Invitation

Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM)

Call for proposals –

Invitation to submit a proposal

UCPM emergency response actions (UCPM-2026-RESPONSE)

Version 2.0 05 December 2025

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HISTORY OF CHANGES

Version Publication

Date Change Page

1.0 15/04/2025 ▪ Initial version.

2.0 05/12/2025 ▪ Second version

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EUROPEAN COMMISSION DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR EUROPEAN CIVIL PROTECTION AND HUMANITARIAN AID OPERATIONS (ECHO) Emergency Response Coordination Centre Emergency Response Operations

CALL FOR PROPOSALS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

0. Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 5

1. Background ............................................................................................................................... 6

2. Objectives — Themes and priorities — Activities that can be funded — Expected impact ..................... 6

UCPM-2025-RESPONSE — Emergency response actions that may be provided under the UCPM .......... 6

Objectives ............................................................................................................................... 6

Types of action — Activities that can be funded (scope) — Funding rate .......................................... 7

Expected impact ....................................................................................................................... 8

3. Available budget ........................................................................................................................ 8

4. Timetable and deadlines ............................................................................................................. 9

5. Admissibility and documents ....................................................................................................... 9

6. Eligibility .................................................................................................................................. 10

Eligible participants (eligible countries) ....................................................................................... 10

Consortium composition ........................................................................................................... 12

Eligible activities ...................................................................................................................... 12

Geographic location (target countries) ........................................................................................ 12

7. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion ........................................................................... 12

Financial capacity .................................................................................................................... 12

Operational capacity ................................................................................................................ 13

Exclusion ................................................................................................................................ 14

8. Evaluation and award procedure ................................................................................................. 15

9. Award criteria ........................................................................................................................... 15

10. Legal and financial set-up of the Grant Agreements ..................................................................... 15

Starting date and project duration ............................................................................................. 15

Milestones and deliverables ....................................................................................................... 16

Form of grant, funding rate and maximum grant amount .............................................................. 16

Budget categories and cost eligibility rules .................................................................................. 16

Reporting and payment arrangements ........................................................................................ 18

Prefinancing guarantees ........................................................................................................... 19

Certificates ............................................................................................................................. 19

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Liability regime for recoveries ................................................................................................... 19

Provisions concerning the project implementation ........................................................................ 20

Other specificities .................................................................................................................... 20

Non-compliance and breach of contract ...................................................................................... 20

11. How to submit an application .................................................................................................... 20

12. Help ...................................................................................................................................... 22

13. Important .............................................................................................................................. 23

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0. Introduction

This is an invitation to submit proposals for EU action grants in the field of

emergency response actions under the Union Civil Protection Mechanism

(UCPM). A proposal may contain one UPCM emergency response action or more,

which may result in the signature of:

• A single action grant; or

• A multi-action grant.

The call document includes some differences between the two modalities in terms

of procedure and cost eligibility.

The regulatory framework for this EU Funding Programme is set out in:

− Regulation 2024/2509 (EU Financial Regulation)1

− the basic act (Decision 1313/2013/EU2, Implementing Decision (EU)2025/7043.

− The invitation is in accordance with the 2026 Work Programme4 and will be

managed by the European Commission, Directorate-General for European

Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO).

The call covers the following topic:

− UCPM-2026-RESPONSE — Emergency response actions that may be

provided under the UCPM

We invite you to read the call documentation carefully, and in particular this Call

document, the Model Grant Agreement, the EU Funding & Tenders Portal Online

Manual and the EU Grants AGA — Annotated Grant Agreement.

These documents provide clarifications and answers to questions you may have when

preparing your application:

− the Call document outlines the:

− background, objectives, scope, activities that can be funded and the

expected results (sections 1 and 2)

− timetable and available budget (sections 3 and 4)

− admissibility and eligibility conditions (including mandatory documents;

sections 5 and 6)

1 Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 September

2024 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union (recast) (‘EU Financial Regulation’) (OJ L, 2024/2509, 26.9.2024).

2 Decision No 1313/2013/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 on a

Union Civil Protection Mechanism (OJ L 347, 20.12.2013, p. 924). 3 Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2025/704 of 10 April 2025 laying down rules for the

implementation of Decision No 1313/2013/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on a Union Civil Protection Mechanism and repealing Commission Implementing Decisions 2014/762/EU and (EU) 2019/1310 (OJ L, 2025/704 – 15.04.2025).

4 Commission Implementing Decision C(2025) 6902 final of 17 October 2025 on the financing of the Union Civil Protection Mechanism and adopting a multiannual work programme for 2021-2027 repealing and replacing Implementing Decision C(2024) 7235.

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− criteria for financial and operational capacity and exclusion (section 7)

− evaluation and award procedure (section 8)

− award criteria (section 9)

− legal and financial set-up of the Grant Agreements (section 10)

− how to submit an application (section 11)

− the Online Manual outlines the:

− procedures to register and submit proposals online via the EU Funding

& Tenders Portal (‘Portal’)

− recommendations for the preparation of the application

− the AGA — Annotated Grant Agreement contains:

− detailed annotations on all the provisions in the Grant Agreement you

will have to sign in order to obtain the grant (including cost eligibility,

payment schedule, accessory obligations, etc.).

1. Background

Chapters IV and V of Decision 1313/2013/EU define the legal framework for response

actions and lay down the corresponding financial provisions.

Response actions aim to provide assistance to immediate adverse consequences of a

disaster/emergency inside or outside the European Union, following a request for

assistance by a State or international organisation (such as the United Nations)

through the UCPM. In the event of a disaster/emergency, the UCPM supports

response actions, inter alia through grants for the following types of action:

− Equipment, transport and logistics, and operations response actions,

including Pooling, i.e. any actions that need logistical set-up, such as UCPM

Logistical Hubs (Article 22 (a) and (b) Decision 1313/2013/EU) and

− Other additional necessary supporting and complementary response

actions (Article 22(c) Decision 1313/2013/EU).

UCPM Implementing Decision 2025/704 lays down detailed rules for the

implementation, notably as regards the interaction of the Emergency Response

Coordination Centre (ERCC) with Member State and UCPM Participating State5 contact

points; the identification of modules, other response capacities and experts, as well as

the operational requirements for the functioning and interoperability of modules,

including their tasks, capacities, main components, self-sufficiency and deployment;

as well as the Union assistance in response actions.

2. Objectives — Themes and priorities — Activities that can be funded —

Expected impact

UCPM-2026-RESPONSE — Emergency response actions that may be provided

under the UCPM

Objectives

The priorities of the 2026 Work Programme related to response actions are to

5 See Article 28(1) of Decision 1313/2013/EU.

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complement the operational means provided by Member States and UCPM

Participating States, by financing additional operations, transport resources and

related logistics services necessary for ensuring a rapid response to emergencies

within the scope of the UCPM. The assistance, requested and accepted by a

requesting country or international organisation, must be delivered as quickly and as

efficiently as possible, in order to cope with the nature of the disaster/emergency.

Types of action — Activities that can be funded (scope) — Funding rate

Equipment, transport and logistics, and operations response actions, including

Pooling:

Through the equipment, transport, logistics and operations response actions Member

States and UCPM Participating States are supported, in the event of a

disaster/emergency, to obtain access to those resources.

The activities that can be funded must be related to:

− delivery of civil protection in-kind assistance (e.g. relief supplies, experts or

intervention teams and assets) provided by Member States or UCPM

Participating States, Medevac, consular support actions, including pooling

actions for an effective response, such as warehousing or the establishment of

UCPM Logistical Hubs

− deployment of European Civil Protection Pool (hereafter ECPP) capacities

− mobilising rescEU capacities in response to a disaster/emergency and

− implementing any other additional necessary supporting and complementary

response action, in order to facilitate the coordination of the response in the

most effective way.

Furthermore, in accordance with Implementing Decision (EU) 2025/704 operational

costs can also be eligible.

The funding rates for UCPM emergency response actions, including Pooling (Article 22

(a) and (b) of Decision 1313/2013/EU), which are indicative and can be adjusted, are

as follows:

Overview of co-financing rates

Type of assistance offered Inside EU* Outside EU

Spontaneous offers 75% Transport costs**

Pooled assistance/UCPM Logistics Hubs - Article 23 (4) of the Decision 1313/2013/EU

100% Transport cost up to the Hub & 100% Logistical costs and local Transport

European Civil Protection Pool (ECPP) capacities 75% Operational costs***

rescEU capacities 100% Operational costs

rescEU AFFF capacity 75% Operational costs & 100 % Transport costs

100% Operational costs

Other response actions - Article 22 (c) of Decision No 1313/2013/EU

Co-financing rate to be defined

*Including UCPM Participating States territory **Transport costs in accordance with Article 23(7) of Decision 1313/2013/EU ***Operational costs in accordance with Article 44 of Implementing Decision (EU) 2025/704

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Other additional necessary supporting and complementary response actions:

Under this type of actions, Member States and UCPM Participating States, following a

request for assistance, can be supported to take additional necessary supporting and

complementary response actions in order to facilitate the coordination of response in

the most effective way (Article 22(c) of Decision 1313/2013/EU).

Under “other additional necessary supporting and complementary response actions”,

examples of the activities that can be funded are:

− medical evacuation (Medevac) Hub;

− supporting the receiving of pre-positioning of ground forest fire fighting teams

countries.

The funding rate for other additional necessary supporting and complementary

response actions will be determined by the granting authority based on the needs and

the assistance described in the application.

For both types of action, the requests must follow a specific procedure:

− before any action takes place, start the application process in the Common

Emergency Communication and Information System (CECIS) by submitting the

CECIS Request for Union Assistance.

− then, within one month after the end of the response action, fill in the

application for a grant – proposal – composed by the Part A, Part B and

Detailed Budget table, documents downloaded from the Funding & Tenders

Portal Submission System submission screen, and upload them as appropriate;

(see section 5).

The response action

should NOT be started before the Request for Union Assistance is received by the

Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC) in CECIS (see above), otherwise

the costs will be ineligible6. In addition, only activities which take place within the

action duration set out in the Grant Agreement will be eligible for reimbursement.

Note that in Multi-action Grants, costs will be eligible if incurred during the specific

duration of each action launched within the full duration of the agreement (e.g. in a

1-year multi-action grant, costs related to a 1-week action in March will be eligible if

incurred during that week).

Expected impact

Response actions are essential in order to ensure that assistance is delivered to

countries affected by a disaster and to allow for an effective response to emergencies

all over the world.

Due to the nature of the operations, the expected impact is an efficient and timely

response saving lives, alleviating suffering and supporting the country and its

population in the aftermaths of a disaster/emergency.

3. Available budget

The estimated available call budget is EUR 25,000,000.

6 See Article 54(2) of UCPM Implementing Decision (EU) 2025/704.

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We reserve the right not to award all available funds (depending on the proposals

received and the results of the evaluation) or to lower the available funding in case of

overriding public interests that necessitate a change of UCPM priorities.

4. Timetable and deadlines

Timetable and deadlines (indicative)

Call opening: 17 December 2025

Deadline for submission: cut-off dates once per week – in relation to the response to UCPM activations

final deadline: 15 December 2026 - 17:00:00 CET (Brussels)

Evaluation: within 30 days of receiving the application

Information on evaluation results: within 40 days of receiving the application

GA signature: within 90 days of receiving the application

5. Admissibility and documents

The applications for response action grant – proposals should be submitted online in

the Funding & Tenders Portal. Paper submissions are NOT possible.

- For single response action grants, the proposal should be submitted within

one month after the end of the response action. Proposals submitted later

may be rejected.

- For multi-action grants, the proposal should be submitted before any response

action takes place.

Submitted proposals will be sent for evaluation on the next cut-off date following their

submission. The proposals must be submitted before the final call deadline (see

section 4). After this deadline, the system is closed and proposals can no longer be

submitted.

The Funding & Tenders Portal Electronic Submission System is accessible via the link

in section 11.

Project acronym in the Funding & Tenders Portal:

- For single response actions, please use the Request for Union Assistance ID

from CECIS, as for instance, 2026-UADE001, 2026-ELFR001, etc.

- For multi-actions proposals, the Request for Union Assistance ID from CECIS is

not applicable. The acronym will be in the following format: 2026-[two-letter

ISO country identifier][application request number] (e.g. 2026-FI001-MaG,

where ‘FI’ stands for Finland, ‘001’ is the first multi-action grant application

request of the year 2026 and ‘MaG’ stands for ‘multi-action grant’)

Proposals must be complete and contain all the requested information and all

required annexes and supporting documents:

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− Application Form Part A7 — contains administrative information about the

participants (future coordinator, beneficiaries and affiliated entities) and the

summarised budget for the project (to be filled in directly online)

− Application Form Part B — contains the technical description of the project

(download it and fill it in from the Portal submission screen)

− mandatory annexes and supporting documents (templates to be

downloaded from the Portal Submission System, completed, assembled and

re-uploaded):

− detailed budget table/complex funding rate calculator (Annex 2e GA)

− CVs of core project team: not applicable

− activity reports of last year: not applicable

− list of previous projects: not applicable

− for other additional necessary supporting and complementary response

actions: letter of support from the competent civil protection authority

of the country that will benefit from the action (except for participants

which are national authorities or public bodies)

Please note that the amounts entered into the summarised budget table (filled in

directly online) must correspond to the amounts calculated in the detailed budget

table. In case of discrepancies, the amounts in the online summarised budget table

will prevail.

At proposal submission, you will have to confirm that you have the mandate to act

for all applicants. Moreover, you will have to confirm that the information in the

application is correct and complete and that all participants comply with the

conditions for receiving EU funding (especially eligibility, financial and operational

capacity, exclusion, etc). Before signing the grant, each beneficiary and affiliated

entity will have to confirm this again by signing a declaration of honour (DoH).

Proposals without full support will be rejected.

Your application must be readable, accessible and printable (please check

carefully the layout of the documents uploaded).

Proposals are limited to maximum 20 pages (Part B). Evaluators will not consider

any additional pages. Shorter proposals are welcome.

You may be asked at a later stage for further documents (for legal entity validation,

financial capacity check, bank account validation, etc).

For more information about the submission process (including IT aspects), consult

the Online Manual.

6. Eligibility

Eligible participants (eligible countries)

In order to be eligible, the applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities) must:

− be legal entities (public or private bodies)

− be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e.:

− EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories (OCTs))

7 Not to be confused with the CECIS Part A – Request for Union Assistance in CECIS.

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− UCPM Participating States8:

− Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Moldova, Montenegro,

North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Türkiye, and Ukraine (list of

participating countries)

− for equipment, transport and logistics, and operations response actions,

including Pooling: be competent authorities designated by Member States or

UCPM Participating States authorised to request and receive financial support

from the Commission under Article 29 of Decision 1313/2013/EU and Article 57

of the UCPM Implementing Decision (EU) 2025/704.

− for other additional necessary supporting and complementary response

actions: be Member States' or UCPM Participating States’ competent

authorities or other entities authorised by the Member State or Participating

State to request and receive financial support from the Commission on behalf

of the Member State or Participating State according to Section 2.4 of the

2026 Work Programme.

Beneficiaries and affiliated entities must register in the Participant Register — before

submitting the proposal — and will have to be validated by the Central Validation

Service (REA Validation). For the validation, they will be requested to upload

documents showing legal status and origin.

Other entities may participate in other consortium roles, such as associated partners,

subcontractors, third parties giving in-kind contributions, etc (see section 13).

Specific cases and definitions

Natural persons — Natural persons are NOT eligible (with the exception of self-

employed persons, i.e. sole traders, where the company does not have legal

personality separate from that of the natural person).

International organisations — International organisations are NOT eligible. The rules

on eligible countries do not apply to them.

Entities without legal personality — Entities which do not have legal personality under

their national law may exceptionally participate, provided that their representatives

have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf, and offer guarantees

for the protection of the EU financial interests equivalent to that offered by legal

persons9.

EU bodies — EU bodies can NOT be part of the consortium.

Associations and interest groupings — Entities composed of members may participate

as ‘sole beneficiaries’ or ‘beneficiaries without legal personality’10. Please note that

if the action will be implemented by the members, they should also participate (either

as beneficiaries or as affiliated entities, otherwise their costs will NOT be eligible).

Countries currently negotiating association agreements — Beneficiaries from countries

with ongoing negotiations for participation in the programme (see list of participating

countries above) may participate in the call and can sign grants if the negotiations are

concluded before grant signature and if the association covers the call (i.e. is

retroactive and covers both the part of the programme and the year when the call

was launched).

8 See Articles 28(1) and 4(12) of Decision 1313/2013/EU.

9 See Article 200(2)(c) EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509. 10 For the definitions, see Articles 190(2) and 200(2)(c) EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509.

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EU restrictive measures — Special rules apply for entities subject to EU restrictive

measures under Article 29 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and Article 215

of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU)11. Such entities are not eligible to

participate in any capacity, including as beneficiaries, affiliated entities, associated

partners, subcontractors or recipients of financial support to third parties (if any).

EU conditionality measures — Special rules apply for entities subject to measures

adopted on the basis of EU Regulation 2020/209212. Such entities are not eligible to

participate in any funded role (beneficiaries, affiliated entities, subcontractors,

recipients of financial support to third parties, etc). Currently such measures are in

place for Hungarian public interest trusts established under the Hungarian Act IX of

2021 or any entity they maintain (see Council Implementing Decision (EU)

2022/2506, as of 16 December 2022).

For more information, see Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment

and Financial Capacity Assessment.

Consortium composition

n/a

Eligible activities

Eligible activities are the ones set out in section 2 above.

Projects must comply with EU policy interests and priorities (such as environment,

social, security, etc). Projects must also respect EU values and European Commission

policy regarding reputational matters (e.g. activities involving capacity building, policy

support, awareness raising, communication, dissemination, etc).

Funding from this Invitation per project should be at least EUR 10 000 regardless of

the overall budget proposal, unless actions are related to the deployment of rescEU

capacities or the facilitation of access to equipment, transport and logistical resources

and services in the form of pooling with other eligible countries (see section 6).

Financial support to third parties is not allowed.

Geographic location (target countries)

Response operations can take place worldwide.

7. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion

Financial capacity

Applicants must have stable and sufficient resources to successfully implement

the projects and contribute their share. Organisations participating in several projects

must have sufficient capacity to implement all projects.

The financial capacity check will be carried out on the basis of the documents you will

be requested to upload in the Participant Register during grant preparation (e.g. profit

and loss account and balance sheet, business plan, audit report produced by an

approved external auditor, certifying the accounts for the last closed financial year,

etc). The analysis will be based on neutral financial indicators, but will also take into

11 Please note that the EU Official Journal contains the official list and, in case of conflict, its content

prevails over that of the EU Sanctions Map. 12 Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2092 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December

2020 on a general regime of conditionality for the protection of the Union budget (OJ L 325, 20.12.2022, p. 94).

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account other aspects, such as dependency on EU funding and deficit and revenue in

previous years.

The check will normally be done for all beneficiaries, except:

− public bodies (entities established as public body under national law, including

local, regional or national authorities) or international organisations

− if the individual requested grant amount is not more than EUR 60 000.

If needed, it may also be done for affiliated entities.

If we consider that your financial capacity is not satisfactory, we may require:

− further information

− an enhanced financial responsibility regime, i.e. joint and several responsibility

for all beneficiaries or joint and several liability of affiliated entities (see below,

section 10)

− prefinancing paid in instalments

− (one or more) prefinancing guarantees (see below, section 10)

or

− propose no prefinancing

− request that you are replaced or, if needed, reject the entire proposal.

For more information, see Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment

and Financial Capacity Assessment.

Operational capacity

Applicants must ensure that the response actions proposed correspond to the needs

expressed by the state/international organisation requesting assistance through the

UCPM.

In case the needs are not yet known and the proposal concerns longer-term

arrangements for multiple response actions (multi-action grants), applicants must

demonstrate that there is:

- a political engagement in place of actively participation in the UCPM

response to disasters (for example: a national policy to provide assistance,

Medevac operations, to a specific type of long-lasting emergency, such as the

Russia’s War on Ukraine)

- the capacity and resources (for example: hosting rescEU capacities, owning

ECPP capacities)

- the know-how (previous experience and participation in several UCPM

activations)

- any other information to successfully implement the actions and contribute

their share.

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Exclusion

Applicants which are subject to an EU exclusion decision or in one of the following

exclusion situations that bar them from receiving EU funding can NOT participate13:

− bankruptcy, winding up, affairs administered by the courts, arrangement with

creditors, suspended business activities or other similar procedures (including

procedures for persons with unlimited liability for the applicant’s debts)

− in breach of social security or tax obligations (including if done by persons with

unlimited liability for the applicant’s debts)

− guilty of grave professional misconduct14 (including if done by persons having

powers of representation, decision-making or control, beneficial owners or

persons who are essential for the award/implementation of the grant)

− committed fraud, corruption, links to a criminal organisation, money

laundering, terrorism-related crimes (including terrorism financing), child

labour or human trafficking (including if done by persons having powers of

representation, decision-making or control, beneficial owners or persons who

are essential for the award/implementation of the grant)

− shown significant deficiencies in complying with main obligations under an EU

procurement contract, grant agreement, prize, expert contract, or similar

(including if done by persons having powers of representation, decision-

making or control, beneficial owners or persons who are essential for the

award/implementation of the grant)

− guilty of irregularities within the meaning of Article 1(2) of EU Regulation

2988/95 (including if done by persons having powers of representation,

decision-making or control, beneficial owners or persons who are essential for

the award/implementation of the grant)

− created under a different jurisdiction with the intent to circumvent fiscal, social

or other legal obligations in the country of origin or created another entity with

this purpose (including if done by persons having powers of representation,

decision-making or control, beneficial owners or persons who are essential for

the award/implementation of the grant)

− intentionally and without proper justification resisted15 an investigation, check

or audit carried out by an EU authorising officer (or their representative or

auditor), OLAF, the EPPO, or the European Court of Auditors.

Applicants will also be rejected if it turns out that16:

− during the award procedure they misrepresented information required as a

condition for participating or failed to supply that information

13 See Articles 138 and 143 of EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509. 14 ‘Professional misconduct’ includes, in particular, the following: violation of ethical standards of the

profession; wrongful conduct with impact on professional credibility; breach of generally accepted professional ethical standards; false declarations/misrepresentation of information; participation in a cartel or other agreement distorting competition; violation of IPR; attempting to influence decision- making processes by taking advantage, through misrepresentation, of a conflict of interests, or to obtain confidential information from public authorities to gain an advantage; incitement to discrimination, hatred or violence or similar activities contrary to the EU values where negatively affecting or risking to affect the performance of a legal commitment.

15 ‘Resisting an investigation, check or audit’ means carrying out actions with the goal or effect of preventing, hindering or delaying the conduct of any of the activities needed to perform the investigation, check or audit, such as refusing to grant the necessary access to its premises or any other areas used for business purposes, concealing or refusing to disclose information or providing false information.

16 See Article 143 EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509.

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− they were previously involved in the preparation of the call and this entails a

distortion of competition that cannot be remedied otherwise (conflict of

interest).

8. Evaluation and award procedure

The proposals will have to follow the standard submission and evaluation

procedure (one-stage submission + one-step evaluation).

Proposals submitted through the Funding & Tenders Portal Electronic Submission

System will first be checked for formal requirements (admissibility, and eligibility, see

sections 5 and 6). If found admissible and eligible, they will be evaluated against the

award criteria (see section 9).

Proposals will be informed about the evaluation result (evaluation result letter). If

successful, they will be invited for grant preparation; otherwise, they will be rejected.

No commitment for funding — Invitation to grant preparation does NOT constitute

a formal commitment for funding. We will still need to make various legal checks

before grant award: legal entity validation, financial capacity, exclusion check, etc.

Grant preparation will involve a dialogue in order to fine-tune technical or financial

aspects of the project and may require extra information from your side. It may also

include adjustments to the proposal to address recommendations of the evaluator(s)

or other concerns. Full compliance will be a pre-condition for signing the grant.

If you believe that the evaluation procedure was flawed, you can submit a complaint

(following the deadlines and procedures set out in the evaluation result letter). Please

note that notifications which have not been opened within 10 days after sending will

be considered to have been accessed and that deadlines will be counted from

opening/access (see also Funding & Tenders Portal Terms and Conditions). Please also

be aware that for complaints submitted electronically, there may be character

limitations.

9. Award criteria

The applications will be assessed against the award criterion Relevance which

focuses on the objectives and priorities of the disaster/emergency situation in line

with the criteria set out in Articles 22 and 23 of Decision 1313/2013/EU. Where

appropriate, the evaluation will be based on economy, efficiency and effectiveness of

the proposed response action and its European added value, while ensuring that the

needs of affected states/international organisations correspond to the offer of

assistance and does not duplicate other actions undertaken by the European Union.

10. Legal and financial set-up of the Grant Agreements

If you pass evaluation, your project will be invited for grant preparation, where you

will be asked to prepare the Grant Agreement together with the EU Project Officer.

This Grant Agreement will set the framework for your grant and its terms and

conditions, in particular concerning deliverables, reporting and payments.

The Model Grant Agreement that will be used (and all other relevant templates and

guidance documents) can be found on Portal Reference Documents.

Starting date and project duration

The project starting date and duration will be fixed in the Grant Agreement (Data

Sheet, point 1). Normally the starting date will be after grant signature. A retroactive

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starting date can be granted for duly justified reasons — even before proposal

submission date in the Portal, as for the UCPM Emergency Response actions in the

cases of single action grants. For this type of grants, the earliest possible starting

date that can be accepted is the date when the Request for Union Assistance is

received by the Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC) in CECIS. This is

the date of the submission of the Request for Union Assistance in CECIS (see section

2). In the case of multi-action grants the project starting date should be after the

grant signature.

Milestones and deliverables

The milestones and deliverables for each project will be managed through the Portal

Grant Management System and will be reflected in Annex 1 of the Grant Agreement.

Form of grant, funding rate and maximum grant amount

Funding from this Call per project should be at least EUR 10 000 regardless of the

overall budget proposal, unless actions are related to the deployment of rescEU

capacities or the facilitation of access to equipment, transport and logistical resources

and services in the form of pooling with other eligible countries (see section 6).

The grant parameters (maximum grant amount, funding rate, total eligible costs, etc)

will be fixed in the Grant Agreement (Data Sheet, point 3 and art 5).

The grant will be a budget-based mixed actual cost grant (actual costs, with unit cost

and flat-rate elements). This means that it will reimburse ONLY certain types of costs

(eligible costs) and costs that were actually incurred for your project (NOT the

budgeted costs). For unit costs and flat rates, you can charge the amounts calculated

as explained in the Grant Agreement (see art 6 and Annex 2 and 2a).

The costs will be reimbursed at the funding rate fixed in the Grant Agreement. This

rate depends on the assistance and location (see section 2).

Grants may NOT produce a profit (i.e. surplus of revenues + EU grant over costs).

For-profit organisations must declare their revenues and, if there is a profit, we will

deduct it from the final grant amount (see art 22.3).

Moreover, please be aware that the final grant amount may be reduced in case of

non-compliance with the Grant Agreement (e.g. improper implementation, breach of

obligations, etc).

Budget categories and cost eligibility rules

The budget categories and cost eligibility rules are fixed in the Grant Agreement (Data

Sheet, point 3, art 6 and Annex 2).

Budget categories for this call:

− A. Personnel costs

− A.1 Employees, A.2 Natural persons under direct contract, A.3 Seconded

persons

− A.4 SME owners and natural person beneficiaries

− A.5 Volunteers

− B. Subcontracting costs

− C. Purchase costs

− C.1 Travel and subsistence

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− C.2 Equipment

− C.3 Other goods, works and services

− D. Other cost categories

− D.1 Civil protection intervention unit costs

− E. Indirect costs

Specific cost eligibility conditions for this call:

− personnel costs:

− average personnel costs (unit cost according to usual cost accounting

practices)17: Yes

− SME owner/natural person unit cost 18

: Yes

− volunteers cost 19

: No

− subcontracting costs:

− subcontracting: the entire action may be subcontracted

− travel and subsistence unit cost 20

:Yes ( but UCPM Emergency response

actions are allowed to use actual costs for all travel and subsistence incurred in

the context of the action)

− equipment costs: depreciation + full cost for listed equipment

− other cost categories:

− civil protection intervention unit costs (unit cost according to usual cost

accounting practices)21: Yes

− indirect cost flat-rate: 0% of the eligible direct costs (categories A-D, except

volunteers costs and exempted specific cost categories, if any)

− VAT: VAT is NOT eligible

− other:

− in-kind contributions for free are allowed, but cost-neutral, i.e. they cannot

be declared as cost

− other ineligible costs: No

For Transport and

Operations Actions (including Pooling): For Transport and Operations Actions the

following costs are only eligible:

17 Decision of 19 March 2025 authorising the use of unit costs based on usual cost accounting practices

for actions under the Union Civil Protection Mechanism Programme. 18 Commission Decision of 20 October 2020 authorising the use of unit costs for the personnel costs of

the owners of small and medium-sized enterprises and beneficiaries that are natural persons not receiving a salary for the work carried out by themselves under an action or work programme (C(2020)7115).

19 Commission Decision of 10 April 2019 authorising the use of unit costs for declaring personnel costs for

the work carried out by volunteers under an action or a work programme (C(2019)2646). 20 Commission Decision of 12 January 2021 authorising the use of unit costs for travel, accommodation

and subsistence costs under an action or work programme under the 2021-2027 multi-annual financial framework (C(2021)35).

21 Decision of 19 March 2025 authorising the use of unit costs based on usual cost accounting practices

for actions under the Union Civil Protection Mechanism Programme.

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− transport costs: all costs relating to the movement of transport and logistical

resources, including the costs of all services, fees, logistical and handling

costs, fuel and possible accommodation costs as well as other indirect costs

such as taxes, duties in general and transit costs

− operational costs: costs related to personnel, international and local transport,

logistics, consumables and supplies, communications, maintenance and

insurance, as well as other costs necessary to ensure the effective use of such

capacities.

In the case of pooling operations, the following costs are covered:

− short-term rental of warehousing capacity to temporarily store the UCPM

assistance with a view to facilitating their coordinated transport

− transport from the Member State or UCPM Participating States offering the

assistance to the Member State or UCPM Participating States facilitating its

coordinated transport

− repackaging of UCPM assistance to make maximum use of available

transport capacities or to meet specific operational requirements

− local transport, transit and warehousing of pooled assistance with a view

to ensuring a coordinated delivery at the final destination in the requesting

country.

Only costs incurred

for activities which take place during the duration of the response action will be

eligible for reimbursement under this call.

- In single action grants: only costs incurred during the operational part of the

action will be eligible (duration of the transport or operation). An additional

period is granted for the purpose of signing the grant agreement (due to the

retroactivity principle applicable to the UCPM emergency response actions).

- In multi-action grants: costs in relation to any response operation will be

eligible if incurred during the duration of that specific action launched within

the operational part of the project. However, costs of actions started after the

operational part, even if within the full duration of the project, WILL NOT be

eligible.

Reporting and payment arrangements

The reporting and payment arrangements are fixed in the Grant Agreement (Data

Sheet, point 4 and art 21 and 22).

For proposals that concern longer-term arrangements, including those for multiple

response actions (multi-action grants), there may be an initial prefinancing and

additional prefinancing payments. Pre-financing payments may be up to a total of

85 % of the requested Union financial contribution, subject to the availability of

budgetary resources.

Interim payment may be applicable in justifiable cases

Payment of the balance: We will calculate your final grant amount. If the total of

earlier payments is higher than the final grant amount, we will ask the beneficiary or

coordinator to pay back the difference (recovery).

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All payments will be made to the beneficiary or coordinator.

Please be aware that payments will be automatically lowered if you or one of your

consortium members has outstanding debts towards the EU (granting authority or

other EU bodies). Such debts will be offset by us — in line with the conditions set out

in the Grant Agreement (see art 22).

Please also note that you are responsible for keeping records on all the work done

and the costs declared.

Prefinancing guarantees

For proposals that concern longer-term arrangements, including those for multiple

response actions, if a prefinancing guarantee is required, it will be fixed in the Grant

Agreement (Data Sheet, point 4). The amount will be set during grant preparation

and it will normally be equal or lower than the prefinancing for your grant.

The guarantee should be in euro and issued by an approved bank/financial institution

established in an EU Member State. If you are established in a non-EU country and

would like to provide a guarantee from a bank/financial institution in your country,

please contact us (this may be exceptionally accepted, if it offers equivalent security).

Amounts blocked in bank accounts will NOT be accepted as financial guarantees.

Prefinancing guarantees are normally requested from the coordinator, for the

consortium. They must be provided during grant preparation, in time to make the

prefinancing (scanned copy via Portal AND original by post).

If agreed with us, the bank guarantee may be replaced by a guarantee from a third

party.

The guarantee will be released at the end of the grant, in accordance with the

conditions laid down in the Grant Agreement (art 23).

Certificates

Depending on the type of action, size of grant amount and type of beneficiaries, you

may be requested to submit different certificates. The types, schedules and

thresholds for each certificate are fixed in the Grant Agreement (Data Sheet, point 4

and art 24).

A certificate for financial statements (CFS) must be provided for each beneficiary and

affiliated entity when the requested EU contribution at final payment is EUR 325 000

or more.

Liability regime for recoveries

The liability regime for recoveries will be fixed in the Grant Agreement (Data Sheet,

point 4.4 and art 22).

For beneficiaries, it is one of the following:

− limited joint and several liability with individual ceilings — each beneficiary up

to their maximum grant amount

− unconditional joint and several liability — each beneficiary up to the maximum

grant amount for the action

or

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− individual financial responsibility — each beneficiary only for their own debts.

In addition, the granting authority may require joint and several liability of affiliated

entities (with their beneficiary).

Provisions concerning the project implementation

Security rules: see Model Grant Agreement (art 13 and Annex 5)

IPR rules: see Model Grant Agreement (art 16 and Annex 5):

− rights of use on results: Yes

Communication, dissemination and visibility of funding: see Model Grant Agreement

(art 17 and Annex 5):

− additional communication and dissemination activities: No

− limited communication and visibility to protect persons involved: Yes

− visibility in field operations outside the EU: Yes

Specific rules for carrying out the action: see Model Grant Agreement (art 18 and

Annex 5):

− zero tolerance: Yes

− transfer of assets at the end of the action: Yes

− EU restrictive measures: Yes

Other specificities

Consortium agreement: No

Non-compliance and breach of contract

The Grant Agreement (chapter 5) provides for the measures we may take in case of

breach of contract (and other non-compliance issues).

For more information, see AGA — Annotated Grant Agreement.

11. How to submit an application

The procedure to submit an application depends on the type of grant (single response

grant or multi-action grant):

- Single response actions: the CECIS Request for Union Assistance must first be

submitted in CECIS before any action takes place. Then, the grant application

shall be submitted online via the Funding & Tenders Portal Electronic

Submission System.

- Multi-action grants: the grant application shall be submitted online via the

Funding & Tenders Portal Electronic Submission System. Then, the Request

for Union Assistance must be submitted in CECIS before any action included in

the grant.

Paper applications are NOT accepted.

In the Funding & Tenders Portal, submission is a 2-step process:

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a) create a user account and register your organisation

To use the Submission System (the only way to apply), all participants need to create

an EU Login user account.

Once you have an EULogin account, you can register your organisation in the

Participant Register. When your registration is finalised, you will receive a 9-digit

participant identification code (PIC).

b) submit the proposal

Access the Portal Electronic Submission System via the following link:

https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/submission/manage/screen/submission/cr

eate-draft/43011?topic=UCPM-2026-RESPONSE-IBA

Submit your proposal in 3 parts, as follows:

− Application Form Part A includes administrative information about the

applicant organisations (future coordinator, beneficiaries, affiliated entities and

associated partners) and the summarised budget for the proposal. Fill it in

directly online

− Application Form Part B (description of the action) covers the technical content

of the proposal.

− Annexes (see section 5). Upload them as PDF file (single or multiple

depending on the slots). Excel upload is sometimes possible, depending on the

file type.

Project acronym: Please use the REQUEST FOR UNION ASSISTANCE ID from CECIS.

The proposal must keep to the page limits (see section 5); excess pages will be

disregarded.

Documents must be uploaded to the right category in the Submission System,

otherwise the proposal may be considered incomplete and thus inadmissible.

The proposal must be submitted before the final call deadline (see section 4).

After this deadline, the system is closed and proposals can no longer be submitted.

Once the proposal is submitted, you will receive a confirmation e-mail (with date

and time of your application). If you do not receive this confirmation e-mail, it means

your proposal has NOT been submitted. If you believe this is due to a fault in the

Submission System, you should immediately file a complaint via the IT Helpdesk

webform, explaining the circumstances and attaching a copy of the proposal (and, if

possible, screenshots to show what happened).

Details on processes and procedures are described in the Online Manual. The Online

Manual also contains the links to FAQs and detailed instructions regarding the Portal

Electronic Exchange System.

Please be aware that any response action, either in a single grant request or in the

context of multi-action grant, should NOT be started before the CECIS Request for

Union Assistance is received by the Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC)

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in CECIS (see section 2), otherwise the costs will be ineligible.22

12. Help

As far as possible, please try to find the answers you need yourself, in this and

the other documentation (we have limited resources for handling direct enquiries):

− Online Manual

− Topic Q&A on the Topic page (for call-specific questions in open calls; not

applicable for actions by invitation)

− Portal FAQ (for general questions).

Please also consult the Topic page regularly, since we will use it to publish call

updates. (For invitations, we will contact you directly in case of a call update).

Contact

For individual questions on the Portal Submission System, please contact the IT

Helpdesk.

Non-IT related questions should be sent to the following email address: echo-

[email protected].

Please:

− indicate clearly the reference of the call and topic to which your question

relates (see cover page).

22 See Article 49(3) of UCPM Implementing Decision C(2014)7489.

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13. Important

IMPORTANT

• Don’t wait until the end — Complete your application sufficiently in advance of the deadline to avoid any last minute technical problems. Problems due to last minute submissions (e.g. congestion, etc) will be entirely at your risk. Call deadlines can NOT be extended.

• Consult the Portal Topic page regularly. We will use it to publish updates and additional information on the call (call and topic updates).

• Funding & Tenders Portal Electronic Exchange System — By submitting the application, all participants accept to use the electronic exchange system in

accordance with the Portal Terms & Conditions.

• Registration — Before submitting the application, all beneficiaries, affiliated entities and associated partners must be registered in the Participant Register. The participant identification code (PIC) (one per participant) is mandatory for the Application Form.

• Consortium roles— When setting up your consortium, you should think of organisations that help you reach objectives and solve problems.

The roles should be attributed according to the level of participation in the project. Main participants should participate as beneficiaries or affiliated entities; other entities can participate as associated partners, subcontractors, third parties giving

in-kind contributions. Associated partners and third parties giving in-kind contributions should bear their own costs (they will not become formal recipients of

EU funding). Subcontracting should normally constitute a limited part and must be performed by third parties (not by one of the beneficiaries/affiliated entities). Subcontracting going beyond 30% of the total eligible costs must be justified in the application.

• Coordinator — In multi-beneficiary grants, the beneficiaries participate as consortium (group of beneficiaries). They will have to choose a coordinator, who

will take care of the project management and coordination and will represent the consortium towards the granting authority. In mono-beneficiary grants, the single beneficiary will automatically be coordinator.

• Affiliated entities — Applicants may participate with affiliated entities (i.e. entities linked to a beneficiary which participate in the action with similar rights and

obligations as the beneficiaries, but do not sign the grant and therefore do not become beneficiaries themselves). They will get a part of the grant money and must therefore comply with all the call conditions and be validated (just like

beneficiaries); but they do not count towards the minimum eligibility criteria for consortium composition (if any). If affiliated entities participate in your project, please do not forget to provide documents demonstrating their affiliation link to your organisation as part of your application.

• Associated partners — Applicants may participate with associated partners (i.e. partner organisations which participate in the action but without the right to get grant money). They participate without funding and therefore do not need to be validated.

• Consortium agreement — For practical and legal reasons it is recommended to set up internal arrangements that allow you to deal with exceptional or unforeseen circumstances (in all cases, even if not mandatory under the Grant Agreement). The consortium agreement also gives you the possibility to redistribute the grant money according to your own consortium-internal principles and parameters (for

instance, one beneficiary can reattribute its grant money to another beneficiary). The consortium agreement thus allows you to customise the EU grant to the needs

inside your consortium and can also help to protect you in case of disputes.

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• Balanced project budget — Grant applications must ensure a balanced project budget and sufficient other resources to implement the project successfully (e.g. own contributions, income generated by the action, financial contributions from

third parties, etc). You may be requested to lower your estimated costs, if they are ineligible (including excessive).

• Completed/ongoing projects — Proposals for projects that have already been completed will be rejected; proposals for projects that have already started will be assessed on a case-by-case basis (in this case, no costs can be reimbursed for

activities that took place before the project starting date/proposal submission).

• No-profit rule — Grants may NOT give a profit (i.e. surplus of revenues + EU grant over costs). This will be checked by us at the end of the project.

• No cumulation of funding/no double funding — It is strictly prohibited to cumulate funding from the EU budget (except under ‘EU Synergies actions’). Outside such Synergies actions, any given action may receive only ONE grant from the EU budget and cost items may under NO circumstances be declared under two EU grants; projects must be designed as different actions, clearly delineated and separated for each grant (without overlaps).

• Combination with EU operating grants — Combination with EU operating grants is possible, if the project remains outside the operating grant work programme and you make sure that cost items are clearly separated in your accounting and NOT declared twice (see AGA — Annotated Grant Agreement, art 6.2.E).

• Multiple proposals — Applicants may submit more than one proposal for different projects under the same call (and be awarded funding for them).

Organisations may participate in several proposals.

BUT: if there are several proposals for very similar projects, only one application will be accepted and evaluated; the applicants will be asked to withdraw the others

(or they will be rejected).

• Resubmission — Proposals may be changed and re-submitted until the deadline for submission.

• Rejection — By submitting the application, all applicants accept the call conditions set out in this this Call document (and the documents it refers to). Proposals that do not comply with all the call conditions will be rejected. This applies also to applicants: All applicants need to fulfil the criteria; if any one of them doesn’t, they must be replaced or the entire proposal will be rejected.

• Cancellation — There may be circumstances which may require the cancellation of the call. In this case, you will be informed via a call or topic update. Please note that cancellations are without entitlement to compensation.

• Language — You can submit your proposal in any official EU language (project abstract/summary should however always be in English). For reasons of efficiency, we strongly advise you to use English for the entire application. If you need the call documentation in another official EU language, please submit a request within 10 days after call publication (for the contact information, see section 12).

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• Transparency — In accordance with Article 38 of the EU Financial Regulation, information about EU grants awarded is published each year on the Europa website.

This includes:

− beneficiary names

− beneficiary addresses

− the purpose for which the grant was awarded

− the maximum amount awarded.

The publication can exceptionally be waived (on reasoned and duly substantiated request), if there is a risk that the disclosure could jeopardise your rights and freedoms under the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights or harm your commercial

interests.

• Data protection — The submission of a proposal under this call involves the collection, use and processing of personal data. This data will be processed in accordance with the applicable legal framework. It will be processed solely for the

purpose of evaluating your proposal, subsequent management of your grant and, if needed, programme monitoring, evaluation and communication. Details are explained in the Funding & Tenders Portal Privacy Statement.

Electronically signed on 17/12/2025 09:04 (UTC+01) in accordance with Article 11 of Commission Decision (EU) 2021/2121

Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM)

Call for proposals –

Invitation to submit a proposal

UCPM emergency response actions (UCPM-2026-RESPONSE)

Version 2.0 05 December 2025

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HISTORY OF CHANGES

Version Publication

Date Change Page

1.0 15/04/2025 ▪ Initial version.

2.0 05/12/2025 ▪ Second version

▪

▪

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EUROPEAN COMMISSION DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR EUROPEAN CIVIL PROTECTION AND HUMANITARIAN AID OPERATIONS (ECHO) Emergency Response Coordination Centre Emergency Response Operations

CALL FOR PROPOSALS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

0. Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 5

1. Background ............................................................................................................................... 6

2. Objectives — Themes and priorities — Activities that can be funded — Expected impact ..................... 6

UCPM-2025-RESPONSE — Emergency response actions that may be provided under the UCPM .......... 6

Objectives ............................................................................................................................... 6

Types of action — Activities that can be funded (scope) — Funding rate .......................................... 7

Expected impact ....................................................................................................................... 8

3. Available budget ........................................................................................................................ 8

4. Timetable and deadlines ............................................................................................................. 9

5. Admissibility and documents ....................................................................................................... 9

6. Eligibility .................................................................................................................................. 10

Eligible participants (eligible countries) ....................................................................................... 10

Consortium composition ........................................................................................................... 12

Eligible activities ...................................................................................................................... 12

Geographic location (target countries) ........................................................................................ 12

7. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion ........................................................................... 12

Financial capacity .................................................................................................................... 12

Operational capacity ................................................................................................................ 13

Exclusion ................................................................................................................................ 14

8. Evaluation and award procedure ................................................................................................. 15

9. Award criteria ........................................................................................................................... 15

10. Legal and financial set-up of the Grant Agreements ..................................................................... 15

Starting date and project duration ............................................................................................. 15

Milestones and deliverables ....................................................................................................... 16

Form of grant, funding rate and maximum grant amount .............................................................. 16

Budget categories and cost eligibility rules .................................................................................. 16

Reporting and payment arrangements ........................................................................................ 18

Prefinancing guarantees ........................................................................................................... 19

Certificates ............................................................................................................................. 19

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Liability regime for recoveries ................................................................................................... 19

Provisions concerning the project implementation ........................................................................ 20

Other specificities .................................................................................................................... 20

Non-compliance and breach of contract ...................................................................................... 20

11. How to submit an application .................................................................................................... 20

12. Help ...................................................................................................................................... 22

13. Important .............................................................................................................................. 23

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0. Introduction

This is an invitation to submit proposals for EU action grants in the field of

emergency response actions under the Union Civil Protection Mechanism

(UCPM). A proposal may contain one UPCM emergency response action or more,

which may result in the signature of:

• A single action grant; or

• A multi-action grant.

The call document includes some differences between the two modalities in terms

of procedure and cost eligibility.

The regulatory framework for this EU Funding Programme is set out in:

− Regulation 2024/2509 (EU Financial Regulation)1

− the basic act (Decision 1313/2013/EU2, Implementing Decision (EU)2025/7043.

− The invitation is in accordance with the 2026 Work Programme4 and will be

managed by the European Commission, Directorate-General for European

Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO).

The call covers the following topic:

− UCPM-2026-RESPONSE — Emergency response actions that may be

provided under the UCPM

We invite you to read the call documentation carefully, and in particular this Call

document, the Model Grant Agreement, the EU Funding & Tenders Portal Online

Manual and the EU Grants AGA — Annotated Grant Agreement.

These documents provide clarifications and answers to questions you may have when

preparing your application:

− the Call document outlines the:

− background, objectives, scope, activities that can be funded and the

expected results (sections 1 and 2)

− timetable and available budget (sections 3 and 4)

− admissibility and eligibility conditions (including mandatory documents;

sections 5 and 6)

1 Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 September

2024 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union (recast) (‘EU Financial Regulation’) (OJ L, 2024/2509, 26.9.2024).

2 Decision No 1313/2013/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 on a

Union Civil Protection Mechanism (OJ L 347, 20.12.2013, p. 924). 3 Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2025/704 of 10 April 2025 laying down rules for the

implementation of Decision No 1313/2013/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on a Union Civil Protection Mechanism and repealing Commission Implementing Decisions 2014/762/EU and (EU) 2019/1310 (OJ L, 2025/704 – 15.04.2025).

4 Commission Implementing Decision C(2025) 6902 final of 17 October 2025 on the financing of the Union Civil Protection Mechanism and adopting a multiannual work programme for 2021-2027 repealing and replacing Implementing Decision C(2024) 7235.

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− criteria for financial and operational capacity and exclusion (section 7)

− evaluation and award procedure (section 8)

− award criteria (section 9)

− legal and financial set-up of the Grant Agreements (section 10)

− how to submit an application (section 11)

− the Online Manual outlines the:

− procedures to register and submit proposals online via the EU Funding

& Tenders Portal (‘Portal’)

− recommendations for the preparation of the application

− the AGA — Annotated Grant Agreement contains:

− detailed annotations on all the provisions in the Grant Agreement you

will have to sign in order to obtain the grant (including cost eligibility,

payment schedule, accessory obligations, etc.).

1. Background

Chapters IV and V of Decision 1313/2013/EU define the legal framework for response

actions and lay down the corresponding financial provisions.

Response actions aim to provide assistance to immediate adverse consequences of a

disaster/emergency inside or outside the European Union, following a request for

assistance by a State or international organisation (such as the United Nations)

through the UCPM. In the event of a disaster/emergency, the UCPM supports

response actions, inter alia through grants for the following types of action:

− Equipment, transport and logistics, and operations response actions,

including Pooling, i.e. any actions that need logistical set-up, such as UCPM

Logistical Hubs (Article 22 (a) and (b) Decision 1313/2013/EU) and

− Other additional necessary supporting and complementary response

actions (Article 22(c) Decision 1313/2013/EU).

UCPM Implementing Decision 2025/704 lays down detailed rules for the

implementation, notably as regards the interaction of the Emergency Response

Coordination Centre (ERCC) with Member State and UCPM Participating State5 contact

points; the identification of modules, other response capacities and experts, as well as

the operational requirements for the functioning and interoperability of modules,

including their tasks, capacities, main components, self-sufficiency and deployment;

as well as the Union assistance in response actions.

2. Objectives — Themes and priorities — Activities that can be funded —

Expected impact

UCPM-2026-RESPONSE — Emergency response actions that may be provided

under the UCPM

Objectives

The priorities of the 2026 Work Programme related to response actions are to

5 See Article 28(1) of Decision 1313/2013/EU.

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complement the operational means provided by Member States and UCPM

Participating States, by financing additional operations, transport resources and

related logistics services necessary for ensuring a rapid response to emergencies

within the scope of the UCPM. The assistance, requested and accepted by a

requesting country or international organisation, must be delivered as quickly and as

efficiently as possible, in order to cope with the nature of the disaster/emergency.

Types of action — Activities that can be funded (scope) — Funding rate

Equipment, transport and logistics, and operations response actions, including

Pooling:

Through the equipment, transport, logistics and operations response actions Member

States and UCPM Participating States are supported, in the event of a

disaster/emergency, to obtain access to those resources.

The activities that can be funded must be related to:

− delivery of civil protection in-kind assistance (e.g. relief supplies, experts or

intervention teams and assets) provided by Member States or UCPM

Participating States, Medevac, consular support actions, including pooling

actions for an effective response, such as warehousing or the establishment of

UCPM Logistical Hubs

− deployment of European Civil Protection Pool (hereafter ECPP) capacities

− mobilising rescEU capacities in response to a disaster/emergency and

− implementing any other additional necessary supporting and complementary

response action, in order to facilitate the coordination of the response in the

most effective way.

Furthermore, in accordance with Implementing Decision (EU) 2025/704 operational

costs can also be eligible.

The funding rates for UCPM emergency response actions, including Pooling (Article 22

(a) and (b) of Decision 1313/2013/EU), which are indicative and can be adjusted, are

as follows:

Overview of co-financing rates

Type of assistance offered Inside EU* Outside EU

Spontaneous offers 75% Transport costs**

Pooled assistance/UCPM Logistics Hubs - Article 23 (4) of the Decision 1313/2013/EU

100% Transport cost up to the Hub & 100% Logistical costs and local Transport

European Civil Protection Pool (ECPP) capacities 75% Operational costs***

rescEU capacities 100% Operational costs

rescEU AFFF capacity 75% Operational costs & 100 % Transport costs

100% Operational costs

Other response actions - Article 22 (c) of Decision No 1313/2013/EU

Co-financing rate to be defined

*Including UCPM Participating States territory **Transport costs in accordance with Article 23(7) of Decision 1313/2013/EU ***Operational costs in accordance with Article 44 of Implementing Decision (EU) 2025/704

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Other additional necessary supporting and complementary response actions:

Under this type of actions, Member States and UCPM Participating States, following a

request for assistance, can be supported to take additional necessary supporting and

complementary response actions in order to facilitate the coordination of response in

the most effective way (Article 22(c) of Decision 1313/2013/EU).

Under “other additional necessary supporting and complementary response actions”,

examples of the activities that can be funded are:

− medical evacuation (Medevac) Hub;

− supporting the receiving of pre-positioning of ground forest fire fighting teams

countries.

The funding rate for other additional necessary supporting and complementary

response actions will be determined by the granting authority based on the needs and

the assistance described in the application.

For both types of action, the requests must follow a specific procedure:

− before any action takes place, start the application process in the Common

Emergency Communication and Information System (CECIS) by submitting the

CECIS Request for Union Assistance.

− then, within one month after the end of the response action, fill in the

application for a grant – proposal – composed by the Part A, Part B and

Detailed Budget table, documents downloaded from the Funding & Tenders

Portal Submission System submission screen, and upload them as appropriate;

(see section 5).

The response action

should NOT be started before the Request for Union Assistance is received by the

Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC) in CECIS (see above), otherwise

the costs will be ineligible6. In addition, only activities which take place within the

action duration set out in the Grant Agreement will be eligible for reimbursement.

Note that in Multi-action Grants, costs will be eligible if incurred during the specific

duration of each action launched within the full duration of the agreement (e.g. in a

1-year multi-action grant, costs related to a 1-week action in March will be eligible if

incurred during that week).

Expected impact

Response actions are essential in order to ensure that assistance is delivered to

countries affected by a disaster and to allow for an effective response to emergencies

all over the world.

Due to the nature of the operations, the expected impact is an efficient and timely

response saving lives, alleviating suffering and supporting the country and its

population in the aftermaths of a disaster/emergency.

3. Available budget

The estimated available call budget is EUR 25,000,000.

6 See Article 54(2) of UCPM Implementing Decision (EU) 2025/704.

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We reserve the right not to award all available funds (depending on the proposals

received and the results of the evaluation) or to lower the available funding in case of

overriding public interests that necessitate a change of UCPM priorities.

4. Timetable and deadlines

Timetable and deadlines (indicative)

Call opening: 17 December 2025

Deadline for submission: cut-off dates once per week – in relation to the response to UCPM activations

final deadline: 15 December 2026 - 17:00:00 CET (Brussels)

Evaluation: within 30 days of receiving the application

Information on evaluation results: within 40 days of receiving the application

GA signature: within 90 days of receiving the application

5. Admissibility and documents

The applications for response action grant – proposals should be submitted online in

the Funding & Tenders Portal. Paper submissions are NOT possible.

- For single response action grants, the proposal should be submitted within

one month after the end of the response action. Proposals submitted later

may be rejected.

- For multi-action grants, the proposal should be submitted before any response

action takes place.

Submitted proposals will be sent for evaluation on the next cut-off date following their

submission. The proposals must be submitted before the final call deadline (see

section 4). After this deadline, the system is closed and proposals can no longer be

submitted.

The Funding & Tenders Portal Electronic Submission System is accessible via the link

in section 11.

Project acronym in the Funding & Tenders Portal:

- For single response actions, please use the Request for Union Assistance ID

from CECIS, as for instance, 2026-UADE001, 2026-ELFR001, etc.

- For multi-actions proposals, the Request for Union Assistance ID from CECIS is

not applicable. The acronym will be in the following format: 2026-[two-letter

ISO country identifier][application request number] (e.g. 2026-FI001-MaG,

where ‘FI’ stands for Finland, ‘001’ is the first multi-action grant application

request of the year 2026 and ‘MaG’ stands for ‘multi-action grant’)

Proposals must be complete and contain all the requested information and all

required annexes and supporting documents:

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− Application Form Part A7 — contains administrative information about the

participants (future coordinator, beneficiaries and affiliated entities) and the

summarised budget for the project (to be filled in directly online)

− Application Form Part B — contains the technical description of the project

(download it and fill it in from the Portal submission screen)

− mandatory annexes and supporting documents (templates to be

downloaded from the Portal Submission System, completed, assembled and

re-uploaded):

− detailed budget table/complex funding rate calculator (Annex 2e GA)

− CVs of core project team: not applicable

− activity reports of last year: not applicable

− list of previous projects: not applicable

− for other additional necessary supporting and complementary response

actions: letter of support from the competent civil protection authority

of the country that will benefit from the action (except for participants

which are national authorities or public bodies)

Please note that the amounts entered into the summarised budget table (filled in

directly online) must correspond to the amounts calculated in the detailed budget

table. In case of discrepancies, the amounts in the online summarised budget table

will prevail.

At proposal submission, you will have to confirm that you have the mandate to act

for all applicants. Moreover, you will have to confirm that the information in the

application is correct and complete and that all participants comply with the

conditions for receiving EU funding (especially eligibility, financial and operational

capacity, exclusion, etc). Before signing the grant, each beneficiary and affiliated

entity will have to confirm this again by signing a declaration of honour (DoH).

Proposals without full support will be rejected.

Your application must be readable, accessible and printable (please check

carefully the layout of the documents uploaded).

Proposals are limited to maximum 20 pages (Part B). Evaluators will not consider

any additional pages. Shorter proposals are welcome.

You may be asked at a later stage for further documents (for legal entity validation,

financial capacity check, bank account validation, etc).

For more information about the submission process (including IT aspects), consult

the Online Manual.

6. Eligibility

Eligible participants (eligible countries)

In order to be eligible, the applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities) must:

− be legal entities (public or private bodies)

− be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e.:

− EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories (OCTs))

7 Not to be confused with the CECIS Part A – Request for Union Assistance in CECIS.

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− UCPM Participating States8:

− Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Moldova, Montenegro,

North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Türkiye, and Ukraine (list of

participating countries)

− for equipment, transport and logistics, and operations response actions,

including Pooling: be competent authorities designated by Member States or

UCPM Participating States authorised to request and receive financial support

from the Commission under Article 29 of Decision 1313/2013/EU and Article 57

of the UCPM Implementing Decision (EU) 2025/704.

− for other additional necessary supporting and complementary response

actions: be Member States' or UCPM Participating States’ competent

authorities or other entities authorised by the Member State or Participating

State to request and receive financial support from the Commission on behalf

of the Member State or Participating State according to Section 2.4 of the

2026 Work Programme.

Beneficiaries and affiliated entities must register in the Participant Register — before

submitting the proposal — and will have to be validated by the Central Validation

Service (REA Validation). For the validation, they will be requested to upload

documents showing legal status and origin.

Other entities may participate in other consortium roles, such as associated partners,

subcontractors, third parties giving in-kind contributions, etc (see section 13).

Specific cases and definitions

Natural persons — Natural persons are NOT eligible (with the exception of self-

employed persons, i.e. sole traders, where the company does not have legal

personality separate from that of the natural person).

International organisations — International organisations are NOT eligible. The rules

on eligible countries do not apply to them.

Entities without legal personality — Entities which do not have legal personality under

their national law may exceptionally participate, provided that their representatives

have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf, and offer guarantees

for the protection of the EU financial interests equivalent to that offered by legal

persons9.

EU bodies — EU bodies can NOT be part of the consortium.

Associations and interest groupings — Entities composed of members may participate

as ‘sole beneficiaries’ or ‘beneficiaries without legal personality’10. Please note that

if the action will be implemented by the members, they should also participate (either

as beneficiaries or as affiliated entities, otherwise their costs will NOT be eligible).

Countries currently negotiating association agreements — Beneficiaries from countries

with ongoing negotiations for participation in the programme (see list of participating

countries above) may participate in the call and can sign grants if the negotiations are

concluded before grant signature and if the association covers the call (i.e. is

retroactive and covers both the part of the programme and the year when the call

was launched).

8 See Articles 28(1) and 4(12) of Decision 1313/2013/EU.

9 See Article 200(2)(c) EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509. 10 For the definitions, see Articles 190(2) and 200(2)(c) EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509.

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EU restrictive measures — Special rules apply for entities subject to EU restrictive

measures under Article 29 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and Article 215

of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU)11. Such entities are not eligible to

participate in any capacity, including as beneficiaries, affiliated entities, associated

partners, subcontractors or recipients of financial support to third parties (if any).

EU conditionality measures — Special rules apply for entities subject to measures

adopted on the basis of EU Regulation 2020/209212. Such entities are not eligible to

participate in any funded role (beneficiaries, affiliated entities, subcontractors,

recipients of financial support to third parties, etc). Currently such measures are in

place for Hungarian public interest trusts established under the Hungarian Act IX of

2021 or any entity they maintain (see Council Implementing Decision (EU)

2022/2506, as of 16 December 2022).

For more information, see Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment

and Financial Capacity Assessment.

Consortium composition

n/a

Eligible activities

Eligible activities are the ones set out in section 2 above.

Projects must comply with EU policy interests and priorities (such as environment,

social, security, etc). Projects must also respect EU values and European Commission

policy regarding reputational matters (e.g. activities involving capacity building, policy

support, awareness raising, communication, dissemination, etc).

Funding from this Invitation per project should be at least EUR 10 000 regardless of

the overall budget proposal, unless actions are related to the deployment of rescEU

capacities or the facilitation of access to equipment, transport and logistical resources

and services in the form of pooling with other eligible countries (see section 6).

Financial support to third parties is not allowed.

Geographic location (target countries)

Response operations can take place worldwide.

7. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion

Financial capacity

Applicants must have stable and sufficient resources to successfully implement

the projects and contribute their share. Organisations participating in several projects

must have sufficient capacity to implement all projects.

The financial capacity check will be carried out on the basis of the documents you will

be requested to upload in the Participant Register during grant preparation (e.g. profit

and loss account and balance sheet, business plan, audit report produced by an

approved external auditor, certifying the accounts for the last closed financial year,

etc). The analysis will be based on neutral financial indicators, but will also take into

11 Please note that the EU Official Journal contains the official list and, in case of conflict, its content

prevails over that of the EU Sanctions Map. 12 Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2092 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December

2020 on a general regime of conditionality for the protection of the Union budget (OJ L 325, 20.12.2022, p. 94).

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account other aspects, such as dependency on EU funding and deficit and revenue in

previous years.

The check will normally be done for all beneficiaries, except:

− public bodies (entities established as public body under national law, including

local, regional or national authorities) or international organisations

− if the individual requested grant amount is not more than EUR 60 000.

If needed, it may also be done for affiliated entities.

If we consider that your financial capacity is not satisfactory, we may require:

− further information

− an enhanced financial responsibility regime, i.e. joint and several responsibility

for all beneficiaries or joint and several liability of affiliated entities (see below,

section 10)

− prefinancing paid in instalments

− (one or more) prefinancing guarantees (see below, section 10)

or

− propose no prefinancing

− request that you are replaced or, if needed, reject the entire proposal.

For more information, see Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment

and Financial Capacity Assessment.

Operational capacity

Applicants must ensure that the response actions proposed correspond to the needs

expressed by the state/international organisation requesting assistance through the

UCPM.

In case the needs are not yet known and the proposal concerns longer-term

arrangements for multiple response actions (multi-action grants), applicants must

demonstrate that there is:

- a political engagement in place of actively participation in the UCPM

response to disasters (for example: a national policy to provide assistance,

Medevac operations, to a specific type of long-lasting emergency, such as the

Russia’s War on Ukraine)

- the capacity and resources (for example: hosting rescEU capacities, owning

ECPP capacities)

- the know-how (previous experience and participation in several UCPM

activations)

- any other information to successfully implement the actions and contribute

their share.

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Exclusion

Applicants which are subject to an EU exclusion decision or in one of the following

exclusion situations that bar them from receiving EU funding can NOT participate13:

− bankruptcy, winding up, affairs administered by the courts, arrangement with

creditors, suspended business activities or other similar procedures (including

procedures for persons with unlimited liability for the applicant’s debts)

− in breach of social security or tax obligations (including if done by persons with

unlimited liability for the applicant’s debts)

− guilty of grave professional misconduct14 (including if done by persons having

powers of representation, decision-making or control, beneficial owners or

persons who are essential for the award/implementation of the grant)

− committed fraud, corruption, links to a criminal organisation, money

laundering, terrorism-related crimes (including terrorism financing), child

labour or human trafficking (including if done by persons having powers of

representation, decision-making or control, beneficial owners or persons who

are essential for the award/implementation of the grant)

− shown significant deficiencies in complying with main obligations under an EU

procurement contract, grant agreement, prize, expert contract, or similar

(including if done by persons having powers of representation, decision-

making or control, beneficial owners or persons who are essential for the

award/implementation of the grant)

− guilty of irregularities within the meaning of Article 1(2) of EU Regulation

2988/95 (including if done by persons having powers of representation,

decision-making or control, beneficial owners or persons who are essential for

the award/implementation of the grant)

− created under a different jurisdiction with the intent to circumvent fiscal, social

or other legal obligations in the country of origin or created another entity with

this purpose (including if done by persons having powers of representation,

decision-making or control, beneficial owners or persons who are essential for

the award/implementation of the grant)

− intentionally and without proper justification resisted15 an investigation, check

or audit carried out by an EU authorising officer (or their representative or

auditor), OLAF, the EPPO, or the European Court of Auditors.

Applicants will also be rejected if it turns out that16:

− during the award procedure they misrepresented information required as a

condition for participating or failed to supply that information

13 See Articles 138 and 143 of EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509. 14 ‘Professional misconduct’ includes, in particular, the following: violation of ethical standards of the

profession; wrongful conduct with impact on professional credibility; breach of generally accepted professional ethical standards; false declarations/misrepresentation of information; participation in a cartel or other agreement distorting competition; violation of IPR; attempting to influence decision- making processes by taking advantage, through misrepresentation, of a conflict of interests, or to obtain confidential information from public authorities to gain an advantage; incitement to discrimination, hatred or violence or similar activities contrary to the EU values where negatively affecting or risking to affect the performance of a legal commitment.

15 ‘Resisting an investigation, check or audit’ means carrying out actions with the goal or effect of preventing, hindering or delaying the conduct of any of the activities needed to perform the investigation, check or audit, such as refusing to grant the necessary access to its premises or any other areas used for business purposes, concealing or refusing to disclose information or providing false information.

16 See Article 143 EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509.

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− they were previously involved in the preparation of the call and this entails a

distortion of competition that cannot be remedied otherwise (conflict of

interest).

8. Evaluation and award procedure

The proposals will have to follow the standard submission and evaluation

procedure (one-stage submission + one-step evaluation).

Proposals submitted through the Funding & Tenders Portal Electronic Submission

System will first be checked for formal requirements (admissibility, and eligibility, see

sections 5 and 6). If found admissible and eligible, they will be evaluated against the

award criteria (see section 9).

Proposals will be informed about the evaluation result (evaluation result letter). If

successful, they will be invited for grant preparation; otherwise, they will be rejected.

No commitment for funding — Invitation to grant preparation does NOT constitute

a formal commitment for funding. We will still need to make various legal checks

before grant award: legal entity validation, financial capacity, exclusion check, etc.

Grant preparation will involve a dialogue in order to fine-tune technical or financial

aspects of the project and may require extra information from your side. It may also

include adjustments to the proposal to address recommendations of the evaluator(s)

or other concerns. Full compliance will be a pre-condition for signing the grant.

If you believe that the evaluation procedure was flawed, you can submit a complaint

(following the deadlines and procedures set out in the evaluation result letter). Please

note that notifications which have not been opened within 10 days after sending will

be considered to have been accessed and that deadlines will be counted from

opening/access (see also Funding & Tenders Portal Terms and Conditions). Please also

be aware that for complaints submitted electronically, there may be character

limitations.

9. Award criteria

The applications will be assessed against the award criterion Relevance which

focuses on the objectives and priorities of the disaster/emergency situation in line

with the criteria set out in Articles 22 and 23 of Decision 1313/2013/EU. Where

appropriate, the evaluation will be based on economy, efficiency and effectiveness of

the proposed response action and its European added value, while ensuring that the

needs of affected states/international organisations correspond to the offer of

assistance and does not duplicate other actions undertaken by the European Union.

10. Legal and financial set-up of the Grant Agreements

If you pass evaluation, your project will be invited for grant preparation, where you

will be asked to prepare the Grant Agreement together with the EU Project Officer.

This Grant Agreement will set the framework for your grant and its terms and

conditions, in particular concerning deliverables, reporting and payments.

The Model Grant Agreement that will be used (and all other relevant templates and

guidance documents) can be found on Portal Reference Documents.

Starting date and project duration

The project starting date and duration will be fixed in the Grant Agreement (Data

Sheet, point 1). Normally the starting date will be after grant signature. A retroactive

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starting date can be granted for duly justified reasons — even before proposal

submission date in the Portal, as for the UCPM Emergency Response actions in the

cases of single action grants. For this type of grants, the earliest possible starting

date that can be accepted is the date when the Request for Union Assistance is

received by the Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC) in CECIS. This is

the date of the submission of the Request for Union Assistance in CECIS (see section

2). In the case of multi-action grants the project starting date should be after the

grant signature.

Milestones and deliverables

The milestones and deliverables for each project will be managed through the Portal

Grant Management System and will be reflected in Annex 1 of the Grant Agreement.

Form of grant, funding rate and maximum grant amount

Funding from this Call per project should be at least EUR 10 000 regardless of the

overall budget proposal, unless actions are related to the deployment of rescEU

capacities or the facilitation of access to equipment, transport and logistical resources

and services in the form of pooling with other eligible countries (see section 6).

The grant parameters (maximum grant amount, funding rate, total eligible costs, etc)

will be fixed in the Grant Agreement (Data Sheet, point 3 and art 5).

The grant will be a budget-based mixed actual cost grant (actual costs, with unit cost

and flat-rate elements). This means that it will reimburse ONLY certain types of costs

(eligible costs) and costs that were actually incurred for your project (NOT the

budgeted costs). For unit costs and flat rates, you can charge the amounts calculated

as explained in the Grant Agreement (see art 6 and Annex 2 and 2a).

The costs will be reimbursed at the funding rate fixed in the Grant Agreement. This

rate depends on the assistance and location (see section 2).

Grants may NOT produce a profit (i.e. surplus of revenues + EU grant over costs).

For-profit organisations must declare their revenues and, if there is a profit, we will

deduct it from the final grant amount (see art 22.3).

Moreover, please be aware that the final grant amount may be reduced in case of

non-compliance with the Grant Agreement (e.g. improper implementation, breach of

obligations, etc).

Budget categories and cost eligibility rules

The budget categories and cost eligibility rules are fixed in the Grant Agreement (Data

Sheet, point 3, art 6 and Annex 2).

Budget categories for this call:

− A. Personnel costs

− A.1 Employees, A.2 Natural persons under direct contract, A.3 Seconded

persons

− A.4 SME owners and natural person beneficiaries

− A.5 Volunteers

− B. Subcontracting costs

− C. Purchase costs

− C.1 Travel and subsistence

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− C.2 Equipment

− C.3 Other goods, works and services

− D. Other cost categories

− D.1 Civil protection intervention unit costs

− E. Indirect costs

Specific cost eligibility conditions for this call:

− personnel costs:

− average personnel costs (unit cost according to usual cost accounting

practices)17: Yes

− SME owner/natural person unit cost 18

: Yes

− volunteers cost 19

: No

− subcontracting costs:

− subcontracting: the entire action may be subcontracted

− travel and subsistence unit cost 20

:Yes ( but UCPM Emergency response

actions are allowed to use actual costs for all travel and subsistence incurred in

the context of the action)

− equipment costs: depreciation + full cost for listed equipment

− other cost categories:

− civil protection intervention unit costs (unit cost according to usual cost

accounting practices)21: Yes

− indirect cost flat-rate: 0% of the eligible direct costs (categories A-D, except

volunteers costs and exempted specific cost categories, if any)

− VAT: VAT is NOT eligible

− other:

− in-kind contributions for free are allowed, but cost-neutral, i.e. they cannot

be declared as cost

− other ineligible costs: No

For Transport and

Operations Actions (including Pooling): For Transport and Operations Actions the

following costs are only eligible:

17 Decision of 19 March 2025 authorising the use of unit costs based on usual cost accounting practices

for actions under the Union Civil Protection Mechanism Programme. 18 Commission Decision of 20 October 2020 authorising the use of unit costs for the personnel costs of

the owners of small and medium-sized enterprises and beneficiaries that are natural persons not receiving a salary for the work carried out by themselves under an action or work programme (C(2020)7115).

19 Commission Decision of 10 April 2019 authorising the use of unit costs for declaring personnel costs for

the work carried out by volunteers under an action or a work programme (C(2019)2646). 20 Commission Decision of 12 January 2021 authorising the use of unit costs for travel, accommodation

and subsistence costs under an action or work programme under the 2021-2027 multi-annual financial framework (C(2021)35).

21 Decision of 19 March 2025 authorising the use of unit costs based on usual cost accounting practices

for actions under the Union Civil Protection Mechanism Programme.

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− transport costs: all costs relating to the movement of transport and logistical

resources, including the costs of all services, fees, logistical and handling

costs, fuel and possible accommodation costs as well as other indirect costs

such as taxes, duties in general and transit costs

− operational costs: costs related to personnel, international and local transport,

logistics, consumables and supplies, communications, maintenance and

insurance, as well as other costs necessary to ensure the effective use of such

capacities.

In the case of pooling operations, the following costs are covered:

− short-term rental of warehousing capacity to temporarily store the UCPM

assistance with a view to facilitating their coordinated transport

− transport from the Member State or UCPM Participating States offering the

assistance to the Member State or UCPM Participating States facilitating its

coordinated transport

− repackaging of UCPM assistance to make maximum use of available

transport capacities or to meet specific operational requirements

− local transport, transit and warehousing of pooled assistance with a view

to ensuring a coordinated delivery at the final destination in the requesting

country.

Only costs incurred

for activities which take place during the duration of the response action will be

eligible for reimbursement under this call.

- In single action grants: only costs incurred during the operational part of the

action will be eligible (duration of the transport or operation). An additional

period is granted for the purpose of signing the grant agreement (due to the

retroactivity principle applicable to the UCPM emergency response actions).

- In multi-action grants: costs in relation to any response operation will be

eligible if incurred during the duration of that specific action launched within

the operational part of the project. However, costs of actions started after the

operational part, even if within the full duration of the project, WILL NOT be

eligible.

Reporting and payment arrangements

The reporting and payment arrangements are fixed in the Grant Agreement (Data

Sheet, point 4 and art 21 and 22).

For proposals that concern longer-term arrangements, including those for multiple

response actions (multi-action grants), there may be an initial prefinancing and

additional prefinancing payments. Pre-financing payments may be up to a total of

85 % of the requested Union financial contribution, subject to the availability of

budgetary resources.

Interim payment may be applicable in justifiable cases

Payment of the balance: We will calculate your final grant amount. If the total of

earlier payments is higher than the final grant amount, we will ask the beneficiary or

coordinator to pay back the difference (recovery).

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All payments will be made to the beneficiary or coordinator.

Please be aware that payments will be automatically lowered if you or one of your

consortium members has outstanding debts towards the EU (granting authority or

other EU bodies). Such debts will be offset by us — in line with the conditions set out

in the Grant Agreement (see art 22).

Please also note that you are responsible for keeping records on all the work done

and the costs declared.

Prefinancing guarantees

For proposals that concern longer-term arrangements, including those for multiple

response actions, if a prefinancing guarantee is required, it will be fixed in the Grant

Agreement (Data Sheet, point 4). The amount will be set during grant preparation

and it will normally be equal or lower than the prefinancing for your grant.

The guarantee should be in euro and issued by an approved bank/financial institution

established in an EU Member State. If you are established in a non-EU country and

would like to provide a guarantee from a bank/financial institution in your country,

please contact us (this may be exceptionally accepted, if it offers equivalent security).

Amounts blocked in bank accounts will NOT be accepted as financial guarantees.

Prefinancing guarantees are normally requested from the coordinator, for the

consortium. They must be provided during grant preparation, in time to make the

prefinancing (scanned copy via Portal AND original by post).

If agreed with us, the bank guarantee may be replaced by a guarantee from a third

party.

The guarantee will be released at the end of the grant, in accordance with the

conditions laid down in the Grant Agreement (art 23).

Certificates

Depending on the type of action, size of grant amount and type of beneficiaries, you

may be requested to submit different certificates. The types, schedules and

thresholds for each certificate are fixed in the Grant Agreement (Data Sheet, point 4

and art 24).

A certificate for financial statements (CFS) must be provided for each beneficiary and

affiliated entity when the requested EU contribution at final payment is EUR 325 000

or more.

Liability regime for recoveries

The liability regime for recoveries will be fixed in the Grant Agreement (Data Sheet,

point 4.4 and art 22).

For beneficiaries, it is one of the following:

− limited joint and several liability with individual ceilings — each beneficiary up

to their maximum grant amount

− unconditional joint and several liability — each beneficiary up to the maximum

grant amount for the action

or

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− individual financial responsibility — each beneficiary only for their own debts.

In addition, the granting authority may require joint and several liability of affiliated

entities (with their beneficiary).

Provisions concerning the project implementation

Security rules: see Model Grant Agreement (art 13 and Annex 5)

IPR rules: see Model Grant Agreement (art 16 and Annex 5):

− rights of use on results: Yes

Communication, dissemination and visibility of funding: see Model Grant Agreement

(art 17 and Annex 5):

− additional communication and dissemination activities: No

− limited communication and visibility to protect persons involved: Yes

− visibility in field operations outside the EU: Yes

Specific rules for carrying out the action: see Model Grant Agreement (art 18 and

Annex 5):

− zero tolerance: Yes

− transfer of assets at the end of the action: Yes

− EU restrictive measures: Yes

Other specificities

Consortium agreement: No

Non-compliance and breach of contract

The Grant Agreement (chapter 5) provides for the measures we may take in case of

breach of contract (and other non-compliance issues).

For more information, see AGA — Annotated Grant Agreement.

11. How to submit an application

The procedure to submit an application depends on the type of grant (single response

grant or multi-action grant):

- Single response actions: the CECIS Request for Union Assistance must first be

submitted in CECIS before any action takes place. Then, the grant application

shall be submitted online via the Funding & Tenders Portal Electronic

Submission System.

- Multi-action grants: the grant application shall be submitted online via the

Funding & Tenders Portal Electronic Submission System. Then, the Request

for Union Assistance must be submitted in CECIS before any action included in

the grant.

Paper applications are NOT accepted.

In the Funding & Tenders Portal, submission is a 2-step process:

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a) create a user account and register your organisation

To use the Submission System (the only way to apply), all participants need to create

an EU Login user account.

Once you have an EULogin account, you can register your organisation in the

Participant Register. When your registration is finalised, you will receive a 9-digit

participant identification code (PIC).

b) submit the proposal

Access the Portal Electronic Submission System via the following link:

https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/submission/manage/screen/submission/cr

eate-draft/43011?topic=UCPM-2026-RESPONSE-IBA

Submit your proposal in 3 parts, as follows:

− Application Form Part A includes administrative information about the

applicant organisations (future coordinator, beneficiaries, affiliated entities and

associated partners) and the summarised budget for the proposal. Fill it in

directly online

− Application Form Part B (description of the action) covers the technical content

of the proposal.

− Annexes (see section 5). Upload them as PDF file (single or multiple

depending on the slots). Excel upload is sometimes possible, depending on the

file type.

Project acronym: Please use the REQUEST FOR UNION ASSISTANCE ID from CECIS.

The proposal must keep to the page limits (see section 5); excess pages will be

disregarded.

Documents must be uploaded to the right category in the Submission System,

otherwise the proposal may be considered incomplete and thus inadmissible.

The proposal must be submitted before the final call deadline (see section 4).

After this deadline, the system is closed and proposals can no longer be submitted.

Once the proposal is submitted, you will receive a confirmation e-mail (with date

and time of your application). If you do not receive this confirmation e-mail, it means

your proposal has NOT been submitted. If you believe this is due to a fault in the

Submission System, you should immediately file a complaint via the IT Helpdesk

webform, explaining the circumstances and attaching a copy of the proposal (and, if

possible, screenshots to show what happened).

Details on processes and procedures are described in the Online Manual. The Online

Manual also contains the links to FAQs and detailed instructions regarding the Portal

Electronic Exchange System.

Please be aware that any response action, either in a single grant request or in the

context of multi-action grant, should NOT be started before the CECIS Request for

Union Assistance is received by the Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC)

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in CECIS (see section 2), otherwise the costs will be ineligible.22

12. Help

As far as possible, please try to find the answers you need yourself, in this and

the other documentation (we have limited resources for handling direct enquiries):

− Online Manual

− Topic Q&A on the Topic page (for call-specific questions in open calls; not

applicable for actions by invitation)

− Portal FAQ (for general questions).

Please also consult the Topic page regularly, since we will use it to publish call

updates. (For invitations, we will contact you directly in case of a call update).

Contact

For individual questions on the Portal Submission System, please contact the IT

Helpdesk.

Non-IT related questions should be sent to the following email address: echo-

[email protected].

Please:

− indicate clearly the reference of the call and topic to which your question

relates (see cover page).

22 See Article 49(3) of UCPM Implementing Decision C(2014)7489.

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13. Important

IMPORTANT

• Don’t wait until the end — Complete your application sufficiently in advance of the deadline to avoid any last minute technical problems. Problems due to last minute submissions (e.g. congestion, etc) will be entirely at your risk. Call deadlines can NOT be extended.

• Consult the Portal Topic page regularly. We will use it to publish updates and additional information on the call (call and topic updates).

• Funding & Tenders Portal Electronic Exchange System — By submitting the application, all participants accept to use the electronic exchange system in

accordance with the Portal Terms & Conditions.

• Registration — Before submitting the application, all beneficiaries, affiliated entities and associated partners must be registered in the Participant Register. The participant identification code (PIC) (one per participant) is mandatory for the Application Form.

• Consortium roles— When setting up your consortium, you should think of organisations that help you reach objectives and solve problems.

The roles should be attributed according to the level of participation in the project. Main participants should participate as beneficiaries or affiliated entities; other entities can participate as associated partners, subcontractors, third parties giving

in-kind contributions. Associated partners and third parties giving in-kind contributions should bear their own costs (they will not become formal recipients of

EU funding). Subcontracting should normally constitute a limited part and must be performed by third parties (not by one of the beneficiaries/affiliated entities). Subcontracting going beyond 30% of the total eligible costs must be justified in the application.

• Coordinator — In multi-beneficiary grants, the beneficiaries participate as consortium (group of beneficiaries). They will have to choose a coordinator, who

will take care of the project management and coordination and will represent the consortium towards the granting authority. In mono-beneficiary grants, the single beneficiary will automatically be coordinator.

• Affiliated entities — Applicants may participate with affiliated entities (i.e. entities linked to a beneficiary which participate in the action with similar rights and

obligations as the beneficiaries, but do not sign the grant and therefore do not become beneficiaries themselves). They will get a part of the grant money and must therefore comply with all the call conditions and be validated (just like

beneficiaries); but they do not count towards the minimum eligibility criteria for consortium composition (if any). If affiliated entities participate in your project, please do not forget to provide documents demonstrating their affiliation link to your organisation as part of your application.

• Associated partners — Applicants may participate with associated partners (i.e. partner organisations which participate in the action but without the right to get grant money). They participate without funding and therefore do not need to be validated.

• Consortium agreement — For practical and legal reasons it is recommended to set up internal arrangements that allow you to deal with exceptional or unforeseen circumstances (in all cases, even if not mandatory under the Grant Agreement). The consortium agreement also gives you the possibility to redistribute the grant money according to your own consortium-internal principles and parameters (for

instance, one beneficiary can reattribute its grant money to another beneficiary). The consortium agreement thus allows you to customise the EU grant to the needs

inside your consortium and can also help to protect you in case of disputes.

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• Balanced project budget — Grant applications must ensure a balanced project budget and sufficient other resources to implement the project successfully (e.g. own contributions, income generated by the action, financial contributions from

third parties, etc). You may be requested to lower your estimated costs, if they are ineligible (including excessive).

• Completed/ongoing projects — Proposals for projects that have already been completed will be rejected; proposals for projects that have already started will be assessed on a case-by-case basis (in this case, no costs can be reimbursed for

activities that took place before the project starting date/proposal submission).

• No-profit rule — Grants may NOT give a profit (i.e. surplus of revenues + EU grant over costs). This will be checked by us at the end of the project.

• No cumulation of funding/no double funding — It is strictly prohibited to cumulate funding from the EU budget (except under ‘EU Synergies actions’). Outside such Synergies actions, any given action may receive only ONE grant from the EU budget and cost items may under NO circumstances be declared under two EU grants; projects must be designed as different actions, clearly delineated and separated for each grant (without overlaps).

• Combination with EU operating grants — Combination with EU operating grants is possible, if the project remains outside the operating grant work programme and you make sure that cost items are clearly separated in your accounting and NOT declared twice (see AGA — Annotated Grant Agreement, art 6.2.E).

• Multiple proposals — Applicants may submit more than one proposal for different projects under the same call (and be awarded funding for them).

Organisations may participate in several proposals.

BUT: if there are several proposals for very similar projects, only one application will be accepted and evaluated; the applicants will be asked to withdraw the others

(or they will be rejected).

• Resubmission — Proposals may be changed and re-submitted until the deadline for submission.

• Rejection — By submitting the application, all applicants accept the call conditions set out in this this Call document (and the documents it refers to). Proposals that do not comply with all the call conditions will be rejected. This applies also to applicants: All applicants need to fulfil the criteria; if any one of them doesn’t, they must be replaced or the entire proposal will be rejected.

• Cancellation — There may be circumstances which may require the cancellation of the call. In this case, you will be informed via a call or topic update. Please note that cancellations are without entitlement to compensation.

• Language — You can submit your proposal in any official EU language (project abstract/summary should however always be in English). For reasons of efficiency, we strongly advise you to use English for the entire application. If you need the call documentation in another official EU language, please submit a request within 10 days after call publication (for the contact information, see section 12).

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• Transparency — In accordance with Article 38 of the EU Financial Regulation, information about EU grants awarded is published each year on the Europa website.

This includes:

− beneficiary names

− beneficiary addresses

− the purpose for which the grant was awarded

− the maximum amount awarded.

The publication can exceptionally be waived (on reasoned and duly substantiated request), if there is a risk that the disclosure could jeopardise your rights and freedoms under the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights or harm your commercial

interests.

• Data protection — The submission of a proposal under this call involves the collection, use and processing of personal data. This data will be processed in accordance with the applicable legal framework. It will be processed solely for the

purpose of evaluating your proposal, subsequent management of your grant and, if needed, programme monitoring, evaluation and communication. Details are explained in the Funding & Tenders Portal Privacy Statement.

Electronically signed on 17/12/2025 09:04 (UTC+01) in accordance with Article 11 of Commission Decision (EU) 2021/2121

Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM)

General Model Grant Agreement

(UCPM MGA — Multi & Mono)

Version 1.0 01 January 2025

Disclaimer This document is aimed at assisting applicants. It shows the full range of provisions that may be applied to this type of agreement, and is provided for information purposes only. The legally binding agreement will be that which is signed by the parties in the system.

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HISTORY OF CHANGES

Version Publication date Changes

1.0 26.05.2021  Initial version.

1.0 01.01.2025  Changes in Article 5 + Annex 2e: new options for Emergency Response Actions.

 Changes in Data Sheet + Article 6 + Annex 2,4: new options for unit costs in accordance with usual cost accounting practices (average personnel costs and civil protection intervention unit costs).

 Update to the new Financial Regulation 2024/2509.  Update of Article 10.3 Pillar-assessed participants.  Update of Article 21.1 Continuous reporting.

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GENERAL MODEL GRANT AGREEMENT FOR THE UNION CIVIL PROTECTION MECHANISM PROGRAMME (UCPM)1

(UCPM MGA — MULTI & MONO)

 Options [in green square brackets] will be automatically activated during grant agreement preparation in the IT tools. Options not chosen will automatically either not appear or appear as ‘not applicable’. Options chosen will appear without brackets and without the green instruction.

 For fields in [grey in square brackets], the system will insert the appropriate data.  Text in grey indicates that text which is used in other EU programmes is not applicable for this

programme.  Footnotes in green are internal instructions and will not appear in the text generated by the system

for signature.

GRANT AGREEMENT

Project [insert number] — [insert acronym]

PREAMBLE

This Agreement (‘the Agreement’) is between the following parties:

on the one part,

[OPTION 1: the European Union (‘EU’), represented by the European Commission (‘European Commission’ or ‘granting authority’),]

[OPTION 3 for direct management by executive agencies: the [European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA)] [European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA)] [European Research Council Executive Agency (ERCEA)] [European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA)] [European Innovation Council and SME Executive Agency (EISMEA)] [European Research Executive Agency (REA)] (‘EU executive agency’ or ‘granting authority’), under the powers delegated by the European Commission (‘European Commission’),]

1 Decision No 1313/2013/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 on a

Union Civil Protection Mechanism (OJ L 347, 20.12.2013, p. 924). Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2019/1310 of 31 July 2019 laying down rules on the operation of

the European Civil Protection Pool and rescEU (OJ L 204, 2.8.2019, p. 94) . Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2019/570 of 8 April 2019 laying down rules for the

implementation of Decision No 1313/2013/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards rescEU capacities (OJ L 99, 10.4.2019, p. 41).

EUROPEAN COMMISSION [NAME DG] [Name Directorate] [Name Unit]

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[OPTION 4 for indirect management by EU funding bodies: [insert name of funding body] (‘granting authority’)[, under the powers delegated by the European Commission (‘European Commission’)]]

and

on the other part,

1. ‘the coordinator’:

[COO legal name (short name)], PIC [number], established in [legal address],

[and the following other beneficiaries, if they sign their ‘accession form’ (see Annex 3 and Article 40):

2. [BEN legal name (short name)], PIC [number], established in [legal address],

[3. Joint Research Centre (JRC), PIC [number], established in RUE DE LA LOI 200, BRUSSELS 1049, Belgium,]

[same for each beneficiary] ]

Unless otherwise specified, references to ‘beneficiary’ or ‘beneficiaries’ include the coordinator and affiliated entities (if any).

If only one beneficiary signs the grant agreement (‘mono-beneficiary grant’), all provisions referring to the ‘coordinator’ or the ‘beneficiaries’ will be considered — mutatis mutandis — as referring to the beneficiary.

The parties referred to above have agreed to enter into the Agreement.

By signing the Agreement and the accession forms, the beneficiaries accept the grant and agree to implement the action under their own responsibility and in accordance with the Agreement, with all the obligations and terms and conditions it sets out.

The Agreement is composed of:

Preamble

Terms and Conditions (including Data Sheet)

Annex 1 Description of the action2

Annex 2 Estimated budget for the action

Annex 2a Additional information on unit costs and contributions (if applicable)

[OPTION for UCPM Emergency Response Actions: [OPTION if selected for the call: Annex 2e Complex funding rate calculator3]]

2 Template published on Portal Reference Documents.

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Annex 3 Accession forms (if applicable) 4

Annex 3a Declaration on joint and several liability of affiliated entities (if applicable) 5

Annex 4 Model for the financial statements

Annex 5 Specific rules (if applicable)

3 Template published on Portal Reference Documents. 4 Template published on Portal Reference Documents. 5 Template published on Portal Reference Documents.

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TERMS AND CONDITIONS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

GRANT AGREEMENT .................................................................................................................................. 3 PREAMBLE ..................................................................................................................................................... 3 TERMS AND CONDITIONS ......................................................................................................................... 6 DATA SHEET ................................................................................................................................................ 10 CHAPTER 1 GENERAL ....................................................................................................................... 16

ARTICLE 1 — SUBJECT OF THE AGREEMENT ................................................................ 16 ARTICLE 2 — DEFINITIONS................................................................................................. 16

CHAPTER 2 ACTION ........................................................................................................................... 17 ARTICLE 3 — ACTION .......................................................................................................... 17 ARTICLE 4 — DURATION AND STARTING DATE ........................................................... 18

CHAPTER 3 GRANT ............................................................................................................................ 18 ARTICLE 5 — GRANT ............................................................................................................ 18

5.1 Form of grant ......................................................................................................... 18 5.2 Maximum grant amount ......................................................................................... 18 5.3 Funding rate ........................................................................................................... 18 5.4 Estimated budget, budget categories and forms of funding ................................... 18 5.5 Budget flexibility ................................................................................................... 19

ARTICLE 6 — ELIGIBLE AND INELIGIBLE COSTS AND CONTRIBUTIONS ............... 19 6.1 General eligibility conditions ................................................................................. 19 6.2 Specific eligibility conditions for each budget category ........................................ 21 6.3 Ineligible costs and contributions .......................................................................... 27 6.4 Consequences of non-compliance .......................................................................... 29

CHAPTER 4 GRANT IMPLEMENTATION ..................................................................................... 29 SECTION 1 CONSORTIUM: BENEFICIARIES, AFFILIATED ENTITIES AND OTHER

PARTICIPANTS .............................................................................................................. 29 ARTICLE 7 — BENEFICIARIES ............................................................................................ 29 ARTICLE 8 — AFFILIATED ENTITIES ................................................................................ 31 ARTICLE 9 — OTHER PARTICIPANTS INVOLVED IN THE ACTION ............................ 32

9.1 Associated partners ................................................................................................ 32 9.2 Third parties giving in-kind contributions to the action ......................................... 33 9.3 Subcontractors ....................................................................................................... 33 9.4 Recipients of financial support to third parties ...................................................... 33

ARTICLE 10 — PARTICIPANTS WITH SPECIAL STATUS ............................................... 33 10.1 Non-EU participants .............................................................................................. 33 10.2 Participants which are international organisations ................................................. 34 10.3 Pillar-assessed participants .................................................................................... 34

SECTION 2 RULES FOR CARRYING OUT THE ACTION .......................................................... 36 ARTICLE 11 — PROPER IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ACTION ..................................... 36

11.1 Obligation to properly implement the action ......................................................... 36 11.2 Consequences of non-compliance .......................................................................... 37

ARTICLE 12 — CONFLICT OF INTERESTS ........................................................................ 37 12.1 Conflict of interests ................................................................................................ 37 12.2 Consequences of non-compliance .......................................................................... 37

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ARTICLE 13 — CONFIDENTIALITY AND SECURITY...................................................... 37 13.1 Sensitive information ............................................................................................. 37 13.2 Classified information ............................................................................................ 38 13.3 Consequences of non-compliance .......................................................................... 38

ARTICLE 14 — ETHICS AND VALUES ............................................................................... 38 14.1 Ethics ..................................................................................................................... 38 14.2 Values .................................................................................................................... 39 14.3 Consequences of non-compliance .......................................................................... 39

ARTICLE 15 — DATA PROTECTION .................................................................................. 39 15.1 Data processing by the granting authority ............................................................. 39 15.2 Data processing by the beneficiaries ...................................................................... 39 15.3 Consequences of non-compliance .......................................................................... 40

ARTICLE 16 — INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS (IPR) — BACKGROUND AND RESULTS — ACCESS RIGHTS AND RIGHTS OF USE ......................... 40

16.1 Background and access rights to background ........................................................ 40 16.2 Ownership of results .............................................................................................. 40 16.3 Rights of use of the granting authority on materials, documents and

information received for policy, information, communication, dissemination and publicity purposes ........................................................................................... 40

16.4 Specific rules on IPR, results and background ....................................................... 41 16.5 Consequences of non-compliance .......................................................................... 42

ARTICLE 17 — COMMUNICATION, DISSEMINATION AND VISIBILITY ..................... 42 17.1 Communication — Dissemination — Promoting the action.................................. 42 17.2 Visibility — European flag and funding statement ................................................ 42 17.3 Quality of information — Disclaimer .................................................................... 43 17.4 Specific communication, dissemination and visibility rules .................................. 43 17.5 Consequences of non-compliance .......................................................................... 43

ARTICLE 18 — SPECIFIC RULES FOR CARRYING OUT THE ACTION ........................ 43 18.1 Specific rules for carrying out the action ............................................................... 43 18.2 Consequences of non-compliance .......................................................................... 43

SECTION 3 GRANT ADMINISTRATION ........................................................................................ 44 ARTICLE 19 — GENERAL INFORMATION OBLIGATIONS ............................................ 44

19.1 Information requests .............................................................................................. 44 19.2 Participant Register data updates ........................................................................... 44 19.3 Information about events and circumstances which impact the action .................. 44 19.4 Consequences of non-compliance .......................................................................... 44

ARTICLE 20 — RECORD-KEEPING ..................................................................................... 44 20.1 Keeping records and supporting documents .......................................................... 44 20.2 Consequences of non-compliance .......................................................................... 46

ARTICLE 21 — REPORTING ................................................................................................. 46 21.1 Continuous reporting ............................................................................................. 46 21.2 Periodic reporting: Technical reports and financial statements ............................. 46 21.3 Currency for financial statements and conversion into euros ................................ 47 21.4 Reporting language ................................................................................................ 47 21.5 Consequences of non-compliance .......................................................................... 47

ARTICLE 22 — PAYMENTS AND RECOVERIES — CALCULATION OF AMOUNTS DUE ....................................................................................................................... 48

22.1 Payments and payment arrangements .................................................................... 48

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22.2 Recoveries .............................................................................................................. 48 22.3 Amounts due .......................................................................................................... 48 22.4 Enforced recovery .................................................................................................. 53 22.5 Consequences of non-compliance .......................................................................... 54

ARTICLE 23 — GUARANTEES ............................................................................................. 55 23.1 Prefinancing guarantee .......................................................................................... 55 23.2 Consequences of non-compliance .......................................................................... 55

ARTICLE 24 — CERTIFICATES ............................................................................................ 55 24.1 Operational verification report (OVR) ................................................................... 55 24.2 Certificate on the financial statements (CFS) ........................................................ 56 24.3 Certificate on the compliance of usual cost accounting practices (CoMUC) ........ 56 24.4 Systems and process audit (SPA) ........................................................................ 57 24.5 Consequences of non-compliance .......................................................................... 57

ARTICLE 25 — CHECKS, REVIEWS, AUDITS AND INVESTIGATIONS — EXTENSION OF FINDINGS ............................................................................... 57

25.1 Granting authority checks, reviews and audits ...................................................... 57 25.2 European Commission checks, reviews and audits in grants of other granting

authorities .............................................................................................................. 59 25.3 Access to records for assessing simplified forms of funding ................................. 59 25.4 OLAF, EPPO and ECA audits and investigations ................................................. 59 25.5 Consequences of checks, reviews, audits and investigations — Extension of

findings .................................................................................................................. 59 25.6 Consequences of non-compliance .......................................................................... 61

ARTICLE 26 — IMPACT EVALUATIONS ........................................................................... 61 26.1 Impact evaluation ................................................................................................... 61 26.2 Consequences of non-compliance .......................................................................... 61

CHAPTER 5 CONSEQUENCES OF NON-COMPLIANCE ............................................................ 61 SECTION 1 REJECTIONS AND GRANT REDUCTION ................................................................ 61

ARTICLE 27 — REJECTION OF COSTS AND CONTRIBUTIONS .................................... 61 27.1 Conditions .............................................................................................................. 61 27.2 Procedure ............................................................................................................... 61 27.3 Effects .................................................................................................................... 62

ARTICLE 28 — GRANT REDUCTION .................................................................................. 62 28.1 Conditions .............................................................................................................. 62 28.2 Procedure ............................................................................................................... 62 28.3 Effects .................................................................................................................... 63

SECTION 2 SUSPENSION AND TERMINATION ........................................................................... 63 ARTICLE 29 — PAYMENT DEADLINE SUSPENSION ...................................................... 63

29.1 Conditions .............................................................................................................. 63 29.2 Procedure ............................................................................................................... 63

ARTICLE 30 — PAYMENT SUSPENSION ........................................................................... 63 30.1 Conditions .............................................................................................................. 63 30.2 Procedure ............................................................................................................... 64

ARTICLE 31 — GRANT AGREEMENT SUSPENSION ....................................................... 64 31.1 Consortium-requested GA suspension ................................................................... 64 31.2 EU-initiated GA suspension .................................................................................. 65

ARTICLE 32 — GRANT AGREEMENT OR BENEFICIARY TERMINATION .................. 66 32.1 Consortium-requested GA termination .................................................................. 66

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32.2 Consortium-requested beneficiary termination ...................................................... 67 32.3 EU-initiated GA or beneficiary termination .......................................................... 68

SECTION 3 OTHER CONSEQUENCES: DAMAGES AND ADMINISTRATIVE SANCTIONS .................................................................................................................... 72

ARTICLE 33 — DAMAGES .................................................................................................... 72 33.1 Liability of the granting authority .......................................................................... 72 33.2 Liability of the beneficiaries .................................................................................. 72

ARTICLE 34 — ADMINISTRATIVE SANCTIONS AND OTHER MEASURES ................ 72 SECTION 4 FORCE MAJEURE ......................................................................................................... 73

ARTICLE 35 — FORCE MAJEURE ....................................................................................... 73 CHAPTER 6 FINAL PROVISIONS .................................................................................................... 73

ARTICLE 36 — COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE PARTIES ....................................... 73 36.1 Forms and means of communication — Electronic management .......................... 73 36.2 Date of communication .......................................................................................... 73 36.3 Addresses for communication ................................................................................ 74

ARTICLE 37 — INTERPRETATION OF THE AGREEMENT ............................................. 74 ARTICLE 38 — CALCULATION OF PERIODS AND DEADLINES ................................... 74 ARTICLE 39 — AMENDMENTS ........................................................................................... 74

39.1 Conditions .............................................................................................................. 74 39.2 Procedure ............................................................................................................... 75

ARTICLE 40 — ACCESSION AND ADDITION OF NEW BENEFICIARIES ..................... 75 40.1 Accession of the beneficiaries mentioned in the Preamble .................................... 75 40.2 Addition of new beneficiaries ................................................................................ 75

ARTICLE 41 — TRANSFER OF THE AGREEMENT ........................................................... 76 ARTICLE 42 — ASSIGNMENTS OF CLAIMS FOR PAYMENT AGAINST THE

GRANTING AUTHORITY .................................................................................. 76 ARTICLE 43 — APPLICABLE LAW AND SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTES ....................... 76

43.1 Applicable law ....................................................................................................... 76 43.2 Dispute settlement .................................................................................................. 77

ARTICLE 44 — ENTRY INTO FORCE .................................................................................. 77

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DATA SHEET

1. General data Project summary:

Project summary

Text from DoA Annex 1 Part A (same text as proposal abstract)

Keywords: [keywords from proposal]

Project number: [project number, e.g. 690853330]

Project name: [full title]

Project acronym: [acronym]

Call: [call ID, e.g. PROG-(SUBPROG-)YEAR-CALLABREV]

Topic: [topic ID, e.g. PROG-(SUBPROG-)YEAR-CALLABREV-NN/TOPICABBREV]

Type of action: [ToA, e.g. UCPM Project Grants]

Granting authority: [European Commission – EU] [European Commission – Euratom] [[name of Executive Agency]] [[name of EU funding body]]

Grant managed through EU Funding & Tenders Portal: Yes (eGrants)

[OPTION for SGAs: Framework Partnership Agreement No [insert number] — [insert acronym]]

Project starting date6: [OPTION 1 by default: first day of the month following the entry into force date] [OPTION 2 if selected for the grant: fixed date: [dd/mm/yyyy]]

Project end date: [dd/mm/yyyy]

Project duration: [number of months, e.g. 48 months]

[OPTION if selected for the grant: Linked action: Linked with other action:

- [insert linked action information, e.g. name, acronym, number, funded by (EU/name of other donor organisation), description (grant/ procurement/ prize/ equity investment/ repayable loan/etc)]

- [OPTION if selected for the grant: Specific linked action type: [Synergy][Blended finance (linked action)]]

- Collaboration agreement: [OPTION 1 by default: No] [OPTION 2 if selected for the call: Yes]

- … ]

Consortium agreement: [OPTION 1 by default: Yes] [OPTION 2 if selected for the call: No]

2. Participants

List of participants:

6 This date must normally be the first day of a month and later than the entry into force of the agreement. The RAO can decide on

another date, if justified by the applicants. However, the starting date may not be earlier than the submission date of the grant application – except if provided for by the basic act or in cases of extreme urgency and conflict prevention (Article 196 EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509).

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Num ber Role Short

name Legal name Count ry PIC

Total eligible costs

(BEN and AE)

Maximum grant amount Entry date Exit date

1 COO [countr y]

[amount] [amount] [date]

2 BEN [countr y]

[amount] [amount]

2.1 AE

[countr y]

[amount] [amount]

3 BEN [countr y] [amount] [amount] [date]

BEN

(UTRO) [countr

y] 0 0 [date]

4 BEN

(pillar- assessed)

[countr y]

[amount] [amount] [date]

5 BEN [countr y]

[amount] [amount] [date]

6 BEN

(IO, pillar- assessed)

[countr y]

[amount] [amount]

7 AP [countr y]

0 0

Total [amount] [amount]

Coordinator:

- [COO legal name (short name)]: from [insert date] to [insert date] - …

3. Grant

Maximum grant amount, total estimated eligible costs and contributions and funding rate:

Total eligible costs

(BEN and AE)

Funding rate

(%)

Maximum grant amount

(Annex 2)

Maximum grant amount

(award decision)

[amount] [...], […] [amount] [amount]

Grant form: Budget-based

Grant mode: Action grant

Budget categories/activity types:

- A. Personnel costs

- A.1 Employees, A.2 Natural persons under direct contract, A.3 Seconded persons

- A.4 SME owners and natural person beneficiaries

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- A.5 Volunteers

- B. Subcontracting costs

- C. Purchase costs

- C.1 Travel and subsistence

- C.2 Equipment

- C.3 Other goods, works and services

- D. Other cost categories

- D.1 Civil protection intervention unit costs

- E. Indirect costs

Cost eligibility options:

- Standard supplementary payments

- Average personnel costs (unit cost according to usual cost accounting practices)

- [OPTION if selected for the grant7: Limitation for subcontracting]

- Travel and subsistence:

- Travel: Unit or actual costs

- Accommodation: Unit or actual costs

- Subsistence: Unit or actual costs

- Equipment: [OPTION 1 by default: depreciation only][OPTION 2 if selected for the call: full cost only][OPTION 3 if selected for the call: depreciation and full cost for listed equipment][OPTION 4 if selected for the call: full cost and depreciation for listed equipment]

- Indirect cost flat-rate: [7%][0%] of the eligible direct costs (categories A-D, except volunteers costs and exempted specific cost categories, if any)

- VAT: No

- [OPTION if selected for the grant: Double funding for Synergy actions]

- Other ineligible costs

Budget flexibility: Yes (no flexibility cap)

4. Reporting, payments and recoveries

4.1 Continuous reporting (art 21)

Deliverables: see Funding & Tenders Portal Continuous Reporting tool

4.2 Periodic reporting and payments

Reporting and payment schedule (art 21, 22):

Reporting Payments

Reporting periods Type Deadline Type Deadline (time to pay)

RP No Month from Month to

7 This is a standard obligation for all EU grants. It may be unselected only for actions where subcontracting is a key/large part of the

action (e.g infrastructure projects; technical assistance, statistical programmes, etc).

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Initial

prefinancing [OPTION 1 by default: 30 days from entry into force/financial guarantee (if required) – whichever is the latest]

[OPTION 2: if selected for the call: n/a]

1 [number] [number] Additional prefinancing report

60 days after end of

reporting period

Additional prefinancing

[OPTION 1 if selected for the grant: 60 days from receiving additional prefinancing

report/financial guarantee (if required) – whichever is the latest][OPTION 2: n/a]

2 [number] [number] Periodic report 60 days after end of

reporting period

Interim payment [OPTION 1 if selected for the grant: 90 days from receiving periodic report][OPTION 2: n/a]

3 [number] [number] Periodic report 60 days after end of

reporting period

Final payment 90 days from receiving periodic report

Prefinancing payments and guarantees: [n/a]

Prefinancing payment Prefinancing guarantee

Type Amount Guarantee amount

Division per participant

Prefinancing 1 (initial) [amount] [[amount]] [n/a]

1 – [short name] [n/a] [[amount]]

2 – [short name]

Prefinancing 2 (additional)

[amount] [[amount]] [n/a]

1 – [short name] [n/a] [[amount]]

2 – [short name]

Reporting and payment modalities (art 21, 22):

Mutual Insurance Mechanism (MIM): No

Restrictions on distribution of initial prefinancing: The prefinancing may be distributed only if the minimum number of beneficiaries set out in the call conditions (if any) have acceded to the Agreement and only to beneficiaries that have acceded.

Interim payment ceiling (if any): 90% of the maximum grant amount

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No-profit rule: [OPTION if selected for the grant8: No/Yes]

Late payment interest: ECB + 3.5 %

Bank account for payments:

[IBAN account number and SWIFT/BIC, e.g. IT75Y0538703601000000198049; GEBABEBB]

Conversion into euros: Double conversion

Reporting language: Language of the Agreement

4.3 Certificates (art 24)

Certificates on the financial statements (CFS):

Conditions:

Schedule: interim/final payment, if threshold is reached

Standard threshold (beneficiary-level):

- financial statement: requested EU contribution to costs ≥ EUR 325 000

[OPTION if selected for the grant: Exempted beneficiaries:

- [BEN/AE legal name (short name)]

- [BEN/AE legal name (short name)]]

4.4 Recoveries (art 22)

First-line liability for recoveries:

Beneficiary termination: Beneficiary concerned

Final payment: Coordinator

After final payment: Beneficiary concerned

Joint and several liability for enforced recoveries (in case of non-payment):

[OPTION 1 by default: Limited joint and several liability of other beneficiaries — up to the maximum grant amount of the beneficiary] [OPTION 2 if selected for the grant: Unconditional joint and several liability of other beneficiaries — up to the maximum grant amount for the action] [OPTION 3 if selected for the grant: Individual financial responsibility: Each beneficiary is liable only for its own debts (and those of its affiliated entities, if any)]

[OPTION 1 by default: Joint and several liability of affiliated entities — n/a] [OPTION 2 if selected for the grant: Joint and several liability of the following affiliated entities with their beneficiary — up to the maximum grant amount for the affiliated entity indicated in Annex 2:

- [AE legal name (short name)], linked to [BEN legal name (short name)]

- [AE legal name (short name)], linked to [BEN legal name (short name)]]

5. Consequences of non-compliance, applicable law & dispute settlement forum

Applicable law (art 43):

8 This is a standard obligation for all EU grants. It may be unselected only under the conditions of 195(3) EU Financial Regulation

2024/2509: - actions with the objective to reinforce the financial capacity of the beneficiaries - actions where the continuity after their end is to be ensured by the income generated by the action - grants in the form of study, research or training scholarships paid to natural persons or as other forms of direct support paid to

natural persons who are most in need - grants which are entirely in the form of financing not linked to costs - actions implemented only by non-profit organisations (i.e. all beneficiaries and affiliated entities are non-profit organisations) - grants with a maximum amount of not more than EUR 60 000 (low value grants).

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Standard applicable law regime: EU law + law of Belgium

[OPTION if selected for the grant: Special applicable law regime:

- [BEN legal name (short name)]: [OPTION 1: no applicable law clause selected] [OPTION 2: [EU law][+][ law of [name of Member State or EFTA country]][+][general principles governing the law of international organisations and the general rules of international law]]

- [BEN legal name (short name)]: [OPTION 1: no applicable law clause selected] [OPTION 2: [EU law][+][ law of [insert name of Member State or EFTA country]][+][general principles governing the law of international organisations and the general rules of international law]]]

Dispute settlement forum (art 43):

Standard dispute settlement forum:

EU beneficiaries: EU General Court + EU Court of Justice (on appeal)

Non-EU beneficiaries: Courts of Brussels, Belgium (unless an international agreement provides for the enforceability of EU court judgements)

[OPTION if selected for the grant: Special dispute settlement forum:

- [BEN legal name (short name)]: Arbitration

- [BEN legal name (short name)]: Arbitration ]

6. Other

Specific rules (Annex 5): Yes

- Sensitive information with security recommendation

- EU classified information

- IPR, results and background, access rights and rights of use

- Rights of use on results

- Communication, dissemination and visibility

- Additional communication and dissemination activities

- Limited communication and visibility

- Visibility in field operations outside the EU

- Specific rules for carrying out the action

- Zero tolerance

- Transfer of assets at the end of the action

- EU restrictive measures

Standard time-limits after project end:

Confidentiality (for X years after final payment): 5

Record-keeping (for X years after final payment): 5 (or 3 for grants of not more than EUR 60 000)

Reviews (up to X years after final payment): 5 (or 3 for grants of not more than EUR 60 000)

Audits (up to X years after final payment): 5 (or 3 for grants of not more than EUR 60 000)

Extension of findings from other grants to this grant (no later than X years after final payment): 5 (or 3 for grants of not more than EUR 60 000)

Impact evaluation (up to X years after final payment): 5 (or 3 for grants of not more than EUR 60 000)

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CHAPTER 1 GENERAL

ARTICLE 1 — SUBJECT OF THE AGREEMENT

This Agreement sets out the rights and obligations and terms and conditions applicable to the grant awarded [OPTION for SGAs: under Framework Partnership Agreement No [insert number] — [insert acronym]] for the implementation of the action set out in Chapter 2.

ARTICLE 2 — DEFINITIONS

For the purpose of this Agreement, the following definitions apply:

Action — The project which is being funded in the context of this Agreement.

Grant — The grant awarded in the context of this Agreement.

EU grants — Grants awarded by EU institutions, bodies, offices or agencies (including EU executive agencies, EU regulatory agencies, EDA, joint undertakings, etc.).

Participants — Entities participating in the action as beneficiaries, affiliated entities, associated partners, third parties giving in-kind contributions, subcontractors or recipients of financial support to third parties.

Beneficiaries (BEN) — The signatories of this Agreement (either directly or through an accession form).

Affiliated entities (AE) — Entities affiliated to a beneficiary within the meaning of Article 190 of EU Financial Regulation 2024/25099 which participate in the action with similar rights and obligations as the beneficiaries (obligation to implement action tasks and right to charge costs and claim contributions).

Associated partners (AP) — Entities which participate in the action, but without the right to charge costs or claim contributions.

Purchases — Contracts for goods, works or services needed to carry out the action (e.g. equipment, consumables and supplies) but which are not part of the action tasks (see Annex 1).

Subcontracting — Contracts for goods, works or services that are part of the action tasks (see Annex 1).

9 For the definition, see Article 190 Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509 of the European Parliament and of

the Council of 23 September 2024 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union (recast) (‘EU Financial Regulation’) (OJ L, 2024/2509, 26.9.2024): “affiliated entities [are]: (a) entities that form a sole beneficiary [(i.e. where an entity is formed of several entities that satisfy the

criteria for being awarded a grant, including where the entity is specifically established for the purpose of implementing an action to be financed by a grant)];

(b) entities that satisfy the eligibility criteria and that do not fall within one of the situations referred to in Article 138(1) and 143(1) and that have a link with the beneficiary, in particular a legal or capital link, which is neither limited to the action nor established for the sole purpose of its implementation”.

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In-kind contributions — In-kind contributions within the meaning of Article 2(38) of EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509, i.e. non-financial resources made available free of charge by third parties.

Fraud — Fraud within the meaning of Article 3 of EU Directive 2017/137110 and Article 1 of the Convention on the protection of the European Communities’ financial interests, drawn up by the Council Act of 26 July 199511, as well as any other wrongful or criminal deception intended to result in financial or personal gain.

Irregularities — Any type of breach (regulatory or contractual) which could impact the EU financial interests, including irregularities within the meaning of Article 1(2) of EU Regulation 2988/9512.

Grave professional misconduct — Any type of unacceptable or improper behaviour in exercising one’s profession, especially by employees, including grave professional misconduct within the meaning of Article 138(1)(c) of EU Financial Regulation 2024/250913.

Applicable EU, international and national law — Any legal acts or other (binding or non- binding) rules and guidance in the area concerned.

Portal — EU Funding & Tenders Portal; electronic portal and exchange system managed by the European Commission and used by itself and other EU institutions, bodies, offices or agencies for the management of their funding programmes (grants, procurements, prizes, etc.).

CHAPTER 2 ACTION

ARTICLE 3 — ACTION

The grant is awarded for the action [insert project number] — [insert acronym] (‘action’), as described in Annex 1.

10 Directive (EU) 2017/1371 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 July 2017 on the fight against

fraud to the Union’s financial interests by means of criminal law (OJ L 198, 28.7.2017, p. 29). 11 OJ C 316, 27.11.1995, p. 48. 12 Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95 of 18 December 1995 on the protection of the European

Communities financial interests (OJ L 312, 23.12.1995, p. 1). 13 ‘Professional misconduct’ includes in particular, the following: violation of ethical standards of the

profession; wrongful conduct with impact on professional credibility; breach of generally accepted professional ethical standards; false declarations/misrepresentation of information; participation in a cartel or other agreement distorting competition; violation of IPR; attempting to influence decision-making processes by taking advantage, through misrepresentation, of a conflict of interests, or to obtain confidential information from public authorities to gain an advantage; incitement to discrimination, hatred or violence or similar activities contrary to the EU values where negatively affecting or risking to affect the performance of a legal commitment.

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[OPTION if selected for the grant (for linked actions)14: This action is linked to the action(s) set out in the Data Sheet (see Point 1) (‘linked actions’).]

ARTICLE 4 — DURATION AND STARTING DATE

The duration and the starting date of the action are set out in the Data Sheet (see Point 1).

CHAPTER 3 GRANT

ARTICLE 5 — GRANT

5.1 Form of grant

The grant is an action grant15 which takes the form of a budget-based mixed actual cost grant (i.e. a grant based on actual costs incurred, but which may also include other forms of funding, such as unit costs or contributions, flat-rate costs or contributions, lump sum costs or contributions or financing not linked to costs).

5.2 Maximum grant amount

The maximum grant amount is set out in the Data Sheet (see Point 3) and in the estimated budget (Annex 2).

5.3 Funding rate

The funding rate for costs is […]% of the action’s eligible costs. Contributions are not subject to any funding rate. [additional OPTION for UCPM Emergency Response Actions: [OPTION if selected for the call: Individual funding rates and maximum amounts per beneficiary and reporting period are set out in Annex 2e.]]

5.4 Estimated budget, budget categories and forms of funding

The estimated budget for the action is set out in Annex 2.

It contains the estimated eligible costs and contributions for the action, broken down by participant and budget category.

Annex 2 also shows the types of costs and contributions (forms of funding)16 to be used for each budget category.

[OPTION for UCPM Emergency Response Actions: [OPTION if selected for the call: If multiple combinations of complex funding rates are used, Annex 2 will be complemented by Annex 2e, which will specify the individual funding rates that cap the maximum amounts that may be requested for each beneficiary and reporting period.]]

14 Linked actions cover all types of joint/combined/coordinated actions, where the action implementation

should be linked to another action (e.g. Horizon complementary grants, Horizon joint actions; Horizon MSCA SNLS grants, EDIDP COFUND, JU implementing grants, etc.).

15 For the definition, see Article 183(2)(a) EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509: ‘action grant’ means an EU grant to finance “an action intended to help achieve a Union policy objective”.

16 See Article 125 EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509.

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If unit costs or contributions are used, the details on the calculation will be explained in Annex 2a.

5.5 Budget flexibility

The budget breakdown may be adjusted — without an amendment (see Article 39) — by transfers (between participants and budget categories), as long as this does not imply any substantive or important change to the description of the action in Annex 1.

However:

- changes to the budget category for volunteers (if used) always require an amendment

- changes to budget categories with lump sums costs or contributions (if used; including financing not linked to costs) always require an amendment

- changes to budget categories with higher funding rates or budget ceilings (if used) always require an amendment

- [OPTION for UCPM Emergency Response Actions: [OPTION if selected for the call: changes to Annex 2e always require an amendment]]

- addition of amounts for subcontracts not provided for in Annex 1 either require an amendment or simplified approval in accordance with Article 6.2

- other changes require an amendment or simplified approval, if specifically provided for in Article 6.2

- flexibility caps: not applicable.

ARTICLE 6 — ELIGIBLE AND INELIGIBLE COSTS AND CONTRIBUTIONS

In order to be eligible, costs and contributions must meet the eligibility conditions set out in this Article.

6.1 General eligibility conditions

The general eligibility conditions are the following:

(a) for actual costs:

(i) they must be actually incurred by the beneficiary

(ii) they must be incurred in the period set out in Article 4 (with the exception of costs relating to the submission of the final periodic report, which may be incurred afterwards; see Article 21)

(iii) they must be declared under one of the budget categories set out in Article 6.2 and Annex 2

(iv) they must be incurred in connection with the action as described in Annex 1 and necessary for its implementation

(v) they must be identifiable and verifiable, in particular recorded in the beneficiary’s accounts in accordance with the accounting standards applicable

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in the country where the beneficiary is established and with the beneficiary’s usual cost accounting practices

(vi) they must comply with the applicable national law on taxes, labour and social security and

(vii) they must be reasonable, justified and must comply with the principle of sound financial management, in particular regarding economy and efficiency

(b) for unit costs or contributions (if any):

(i) they must be declared under one of the budget categories set out in Article 6.2 and Annex 2

(ii) the units must:

- be actually used or produced by the beneficiary in the period set out in Article 4 (with the exception of units relating to the submission of the final periodic report, which may be used or produced afterwards; see Article 21)

- be necessary for the implementation of the action and

(iii) the number of units must be identifiable and verifiable, in particular supported by records and documentation (see Article 20)

(c) for flat-rate costs or contributions (if any):

(i) they must be declared under one of the budget categories set out in Article 6.2 and Annex 2

(ii) the costs or contributions to which the flat-rate is applied must:

- be eligible

- relate to the period set out in Article 4 (with the exception of costs or contributions relating to the submission of the final periodic report, which may be incurred afterwards; see Article 21)

(d) for lump sum costs or contributions (if any):

(i) they must be declared under one of the budget categories set out in Article 6.2 and Annex 2

(ii) the work must be properly implemented by the beneficiary in accordance with Annex 1

(iii) the deliverables/outputs must be achieved in the period set out in Article 4 (with the exception of deliverables/outputs relating to the submission of the final periodic report, which may be achieved afterwards; see Article 21)

(e) for unit, flat-rate or lump sum costs or contributions according to usual cost accounting practices (if any):

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(i) they must fulfil the general eligibility conditions for the type of cost concerned

(ii) the cost accounting practices must be applied in a consistent manner, based on objective criteria, regardless of the source of funding

(f) for financing not linked to costs (if any): the results must be achieved or the conditions must be fulfilled as described in Annex 1.

In addition, for direct cost categories (e.g. personnel, travel & subsistence, subcontracting and other direct costs) only costs that are directly linked to the action implementation and can therefore be attributed to it directly are eligible. They must not include any indirect costs (i.e. costs that are only indirectly linked to the action, e.g. via cost drivers).

6.2 Specific eligibility conditions for each budget category

For each budget category, the specific eligibility conditions are as follows:

Direct costs

A. Personnel costs

A.1 Costs for employees (or equivalent) are eligible as personnel costs if they fulfil the general eligibility conditions and are related to personnel working for the beneficiary under an employment contract (or equivalent appointing act) and assigned to the action.

They must be limited to salaries, social security contributions, taxes and other costs linked to the remuneration, if they arise from national law or the employment contract (or equivalent appointing act) and be calculated on the basis of the costs actually incurred, in accordance with the following method:

{daily rate for the person

multiplied by

number of day-equivalents worked on the action (rounded up or down to the nearest half-day)}.

The daily rate must be calculated as:

{annual personnel costs for the person

divided by

215}

The number of day-equivalents declared for a person must be identifiable and verifiable (see Article 20).

The total number of day-equivalents declared in EU grants, for a person for a year, cannot be higher than 215.

The personnel costs may also include supplementary payments for personnel assigned to the action (including payments on the basis of supplementary contracts regardless of their nature), if:

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- it is part of the beneficiary’s usual remuneration practices and is paid in a consistent manner whenever the same kind of work or expertise is required

- the criteria used to calculate the supplementary payments are objective and generally applied by the beneficiary, regardless of the source of funding used.

If the beneficiary uses average personnel costs (unit cost according to usual cost accounting practices), the personnel costs must fulfil the general eligibility conditions for such unit costs and the daily rate must be calculated:

- using the actual personnel costs recorded in the beneficiary’s accounts and excluding any costs which are ineligible or already included in other budget categories; the actual personnel costs may be adjusted on the basis of budgeted or estimated elements, if they are relevant for calculating the personnel costs, reasonable and correspond to objective and verifiable information

and

- according to usual cost accounting practices which are applied in a consistent manner, based on objective criteria, regardless of the source of funding.

A.2 and A.3 Costs for natural persons working under a direct contract other than an employment contract and costs for seconded persons by a third party against payment are also eligible as personnel costs, if they are assigned to the action, fulfil the general eligibility conditions and:

(a) work under conditions similar to those of an employee (in particular regarding the way the work is organised, the tasks that are performed and the premises where they are performed) and

(b) the result of the work belongs to the beneficiary (unless agreed otherwise).

They must be calculated on the basis of a rate which corresponds to the costs actually incurred for the direct contract or secondment and must not be significantly different from those for personnel performing similar tasks under an employment contract with the beneficiary.

A.4 The work of SME owners for the action (i.e. owners of beneficiaries that are small and medium-sized enterprises17 not receiving a salary) or natural person beneficiaries (i.e. beneficiaries that are natural persons not receiving a salary) may be declared as personnel costs, if they fulfil the general eligibility conditions and are calculated as unit costs in accordance with the method set out in Annex 2a.

17 For the definition, see Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC: micro, small or medium-sized

enterprise (SME) are enterprises - engaged in an economic activity, irrespective of their legal form (including, in particular, self-

employed persons and family businesses engaged in craft or other activities, and partnerships or associations regularly engaged in an economic activity) and

- employing fewer than 250 persons (expressed in ‘annual working units’ as defined in Article 5 of the Recommendation) and which have an annual turnover not exceeding EUR 50 million, and/or an annual balance sheet total not exceeding EUR 43 million.

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A.5 The work of volunteers for the action (i.e. persons who freely work for an organisation, on a non-compulsory basis and without being paid) may be declared as personnel costs, if and as declared eligible in the call conditions, if they fulfil the general eligibility conditions and are calculated as unit costs in accordance with the method set out in Annex 2a.

They:

- may not exceed the maximum amount for volunteers for the action (which corresponds to 50% of the total (ineligible and eligible) project costs and contributions estimated in the proposal)

- may not exceed the maximum amount for volunteers for each beneficiary set out in Annex 2

- may not make the maximum EU contribution to costs higher than the total eligible costs without volunteers.

If also indirect costs for volunteers are declared eligible in the call conditions, the amount of indirect costs may be added to the volunteers costs category in Annex 2, at the flat-rate set out in Point E.

B. Subcontracting costs

Subcontracting costs for the action (including related duties, taxes and charges) are eligible, if they are calculated on the basis of the costs actually incurred, fulfil the general eligibility conditions and are awarded using the beneficiary’s usual purchasing practices — provided these ensure subcontracts with best value for money (or if appropriate the lowest price) and that there is no conflict of interests (see Article 12).

Beneficiaries that are ‘contracting authorities/entities’ within the meaning of the EU Directives on public procurement must also comply with the applicable national law on public procurement.

[OPTION if selected for the grant18: Subcontracting may cover only a limited part of the action.]

The tasks to be subcontracted and the estimated cost for each subcontract must be set out in Annex 1 and the total estimated costs of subcontracting per beneficiary must be set out in Annex 2 (or may be approved ex post in the periodic report, if the use of subcontracting does not entail changes to the Agreement which would call into question the decision awarding the grant or breach the principle of equal treatment of applicants; ‘simplified approval procedure’).

C. Purchase costs

18 This is a standard obligation for all EU grants. It may be unselected only for actions where subcontracting is

a key/large part of the action (e.g infrastructure projects; PCP/PPI; technical assistance, statistical programmes, etc).

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Purchase costs for the action (including related duties, taxes and charges) are eligible if they fulfil the general eligibility conditions and are bought using the beneficiary’s usual purchasing practices — provided these ensure purchases with best value for money (or if appropriate the lowest price) and that there is no conflict of interests (see Article 12).

Beneficiaries that are ‘contracting authorities/entities’ within the meaning of the EU Directives on public procurement must also comply with the applicable national law on public procurement.

C.1 Travel and subsistence

Purchases for travel, accommodation and subsistence must be calculated as follows:

- travel: as unit costs in accordance with the method set out in Annex 2a if covered by Decision C(2021)3519 or otherwise as costs actually incurred and in line with the beneficiary’s usual practices on travel

- accommodation: as unit costs in accordance with the method set out in Annex 2a if covered by Decision C(2021)3520 or otherwise as costs actually incurred and in line with the beneficiary’s usual practices on travel

- subsistence: as unit costs in accordance with the method set out in Annex 2a if covered by Decision C(2021)3521 or otherwise as costs actually incurred and in line with the beneficiary’s usual practices on travel.

C.2 Equipment

[OPTION 1 by default (depreciation only):

Purchases of equipment, infrastructure or other assets used for the action must be declared as depreciation costs, calculated on the basis of the costs actually incurred and written off in accordance with international accounting standards and the beneficiary’s usual accounting practices.

Only the portion of the costs that corresponds to the rate of actual use for the action during the action duration can be taken into account.

Costs for renting or leasing equipment, infrastructure or other assets are also eligible, if they do not exceed the depreciation costs of similar equipment, infrastructure or assets and do not include any financing fees. ]

19 Commission Decision of 12 January 2021 authorising the use of unit costs for travel, accommodation and

subsistence costs under an action or work programme under the 2021-2027 multi-annual financial framework (C(2021)35).

20 Commission Decision of 12 January 2021 authorising the use of unit costs for travel, accommodation and subsistence costs under an action or work programme under the 2021-2027 multi-annual financial framework (C(2021)35).

21 Commission Decision of 12 January 2021 authorising the use of unit costs for travel, accommodation and subsistence costs under an action or work programme under the 2021-2027 multi-annual financial framework (C(2021)35).

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[OPTION 2 full cost only (if selected for the call22):

Purchases of equipment, infrastructure or other assets specifically for the action (or developed as part of the action tasks) may be declared as full capitalised costs if they fulfil the cost eligibility conditions applicable to their respective cost categories.

‘Capitalised costs’ means:

- costs incurred in the purchase or for the development of the equipment, infrastructure or other assets and

- which are recorded under a fixed asset account of the beneficiary in compliance with international accounting standards and the beneficiary’s usual cost accounting practices.

If such equipment, infrastructure or other assets are rented or leased, full costs for renting or leasing are eligible, if they do not exceed the depreciation costs of similar equipment, infrastructure or assets and do not include any financing fees.]

[OPTION 3 depreciation + full cost for listed equipment at grant level (if selected for the call23):

Purchases of equipment, infrastructure or other assets used for the action must be declared as depreciation costs, calculated on the basis of the costs actually incurred and written off in accordance with international accounting standards and the beneficiary’s usual accounting practices.

Only the portion of the costs that corresponds to the rate of actual use for the action during the action duration can be taken into account.

Costs for renting or leasing equipment, infrastructure or other assets are also eligible, if they do not exceed the depreciation costs of similar equipment, infrastructure or assets and do not include any financing fees.

[additional OPTION if selected for the grant24: Moreover, for the following equipment, infrastructure or other assets purchased specifically for the action (or developed as part of the action tasks):

- [insert name/type of equipment] - [insert name/type of equipment] [same for more equipment]

costs may exceptionally be declared as full capitalised costs, if they fulfil the cost eligibility conditions applicable to their respective cost categories.

22 To be used as an exception, only if justified by the nature of the actions and the context of the use of the

equipment or assets. 23 To be used as an exception, only if justified by the nature of the actions and the context of the use of the

equipment or assets. 24 Full purchase cost option and conditions must be specified in the call.

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‘Capitalised costs’ means:

- costs incurred in the purchase or for the development of the equipment, infrastructure or other assets and

- which are recorded under a fixed asset account of the beneficiary in compliance with international accounting standards and the beneficiary’s usual cost accounting practices.

If such equipment, infrastructure or other assets are rented or leased, full costs for renting or leasing are eligible, if they do not exceed the depreciation costs of similar equipment, infrastructure or assets and do not include any financing fees.]]

[OPTION 4 full cost + depreciation for listed equipment at grant level (if selected for the call25):

Purchases of equipment, infrastructure or other assets specifically for the action (or developed as part of the action tasks) may be declared as full capitalised costs if they fulfil the eligibility conditions applicable to their respective cost categories.

‘Capitalised costs’ means:

- costs incurred in the purchase or for the development of the equipment, infrastructure or other assets and,

- which are recorded under a fixed asset account of the beneficiary in compliance with international accounting standards and the beneficiary’s usual cost accounting practices.

If such equipment, infrastructure or other assets are rented or leased, full costs for renting or leasing are eligible, if they do not exceed the depreciation costs of similar equipment, infrastructure or assets and do not include any financing fees.

[additional OPTION if selected for the grant26: However, for the following equipment, infrastructure or other assets used for the action:

- [insert name/type of equipment] - [insert name/type of equipment] [same for more equipment]

the costs must be declared as depreciation costs, on the basis of the costs actually incurred and written off in accordance with international accounting standards and the beneficiary’s usual accounting practices.

Only the portion of the costs that corresponds to the rate of actual use for the action during the action duration can be taken into account.

25 To be used as an exception, only if justified by the nature of the actions and the context of the use of the

equipment or assets. 26 Depreciation option and conditions must be specified in the call.

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Costs for renting or leasing such equipment, infrastructure or other assets are also eligible, if they do not exceed the depreciation costs of similar equipment, infrastructure or assets and do not include any financing fees. ]]

C.3 Other goods, works and services

Purchases of other goods, works and services must be calculated on the basis of the costs actually incurred.

Such goods, works and services include, for instance, consumables and supplies, promotion, dissemination, protection of results, translations, publications, certificates and financial guarantees, if required under the Agreement.

D. Other cost categories

D. 1 Civil protection intervention unit costs

Costs related to personnel, transport and logistic resources and operations incurred in the context of interventions during the action may be declared as unit cost according to usual cost accounting practices, if and as declared eligible in the call conditions, if they fulfil the general eligibility conditions for such unit costs, comply with the conditions set out in Points A-C for the underlying types of costs (personnel, subcontracting and purchases), are incurred for activities eligible for such funding and the amount per unit is calculated:

- using the actual costs for the personnel, transport and logistics and operations recorded in the beneficiary’s accounts, attributed at the rate of use and excluding any costs which are ineligible or already included in other budget categories; the actual costs may be adjusted on the basis of budgeted or estimated elements, if they are relevant for calculating the costs, reasonable and correspond to objective and verifiable information

and

- according to usual cost accounting practices which are applied in a consistent manner, based on objective criteria, regardless of the source of funding.

Indirect costs

E. Indirect costs

Indirect costs will be reimbursed at the flat-rate of [7%][0%] of the eligible direct costs (categories A-D, except volunteers costs and exempted specific cost categories, if any).

Contributions

Not applicable

6.3 Ineligible costs and contributions

The following costs or contributions are ineligible:

(a) costs or contributions that do not comply with the conditions set out above (Article 6.1 and 6.2), in particular:

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(i) costs related to return on capital and dividends paid by a beneficiary

(ii) debt and debt service charges

(iii) provisions for future losses or debts

(iv) interest owed

(v) currency exchange losses

(vi) bank costs charged by the beneficiary’s bank for transfers from the granting authority

(vii) excessive or reckless expenditure

(viii) VAT (always ineligible)

(ix) costs incurred or contributions for activities implemented during grant agreement suspension (see Article 31)

(x) in-kind contributions by third parties

(b) costs or contributions declared under other EU grants (or grants awarded by an EU Member State, non-EU country or other body implementing the EU budget), except for the following cases:

(i) [OPTION 1 by default: Synergy actions: not applicable] [OPTION 2 if selected for the grant: if the grants are part of jointly coordinated Synergy actions and the funding under the grants does not go above 100% of the costs and contributions declared to them]

(ii) if the action grant is combined with an operating grant27 running during the same period and the beneficiary can demonstrate that the operating grant does not cover any (direct or indirect) costs of the action grant

(c) costs or contributions for staff of a national (or regional/local) administration, for activities that are part of the administration’s normal activities (i.e. not undertaken only because of the grant)

(d) costs or contributions (especially travel and subsistence) for staff or representatives of EU institutions, bodies or agencies

(e) other28:

(i) country restrictions for eligible costs: not applicable

(ii) costs or contributions declared specifically ineligible in the call conditions.

27 For the definition, see Article 183(2)(b) EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509: ‘operating grant’ means an EU grant to finance “the functioning of a body which has an objective forming part of and supporting an EU policy”.

28 Condition must be specified in the call.

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6.4 Consequences of non-compliance

If a beneficiary declares costs or contributions that are ineligible, they will be rejected (see Article 27).

This may also lead to other measures described in Chapter 5.

CHAPTER 4 GRANT IMPLEMENTATION

SECTION 1 CONSORTIUM: BENEFICIARIES, AFFILIATED ENTITIES AND OTHER PARTICIPANTS

ARTICLE 7 — BENEFICIARIES

The beneficiaries, as signatories of the Agreement, are fully responsible towards the granting authority for implementing it and for complying with all its obligations.

They must implement the Agreement to their best abilities, in good faith and in accordance with all the obligations and terms and conditions it sets out.

They must have the appropriate resources to implement the action and implement the action under their own responsibility and in accordance with Article 11. If they rely on affiliated entities or other participants (see Articles 8 and 9), they retain sole responsibility towards the granting authority and the other beneficiaries.

They are jointly responsible for the technical implementation of the action. If one of the beneficiaries fails to implement their part of the action, the other beneficiaries must ensure that this part is implemented by someone else (without being entitled to an increase of the maximum grant amount and subject to an amendment; see Article 39). The financial responsibility of each beneficiary in case of recoveries is governed by Article 22.

The beneficiaries (and their action) must remain eligible under the EU programme funding the grant for the entire duration of the action. Costs and contributions will be eligible only as long as the beneficiary and the action are eligible.

The internal roles and responsibilities of the beneficiaries are divided as follows:

(a) Each beneficiary must:

(i) keep information stored in the Portal Participant Register up to date (see Article 19)

(ii) inform the granting authority (and the other beneficiaries) immediately of any events or circumstances likely to affect significantly or delay the implementation of the action (see Article 19)

(iii) submit to the coordinator in good time:

- the prefinancing guarantees (if required; see Article 23)

- the financial statements and certificates on the financial statements (CFS) (if required; see Articles 21 and 24.2 and Data Sheet, Point 4.3)

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- the contribution to the deliverables and technical reports (see Article 21)

- any other documents or information required by the granting authority under the Agreement

(iv) submit via the Portal data and information related to the participation of their affiliated entities.

(b) The coordinator must:

(i) monitor that the action is implemented properly (see Article 11)

(ii) act as the intermediary for all communications between the consortium and the granting authority, unless the Agreement or granting authority specifies otherwise, and in particular:

- submit the prefinancing guarantees to the granting authority (if any)

- request and review any documents or information required and verify their quality and completeness before passing them on to the granting authority

- submit the deliverables and reports to the granting authority

- inform the granting authority about the payments made to the other beneficiaries (report on the distribution of payments; if required, see Articles 22 and 32)

(iii) distribute the payments received from the granting authority to the other beneficiaries without unjustified delay (see Article 22).

The coordinator may not delegate or subcontract the above-mentioned tasks to any other beneficiary or third party (including affiliated entities).

However, coordinators which are public bodies may delegate the tasks set out in Point (b)(ii) last indent and (iii) above to entities with ‘authorisation to administer’ which they have created or which are controlled by or affiliated to them. In this case, the coordinator retains sole responsibility for the payments and for compliance with the obligations under the Agreement.

Moreover, coordinators which are ‘sole beneficiaries’29 (or similar, such as European research infrastructure consortia (ERICs)) may delegate the tasks set out in Point (b)(i) to (iii) above to one of their members. The coordinator retains sole responsibility for compliance with the obligations under the Agreement.

29 For the definition, see Article 190(2) EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509: “Where several entities satisfy

the criteria for being awarded a grant and together form one entity, that entity may be treated as the sole beneficiary, including where it is specifically established for the purpose of implementing the action financed by the grant.”

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The beneficiaries must have internal arrangements regarding their operation and co- ordination, to ensure that the action is implemented properly.

If required by the granting authority (see Data Sheet, Point 1), these arrangements must be set out in a written consortium agreement between the beneficiaries, covering for instance:

- the internal organisation of the consortium

- the management of access to the Portal

- different distribution keys for the payments and financial responsibilities in case of recoveries (if any)

- additional rules on rights and obligations related to background and results (see Article 16)

- settlement of internal disputes

- liability, indemnification and confidentiality arrangements between the beneficiaries.

The internal arrangements must not contain any provision contrary to this Agreement.

[OPTION if selected for the grant: For linked actions, the beneficiaries must have arrangements with the participants of the other action, to ensure that both actions are implemented and coordinated properly.

If required by the granting authority (see Data Sheet, Point 1), these arrangements must be set out in a written collaboration agreement with the participants of the other action or, if the consortium is the same, as part of their consortium agreement, covering for instance:

- the internal organisation and decision making processes

- the areas where close collaboration/synchronisation is needed (e.g. on management of outputs, common approaches towards standardisation, links with regulatory and policy activities, common communication and dissemination activities, sharing of information, access to background and results, etc.)

- settlement of disputes

- liability, indemnification and confidentiality arrangements between the beneficiaries in both actions.

The arrangements with the participants of the other action must not contain any provision contrary to this Agreement.]

ARTICLE 8 — AFFILIATED ENTITIES

[OPTION 1 if selected for the grant: The following entities which are linked to a beneficiary will participate in the action as ‘affiliated entities’:

- [AE legal name (short name)], PIC [number], linked to [BEN legal name (short name)]

- [AE legal name (short name)], PIC [number], linked to [BEN legal name (short name)]

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[same for more AE]

Affiliated entities can charge costs and contributions to the action under the same conditions as the beneficiaries and must implement the action tasks attributed to them in Annex 1 in accordance with Article 11. Their costs and contributions will be included in Annex 2 and will be taken into account for the calculation of the grant.

The beneficiaries must ensure that all their obligations under this Agreement also apply to their affiliated entities.

The beneficiaries must ensure that the bodies mentioned in Article 25 (e.g. granting authority, OLAF, Court of Auditors (ECA), etc.) can exercise their rights also towards the affiliated entities.

Breaches by affiliated entities will be handled in the same manner as breaches by beneficiaries. Recovery of undue amounts will be handled through the beneficiaries.

If the granting authority requires joint and several liability of affiliated entities (see Data Sheet, Point 4.4), they must sign the declaration set out in Annex 3a and may be held liable in case of enforced recoveries against their beneficiaries (see Article 22.2 and 22.4). ]

[OPTION 2: Not applicable]

ARTICLE 9 — OTHER PARTICIPANTS INVOLVED IN THE ACTION

9.1 Associated partners

[OPTION 1 if selected for the grant: The following entities which cooperate with a beneficiary will participate in the action as ‘associated partners’:

- [AP legal name (short name)], PIC [number] - [AP legal name (short name)], PIC [number] [same for more AP]

Associated partners must implement the action tasks attributed to them in Annex 1 in accordance with Article 11. They may not charge costs or contributions to the action and the costs for their tasks are not eligible.

The tasks must be set out in Annex 1.

The beneficiaries must ensure that their contractual obligations under Articles 11 (proper implementation), 12 (conflict of interests), 13 (confidentiality and security), 14 (ethics), 17.2 (visibility), 18 (specific rules for carrying out action), 19 (information) and 20 (record- keeping) also apply to the associated partners.

The beneficiaries must ensure that the bodies mentioned in Article 25 (e.g. granting authority, OLAF, Court of Auditors (ECA), etc.) can exercise their rights also towards the associated partners.]

[OPTION 2: Not applicable]

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9.2 Third parties giving in-kind contributions to the action

Other third parties may give in-kind contributions to the action (i.e. personnel, equipment, other goods, works and services, etc. which are free-of-charge), if necessary for the implementation.

Third parties giving in-kind contributions do not implement any action tasks. They may not charge costs or contributions to the action and the costs for the in-kind contributions are not eligible.

The third parties and their in-kind contributions should be set out in Annex 1.

9.3 Subcontractors

Subcontractors may participate in the action, if necessary for the implementation.

Subcontractors must implement their action tasks in accordance with Article 11. The costs for the subcontracted tasks (invoiced price from the subcontractor) are eligible and may be charged by the beneficiaries, under the conditions set out in Article 6. The costs will be included in Annex 2 as part of the beneficiaries’ costs.

The beneficiaries must ensure that their contractual obligations under Articles 11 (proper implementation), 12 (conflict of interest), 13 (confidentiality and security), 14 (ethics), 17.2 (visibility), 18 (specific rules for carrying out action), 19 (information) and 20 (record- keeping) also apply to the subcontractors.

The beneficiaries must ensure that the bodies mentioned in Article 25 (e.g. granting authority, OLAF, Court of Auditors (ECA), etc.) can exercise their rights also towards the subcontractors.

9.4 Recipients of financial support to third parties

Not applicable

ARTICLE 10 — PARTICIPANTS WITH SPECIAL STATUS

10.1 Non-EU participants

Participants which are established in a non-EU country (if any) undertake to comply with their obligations under the Agreement and:

- to respect general principles (including fundamental rights, values and ethical principles, environmental and labour standards, rules on classified information, intellectual property rights, visibility of funding and protection of personal data)

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- for the submission of certificates under Article 24: to use qualified external auditors which are independent and comply with comparable standards as those set out in EU Directive 2006/43/EC30

- for the controls under Article 25: to allow for checks, reviews, audits and investigations (including on-the-spot checks, visits and inspections) by the bodies mentioned in that Article (e.g. granting authority, OLAF, Court of Auditors (ECA), etc.).

Special rules on dispute settlement apply (see Data Sheet, Point 5).

10.2 Participants which are international organisations

Participants which are international organisations (IOs; if any) undertake to comply with their obligations under the Agreement and:

- to respect general principles (including fundamental rights, values and ethical principles, environmental and labour standards, rules on classified information, intellectual property rights, visibility of funding and protection of personal data)

- for the submission of certificates under Article 24: to use either independent public officers or external auditors which comply with comparable standards as those set out in EU Directive 2006/43/EC31

- for the controls under Article 25: to allow for the checks, reviews, audits and investigations by the bodies mentioned in that Article, taking into account the specific agreements concluded by them and the EU (if any).

For such participants, nothing in the Agreement will be interpreted as a waiver of their privileges or immunities, as accorded by their constituent documents or international law.

Special rules on applicable law and dispute settlement apply (see Article 43 and Data Sheet, Point 5).

10.3 Pillar-assessed participants

Pillar-assessed participants (if any) may rely on their own systems, rules and procedures, in so far as they have been positively assessed and do not call into question the decision awarding the grant or breach the principle of equal treatment of applicants or beneficiaries.

‘Pillar-assessment’ means a review by the European Commission on the systems, rules and procedures which participants use for managing EU grants (in particular internal control system, accounting system, external audits, financing of third parties, rules on recovery and exclusion, information on recipients and protection of personal data; see Article 157 EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509).

30 Directive 2006/43/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 May 2006 on statutory audits of

annual accounts and consolidated accounts (OJ L 157, 9.6.2006, p. 87). 31 Directive 2006/43/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 May 2006 on statutory audits of

annual accounts and consolidated accounts (OJ L 157, 9.6.2006, p. 87).

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Participants with a positive pillar assessment may rely on their own systems, rules and procedures, in particular for:

- record-keeping (Article 20): may be done in accordance with internal standards, rules and procedures

- currency conversion for financial statements (Article 21): may be done in accordance with usual accounting practices

- guarantees (Article 23): for public law bodies, prefinancing guarantees are not needed

- certificates (Article 24):

- certificates on the financial statements (CFS): may be provided by their regular internal or external auditors and in accordance with their internal financial regulations and procedures

- certificates on usual accounting practices (CoMUC): are not needed if those practices are covered by an ex-ante assessment

and use the following specific rules, for:

- recoveries (Article 22): in case of financial support to third parties, there will be no recovery if the participant has done everything possible to retrieve the undue amounts from the third party receiving the support (including legal proceedings) and non-recovery is not due to an error or negligence on its part

- checks, reviews, audits and investigations by the EU (Article 25): will be conducted taking into account the rules and procedures specifically agreed between them and the framework agreement (if any)

- impact evaluation (Article 26): will be conducted in accordance with the participant’s internal rules and procedures and the framework agreement (if any)

- grant agreement termination (Article 32): the final grant amount and final payment will be calculated taking into account also costs relating to contracts due for execution only after termination takes effect, if the contract was entered into before the pre-information letter was received and could not reasonably be terminated on legal grounds

- liability for damages (Article 33.2): the granting authority must be compensated for damage it sustains as a result of the implementation of the action or because the action was not implemented in full compliance with the Agreement only if the damage is due to an infringement of the participant’s internal rules and procedures or due to a violation of third parties’ rights by the participant or one of its employees or individual for whom the employees are responsible.

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Participants whose pillar assessment covers procurement and granting procedures may also do purchases, subcontracting and financial support to third parties (Article 6.2) in accordance with their internal rules and procedures for purchases, subcontracting and financial support.

Participants whose pillar assessment covers data protection rules may rely on their internal standards, rules and procedures for data protection (Article 15).

The participants may however not rely on provisions which would breach the principle of equal treatment of applicants or beneficiaries or call into question the decision awarding the grant, such as in particular:

- eligibility (Article 6)

- consortium roles and set-up (Articles 7-9)

- security and ethics (Articles 13, 14)

- IPR (including background and results, access rights and rights of use), communication, dissemination and visibility (Articles 16 and 17)

- information obligation (Article 19)

- payment, reporting and amendments (Articles 21, 22 and 39)

- rejections, reductions, suspensions and terminations (Articles 27, 28, 29-32)

If the pillar assessment was subject to remedial measures, reliance on the internal systems, rules and procedures is subject to compliance with those remedial measures.

Participants must inform the coordinator without delay of any changes to the systems, rules and procedures that were part of the pillar assessment. The coordinator must immediately inform the granting authority.

Pillar-assessed participants that have also concluded a framework agreement with the EU, may moreover — under the same conditions as those above (i.e. not call into question the decision awarding the grant or breach the principle of equal treatment of applicants or beneficiaries) — rely on the provisions set out in that framework agreement.

SECTION 2 RULES FOR CARRYING OUT THE ACTION

ARTICLE 11 — PROPER IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ACTION

11.1 Obligation to properly implement the action

The beneficiaries must implement the action as described in Annex 1 and in compliance with the provisions of the Agreement, the call conditions and all legal obligations under applicable EU, international and national law.

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11.2 Consequences of non-compliance

If a beneficiary breaches any of its obligations under this Article, the grant may be reduced (see Article 28).

Such breaches may also lead to other measures described in Chapter 5.

ARTICLE 12 — CONFLICT OF INTERESTS

12.1 Conflict of interests

The beneficiaries must take all measures to prevent any situation where the impartial and objective implementation of the Agreement could be compromised for reasons involving family, emotional life, political or national affinity, economic interest or any other direct or indirect interest (‘conflict of interests’).

They must formally notify the granting authority without delay of any situation constituting or likely to lead to a conflict of interests and immediately take all the necessary steps to rectify this situation.

The granting authority may verify that the measures taken are appropriate and may require additional measures to be taken by a specified deadline.

12.2 Consequences of non-compliance

If a beneficiary breaches any of its obligations under this Article, the grant may be reduced (see Article 28) and the grant or the beneficiary may be terminated (see Article 32).

Such breaches may also lead to other measures described in Chapter 5.

ARTICLE 13 — CONFIDENTIALITY AND SECURITY

13.1 Sensitive information

The parties must keep confidential any data, documents or other material (in any form) that is identified as sensitive in writing (‘sensitive information’) — during the implementation of the action and for at least until the time-limit set out in the Data Sheet (see Point 6).

If a beneficiary requests, the granting authority may agree to keep such information confidential for a longer period.

Unless otherwise agreed between the parties, they may use sensitive information only to implement the Agreement.

The beneficiaries may disclose sensitive information to their personnel or other participants involved in the action only if they:

(a) need to know it in order to implement the Agreement and

(b) are bound by an obligation of confidentiality.

The granting authority may disclose sensitive information to its staff and to other EU institutions and bodies.

It may moreover disclose sensitive information to third parties, if:

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(a) this is necessary to implement the Agreement or safeguard the EU financial interests and

(b) the recipients of the information are bound by an obligation of confidentiality.

The confidentiality obligations no longer apply if:

(a) the disclosing party agrees to release the other party

(b) the information becomes publicly available, without breaching any confidentiality obligation

(c) the disclosure of the sensitive information is required by EU, international or national law.

Specific confidentiality rules (if any) are set out in Annex 5.

13.2 Classified information

The parties must handle classified information in accordance with the applicable EU, international or national law on classified information (in particular, Decision 2015/44432 and its implementing rules).

Deliverables which contain classified information must be submitted according to special procedures agreed with the granting authority.

Action tasks involving classified information may be subcontracted only after explicit approval (in writing) from the granting authority.

Classified information may not be disclosed to any third party (including participants involved in the action implementation) without prior explicit written approval from the granting authority.

Specific security rules (if any) are set out in Annex 5.

13.3 Consequences of non-compliance

If a beneficiary breaches any of its obligations under this Article, the grant may be reduced (see Article 28).

Such breaches may also lead to other measures described in Chapter 5.

ARTICLE 14 — ETHICS AND VALUES

14.1 Ethics

The action must be carried out in line with the highest ethical standards and the applicable EU, international and national law on ethical principles.

32 Commission Decision 2015/444/EC, Euratom of 13 March 2015 on the security rules for protecting EU

classified information (OJ L 72, 17.3.2015, p. 53).

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Specific ethics rules (if any) are set out in Annex 5.

14.2 Values

The beneficiaries must commit to and ensure the respect of basic EU values (such as respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and human rights, including the rights of minorities).

Specific rules on values (if any) are set out in Annex 5.

14.3 Consequences of non-compliance

If a beneficiary breaches any of its obligations under this Article, the grant may be reduced (see Article 28).

Such breaches may also lead to other measures described in Chapter 5.

ARTICLE 15 — DATA PROTECTION

15.1 Data processing by the granting authority

Any personal data under the Agreement will be processed under the responsibility of the data controller of the granting authority in accordance with and for the purposes set out in the Portal Privacy Statement.

For grants where the granting authority is the European Commission, an EU regulatory or executive agency, joint undertaking or other EU body, the processing will be subject to Regulation 2018/172533.

15.2 Data processing by the beneficiaries

The beneficiaries must process personal data under the Agreement in compliance with the applicable EU, international and national law on data protection (in particular, Regulation 2016/67934).

They must ensure that personal data is:

- processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner in relation to the data subjects

- collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes and not further processed in a manner that is incompatible with those purposes

- adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary in relation to the purposes for which they are processed

33 Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the

protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 and Decision No 1247/2002/EC (OJ L 295, 21.11.2018, p. 39).

34 Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (‘GDPR’) (OJ L 119, 4.5.2016, p. 1).

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- accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date

- kept in a form which permits identification of data subjects for no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which the data is processed and

- processed in a manner that ensures appropriate security of the data.

The beneficiaries may grant their personnel access to personal data only if it is strictly necessary for implementing, managing and monitoring the Agreement. The beneficiaries must ensure that the personnel is under a confidentiality obligation.

The beneficiaries must inform the persons whose data are transferred to the granting authority and provide them with the Portal Privacy Statement.

15.3 Consequences of non-compliance

If a beneficiary breaches any of its obligations under this Article, the grant may be reduced (see Article 28).

Such breaches may also lead to other measures described in Chapter 5.

ARTICLE 16 — INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS (IPR) — BACKGROUND AND RESULTS — ACCESS RIGHTS AND RIGHTS OF USE

16.1 Background and access rights to background

The beneficiaries must give each other and the other participants access to the background identified as needed for implementing the action, subject to any specific rules in Annex 5.

‘Background’ means any data, know-how or information — whatever its form or nature (tangible or intangible), including any rights such as intellectual property rights — that is:

(a) held by the beneficiaries before they acceded to the Agreement and

(b) needed to implement the action or exploit the results.

If background is subject to rights of a third party, the beneficiary concerned must ensure that it is able to comply with its obligations under the Agreement.

16.2 Ownership of results

The granting authority does not obtain ownership of the results produced under the action.

‘Results’ means any tangible or intangible effect of the action, such as data, know-how or information, whatever its form or nature, whether or not it can be protected, as well as any rights attached to it, including intellectual property rights.

16.3 Rights of use of the granting authority on materials, documents and information received for policy, information, communication, dissemination and publicity purposes

The granting authority has the right to use non-sensitive information relating to the action and materials and documents received from the beneficiaries (notably summaries for publication, deliverables, as well as any other material, such as pictures or audio-visual material, in paper

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or electronic form) for policy, information, communication, dissemination and publicity purposes — during the action or afterwards.

The right to use the beneficiaries’ materials, documents and information is granted in the form of a royalty-free, non-exclusive and irrevocable licence, which includes the following rights:

(a) use for its own purposes (in particular, making them available to persons working for the granting authority or any other EU service (including institutions, bodies, offices, agencies, etc.) or EU Member State institution or body; copying or reproducing them in whole or in part, in unlimited numbers; and communication through press information services)

(b) distribution to the public (in particular, publication as hard copies and in electronic or digital format, publication on the internet, as a downloadable or non-downloadable file, broadcasting by any channel, public display or presentation, communicating through press information services, or inclusion in widely accessible databases or indexes)

(c) editing or redrafting (including shortening, summarising, inserting other elements (e.g. meta-data, legends, other graphic, visual, audio or text elements), extracting parts (e.g. audio or video files), dividing into parts, use in a compilation)

(d) translation

(e) storage in paper, electronic or other form

(f) archiving, in line with applicable document-management rules

(g) the right to authorise third parties to act on its behalf or sub-license to third parties the modes of use set out in Points (b), (c), (d) and (f), if needed for the information, communication and publicity activity of the granting authority and

(h) processing, analysing, aggregating the materials, documents and information received and producing derivative works.

The rights of use are granted for the whole duration of the industrial or intellectual property rights concerned.

If materials or documents are subject to moral rights or third party rights (including intellectual property rights or rights of natural persons on their image and voice), the beneficiaries must ensure that they comply with their obligations under this Agreement (in particular, by obtaining the necessary licences and authorisations from the rights holders concerned).

Where applicable, the granting authority will insert the following information:

“© – [year] – [name of the copyright owner]. All rights reserved. Licensed to the [name of granting authority] under conditions.”

16.4 Specific rules on IPR, results and background

Specific rules regarding intellectual property rights, results and background (if any) are set out in Annex 5.

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16.5 Consequences of non-compliance

If a beneficiary breaches any of its obligations under this Article, the grant may be reduced (see Article 28).

Such a breach may also lead to other measures described in Chapter 5.

ARTICLE 17 — COMMUNICATION, DISSEMINATION AND VISIBILITY

17.1 Communication — Dissemination — Promoting the action

Unless otherwise agreed with the granting authority, the beneficiaries must promote the action and its results by providing targeted information to multiple audiences (including the media and the public), in accordance with Annex 1 and in a strategic, coherent and effective manner.

Before engaging in a communication or dissemination activity expected to have a major media impact, the beneficiaries must inform the granting authority.

17.2 Visibility — European flag and funding statement

Unless otherwise agreed with the granting authority, communication activities of the beneficiaries related to the action (including media relations, conferences, seminars, information material, such as brochures, leaflets, posters, presentations, etc., in electronic form, via traditional or social media, etc.), dissemination activities and any infrastructure, equipment, vehicles, supplies or major result funded by the grant must acknowledge EU support and display the European flag (emblem) and funding statement (translated into local languages, where appropriate):

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The emblem must remain distinct and separate and cannot be modified by adding other visual marks, brands or text.

Apart from the emblem, no other visual identity or logo may be used to highlight the EU support.

When displayed in association with other logos (e.g. of beneficiaries or sponsors), the emblem must be displayed at least as prominently and visibly as the other logos.

For the purposes of their obligations under this Article, the beneficiaries may use the emblem without first obtaining approval from the granting authority. This does not, however, give them the right to exclusive use. Moreover, they may not appropriate the emblem or any similar trademark or logo, either by registration or by any other means.

17.3 Quality of information — Disclaimer

Any communication or dissemination activity related to the action must use factually accurate information.

Moreover, it must indicate the following disclaimer (translated into local languages where appropriate):

“Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or [name of the granting authority]. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.”

17.4 Specific communication, dissemination and visibility rules

Specific communication, dissemination and visibility rules (if any) are set out in Annex 5.

17.5 Consequences of non-compliance

If a beneficiary breaches any of its obligations under this Article, the grant may be reduced (see Article 28).

Such breaches may also lead to other measures described in Chapter 5.

ARTICLE 18 — SPECIFIC RULES FOR CARRYING OUT THE ACTION

18.1 Specific rules for carrying out the action

Specific rules for implementing the action (if any) are set out in Annex 5.

18.2 Consequences of non-compliance

If a beneficiary breaches any of its obligations under this Article, the grant may be reduced (see Article 28).

Such a breach may also lead to other measures described in Chapter 5.

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SECTION 3 GRANT ADMINISTRATION

ARTICLE 19 — GENERAL INFORMATION OBLIGATIONS

19.1 Information requests

The beneficiaries must provide — during the action or afterwards and in accordance with Article 7 — any information requested in order to verify eligibility of the costs or contributions declared, proper implementation of the action and compliance with the other obligations under the Agreement.

The information provided must be accurate, precise and complete and in the format requested, including electronic format.

19.2 Participant Register data updates

The beneficiaries must keep — at all times, during the action or afterwards — their information stored in the Portal Participant Register up to date, in particular, their name, address, legal representatives, legal form and organisation type.

19.3 Information about events and circumstances which impact the action

The beneficiaries must immediately inform the granting authority (and the other beneficiaries) of any of the following:

(a) events which are likely to affect or delay the implementation of the action or affect the EU’s financial interests, in particular:

(i) changes in their legal, financial, technical, organisational or ownership situation (including changes linked to one of the exclusion grounds listed in the declaration of honour signed before grant signature)

(ii) [OPTION 1 by default: linked action information: not applicable] [OPTION 2 if selected for the grant: changes regarding the linked action (see Article 3)]

(b) circumstances affecting:

(i) the decision to award the grant or

(ii) compliance with requirements under the Agreement.

19.4 Consequences of non-compliance

If a beneficiary breaches any of its obligations under this Article, the grant may be reduced (see Article 28).

Such breaches may also lead to other measures described in Chapter 5.

ARTICLE 20 — RECORD-KEEPING

20.1 Keeping records and supporting documents

The beneficiaries must — at least until the time-limit set out in the Data Sheet (see Point 6) — keep records and other supporting documents to prove the proper implementation of the action in line with the accepted standards in the respective field (if any).

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In addition, the beneficiaries must — for the same period — keep the following to justify the amounts declared:

(a) for actual costs: adequate records and supporting documents to prove the costs declared (such as contracts, subcontracts, invoices and accounting records); in addition, the beneficiaries’ usual accounting and internal control procedures must enable direct reconciliation between the amounts declared, the amounts recorded in their accounts and the amounts stated in the supporting documents

(b) for flat-rate costs and contributions (if any): adequate records and supporting documents to prove the eligibility of the costs or contributions to which the flat-rate is applied

(c) for the following simplified costs and contributions: the beneficiaries do not need to keep specific records on the actual costs incurred, but must keep:

(i) for unit costs and contributions (if any): adequate records and supporting documents to prove the number of units declared

(ii) for lump sum costs and contributions (if any): adequate records and supporting documents to prove proper implementation of the work as described in Annex 1

(iii) for financing not linked to costs (if any): adequate records and supporting documents to prove the achievement of the results or the fulfilment of the conditions as described in Annex 1

(d) for unit, flat-rate and lump sum costs and contributions according to usual cost accounting practices (if any): the beneficiaries must keep any adequate records and supporting documents to prove that their cost accounting practices have been applied in a consistent manner, based on objective criteria, regardless of the source of funding, and that they comply with the eligibility conditions set out in Articles 6.1 and 6.2.

Moreover, the following is needed for specific budget categories:

(e) for personnel costs: time worked for the beneficiary under the action must be supported by declarations signed monthly by the person and their supervisor, unless another reliable time-record system is in place; the granting authority may accept alternative evidence supporting the time worked for the action declared, if it considers that it offers an adequate level of assurance

(f) additional record-keeping rules: not applicable.

The records and supporting documents must be made available upon request (see Article 19) or in the context of checks, reviews, audits or investigations (see Article 25).

If there are on-going checks, reviews, audits, investigations, litigation or other pursuits of claims under the Agreement (including the extension of findings; see Article 25), the beneficiaries must keep these records and other supporting documentation until the end of these procedures.

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The beneficiaries must keep the original documents. Digital and digitalised documents are considered originals if they are authorised by the applicable national law. The granting authority may accept non-original documents if they offer a comparable level of assurance.

20.2 Consequences of non-compliance

If a beneficiary breaches any of its obligations under this Article, costs or contributions insufficiently substantiated will be ineligible (see Article 6) and will be rejected (see Article 27), and the grant may be reduced (see Article 28).

Such breaches may also lead to other measures described in Chapter 5.

ARTICLE 21 — REPORTING

21.1 Continuous reporting

The beneficiaries must report on the progress of the action (e.g. deliverables, milestones, outputs/outcomes, critical risks, indicators, etc; if any), in the Portal Continuous Reporting tool and in accordance with the timing and conditions it sets out (as agreed with the granting authority).

Standardised deliverables (e.g. progress reports not linked to payments, reports on cumulative expenditure, special reports, etc; if any) must be submitted using the templates published on the Portal.

21.2 Periodic reporting: Technical reports and financial statements

In addition, the beneficiaries must provide reports to request payments, in accordance with the schedule and modalities set out in the Data Sheet (see Point 4.2):

- for additional prefinancings (if any): an additional prefinancing report

- for interim payments (if any) and the final payment: a periodic report.

The prefinancing and periodic reports include a technical and financial part.

The technical part includes an overview of the action implementation. It must be prepared using the template available in the Portal Periodic Reporting tool.

The financial part of the additional prefinancing report includes a statement on the use of the previous prefinancing payment.

The financial part of the periodic report includes:

- the financial statements (individual and consolidated; for all beneficiaries/affiliated entities)

- the explanation on the use of resources (or detailed cost reporting table, if required)

- the certificates on the financial statements (CFS) (if required; see Article 24.2 and Data Sheet, Point 4.3).

The financial statements must detail the eligible costs and contributions for each budget category and, for the final payment, also the revenues for the action (see Articles 6 and 22).

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All eligible costs and contributions incurred should be declared, even if they exceed the amounts indicated in the estimated budget (see Annex 2). Amounts that are not declared in the individual financial statements will not be taken into account by the granting authority.

By signing the financial statements (directly in the Portal Periodic Reporting tool), the beneficiaries confirm that:

- the information provided is complete, reliable and true

- the costs and contributions declared are eligible (see Article 6)

- the costs and contributions can be substantiated by adequate records and supporting documents (see Article 20) that will be produced upon request (see Article 19) or in the context of checks, reviews, audits and investigations (see Article 25)

- for the final periodic report: all the revenues have been declared (if required; see Article 22).

Beneficiaries will have to submit also the financial statements of their affiliated entities (if any). In case of recoveries (see Article 22), beneficiaries will be held responsible also for the financial statements of their affiliated entities.

21.3 Currency for financial statements and conversion into euros

The financial statements must be drafted in euro.

Beneficiaries with general accounts established in a currency other than the euro must convert the costs recorded in their accounts into euro, at the average of the daily exchange rates published in the C series of the Official Journal of the European Union (ECB website), calculated over the corresponding reporting period.

If no daily euro exchange rate is published in the Official Journal for the currency in question, they must be converted at the average of the monthly accounting exchange rates published on the European Commission website (InforEuro), calculated over the corresponding reporting period.

Beneficiaries with general accounts in euro must convert costs incurred in another currency into euro according to their usual accounting practices.

21.4 Reporting language

The reporting must be in the language of the Agreement, unless otherwise agreed with the granting authority (see Data Sheet, Point 4.2).

21.5 Consequences of non-compliance

If a report submitted does not comply with this Article, the granting authority may suspend the payment deadline (see Article 29) and apply other measures described in Chapter 5.

If the coordinator breaches its reporting obligations, the granting authority may terminate the grant or the coordinator’s participation (see Article 32) or apply other measures described in Chapter 5.

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ARTICLE 22 — PAYMENTS AND RECOVERIES — CALCULATION OF AMOUNTS DUE

22.1 Payments and payment arrangements

Payments will be made in accordance with the schedule and modalities set out in the Data Sheet (see Point 4.2).

They will be made in euro to the bank account indicated by the coordinator (see Data Sheet, Point 4.2) and must be distributed without unjustified delay (restrictions may apply to distribution of the initial prefinancing payment; see Data Sheet, Point 4.2).

Payments to this bank account will discharge the granting authority from its payment obligation.

The cost of payment transfers will be borne as follows:

- the granting authority bears the cost of transfers charged by its bank

- the beneficiary bears the cost of transfers charged by its bank

- the party causing a repetition of a transfer bears all costs of the repeated transfer.

Payments by the granting authority will be considered to have been carried out on the date when they are debited to its account.

22.2 Recoveries

Recoveries will be made, if — at beneficiary termination, final payment or afterwards — it turns out that the granting authority has paid too much and needs to recover the amounts undue.

The general liability regime for recoveries (first-line liability) is as follows: At final payment, the coordinator will be fully liable for recoveries, even if it has not been the final recipient of the undue amounts. At beneficiary termination or after final payment, recoveries will be made directly against the beneficiaries concerned.

Beneficiaries will be fully liable for repaying the debts of their affiliated entities.

In case of enforced recoveries (see Article 22.4):

- the beneficiaries will be jointly and severally liable for repaying debts of another beneficiary under the Agreement (including late-payment interest), if required by the granting authority (see Data Sheet, Point 4.4)

- affiliated entities will be held liable for repaying debts of their beneficiaries under the Agreement (including late-payment interest), if required by the granting authority (see Data Sheet, Point 4.4).

22.3 Amounts due

22.3.1 Prefinancing payments

The aim of the prefinancing is to provide the beneficiaries with a float.

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It remains the property of the EU until the final payment.

For initial prefinancings (if any), the amount due, schedule and modalities are set out in the Data Sheet (see Point 4.2).

For additional prefinancings (if any), the amount due, schedule and modalities are also set out in the Data Sheet (see Point 4.2). However, if the statement on the use of the previous prefinancing payment shows that less than 70% was used, the amount set out in the Data Sheet will be reduced by the difference between the 70% threshold and the amount used.

Prefinancing payments (or parts of them) may be offset (without the beneficiaries’ consent) against amounts owed by a beneficiary to the granting authority — up to the amount due to that beneficiary.

For grants where the granting authority is the European Commission or an EU executive agency, offsetting may also be done against amounts owed to other Commission services or executive agencies.

Payments will not be made if the payment deadline or payments are suspended (see Articles 29 and 30).

22.3.2 Amount due at beneficiary termination — Recovery

In case of beneficiary termination, the granting authority will determine the provisional amount due for the beneficiary concerned. Payments (if any) will be made with the next interim or final payment.

The amount due will be calculated in the following step:

Step 1 — Calculation of the total accepted EU contribution

Step 1 — Calculation of the total accepted EU contribution

The granting authority will first calculate the ‘accepted EU contribution’ for the beneficiary for all reporting periods, by calculating the ‘maximum EU contribution to costs’ (applying the funding rate to the accepted costs of the beneficiary), taking into account requests for a lower contribution to costs and CFS threshold cappings (if any; see Article 24.5) and adding the contributions (accepted unit, flat-rate or lump sum contributions and financing not linked to costs, if any).

After that, the granting authority will take into account grant reductions (if any). The resulting amount is the ‘total accepted EU contribution’ for the beneficiary.

The balance is then calculated by deducting the payments received (if any; see report on the distribution of payments in Article 32), from the total accepted EU contribution:

{total accepted EU contribution for the beneficiary

minus

{prefinancing and interim payments received (if any)}}.

If the balance is positive, the amount will be included in the next interim or final payment to the consortium.

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If the balance is negative, it will be recovered in accordance with the following procedure:

The granting authority will send a pre-information letter to the beneficiary concerned:

- formally notifying the intention to recover, the amount due, the amount to be recovered and the reasons why and

- requesting observations within 30 days of receiving notification.

If no observations are submitted (or the granting authority decides to pursue recovery despite the observations it has received), it will confirm the amount to be recovered and ask this amount to be paid to the coordinator (confirmation letter).

The amounts will later on also be taken into account for the next interim or final payment.

22.3.3 Interim payments

Interim payments reimburse the eligible costs and contributions claimed for the implementation of the action during the reporting periods (if any).

Interim payments (if any) will be made in accordance with the schedule and modalities set out the Data Sheet (see Point 4.2).

Payment is subject to the approval of the periodic report. Its approval does not imply recognition of compliance, authenticity, completeness or correctness of its content.

The interim payment will be calculated by the granting authority in the following steps:

Step 1 — Calculation of the total accepted EU contribution

Step 2 — Limit to the interim payment ceiling

Step 1 — Calculation of the total accepted EU contribution

The granting authority will calculate the ‘accepted EU contribution’ for the action for the reporting period, by first calculating the ‘maximum EU contribution to costs’ (applying the funding rate to the accepted costs of each beneficiary), taking into account requests for a lower contribution to costs and CFS threshold cappings (if any; see Article 24.5) and adding the contributions (accepted unit, flat-rate or lump sum contributions and financing not linked to costs, if any).

After that, the granting authority will take into account grant reductions from beneficiary termination (if any). The resulting amount is the ‘total accepted EU contribution’.

Step 2 — Limit to the interim payment ceiling

The resulting amount is then capped to ensure that the total amount of prefinancing and interim payments (if any) does not exceed the interim payment ceiling set out in the Data Sheet (see Point 4.2).

Interim payments (or parts of them) may be offset (without the beneficiaries’ consent) against amounts owed by a beneficiary to the granting authority — up to the amount due to that beneficiary.

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For grants where the granting authority is the European Commission or an EU executive agency, offsetting may also be done against amounts owed to other Commission services or executive agencies.

Payments will not be made if the payment deadline or payments are suspended (see Articles 29 and 30).

22.3.4 Final payment — Final grant amount — Revenues and Profit — Recovery

The final payment (payment of the balance) reimburses the remaining part of the eligible costs and contributions claimed for the implementation of the action (if any).

The final payment will be made in accordance with the schedule and modalities set out in the Data Sheet (see Point 4.2).

Payment is subject to the approval of the final periodic report. Its approval does not imply recognition of compliance, authenticity, completeness or correctness of its content.

The final grant amount for the action will be calculated in the following steps:

Step 1 — Calculation of the total accepted EU contribution

Step 2 — Limit to the maximum grant amount

Step 3 — Reduction due to the no-profit rule

Step 1 — Calculation of the total accepted EU contribution

The granting authority will first calculate the ‘accepted EU contribution’ for the action for all reporting periods, by calculating the ‘maximum EU contribution to costs’ (applying the funding rate to the total accepted costs of each beneficiary), taking into account requests for a lower contribution to costs, CFS threshold cappings (if any; see Article 24.5) and adding the contributions (accepted unit, flat-rate or lump sum contributions and financing not linked to costs, if any).

After that, the granting authority will take into account grant reductions (if any). The resulting amount is the ‘total accepted EU contribution’.

Step 2 — Limit to the maximum grant amount

If the resulting amount is higher than the maximum grant amount set out in Article 5.2, it will be limited to the latter.

Step 3 — Reduction due to the no-profit rule

If the no-profit rule is provided for in the Data Sheet (see Point 4.2), the grant must not produce a profit (i.e. surplus of the amount obtained following Step 2 plus the action’s revenues, over the eligible costs and contributions approved by the granting authority).

‘Revenue’ is all income generated by the action, during its duration (see Article 4), for beneficiaries that are profit legal entities.

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If there is a profit, it will be deducted in proportion to the final rate of reimbursement of the eligible costs approved by the granting authority (as compared to the amount calculated following Steps 1 and 2 minus the contributions).

The balance (final payment) is then calculated by deducting the total amount of prefinancing and interim payments already made (if any), from the final grant amount:

{final grant amount

minus

{prefinancing and interim payments made (if any)}}.

If the balance is positive, it will be paid to the coordinator.

The final payment (or part of it) may be offset (without the beneficiaries’ consent) against amounts owed by a beneficiary to the granting authority — up to the amount due to that beneficiary.

For grants where the granting authority is the European Commission or an EU executive agency, offsetting may also be done against amounts owed to other Commission services or executive agencies.

Payments will not be made if the payment deadline or payments are suspended (see Articles 29 and 30).

If the balance is negative, it will be recovered in accordance with the following procedure:

The granting authority will send a pre-information letter to the coordinator:

- formally notifying the intention to recover, the final grant amount, the amount to be recovered and the reasons why

- requesting observations within 30 days of receiving notification.

If no observations are submitted (or the granting authority decides to pursue recovery despite the observations it has received), it will confirm the amount to be recovered (confirmation letter), together with a debit note with the terms and date for payment.

If payment is not made by the date specified in the debit note, the granting authority will enforce recovery in accordance with Article 22.4.

22.3.5 Audit implementation after final payment — Revised final grant amount — Recovery

If — after the final payment (in particular, after checks, reviews, audits or investigations; see Article 25) — the granting authority rejects costs or contributions (see Article 27) or reduces the grant (see Article 28), it will calculate the revised final grant amount for the beneficiary concerned.

The beneficiary revised final grant amount will be calculated in the following step:

Step 1 — Calculation of the revised total accepted EU contribution

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Step 1 — Calculation of the revised total accepted EU contribution

The granting authority will first calculate the ‘revised accepted EU contribution’ for the beneficiary, by calculating the ‘revised accepted costs’ and ‘revised accepted contributions’.

After that, it will take into account grant reductions (if any). The resulting ‘revised total accepted EU contribution’ is the beneficiary revised final grant amount.

If the revised final grant amount is lower than the beneficiary’s final grant amount (i.e. its share in the final grant amount for the action), it will be recovered in accordance with the following procedure:

The beneficiary final grant amount (i.e. share in the final grant amount for the action) is calculated as follows:

{{{total accepted EU contribution for the beneficiary

divided by

total accepted EU contribution for the action}

multiplied by

final grant amount for the action}.

The granting authority will send a pre-information letter to the beneficiary concerned:

- formally notifying the intention to recover, the amount to be recovered and the reasons why and

- requesting observations within 30 days of receiving notification.

If no observations are submitted (or the granting authority decides to pursue recovery despite the observations it has received), it will confirm the amount to be recovered (confirmation letter), together with a debit note with the terms and the date for payment.

Recoveries against affiliated entities (if any) will be handled through their beneficiaries.

If payment is not made by the date specified in the debit note, the granting authority will enforce recovery in accordance with Article 22.4.

22.4 Enforced recovery

If payment is not made by the date specified in the debit note, the amount due will be recovered:

(a) by offsetting the amount — without the coordinator or beneficiary’s consent — against any amounts owed to the coordinator or beneficiary by the granting authority.

In exceptional circumstances, to safeguard the EU financial interests, the amount may be offset before the payment date specified in the debit note.

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For grants where the granting authority is the European Commission or an EU executive agency, debts may also be offset against amounts owed by other Commission services or executive agencies.

(b) by drawing on the financial guarantee(s) (if any)

(c) by holding other beneficiaries jointly and severally liable (if any; see Data Sheet, Point 4.4)

(d) by holding affiliated entities jointly and severally liable (if any, see Data Sheet, Point 4.4) or

(e) by taking legal action (see Article 43) or, provided that granting authority is the European Commission or an EU executive agency, by adopting an enforceable decision under Article 299 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU) and Article 100(2) of EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509.

The amount to be recovered will be increased by late-payment interest at the rate set out in Article 22.5, from the day following the payment date in the debit note, up to and including the date the full payment is received.

Partial payments will be first credited against expenses, charges and late-payment interest and then against the principal.

Bank charges incurred in the recovery process will be borne by the beneficiary, unless Directive 2015/236635 applies.

For grants where the granting authority is an EU executive agency, enforced recovery by offsetting or enforceable decision will be done by the services of the European Commission (see also Article 43).

22.5 Consequences of non-compliance

22.5.1 If the granting authority does not pay within the payment deadlines (see above), the beneficiaries are entitled to late-payment interest at the reference rate applied by the European Central Bank (ECB) for its main refinancing operations in euros, plus the percentage specified in the Data Sheet (Point 4.2). The ECB reference rate to be used is the rate in force on the first day of the month in which the payment deadline expires, as published in the C series of the Official Journal of the European Union.

If the late-payment interest is lower than or equal to EUR 200, it will be paid to the coordinator only on request submitted within two months of receiving the late payment.

Late-payment interest is not due if all beneficiaries are EU Member States (including regional and local government authorities or other public bodies acting on behalf of a Member State for the purpose of this Agreement).

35 Directive (EU) 2015/2366 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2015 on payment

services in the internal market, amending Directives 2002/65/EC, 2009/110/EC and 2013/36/EU and Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010, and repealing Directive 2007/64/EC (OJ L 337, 23.12.2015, p. 35).

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If payments or the payment deadline are suspended (see Articles 29 and 30), payment will not be considered as late.

Late-payment interest covers the period running from the day following the due date for payment (see above), up to and including the date of payment.

Late-payment interest is not considered for the purposes of calculating the final grant amount.

22.5.2 If the coordinator breaches any of its obligations under this Article, the grant may be reduced (see Article 28) and the grant or the coordinator may be terminated (see Article 32).

Such breaches may also lead to other measures described in Chapter 5.

ARTICLE 23 — GUARANTEES

23.1 Prefinancing guarantee

If required by the granting authority (see Data Sheet, Point 4.2), the beneficiaries must provide (one or more) prefinancing guarantee(s) in accordance with the timing and the amounts set out in the Data Sheet.

The coordinator must submit them to the granting authority in due time before the prefinancing they are linked to.

The guarantees must be drawn up using the template published on the Portal and fulfil the following conditions:

(a) be provided by a bank or approved financial institution established in the EU or — if requested by the coordinator and accepted by the granting authority — by a third party or a bank or financial institution established outside the EU offering equivalent security

(b) the guarantor stands as first-call guarantor and does not require the granting authority to first have recourse against the principal debtor (i.e. the beneficiary concerned) and

(c) remain explicitly in force until the final payment and, if the final payment takes the form of a recovery, until five months after the debit note is notified to a beneficiary.

They will be released within the following month.

23.2 Consequences of non-compliance

If the beneficiaries breach their obligation to provide the prefinancing guarantee, the prefinancing will not be paid.

Such breaches may also lead to other measures described in Chapter 5.

ARTICLE 24 — CERTIFICATES

24.1 Operational verification report (OVR)

Not applicable

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24.2 Certificate on the financial statements (CFS)

If required by the granting authority (see Data Sheet, Point 4.3), the beneficiaries must provide certificates on their financial statements (CFS), in accordance with the schedule, threshold and conditions set out in the Data Sheet.

The coordinator must submit them as part of the periodic report (see Article 21).

The certificates must be drawn up using the template published on the Portal, cover the costs declared on the basis of actual costs and costs according to usual cost accounting practices (if any), and fulfil the following conditions:

(a) be provided by a qualified approved external auditor which is independent and complies with Directive 2006/43/EC36 (or for public bodies: by a competent independent public officer)

(b) the verification must be carried out according to the highest professional standards to ensure that the financial statements comply with the provisions under the Agreement and that the costs declared are eligible.

The certificates will not affect the granting authority's right to carry out its own checks, reviews or audits, nor preclude the European Court of Auditors (ECA), the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) or the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) from using their prerogatives for audits and investigations under the Agreement (see Article 25).

If the costs (or a part of them) were already audited by the granting authority, these costs do not need to be covered by the certificate and will not be counted for calculating the threshold (if any).

24.3 Certificate on the compliance of usual cost accounting practices (CoMUC)

Beneficiaries which use unit, flat rate or lump sum costs or contributions according to usual costs accounting practices (if any) may submit to the granting authority, for approval, a certificate on the methodology stating that their usual cost accounting practices comply with the eligibility conditions under the Agreement.

The certificate must be drawn up using the template published on the Portal and fulfil the following conditions:

(a) be provided by a qualified approved external auditor which is independent and complies with Directive 2006/43/EC37 (or for public bodies: by a competent independent public officer)

(b) the verification must be carried out according to the highest professional standards to ensure that the methodology for declaring costs according to usual accounting practices complies with the provisions under the Agreement.

36 Directive 2006/43/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 May 2006 on statutory audits of

annual accounts and consolidated accounts (OJ L 157, 9.6.2006, p. 87).

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If the certificate is approved, costs declared in line with this methodology will not be challenged subsequently, unless the beneficiary concealed information for the purpose of the approval.

24.4 Systems and process audit (SPA)

Not applicable

24.5 Consequences of non-compliance

If a beneficiary does not submit a certificate on the financial statements (CFS) or the certificate is rejected, the accepted EU contribution to costs will be capped to reflect the CFS threshold.

If a beneficiary breaches any of its other obligations under this Article, the granting authority may apply the measures described in Chapter 5.

ARTICLE 25 — CHECKS, REVIEWS, AUDITS AND INVESTIGATIONS — EXTENSION OF FINDINGS

25.1 Granting authority checks, reviews and audits

25.1.1 Internal checks

The granting authority may — during the action or afterwards — check the proper implementation of the action and compliance with the obligations under the Agreement, including assessing costs and contributions, deliverables and reports.

25.1.2 Project reviews

The granting authority may carry out reviews on the proper implementation of the action and compliance with the obligations under the Agreement (general project reviews or specific issues reviews).

Such project reviews may be started during the implementation of the action and until the time-limit set out in the Data Sheet (see Point 6). They will be formally notified to the coordinator or beneficiary concerned and will be considered to start on the date of the notification.

If needed, the granting authority may be assisted by independent, outside experts. If it uses outside experts, the coordinator or beneficiary concerned will be informed and have the right to object on grounds of commercial confidentiality or conflict of interest.

The coordinator or beneficiary concerned must cooperate diligently and provide — within the deadline requested — any information and data in addition to deliverables and reports already submitted (including information on the use of resources). The granting authority may request beneficiaries to provide such information to it directly. Sensitive information and documents will be treated in accordance with Article 13.

The coordinator or beneficiary concerned may be requested to participate in meetings, including with the outside experts.

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For on-the-spot visits, the beneficiary concerned must allow access to sites and premises (including to the outside experts) and must ensure that information requested is readily available.

Information provided must be accurate, precise and complete and in the format requested, including electronic format.

On the basis of the review findings, a project review report will be drawn up.

The granting authority will formally notify the project review report to the coordinator or beneficiary concerned, which has 30 days from receiving notification to make observations.

Project reviews (including project review reports) will be in the language of the Agreement.

25.1.3 Audits

The granting authority may carry out audits on the proper implementation of the action and compliance with the obligations under the Agreement.

Such audits may be started during the implementation of the action and until the time-limit set out in the Data Sheet (see Point 6). They will be formally notified to the beneficiary concerned and will be considered to start on the date of the notification.

The granting authority may use its own audit service, delegate audits to a centralised service or use external audit firms. If it uses an external firm, the beneficiary concerned will be informed and have the right to object on grounds of commercial confidentiality or conflict of interest.

The beneficiary concerned must cooperate diligently and provide — within the deadline requested — any information (including complete accounts, individual salary statements or other personal data) to verify compliance with the Agreement. Sensitive information and documents will be treated in accordance with Article 13.

For on-the-spot visits, the beneficiary concerned must allow access to sites and premises (including for the external audit firm) and must ensure that information requested is readily available.

Information provided must be accurate, precise and complete and in the format requested, including electronic format.

On the basis of the audit findings, a draft audit report will be drawn up.

The auditors will formally notify the draft audit report to the beneficiary concerned, which has 30 days from receiving notification to make observations (contradictory audit procedure).

The final audit report will take into account observations by the beneficiary concerned and will be formally notified to them.

Audits (including audit reports) will be in the language of the Agreement.

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25.2 European Commission checks, reviews and audits in grants of other granting authorities

Where the granting authority is not the European Commission, the latter has the same rights of checks, reviews and audits as the granting authority.

25.3 Access to records for assessing simplified forms of funding

The beneficiaries must give the European Commission access to their statutory records for the periodic assessment of simplified forms of funding which are used in EU programmes.

25.4 OLAF, EPPO and ECA audits and investigations

The following bodies may also carry out checks, reviews, audits and investigations — during the action or afterwards:

- the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) under Regulations No 883/201338 and No 2185/9639

- the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) under Regulation 2017/1939

- the European Court of Auditors (ECA) under Article 287 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU) and Article 263 of EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509.

If requested by these bodies, the beneficiary concerned must provide full, accurate and complete information in the format requested (including complete accounts, individual salary statements or other personal data, including in electronic format) and allow access to sites and premises for on-the-spot visits or inspections — as provided for under these Regulations.

To this end, the beneficiary concerned must keep all relevant information relating to the action, at least until the time-limit set out in the Data Sheet (Point 6) and, in any case, until any ongoing checks, reviews, audits, investigations, litigation or other pursuits of claims have been concluded.

25.5 Consequences of checks, reviews, audits and investigations — Extension of findings

25.5.1 Consequences of checks, reviews, audits and investigations in this grant

Findings in checks, reviews, audits or investigations carried out in the context of this grant may lead to rejections (see Article 27), grant reduction (see Article 28) or other measures described in Chapter 5.

38 Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 883/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 September

2013 concerning investigations conducted by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1073/1999 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Council Regulation (Euratom) No 1074/1999 (OJ L 248, 18/09/2013, p. 1).

39 Council Regulation (Euratom, EC) No 2185/96 of 11 November 1996 concerning on-the-spot checks and inspections carried out by the Commission in order to protect the European Communities' financial interests against fraud and other irregularities (OJ L 292, 15/11/1996, p. 2).

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Rejections or grant reductions after the final payment will lead to a revised final grant amount (see Article 22).

Findings in checks, reviews, audits or investigations during the action implementation may lead to a request for amendment (see Article 39), to change the description of the action set out in Annex 1.

Checks, reviews, audits or investigations that find systemic or recurrent errors, irregularities, fraud or breach of obligations in any EU grant may also lead to consequences in other EU grants awarded under similar conditions (‘extension to other grants’).

Moreover, findings arising from an OLAF or EPPO investigation may lead to criminal prosecution under national law.

25.5.2 Extension from other grants

Findings of checks, reviews, audits or investigations in other grants may be extended to this grant, if:

(a) the beneficiary concerned is found, in other EU grants awarded under similar conditions, to have committed systemic or recurrent errors, irregularities, fraud or breach of obligations that have a material impact on this grant and

(b) those findings are formally notified to the beneficiary concerned — together with the list of grants affected by the findings — within the time-limit for audits set out in the Data Sheet (see Point 6).

The granting authority will formally notify the beneficiary concerned of the intention to extend the findings and the list of grants affected.

If the extension concerns rejections of costs or contributions: the notification will include:

(a) an invitation to submit observations on the list of grants affected by the findings

(b) the request to submit revised financial statements for all grants affected

(c) the correction rate for extrapolation, established on the basis of the systemic or recurrent errors, to calculate the amounts to be rejected, if the beneficiary concerned:

(i) considers that the submission of revised financial statements is not possible or practicable or

(ii) does not submit revised financial statements.

If the extension concerns grant reductions: the notification will include:

(a) an invitation to submit observations on the list of grants affected by the findings and

(b) the correction rate for extrapolation, established on the basis of the systemic or recurrent errors and the principle of proportionality.

The beneficiary concerned has 60 days from receiving notification to submit observations, revised financial statements or to propose a duly substantiated alternative correction method/rate.

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On the basis of this, the granting authority will analyse the impact and decide on the implementation (i.e. start rejection or grant reduction procedures, either on the basis of the revised financial statements or the announced/alternative method/rate or a mix of those; see Articles 27 and 28).

25.6 Consequences of non-compliance

If a beneficiary breaches any of its obligations under this Article, costs or contributions insufficiently substantiated will be ineligible (see Article 6) and will be rejected (see Article 27), and the grant may be reduced (see Article 28).

Such breaches may also lead to other measures described in Chapter 5.

ARTICLE 26 — IMPACT EVALUATIONS

26.1 Impact evaluation

The granting authority may carry out impact evaluations of the action, measured against the objectives and indicators of the EU programme funding the grant.

Such evaluations may be started during implementation of the action and until the time-limit set out in the Data Sheet (see Point 6). They will be formally notified to the coordinator or beneficiaries and will be considered to start on the date of the notification.

If needed, the granting authority may be assisted by independent outside experts.

The coordinator or beneficiaries must provide any information relevant to evaluate the impact of the action, including information in electronic format.

26.2 Consequences of non-compliance

If a beneficiary breaches any of its obligations under this Article, the granting authority may apply the measures described in Chapter 5.

CHAPTER 5 CONSEQUENCES OF NON-COMPLIANCE

SECTION 1 REJECTIONS AND GRANT REDUCTION

ARTICLE 27 — REJECTION OF COSTS AND CONTRIBUTIONS

27.1 Conditions

The granting authority will — at beneficiary termination, interim payment, final payment or afterwards — reject any costs or contributions which are ineligible (see Article 6), in particular following checks, reviews, audits or investigations (see Article 25).

The rejection may also be based on the extension of findings from other grants to this grant (see Article 25).

Ineligible costs or contributions will be rejected.

27.2 Procedure

If the rejection does not lead to a recovery, the granting authority will formally notify the coordinator or beneficiary concerned of the rejection, the amounts and the reasons why. The

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coordinator or beneficiary concerned may — within 30 days of receiving notification — submit observations if it disagrees with the rejection (payment review procedure).

If the rejection leads to a recovery, the granting authority will follow the contradictory procedure with pre-information letter set out in Article 22.

27.3 Effects

If the granting authority rejects costs or contributions, it will deduct them from the costs or contributions declared and then calculate the amount due (and, if needed, make a recovery; see Article 22).

ARTICLE 28 — GRANT REDUCTION

28.1 Conditions

The granting authority may — at beneficiary termination, final payment or afterwards — reduce the grant for a beneficiary, if:

(a) the beneficiary (or a person having powers of representation, decision-making or control, or person essential for the award/implementation of the grant) has committed:

(i) substantial errors, irregularities or fraud or

(ii) serious breach of obligations under this Agreement or during its award (including improper implementation of the action, non-compliance with the call conditions, submission of false information, failure to provide required information, breach of ethics or security rules (if applicable), failure to cooperate with checks, reviews, audits and investigations, etc.), or

(b) the beneficiary (or a person having powers of representation, decision-making or control, or person essential for the award/implementation of the grant) has committed — in other EU grants awarded to it under similar conditions — systemic or recurrent errors, irregularities, fraud or serious breach of obligations that have a material impact on this grant (extension of findings; see Article 25.5).

The amount of the reduction will be calculated for each beneficiary concerned and proportionate to the seriousness and the duration of the errors, irregularities or fraud or breach of obligations, by applying an individual reduction rate to their accepted EU contribution.

28.2 Procedure

If the grant reduction does not lead to a recovery, the granting authority will formally notify the coordinator or beneficiary concerned of the reduction, the amount to be reduced and the reasons why. The coordinator or beneficiary concerned may — within 30 days of receiving notification — submit observations if it disagrees with the reduction (payment review procedure).

If the grant reduction leads to a recovery, the granting authority will follow the contradictory procedure with pre-information letter set out in Article 22.

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28.3 Effects

If the granting authority reduces the grant, it will deduct the reduction and then calculate the amount due (and, if needed, make a recovery; see Article 22).

SECTION 2 SUSPENSION AND TERMINATION

ARTICLE 29 — PAYMENT DEADLINE SUSPENSION

29.1 Conditions

The granting authority may — at any moment — suspend the payment deadline if a payment cannot be processed because:

(a) the required report (see Article 21) has not been submitted or is not complete or additional information is needed

(b) there are doubts about the amount to be paid (e.g. ongoing extension procedure, queries about eligibility, need for a grant reduction, etc.) and additional checks, reviews, audits or investigations are necessary, or

(c) there are other issues affecting the EU financial interests.

29.2 Procedure

The granting authority will formally notify the coordinator of the suspension and the reasons why.

The suspension will take effect the day the notification is sent.

If the conditions for suspending the payment deadline are no longer met, the suspension will be lifted — and the remaining time to pay (see Data Sheet, Point 4.2) will resume.

If the suspension exceeds two months, the coordinator may request the granting authority to confirm if the suspension will continue.

If the payment deadline has been suspended due to the non-compliance of the report and the revised report is not submitted (or was submitted but is also rejected), the granting authority may also terminate the grant or the participation of the coordinator (see Article 32).

ARTICLE 30 — PAYMENT SUSPENSION

30.1 Conditions

The granting authority may — at any moment — suspend payments, in whole or in part for one or more beneficiaries, if:

(a) a beneficiary (or a person having powers of representation, decision-making or control, or person essential for the award/implementation of the grant) has committed or is suspected of having committed:

(i) substantial errors, irregularities or fraud or

(ii) serious breach of obligations under this Agreement or during its award (including improper implementation of the action, non-compliance with the

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call conditions, submission of false information, failure to provide required information, breach of ethics or security rules (if applicable), failure to cooperate with checks, reviews, audits and investigations, etc.), or

(b) a beneficiary (or a person having powers of representation, decision-making or control, or person essential for the award/implementation of the grant) has committed — in other EU grants awarded to it under similar conditions — systemic or recurrent errors, irregularities, fraud or serious breach of obligations that have a material impact on this grant (extension of findings; see Article 25.5).

If payments are suspended for one or more beneficiaries, the granting authority will make partial payment(s) for the part(s) not suspended. If suspension concerns the final payment, the payment (or recovery) of the remaining amount after suspension is lifted will be considered to be the payment that closes the action.

30.2 Procedure

Before suspending payments, the granting authority will send a pre-information letter to the beneficiary concerned:

- formally notifying the intention to suspend payments and the reasons why and

- requesting observations within 30 days of receiving notification.

If the granting authority does not receive observations or decides to pursue the procedure despite the observations it has received, it will confirm the suspension (confirmation letter). Otherwise, it will formally notify that the procedure is discontinued.

At the end of the suspension procedure, the granting authority will also inform the coordinator.

The suspension will take effect the day after the confirmation notification is sent.

If the conditions for resuming payments are met, the suspension will be lifted. The granting authority will formally notify the beneficiary concerned (and the coordinator) and set the suspension end date.

During the suspension, no prefinancing will be paid to the beneficiaries concerned. For interim payments, the periodic reports for all reporting periods except the last one (see Article 21) must not contain any financial statements from the beneficiary concerned (or its affiliated entities). The coordinator must include them in the next periodic report after the suspension is lifted or — if suspension is not lifted before the end of the action — in the last periodic report.

ARTICLE 31 — GRANT AGREEMENT SUSPENSION

31.1 Consortium-requested GA suspension

31.1.1 Conditions and procedure

The beneficiaries may request the suspension of the grant or any part of it, if exceptional circumstances — in particular force majeure (see Article 35) — make implementation impossible or excessively difficult.

The coordinator must submit a request for amendment (see Article 39), with:

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- the reasons why

- the date the suspension takes effect; this date may be before the date of the submission of the amendment request and

- the expected date of resumption.

The suspension will take effect on the day specified in the amendment.

Once circumstances allow for implementation to resume, the coordinator must immediately request another amendment of the Agreement to set the suspension end date, the resumption date (one day after suspension end date), extend the duration and make other changes necessary to adapt the action to the new situation (see Article 39) — unless the grant has been terminated (see Article 32). The suspension will be lifted with effect from the suspension end date set out in the amendment. This date may be before the date of the submission of the amendment request.

During the suspension, no prefinancing will be paid. Costs incurred or contributions for activities implemented during grant suspension are not eligible (see Article 6.3).

31.2 EU-initiated GA suspension

31.2.1 Conditions

The granting authority may suspend the grant or any part of it, if:

(a) a beneficiary (or a person having powers of representation, decision-making or control, or person essential for the award/implementation of the grant) has committed or is suspected of having committed:

(i) substantial errors, irregularities or fraud or

(ii) serious breach of obligations under this Agreement or during its award (including improper implementation of the action, non-compliance with the call conditions, submission of false information, failure to provide required information, breach of ethics or security rules (if applicable), failure to cooperate with checks, reviews, audits and investigations, etc.), or

(b) a beneficiary (or a person having powers of representation, decision-making or control, or person essential for the award/implementation of the grant) has committed — in other EU grants awarded to it under similar conditions — systemic or recurrent errors, irregularities, fraud or serious breach of obligations that have a material impact on this grant (extension of findings; see Article 25.5)

(c) other:

(i) [OPTION 1 by default: linked action issues: not applicable] [OPTION 2 if selected for the grant: the linked action (see Article 3) has not started as specified in Annex 1, has been suspended or can no longer contribute, and this impacts the implementation of the action under this Agreement]

(ii) additional GA suspension grounds: not applicable.

31.2.2 Procedure

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Before suspending the grant, the granting authority will send a pre-information letter to the coordinator:

- formally notifying the intention to suspend the grant and the reasons why and

- requesting observations within 30 days of receiving notification.

If the granting authority does not receive observations or decides to pursue the procedure despite the observations it has received, it will confirm the suspension (confirmation letter). Otherwise, it will formally notify that the procedure is discontinued.

The suspension will take effect the day after the confirmation notification is sent (or on a later date specified in the notification).

Once the conditions for resuming implementation of the action are met, the granting authority will formally notify the coordinator a lifting of suspension letter, in which it will set the suspension end date and invite the coordinator to request an amendment of the Agreement to set the resumption date (one day after suspension end date), extend the duration and make other changes necessary to adapt the action to the new situation (see Article 39) — unless the grant has been terminated (see Article 32). The suspension will be lifted with effect from the suspension end date set out in the lifting of suspension letter. This date may be before the date on which the letter is sent.

During the suspension, no prefinancing will be paid. Costs incurred or contributions for activities implemented during suspension are not eligible (see Article 6.3).

The beneficiaries may not claim damages due to suspension by the granting authority (see Article 33).

Grant suspension does not affect the granting authority’s right to terminate the grant or a beneficiary (see Article 32) or reduce the grant (see Article 28).

ARTICLE 32 — GRANT AGREEMENT OR BENEFICIARY TERMINATION

32.1 Consortium-requested GA termination

32.1.1 Conditions and procedure

The beneficiaries may request the termination of the grant.

The coordinator must submit a request for amendment (see Article 39), with:

- the reasons why

- the date the consortium ends work on the action (‘end of work date’) and

- the date the termination takes effect (‘termination date’); this date must be after the date of the submission of the amendment request.

The termination will take effect on the termination date specified in the amendment.

If no reasons are given or if the granting authority considers the reasons do not justify termination, it may consider the grant terminated improperly.

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32.1.2 Effects

The coordinator must — within 60 days from when termination takes effect — submit a periodic report (for the open reporting period until termination).

The granting authority will calculate the final grant amount and final payment on the basis of the report submitted and taking into account the costs incurred and contributions for activities implemented before the end of work date (see Article 22). Costs relating to contracts due for execution only after the end of work are not eligible.

If the granting authority does not receive the report within the deadline, only costs and contributions which are included in an approved periodic report will be taken into account (no costs/contributions if no periodic report was ever approved).

Improper termination may lead to a grant reduction (see Article 28).

After termination, the beneficiaries’ obligations (in particular Articles 13 (confidentiality and security), 16 (IPR), 17 (communication, dissemination and visibility), 21 (reporting), 25 (checks, reviews, audits and investigations), 26 (impact evaluation), 27 (rejections), 28 (grant reduction) and 42 (assignment of claims)) continue to apply.

32.2 Consortium-requested beneficiary termination

32.2.1 Conditions and procedure

The coordinator may request the termination of the participation of one or more beneficiaries, on request of the beneficiary concerned or on behalf of the other beneficiaries.

The coordinator must submit a request for amendment (see Article 39), with:

- the reasons why

- the opinion of the beneficiary concerned (or proof that this opinion has been requested in writing)

- the date the beneficiary ends work on the action (‘end of work date’)

- the date the termination takes effect (‘termination date’); this date must be after the date of the submission of the amendment request.

If the termination concerns the coordinator and is done without its agreement, the amendment request must be submitted by another beneficiary (acting on behalf of the consortium).

The termination will take effect on the termination date specified in the amendment.

If no information is given or if the granting authority considers that the reasons do not justify termination, it may consider the beneficiary to have been terminated improperly.

32.2.2 Effects

The coordinator must — within 60 days from when termination takes effect — submit:

(i) a report on the distribution of payments to the beneficiary concerned

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(ii) a termination report from the beneficiary concerned, for the open reporting period until termination, containing an overview of the progress of the work, the financial statement, the explanation on the use of resources, and, if applicable, the certificate on the financial statement (CFS; see Articles 21 and 24.2 and Data Sheet, Point 4.3)

(iii) a second request for amendment (see Article 39) with other amendments needed (e.g. reallocation of the tasks and the estimated budget of the terminated beneficiary; addition of a new beneficiary to replace the terminated beneficiary; change of coordinator, etc.).

The granting authority will calculate the amount due to the beneficiary on the basis of the report submitted and taking into account the costs incurred and contributions for activities implemented before the end of work date (see Article 22). Costs relating to contracts due for execution only after the end of work are not eligible.

The information in the termination report must also be included in the periodic report for the next reporting period (see Article 21).

If the granting authority does not receive the termination report within the deadline, only costs and contributions which are included in an approved periodic report will be taken into account (no costs/contributions if no periodic report was ever approved).

If the granting authority does not receive the report on the distribution of payments within the deadline, it will consider that:

- the coordinator did not distribute any payment to the beneficiary concerned and that

- the beneficiary concerned must not repay any amount to the coordinator.

If the second request for amendment is accepted by the granting authority, the Agreement is amended to introduce the necessary changes (see Article 39).

If the second request for amendment is rejected by the granting authority (because it calls into question the decision awarding the grant or breaches the principle of equal treatment of applicants), the grant may be terminated (see Article 32).

Improper termination may lead to a reduction of the grant (see Article 31) or grant termination (see Article 32).

After termination, the concerned beneficiary’s obligations (in particular Articles 13 (confidentiality and security), 16 (IPR), 17 (communication, dissemination and visibility), 21 (reporting), 25 (checks, reviews, audits and investigations), 26 (impact evaluation), 27 (rejections), 28 (grant reduction) and 42 (assignment of claims)) continue to apply.

32.3 EU-initiated GA or beneficiary termination

32.3.1 Conditions

The granting authority may terminate the grant or the participation of one or more beneficiaries, if:

(a) one or more beneficiaries do not accede to the Agreement (see Article 40)

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(b) a change to the action or the legal, financial, technical, organisational or ownership situation of a beneficiary is likely to substantially affect the implementation of the action or calls into question the decision to award the grant (including changes linked to one of the exclusion grounds listed in the declaration of honour)

(c) following termination of one or more beneficiaries, the necessary changes to the Agreement (and their impact on the action) would call into question the decision awarding the grant or breach the principle of equal treatment of applicants

(d) implementation of the action has become impossible or the changes necessary for its continuation would call into question the decision awarding the grant or breach the principle of equal treatment of applicants

(e) a beneficiary (or person with unlimited liability for its debts) is subject to bankruptcy proceedings or similar (including insolvency, winding-up, administration by a liquidator or court, arrangement with creditors, suspension of business activities, etc.)

(f) a beneficiary (or person with unlimited liability for its debts) is in breach of social security or tax obligations

(g) a beneficiary (or person having powers of representation, decision-making or control, or person essential for the award/implementation of the grant) has been found guilty of grave professional misconduct

(h) a beneficiary (or person having powers of representation, decision-making or control, or person essential for the award/implementation of the grant) has committed fraud, corruption, or is involved in a criminal organisation, money laundering, terrorism- related crimes (including terrorism financing), child labour or human trafficking

(i) a beneficiary (or person having powers of representation, decision-making or control, or person essential for the award/implementation of the grant) was created under a different jurisdiction with the intent to circumvent fiscal, social or other legal obligations in the country of origin (or created another entity with this purpose)

(j) a beneficiary (or person having powers of representation, decision-making or control, or person essential for the award/implementation of the grant) has committed:

(i) substantial errors, irregularities or fraud or

(ii) serious breach of obligations under this Agreement or during its award (including improper implementation of the action, non-compliance with the call conditions, submission of false information, failure to provide required information, breach of ethics or security rules (if applicable), failure to cooperate with checks, reviews, audits and investigations, etc.)

(k) a beneficiary (or person having powers of representation, decision-making or control, or person essential for the award/implementation of the grant) has committed — in other EU grants awarded to it under similar conditions — systemic or recurrent errors, irregularities, fraud or serious breach of obligations that have a material impact on this grant (extension of findings; see Article 25.5)

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(l) despite a specific request by the granting authority, a beneficiary does not request — through the coordinator — an amendment to the Agreement to end the participation of one of its affiliated entities or associated partners that is in one of the situations under points (d), (f), (e), (g), (h), (i) or (j) and to reallocate its tasks, or

(m) other:

(i) [OPTION 1 by default: linked action issues: not applicable] [OPTION 2 if selected for the grant: the linked action (see Article 3) has not started as specified in Annex 1, has been terminated or can no longer contribute, and this impacts the implementation of the action under this Agreement]

(ii) additional GA termination grounds: not applicable.

32.3.2 Procedure

Before terminating the grant or participation of one or more beneficiaries, the granting authority will send a pre-information letter to the coordinator or beneficiary concerned:

- formally notifying the intention to terminate and the reasons why and

- requesting observations within 30 days of receiving notification.

If the granting authority does not receive observations or decides to pursue the procedure despite the observations it has received, it will confirm the termination and the date it will take effect (confirmation letter). Otherwise, it will formally notify that the procedure is discontinued.

For beneficiary terminations, the granting authority will — at the end of the procedure — also inform the coordinator.

The termination will take effect the day after the confirmation notification is sent (or on a later date specified in the notification; ‘termination date’).

32.3.3 Effects

(a) for GA termination:

The coordinator must — within 60 days from when termination takes effect — submit a periodic report (for the last open reporting period until termination).

The granting authority will calculate the final grant amount and final payment on the basis of the report submitted and taking into account the costs incurred and contributions for activities implemented before termination takes effect (see Article 22). Costs relating to contracts due for execution only after termination are not eligible.

If the grant is terminated for breach of the obligation to submit reports, the coordinator may not submit any report after termination.

If the granting authority does not receive the report within the deadline, only costs and contributions which are included in an approved periodic report will be taken into account (no costs/contributions if no periodic report was ever approved).

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Termination does not affect the granting authority’s right to reduce the grant (see Article 28) or to impose administrative sanctions (see Article 34).

The beneficiaries may not claim damages due to termination by the granting authority (see Article 33).

After termination, the beneficiaries’ obligations (in particular Articles 13 (confidentiality and security), 16 (IPR), 17 (communication, dissemination and visibility), 21 (reporting), 25 (checks, reviews, audits and investigations), 26 (impact evaluation), 27 (rejections), 28 (grant reduction) and 42 (assignment of claims)) continue to apply.

(b) for beneficiary termination:

The coordinator must — within 60 days from when termination takes effect — submit:

(i) a report on the distribution of payments to the beneficiary concerned

(ii) a termination report from the beneficiary concerned, for the open reporting period until termination, containing an overview of the progress of the work, the financial statement, the explanation on the use of resources, and, if applicable, the certificate on the financial statement (CFS; see Articles 21 and 24.2 and Data Sheet, Point 4.3)

(iii) a request for amendment (see Article 39) with any amendments needed (e.g. reallocation of the tasks and the estimated budget of the terminated beneficiary; addition of a new beneficiary to replace the terminated beneficiary; change of coordinator, etc.).

The granting authority will calculate the amount due to the beneficiary on the basis of the report submitted and taking into account the costs incurred and contributions for activities implemented before termination takes effect (see Article 22). Costs relating to contracts due for execution only after termination are not eligible.

The information in the termination report must also be included in the periodic report for the next reporting period (see Article 21).

If the granting authority does not receive the termination report within the deadline, only costs and contributions included in an approved periodic report will be taken into account (no costs/contributions if no periodic report was ever approved).

If the granting authority does not receive the report on the distribution of payments within the deadline, it will consider that:

- the coordinator did not distribute any payment to the beneficiary concerned and that

- the beneficiary concerned must not repay any amount to the coordinator.

If the request for amendment is accepted by the granting authority, the Agreement is amended to introduce the necessary changes (see Article 39).

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If the request for amendment is rejected by the granting authority (because it calls into question the decision awarding the grant or breaches the principle of equal treatment of applicants), the grant may be terminated (see Article 32).

After termination, the concerned beneficiary’s obligations (in particular Articles 13 (confidentiality and security), 16 (IPR), 17 (communication, dissemination and visibility), 21 (reporting), 25 (checks, reviews, audits and investigations), 26 (impact evaluation), 27 (rejections), 28 (grant reduction) and 42 (assignment of claims)) continue to apply.

SECTION 3 OTHER CONSEQUENCES: DAMAGES AND ADMINISTRATIVE SANCTIONS

ARTICLE 33 — DAMAGES

33.1 Liability of the granting authority

The granting authority cannot be held liable for any damage caused to the beneficiaries or to third parties as a consequence of the implementation of the Agreement, including for gross negligence.

The granting authority cannot be held liable for any damage caused by any of the beneficiaries or other participants involved in the action, as a consequence of the implementation of the Agreement.

33.2 Liability of the beneficiaries

The beneficiaries must compensate the granting authority for any damage it sustains as a result of the implementation of the action or because the action was not implemented in full compliance with the Agreement, provided that it was caused by gross negligence or wilful act.

The liability does not extend to indirect or consequential losses or similar damage (such as loss of profit, loss of revenue or loss of contracts), provided such damage was not caused by wilful act or by a breach of confidentiality.

ARTICLE 34 — ADMINISTRATIVE SANCTIONS AND OTHER MEASURES

Nothing in this Agreement may be construed as preventing the adoption of administrative sanctions (i.e. exclusion from EU award procedures and/or financial penalties) or other public law measures, in addition or as an alternative to the contractual measures provided under this Agreement (see, for instance, Articles 137 to 148 EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509 and Articles 4 and 7 of Regulation 2988/9540).

40 Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95 of 18 December 1995 on the protection of the European

Communities financial interests (OJ L 312, 23.12.1995, p. 1).

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SECTION 4 FORCE MAJEURE

ARTICLE 35 — FORCE MAJEURE

A party prevented by force majeure from fulfilling its obligations under the Agreement cannot be considered in breach of them.

‘Force majeure’ means any situation or event that:

- prevents either party from fulfilling their obligations under the Agreement,

- was unforeseeable, exceptional situation and beyond the parties’ control,

- was not due to error or negligence on their part (or on the part of other participants involved in the action), and

- proves to be inevitable in spite of exercising all due diligence.

Any situation constituting force majeure must be formally notified to the other party without delay, stating the nature, likely duration and foreseeable effects.

The parties must immediately take all the necessary steps to limit any damage due to force majeure and do their best to resume implementation of the action as soon as possible.

CHAPTER 6 FINAL PROVISIONS

ARTICLE 36 — COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE PARTIES

36.1 Forms and means of communication — Electronic management

EU grants are managed fully electronically through the EU Funding & Tenders Portal (‘Portal’).

All communications must be made electronically through the Portal, in accordance with the Portal Terms and Conditions and using the forms and templates provided there (except if explicitly instructed otherwise by the granting authority).

Communications must be made in writing and clearly identify the grant agreement (project number and acronym).

Communications must be made by persons authorised according to the Portal Terms and Conditions. For naming the authorised persons, each beneficiary must have designated — before the signature of this Agreement — a ‘legal entity appointed representative (LEAR)’. The role and tasks of the LEAR are stipulated in their appointment letter (see Portal Terms and Conditions).

If the electronic exchange system is temporarily unavailable, instructions will be given on the Portal.

36.2 Date of communication

The sending date for communications made through the Portal will be the date and time of sending, as indicated by the time logs.

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The receiving date for communications made through the Portal will be the date and time the communication is accessed, as indicated by the time logs. Formal notifications that have not been accessed within 10 days after sending, will be considered to have been accessed (see Portal Terms and Conditions).

If a communication is exceptionally made on paper (by e-mail or postal service), general principles apply (i.e. date of sending/receipt). Formal notifications by registered post with proof of delivery will be considered to have been received either on the delivery date registered by the postal service or the deadline for collection at the post office.

If the electronic exchange system is temporarily unavailable, the sending party cannot be considered in breach of its obligation to send a communication within a specified deadline.

36.3 Addresses for communication

The Portal can be accessed via the Europa website.

The address for paper communications to the granting authority (if exceptionally allowed) is the official mailing address indicated on its website.

For beneficiaries, it is the legal address specified in the Portal Participant Register.

ARTICLE 37 — INTERPRETATION OF THE AGREEMENT

The provisions in the Data Sheet take precedence over the rest of the Terms and Conditions of the Agreement.

Annex 5 takes precedence over the Terms and Conditions; the Terms and Conditions take precedence over the Annexes other than Annex 5.

Annex 2 takes precedence over Annex 1.

ARTICLE 38 — CALCULATION OF PERIODS AND DEADLINES

In accordance with Regulation No 1182/7141, periods expressed in days, months or years are calculated from the moment the triggering event occurs.

The day during which that event occurs is not considered as falling within the period.

‘Days’ means calendar days, not working days.

ARTICLE 39 — AMENDMENTS

39.1 Conditions

The Agreement may be amended, unless the amendment entails changes to the Agreement which would call into question the decision awarding the grant or breach the principle of equal treatment of applicants.

41 Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 1182/71 of the Council of 3 June 1971 determining the rules applicable to

periods, dates and time-limits (OJ L 124, 8/6/1971, p. 1).

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Amendments may be requested by any of the parties.

39.2 Procedure

The party requesting an amendment must submit a request for amendment signed directly in the Portal Amendment tool.

The coordinator submits and receives requests for amendment on behalf of the beneficiaries (see Annex 3). If a change of coordinator is requested without its agreement, the submission must be done by another beneficiary (acting on behalf of the other beneficiaries).

The request for amendment must include:

- the reasons why

- the appropriate supporting documents and

- for a change of coordinator without its agreement: the opinion of the coordinator (or proof that this opinion has been requested in writing).

The granting authority may request additional information.

If the party receiving the request agrees, it must sign the amendment in the tool within 45 days of receiving notification (or any additional information the granting authority has requested). If it does not agree, it must formally notify its disagreement within the same deadline. The deadline may be extended, if necessary for the assessment of the request. If no notification is received within the deadline, the request is considered to have been rejected.

An amendment enters into force on the day of the signature of the receiving party.

An amendment takes effect on the date of entry into force or other date specified in the amendment.

ARTICLE 40 — ACCESSION AND ADDITION OF NEW BENEFICIARIES

40.1 Accession of the beneficiaries mentioned in the Preamble

The beneficiaries which are not coordinator must accede to the grant by signing the accession form (see Annex 3) directly in the Portal Grant Preparation tool, within 30 days after the entry into force of the Agreement (see Article 44).

They will assume the rights and obligations under the Agreement with effect from the date of its entry into force (see Article 44).

If a beneficiary does not accede to the grant within the above deadline, the coordinator must — within 30 days — request an amendment (see Article 39) to terminate the beneficiary and make any changes necessary to ensure proper implementation of the action. This does not affect the granting authority’s right to terminate the grant (see Article 32).

40.2 Addition of new beneficiaries

In justified cases, the beneficiaries may request the addition of a new beneficiary.

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For this purpose, the coordinator must submit a request for amendment in accordance with Article 39. It must include an accession form (see Annex 3) signed by the new beneficiary directly in the Portal Amendment tool.

New beneficiaries will assume the rights and obligations under the Agreement with effect from the date of their accession specified in the accession form (see Annex 3).

Additions are also possible in mono-beneficiary grants.

ARTICLE 41 — TRANSFER OF THE AGREEMENT

In justified cases, the beneficiary of a mono-beneficiary grant may request the transfer of the grant to a new beneficiary, provided that this would not call into question the decision awarding the grant or breach the principle of equal treatment of applicants.

The beneficiary must submit a request for amendment (see Article 39), with:

- the reasons why

- the accession form (see Annex 3) signed by the new beneficiary directly in the Portal Amendment tool and

- additional supporting documents (if required by the granting authority).

The new beneficiary will assume the rights and obligations under the Agreement with effect from the date of accession specified in the accession form (see Annex 3).

ARTICLE 42 — ASSIGNMENTS OF CLAIMS FOR PAYMENT AGAINST THE GRANTING AUTHORITY

The beneficiaries may not assign any of their claims for payment against the granting authority to any third party, except if expressly approved in writing by the granting authority on the basis of a reasoned, written request by the coordinator (on behalf of the beneficiary concerned).

If the granting authority has not accepted the assignment or if the terms of it are not observed, the assignment will have no effect on it.

In no circumstances will an assignment release the beneficiaries from their obligations towards the granting authority.

ARTICLE 43 — APPLICABLE LAW AND SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTES

43.1 Applicable law

The Agreement is governed by the applicable EU law, supplemented if necessary by the law of Belgium.

Special rules may apply for beneficiaries which are international organisations (if any; see Data Sheet, Point 5).

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43.2 Dispute settlement

If a dispute concerns the interpretation, application or validity of the Agreement, the parties must bring action before the EU General Court — or, on appeal, the EU Court of Justice — under Article 272 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU).

For non-EU beneficiaries (if any), such disputes must be brought before the courts of Brussels, Belgium — unless an international agreement provides for the enforceability of EU court judgements.

For beneficiaries with arbitration as special dispute settlement forum (if any; see Data Sheet, Point 5), the dispute will — in the absence of an amicable settlement — be settled in accordance with the Rules for Arbitration published on the Portal.

If a dispute concerns administrative sanctions, offsetting or an enforceable decision under Article 299 TFEU (see Articles 22 and 34), the beneficiaries must bring action before the General Court — or, on appeal, the Court of Justice — under Article 263 TFEU.

For grants where the granting authority is an EU executive agency (see Preamble), actions against offsetting and enforceable decisions must be brought against the European Commission (not against the granting authority; see also Article 22).

ARTICLE 44 — ENTRY INTO FORCE

The Agreement will enter into force on the day of signature by the granting authority or the coordinator, depending on which is later.

SIGNATURES For the coordinator For the granting authority [function/forename/surname] [forename/surname] [electronic signature] [electronic signature] Done in [English] Done in [English] on [electronic time stamp] on [electronic time stamp]

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ANNEX 1

DESCRIPTION OF THE ACTION

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ANNEX 2

ESTIMATED BUDGET

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ANNEX 2a

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON UNIT COSTS AND CONTRIBUTIONS

SME owners/natural person beneficiaries without salary

See Additional information on unit costs and contributions (Annex 2a and 2b)

Volunteers

See Additional information on unit costs and contributions (Annex 2a and 2b)

Travel and subsistence

See Additional information on unit costs and contributions (Annex 2a and 2b)

UCPM Emergency Response Actions are allowed to use actual costs for all travel and subsistence incurred in the context of the action.

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[OPTION for UCPM Emergency Response Actions: [OPTION if selected for the call:

ANNEX 2e

COMPLEX FUNDING RATE CALCULATOR42]]

42 Template published on Portal Reference Documents.

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ANNEX 3

ACCESSION FORM FOR BENEFICIARIES43

43 Template published on Portal Reference Documents.

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[OPTION if selected for the grant:

ANNEX 3a

DECLARATION ON JOINT AND SEVERAL LIABILITY OF AFFILIATED ENTITIES44 ]

44 Template published on Portal Reference Documents.

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ANNEX 4

MODEL FOR THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

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ANNEX 5

SPECIFIC RULES

CONFIDENTIALITY AND SECURITY (— ARTICLE 13)

Sensitive information with security recommendation

Sensitive information with a security recommendation must comply with the additional requirements imposed by the granting authority.

Before starting the action tasks concerned, the beneficiaries must have obtained all approvals or other mandatory documents needed for implementing the task. The documents must be kept on file and be submitted upon request by the coordinator to the granting authority. If they are not in English, they must be submitted together with an English summary.

For requirements restricting disclosure or dissemination, the information must be handled in accordance with the recommendation and may be disclosed or disseminated only after written approval from the granting authority.

EU classified information

If EU classified information is used or generated by the action, it must be treated in accordance with the security classification guide (SCG) and security aspect letter (SAL) set out in Annex 1 and Decision 2015/44445 and its implementing rules — until it is declassified.

Deliverables which contain EU classified information must be submitted according to special procedures agreed with the granting authority.

Action tasks involving EU classified information may be subcontracted only with prior explicit written approval from the granting authority and only to entities established in an EU Member State or in a non-EU country with a security of information agreement with the EU (or an administrative arrangement with the Commission).

EU classified information may not be disclosed to any third party (including participants involved in the action implementation) without prior explicit written approval from the granting authority.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS (IPR) — BACKGROUND AND RESULTS — ACCESS RIGHTS AND RIGHTS OF USE (— ARTICLE 16)

Rights of use of the granting authority on results for information, communication, dissemination and publicity purposes

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The granting authority also has the right to exploit non-sensitive results of the action for information, communication, dissemination and publicity purposes, using any of the following modes:

- use for its own purposes (in particular, making them available to persons working for the granting authority or any other EU service (including institutions, bodies, offices, agencies, etc.) or EU Member State institution or body; copying or reproducing them in whole or in part, in unlimited numbers; and communication through press information services)

- distribution to the public in hard copies, in electronic or digital format, on the internet including social networks, as a downloadable or non-downloadable file

- editing or redrafting (including shortening, summarising, changing, correcting, cutting, inserting elements (e.g. meta-data, legends or other graphic, visual, audio or text elements), extracting parts (e.g. audio or video files), dividing into parts or use in a compilation)

- translation (including inserting subtitles/dubbing) in all official languages of EU

- storage in paper, electronic or other form

- archiving in line with applicable document-management rules

- the right to authorise third parties to act on its behalf or sub-license to third parties, including if there is licensed background, any of the rights or modes of exploitation set out in this provision

- processing, analysing, aggregating the results and producing derivative works

- disseminating the results in widely accessible databases or indexes (such as through ‘open access’ or ‘open data’ portals or similar repositories, whether free of charge or not).

The beneficiaries must ensure these rights of use for the whole duration they are protected by industrial or intellectual property rights.

If results are subject to moral rights or third party rights (including intellectual property rights or rights of natural persons on their image and voice), the beneficiaries must ensure that they comply with their obligations under this Agreement (in particular, by obtaining the necessary licences and authorisations from the rights holders concerned).

COMMUNICATION, DISSEMINATION AND VISIBILITY (— ARTICLE 17)

Additional communication and dissemination activities

Where imposed by the call conditions, the beneficiaries must engage in the following additional communication and dissemination activities:

- present the project (including project summary, coordinator contact details, list of participants, European flag and funding statement and project results) on the beneficiaries’ websites or social media accounts

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- upload the public project results to the UCPM Project Results platform, available through the Funding & Tenders Portal.

Limited communication and visibility to protect persons involved

Where the communication, dissemination or visibility obligations set out in Article 17 or this Annex would harm the safety of persons involved in the action, the beneficiaries may submit appropriate alternative arrangements to the granting authority for approval.

Visibility in field operations outside the EU

For field operations outside the EU, the beneficiaries must display the European flag and the following funding statement on signboards, office buildings, goods, equipment, clothing items, etc. worn by project staff:

SPECIFIC RULES FOR CARRYING OUT THE ACTION (— ARTICLE 18)

Zero tolerance

The beneficiaries must ensure zero tolerance in relation to all wrongful conduct that has an impact on their professional credibility, in particular physical abuse or punishment, threats of physical abuse, sexual abuse or exploitation, harassment or verbal abuse, as well as any other forms of intimidation.

Transfer of assets at the end of the action

Where imposed by the call conditions (and unless exempted by the granting authority), the beneficiaries must — after the end of the action — transfer equipment or goods bought and eligible at full cost to other actions they have ongoing under the same EU programme. Such equipment must continue to be used until the end of its economic lifespan (i.e. transferred on to other actions, until it has been fully depreciated).

If transfer to another ongoing action is not possible, the beneficiaries can — after the end of the action — transfer the equipment or goods to the final recipients, local non-profit organisations, national non-profit organisations, international non-profit organisations, international organisations, the national authorities or local authorities, if agreed by the granting authority.

EU restrictive measures

The beneficiaries must ensure that the EU grant does not benefit any affiliated entities, associated partners, subcontractors or recipients of financial support to third parties that are

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subject to restrictive measures adopted under Article 29 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) or Article 215 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU).

EUROPEAN COMMISSION DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR EUROPEAN CIVIL PROTECTION AND HUMANITARIAN AID OPERATIONS (ECHO) Emergency Response Coordination Centre

The Director

Brussels,

ARES e-mail

Addressees: Directors-General for Civil Protection of the of the Member States and

Participating States of the Union Civil Protection Mechanisms;

Members of the Civil Protection Committee

Subject: Invitation to submit application for the UCPM emergency response

actions - UCPM-2026-RESPONSE-IBA

Dear Directors-General,

This is an invitation to submit proposals for EU action grants in the field of response

actions under the Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM).

Response actions aim to provide assistance to immediate adverse consequences of a

disaster/emergency inside or outside the European Union, following a request for

assistance through the UCPM. In the event of a disaster/emergency, the UCPM supports

response actions, inter alia through grants for the following types of action:

• Equipment, transport and logistics, and operations response actions,

including Pooling, i.e. any actions that need logistical set-up, such as UCPM

Logistical Hubs (Article 22(a) and (b) UCPM Decision 1313/2013) and

• Other additional necessary supporting and complementary response

actions (Article 22(c) UCPM Decision 1313/2013)

UCPM Implementing Decision 2025/704 lays down detailed rules for the implementation,

notably as regards the interaction of the Emergency Response Coordination Centre

(ERCC) with Member State and UCPM Participating State contact points; the

identification of modules, other response capacities and experts, as well as the operational

costs and requirements for the functioning and interoperability of modules, including their

tasks, capacities, main components, self-sufficiency and deployment; as well as the Union

assistance in response actions.

I would also like to draw your attention to the Annexes to this letter. They contain

important information relating to the conditions for awarding grants without call for

proposals.

The rules determining the grant award procedures are set out in the Financial Regulation

(EU, Euratom) 2024/2509 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 September

2024 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union1.

This letter does not prejudge the Commission’s final decision on the requests it will

receive.

1 OJ L, 2024/2509, 26.9.2024.

2

If you are interested in applying for a grant, please prepare your application and submit all

relevant documents on the Funding & Tenders Portal, which can be accessed through the

following link as from 17 December 2025:

UCPM emergency response actions - UCPM-2026-RESPONSE-IBA:

https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/submission/manage/screen/submission/create-

draft/43011?topic=UCPM-2026-RESPONSE-IBA

Please use the application form (Part B) and the detailed budget table downloaded

from the Portal submission screen when preparing a new grant application/proposal.

The deadlines for submitting grant applications/proposals are set every Tuesdays at 17:00

CET until 16 December 2026.

Please note that you can submit your application in the system, reopen it for updates and

resubmit it as many times as you wish up until the deadline indicated on the submission

screen. Each new submitted version will replace the previous one.

Each application will be evaluated by the Commission services on the basis of the criteria

established in the Call Document attached to this letter.

In addition to the information and guidance that you will find in the annexed document and

on the Funding & Tenders Portal, we will organise an online information session on 13

January 2026. This session will be dedicated to the operational aspects of the application

as well as the Funding & Tenders Portal submission process. Individuals who are

interested in receiving the recording of this session may contact us at: ECHO-

[email protected].

We would appreciate if you could facilitate the transmission of this letter and its annexes

to the relevant /authority in charge of civil protection.

Yours faithfully,

Michela MATUELLA

Contact: [email protected]

Enclosure:

Annex I: Call document/Invitation to submit proposal - UCPM emergency response

actions (UCPM-2026-RESPONSE-IBA)

Annex II: Model grant agreement

Electronically signed on 17/12/2025 09:04 (UTC+01) in accordance with Article 11 of Commission Decision (EU) 2021/2121

Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM)

General Model Grant Agreement

(UCPM MGA — Multi & Mono)

Version 1.0 01 January 2025

Disclaimer This document is aimed at assisting applicants. It shows the full range of provisions that may be applied to this type of agreement, and is provided for information purposes only. The legally binding agreement will be that which is signed by the parties in the system.

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HISTORY OF CHANGES

Version Publication date Changes

1.0 26.05.2021  Initial version.

1.0 01.01.2025  Changes in Article 5 + Annex 2e: new options for Emergency Response Actions.

 Changes in Data Sheet + Article 6 + Annex 2,4: new options for unit costs in accordance with usual cost accounting practices (average personnel costs and civil protection intervention unit costs).

 Update to the new Financial Regulation 2024/2509.  Update of Article 10.3 Pillar-assessed participants.  Update of Article 21.1 Continuous reporting.

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GENERAL MODEL GRANT AGREEMENT FOR THE UNION CIVIL PROTECTION MECHANISM PROGRAMME (UCPM)1

(UCPM MGA — MULTI & MONO)

 Options [in green square brackets] will be automatically activated during grant agreement preparation in the IT tools. Options not chosen will automatically either not appear or appear as ‘not applicable’. Options chosen will appear without brackets and without the green instruction.

 For fields in [grey in square brackets], the system will insert the appropriate data.  Text in grey indicates that text which is used in other EU programmes is not applicable for this

programme.  Footnotes in green are internal instructions and will not appear in the text generated by the system

for signature.

GRANT AGREEMENT

Project [insert number] — [insert acronym]

PREAMBLE

This Agreement (‘the Agreement’) is between the following parties:

on the one part,

[OPTION 1: the European Union (‘EU’), represented by the European Commission (‘European Commission’ or ‘granting authority’),]

[OPTION 3 for direct management by executive agencies: the [European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA)] [European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA)] [European Research Council Executive Agency (ERCEA)] [European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA)] [European Innovation Council and SME Executive Agency (EISMEA)] [European Research Executive Agency (REA)] (‘EU executive agency’ or ‘granting authority’), under the powers delegated by the European Commission (‘European Commission’),]

1 Decision No 1313/2013/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 on a

Union Civil Protection Mechanism (OJ L 347, 20.12.2013, p. 924). Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2019/1310 of 31 July 2019 laying down rules on the operation of

the European Civil Protection Pool and rescEU (OJ L 204, 2.8.2019, p. 94) . Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2019/570 of 8 April 2019 laying down rules for the

implementation of Decision No 1313/2013/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards rescEU capacities (OJ L 99, 10.4.2019, p. 41).

EUROPEAN COMMISSION [NAME DG] [Name Directorate] [Name Unit]

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[OPTION 4 for indirect management by EU funding bodies: [insert name of funding body] (‘granting authority’)[, under the powers delegated by the European Commission (‘European Commission’)]]

and

on the other part,

1. ‘the coordinator’:

[COO legal name (short name)], PIC [number], established in [legal address],

[and the following other beneficiaries, if they sign their ‘accession form’ (see Annex 3 and Article 40):

2. [BEN legal name (short name)], PIC [number], established in [legal address],

[3. Joint Research Centre (JRC), PIC [number], established in RUE DE LA LOI 200, BRUSSELS 1049, Belgium,]

[same for each beneficiary] ]

Unless otherwise specified, references to ‘beneficiary’ or ‘beneficiaries’ include the coordinator and affiliated entities (if any).

If only one beneficiary signs the grant agreement (‘mono-beneficiary grant’), all provisions referring to the ‘coordinator’ or the ‘beneficiaries’ will be considered — mutatis mutandis — as referring to the beneficiary.

The parties referred to above have agreed to enter into the Agreement.

By signing the Agreement and the accession forms, the beneficiaries accept the grant and agree to implement the action under their own responsibility and in accordance with the Agreement, with all the obligations and terms and conditions it sets out.

The Agreement is composed of:

Preamble

Terms and Conditions (including Data Sheet)

Annex 1 Description of the action2

Annex 2 Estimated budget for the action

Annex 2a Additional information on unit costs and contributions (if applicable)

[OPTION for UCPM Emergency Response Actions: [OPTION if selected for the call: Annex 2e Complex funding rate calculator3]]

2 Template published on Portal Reference Documents.

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Annex 3 Accession forms (if applicable) 4

Annex 3a Declaration on joint and several liability of affiliated entities (if applicable) 5

Annex 4 Model for the financial statements

Annex 5 Specific rules (if applicable)

3 Template published on Portal Reference Documents. 4 Template published on Portal Reference Documents. 5 Template published on Portal Reference Documents.

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TERMS AND CONDITIONS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

GRANT AGREEMENT .................................................................................................................................. 3 PREAMBLE ..................................................................................................................................................... 3 TERMS AND CONDITIONS ......................................................................................................................... 6 DATA SHEET ................................................................................................................................................ 10 CHAPTER 1 GENERAL ....................................................................................................................... 16

ARTICLE 1 — SUBJECT OF THE AGREEMENT ................................................................ 16 ARTICLE 2 — DEFINITIONS................................................................................................. 16

CHAPTER 2 ACTION ........................................................................................................................... 17 ARTICLE 3 — ACTION .......................................................................................................... 17 ARTICLE 4 — DURATION AND STARTING DATE ........................................................... 18

CHAPTER 3 GRANT ............................................................................................................................ 18 ARTICLE 5 — GRANT ............................................................................................................ 18

5.1 Form of grant ......................................................................................................... 18 5.2 Maximum grant amount ......................................................................................... 18 5.3 Funding rate ........................................................................................................... 18 5.4 Estimated budget, budget categories and forms of funding ................................... 18 5.5 Budget flexibility ................................................................................................... 19

ARTICLE 6 — ELIGIBLE AND INELIGIBLE COSTS AND CONTRIBUTIONS ............... 19 6.1 General eligibility conditions ................................................................................. 19 6.2 Specific eligibility conditions for each budget category ........................................ 21 6.3 Ineligible costs and contributions .......................................................................... 27 6.4 Consequences of non-compliance .......................................................................... 29

CHAPTER 4 GRANT IMPLEMENTATION ..................................................................................... 29 SECTION 1 CONSORTIUM: BENEFICIARIES, AFFILIATED ENTITIES AND OTHER

PARTICIPANTS .............................................................................................................. 29 ARTICLE 7 — BENEFICIARIES ............................................................................................ 29 ARTICLE 8 — AFFILIATED ENTITIES ................................................................................ 31 ARTICLE 9 — OTHER PARTICIPANTS INVOLVED IN THE ACTION ............................ 32

9.1 Associated partners ................................................................................................ 32 9.2 Third parties giving in-kind contributions to the action ......................................... 33 9.3 Subcontractors ....................................................................................................... 33 9.4 Recipients of financial support to third parties ...................................................... 33

ARTICLE 10 — PARTICIPANTS WITH SPECIAL STATUS ............................................... 33 10.1 Non-EU participants .............................................................................................. 33 10.2 Participants which are international organisations ................................................. 34 10.3 Pillar-assessed participants .................................................................................... 34

SECTION 2 RULES FOR CARRYING OUT THE ACTION .......................................................... 36 ARTICLE 11 — PROPER IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ACTION ..................................... 36

11.1 Obligation to properly implement the action ......................................................... 36 11.2 Consequences of non-compliance .......................................................................... 37

ARTICLE 12 — CONFLICT OF INTERESTS ........................................................................ 37 12.1 Conflict of interests ................................................................................................ 37 12.2 Consequences of non-compliance .......................................................................... 37

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ARTICLE 13 — CONFIDENTIALITY AND SECURITY...................................................... 37 13.1 Sensitive information ............................................................................................. 37 13.2 Classified information ............................................................................................ 38 13.3 Consequences of non-compliance .......................................................................... 38

ARTICLE 14 — ETHICS AND VALUES ............................................................................... 38 14.1 Ethics ..................................................................................................................... 38 14.2 Values .................................................................................................................... 39 14.3 Consequences of non-compliance .......................................................................... 39

ARTICLE 15 — DATA PROTECTION .................................................................................. 39 15.1 Data processing by the granting authority ............................................................. 39 15.2 Data processing by the beneficiaries ...................................................................... 39 15.3 Consequences of non-compliance .......................................................................... 40

ARTICLE 16 — INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS (IPR) — BACKGROUND AND RESULTS — ACCESS RIGHTS AND RIGHTS OF USE ......................... 40

16.1 Background and access rights to background ........................................................ 40 16.2 Ownership of results .............................................................................................. 40 16.3 Rights of use of the granting authority on materials, documents and

information received for policy, information, communication, dissemination and publicity purposes ........................................................................................... 40

16.4 Specific rules on IPR, results and background ....................................................... 41 16.5 Consequences of non-compliance .......................................................................... 42

ARTICLE 17 — COMMUNICATION, DISSEMINATION AND VISIBILITY ..................... 42 17.1 Communication — Dissemination — Promoting the action.................................. 42 17.2 Visibility — European flag and funding statement ................................................ 42 17.3 Quality of information — Disclaimer .................................................................... 43 17.4 Specific communication, dissemination and visibility rules .................................. 43 17.5 Consequences of non-compliance .......................................................................... 43

ARTICLE 18 — SPECIFIC RULES FOR CARRYING OUT THE ACTION ........................ 43 18.1 Specific rules for carrying out the action ............................................................... 43 18.2 Consequences of non-compliance .......................................................................... 43

SECTION 3 GRANT ADMINISTRATION ........................................................................................ 44 ARTICLE 19 — GENERAL INFORMATION OBLIGATIONS ............................................ 44

19.1 Information requests .............................................................................................. 44 19.2 Participant Register data updates ........................................................................... 44 19.3 Information about events and circumstances which impact the action .................. 44 19.4 Consequences of non-compliance .......................................................................... 44

ARTICLE 20 — RECORD-KEEPING ..................................................................................... 44 20.1 Keeping records and supporting documents .......................................................... 44 20.2 Consequences of non-compliance .......................................................................... 46

ARTICLE 21 — REPORTING ................................................................................................. 46 21.1 Continuous reporting ............................................................................................. 46 21.2 Periodic reporting: Technical reports and financial statements ............................. 46 21.3 Currency for financial statements and conversion into euros ................................ 47 21.4 Reporting language ................................................................................................ 47 21.5 Consequences of non-compliance .......................................................................... 47

ARTICLE 22 — PAYMENTS AND RECOVERIES — CALCULATION OF AMOUNTS DUE ....................................................................................................................... 48

22.1 Payments and payment arrangements .................................................................... 48

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22.2 Recoveries .............................................................................................................. 48 22.3 Amounts due .......................................................................................................... 48 22.4 Enforced recovery .................................................................................................. 53 22.5 Consequences of non-compliance .......................................................................... 54

ARTICLE 23 — GUARANTEES ............................................................................................. 55 23.1 Prefinancing guarantee .......................................................................................... 55 23.2 Consequences of non-compliance .......................................................................... 55

ARTICLE 24 — CERTIFICATES ............................................................................................ 55 24.1 Operational verification report (OVR) ................................................................... 55 24.2 Certificate on the financial statements (CFS) ........................................................ 56 24.3 Certificate on the compliance of usual cost accounting practices (CoMUC) ........ 56 24.4 Systems and process audit (SPA) ........................................................................ 57 24.5 Consequences of non-compliance .......................................................................... 57

ARTICLE 25 — CHECKS, REVIEWS, AUDITS AND INVESTIGATIONS — EXTENSION OF FINDINGS ............................................................................... 57

25.1 Granting authority checks, reviews and audits ...................................................... 57 25.2 European Commission checks, reviews and audits in grants of other granting

authorities .............................................................................................................. 59 25.3 Access to records for assessing simplified forms of funding ................................. 59 25.4 OLAF, EPPO and ECA audits and investigations ................................................. 59 25.5 Consequences of checks, reviews, audits and investigations — Extension of

findings .................................................................................................................. 59 25.6 Consequences of non-compliance .......................................................................... 61

ARTICLE 26 — IMPACT EVALUATIONS ........................................................................... 61 26.1 Impact evaluation ................................................................................................... 61 26.2 Consequences of non-compliance .......................................................................... 61

CHAPTER 5 CONSEQUENCES OF NON-COMPLIANCE ............................................................ 61 SECTION 1 REJECTIONS AND GRANT REDUCTION ................................................................ 61

ARTICLE 27 — REJECTION OF COSTS AND CONTRIBUTIONS .................................... 61 27.1 Conditions .............................................................................................................. 61 27.2 Procedure ............................................................................................................... 61 27.3 Effects .................................................................................................................... 62

ARTICLE 28 — GRANT REDUCTION .................................................................................. 62 28.1 Conditions .............................................................................................................. 62 28.2 Procedure ............................................................................................................... 62 28.3 Effects .................................................................................................................... 63

SECTION 2 SUSPENSION AND TERMINATION ........................................................................... 63 ARTICLE 29 — PAYMENT DEADLINE SUSPENSION ...................................................... 63

29.1 Conditions .............................................................................................................. 63 29.2 Procedure ............................................................................................................... 63

ARTICLE 30 — PAYMENT SUSPENSION ........................................................................... 63 30.1 Conditions .............................................................................................................. 63 30.2 Procedure ............................................................................................................... 64

ARTICLE 31 — GRANT AGREEMENT SUSPENSION ....................................................... 64 31.1 Consortium-requested GA suspension ................................................................... 64 31.2 EU-initiated GA suspension .................................................................................. 65

ARTICLE 32 — GRANT AGREEMENT OR BENEFICIARY TERMINATION .................. 66 32.1 Consortium-requested GA termination .................................................................. 66

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32.2 Consortium-requested beneficiary termination ...................................................... 67 32.3 EU-initiated GA or beneficiary termination .......................................................... 68

SECTION 3 OTHER CONSEQUENCES: DAMAGES AND ADMINISTRATIVE SANCTIONS .................................................................................................................... 72

ARTICLE 33 — DAMAGES .................................................................................................... 72 33.1 Liability of the granting authority .......................................................................... 72 33.2 Liability of the beneficiaries .................................................................................. 72

ARTICLE 34 — ADMINISTRATIVE SANCTIONS AND OTHER MEASURES ................ 72 SECTION 4 FORCE MAJEURE ......................................................................................................... 73

ARTICLE 35 — FORCE MAJEURE ....................................................................................... 73 CHAPTER 6 FINAL PROVISIONS .................................................................................................... 73

ARTICLE 36 — COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE PARTIES ....................................... 73 36.1 Forms and means of communication — Electronic management .......................... 73 36.2 Date of communication .......................................................................................... 73 36.3 Addresses for communication ................................................................................ 74

ARTICLE 37 — INTERPRETATION OF THE AGREEMENT ............................................. 74 ARTICLE 38 — CALCULATION OF PERIODS AND DEADLINES ................................... 74 ARTICLE 39 — AMENDMENTS ........................................................................................... 74

39.1 Conditions .............................................................................................................. 74 39.2 Procedure ............................................................................................................... 75

ARTICLE 40 — ACCESSION AND ADDITION OF NEW BENEFICIARIES ..................... 75 40.1 Accession of the beneficiaries mentioned in the Preamble .................................... 75 40.2 Addition of new beneficiaries ................................................................................ 75

ARTICLE 41 — TRANSFER OF THE AGREEMENT ........................................................... 76 ARTICLE 42 — ASSIGNMENTS OF CLAIMS FOR PAYMENT AGAINST THE

GRANTING AUTHORITY .................................................................................. 76 ARTICLE 43 — APPLICABLE LAW AND SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTES ....................... 76

43.1 Applicable law ....................................................................................................... 76 43.2 Dispute settlement .................................................................................................. 77

ARTICLE 44 — ENTRY INTO FORCE .................................................................................. 77

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DATA SHEET

1. General data Project summary:

Project summary

Text from DoA Annex 1 Part A (same text as proposal abstract)

Keywords: [keywords from proposal]

Project number: [project number, e.g. 690853330]

Project name: [full title]

Project acronym: [acronym]

Call: [call ID, e.g. PROG-(SUBPROG-)YEAR-CALLABREV]

Topic: [topic ID, e.g. PROG-(SUBPROG-)YEAR-CALLABREV-NN/TOPICABBREV]

Type of action: [ToA, e.g. UCPM Project Grants]

Granting authority: [European Commission – EU] [European Commission – Euratom] [[name of Executive Agency]] [[name of EU funding body]]

Grant managed through EU Funding & Tenders Portal: Yes (eGrants)

[OPTION for SGAs: Framework Partnership Agreement No [insert number] — [insert acronym]]

Project starting date6: [OPTION 1 by default: first day of the month following the entry into force date] [OPTION 2 if selected for the grant: fixed date: [dd/mm/yyyy]]

Project end date: [dd/mm/yyyy]

Project duration: [number of months, e.g. 48 months]

[OPTION if selected for the grant: Linked action: Linked with other action:

- [insert linked action information, e.g. name, acronym, number, funded by (EU/name of other donor organisation), description (grant/ procurement/ prize/ equity investment/ repayable loan/etc)]

- [OPTION if selected for the grant: Specific linked action type: [Synergy][Blended finance (linked action)]]

- Collaboration agreement: [OPTION 1 by default: No] [OPTION 2 if selected for the call: Yes]

- … ]

Consortium agreement: [OPTION 1 by default: Yes] [OPTION 2 if selected for the call: No]

2. Participants

List of participants:

6 This date must normally be the first day of a month and later than the entry into force of the agreement. The RAO can decide on

another date, if justified by the applicants. However, the starting date may not be earlier than the submission date of the grant application – except if provided for by the basic act or in cases of extreme urgency and conflict prevention (Article 196 EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509).

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Num ber Role Short

name Legal name Count ry PIC

Total eligible costs

(BEN and AE)

Maximum grant amount Entry date Exit date

1 COO [countr y]

[amount] [amount] [date]

2 BEN [countr y]

[amount] [amount]

2.1 AE

[countr y]

[amount] [amount]

3 BEN [countr y] [amount] [amount] [date]

BEN

(UTRO) [countr

y] 0 0 [date]

4 BEN

(pillar- assessed)

[countr y]

[amount] [amount] [date]

5 BEN [countr y]

[amount] [amount] [date]

6 BEN

(IO, pillar- assessed)

[countr y]

[amount] [amount]

7 AP [countr y]

0 0

Total [amount] [amount]

Coordinator:

- [COO legal name (short name)]: from [insert date] to [insert date] - …

3. Grant

Maximum grant amount, total estimated eligible costs and contributions and funding rate:

Total eligible costs

(BEN and AE)

Funding rate

(%)

Maximum grant amount

(Annex 2)

Maximum grant amount

(award decision)

[amount] [...], […] [amount] [amount]

Grant form: Budget-based

Grant mode: Action grant

Budget categories/activity types:

- A. Personnel costs

- A.1 Employees, A.2 Natural persons under direct contract, A.3 Seconded persons

- A.4 SME owners and natural person beneficiaries

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- A.5 Volunteers

- B. Subcontracting costs

- C. Purchase costs

- C.1 Travel and subsistence

- C.2 Equipment

- C.3 Other goods, works and services

- D. Other cost categories

- D.1 Civil protection intervention unit costs

- E. Indirect costs

Cost eligibility options:

- Standard supplementary payments

- Average personnel costs (unit cost according to usual cost accounting practices)

- [OPTION if selected for the grant7: Limitation for subcontracting]

- Travel and subsistence:

- Travel: Unit or actual costs

- Accommodation: Unit or actual costs

- Subsistence: Unit or actual costs

- Equipment: [OPTION 1 by default: depreciation only][OPTION 2 if selected for the call: full cost only][OPTION 3 if selected for the call: depreciation and full cost for listed equipment][OPTION 4 if selected for the call: full cost and depreciation for listed equipment]

- Indirect cost flat-rate: [7%][0%] of the eligible direct costs (categories A-D, except volunteers costs and exempted specific cost categories, if any)

- VAT: No

- [OPTION if selected for the grant: Double funding for Synergy actions]

- Other ineligible costs

Budget flexibility: Yes (no flexibility cap)

4. Reporting, payments and recoveries

4.1 Continuous reporting (art 21)

Deliverables: see Funding & Tenders Portal Continuous Reporting tool

4.2 Periodic reporting and payments

Reporting and payment schedule (art 21, 22):

Reporting Payments

Reporting periods Type Deadline Type Deadline (time to pay)

RP No Month from Month to

7 This is a standard obligation for all EU grants. It may be unselected only for actions where subcontracting is a key/large part of the

action (e.g infrastructure projects; technical assistance, statistical programmes, etc).

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Initial

prefinancing [OPTION 1 by default: 30 days from entry into force/financial guarantee (if required) – whichever is the latest]

[OPTION 2: if selected for the call: n/a]

1 [number] [number] Additional prefinancing report

60 days after end of

reporting period

Additional prefinancing

[OPTION 1 if selected for the grant: 60 days from receiving additional prefinancing

report/financial guarantee (if required) – whichever is the latest][OPTION 2: n/a]

2 [number] [number] Periodic report 60 days after end of

reporting period

Interim payment [OPTION 1 if selected for the grant: 90 days from receiving periodic report][OPTION 2: n/a]

3 [number] [number] Periodic report 60 days after end of

reporting period

Final payment 90 days from receiving periodic report

Prefinancing payments and guarantees: [n/a]

Prefinancing payment Prefinancing guarantee

Type Amount Guarantee amount

Division per participant

Prefinancing 1 (initial) [amount] [[amount]] [n/a]

1 – [short name] [n/a] [[amount]]

2 – [short name]

Prefinancing 2 (additional)

[amount] [[amount]] [n/a]

1 – [short name] [n/a] [[amount]]

2 – [short name]

Reporting and payment modalities (art 21, 22):

Mutual Insurance Mechanism (MIM): No

Restrictions on distribution of initial prefinancing: The prefinancing may be distributed only if the minimum number of beneficiaries set out in the call conditions (if any) have acceded to the Agreement and only to beneficiaries that have acceded.

Interim payment ceiling (if any): 90% of the maximum grant amount

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No-profit rule: [OPTION if selected for the grant8: No/Yes]

Late payment interest: ECB + 3.5 %

Bank account for payments:

[IBAN account number and SWIFT/BIC, e.g. IT75Y0538703601000000198049; GEBABEBB]

Conversion into euros: Double conversion

Reporting language: Language of the Agreement

4.3 Certificates (art 24)

Certificates on the financial statements (CFS):

Conditions:

Schedule: interim/final payment, if threshold is reached

Standard threshold (beneficiary-level):

- financial statement: requested EU contribution to costs ≥ EUR 325 000

[OPTION if selected for the grant: Exempted beneficiaries:

- [BEN/AE legal name (short name)]

- [BEN/AE legal name (short name)]]

4.4 Recoveries (art 22)

First-line liability for recoveries:

Beneficiary termination: Beneficiary concerned

Final payment: Coordinator

After final payment: Beneficiary concerned

Joint and several liability for enforced recoveries (in case of non-payment):

[OPTION 1 by default: Limited joint and several liability of other beneficiaries — up to the maximum grant amount of the beneficiary] [OPTION 2 if selected for the grant: Unconditional joint and several liability of other beneficiaries — up to the maximum grant amount for the action] [OPTION 3 if selected for the grant: Individual financial responsibility: Each beneficiary is liable only for its own debts (and those of its affiliated entities, if any)]

[OPTION 1 by default: Joint and several liability of affiliated entities — n/a] [OPTION 2 if selected for the grant: Joint and several liability of the following affiliated entities with their beneficiary — up to the maximum grant amount for the affiliated entity indicated in Annex 2:

- [AE legal name (short name)], linked to [BEN legal name (short name)]

- [AE legal name (short name)], linked to [BEN legal name (short name)]]

5. Consequences of non-compliance, applicable law & dispute settlement forum

Applicable law (art 43):

8 This is a standard obligation for all EU grants. It may be unselected only under the conditions of 195(3) EU Financial Regulation

2024/2509: - actions with the objective to reinforce the financial capacity of the beneficiaries - actions where the continuity after their end is to be ensured by the income generated by the action - grants in the form of study, research or training scholarships paid to natural persons or as other forms of direct support paid to

natural persons who are most in need - grants which are entirely in the form of financing not linked to costs - actions implemented only by non-profit organisations (i.e. all beneficiaries and affiliated entities are non-profit organisations) - grants with a maximum amount of not more than EUR 60 000 (low value grants).

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Standard applicable law regime: EU law + law of Belgium

[OPTION if selected for the grant: Special applicable law regime:

- [BEN legal name (short name)]: [OPTION 1: no applicable law clause selected] [OPTION 2: [EU law][+][ law of [name of Member State or EFTA country]][+][general principles governing the law of international organisations and the general rules of international law]]

- [BEN legal name (short name)]: [OPTION 1: no applicable law clause selected] [OPTION 2: [EU law][+][ law of [insert name of Member State or EFTA country]][+][general principles governing the law of international organisations and the general rules of international law]]]

Dispute settlement forum (art 43):

Standard dispute settlement forum:

EU beneficiaries: EU General Court + EU Court of Justice (on appeal)

Non-EU beneficiaries: Courts of Brussels, Belgium (unless an international agreement provides for the enforceability of EU court judgements)

[OPTION if selected for the grant: Special dispute settlement forum:

- [BEN legal name (short name)]: Arbitration

- [BEN legal name (short name)]: Arbitration ]

6. Other

Specific rules (Annex 5): Yes

- Sensitive information with security recommendation

- EU classified information

- IPR, results and background, access rights and rights of use

- Rights of use on results

- Communication, dissemination and visibility

- Additional communication and dissemination activities

- Limited communication and visibility

- Visibility in field operations outside the EU

- Specific rules for carrying out the action

- Zero tolerance

- Transfer of assets at the end of the action

- EU restrictive measures

Standard time-limits after project end:

Confidentiality (for X years after final payment): 5

Record-keeping (for X years after final payment): 5 (or 3 for grants of not more than EUR 60 000)

Reviews (up to X years after final payment): 5 (or 3 for grants of not more than EUR 60 000)

Audits (up to X years after final payment): 5 (or 3 for grants of not more than EUR 60 000)

Extension of findings from other grants to this grant (no later than X years after final payment): 5 (or 3 for grants of not more than EUR 60 000)

Impact evaluation (up to X years after final payment): 5 (or 3 for grants of not more than EUR 60 000)

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CHAPTER 1 GENERAL

ARTICLE 1 — SUBJECT OF THE AGREEMENT

This Agreement sets out the rights and obligations and terms and conditions applicable to the grant awarded [OPTION for SGAs: under Framework Partnership Agreement No [insert number] — [insert acronym]] for the implementation of the action set out in Chapter 2.

ARTICLE 2 — DEFINITIONS

For the purpose of this Agreement, the following definitions apply:

Action — The project which is being funded in the context of this Agreement.

Grant — The grant awarded in the context of this Agreement.

EU grants — Grants awarded by EU institutions, bodies, offices or agencies (including EU executive agencies, EU regulatory agencies, EDA, joint undertakings, etc.).

Participants — Entities participating in the action as beneficiaries, affiliated entities, associated partners, third parties giving in-kind contributions, subcontractors or recipients of financial support to third parties.

Beneficiaries (BEN) — The signatories of this Agreement (either directly or through an accession form).

Affiliated entities (AE) — Entities affiliated to a beneficiary within the meaning of Article 190 of EU Financial Regulation 2024/25099 which participate in the action with similar rights and obligations as the beneficiaries (obligation to implement action tasks and right to charge costs and claim contributions).

Associated partners (AP) — Entities which participate in the action, but without the right to charge costs or claim contributions.

Purchases — Contracts for goods, works or services needed to carry out the action (e.g. equipment, consumables and supplies) but which are not part of the action tasks (see Annex 1).

Subcontracting — Contracts for goods, works or services that are part of the action tasks (see Annex 1).

9 For the definition, see Article 190 Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509 of the European Parliament and of

the Council of 23 September 2024 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union (recast) (‘EU Financial Regulation’) (OJ L, 2024/2509, 26.9.2024): “affiliated entities [are]: (a) entities that form a sole beneficiary [(i.e. where an entity is formed of several entities that satisfy the

criteria for being awarded a grant, including where the entity is specifically established for the purpose of implementing an action to be financed by a grant)];

(b) entities that satisfy the eligibility criteria and that do not fall within one of the situations referred to in Article 138(1) and 143(1) and that have a link with the beneficiary, in particular a legal or capital link, which is neither limited to the action nor established for the sole purpose of its implementation”.

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In-kind contributions — In-kind contributions within the meaning of Article 2(38) of EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509, i.e. non-financial resources made available free of charge by third parties.

Fraud — Fraud within the meaning of Article 3 of EU Directive 2017/137110 and Article 1 of the Convention on the protection of the European Communities’ financial interests, drawn up by the Council Act of 26 July 199511, as well as any other wrongful or criminal deception intended to result in financial or personal gain.

Irregularities — Any type of breach (regulatory or contractual) which could impact the EU financial interests, including irregularities within the meaning of Article 1(2) of EU Regulation 2988/9512.

Grave professional misconduct — Any type of unacceptable or improper behaviour in exercising one’s profession, especially by employees, including grave professional misconduct within the meaning of Article 138(1)(c) of EU Financial Regulation 2024/250913.

Applicable EU, international and national law — Any legal acts or other (binding or non- binding) rules and guidance in the area concerned.

Portal — EU Funding & Tenders Portal; electronic portal and exchange system managed by the European Commission and used by itself and other EU institutions, bodies, offices or agencies for the management of their funding programmes (grants, procurements, prizes, etc.).

CHAPTER 2 ACTION

ARTICLE 3 — ACTION

The grant is awarded for the action [insert project number] — [insert acronym] (‘action’), as described in Annex 1.

10 Directive (EU) 2017/1371 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 July 2017 on the fight against

fraud to the Union’s financial interests by means of criminal law (OJ L 198, 28.7.2017, p. 29). 11 OJ C 316, 27.11.1995, p. 48. 12 Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95 of 18 December 1995 on the protection of the European

Communities financial interests (OJ L 312, 23.12.1995, p. 1). 13 ‘Professional misconduct’ includes in particular, the following: violation of ethical standards of the

profession; wrongful conduct with impact on professional credibility; breach of generally accepted professional ethical standards; false declarations/misrepresentation of information; participation in a cartel or other agreement distorting competition; violation of IPR; attempting to influence decision-making processes by taking advantage, through misrepresentation, of a conflict of interests, or to obtain confidential information from public authorities to gain an advantage; incitement to discrimination, hatred or violence or similar activities contrary to the EU values where negatively affecting or risking to affect the performance of a legal commitment.

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[OPTION if selected for the grant (for linked actions)14: This action is linked to the action(s) set out in the Data Sheet (see Point 1) (‘linked actions’).]

ARTICLE 4 — DURATION AND STARTING DATE

The duration and the starting date of the action are set out in the Data Sheet (see Point 1).

CHAPTER 3 GRANT

ARTICLE 5 — GRANT

5.1 Form of grant

The grant is an action grant15 which takes the form of a budget-based mixed actual cost grant (i.e. a grant based on actual costs incurred, but which may also include other forms of funding, such as unit costs or contributions, flat-rate costs or contributions, lump sum costs or contributions or financing not linked to costs).

5.2 Maximum grant amount

The maximum grant amount is set out in the Data Sheet (see Point 3) and in the estimated budget (Annex 2).

5.3 Funding rate

The funding rate for costs is […]% of the action’s eligible costs. Contributions are not subject to any funding rate. [additional OPTION for UCPM Emergency Response Actions: [OPTION if selected for the call: Individual funding rates and maximum amounts per beneficiary and reporting period are set out in Annex 2e.]]

5.4 Estimated budget, budget categories and forms of funding

The estimated budget for the action is set out in Annex 2.

It contains the estimated eligible costs and contributions for the action, broken down by participant and budget category.

Annex 2 also shows the types of costs and contributions (forms of funding)16 to be used for each budget category.

[OPTION for UCPM Emergency Response Actions: [OPTION if selected for the call: If multiple combinations of complex funding rates are used, Annex 2 will be complemented by Annex 2e, which will specify the individual funding rates that cap the maximum amounts that may be requested for each beneficiary and reporting period.]]

14 Linked actions cover all types of joint/combined/coordinated actions, where the action implementation

should be linked to another action (e.g. Horizon complementary grants, Horizon joint actions; Horizon MSCA SNLS grants, EDIDP COFUND, JU implementing grants, etc.).

15 For the definition, see Article 183(2)(a) EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509: ‘action grant’ means an EU grant to finance “an action intended to help achieve a Union policy objective”.

16 See Article 125 EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509.

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If unit costs or contributions are used, the details on the calculation will be explained in Annex 2a.

5.5 Budget flexibility

The budget breakdown may be adjusted — without an amendment (see Article 39) — by transfers (between participants and budget categories), as long as this does not imply any substantive or important change to the description of the action in Annex 1.

However:

- changes to the budget category for volunteers (if used) always require an amendment

- changes to budget categories with lump sums costs or contributions (if used; including financing not linked to costs) always require an amendment

- changes to budget categories with higher funding rates or budget ceilings (if used) always require an amendment

- [OPTION for UCPM Emergency Response Actions: [OPTION if selected for the call: changes to Annex 2e always require an amendment]]

- addition of amounts for subcontracts not provided for in Annex 1 either require an amendment or simplified approval in accordance with Article 6.2

- other changes require an amendment or simplified approval, if specifically provided for in Article 6.2

- flexibility caps: not applicable.

ARTICLE 6 — ELIGIBLE AND INELIGIBLE COSTS AND CONTRIBUTIONS

In order to be eligible, costs and contributions must meet the eligibility conditions set out in this Article.

6.1 General eligibility conditions

The general eligibility conditions are the following:

(a) for actual costs:

(i) they must be actually incurred by the beneficiary

(ii) they must be incurred in the period set out in Article 4 (with the exception of costs relating to the submission of the final periodic report, which may be incurred afterwards; see Article 21)

(iii) they must be declared under one of the budget categories set out in Article 6.2 and Annex 2

(iv) they must be incurred in connection with the action as described in Annex 1 and necessary for its implementation

(v) they must be identifiable and verifiable, in particular recorded in the beneficiary’s accounts in accordance with the accounting standards applicable

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in the country where the beneficiary is established and with the beneficiary’s usual cost accounting practices

(vi) they must comply with the applicable national law on taxes, labour and social security and

(vii) they must be reasonable, justified and must comply with the principle of sound financial management, in particular regarding economy and efficiency

(b) for unit costs or contributions (if any):

(i) they must be declared under one of the budget categories set out in Article 6.2 and Annex 2

(ii) the units must:

- be actually used or produced by the beneficiary in the period set out in Article 4 (with the exception of units relating to the submission of the final periodic report, which may be used or produced afterwards; see Article 21)

- be necessary for the implementation of the action and

(iii) the number of units must be identifiable and verifiable, in particular supported by records and documentation (see Article 20)

(c) for flat-rate costs or contributions (if any):

(i) they must be declared under one of the budget categories set out in Article 6.2 and Annex 2

(ii) the costs or contributions to which the flat-rate is applied must:

- be eligible

- relate to the period set out in Article 4 (with the exception of costs or contributions relating to the submission of the final periodic report, which may be incurred afterwards; see Article 21)

(d) for lump sum costs or contributions (if any):

(i) they must be declared under one of the budget categories set out in Article 6.2 and Annex 2

(ii) the work must be properly implemented by the beneficiary in accordance with Annex 1

(iii) the deliverables/outputs must be achieved in the period set out in Article 4 (with the exception of deliverables/outputs relating to the submission of the final periodic report, which may be achieved afterwards; see Article 21)

(e) for unit, flat-rate or lump sum costs or contributions according to usual cost accounting practices (if any):

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(i) they must fulfil the general eligibility conditions for the type of cost concerned

(ii) the cost accounting practices must be applied in a consistent manner, based on objective criteria, regardless of the source of funding

(f) for financing not linked to costs (if any): the results must be achieved or the conditions must be fulfilled as described in Annex 1.

In addition, for direct cost categories (e.g. personnel, travel & subsistence, subcontracting and other direct costs) only costs that are directly linked to the action implementation and can therefore be attributed to it directly are eligible. They must not include any indirect costs (i.e. costs that are only indirectly linked to the action, e.g. via cost drivers).

6.2 Specific eligibility conditions for each budget category

For each budget category, the specific eligibility conditions are as follows:

Direct costs

A. Personnel costs

A.1 Costs for employees (or equivalent) are eligible as personnel costs if they fulfil the general eligibility conditions and are related to personnel working for the beneficiary under an employment contract (or equivalent appointing act) and assigned to the action.

They must be limited to salaries, social security contributions, taxes and other costs linked to the remuneration, if they arise from national law or the employment contract (or equivalent appointing act) and be calculated on the basis of the costs actually incurred, in accordance with the following method:

{daily rate for the person

multiplied by

number of day-equivalents worked on the action (rounded up or down to the nearest half-day)}.

The daily rate must be calculated as:

{annual personnel costs for the person

divided by

215}

The number of day-equivalents declared for a person must be identifiable and verifiable (see Article 20).

The total number of day-equivalents declared in EU grants, for a person for a year, cannot be higher than 215.

The personnel costs may also include supplementary payments for personnel assigned to the action (including payments on the basis of supplementary contracts regardless of their nature), if:

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- it is part of the beneficiary’s usual remuneration practices and is paid in a consistent manner whenever the same kind of work or expertise is required

- the criteria used to calculate the supplementary payments are objective and generally applied by the beneficiary, regardless of the source of funding used.

If the beneficiary uses average personnel costs (unit cost according to usual cost accounting practices), the personnel costs must fulfil the general eligibility conditions for such unit costs and the daily rate must be calculated:

- using the actual personnel costs recorded in the beneficiary’s accounts and excluding any costs which are ineligible or already included in other budget categories; the actual personnel costs may be adjusted on the basis of budgeted or estimated elements, if they are relevant for calculating the personnel costs, reasonable and correspond to objective and verifiable information

and

- according to usual cost accounting practices which are applied in a consistent manner, based on objective criteria, regardless of the source of funding.

A.2 and A.3 Costs for natural persons working under a direct contract other than an employment contract and costs for seconded persons by a third party against payment are also eligible as personnel costs, if they are assigned to the action, fulfil the general eligibility conditions and:

(a) work under conditions similar to those of an employee (in particular regarding the way the work is organised, the tasks that are performed and the premises where they are performed) and

(b) the result of the work belongs to the beneficiary (unless agreed otherwise).

They must be calculated on the basis of a rate which corresponds to the costs actually incurred for the direct contract or secondment and must not be significantly different from those for personnel performing similar tasks under an employment contract with the beneficiary.

A.4 The work of SME owners for the action (i.e. owners of beneficiaries that are small and medium-sized enterprises17 not receiving a salary) or natural person beneficiaries (i.e. beneficiaries that are natural persons not receiving a salary) may be declared as personnel costs, if they fulfil the general eligibility conditions and are calculated as unit costs in accordance with the method set out in Annex 2a.

17 For the definition, see Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC: micro, small or medium-sized

enterprise (SME) are enterprises - engaged in an economic activity, irrespective of their legal form (including, in particular, self-

employed persons and family businesses engaged in craft or other activities, and partnerships or associations regularly engaged in an economic activity) and

- employing fewer than 250 persons (expressed in ‘annual working units’ as defined in Article 5 of the Recommendation) and which have an annual turnover not exceeding EUR 50 million, and/or an annual balance sheet total not exceeding EUR 43 million.

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A.5 The work of volunteers for the action (i.e. persons who freely work for an organisation, on a non-compulsory basis and without being paid) may be declared as personnel costs, if and as declared eligible in the call conditions, if they fulfil the general eligibility conditions and are calculated as unit costs in accordance with the method set out in Annex 2a.

They:

- may not exceed the maximum amount for volunteers for the action (which corresponds to 50% of the total (ineligible and eligible) project costs and contributions estimated in the proposal)

- may not exceed the maximum amount for volunteers for each beneficiary set out in Annex 2

- may not make the maximum EU contribution to costs higher than the total eligible costs without volunteers.

If also indirect costs for volunteers are declared eligible in the call conditions, the amount of indirect costs may be added to the volunteers costs category in Annex 2, at the flat-rate set out in Point E.

B. Subcontracting costs

Subcontracting costs for the action (including related duties, taxes and charges) are eligible, if they are calculated on the basis of the costs actually incurred, fulfil the general eligibility conditions and are awarded using the beneficiary’s usual purchasing practices — provided these ensure subcontracts with best value for money (or if appropriate the lowest price) and that there is no conflict of interests (see Article 12).

Beneficiaries that are ‘contracting authorities/entities’ within the meaning of the EU Directives on public procurement must also comply with the applicable national law on public procurement.

[OPTION if selected for the grant18: Subcontracting may cover only a limited part of the action.]

The tasks to be subcontracted and the estimated cost for each subcontract must be set out in Annex 1 and the total estimated costs of subcontracting per beneficiary must be set out in Annex 2 (or may be approved ex post in the periodic report, if the use of subcontracting does not entail changes to the Agreement which would call into question the decision awarding the grant or breach the principle of equal treatment of applicants; ‘simplified approval procedure’).

C. Purchase costs

18 This is a standard obligation for all EU grants. It may be unselected only for actions where subcontracting is

a key/large part of the action (e.g infrastructure projects; PCP/PPI; technical assistance, statistical programmes, etc).

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Purchase costs for the action (including related duties, taxes and charges) are eligible if they fulfil the general eligibility conditions and are bought using the beneficiary’s usual purchasing practices — provided these ensure purchases with best value for money (or if appropriate the lowest price) and that there is no conflict of interests (see Article 12).

Beneficiaries that are ‘contracting authorities/entities’ within the meaning of the EU Directives on public procurement must also comply with the applicable national law on public procurement.

C.1 Travel and subsistence

Purchases for travel, accommodation and subsistence must be calculated as follows:

- travel: as unit costs in accordance with the method set out in Annex 2a if covered by Decision C(2021)3519 or otherwise as costs actually incurred and in line with the beneficiary’s usual practices on travel

- accommodation: as unit costs in accordance with the method set out in Annex 2a if covered by Decision C(2021)3520 or otherwise as costs actually incurred and in line with the beneficiary’s usual practices on travel

- subsistence: as unit costs in accordance with the method set out in Annex 2a if covered by Decision C(2021)3521 or otherwise as costs actually incurred and in line with the beneficiary’s usual practices on travel.

C.2 Equipment

[OPTION 1 by default (depreciation only):

Purchases of equipment, infrastructure or other assets used for the action must be declared as depreciation costs, calculated on the basis of the costs actually incurred and written off in accordance with international accounting standards and the beneficiary’s usual accounting practices.

Only the portion of the costs that corresponds to the rate of actual use for the action during the action duration can be taken into account.

Costs for renting or leasing equipment, infrastructure or other assets are also eligible, if they do not exceed the depreciation costs of similar equipment, infrastructure or assets and do not include any financing fees. ]

19 Commission Decision of 12 January 2021 authorising the use of unit costs for travel, accommodation and

subsistence costs under an action or work programme under the 2021-2027 multi-annual financial framework (C(2021)35).

20 Commission Decision of 12 January 2021 authorising the use of unit costs for travel, accommodation and subsistence costs under an action or work programme under the 2021-2027 multi-annual financial framework (C(2021)35).

21 Commission Decision of 12 January 2021 authorising the use of unit costs for travel, accommodation and subsistence costs under an action or work programme under the 2021-2027 multi-annual financial framework (C(2021)35).

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[OPTION 2 full cost only (if selected for the call22):

Purchases of equipment, infrastructure or other assets specifically for the action (or developed as part of the action tasks) may be declared as full capitalised costs if they fulfil the cost eligibility conditions applicable to their respective cost categories.

‘Capitalised costs’ means:

- costs incurred in the purchase or for the development of the equipment, infrastructure or other assets and

- which are recorded under a fixed asset account of the beneficiary in compliance with international accounting standards and the beneficiary’s usual cost accounting practices.

If such equipment, infrastructure or other assets are rented or leased, full costs for renting or leasing are eligible, if they do not exceed the depreciation costs of similar equipment, infrastructure or assets and do not include any financing fees.]

[OPTION 3 depreciation + full cost for listed equipment at grant level (if selected for the call23):

Purchases of equipment, infrastructure or other assets used for the action must be declared as depreciation costs, calculated on the basis of the costs actually incurred and written off in accordance with international accounting standards and the beneficiary’s usual accounting practices.

Only the portion of the costs that corresponds to the rate of actual use for the action during the action duration can be taken into account.

Costs for renting or leasing equipment, infrastructure or other assets are also eligible, if they do not exceed the depreciation costs of similar equipment, infrastructure or assets and do not include any financing fees.

[additional OPTION if selected for the grant24: Moreover, for the following equipment, infrastructure or other assets purchased specifically for the action (or developed as part of the action tasks):

- [insert name/type of equipment] - [insert name/type of equipment] [same for more equipment]

costs may exceptionally be declared as full capitalised costs, if they fulfil the cost eligibility conditions applicable to their respective cost categories.

22 To be used as an exception, only if justified by the nature of the actions and the context of the use of the

equipment or assets. 23 To be used as an exception, only if justified by the nature of the actions and the context of the use of the

equipment or assets. 24 Full purchase cost option and conditions must be specified in the call.

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‘Capitalised costs’ means:

- costs incurred in the purchase or for the development of the equipment, infrastructure or other assets and

- which are recorded under a fixed asset account of the beneficiary in compliance with international accounting standards and the beneficiary’s usual cost accounting practices.

If such equipment, infrastructure or other assets are rented or leased, full costs for renting or leasing are eligible, if they do not exceed the depreciation costs of similar equipment, infrastructure or assets and do not include any financing fees.]]

[OPTION 4 full cost + depreciation for listed equipment at grant level (if selected for the call25):

Purchases of equipment, infrastructure or other assets specifically for the action (or developed as part of the action tasks) may be declared as full capitalised costs if they fulfil the eligibility conditions applicable to their respective cost categories.

‘Capitalised costs’ means:

- costs incurred in the purchase or for the development of the equipment, infrastructure or other assets and,

- which are recorded under a fixed asset account of the beneficiary in compliance with international accounting standards and the beneficiary’s usual cost accounting practices.

If such equipment, infrastructure or other assets are rented or leased, full costs for renting or leasing are eligible, if they do not exceed the depreciation costs of similar equipment, infrastructure or assets and do not include any financing fees.

[additional OPTION if selected for the grant26: However, for the following equipment, infrastructure or other assets used for the action:

- [insert name/type of equipment] - [insert name/type of equipment] [same for more equipment]

the costs must be declared as depreciation costs, on the basis of the costs actually incurred and written off in accordance with international accounting standards and the beneficiary’s usual accounting practices.

Only the portion of the costs that corresponds to the rate of actual use for the action during the action duration can be taken into account.

25 To be used as an exception, only if justified by the nature of the actions and the context of the use of the

equipment or assets. 26 Depreciation option and conditions must be specified in the call.

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Costs for renting or leasing such equipment, infrastructure or other assets are also eligible, if they do not exceed the depreciation costs of similar equipment, infrastructure or assets and do not include any financing fees. ]]

C.3 Other goods, works and services

Purchases of other goods, works and services must be calculated on the basis of the costs actually incurred.

Such goods, works and services include, for instance, consumables and supplies, promotion, dissemination, protection of results, translations, publications, certificates and financial guarantees, if required under the Agreement.

D. Other cost categories

D. 1 Civil protection intervention unit costs

Costs related to personnel, transport and logistic resources and operations incurred in the context of interventions during the action may be declared as unit cost according to usual cost accounting practices, if and as declared eligible in the call conditions, if they fulfil the general eligibility conditions for such unit costs, comply with the conditions set out in Points A-C for the underlying types of costs (personnel, subcontracting and purchases), are incurred for activities eligible for such funding and the amount per unit is calculated:

- using the actual costs for the personnel, transport and logistics and operations recorded in the beneficiary’s accounts, attributed at the rate of use and excluding any costs which are ineligible or already included in other budget categories; the actual costs may be adjusted on the basis of budgeted or estimated elements, if they are relevant for calculating the costs, reasonable and correspond to objective and verifiable information

and

- according to usual cost accounting practices which are applied in a consistent manner, based on objective criteria, regardless of the source of funding.

Indirect costs

E. Indirect costs

Indirect costs will be reimbursed at the flat-rate of [7%][0%] of the eligible direct costs (categories A-D, except volunteers costs and exempted specific cost categories, if any).

Contributions

Not applicable

6.3 Ineligible costs and contributions

The following costs or contributions are ineligible:

(a) costs or contributions that do not comply with the conditions set out above (Article 6.1 and 6.2), in particular:

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(i) costs related to return on capital and dividends paid by a beneficiary

(ii) debt and debt service charges

(iii) provisions for future losses or debts

(iv) interest owed

(v) currency exchange losses

(vi) bank costs charged by the beneficiary’s bank for transfers from the granting authority

(vii) excessive or reckless expenditure

(viii) VAT (always ineligible)

(ix) costs incurred or contributions for activities implemented during grant agreement suspension (see Article 31)

(x) in-kind contributions by third parties

(b) costs or contributions declared under other EU grants (or grants awarded by an EU Member State, non-EU country or other body implementing the EU budget), except for the following cases:

(i) [OPTION 1 by default: Synergy actions: not applicable] [OPTION 2 if selected for the grant: if the grants are part of jointly coordinated Synergy actions and the funding under the grants does not go above 100% of the costs and contributions declared to them]

(ii) if the action grant is combined with an operating grant27 running during the same period and the beneficiary can demonstrate that the operating grant does not cover any (direct or indirect) costs of the action grant

(c) costs or contributions for staff of a national (or regional/local) administration, for activities that are part of the administration’s normal activities (i.e. not undertaken only because of the grant)

(d) costs or contributions (especially travel and subsistence) for staff or representatives of EU institutions, bodies or agencies

(e) other28:

(i) country restrictions for eligible costs: not applicable

(ii) costs or contributions declared specifically ineligible in the call conditions.

27 For the definition, see Article 183(2)(b) EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509: ‘operating grant’ means an EU grant to finance “the functioning of a body which has an objective forming part of and supporting an EU policy”.

28 Condition must be specified in the call.

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6.4 Consequences of non-compliance

If a beneficiary declares costs or contributions that are ineligible, they will be rejected (see Article 27).

This may also lead to other measures described in Chapter 5.

CHAPTER 4 GRANT IMPLEMENTATION

SECTION 1 CONSORTIUM: BENEFICIARIES, AFFILIATED ENTITIES AND OTHER PARTICIPANTS

ARTICLE 7 — BENEFICIARIES

The beneficiaries, as signatories of the Agreement, are fully responsible towards the granting authority for implementing it and for complying with all its obligations.

They must implement the Agreement to their best abilities, in good faith and in accordance with all the obligations and terms and conditions it sets out.

They must have the appropriate resources to implement the action and implement the action under their own responsibility and in accordance with Article 11. If they rely on affiliated entities or other participants (see Articles 8 and 9), they retain sole responsibility towards the granting authority and the other beneficiaries.

They are jointly responsible for the technical implementation of the action. If one of the beneficiaries fails to implement their part of the action, the other beneficiaries must ensure that this part is implemented by someone else (without being entitled to an increase of the maximum grant amount and subject to an amendment; see Article 39). The financial responsibility of each beneficiary in case of recoveries is governed by Article 22.

The beneficiaries (and their action) must remain eligible under the EU programme funding the grant for the entire duration of the action. Costs and contributions will be eligible only as long as the beneficiary and the action are eligible.

The internal roles and responsibilities of the beneficiaries are divided as follows:

(a) Each beneficiary must:

(i) keep information stored in the Portal Participant Register up to date (see Article 19)

(ii) inform the granting authority (and the other beneficiaries) immediately of any events or circumstances likely to affect significantly or delay the implementation of the action (see Article 19)

(iii) submit to the coordinator in good time:

- the prefinancing guarantees (if required; see Article 23)

- the financial statements and certificates on the financial statements (CFS) (if required; see Articles 21 and 24.2 and Data Sheet, Point 4.3)

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- the contribution to the deliverables and technical reports (see Article 21)

- any other documents or information required by the granting authority under the Agreement

(iv) submit via the Portal data and information related to the participation of their affiliated entities.

(b) The coordinator must:

(i) monitor that the action is implemented properly (see Article 11)

(ii) act as the intermediary for all communications between the consortium and the granting authority, unless the Agreement or granting authority specifies otherwise, and in particular:

- submit the prefinancing guarantees to the granting authority (if any)

- request and review any documents or information required and verify their quality and completeness before passing them on to the granting authority

- submit the deliverables and reports to the granting authority

- inform the granting authority about the payments made to the other beneficiaries (report on the distribution of payments; if required, see Articles 22 and 32)

(iii) distribute the payments received from the granting authority to the other beneficiaries without unjustified delay (see Article 22).

The coordinator may not delegate or subcontract the above-mentioned tasks to any other beneficiary or third party (including affiliated entities).

However, coordinators which are public bodies may delegate the tasks set out in Point (b)(ii) last indent and (iii) above to entities with ‘authorisation to administer’ which they have created or which are controlled by or affiliated to them. In this case, the coordinator retains sole responsibility for the payments and for compliance with the obligations under the Agreement.

Moreover, coordinators which are ‘sole beneficiaries’29 (or similar, such as European research infrastructure consortia (ERICs)) may delegate the tasks set out in Point (b)(i) to (iii) above to one of their members. The coordinator retains sole responsibility for compliance with the obligations under the Agreement.

29 For the definition, see Article 190(2) EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509: “Where several entities satisfy

the criteria for being awarded a grant and together form one entity, that entity may be treated as the sole beneficiary, including where it is specifically established for the purpose of implementing the action financed by the grant.”

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The beneficiaries must have internal arrangements regarding their operation and co- ordination, to ensure that the action is implemented properly.

If required by the granting authority (see Data Sheet, Point 1), these arrangements must be set out in a written consortium agreement between the beneficiaries, covering for instance:

- the internal organisation of the consortium

- the management of access to the Portal

- different distribution keys for the payments and financial responsibilities in case of recoveries (if any)

- additional rules on rights and obligations related to background and results (see Article 16)

- settlement of internal disputes

- liability, indemnification and confidentiality arrangements between the beneficiaries.

The internal arrangements must not contain any provision contrary to this Agreement.

[OPTION if selected for the grant: For linked actions, the beneficiaries must have arrangements with the participants of the other action, to ensure that both actions are implemented and coordinated properly.

If required by the granting authority (see Data Sheet, Point 1), these arrangements must be set out in a written collaboration agreement with the participants of the other action or, if the consortium is the same, as part of their consortium agreement, covering for instance:

- the internal organisation and decision making processes

- the areas where close collaboration/synchronisation is needed (e.g. on management of outputs, common approaches towards standardisation, links with regulatory and policy activities, common communication and dissemination activities, sharing of information, access to background and results, etc.)

- settlement of disputes

- liability, indemnification and confidentiality arrangements between the beneficiaries in both actions.

The arrangements with the participants of the other action must not contain any provision contrary to this Agreement.]

ARTICLE 8 — AFFILIATED ENTITIES

[OPTION 1 if selected for the grant: The following entities which are linked to a beneficiary will participate in the action as ‘affiliated entities’:

- [AE legal name (short name)], PIC [number], linked to [BEN legal name (short name)]

- [AE legal name (short name)], PIC [number], linked to [BEN legal name (short name)]

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[same for more AE]

Affiliated entities can charge costs and contributions to the action under the same conditions as the beneficiaries and must implement the action tasks attributed to them in Annex 1 in accordance with Article 11. Their costs and contributions will be included in Annex 2 and will be taken into account for the calculation of the grant.

The beneficiaries must ensure that all their obligations under this Agreement also apply to their affiliated entities.

The beneficiaries must ensure that the bodies mentioned in Article 25 (e.g. granting authority, OLAF, Court of Auditors (ECA), etc.) can exercise their rights also towards the affiliated entities.

Breaches by affiliated entities will be handled in the same manner as breaches by beneficiaries. Recovery of undue amounts will be handled through the beneficiaries.

If the granting authority requires joint and several liability of affiliated entities (see Data Sheet, Point 4.4), they must sign the declaration set out in Annex 3a and may be held liable in case of enforced recoveries against their beneficiaries (see Article 22.2 and 22.4). ]

[OPTION 2: Not applicable]

ARTICLE 9 — OTHER PARTICIPANTS INVOLVED IN THE ACTION

9.1 Associated partners

[OPTION 1 if selected for the grant: The following entities which cooperate with a beneficiary will participate in the action as ‘associated partners’:

- [AP legal name (short name)], PIC [number] - [AP legal name (short name)], PIC [number] [same for more AP]

Associated partners must implement the action tasks attributed to them in Annex 1 in accordance with Article 11. They may not charge costs or contributions to the action and the costs for their tasks are not eligible.

The tasks must be set out in Annex 1.

The beneficiaries must ensure that their contractual obligations under Articles 11 (proper implementation), 12 (conflict of interests), 13 (confidentiality and security), 14 (ethics), 17.2 (visibility), 18 (specific rules for carrying out action), 19 (information) and 20 (record- keeping) also apply to the associated partners.

The beneficiaries must ensure that the bodies mentioned in Article 25 (e.g. granting authority, OLAF, Court of Auditors (ECA), etc.) can exercise their rights also towards the associated partners.]

[OPTION 2: Not applicable]

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9.2 Third parties giving in-kind contributions to the action

Other third parties may give in-kind contributions to the action (i.e. personnel, equipment, other goods, works and services, etc. which are free-of-charge), if necessary for the implementation.

Third parties giving in-kind contributions do not implement any action tasks. They may not charge costs or contributions to the action and the costs for the in-kind contributions are not eligible.

The third parties and their in-kind contributions should be set out in Annex 1.

9.3 Subcontractors

Subcontractors may participate in the action, if necessary for the implementation.

Subcontractors must implement their action tasks in accordance with Article 11. The costs for the subcontracted tasks (invoiced price from the subcontractor) are eligible and may be charged by the beneficiaries, under the conditions set out in Article 6. The costs will be included in Annex 2 as part of the beneficiaries’ costs.

The beneficiaries must ensure that their contractual obligations under Articles 11 (proper implementation), 12 (conflict of interest), 13 (confidentiality and security), 14 (ethics), 17.2 (visibility), 18 (specific rules for carrying out action), 19 (information) and 20 (record- keeping) also apply to the subcontractors.

The beneficiaries must ensure that the bodies mentioned in Article 25 (e.g. granting authority, OLAF, Court of Auditors (ECA), etc.) can exercise their rights also towards the subcontractors.

9.4 Recipients of financial support to third parties

Not applicable

ARTICLE 10 — PARTICIPANTS WITH SPECIAL STATUS

10.1 Non-EU participants

Participants which are established in a non-EU country (if any) undertake to comply with their obligations under the Agreement and:

- to respect general principles (including fundamental rights, values and ethical principles, environmental and labour standards, rules on classified information, intellectual property rights, visibility of funding and protection of personal data)

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- for the submission of certificates under Article 24: to use qualified external auditors which are independent and comply with comparable standards as those set out in EU Directive 2006/43/EC30

- for the controls under Article 25: to allow for checks, reviews, audits and investigations (including on-the-spot checks, visits and inspections) by the bodies mentioned in that Article (e.g. granting authority, OLAF, Court of Auditors (ECA), etc.).

Special rules on dispute settlement apply (see Data Sheet, Point 5).

10.2 Participants which are international organisations

Participants which are international organisations (IOs; if any) undertake to comply with their obligations under the Agreement and:

- to respect general principles (including fundamental rights, values and ethical principles, environmental and labour standards, rules on classified information, intellectual property rights, visibility of funding and protection of personal data)

- for the submission of certificates under Article 24: to use either independent public officers or external auditors which comply with comparable standards as those set out in EU Directive 2006/43/EC31

- for the controls under Article 25: to allow for the checks, reviews, audits and investigations by the bodies mentioned in that Article, taking into account the specific agreements concluded by them and the EU (if any).

For such participants, nothing in the Agreement will be interpreted as a waiver of their privileges or immunities, as accorded by their constituent documents or international law.

Special rules on applicable law and dispute settlement apply (see Article 43 and Data Sheet, Point 5).

10.3 Pillar-assessed participants

Pillar-assessed participants (if any) may rely on their own systems, rules and procedures, in so far as they have been positively assessed and do not call into question the decision awarding the grant or breach the principle of equal treatment of applicants or beneficiaries.

‘Pillar-assessment’ means a review by the European Commission on the systems, rules and procedures which participants use for managing EU grants (in particular internal control system, accounting system, external audits, financing of third parties, rules on recovery and exclusion, information on recipients and protection of personal data; see Article 157 EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509).

30 Directive 2006/43/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 May 2006 on statutory audits of

annual accounts and consolidated accounts (OJ L 157, 9.6.2006, p. 87). 31 Directive 2006/43/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 May 2006 on statutory audits of

annual accounts and consolidated accounts (OJ L 157, 9.6.2006, p. 87).

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Participants with a positive pillar assessment may rely on their own systems, rules and procedures, in particular for:

- record-keeping (Article 20): may be done in accordance with internal standards, rules and procedures

- currency conversion for financial statements (Article 21): may be done in accordance with usual accounting practices

- guarantees (Article 23): for public law bodies, prefinancing guarantees are not needed

- certificates (Article 24):

- certificates on the financial statements (CFS): may be provided by their regular internal or external auditors and in accordance with their internal financial regulations and procedures

- certificates on usual accounting practices (CoMUC): are not needed if those practices are covered by an ex-ante assessment

and use the following specific rules, for:

- recoveries (Article 22): in case of financial support to third parties, there will be no recovery if the participant has done everything possible to retrieve the undue amounts from the third party receiving the support (including legal proceedings) and non-recovery is not due to an error or negligence on its part

- checks, reviews, audits and investigations by the EU (Article 25): will be conducted taking into account the rules and procedures specifically agreed between them and the framework agreement (if any)

- impact evaluation (Article 26): will be conducted in accordance with the participant’s internal rules and procedures and the framework agreement (if any)

- grant agreement termination (Article 32): the final grant amount and final payment will be calculated taking into account also costs relating to contracts due for execution only after termination takes effect, if the contract was entered into before the pre-information letter was received and could not reasonably be terminated on legal grounds

- liability for damages (Article 33.2): the granting authority must be compensated for damage it sustains as a result of the implementation of the action or because the action was not implemented in full compliance with the Agreement only if the damage is due to an infringement of the participant’s internal rules and procedures or due to a violation of third parties’ rights by the participant or one of its employees or individual for whom the employees are responsible.

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Participants whose pillar assessment covers procurement and granting procedures may also do purchases, subcontracting and financial support to third parties (Article 6.2) in accordance with their internal rules and procedures for purchases, subcontracting and financial support.

Participants whose pillar assessment covers data protection rules may rely on their internal standards, rules and procedures for data protection (Article 15).

The participants may however not rely on provisions which would breach the principle of equal treatment of applicants or beneficiaries or call into question the decision awarding the grant, such as in particular:

- eligibility (Article 6)

- consortium roles and set-up (Articles 7-9)

- security and ethics (Articles 13, 14)

- IPR (including background and results, access rights and rights of use), communication, dissemination and visibility (Articles 16 and 17)

- information obligation (Article 19)

- payment, reporting and amendments (Articles 21, 22 and 39)

- rejections, reductions, suspensions and terminations (Articles 27, 28, 29-32)

If the pillar assessment was subject to remedial measures, reliance on the internal systems, rules and procedures is subject to compliance with those remedial measures.

Participants must inform the coordinator without delay of any changes to the systems, rules and procedures that were part of the pillar assessment. The coordinator must immediately inform the granting authority.

Pillar-assessed participants that have also concluded a framework agreement with the EU, may moreover — under the same conditions as those above (i.e. not call into question the decision awarding the grant or breach the principle of equal treatment of applicants or beneficiaries) — rely on the provisions set out in that framework agreement.

SECTION 2 RULES FOR CARRYING OUT THE ACTION

ARTICLE 11 — PROPER IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ACTION

11.1 Obligation to properly implement the action

The beneficiaries must implement the action as described in Annex 1 and in compliance with the provisions of the Agreement, the call conditions and all legal obligations under applicable EU, international and national law.

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11.2 Consequences of non-compliance

If a beneficiary breaches any of its obligations under this Article, the grant may be reduced (see Article 28).

Such breaches may also lead to other measures described in Chapter 5.

ARTICLE 12 — CONFLICT OF INTERESTS

12.1 Conflict of interests

The beneficiaries must take all measures to prevent any situation where the impartial and objective implementation of the Agreement could be compromised for reasons involving family, emotional life, political or national affinity, economic interest or any other direct or indirect interest (‘conflict of interests’).

They must formally notify the granting authority without delay of any situation constituting or likely to lead to a conflict of interests and immediately take all the necessary steps to rectify this situation.

The granting authority may verify that the measures taken are appropriate and may require additional measures to be taken by a specified deadline.

12.2 Consequences of non-compliance

If a beneficiary breaches any of its obligations under this Article, the grant may be reduced (see Article 28) and the grant or the beneficiary may be terminated (see Article 32).

Such breaches may also lead to other measures described in Chapter 5.

ARTICLE 13 — CONFIDENTIALITY AND SECURITY

13.1 Sensitive information

The parties must keep confidential any data, documents or other material (in any form) that is identified as sensitive in writing (‘sensitive information’) — during the implementation of the action and for at least until the time-limit set out in the Data Sheet (see Point 6).

If a beneficiary requests, the granting authority may agree to keep such information confidential for a longer period.

Unless otherwise agreed between the parties, they may use sensitive information only to implement the Agreement.

The beneficiaries may disclose sensitive information to their personnel or other participants involved in the action only if they:

(a) need to know it in order to implement the Agreement and

(b) are bound by an obligation of confidentiality.

The granting authority may disclose sensitive information to its staff and to other EU institutions and bodies.

It may moreover disclose sensitive information to third parties, if:

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(a) this is necessary to implement the Agreement or safeguard the EU financial interests and

(b) the recipients of the information are bound by an obligation of confidentiality.

The confidentiality obligations no longer apply if:

(a) the disclosing party agrees to release the other party

(b) the information becomes publicly available, without breaching any confidentiality obligation

(c) the disclosure of the sensitive information is required by EU, international or national law.

Specific confidentiality rules (if any) are set out in Annex 5.

13.2 Classified information

The parties must handle classified information in accordance with the applicable EU, international or national law on classified information (in particular, Decision 2015/44432 and its implementing rules).

Deliverables which contain classified information must be submitted according to special procedures agreed with the granting authority.

Action tasks involving classified information may be subcontracted only after explicit approval (in writing) from the granting authority.

Classified information may not be disclosed to any third party (including participants involved in the action implementation) without prior explicit written approval from the granting authority.

Specific security rules (if any) are set out in Annex 5.

13.3 Consequences of non-compliance

If a beneficiary breaches any of its obligations under this Article, the grant may be reduced (see Article 28).

Such breaches may also lead to other measures described in Chapter 5.

ARTICLE 14 — ETHICS AND VALUES

14.1 Ethics

The action must be carried out in line with the highest ethical standards and the applicable EU, international and national law on ethical principles.

32 Commission Decision 2015/444/EC, Euratom of 13 March 2015 on the security rules for protecting EU

classified information (OJ L 72, 17.3.2015, p. 53).

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Specific ethics rules (if any) are set out in Annex 5.

14.2 Values

The beneficiaries must commit to and ensure the respect of basic EU values (such as respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and human rights, including the rights of minorities).

Specific rules on values (if any) are set out in Annex 5.

14.3 Consequences of non-compliance

If a beneficiary breaches any of its obligations under this Article, the grant may be reduced (see Article 28).

Such breaches may also lead to other measures described in Chapter 5.

ARTICLE 15 — DATA PROTECTION

15.1 Data processing by the granting authority

Any personal data under the Agreement will be processed under the responsibility of the data controller of the granting authority in accordance with and for the purposes set out in the Portal Privacy Statement.

For grants where the granting authority is the European Commission, an EU regulatory or executive agency, joint undertaking or other EU body, the processing will be subject to Regulation 2018/172533.

15.2 Data processing by the beneficiaries

The beneficiaries must process personal data under the Agreement in compliance with the applicable EU, international and national law on data protection (in particular, Regulation 2016/67934).

They must ensure that personal data is:

- processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner in relation to the data subjects

- collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes and not further processed in a manner that is incompatible with those purposes

- adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary in relation to the purposes for which they are processed

33 Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the

protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 and Decision No 1247/2002/EC (OJ L 295, 21.11.2018, p. 39).

34 Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (‘GDPR’) (OJ L 119, 4.5.2016, p. 1).

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- accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date

- kept in a form which permits identification of data subjects for no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which the data is processed and

- processed in a manner that ensures appropriate security of the data.

The beneficiaries may grant their personnel access to personal data only if it is strictly necessary for implementing, managing and monitoring the Agreement. The beneficiaries must ensure that the personnel is under a confidentiality obligation.

The beneficiaries must inform the persons whose data are transferred to the granting authority and provide them with the Portal Privacy Statement.

15.3 Consequences of non-compliance

If a beneficiary breaches any of its obligations under this Article, the grant may be reduced (see Article 28).

Such breaches may also lead to other measures described in Chapter 5.

ARTICLE 16 — INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS (IPR) — BACKGROUND AND RESULTS — ACCESS RIGHTS AND RIGHTS OF USE

16.1 Background and access rights to background

The beneficiaries must give each other and the other participants access to the background identified as needed for implementing the action, subject to any specific rules in Annex 5.

‘Background’ means any data, know-how or information — whatever its form or nature (tangible or intangible), including any rights such as intellectual property rights — that is:

(a) held by the beneficiaries before they acceded to the Agreement and

(b) needed to implement the action or exploit the results.

If background is subject to rights of a third party, the beneficiary concerned must ensure that it is able to comply with its obligations under the Agreement.

16.2 Ownership of results

The granting authority does not obtain ownership of the results produced under the action.

‘Results’ means any tangible or intangible effect of the action, such as data, know-how or information, whatever its form or nature, whether or not it can be protected, as well as any rights attached to it, including intellectual property rights.

16.3 Rights of use of the granting authority on materials, documents and information received for policy, information, communication, dissemination and publicity purposes

The granting authority has the right to use non-sensitive information relating to the action and materials and documents received from the beneficiaries (notably summaries for publication, deliverables, as well as any other material, such as pictures or audio-visual material, in paper

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or electronic form) for policy, information, communication, dissemination and publicity purposes — during the action or afterwards.

The right to use the beneficiaries’ materials, documents and information is granted in the form of a royalty-free, non-exclusive and irrevocable licence, which includes the following rights:

(a) use for its own purposes (in particular, making them available to persons working for the granting authority or any other EU service (including institutions, bodies, offices, agencies, etc.) or EU Member State institution or body; copying or reproducing them in whole or in part, in unlimited numbers; and communication through press information services)

(b) distribution to the public (in particular, publication as hard copies and in electronic or digital format, publication on the internet, as a downloadable or non-downloadable file, broadcasting by any channel, public display or presentation, communicating through press information services, or inclusion in widely accessible databases or indexes)

(c) editing or redrafting (including shortening, summarising, inserting other elements (e.g. meta-data, legends, other graphic, visual, audio or text elements), extracting parts (e.g. audio or video files), dividing into parts, use in a compilation)

(d) translation

(e) storage in paper, electronic or other form

(f) archiving, in line with applicable document-management rules

(g) the right to authorise third parties to act on its behalf or sub-license to third parties the modes of use set out in Points (b), (c), (d) and (f), if needed for the information, communication and publicity activity of the granting authority and

(h) processing, analysing, aggregating the materials, documents and information received and producing derivative works.

The rights of use are granted for the whole duration of the industrial or intellectual property rights concerned.

If materials or documents are subject to moral rights or third party rights (including intellectual property rights or rights of natural persons on their image and voice), the beneficiaries must ensure that they comply with their obligations under this Agreement (in particular, by obtaining the necessary licences and authorisations from the rights holders concerned).

Where applicable, the granting authority will insert the following information:

“© – [year] – [name of the copyright owner]. All rights reserved. Licensed to the [name of granting authority] under conditions.”

16.4 Specific rules on IPR, results and background

Specific rules regarding intellectual property rights, results and background (if any) are set out in Annex 5.

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16.5 Consequences of non-compliance

If a beneficiary breaches any of its obligations under this Article, the grant may be reduced (see Article 28).

Such a breach may also lead to other measures described in Chapter 5.

ARTICLE 17 — COMMUNICATION, DISSEMINATION AND VISIBILITY

17.1 Communication — Dissemination — Promoting the action

Unless otherwise agreed with the granting authority, the beneficiaries must promote the action and its results by providing targeted information to multiple audiences (including the media and the public), in accordance with Annex 1 and in a strategic, coherent and effective manner.

Before engaging in a communication or dissemination activity expected to have a major media impact, the beneficiaries must inform the granting authority.

17.2 Visibility — European flag and funding statement

Unless otherwise agreed with the granting authority, communication activities of the beneficiaries related to the action (including media relations, conferences, seminars, information material, such as brochures, leaflets, posters, presentations, etc., in electronic form, via traditional or social media, etc.), dissemination activities and any infrastructure, equipment, vehicles, supplies or major result funded by the grant must acknowledge EU support and display the European flag (emblem) and funding statement (translated into local languages, where appropriate):

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The emblem must remain distinct and separate and cannot be modified by adding other visual marks, brands or text.

Apart from the emblem, no other visual identity or logo may be used to highlight the EU support.

When displayed in association with other logos (e.g. of beneficiaries or sponsors), the emblem must be displayed at least as prominently and visibly as the other logos.

For the purposes of their obligations under this Article, the beneficiaries may use the emblem without first obtaining approval from the granting authority. This does not, however, give them the right to exclusive use. Moreover, they may not appropriate the emblem or any similar trademark or logo, either by registration or by any other means.

17.3 Quality of information — Disclaimer

Any communication or dissemination activity related to the action must use factually accurate information.

Moreover, it must indicate the following disclaimer (translated into local languages where appropriate):

“Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or [name of the granting authority]. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.”

17.4 Specific communication, dissemination and visibility rules

Specific communication, dissemination and visibility rules (if any) are set out in Annex 5.

17.5 Consequences of non-compliance

If a beneficiary breaches any of its obligations under this Article, the grant may be reduced (see Article 28).

Such breaches may also lead to other measures described in Chapter 5.

ARTICLE 18 — SPECIFIC RULES FOR CARRYING OUT THE ACTION

18.1 Specific rules for carrying out the action

Specific rules for implementing the action (if any) are set out in Annex 5.

18.2 Consequences of non-compliance

If a beneficiary breaches any of its obligations under this Article, the grant may be reduced (see Article 28).

Such a breach may also lead to other measures described in Chapter 5.

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SECTION 3 GRANT ADMINISTRATION

ARTICLE 19 — GENERAL INFORMATION OBLIGATIONS

19.1 Information requests

The beneficiaries must provide — during the action or afterwards and in accordance with Article 7 — any information requested in order to verify eligibility of the costs or contributions declared, proper implementation of the action and compliance with the other obligations under the Agreement.

The information provided must be accurate, precise and complete and in the format requested, including electronic format.

19.2 Participant Register data updates

The beneficiaries must keep — at all times, during the action or afterwards — their information stored in the Portal Participant Register up to date, in particular, their name, address, legal representatives, legal form and organisation type.

19.3 Information about events and circumstances which impact the action

The beneficiaries must immediately inform the granting authority (and the other beneficiaries) of any of the following:

(a) events which are likely to affect or delay the implementation of the action or affect the EU’s financial interests, in particular:

(i) changes in their legal, financial, technical, organisational or ownership situation (including changes linked to one of the exclusion grounds listed in the declaration of honour signed before grant signature)

(ii) [OPTION 1 by default: linked action information: not applicable] [OPTION 2 if selected for the grant: changes regarding the linked action (see Article 3)]

(b) circumstances affecting:

(i) the decision to award the grant or

(ii) compliance with requirements under the Agreement.

19.4 Consequences of non-compliance

If a beneficiary breaches any of its obligations under this Article, the grant may be reduced (see Article 28).

Such breaches may also lead to other measures described in Chapter 5.

ARTICLE 20 — RECORD-KEEPING

20.1 Keeping records and supporting documents

The beneficiaries must — at least until the time-limit set out in the Data Sheet (see Point 6) — keep records and other supporting documents to prove the proper implementation of the action in line with the accepted standards in the respective field (if any).

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In addition, the beneficiaries must — for the same period — keep the following to justify the amounts declared:

(a) for actual costs: adequate records and supporting documents to prove the costs declared (such as contracts, subcontracts, invoices and accounting records); in addition, the beneficiaries’ usual accounting and internal control procedures must enable direct reconciliation between the amounts declared, the amounts recorded in their accounts and the amounts stated in the supporting documents

(b) for flat-rate costs and contributions (if any): adequate records and supporting documents to prove the eligibility of the costs or contributions to which the flat-rate is applied

(c) for the following simplified costs and contributions: the beneficiaries do not need to keep specific records on the actual costs incurred, but must keep:

(i) for unit costs and contributions (if any): adequate records and supporting documents to prove the number of units declared

(ii) for lump sum costs and contributions (if any): adequate records and supporting documents to prove proper implementation of the work as described in Annex 1

(iii) for financing not linked to costs (if any): adequate records and supporting documents to prove the achievement of the results or the fulfilment of the conditions as described in Annex 1

(d) for unit, flat-rate and lump sum costs and contributions according to usual cost accounting practices (if any): the beneficiaries must keep any adequate records and supporting documents to prove that their cost accounting practices have been applied in a consistent manner, based on objective criteria, regardless of the source of funding, and that they comply with the eligibility conditions set out in Articles 6.1 and 6.2.

Moreover, the following is needed for specific budget categories:

(e) for personnel costs: time worked for the beneficiary under the action must be supported by declarations signed monthly by the person and their supervisor, unless another reliable time-record system is in place; the granting authority may accept alternative evidence supporting the time worked for the action declared, if it considers that it offers an adequate level of assurance

(f) additional record-keeping rules: not applicable.

The records and supporting documents must be made available upon request (see Article 19) or in the context of checks, reviews, audits or investigations (see Article 25).

If there are on-going checks, reviews, audits, investigations, litigation or other pursuits of claims under the Agreement (including the extension of findings; see Article 25), the beneficiaries must keep these records and other supporting documentation until the end of these procedures.

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The beneficiaries must keep the original documents. Digital and digitalised documents are considered originals if they are authorised by the applicable national law. The granting authority may accept non-original documents if they offer a comparable level of assurance.

20.2 Consequences of non-compliance

If a beneficiary breaches any of its obligations under this Article, costs or contributions insufficiently substantiated will be ineligible (see Article 6) and will be rejected (see Article 27), and the grant may be reduced (see Article 28).

Such breaches may also lead to other measures described in Chapter 5.

ARTICLE 21 — REPORTING

21.1 Continuous reporting

The beneficiaries must report on the progress of the action (e.g. deliverables, milestones, outputs/outcomes, critical risks, indicators, etc; if any), in the Portal Continuous Reporting tool and in accordance with the timing and conditions it sets out (as agreed with the granting authority).

Standardised deliverables (e.g. progress reports not linked to payments, reports on cumulative expenditure, special reports, etc; if any) must be submitted using the templates published on the Portal.

21.2 Periodic reporting: Technical reports and financial statements

In addition, the beneficiaries must provide reports to request payments, in accordance with the schedule and modalities set out in the Data Sheet (see Point 4.2):

- for additional prefinancings (if any): an additional prefinancing report

- for interim payments (if any) and the final payment: a periodic report.

The prefinancing and periodic reports include a technical and financial part.

The technical part includes an overview of the action implementation. It must be prepared using the template available in the Portal Periodic Reporting tool.

The financial part of the additional prefinancing report includes a statement on the use of the previous prefinancing payment.

The financial part of the periodic report includes:

- the financial statements (individual and consolidated; for all beneficiaries/affiliated entities)

- the explanation on the use of resources (or detailed cost reporting table, if required)

- the certificates on the financial statements (CFS) (if required; see Article 24.2 and Data Sheet, Point 4.3).

The financial statements must detail the eligible costs and contributions for each budget category and, for the final payment, also the revenues for the action (see Articles 6 and 22).

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All eligible costs and contributions incurred should be declared, even if they exceed the amounts indicated in the estimated budget (see Annex 2). Amounts that are not declared in the individual financial statements will not be taken into account by the granting authority.

By signing the financial statements (directly in the Portal Periodic Reporting tool), the beneficiaries confirm that:

- the information provided is complete, reliable and true

- the costs and contributions declared are eligible (see Article 6)

- the costs and contributions can be substantiated by adequate records and supporting documents (see Article 20) that will be produced upon request (see Article 19) or in the context of checks, reviews, audits and investigations (see Article 25)

- for the final periodic report: all the revenues have been declared (if required; see Article 22).

Beneficiaries will have to submit also the financial statements of their affiliated entities (if any). In case of recoveries (see Article 22), beneficiaries will be held responsible also for the financial statements of their affiliated entities.

21.3 Currency for financial statements and conversion into euros

The financial statements must be drafted in euro.

Beneficiaries with general accounts established in a currency other than the euro must convert the costs recorded in their accounts into euro, at the average of the daily exchange rates published in the C series of the Official Journal of the European Union (ECB website), calculated over the corresponding reporting period.

If no daily euro exchange rate is published in the Official Journal for the currency in question, they must be converted at the average of the monthly accounting exchange rates published on the European Commission website (InforEuro), calculated over the corresponding reporting period.

Beneficiaries with general accounts in euro must convert costs incurred in another currency into euro according to their usual accounting practices.

21.4 Reporting language

The reporting must be in the language of the Agreement, unless otherwise agreed with the granting authority (see Data Sheet, Point 4.2).

21.5 Consequences of non-compliance

If a report submitted does not comply with this Article, the granting authority may suspend the payment deadline (see Article 29) and apply other measures described in Chapter 5.

If the coordinator breaches its reporting obligations, the granting authority may terminate the grant or the coordinator’s participation (see Article 32) or apply other measures described in Chapter 5.

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ARTICLE 22 — PAYMENTS AND RECOVERIES — CALCULATION OF AMOUNTS DUE

22.1 Payments and payment arrangements

Payments will be made in accordance with the schedule and modalities set out in the Data Sheet (see Point 4.2).

They will be made in euro to the bank account indicated by the coordinator (see Data Sheet, Point 4.2) and must be distributed without unjustified delay (restrictions may apply to distribution of the initial prefinancing payment; see Data Sheet, Point 4.2).

Payments to this bank account will discharge the granting authority from its payment obligation.

The cost of payment transfers will be borne as follows:

- the granting authority bears the cost of transfers charged by its bank

- the beneficiary bears the cost of transfers charged by its bank

- the party causing a repetition of a transfer bears all costs of the repeated transfer.

Payments by the granting authority will be considered to have been carried out on the date when they are debited to its account.

22.2 Recoveries

Recoveries will be made, if — at beneficiary termination, final payment or afterwards — it turns out that the granting authority has paid too much and needs to recover the amounts undue.

The general liability regime for recoveries (first-line liability) is as follows: At final payment, the coordinator will be fully liable for recoveries, even if it has not been the final recipient of the undue amounts. At beneficiary termination or after final payment, recoveries will be made directly against the beneficiaries concerned.

Beneficiaries will be fully liable for repaying the debts of their affiliated entities.

In case of enforced recoveries (see Article 22.4):

- the beneficiaries will be jointly and severally liable for repaying debts of another beneficiary under the Agreement (including late-payment interest), if required by the granting authority (see Data Sheet, Point 4.4)

- affiliated entities will be held liable for repaying debts of their beneficiaries under the Agreement (including late-payment interest), if required by the granting authority (see Data Sheet, Point 4.4).

22.3 Amounts due

22.3.1 Prefinancing payments

The aim of the prefinancing is to provide the beneficiaries with a float.

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It remains the property of the EU until the final payment.

For initial prefinancings (if any), the amount due, schedule and modalities are set out in the Data Sheet (see Point 4.2).

For additional prefinancings (if any), the amount due, schedule and modalities are also set out in the Data Sheet (see Point 4.2). However, if the statement on the use of the previous prefinancing payment shows that less than 70% was used, the amount set out in the Data Sheet will be reduced by the difference between the 70% threshold and the amount used.

Prefinancing payments (or parts of them) may be offset (without the beneficiaries’ consent) against amounts owed by a beneficiary to the granting authority — up to the amount due to that beneficiary.

For grants where the granting authority is the European Commission or an EU executive agency, offsetting may also be done against amounts owed to other Commission services or executive agencies.

Payments will not be made if the payment deadline or payments are suspended (see Articles 29 and 30).

22.3.2 Amount due at beneficiary termination — Recovery

In case of beneficiary termination, the granting authority will determine the provisional amount due for the beneficiary concerned. Payments (if any) will be made with the next interim or final payment.

The amount due will be calculated in the following step:

Step 1 — Calculation of the total accepted EU contribution

Step 1 — Calculation of the total accepted EU contribution

The granting authority will first calculate the ‘accepted EU contribution’ for the beneficiary for all reporting periods, by calculating the ‘maximum EU contribution to costs’ (applying the funding rate to the accepted costs of the beneficiary), taking into account requests for a lower contribution to costs and CFS threshold cappings (if any; see Article 24.5) and adding the contributions (accepted unit, flat-rate or lump sum contributions and financing not linked to costs, if any).

After that, the granting authority will take into account grant reductions (if any). The resulting amount is the ‘total accepted EU contribution’ for the beneficiary.

The balance is then calculated by deducting the payments received (if any; see report on the distribution of payments in Article 32), from the total accepted EU contribution:

{total accepted EU contribution for the beneficiary

minus

{prefinancing and interim payments received (if any)}}.

If the balance is positive, the amount will be included in the next interim or final payment to the consortium.

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If the balance is negative, it will be recovered in accordance with the following procedure:

The granting authority will send a pre-information letter to the beneficiary concerned:

- formally notifying the intention to recover, the amount due, the amount to be recovered and the reasons why and

- requesting observations within 30 days of receiving notification.

If no observations are submitted (or the granting authority decides to pursue recovery despite the observations it has received), it will confirm the amount to be recovered and ask this amount to be paid to the coordinator (confirmation letter).

The amounts will later on also be taken into account for the next interim or final payment.

22.3.3 Interim payments

Interim payments reimburse the eligible costs and contributions claimed for the implementation of the action during the reporting periods (if any).

Interim payments (if any) will be made in accordance with the schedule and modalities set out the Data Sheet (see Point 4.2).

Payment is subject to the approval of the periodic report. Its approval does not imply recognition of compliance, authenticity, completeness or correctness of its content.

The interim payment will be calculated by the granting authority in the following steps:

Step 1 — Calculation of the total accepted EU contribution

Step 2 — Limit to the interim payment ceiling

Step 1 — Calculation of the total accepted EU contribution

The granting authority will calculate the ‘accepted EU contribution’ for the action for the reporting period, by first calculating the ‘maximum EU contribution to costs’ (applying the funding rate to the accepted costs of each beneficiary), taking into account requests for a lower contribution to costs and CFS threshold cappings (if any; see Article 24.5) and adding the contributions (accepted unit, flat-rate or lump sum contributions and financing not linked to costs, if any).

After that, the granting authority will take into account grant reductions from beneficiary termination (if any). The resulting amount is the ‘total accepted EU contribution’.

Step 2 — Limit to the interim payment ceiling

The resulting amount is then capped to ensure that the total amount of prefinancing and interim payments (if any) does not exceed the interim payment ceiling set out in the Data Sheet (see Point 4.2).

Interim payments (or parts of them) may be offset (without the beneficiaries’ consent) against amounts owed by a beneficiary to the granting authority — up to the amount due to that beneficiary.

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For grants where the granting authority is the European Commission or an EU executive agency, offsetting may also be done against amounts owed to other Commission services or executive agencies.

Payments will not be made if the payment deadline or payments are suspended (see Articles 29 and 30).

22.3.4 Final payment — Final grant amount — Revenues and Profit — Recovery

The final payment (payment of the balance) reimburses the remaining part of the eligible costs and contributions claimed for the implementation of the action (if any).

The final payment will be made in accordance with the schedule and modalities set out in the Data Sheet (see Point 4.2).

Payment is subject to the approval of the final periodic report. Its approval does not imply recognition of compliance, authenticity, completeness or correctness of its content.

The final grant amount for the action will be calculated in the following steps:

Step 1 — Calculation of the total accepted EU contribution

Step 2 — Limit to the maximum grant amount

Step 3 — Reduction due to the no-profit rule

Step 1 — Calculation of the total accepted EU contribution

The granting authority will first calculate the ‘accepted EU contribution’ for the action for all reporting periods, by calculating the ‘maximum EU contribution to costs’ (applying the funding rate to the total accepted costs of each beneficiary), taking into account requests for a lower contribution to costs, CFS threshold cappings (if any; see Article 24.5) and adding the contributions (accepted unit, flat-rate or lump sum contributions and financing not linked to costs, if any).

After that, the granting authority will take into account grant reductions (if any). The resulting amount is the ‘total accepted EU contribution’.

Step 2 — Limit to the maximum grant amount

If the resulting amount is higher than the maximum grant amount set out in Article 5.2, it will be limited to the latter.

Step 3 — Reduction due to the no-profit rule

If the no-profit rule is provided for in the Data Sheet (see Point 4.2), the grant must not produce a profit (i.e. surplus of the amount obtained following Step 2 plus the action’s revenues, over the eligible costs and contributions approved by the granting authority).

‘Revenue’ is all income generated by the action, during its duration (see Article 4), for beneficiaries that are profit legal entities.

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If there is a profit, it will be deducted in proportion to the final rate of reimbursement of the eligible costs approved by the granting authority (as compared to the amount calculated following Steps 1 and 2 minus the contributions).

The balance (final payment) is then calculated by deducting the total amount of prefinancing and interim payments already made (if any), from the final grant amount:

{final grant amount

minus

{prefinancing and interim payments made (if any)}}.

If the balance is positive, it will be paid to the coordinator.

The final payment (or part of it) may be offset (without the beneficiaries’ consent) against amounts owed by a beneficiary to the granting authority — up to the amount due to that beneficiary.

For grants where the granting authority is the European Commission or an EU executive agency, offsetting may also be done against amounts owed to other Commission services or executive agencies.

Payments will not be made if the payment deadline or payments are suspended (see Articles 29 and 30).

If the balance is negative, it will be recovered in accordance with the following procedure:

The granting authority will send a pre-information letter to the coordinator:

- formally notifying the intention to recover, the final grant amount, the amount to be recovered and the reasons why

- requesting observations within 30 days of receiving notification.

If no observations are submitted (or the granting authority decides to pursue recovery despite the observations it has received), it will confirm the amount to be recovered (confirmation letter), together with a debit note with the terms and date for payment.

If payment is not made by the date specified in the debit note, the granting authority will enforce recovery in accordance with Article 22.4.

22.3.5 Audit implementation after final payment — Revised final grant amount — Recovery

If — after the final payment (in particular, after checks, reviews, audits or investigations; see Article 25) — the granting authority rejects costs or contributions (see Article 27) or reduces the grant (see Article 28), it will calculate the revised final grant amount for the beneficiary concerned.

The beneficiary revised final grant amount will be calculated in the following step:

Step 1 — Calculation of the revised total accepted EU contribution

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Step 1 — Calculation of the revised total accepted EU contribution

The granting authority will first calculate the ‘revised accepted EU contribution’ for the beneficiary, by calculating the ‘revised accepted costs’ and ‘revised accepted contributions’.

After that, it will take into account grant reductions (if any). The resulting ‘revised total accepted EU contribution’ is the beneficiary revised final grant amount.

If the revised final grant amount is lower than the beneficiary’s final grant amount (i.e. its share in the final grant amount for the action), it will be recovered in accordance with the following procedure:

The beneficiary final grant amount (i.e. share in the final grant amount for the action) is calculated as follows:

{{{total accepted EU contribution for the beneficiary

divided by

total accepted EU contribution for the action}

multiplied by

final grant amount for the action}.

The granting authority will send a pre-information letter to the beneficiary concerned:

- formally notifying the intention to recover, the amount to be recovered and the reasons why and

- requesting observations within 30 days of receiving notification.

If no observations are submitted (or the granting authority decides to pursue recovery despite the observations it has received), it will confirm the amount to be recovered (confirmation letter), together with a debit note with the terms and the date for payment.

Recoveries against affiliated entities (if any) will be handled through their beneficiaries.

If payment is not made by the date specified in the debit note, the granting authority will enforce recovery in accordance with Article 22.4.

22.4 Enforced recovery

If payment is not made by the date specified in the debit note, the amount due will be recovered:

(a) by offsetting the amount — without the coordinator or beneficiary’s consent — against any amounts owed to the coordinator or beneficiary by the granting authority.

In exceptional circumstances, to safeguard the EU financial interests, the amount may be offset before the payment date specified in the debit note.

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For grants where the granting authority is the European Commission or an EU executive agency, debts may also be offset against amounts owed by other Commission services or executive agencies.

(b) by drawing on the financial guarantee(s) (if any)

(c) by holding other beneficiaries jointly and severally liable (if any; see Data Sheet, Point 4.4)

(d) by holding affiliated entities jointly and severally liable (if any, see Data Sheet, Point 4.4) or

(e) by taking legal action (see Article 43) or, provided that granting authority is the European Commission or an EU executive agency, by adopting an enforceable decision under Article 299 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU) and Article 100(2) of EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509.

The amount to be recovered will be increased by late-payment interest at the rate set out in Article 22.5, from the day following the payment date in the debit note, up to and including the date the full payment is received.

Partial payments will be first credited against expenses, charges and late-payment interest and then against the principal.

Bank charges incurred in the recovery process will be borne by the beneficiary, unless Directive 2015/236635 applies.

For grants where the granting authority is an EU executive agency, enforced recovery by offsetting or enforceable decision will be done by the services of the European Commission (see also Article 43).

22.5 Consequences of non-compliance

22.5.1 If the granting authority does not pay within the payment deadlines (see above), the beneficiaries are entitled to late-payment interest at the reference rate applied by the European Central Bank (ECB) for its main refinancing operations in euros, plus the percentage specified in the Data Sheet (Point 4.2). The ECB reference rate to be used is the rate in force on the first day of the month in which the payment deadline expires, as published in the C series of the Official Journal of the European Union.

If the late-payment interest is lower than or equal to EUR 200, it will be paid to the coordinator only on request submitted within two months of receiving the late payment.

Late-payment interest is not due if all beneficiaries are EU Member States (including regional and local government authorities or other public bodies acting on behalf of a Member State for the purpose of this Agreement).

35 Directive (EU) 2015/2366 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2015 on payment

services in the internal market, amending Directives 2002/65/EC, 2009/110/EC and 2013/36/EU and Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010, and repealing Directive 2007/64/EC (OJ L 337, 23.12.2015, p. 35).

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If payments or the payment deadline are suspended (see Articles 29 and 30), payment will not be considered as late.

Late-payment interest covers the period running from the day following the due date for payment (see above), up to and including the date of payment.

Late-payment interest is not considered for the purposes of calculating the final grant amount.

22.5.2 If the coordinator breaches any of its obligations under this Article, the grant may be reduced (see Article 28) and the grant or the coordinator may be terminated (see Article 32).

Such breaches may also lead to other measures described in Chapter 5.

ARTICLE 23 — GUARANTEES

23.1 Prefinancing guarantee

If required by the granting authority (see Data Sheet, Point 4.2), the beneficiaries must provide (one or more) prefinancing guarantee(s) in accordance with the timing and the amounts set out in the Data Sheet.

The coordinator must submit them to the granting authority in due time before the prefinancing they are linked to.

The guarantees must be drawn up using the template published on the Portal and fulfil the following conditions:

(a) be provided by a bank or approved financial institution established in the EU or — if requested by the coordinator and accepted by the granting authority — by a third party or a bank or financial institution established outside the EU offering equivalent security

(b) the guarantor stands as first-call guarantor and does not require the granting authority to first have recourse against the principal debtor (i.e. the beneficiary concerned) and

(c) remain explicitly in force until the final payment and, if the final payment takes the form of a recovery, until five months after the debit note is notified to a beneficiary.

They will be released within the following month.

23.2 Consequences of non-compliance

If the beneficiaries breach their obligation to provide the prefinancing guarantee, the prefinancing will not be paid.

Such breaches may also lead to other measures described in Chapter 5.

ARTICLE 24 — CERTIFICATES

24.1 Operational verification report (OVR)

Not applicable