CHAPTER IIPARTICIPATION
SECTION 3 Community financial contribution
Article 28Eligibility for funding
1.
The following legal entities participating in an indirect action may receive a Community financial contribution:
(a)
any legal entity established in a Member State or an associated country, or created under Union law;
(b)
any international European interest organisation.
2.
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, a Community financial contribution may be granted provided that at least one of the following conditions is met:
(a)
provision is made to that effect in the specific programmes or in the relevant work programme;
(b)
the contribution is essential for carrying out the indirect action;
(c)
the contribution 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.
Article 29Forms of grants
The Community financial contribution for grants identified in the Annex II to the Decision 2012/93/Euratom 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.
Article 30Reimbursement of eligible costs
1.
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.
2.
Receipts shall be taken into consideration for the payment of the grant at the end of the implementation of the action.
3.
In order to be considered eligible, costs incurred for the implementation of an indirect action shall meet the following conditions:
(a)
they must be actual;
(b)
they must have been incurred during the duration of the action, with the exception of final reports when provided for in the grant agreement;
(c)
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;
(d)
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;
(e)
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, cost related to return on capital, costs declared or incurred, or reimbursed in respect of another Union project, debt and debt service charges, excessive or reckless expenditure, and any other cost that does not meet the conditions referred to in points (a) to (d).
For the purposes of point (a) of the first subparagraph, 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.
4.
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.
Article 31Direct eligible costs and indirect eligible costs
1.
Eligible costs shall be composed of costs attributable directly to the action (hereinafter ‘direct eligible costs’) and, where applicable, of costs that 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’).
2.
The reimbursement of participants’ costs shall be based on their eligible direct and indirect costs.
In compliance with Article 30(3)(c), a participant may use a simplified method for calculating its indirect eligible cost at the level of its legal entity if this method 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.
3.
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 the training and career development of researchers.
4.
By way of 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 Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2342/2002.
5.
Non-profit public bodies, secondary and higher education establishments, research organisations and SMEs that 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 32, may opt for a flat rate equal to 60 % of the total direct eligible costs.
6.
All flat rates shall be set out in the model grant agreement.
Article 32Upper funding limits
1.
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.
2.
For demonstration activities, the Community financial contribution may reach a maximum of 50 % of the total eligible costs.
3.
For activities supported by 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.
4.
For management activities, including certificates for 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 the training and career development of researchers, coordination, networking, and dissemination.
5.
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.
6.
Paragraphs 1 to 5 shall apply, as appropriate, to indirect actions where flat rate financing or lump sum financing is used for the whole indirect action.
Article 33Reporting and audit of eligible costs
1.
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 for the financial statements, in accordance with the Financial Regulation and Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2342/2002.
Any co-financing of the action concerned shall be reported and, where appropriate, certified at the end of the action.
2.
Notwithstanding the Financial Regulation and Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2342/2002, a certificate for 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 375 000 or more for an indirect action.
However, for indirect actions of 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 for the financial statements shall not be required for indirect actions entirely reimbursed by means of lump sums or flat rates.
3.
In the case of public bodies, research organisations, and higher and secondary education establishments, a certificate for the financial statements as required under paragraph 1 may be established by a competent public officer.
Article 34Networks of excellence
1.
The work programme shall provide for the forms of grants to be used for networks of excellence.
2.
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 included in the network of excellence and the duration of the action. The unit value for lump sums paid shall be EUR 23 500 per year and per researcher.
That amount shall be adjusted by the Commission in accordance with the Financial Regulation and Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2342/2002.
3.
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 maximum number for the establishment of the financial contribution may participate as appropriate.
4.
The payment of the financial contribution 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 measurement of the integration of research resources and capacities based on the basis of performance indicators negotiated with the consortium and specified in the grant agreement.