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This Regulation lays down specific rules for participation in indirect actions undertaken under Regulation (EU) No 1291/2013, including participation in indirect actions funded by funding bodies in accordance with Article 9(2) of that Regulation. This Regulation also lays down the rules governing the exploitation and dissemination of results. Subject to the specific rules laid down in this Regulation, the relevant rules of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 and Regulation (EU) No 1268/2012 shall apply. Regulation (EC) No 294/2008 or any basic act which entrusts budget implementation tasks to a funding body under Article 185 TFEU may establish rules which depart from those laid down in this Regulation. In order to take into account their specific operating needs and subject to the rules established in the relevant basic act, the Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 56, with regard to funding bodies set up under Article 187 TFEU concerning: the conditions for participation in calls for proposals issued by funding bodies established in the area of aeronautics with a view to reducing the minimum number of participants set out in Article 9(1); the eligibility for funding as set out in Article 10, allowing funding bodies established in the area of bio-based industries and of innovative medicines to limit the eligibility for funding to specific types of participants; the rules governing exploitation and dissemination of results, allowing funding bodies established in the area of innovative medicines to: extend the possibilities of transfer and licensing of results and background for affiliated entities, purchasers and any successor entity, in accordance with the grant agreement and without the consent of other participants referred to in Article 44(1) and (2); allow for specific agreements for access rights to background for developing results for commercialisation or commercialising results themselves (direct exploitation) referred to in Article 48(2) to (4); complement the rules by introducing provisions on ownership and access to data, knowledge and information which are outside of the objectives of an action and which are not needed for implementing and exploiting the action (sideground) referred to in Article 41(2) and Articles 45 to 48; extend rules on exploitation to other purposes than implementing the action (research use) or developing results for commercialisation or commercialising results themselves (direct exploitation) referred to in Article 48; set out specific criteria for allowing sub-licensing from one participant to another participant in the same action referred to in Article 46(2); extend, under the conditions defined in the consortium agreement referred to in Article 24(2), the access rights of participants, their affiliated entities and third parties as licensees to results or background for purposes other than implementing the action (research use) under appropriate conditions including financial terms, or developing results for commercialisation or commercialising results themselves (direct exploitation), as referred to in Articles 46 to 48; make access rights for direct exploitation conditional upon the agreement of the participants concerned, as referred to in Article 48; render optional the dissemination through scientific publication in the form of open access, as referred to in Article 43(2); the funding of the actions, allowing funding bodies in the area of electronic components and systems to apply reimbursement rates different to those set out in Article 28(3) in cases where one or more Member States co-fund a participant or an action. A funding body entrusted with budget implementation tasks under points (i) or (ii) of point (c) of Article 58(1) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012, may apply rules which depart from those laid down in this Regulation, subject to the consent of the Commission, if its specific operating needs so require. The Commission shall give its consent in such cases only if those rules are in compliance with the general principles established in this Regulation. This Regulation shall not apply to direct actions carried out by the Joint Research Centre (JRC). For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions apply: 'access rights' means rights to use results or background under the terms and conditions laid down in accordance with this Regulation; 'affiliated entity' means any legal entity that is under the direct or indirect control of a participant, or under the same direct or indirect control as the participant, or that is directly or indirectly controlling a participant. Control may take any of the forms set out in Article 8(2); 'associated country' means a third country which is party to an international agreement with the Union, as identified in Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 1291/2013; 'background' means any data, know-how or information whatever its form or nature, tangible or intangible, including any rights such as intellectual property rights, which is: (i) held by participants prior to their accession to the action; (ii) needed for carrying out the action or for exploiting the results of the action; and (iii) identified by the participants in accordance with Article 45; 'basic act' means a legal act adopted by the Union institutions in the form of a regulation, a directive or a decision within the meaning of Article 288 TFEU which provides a legal basis for the action; 'innovation action' means an action primarily consisting of activities directly aimed at producing plans and arrangements or designs for new, altered or improved products, processes or services. For this purpose they may include prototyping, testing, demonstrating, piloting, large-scale product validation and market replication; 'coordination and support action' means an action consisting primarily of accompanying measures such as standardisation, dissemination, awareness-raising and communication, networking, coordination or support services, policy dialogues and mutual learning exercises and studies, including design studies for new infrastructure, and may also include complementary activities of networking and coordination between programmes in different countries; 'dissemination' means the public disclosure of the results by any appropriate means (other than resulting from protecting or exploiting the results), including by scientific publications in any medium; 'exploitation' means the use of results in further research activities other than those covered by the action concerned, or in developing, creating and marketing a product or process, or in creating and providing a service, or in standardisation activities; 'fair and reasonable conditions' means appropriate conditions, including possible financial terms or royalty-free conditions, taking into account the specific circumstances of the request for access, for example the actual or potential value of the results or background to which access is requested and/or the scope, duration or other characteristics of the exploitation envisaged; 'funding body' means a body or authority, other than the Commission, as referred to in point (c) of Article 58(1) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012, to which the Commission has entrusted budget implementation tasks in accordance with Article 9(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1291/2013; 'international European interest organisation' means an international organisation, the majority of whose members are Member States or associated countries, and whose principal objective is to promote scientific and technological cooperation in Europe; 'legal entity' means any natural person, or any legal person created and recognised as such under national law, Union law or international law, which has legal personality and which may, acting in its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; 'non-profit legal entity' means a legal entity which by its legal form is non-profit-making or which has a legal or statutory obligation not to distribute profits to its shareholders or individual members; 'participant' means any legal entity carrying out an action or part of an action under Regulation (EU) No 1291/2013 having rights and obligations with regard to the Union or another funding body under this Regulation; 'programme co-fund action' means an action funded through a grant the main purpose of which is supplementing individual calls or programmes funded by entities, other than Union funding bodies, managing research and innovation programmes. A programme co-fund action may also include complementary activities of networking and coordination between programmes in different countries; 'pre-commercial procurement' means the procurement of research and development services involving risk-benefit sharing under market conditions, and competitive development in phases, where there is a clear separation of the research and development services procured from the deployment of commercial volumes of end-products; 'public procurement of innovative solutions' means procurement where contracting authorities act as a launch customer for innovative goods or services which are not yet available on a large-scale commercial basis, and may include conformity testing; 'results' means any tangible or intangible output of the action, such as data, knowledge or information, that is generated in the action, whatever its form or nature, whether or not it can be protected, as well as any rights attached to it, including intellectual property rights; 'SME' means micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises, as defined in Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC of 6 May 2003 concerning the definition of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (OJ L 124, 20.5.2003, p. 36). ; 'work programme' means the document adopted by the Commission for the implementation of the specific programme in accordance with Article 5 of Council Decision 2013/743/EU of 3 December 2013 Council Decision 2013/743/EU of 11 December 2013 establishing the Specific Programme Implementing Horizon 2020 - The Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (2014 - 2020) (See page 965 of this Official Journal). ; 'work plan' means the document similar to the Commission work programme adopted by funding bodies entrusted with part of the implementation of Horizon 2020 in accordance with Article 9(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1291/2013. For the purposes of this Regulation, an entity which does not have legal personality under the applicable national law shall be considered as being assimilated to a legal entity provided that the conditions set out in Article 131(2) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 and Article 198 of Regulation (EU) No 1268/2012 are complied with. For the purposes of this Regulation, grant recipients shall not be considered to be funding bodies. Subject to the conditions established in the implementing agreements, decisions or contracts, any data, knowledge and information communicated as confidential in the framework of an action shall be kept confidential, taking due account of Union law regarding the protection of and access to classified information. Without prejudice to Article 3, the Commission shall, upon request, make available to the Union institutions, bodies, offices or agencies, any Member State or associated country, any useful information in its possession concerning results generated by a participant in an action that has received Union funding, provided that both the following conditions are met: the information concerned is relevant to public policy; the participants have not provided sound and sufficient reasons for withholding the information concerned. In actions under the specific objective 'Secure societies - Protecting freedom and security of Europe and its citizens', the Commission shall upon request make available to Union institutions, bodies, offices or agencies or to Member States' national authorities any useful information in its possession concerning results generated by a participant in an action that has received Union funding. The Commission shall notify the participant of such communication. Where a Member State or Union institution, body, office or agency requests the communication of information, the Commission shall also notify such communication to all Member States. The provision of information pursuant to paragraph 1 shall not be deemed to transfer to the recipient any rights or obligations of the Commission or of the participants. However, the recipient shall treat any such information as confidential unless it becomes public or is made available publicly by the participants, or unless it was communicated to the Commission without restrictions concerning confidentiality. The Commission rules on security shall apply regarding classified information. In accordance with Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 and Regulation (EU) No 1268/2012, the Commission or the relevant funding body shall ensure that sufficient guidance and information is made available to all potential participants at the time of publication of the call for proposals, in particular the applicable model grant agreement.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-11-04 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.