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Guide to Financial Issues relating toFP7 Indirect Actions

Version 16/01/2012

Disclaimer

This guide is aimed at assisting beneficiaries. It is provided for information purposes only and its contentsare not intended to replace consultation of any applicable legal sources or the necessary advice of a legalexpert, where appropriate. Neither the Commission nor any person acting on its behalf can be heldresponsible for the use made of these guidance notes.

Foreword

The general Model Grant Agreement was adopted by the European Commission on 10 April2007 to be used in research projects funded under the 7th Framework Programmes (EU andEuratom Treaties). This model grant agreement is applicable to indirect actions under the'Cooperation', 'Capacities' and 'Nuclear Research' (fission) Specific Programmes of FP7 (EU andEuratom Treaties). It consists of a core text and several annexes. There is also a list of specialclauses to be introduced in the grant agreement where necessary.Separate model grant agreements have been adopted for the 'People' (Marie Curie) and for the'Ideas' (European Research Council) Specific Programmes.The purpose of this guide is to help participants to understand and interpret the financial provisions of the Model Grant Agreement (ECGA) that they are signing. To this end, the enclosedtext tries to avoid (to the best possible extent) the use of legal references, technical vocabulary andlegal jargon, and seeks to provide the reader with practical advice.The structure of this guide mirrors the financial provisions of the ECGA, by following the sameindex and structure of that document. Accordingly, it should be used as a tool to clarify the provisions of the ECGA, and should be read in connection with it. Each article in the ECGA withfinancial implications is explained in this Guide, and examples included where appropriate. Theintention is not only to explain, but also, by following the same structure, to help the reader tolocate where he/she may find the answer to his/her question.This is the fourth update of the "Guide to Financial issues related to FP7 Indirect Actions" published in August 2007, updated for the first time in April 2009, for the second time in June2010 and lately in February 2011.In conformity with the principles of the Guide, period revisions are required in order to clarify points and introduce additional information resulting from experience, new developments andfeedback from users.In particular, the main clarifications and modifications introduced in this fourth update concernthe following points:

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Art. II.2. further details on voluntary guarantee submitted by a coordinator.

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Article II.4.4: Certificate on Financial Statements (

CFS)

: possibility of voluntarysubmission of a CFS below EUR 375,000 threshold; possibility that it covers only part of the costs, with the consequence that the counter will be re-set to the amount not covered by the CFS.

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Article II.4.4: Confirmation that if the Commission has carried out an audit of the costsincurred by a beneficiary in a given period, the Commission can waive the obligation for the audit certificate for that period.

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Article II.14.2: Third parties of Special Clause 10 will submit CFS only when their individual EU contribution reaches the 375,000 threshold of EU contribution..

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Art. II.19 Exemption from the obligation to generate interest on pre-financing: extensionof the exemption from the obligation to generate interest on pre-financing to include notonly the opening but also the operating of an interest-bearing bank account.

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Art. II.14: Further details on cost eligibility of bank charges, flat rate for daily subsistenceand accommodation, parental leave, travel costs, bonus payments, recruitment costs etc..

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Art. II.14: Inclusion of a web link to a list of taxes/charges which have been examined anddeclared eligible/not eligible under FP7.

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Art. II.16: Clarifications on the activities which may be charged under the category "other costs", including "Management costs".

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Annex III: Specific explanations for Eranet + and Research for SMEs.It is important to remember that the only scope of the Guide is to provide interpretation on thelegal texts (and in particular the ECGA), and that it cannot derogate from them. These guidelinesreflect the interpretation of the Commission of the provisions of the ECGA; however, only the provisions of the signed grant agreement are binding.Finally, this guide should be considered as one more of the guides available to any future beneficiary of the 7