SECTION 3

The following legal entities participating in an indirect action may receive a Community financial contribution: any legal entity established in a Member State or an associated country, or created under Community law; any international European interest organisation; any legal entity established in an international cooperation partner country. In the case of a participating international organisation, other than an international European interest organisation, or a legal entity established in a third country other than an associated country or international cooperation partner country, a Community financial contribution may be granted provided that at least one of the following conditions is satisfied: provision is made to that effect in the specific programmes or in the relevant work programme; the contribution is essential for carrying out the indirect action; such funding is provided for in a bilateral scientific and technological agreement or any other arrangement between the Community and the country in which the legal entity is established. The Community financial contribution for grants identified in part a) of Annex III to the Decision No 1982/2006/EC shall be based on the reimbursement, in whole or in part, of eligible costs. However, the Community financial contribution may take the form of flat-rate financing, including scale of unit costs, or lump-sum financing, or it may combine the reimbursement of eligible costs with flat rates and lump sums. The Community financial contribution may also take the form of scholarships or prizes. The work programmes and calls for proposals shall specify the forms of grants to be used in the actions concerned. Participants from international cooperation partner countries may opt for the Community financial contribution in the form of lump-sum financing. The Commission shall establish applicable lump sums in accordance with the Financial Regulation. Indirect actions financed by grants shall be co-financed by the participants. The Community financial contribution to reimburse eligible costs shall not give rise to a profit. Receipts shall be taken into consideration for the payment of the grant at the end of the implementation of the action. In order to be considered eligible, costs incurred in the implementation of an indirect action must meet the following conditions: they must be actual; they must have been incurred during the duration of the action, with the exception of final reports where provided for in the grant agreement; they must have been determined in accordance with the usual accounting and management principles and practices of the participant and used for the sole purpose of achieving the objectives of the indirect action and its expected results, in a manner consistent with the principles of economy, efficiency and effectiveness; they must be recorded in the accounts of the participant and, in the case of any contribution from third parties, they must be recorded in the accounts of the third parties; they must be exclusive of non-eligible costs, in particular identifiable indirect taxes including value added tax, duties, interest owed, provisions for possible future losses or charges, exchange losses, costs related to return on capital, costs declared, incurred, or reimbursed in respect of another Community project, debt and debt service charges, excessive or reckless expenditure, and any other costs that do not meet the conditions laid down in points (a) to (d). For the purposes of point (a), average personnel costs may be used if they are consistent with the management principles and accounting practices of the participant and do not differ significantly from actual costs. While the Community financial contribution shall be calculated by reference to the cost of the indirect action as a whole, its reimbursement shall be based on the reported costs of each participant. Eligible costs shall be composed of costs attributable directly to the action, hereinafter ‘direct eligible costs’ and, where applicable, of costs which are not attributable directly to the action, but which have been incurred in direct relationship with the direct eligible costs attributed to the action, hereinafter ‘indirect eligible costs’. The reimbursement of participants' costs shall be based on their eligible direct and indirect costs. In compliance with Article 31(3), point (c), a participant may use a simplified method of calculation of its indirect eligible costs at the level of its legal entity if this is in accordance with its usual accounting and management principles and practices. Principles to be followed in this respect shall be set out in the model grant agreement. The grant agreement may provide that the reimbursement of indirect eligible costs is to be limited to a maximum percentage of the direct eligible costs, excluding the direct eligible costs for subcontracting, in particular in the case of coordination and support actions, and, where appropriate, actions for training and career development of researchers. By derogation from paragraph 2, for the coverage of indirect eligible costs a participant may opt for a flat rate of its total direct eligible costs, excluding its direct eligible costs for subcontracting or reimbursement of third parties' costs. The Commission shall establish appropriate flat rates based on a close approximation of the real indirect costs concerned, in accordance with the Financial Regulation and its Implementing Rules. Non-profit public bodies, secondary and higher education establishments, research organisations and SMEs which are unable to identify with certainty their real indirect costs for the action concerned, when participating in funding schemes which include research and technological development and demonstration activities, as referred to in Article 33, may opt for a flat-rate equal to 60 % of the total direct eligible costs for grants awarded under calls for proposals closing before 1 January 2010. With a view to facilitating a transition to full application of the general principle established in paragraph 2, the Commission shall establish, for grants awarded under calls closing after 31 December 2009, an appropriate level of flat rate which should be an approximation of the real indirect costs concerned but not lower than 40 %. This will be based on an evaluation of participation by non-profit public bodies, secondary and higher education establishments, research organisations and SMEs which are unable to identify with certainty their real indirect costs for the action concerned. All flat rates shall be set out in the model grant agreement. For research and technological development activities, the Community financial contribution may reach a maximum of 50 % of the total eligible costs. However, in the case of non-profit public bodies, secondary and higher education establishments, research organisations and SMEs, it may reach a maximum of 75 % of the total eligible costs. For security-related research and technological development activities, it may reach a maximum of 75 % in the case of the development of capabilities in domains with very limited market size and a risk of ‘market failure’ and for accelerated equipment development in response to new threats. For demonstration activities, the Community financial contribution may reach a maximum of 50 % of the total eligible costs. For activities supported by ‘frontier’ research actions, coordination and support actions, and actions for the training and career development of researchers, the Community financial contribution may reach a maximum of 100 % of the total eligible costs. For management activities, including certificates on the financial statements, and other activities not covered by paragraphs 1, 2 and 3, the Community financial contribution may reach a maximum of 100 % of the total eligible costs. The other activities referred to in the first subparagraph include, inter alia, training in actions that do not fall under the funding scheme for training and career development of researchers, coordination, networking, and dissemination. For the purposes of paragraphs 1 to 4, eligible costs and receipts shall be taken into consideration in order to determine the Community financial contribution. Paragraphs 1 to 5 shall apply, as appropriate, in the case of indirect actions where flat-rate financing or lump-sum financing is used for the whole indirect action. Periodic reports shall be submitted to the Commission regarding eligible costs, financial interest yielded by pre-financing, and receipts in relation to the indirect action concerned and, where appropriate, a certificate on the financial statements, in accordance with the Financial Regulation and the Implementing Rules. The existence of co-financing in relation to the concerned action shall be reported and, where appropriate, certified at the end of the action. Notwithstanding the Financial Regulation and the Implementing Rules, a certificate on the financial statements shall be compulsory only whenever the cumulative amount of interim payments and balance payments made to a participant is equal to EUR 375000 or more for an indirect action. However, for indirect actions of a duration of 2 years or less, not more than one certificate on the financial statements shall be requested from the participant, at the end of the project. Certificates on the financial statements shall not be required for indirect actions entirely reimbursed by means of lump sums or flat rates. In the case of public bodies, research organisations, and higher and secondary education establishments, a certificate on the financial statements as required under paragraph 1 may be established by a competent public officer. The work programme shall provide for the forms of grants to be used for Networks of Excellence. Where the Community financial contribution to Networks of Excellence takes the form of a lump sum, it shall be calculated according to the number of researchers to be integrated in the Network of Excellence and the duration of the action. The unit value for lump sums paid shall be EUR 23500 per year and per researcher. That amount shall be adjusted by the Commission in accordance with the Financial Regulation and the Implementing Rules. The work programme shall establish the maximum number of participants and, where appropriate, the maximum number of researchers that may be used as the basis for the calculation of the maximum lump sum. However, participants over and above the maxima for the establishment of the financial contribution may participate as appropriate. The payment shall be effected by means of periodic releases. Those periodic releases shall be made according to the assessment of the progressive implementation of the Joint Programme of Activities through the measurement of integration of research resources and capacities based on performance indicators, negotiated with the consortium and specified in the grant agreement. The Community financial contribution shall be paid to the participants via the coordinator without undue delay. The coordinator shall keep records making it possible to determine at any time the portion of the Community funds that has been distributed to each participant. The coordinator shall communicate that information to the Commission upon request. The Commission may adopt a recovery decision in accordance with the Financial Regulation. The financial responsibility of each participant shall be limited to its own debt, subject to paragraphs 2 to 5. In order to manage the risk associated with non-recovery of sums due to the Community, the Commission shall establish and operate a participant guarantee fund (hereinafter ‘the Fund’) in accordance with the Annex. Financial interest generated by the Fund shall be added to the Fund and shall serve exclusively for the purposes set out in point 3 of the Annex, without prejudice to point 4 thereto. The contribution to the Fund by a participant to an indirect action taking the form of a grant shall not exceed 5 % of the Community financial contribution due to the participant. At the end of the action the amount contributed to the Fund shall be returned to the participant, via the coordinator, subject to paragraph 4. If the interest generated by the Fund is insufficient to cover sums due to the Community, the Commission may deduct from the amount to be returned to a participant a maximum of 1 % of the Community financial contribution to it. The deduction referred to in paragraph 4 shall not apply to public bodies, legal entities whose participation in the indirect action is guaranteed by a Member State or an associated country, and higher and secondary education establishments; The Commission shall verify ex-ante only the financial capacity of coordinators, and of participants other than those referred to in paragraph 5 applying for a Community financial contribution in an indirect action in excess of EUR 500000, unless there are exceptional circumstances, when, on the basis of information already available, there are justified grounds to doubt the financial capacity of these participants. The Fund shall be considered as a sufficient guarantee under the Financial Regulation. No additional guarantee or security may be requested from participants or imposed on them.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-11-07 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.