional on the payment of an appropriate advance up to the level of the estimated procedural cost.

From 1 August 2010, the BfArM intends to avail itself of this right on a larger scale than hitherto.

The following procedure is scheduled for advance payment:

Shortly after receipt of your application for authorisation you will receive a notice of advance payment (Vorschusskostenbescheid). Your payment is the prerequisite for us to decide on your application. On completion of the procedure a notice of the final fees will be issued taking the advance payment into account. If the procedure happens to be differently classified in the course of processing, you will either be requested to make an additional payment or you will receive a refund. This is the reason why the final statement is not made before completion of the entire procedure.

Our staff in the Kostenstelle (cost unit) will be glad to answer any of your inquiries via the e-mail address Fees@bfarm.de .