Grants - Regulation (Eu, Euratom) No 966-2012

8/9/2019 Grants - Regulation (Eu, Euratom) No 966-2012

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TITLE VI

GRANTS

CHAPTER 1

Scope and form of grants

Article 121

Scope of grants

1. Grants are direct financial contributions, by way ofdonation, from the budget in order to finance any of thefollowing:

(a) an action intended to help achieve a Union policy objective;

(b) the functioning of a body which pursues an aim of generalUnion interest or has an objective forming part of, and

supporting, a Union policy ('operating grants

').

Grants shall be covered either by a written agreement or by aCommission decision notified to the successful applicant of agrant.

The Commission may establish secure electronic systems forexchanges with the beneficiaries.

The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts inaccordance with Article 210 concerning the detailed specifi-cation of the scope of grants, and concerning rules determining

whether grant agreements or grant decisions are to be used.Furthermore, the Commission shall be empowered to adoptdelegated acts in accordance with Article 210 concerningdetails of the electronic exchange system, including theconditions under which documents submitted by means ofsuch systems, including grant agreements, are to be deemedoriginals and to have been signed, and the use of frameworkpartnerships.

2. The following do not constitute grants within themeaning of this Title:

(e) expenditure implemented under shared management andindirect management within the meaning of Articles 58,59 and 60, unless specified otherwise in the financialrules applicable to the budget of the entities or personsentrusted pursuant to point (c) of Article 58(1) or indelegation agreements;

(f) contributions to executive agencies referred to in Article 62,made by virtue of each agency's constitutive act;

(g) expenditure relating to fisheries markets as referred to inpoint (f) of Article 3(2) of Council Regulation (EC)No 1290/2005 of 21 June 2005 on the financing of thecommon agricultural policy ( 1 );

(h) repayment of travel and subsistence expenses incurred by,or where appropriate any other indemnities paid to, personsinvited or mandated by the institutions;

(i) prizes given as rewards for a contest, to which Title VII ofPart One applies.

3. Interest rate rebates and guarantee fee subsidies shall be

treated as grants, provided that they are not combined in asingle measure with financial instruments as referred to inTitle VIII of Part One.

Such rebates and subsidies shall be subject to the provisions ofthis Title, with the exception of the following:

(a) the cofinancing principle as set out in Article 125(3);

(b) the noprofit principle as set out in Article 125(4);

(c) for actions where the objective is to reinforce the financialcapacity of a beneficiary or to generate an income, theassessment of the financial capacity of the applicant as

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2. For the purpose of this Title, the following entities shall beconsidered as entities affiliated to the beneficiary:

(a) entities forming the beneficiary in accordance withparagraph 1;

(b) entities that satisfy the eligibility criteria and that do not fall within one of the situations referred to in Article 131(4)and that have a link with the beneficiary, in particular alegal or capital link, which is neither limited to the action

nor established for the sole purpose of its implementation.

3. The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegatedacts in accordance with Article 210 concerning the minimumcontent of grant agreements or decisions, in particular, where agrant is awarded to several entities, the specific obligations ofthe coordinator, if any, and of the other beneficiaries, theapplicable responsibility regime and the conditions for addingor removing a beneficiary.

Article 123

Forms of grants

1. Grants may take any of the following forms:

(a) reimbursement of a specified proportion of the eligiblecosts, referred to in Article 126, actually incurred;

(b) reimbursement on the basis of unit costs;

(c) lump sums;

(d) flatrate financing;

(e) a combination of the forms referred to in points (a) to (d).

2. When determining the appropriate form of a grant, thepotential beneficiaries' interests and accounting methods shall

be taken into account to the greatest possible extent.

2. The authorisation shall at least be supported by thefollowing:

(a) justification concerning the appropriateness of such formsof financing with regard to the nature of the supportedactions or work programmes, as well as to the risks ofirregularities and fraud and costs of control;

(b) identification of the costs or categories of costs covered by

lump sums, unit costs or flatrate financing, which shallexclude ineligible costs under the applicable Union rules;

(c) description of the methods for determining lump sums, unitcosts or flatrate financing, and of the conditions forreasonably ensuring that the noprofit and cofinancingprinciples are complied with and that double financing ofcosts is avoided. Those methods shall be based on:

(i) statistical data or similar objective means; or

(ii) a beneficiarybybeneficiary approach, by reference tocertified or auditable historical data of the beneficiaryor to its usual cost accounting practices.

3. Where recourse to the usual cost accounting practices ofthe beneficiary is authorised, the authorising officer responsiblemay assess compliance of those practices ex ante with theconditions set out in paragraph 2 or through an appropriatestrategy for ex post controls.

If the compliance of the beneficiary's usual cost accountingpractices with the conditions referred to in paragraph 2 has

been established ex ante, the amounts of lump sums, unitcosts or flatrate financing determined by application of thosepractices shall not be challenged by ex post controls.

The authorising officer responsible may consider that the usualcost accounting practices of the beneficiary are compliant with

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6. The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegatedacts in accordance with Article 210 concerning detailed rules

regarding lump sums, unit costs and flatrate financing.

CHAPTER 2

Principles

Article 125

General principles applicable to grants

1. Grants shall be subject to the principles of transparencyand equal treatment.

2. Without prejudice to Article 130, grants shall not becumulative or awarded retrospectively.

3. Grants shall involve cofinancing without prejudice to thespecific rules laid down in Title IV of Part Two.

Unless otherwise specified in this Regulation, the regulationsgoverning political parties at European level and the rulesregarding their funding are laid down in Regulation (EC)No 2004/2003 of the European Parliament and of theCouncil of 4 November 2003 on the regulations governingpolitical parties at European level and the rules regarding theirfunding ( 1 ).

4. Grants shall not have the purpose or effect of producing aprofit within the framework of the action or the workprogramme of the beneficiary (‘noprofit principle’).

The first subparagraph shall not apply to:

(a) actions the objective of which is the reinforcement of thefinancial capacity of a beneficiary, or actions which generate

an income to ensure their continuity after the period ofUnion financing provided for in the grant decision oragreement;

(b) study, research or training scholarships paid to naturalpersons;

5. For the purpose of this Title, profit shall be defined as asurplus of the receipts over the eligible costs incurred by the

beneficiary, when the request is made for payment of the balance.

The receipts referred to in the first subparagraph shall be limitedto income generated by the action or work programme, as wellas financial contributions specifically assigned by donors to thefinancing of the eligible costs.

In the case of an operating grant, amounts dedicated to the building up of reserves shall not be taken into account forthe purpose of verifying compliance with the noprofit prin-ciple.

6. If a political party at Union level realises a surplus ofincome over expenditure at the end of a financial year in

which it received an operating grant, the part of that surpluscorresponding to up to 25 % of the total income for that yearmay, by derogation from the noprofit principle laid down inparagraph 4, be carried over to the following year provided thatit is used before the end of the first quarter of that following

year.

For the purpose of verifying compliance with the noprofit

principle, the own resources, in particular donations andmembership fees, aggregated in the annual operations of apolitical party at Union level, which exceed 15 % of theeligible costs to be borne by the beneficiary, shall not betaken into account.

The second subparagraph shall not apply if the financialreserves of a political party at Union level exceed 100 % ofits average annual income.

7. Grants may be awarded without a call for proposals to theEIB or the European Investment Fund for actions of technicalassistance. In such cases Articles 131(2) to (5) and 132(1) shallnot apply.




Grants shall not exceed the eligible costs.

2. Eligible costs are costs actually incurred by the beneficiaryof a grant which meet all of the following criteria:

(a) they are incurred during the duration of the action or of the work programme, with the exception of costs relating tofinal reports and audit certificates;

(b) they are indicated in the estimated overall budget of theaction or work programme;

(c) they are necessary for the implementation of the action orof the work programme which is the subject of the grant;

(d) they are identifiable and verifiable, in particular beingrecorded in the accounting records of the beneficiary anddetermined according to the applicable accounting standardsof the country where the beneficiary is established andaccording to the usual cost accounting practices of the

beneficiary;

(e) they comply with the requirements of applicable tax andsocial legislation;

(f) they are reasonable, justified, and comply with the principle

of sound financial management, in particular regardingeconomy and efficiency.

3. Calls for proposals shall specify the categories of costsconsidered as eligible for Union funding.

Without prejudice to the basic act and in addition to paragraph2, the following categories of costs shall be eligible where the

authorising officer responsible has declared them as such underthe call for proposals:

(a) costs relating to a prefinancing guarantee lodged by the beneficiary of the grant, where that guarantee is required by the authorising officer responsible pursuant toArticle 134(1);

(e) salary costs of the personnel of national administrations tothe extent that they relate to the cost of activities which the

relevant public authority would not carry out if the projectconcerned were not undertaken.

4. Costs incurred by entities affiliated to a beneficiary asdescribed in Article 122 may be accepted as eligible by theauthorising officer responsible under the call for proposals. Insuch a case, the following conditions shall apply cumulatively:

(a) the entities concerned are identified in the grant agreementor decision;

(b) the entities concerned abide by the rules applicable to the beneficiary under the grant agreement or decision withregard to eligibility of costs and rights of checks andaudits by the Commission, OLAF and the Court of Auditors.

5. The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegatedacts in accordance with Article 210 concerning further specifi-cations on eligible costs.

Article 127

Co-financing in kind

1. For the purpose of calculating the profit generated by thegrant, cofinancing in the form of contributions in kind shallnot be taken into account.

2. The authorising officer responsible may acceptcontributions in kind as cofinancing, if considered necessaryor appropriate. Where cofinancing inkind is offered in supportof low value grants and the authorising officer responsible hasdecided to refuse this, he or she shall justify why it isunnecessary or inappropriate.

Such contributions shall not exceed:




Article 128

Transparency

1. Grants shall be subject to a work programme, to bepublished prior to its implementation.

That work programme shall be implemented through thepublication of calls for proposals, except in duly justified excep-tional cases of urgency or where the characteristics of the bene-ficiary or of the action leave no other choice for a given action,or where the beneficiary is identified in a basic act.

The first subparagraph shall not apply to crisis management aid,civil protection operations or humanitarian aid operations.

2. Calls for proposals shall specify the planned date by whichall applicants shall have been informed of the outcome of theevaluation of their application and the indicative date for thesignature of grant agreements or notification of grant decisions.

Those dates shall be fixed on the basis of the following periods:

(a) for informing all applicants of the outcome of theevaluation of their application, a maximum of six monthsfrom the final date for submission of complete proposals;

(b) for signing grant agreements with applicants or notifyinggrant decisions to them, a maximum of three months fromthe date of informing applicants they have been successful.

Those periods may be adjusted in order to take into account

any time needed to comply with specific procedures that may be required by the basic act in accordance with Regulation (EU)No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 1 )and may be exceeded in exceptional, duly justified cases, inparticular for complex actions, where there is a large numberof proposals or delays attributable to the applicants.

the requirements regarding the work programme, the content ofcalls for proposals, the exceptions to calls for proposals,

information for applicants and ex post publication.

Article 129

Principle of non-cumulative award

1. Each action may give rise to the award of only one grantfrom the budget to any one beneficiary, except where otherwiseauthorised in the relevant basic acts.

A beneficiary may be awarded only one operating grant fromthe budget per financial year.

The applicant shall immediately inform the authorising officersof any multiple applications and multiple grants relating to thesame action or to the same work programme.

In no circumstances shall the same costs be financed twice bythe budget.

2. The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegatedacts in accordance with Article 210 concerning detailed rules onthe principle of the noncumulative award of grants.

Article 130 Principle of non-retroactivity

1. A grant may be awarded for an action which has already begun provided that the applicant can demonstrate the need forstarting the action priorto signature of the grant agreement ornotification of the grant decision.

In such cases, costs eligible for financing shall not have been

incurred prior to the date of submission of the grant appli-cation, except in duly justified exceptional cases as providedfor in the basic act or in the event of extreme urgency forcrisis management aid, civil protection operations and humani-tarian aid operations, or in situations of imminent or immediatedanger threatening to escalate into armed conflict or todestabilise a country, whereby an early engagement by theUnion would be of major importance in promoting conflict




CHAPTER 3

Award procedure

Article 131

Applications for grants

1. Grant applications shall be submitted in writing, including, where appropriate, in a secure electronic format.

The Commission shall provide, where it deems it feasible, thepossibility of making online grant applications.

2. Grant applications shall be eligible if submitted by thefollowing:

(a) legal persons; or

(b) natural persons, in so far as this is required by the nature orcharacteristics of the action or the objective pursued by theapplicant.

For the purposes of point (a) of the first subparagraph, grantapplications may be eligible if submitted by entities which donot have legal personality under the applicable national law,provided that their representatives have the capacity toundertake legal obligations on behalf of the entity and offerguarantees for the protection of the Union's financial interestsequivalent to those offered by legal persons.

3. The application shall state the legal status of the applicantand demonstrate his or her financial and operational capacity tocarry out the proposed action or work programme.

For that purpose the applicant shall submit a declaration on hisor her honour and, unless the grant is a low value grant, anysupporting documents requested, on the basis of a riskassessment, by the authorising officer responsible. Theprerequisite documents shall be indicated in the call forproposals.

(b) when such certification has recently been provided inanother award procedure.

5. Administrative and financial penalties which are effective,proportionate and dissuasive may be imposed on applicants bythe authorising officer responsible, in accordance withArticle 109.

Those penalties may also be imposed on beneficiaries who at

the moment of the submission of the application or during theimplementation of the grant, have made false declarations insupplying the information required by the authorising officerresponsible or fail to supply that information.

6. The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegatedacts in accordance with Article 210 concerning detailed rules onthe arrangements for grant applications, evidence of not falling

within an exclusion situation, applicants without legal person-ality, legal persons forming one applicant, financial and admin-istrative penalties, eligibility criteria and low value grants.

Article 132

Selection and award criteria

1. The selection criteria announced in advance in the call forproposals shall be such as to make it possible to assess the

applicant's ability to complete the proposed action or workprogramme.

2. The award criteria announced in advance in the call forproposals shall be such as to make it possible to assess thequality of the proposals submitted in the light of the objectivesand priorities set.

3. The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegatedacts in accordance with Article 210 concerning detailed rules onselection and award criteria.

Article 133




4. The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegatedacts in accordance with Article 210 concerning detailed rules on

the evaluation and award of grants and information to appli-cants.

CHAPTER 4

Payment and control

Article 134

Pre-financing guarantee 1. The authorising officer responsible may, if he or shedeems it appropriate and proportionate, on a casebycase

basis and subject to risk analysis, require the beneficiary tolodge a guarantee in advance in order to limit the financialrisks connected with the payment of prefinancing.

2. Notwithstanding paragraph 1, guarantees shall not berequired in the case of low value grants.

3. The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegatedacts in accordance with Article 210 concerning detailed rules onthe prefinancing guarantee.

Article 135

Payment of grants and controls 1. The amount of the grant shall not become final until afterthe authorising officer responsible has approved the finalreports and accounts, without prejudice to subsequent checks

by the institution concerned, which shall be carried out in atimely manner.

2. Where the award procedure proves to have been subject

to substantial errors, irregularities or fraud, the authorisingofficer responsible shall suspend the procedure and may take whatever measures are necessary, including the cancellation ofthe procedure. The authorising officer responsible shall informOLAF immediately of suspected cases of fraud.

3 Where after the award of the grant the award procedure

4. Where such errors, irregularities or fraud are attributableto the beneficiary, or should the beneficiary breach his or her

obligations under a grant agreement or decision, the authorisingofficer responsible may, in addition, reduce the grant or recoveramounts unduly paid under the grant agreement or decision, inproportion to the seriousness of the errors, irregularities orfraud or of the breach of obligations, provided that the bene-ficiary has been given the opportunity to make observations.

5. Where controls or audits demonstrate systemic or

recurrent errors, irregularities, fraud or breach of obligationsattributable to the beneficiary and having a material impacton a number of grants awarded to that beneficiary undersimilar conditions, the authorising officer responsible maysuspend implementation of all the grants concerned or, whereappropriate, terminate the concerned grant agreements ordecisions with that beneficiary, in proportion to the seriousnessof the errors, irregularities, fraud or of the breach of obligations,provided that the beneficiary has been given the opportunity tomake observations.

The authorising officer responsible may, in addition, followingan adversarial procedure, reduce the grants or recover amountsunduly paid in respect of all the grants affected by the systemicor recurrent errors, irregularities, fraud or breach of obligationsreferred to in the first subparagraph that may be audited inaccordance with the grant agreements or decisions.

6. The authorising officer responsible shall determine theamounts to be reduced or recovered, wherever possible andpracticable, on the basis of costs unduly declared as eligiblefor each grant concerned, following acceptance of the revisedfinancial statements submitted by the beneficiary.

7. Where it is not possible or practicable to quantifyprecisely the amount of ineligible costs for each grantconcerned, the amounts to be reduced or recovered may bedetermined by extrapolating the reduction or recovery rateapplied to the grants for which the systemic or recurrenterrors or irregularities have been demonstrated, or, whereineligible costs cannot serve as a basis for determining the

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9. The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegatedacts in accordance with Article 210 concerning detailed rules

for the payment of grants and controls, including rulesconcerning supporting documents and the suspension andreduction of grants.

Article 136

Periods for record-keeping

1. Beneficiaries shall keep records, supporting documents,statistical records and other records pertaining to a grant for

five years following the payment of the balance, and for three years in the case of low value grants.

2. Records pertaining to audits, appeals, litigation, or thepursuit of claims arising out of the performance of theproject shall be retained until such audits, appeals, litigationor claims have been disposed of.

CHAPTER 5

Implementation

Article 137

Implementation contracts and financial support to thirdparties

1. Where implementation of an action or a workprogramme requires financial support to be given to third

parties, the beneficiary may give such financial supportprovided that the following conditions are met:

(a) before awarding the grant, the authorising officerresponsible has verified that the beneficiary offers adequateguarantees as regards the recovery of amounts due to theCommission;

(b) the conditions for the giving of such support are strictly

defined in the grant decision or agreement between the beneficiary and the Commission, in order to avoid theexercise of discretion by the beneficiary;

(c) the amounts concerned are small, except where the financialsupport is the primary aim of the action.

2. Each grant decision or agreement shall provide expresslyfor the Commission and the Court of Auditors to exercise theirpowers of control, concerning documents premises andinformation, including that stored on electronic media, overall third parties who have received Union funds.

3. The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegatedacts in accordance with Article 210 concerning detailed rules onimplementation contracts and financial support to third parties.

TITLE VII

PRIZES

Article 138

General rules

1. Prizes shall respect the principles of transparency andequal treatment and shall promote the achievement of policyobjectives of the Union.

2. For this purpose, prizes shall be subject to a workprogramme to be published prior to its implementation. The

3. Entries in a contest shall be evaluated by a panel ofexperts on the basis of the published rules of the contest.

Prizes shall then be awarded by the authorising officer respon-sible, on the basis of the evaluation provided by the panel ofexperts who shall be free to decide whether to recommend theaward of prizes, depending on their appraisal of the quality ofthe entries.




TITLE VIII

FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS

Article 139

Scope

1. Financial instruments shall be authorised by means of a basic act.

Notwithstanding the first subparagraph, financial instrumentsmay be established, in duly justified cases, without being auth-orised by means of a basic act, provided that such instrumentsare included in the budget in accordance with point (e) ofArticle 49(1).

2. Where Union support is provided by means of financialinstruments and combined in a single measure with elementsdirectly related to financial instruments targeting the same final

recipients, including technical assistance, interest rate rebatesand guarantee fee subsidies, this Title shall apply to allelements of that measure.

3. Where financial instruments are combined with grantsfunded from the budget under Title VI of Part One forelements not directly related to financial instruments, separaterecords shall be maintained for each source of financing.

4. The Commission may implement financial instrumentsunder direct management, or under indirect management, asset out in the basic act, by entrusting tasks to entitiespursuant to points (ii), (iii), (v) and (vi) of Article 58(1)(c).

The entities entrusted pursuant to points (ii), (iii), (v) and (vi) ofArticle 58(1)(c), when implementing financial instruments, may

further entrust, under their responsibility, part of that imple-mentation to financial intermediaries provided that thoseentities ensure that the financial intermediaries satisfy thecriteria laid down in Article 140(1), (3) and (5). Financial inter-mediaries shall be selected on the basis of open, transparent,proportionate and nondiscriminatory procedures, avoidingconflicts of interests.

6. The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegatedacts in accordance with Article 210 concerning detailed rules onfinancial instruments, including the selection of entitiesentrusted with the implementation of financial instruments,the content of delegation agreements, management costs andfees, the specific rules for fiduciary accounts, the direct imple-mentation of the financial instruments and the selection ofmanagers, of financial intermediaries and of final recipients.

Article 140

Principles and conditions applicable to financialinstruments

1. Financial instruments shall be used in accordance with theprinciples of sound financial management, transparency,proportionality, nondiscrimination, equal treatment andsubsidiarity, and in accordance with their objectives and,

where applicable, the duration established in the basic act forthose financial instruments.

2. Financial instruments shall comply with the following:

(a) addressing market failures or suboptimal investment situ-ations, which have proven to be financially viable but donot give rise to sufficient funding from market sources;

(b) additionality: financial instruments shall not be aimed atreplacing those of a Member State, private funding oranother Union financial intervention;

(c) nondistortion of competition in the internal market andconsistency with State aid rules;

(d) leverage effect: the Union contribution to a financialinstrument shall aim at mobilising a global investmentexceeding the size of the Union contribution according tothe indicators defined in advance;

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4. The entities entrusted pursuant to points (ii), (iii), (v) and(vi) of Article 58(1)(c) and all financial intermediaries selected to

participate in the execution of financial operations under afinancial instrument shall comply with relevant standards andapplicable legislation on the prevention of money laundering,the fight against terrorism and tax fraud. For the implemen-tation of financial instruments in accordance with this Title,the entities entrusted pursuant to points (ii), (iii), (v) and (vi)of Article 58(1)(c) shall not be established, and shall notmaintain business relations with entities incorporated, in terri-tories whose jurisdictions do not cooperate with the Union inrelation to the application of the internationally agreed taxstandard and shall transpose such requirements in their

contracts with the selected financial intermediaries.

5. Entities entrusted pursuant to points (ii), (iii), (v) and (vi)of Article 58(1)(c), financial intermediaries as referred to inparagraph 4 of this Article involved in managing Unionfinancial instruments, and final recipients of Union supportunder this Title shall afford the Court of Auditors all thefacilities and give it all the information which the Court ofAuditors considers necessary for the performance of its task,

pursuant to Article 161.

Regulation (Euratom, EC) No 2185/96 and Regulation (EC)No 1073/1999 of the European Parliament and of theCouncil of 25 May 1999 concerning investigations conducted

by the European Antifraud Office (OLAF) ( 1 ) shall apply toUnion support under this Title.

6. Amounts corresponding at least to the Unioncontribution, or, where applicable, multiples thereof shall beused for the attainment of the specific policy objectivespursued through the financial instrument and shall notgenerate undue advantages, in particular in the form of unduedividends or profits for third parties.

Without prejudice to sectorspecific rules for shared

management, revenues, including dividends, capital gains,guarantee fees and interest on loans and on amounts onfiduciary accounts paid back to the Commission or fiduciaryaccounts opened for financial instruments and attributable tothe support from the budget under a financial instrument, shall

be entered in the budget after deduction of management costsand fees.

the balances available on the fiduciary accounts and the need toavoid excessive balances on such amounts. In the event of the

amounts on the fiduciary accounts being sufficient to cover thecontractually stipulated minimum reserve on the fiduciaryaccounts, as increased by the disbursement forecasts for thecurrent financial year, and to cover the amounts needed toexclude contingent liabilities in relation to payment obligationsin currencies other than euro, no further payment to thefiduciary accounts shall be made. Disbursement forecasts areto be provided on an annual or, where appropriate, on asemiannual basis.

8. The Commission shall report annually to the EuropeanParliament and the Council on the activities relating tofinancial instruments. The report shall include, for eachfinancial instrument supported:

(a) an identification of the financial instrument and the basicact;

(b) a description of the financial instrument, implementationarrangements and the added value of the Unioncontribution;

(c) the financial institutions involved in implementation,including any issues relating to the application ofparagraph 5;

(d) the aggregate budgetary commitments and payments fromthe budget for each financial instrument;

(e) the performance of the financial instrument, including theinvestments realised;

(f) an evaluation of the use of any amounts returned to the

instrument as internal assigned revenue under paragraph 6;

(g) the balance on the fiduciary account;

(h) revenues and repayments under paragraph 6;




9. Where the European Parliament or the Council considerthat a financial instrument has not achieved its objectives effec-

tively, they may request that the Commission submit a proposalfor a revised basic act with a view to the winding down of theinstrument. In the event of the winding down of the financialinstrument, any new repayments of that instrument pursuant tothe third subparagraph of paragraph 6 shall be considered asgeneral revenue.

10. The purpose of the financial instruments and, whereapplicable, their specific legal form and legal place of regis-tration shall be published on the Commission website.

11. For financial instruments the authorising officerresponsible shall ensure that financial statements, covering theperiod 1 January to 31 December and in compliance with theaccounting rules referred to in Article 143 and the InternationalPublic Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS), as well as any

information necessary to produce financial statements inaccordance with Article 68(3), will be provided by the entities

entrusted pursuant to points (ii), (iii), (v) and (vi) ofArticle 58(1)(c) by 15 February of the following year. The auth-orising officer responsible shall also ensure that audited financialstatements for financial instruments are provided by thoseentities by 15 May of the following year.

12. The Commission shall ensure a harmonised managementof financial instruments in particular in the area of accounting,reporting, monitoring and financial risk management.

13. The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegatedacts in accordance with Article 210 concerning detailed rules onthe implementation of financial instruments, including theconditions for their use, the leverage effect, the exante evalu-ation, the monitoring and the treatment of contributions fromthe Funds referred to in Article 175.

TITLE IX PRESENTATION OF THE ACCOUNTS AND ACCOUNTING

CHAPTER 1

Presentation of the accounts

Article 141

Structure of the accounts The accounts shall comprise:

(a) the consolidated financial statements, which present theconsolidation of the financial information contained in thefinancial statements of the institutions financed by the

budget, those of the bodies referred to in Article 208 andof other bodies whose accounts are required to beconsolidated in accordance with the accounting rules

referred to in Article 143;

(b) the aggregated budgetary accounts which present theinformation contained in the budgetary accounts of theinstitutions.

3. The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegatedacts in accordance with Article 210 concerning detailed rules onthe report on budgetary and financial management.

Article 143

Rules governing the accounts

1. The accounting officer of the Commission shall adoptrules based on internationally accepted accounting standardsfor the public sector. The accounting officer may divergefrom those standards if he or she considers this necessary inorder to give a true and fair view of the assets and liabilities,charges, income and cash flow. Where an accounting rulediverges materially from those standards, the notes to thefinancial statements shall disclose this fact and the reasons for

it.

2. The budgetary accounts referred to in Article 141 shallrespect the budgetary principles laid down in this Regulation.They shall present a true and fair view of the budgetary revenueand expenditure operations.




The members of the consortium may make any arrangementsin the consortium they deem fit to the extent that those

arrangements are not in conflict with the grant agreement orthis Regulation.

4. The consortium may propose to add or remove aparticipant or change the coordinator in accordance with therelevant provisions of the grant agreement, provided that thechange is in conformity with the conditions for participation,does not adversely affect the implementation of the action and

is not contrary to the principle of equal treatment.

S e c t i o n I I I

F o r m s o f g r a n t s a n d f u n d i n g r u l e s

Article 25

Forms of grants Grants may take any of the forms provided for in Article 123of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012, taking into accountthe objectives of the action.

Article 26

Eligibility of costs

1. Conditions for eligibility of costs are defined in Article 126of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012. Costs incurred bythird parties under the action may be eligible according to theprovisions of this Regulation and of the grant agreement.

2. Ineligible costs are those not complying with theconditions of paragraph 1, including, in particular, provisions

for possible future losses or charges, exchange losses, costsrelated to return on capital, costs reimbursed in respect ofanother Union action or programme, debt and debt servicecharges and excessive or reckless expenditure.

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(a) it is part of the usual remuneration practices of theparticipant and is paid in a consistent manner whenever

the same kind of work or expertise is required;

(b) the criteria used to calculate the supplementary paymentsare objective and of general application by the participant,independent of the source of funding used.

3. Additional remuneration may be eligible up to EUR 8 000per year and per person. In relation to a person not workingexclusively for the action, a limit per hour shall apply. The limitper hour shall be calculated by dividing EUR 8 000 by thenumber of annual productive hours calculated in accordance

with Article 31.

Article 28

Funding of the action

1. The funding of an action shall not exceed the total eligiblecosts minus the receipts of the action.

2. The following shall be considered as receipts of the action:

(a) resources made available by third parties to the participants by means of financial transfers or contributions in kind freeof charge, the value of which has been declared as eligiblecosts by the participant, provided that they have beencontributed by the third party specifically to be used inthe action;

(b) income generated by the action, except income generated by

the exploitation of the results of the action;

(c) income generated from the sale of assets purchased underthe grant agreement up to the value of the cost initiallycharged to the action by the participant.


Conditions for eli i ilit of costs are defined in Article 126of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012.



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o f d e r o g a t i o n f r o m

p a r a g r a p h 3

, t h e H o r i z o n 2 0 2 0

g r a n t m

a y , f o r i n n o v a t i o n

a c t i o n

s , r e a c h

a m a x i m u m o f

1 0 0 % o

f t h e t o t a l e l i g i b l e c o s t s f o r n o n p r o f i t l e g a l e n t i t i e s ,

w i t h o u t

p r e j u d i c e t o t h e c o f i n a n c i n

g p r i n c i p l e .

6 .

T h e r e i m b u r s e m e n t r a t e s d e t e r m i n e d i n t h i s A r t i c l e s h a l l

a l s o a p p l y i n t h e c a s e o f a c t i o n s w h e r e f l a t r a t e , u n i t o r l u m p

s u m f i n a

n c i n g i s f i x e d f o r t h e w h o l e o r p a r t o f t h e a c t i o n .

A r t i c l e 2 9

I n d i r e c t c o

s t s

1 .

I n d

i r e c t e l i g i b l e c o s t s s h a l l b e

d e t e r m i n e d b y a p p l y i n g a

f l a t r a t e

o f 2 5 %

o f t h e t o t a l d i r e

c t e l i g i b l e c o s t s , e x c l u d i n g

d i r e c t e l i g i b l e c o s t s f o r s u b c o n t r a c t i n g

a n d

t h e

c o s t s o f

r e s o u r c e s m a d e a v a i l a b l e b y t h i r d p a r t i e s w h i c h a r e n o t u s e d

o n t h e p

r e m i s e s o f t h e b e n e f i c i a r y ,

a s w e l l a s f i n a n c i a l s u p p o r t

t o t h i r d

p a r t i e s .

2 .

B y

w a y o f d e r o g a t i o n f r o m

p a r a g r a p h 1

, i n d i r e c t c o s t s

m a y b e

d e c l a r e d i n t h e f o r m

o f a l u m p s u m

o r u n i t c o s t s

w h e n p r o v i d e d f o r i n t h e w o r k p r o

g r a m m e o r w o r k p l a n

.

A r t i c l e 3 0

E v a l u a t i o n o f t h e f u

n d i n g l e v e l s

T h e i n t e r i m

e v a l u a t i o n o f H o r i z o

n 2 0 2 0

s h a l l i n c l u d e a n

e v a l u a t i o

n o f t h e i m p a c t o f t h e v a r

i o u s f e a t u r e s i n t r o d u c e d b y

t h e n e w

f u n d i n g l e v e l s l a i d d o w n i n

A r t i c l e s 2 7

, 2 8 a n d 2 9 o f

t h i s R e g u l a t i o n ,

w i t h t h e a i m

o f e

v a l u a t i n g w h e t h e r t h e n e w

a p p r o a c h

h a s l e d t o u n d e s i r e d s i t u a t i o n s a d v e r s e l y a f f e c t i n g t h e

a t t r a c t i v e n e s s o f H o r i z o n 2 0 2 0

.

A r t i c l e 3 1

A n n u a l p r o d u c t i v e h o u r s

1 .

E l i g i b l e p e r s o n n e l c o s t s s h a l l c o v e r o n l y t h e a c t u a l h o u r s

w o r k e d

b y t h e p e r s o n s d i r e c t l y c a r r y i n g o u t w o r k u n d e r t h e

a c t i o n . E

v i d e n c e r e g a r d i n g t h e a c t u a l h o u r s w o r k e d s h a l l b e

p r o v i d e d

b y t h e p a r t i c i p a n t , u s u a l l y t h r o u g h a t i m e r e c o r d i n g

s y s t e m .

2 .

F o r p e r s o n s w o r k i n g e x c l u s i v e l y f o r t h e a c t i o n ,

n o t i m e

r e c o r d i n g i s r e q u i r e d

. I n s u c h c a s e s ,

t h e p a r t i c i p a n t s h a l l s i g n a

d e c l a r a t i o n c o n f i r m i n g t h a t t h e p e r

s o n c o n c e r n e d h a s w o r k e d

e x c l u s i v e

l y f o r t h e a c t i o n .

3 .

T h e g r a n t a g r e e m e n t s h a l l c o n

t a i n :

( a ) t h e m i n i m u m

r e q u i r e m e n t s f o r

t h e t i m e r e c o r d i n g s y s t e m ;

( b ) t h e o p t i o n t o c h o o s e b e t w e e n

a f i x e d n u m b e r o f a n n u a l

p r o d u c t i v e h o u r s a n d

t h e m e t h o d f o r e s t a b l i s h i n g t h e

n u m b e r o f a n n u a l p r o d u c t i v e h o u r s t o b

e u s e d f o r t h e

c a l c u l a t i o n o f t h e h o u r l y p e r s o n n e l r a t e s ,

t a k i n g a c c o u n t

o f t h e p a r t i c i p a n

t ' s u s u a l a c c o u n t i n g p r a c t i c

e s .

A r t i c l e 3 2

O w n e r s o f S M E s

a n d n a t u r a l p e r s o n s w i t

h o u t a s a l a r y

T h e o w n e r s o f S M E

s w h o d o n o t r e c e i v e a s a l a r y , a n d o t h e r

n a t u r a l p e r s o n s w h

o d o n o t r e c e i v e a s a l a r y , m a y c h a r g e

p e r s o n n e l c o s t s o n t h e b a s i s o f a u n i t c o s t .

A r t i c l e 3 3

U n i t c o s t s

1 .

I n

a c c o r d a n c e

w i t h

A r t i c l e

1 2 4

o f R e g u l a t i o n

( E U

,

E u r a t o m )

N o 9 6 6 / 2 0 1 2

,

t h e

C o m m i s s i o n

m a y

e s t a b l i s h

m e t h o d s t o d e t e r m i n e u n i t c o s t s b a s e d o n :

( a ) s t a t i s t i c a l d a t a o r s i m i l a r o b j e c t i v e m e a n s ;

( b ) a u d i t a b l e h i s t o r i c a l d a t a o f t h e p a r t i c i p a n t .

2 .

D i r e c t e l i g i b l e

p e r s o n n e l c o s t s m a y b e f i n a n c e d o n t h e

b a s i s o f u n i t c o s t s

d e t e r m i n e d a c c o r d i n g t o t h e p a r t i c i p a n t ' s

u s u a l c o s t a c c o u n t i n g p r a c t i c e s , p r o v i d e d t h a t t h e y c o m p l y

w i t h t h e f o l l o w i n g c

u m u l a t i v e c r i t e r i a :

( a ) t h e y a r e c a l c u l a t e d o n t h e b a s i s o f t h e t o t a l a c t u a l p e r s o n n e l

c o s t s r e c o r d e d i n t h e p a r t i c i p a n t ' s g e n e r a l

a c c o u n t s w h i c h

m a y b e a d j u s t e d

b y t h e p a r t i c i p a n t o n t h e b a s i s o f b u d g e t e d

o r e s t i m a t e d e l e m e n t s a c c o r d i n g t o t h e c o n d i t i o n s d e f i n e d

b y t h e C o m m i s s

i o n ;

( b ) t h e y c o m p l y w i t

h A r t i c l e s 2 6 a n d 2 7 ;

( c ) t h e y e n s u r e c o m

p l i a n c e w i t h t h e n o n p r o

f i t r e q u i r e m e n t

a n d t h e a v o i d a n c e o f d o u b l e f u n d i n g o f c o s t s ;

( d ) t h e y a r e c a l c u l a t e d w i t h d u e r e g a r d t o A r t i c l e 3 1

.

A r t i c l e 3 4

C e r t i f i c a t e o n t h e f i n a n c i a l s t a t e m

e n t s

T h e c e r t i f i c a t e o n t h

e f i n a n c i a l s t a t e m e n t s s h a l l c o v e r t h e t o t a l

a m o u n t o f t h e g r a n t

c l a i m e d b y a p a r t i c i p a n t u n

d e r t h e f o r m o f

r e i m b u r s e m e n t o f a c

t u a l c o s t s a n d u n d e r t h e f o r m o f u n i t c o s t s

r e f e r r e d t o i n A r t i c l e 3 3 ( 2 ) , e x c l u d i n g t h e a m o u

n t s d e c l a r e d o n

t h e b a s i s o f l u m p s u m s , f l a t r a t e s a n d u n i t c

o s t s o t h e r t h a n

t h o s e d e t e r m i n e d a

c c o r d i n g t o

t h e p a r t i c i p a

n t ' s u s u a l c o s t

a c c o u n t i n g p r a c t i c e s . T h e c e r t i f i c a t e s h a l l b e

s u b m i t t e d o n l y

w h e n t h a t a m o u n t

i s e q u a l t o o r g r e a t e r t h a n E U R 3 2 5 0 0 0

a t t h e t i m e o f c l a i m i n g t h e p a y m e n t o f t h e b a l a n c e o f t h e g r a n t .

E N

2 0

. 1 2 . 2 0

1 3

O f f i c i a l J o u r n a l

o f t h e E u r o p e a n U n i o n

L 3 4 7 / 9 5



A r t i c l e 3 5

C e r t i f i c a t e o n t h e

m e t h o d o l o g y

1 .

P a r t i c i p a n t s t h a t c a l c u l a t e a n d c l a i m d i r e c t p e r s o n n e l c o s t s

o n t h e

b a s i s o f u n i t c o s t s i n a c c o r d a n c e w i t h A r t i c l e 3 3 ( 2 ) m a y

s u b m i t

t o t h e C o m m i s s i o n a c e r t i f i c a t e o n t h e m e t h o d o l o g

y .

T h a t m

e t h o d o l o g y s h a l l c o m p l y w

i t h t h e c o n d i t i o n s s e t o u t i n

A r t i c l e

3 3 ( 2 ) a n d m e e t t h e r e q u i r e m e n t s o f t h e g r a n t a g r e e m e n

t .

2 .

W

h e r e t h e C o m m i s s i o n a c c e p t s a c e r t i f i c a t e o n t h e

m e t h o d

o l o g y , i t s h a l l b e v a l i d f o

r a l l a c t i o n s f i n a n c e d u n d

e r

R e g u l a t i o n

( E U ) N o

1 2 9 1 / 2 0 1 3

a n d

t h e p a r t i c i p a n t s h a l l

c a l c u l a t e a n d

c l a i m

c o s t s o n

t h e b a s i s o f i t . O n c e t h e

C o m m i s s i o n h a s a c c e p t e d a c e r t i f i c a t e o n t h e m e t h o d o l o g y ,

i t

s h a l l n

o t a t t r i b u t e a n y s y s t e m i c

o r r e c u r r e n t e r r o r t o t h e

a c c e p t e

d m e t h o d o l o g y .

A r t i c l e 3 6

C e r t i f y i n g a

u d i t o r s

1 .

T

h e c e r t i f i c a t e s o n t h e f i n a n c i a l s t a t e m e n t s a n d o n t h e

m e t h o d

o l o g y r e f e r r e d t o i n A r t i c l e s 3 4 a n d 3 5 s h a l l b e e s t a b -

l i s h e d b y a n i n d e p e n d e n t a u d i t o r q

u a l i f i e d t o c a r r y o u t s t a t u t o r y

a u d i t s o f a c c o u n t i n g d o c u m e n t s i n a c c o r d a n c e w i t h D i r e c t i v e

2 0 0 6 / 4

3 / E C o f t h e E u r o p e a n P a r l i a m e n t a n d o f t h e C o u n c i l ( 1 )

o r s i m i l a r n a t i o n a l r e g u l a t i o n s , o r b y a c o m p e t e n t a n d i n d

e -

p e n d e n

t p u b l i c o f f i c e r i n w h o m t h e r e l e v a n t n a t i o n a l a u t h o r i t i e s

h a v e v e s t e d t h e l e g a l c a p a c i t y t o a

u d i t t h e p a r t i c i p a n t a n d w h

o

h a s n o t b e e n i n v o l v e d i n t h e p r e p

a r a t i o n o f t h e f i n a n c i a l s t a t e -

m e n t s .

2 .

U

p o n r e q u e s t b y t h e C o m m i s s i o n ,

t h e C o u r t o f A u d i t o

r s

o r t h e

E u r o p e a n A n t i f r a u d O f f i c e ( O L A F ) , t h e a u d i t o r w h

o

d e l i v e r s t h e c e r t i f i c a t e o n t h e f i n a n c i a l s t a t e m e n t s a n d o n t h e

m e t h o d

o l o g y s h a l l g r a n t a c c e s s t o t h e s u p p o r t i n g d o c u m e n

t s

a n d a u

d i t w o r k i n g p a p e r s o n t h e

b a s i s o f w h i c h a c e r t i f i c a

t e

o n t h e

f i n a n c i a l s t a t e m e n t s o r o n

t h e m e t h o d o l o g y w a s i s s u e

d .

A r t i c l e 3 7

C u m u l a t i v e

f u n d i n g

A n a c t i o n f o r w h i c h a g r a n t f r o m

t h e U n i o n b u d g e t h a s b e e n

a w a r d e d m a y a l s o g i v e r i s e t o t h e a w a r d o f a g r a n t o n t h e b a s i s

o f R e g u l a t i o n ( E U ) N o 1 2 9 1 / 2 0 1 3

, p r o v i d e d t h a t t h e g r a n t s d o

n o t c o v e r t h e s a m e c o s t i t e m s .

S e c t i o n

I V

G u a r a n

t e e s

A r t i c l e 3 8

P a r t i c i p a n t G u a r a n t e e F u n d

1 .

A

p a r t i c i p a n t g u a r a n t e e f u n d

( t h e " F u n d " ) i s h e r e b y e s t a b -

l i s h e d a n d s h a l l c o v e r t h e r i s k a s s

o c i a t e d w i t h n o n r e c o v e r y o f

s u m s d u e t o t h e U

n i o n u n d e r a c t i o n s f i n a n c e d t h r o u g h g r a n t s

b y t h e C o m m i s s i o n u n d e r D e c i s i o n N o 1 9 8 2 / 2 0 0 6 / E C a n d b y

t h e C o m m i s s i o n o r U n i o n f u n d i n g b o d i e s

u n d e r "

H o r i z o n

2 0 2 0 "

a c c o r d i n g t o t h e r u l e s s e t o u t i n t h i s R e g u l a t i o n .

T h e

F u n d s h a l l r e p l a c e

a n d s u c c e e d t h e P a r t i c i p a n t G u a r a n t e e F u n d

s e t u p u n d e r R e g u l a t i o n ( E C ) N o 1 9 0 6 / 2 0 0 6 .

2 .

T h e F u n d s h a

l l b e o p e r a t e d i n a c c o r d a n c e w i t h A r t i c l e 3 9

.

A n y f i n a n c i a l i n t e r

e s t g e n e r a t e d b y t h e F u n d

s h a l l b e a d d e d t o

t h e F u n d a n d s h a l l

s e r v e e x c l u s i v e l y f o r t h e p u r p o s e s s e t o u t i n

A r t i c l e 3 9 ( 3 ) .

3 .

W h e r e i n t e r e s t i s i n s u f f i c i e n t t o c o v e

r t h e o p e r a t i o n s

d e s c r i b e d i n A r t i c l e 3 9 ( 3 ) , t h e F u n d s h a l l n

o t i n t e r v e n e a n d

t h e C o m m i s s i o n o r t h e r e l e v a n t U n i o n f u n d i n g b o d y s h a l l

r e c o v e r d i r e c t l y f r o

m

p a r t i c i p a n t s o r t h i r d p a

r t i e s a n y a m o u n t

o w e d .

4 .

T h e F u n d s h a l l b e c o n s i d e r e d a s u f f i c i e n t g u a r a n t e e u n d e r

R e g u l a t i o n

( E U ,

E u r a t o m )

N o 9 6 6 / 2 0 1 2 .

N o

a d d i t i o n a l

g u a r a n t e e o r s e c u r i t y m a y b e a c c e p t e d f r o m

p a r t i c i p a n t s o r

i m p o s e d u p o n t h e m e x c e p t i n t h e c a s e d e s c r i b e d i n p a r a g r a p h

3 o f t h i s A r t i c l e .

5 .

P a r t i c i p a n t s i n a c t i o n s u n d e r H o r i z o n 2 0 2 0 w h o s e r i s k i s

c o v e r e d b y t h e F u n d s h a l l m a k e a c o n t r i b u t i o n o f 5 % o f t h e

U n i o n f u n d i n g f o r t h e a c t i o n .

A t t h e e n d o f t h e a c t i o n t h e

a m o u n t c o n t r i b u t e d t o t h e F u n d s h a l l b e r e t u r n e d t o t h e p a r t i c i -

p a n t s , v i a t h e c o o r d i n a t o r .

6 .

T h e r a t e o f t h e p a r t i c i p a n t s ' c o n t r i b u t i o n t o t h e F u n d s e t

o u t i n p a r a g r a p h 5

m a y b e r e d u c e d o n t h e b a

s i s o f t h e i n t e r i m

e v a l u a t i o n o f H o r i z o n 2 0 2 0

. A r t i c l e 3 9

O p e r a t i o n o f t h e F u n d

1 .

T h e F u n d s h a l l b e m a n a g e d b y t h e U n i o

n ,

r e p r e s e n t e d b y

t h e C o m m i s s i o n a c t i n g a s e x e c u t i v e a g e n t o n b e h a l f o f t h e

p a r t i c i p a n t s , i n a c c o r d a n c e w i t h t h e c o n d i t i o n s e s t a b l i s h e d b y

t h e g r a n t a g r e e m e n t .

T h e C o m m i s s i o n m

a y m a n a g e t h e F u n d d i r e c

t l y o r e n t r u s t t h e

f i n a n c i a l m a n a g e m

e n t o f t h e F u n d e i t h e r t o t h e E u r o p e a n

I n v e s t m e n t B a n k

o r t o a n

a p p r o p r i a t e f i n

a n c i a l i n s t i t u t i o n

( " t h e d e p o s i t o r y b a n k "

) . T h e d e p o s i t o r y b a n k

s h a l l m a n a g e t h e

F u n d p u r s u a n t t o t h e i n s t r u c t i o n s o f t h e C o m

m i s s i o n .

2 .

T h e p a r t i c i p a

n t s ' c o n t r i b u t i o n t o t h e F u n d m a y b e o f f s e t

f r o m t h e i n i t i a l p r e

f i n a n c i n g a n d b e p a i d t o t h e F u n d o n b e h a l f

o f t h e p a r t i c i p a n t s .

3 .

W h e r e a m o u n t s a r e d u e t o t h e U n i o n b y

a p a r t i c i p a n t , t h e

C o m m i s s i o n m a y ,

w i t h o u t p r e j u d i c e t o p e n a l t i e s w h i c h m a y b e

i m p o s e d

o n

t h e

d e f a u l t i n g p a r t i c i p a n t , t a k

e e i t h e r o f t h e

f o l l o w i n g a c t i o n s :

E N

L 3 4 7 / 9 6

O f f i c i a l J o u r n a l o f t h e E u r o p e a n U n i o n

2 0

. 1 2

. 2 0 1 3

( 1 ) D i r e c t i v e 2 0 0 6 / 4 3 / E C

o f t h e E u

r o p e a n

P a r l i a m e n t a n d o f t h e

C o u n c i l o f 1 7 M a y 2 0 0 6 o n s t a t u t o r y a u d i t s o f a n n u a l a c c o u n

t s

a n d c o n s o l i d a t e d a c c o u n t s , a m e n d i n

g C o u n c i l D i r e c t i v e s 7 8 / 6 6 0 / E E C

a n d

8 3 / 3 4 9 / E E C

a n d

r e p e a l i n g

C o u n c i l D i r e c t i v e 8 4 / 2 5 3 / E E C

( O J L 1 5 7

, 9

. 6 . 2

0 0 6

, p .

8 7 ) .



( a ) t r a n s

f e r , o r o r d e r t h e d e p o s i t o r

y b a n k t o t r a n s f e r , d i r e c t l y

t h e a m o u n t d u e f r o m

t h e F u n d t o t h e c o o r d i n a t o r o f t h e

a c t i o

n .

T h a t t r a n s f e r s h a l l b e m a d e a f t e r t h e t e r m i n a t i o n o r

w i t h d r a w a l o f t h e p a r t i c i p a t i o n o f t h e d e f a u l t i n g p a r t i c i p a n t

i f t h e

a c t i o n

i s s t i l l o n g o i n

g

a n d

i f t h e

r e m a i n i n g

p a r t i c i p a n t s a g r e e t o i m p l e m e n

t i t a c c o r d i n g t o t h e s a m e

o b j e c t i v e s . A m o u n t s t r a n s f e r r e d f r o m

t h e F u n d s h a l l b e

r e g a r d e d a s U n i o n f u n d i n g ;

( b ) r e c o v e r e f f e c t i v e l y t h a t a m o u n t

f r o m t h e F u n d

.

T h e C o m m i s s i o n

s h a l l i s s u e a r e c o v e r y o r d e r a g a i n s t t h a t

p a r t i c i p a

n t o r t h i r d p a r t y t o t h e

b e n e f i t o f t h e F u n d

. T h e

C o m m i s s i o n m a y a d o p t t o t h a t e

n d a r e c o v e r y d e c i s i o n i n

a c c o r d a n

c e w i t h R e g u l a t i o n ( E U

, E u

r a t o m ) N o 9 6 6 / 2 0 1 2

.

4 .

T h e a m o u n t s r e c o v e r e d s h a l l

c o n s t i t u t e r e v e n u e a s s i g n e d

t o t h e F u n d w i t h i n t h e m e a n i n g o f

A r t i c l e 2 1 ( 4 ) o f R e g u l a t i o n

( E U

, E u r

a t o m ) N o 9 6 6 / 2 0 1 2

. O n c e

t h e i m p l e m e n t a t i o n o f a l l

g r a n t s w

h o s e r i s k i s c o v e r e d b y t h e

F u n d i s c o m p l e t e , a n y s u m s

o u t s t a n d

i n g s h a l l b e r e c o v e r e d b y t h e C o m m i s s i o n a n d e n t e r e d

i n t o t h e

b u d g e t o f t h e U n i o n ,

s u b j e

c t t o d e c i s i o n s o f t h e l e g i s -

l a t i v e a u

t h o r i t y .

C H A P T E R

I I I

E x p e r t s

A r t i c l e 4 0

A p p o i n t m e n t o f i n d e p

e n d e n t e x p e r t s

1 .

T h e C o m m i s s i o n a n d

, w h e r e

a p p r o p r i a t e , f u n d i n g b o d i e s

m a y a p p o i n t i n d e p e n d e n t e x p e r t s

t o e v a l u a t e p r o p o s a l s i n

a c c o r d a n

c e w i t h A r t i c l e 1 5 o r t o a d v i s e o n o r a s s i s t w i t h :

( a ) t h e e v a l u a t i o n o f p r o p o s a l s ;

( b ) t h e m

o n i t o r i n g o f t h e i m p l e m e n

t a t i o n o f a c t i o n s c a r r i e d o u t

u n d e

r R e g u l a t i o n ( E U ) N o 1 2 9 1 / 2 0 1 3 a s w e l l a s o f p r e v i o u s

R e s e a r c h a n d / o r I n n o v a t i o n P r o

g r a m m e s ;

( c ) t h e

i m p l e m e n t a t i o n

o f U n i o n

r e s e a r c h

a n d

i n n o v a t i o n

p o l i c

y o r p r o g r a m m e s i n c l u d i n g H o r i z o n 2 0 2 0

, a s w e l l a s

t h e a c h i e v e m e n t a n d f u n c t i o n i n g o f t h e E u r o p e a n R e s e a r c h

A r e a ;

( d ) t h e e v a l u a t i o n o f R e s e a r c h a n d

I n n o v a t i o n P r o g r a m m e s ;

( e ) t h e d e s i g n o f t h e U n i o n r e s e a

r c h a n d i n n o v a t i o n p o l i c y

,

i n c l u

d i n g t h e p r e p a r a t i o n o f f u t u r e p r o g r a m m e s .

2 .

I n d

e p e n d e n t e x p e r t s s h a l l b e c h o s e n o n t h e b a s i s o f t h e i r

s k i l l s , e x

p e r i e n c e a n d k n o w l e d g e a p p r o p r i a t e t o c a r r y o u t t h e

t a s k s a s s i g n e d t o t h e

m .

I n c a s e s w h e r e i n d e p e n d

e n t e x p e r t s h a v e

t o d e a l w i t h c l a s s i f i e d i n f o r m a t i o n ,

t h e a p p r o p r i a t e s e c u r i t y

c l e a r a n c e s h a l l b e r e

q u i r e d b e f o r e a p p o i n t m e n t .

I n d e p e n d e n t e x p e r t s

s h a l l b e i d e n t i f i e d a n d s e l e c

t e d o n t h e b a s i s

o f c a l l s f o r a p p l i c a t i o n s f r o m i n d i v i d u a l s a n d c a l l s a d d r e s s e d t o

r e l e v a n t o r g a n i s a t i o n

s s u c h a s r e s e a r c h a g e n c i e s , r e s e a r c h i n s t i -

t u t i o n s , u n i v e r s i t i e s ,

s t a n d a r d i s a t i o n o r g a n i s a t i o

n s , c i v i l s o c i e t y

o r g a n i s a t i o n s o r e n t e r p r i s e s w i t h a v i e w t o

e s t a b l i s h i n g a

d a t a b a s e o f c a n d i d a t e s .

T h e C o m m i s s i o n o r

t h e r e l e v a n t f u n d i n g b o d y

m a y , i f d e e m e d

a p p r o p r i a t e a n d i n

d u l y j u s t i f i e d c a s e s , s e l e c t i n a t r a n s p a r e n t

m a n n e r a n y i n d i v i d

u a l e x p e r t w i t h t h e a p p r o p r i a t e s k i l l s n o t

i n c l u d e d i n t h e d a t a

b a s e .

W h e n a p p o i n t i n g i n

d e p e n d e n t e x p e r t s , t h e C o m

m i s s i o n o r t h e

r e l e v a n t f u n d i n g b o d

y s h a l l t a k e a p p r o p r i a t e m e

a s u r e s t o s e e k a

b a l a n c e d c o m p o s i t i o

n w i t h i n t h e e x p e r t g r o u p s a n d e v a l u a t i o n

p a n e l s i n

t e r m s o

f v a r i o u s s k i l l s , e x p e r i e n

c e , k n o w l e d g e ,

g e o g r a p h i c a l d i v e r s i t y a n d g e n d e r , a n d t a k i n g i n t o a c c o u n t t h e

s i t u a t i o n i n t h e f i e l d

o f t h e a c t i o n .

W h e r e a p p r o p r i a t e , p r i v a t e

p u b l i c s e c t o r b a l a n c e s h a l l a l s o b e s o u g h t .

T h e C o m m i s s i o n o r

t h e r e l e v a n t f u n d i n g b o d y

m a y c a l l u p o n

t h e a d v i c e o f a d v i s

o r y b o d i e s f o r t h e a p p o i n

t m e n t o f i n d e -

p e n d e n t e x p e r t s . I n

t h e c a s e o f E R C f r o n t i e r r e s e a r c h a c t i o n s ,

t h e C o m m i s s i o n s h a l l a p p o i n t e x p e r t s o n t h e b a s i s o f a p r o p o s a l

f r o m t h e S c i e n t i f i c C o u n c i l o f t h e E R C

.

3 .

T h e C o m m i s s i o n

o r t h e r e l e v a n t f u n d

i n g b o d y s h a l l

e n s u r e t h a t a n e x p e r t f a c e d w i t h a c o n f l i c t o f i n t e r e s t i n

r e l a t i o n

t o

a m a t t e r o n

w h i c h

t h e e x p e r t

i s r e q u i r e d t o

p r o v i d e a n o p i n i o n

d o e s n o t e v a l u a t e , a d v i s e o r a s s i s t o n t h e

s p e c i f i c m a t t e r i n q u e s t i o n .

4 .

A l l e x c h a n g e s

w i t h i n d e p e n d e n t e x p e r t s , i n c l u d i n g t h e

c o n c l u s i o n

o f c o n

t r a c t s

f o r

t h e i r a p p o i n t m e n t a n d

a n y

a m e n d m e n t

t h e r e t o ,

m a y

b e

d o n e

t h r o

u g h

e l e c t r o n i c

e x c h a n g e s y s t e m s

s e t u p

b y t h e C o m m i s s i o n

o r b y t h e

r e l e v a n t f u n d i n g b o d y a s s t i p u l a t e d i n A r t i c l e 2 8 7 ( 4 ) o f R e g u -

l a t i o n ( E U ) N o .

1 2 6

8 / 2 0 1 2

.

5 .

T h e n a m e s o f

e x p e r t s a p p o i n t e d i n a p e r s o n a l c a p a c i t y ,

w h o h a v e a s s i s t e d t h e C o m m i s s i o n o r t h e f u n d i n g b o d i e s i n

i m p l e m e n t a t i o n o f

R e g u l a t i o n

( E U ) N o 1

2 9 1 / 2 0 1 3

a n d

D e c i s i o n 2 0 1 3 / 7 4 3 / E U s h a l l b e p u b l i s h e d ,

t o g

e t h e r w i t h t h e i r

a r e a o f e x p e r t i s e , a t

l e a s t o n c e a y e a r o n t h e i n t e r n e t s i t e o f t h e

C o m m i s s i o n o r t h e

r e l e v a n t f u n d i n g b o d y . S u c h i n f o r m a t i o n

s h a l l b e c o l l e c t e d , p r o c e s s e d a n d p u b l i s h e d i n a c c o r d a n c e w i t h

R e g u l a t i o n ( E C ) N o 4 5 / 2 0 0 1

.

E N

2 0

. 1 2 . 2 0

1 3

O f f i c i a l J o u r n a l

o f t h e E u r o p e a n U n i o n

L 3 4 7 / 9 7

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Grants - Regulation (Eu, Euratom) No 966-2012