Commission Decision of 5 March 2008 laying down rules for the implementation of Decision No 575/2007/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the European Return Fund for the period 2008 to 2013 as part of the General programme ‘Solidarity and Management of Migration Flows’ as regards Member States' management and control systems, the rules for administrative and financial management and the eligibility of expenditure on projects co-financed by the Fund (notified under document number C(2008)796) (Only the Bulgarian, Czech, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish and Swedish texts are authentic) (2008/458/EC)

Article 10 Grant agreements with final beneficiaries when the responsible authority acts as awarding body

1. The responsible authority shall lay down detailed project management procedures covering, inter alia:

(a) signature of grant agreements with selected final beneficiaries;

(b) follow-up of agreements and any amendment thereto by establishing a system for administrative monitoring of projects (exchange of correspondence, issuing and monitoring amendments and reminder letters, receipt and processing of reports, etc.).

2. The grant agreements shall lay down, inter alia:

(a) the maximum amount of the grant;

(b) the maximum percentage of the Community contribution in accordance with Article 15(4) of the basic act;

(c) a detailed description and timetable of the project supported;

(d) if applicable, the part of the tasks and related costs that the final beneficiary intends to subcontract to third parties;

(e) the agreed forward budget and financing plan for the project, including the fixed percentage of indirect costs as defined in Annex XI regarding the rules on eligibility of expenditure;

(f) the timetable and provisions for implementation of the agreement (reporting obligations, amendments and termination);

(g) the operational objectives of the project and the indicators to be used;

(h) the definition of eligible costs;

(i) the conditions relating to payment of the grant and bookkeeping requirements;

(j) the conditions relating to audit trail;

(k) the relevant provisions relating to data protection;

(l) the relevant provisions relating to publicity.

3. If appropriate, the final beneficiaries shall ensure that all partners in the project are subject to the same obligations as them. The partners shall engage their responsibility through the final beneficiary which remains answerable, in last resort, for the respect of the contractual conditions by itself and all partners in the project.

The final beneficiaries shall keep certified copies of the accounting documents justifying income and expenditure incurred by the partners in relation to the project concerned.

4. The grant agreements shall provide expressly for the Commission and the Court of Auditors to exercise their powers of control, based on documents and on the premises, over all final beneficiaries, partners in the project and subcontractors.