Research Contracts and IP Services TRAINING WORKSHOPS ON HORIZON 2020 – 27 NOV 2014 The Grant Agreement Roger Wallace – Research Contracts & IP Services Research Contracts and IP Services The Grant Agreement • The Grant Agreement (GA) is signed directly by the European Commission (the EC) and the coordinator. The other beneficiaries sign the GA by signing the Accession Form. • By signing the GA the grant is accepted and the beneficiaries are bound by the entirety of the terms and conditions. • The GA sets out the beneficiaries’ obligations to the EC and the EC’s obligations to the beneficiaries. Research Contracts and IP Services Model Grant Agreement • General Multi-beneficiary Model Grant Agreement http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/r ef/h2020/mga/gga/h2020-mga-ggamulti_en.pdf • Annotated Model Grant Agreement http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/r ef/h2020/grants_manual/amga/h2020amga_en.pdf Research Contracts and IP Services Content of the Grant Agreement • • • • • • Terms and Conditions Annex 1 Description of the action Annex 2 Estimated budget for the action Annex 3 Accession Forms Annex 4 Model for the financial statements Annex 5 Model for the certificate on the financial statements • Annex 6 Model for the certificate on the methodology Research Contracts and IP Services Terms and Conditions Chapter 1- General • Article 1 – Subject of the Agreement Chapter 2 - Action • • • Article 2 – Action to be implemented Article 3 - Duration and starting date of Action Article 4 – Estimated budget and budget transfers. Refers to Annex 2. Allows for transfers between beneficiaries and budget categories but does not allow the addition of subcontract costs without amendment. Chapter 3 - Grant • • Article 5 – Grant amount, form of grant, reimbursement rates Article 6 – Eligible and Ineligible costs Research Contracts and IP Services Chapter 4 – Rights and obligation Section 1 – Rights and obligations relating to implementing the action • • • Article 7 – General obligation to properly implement the action. Note that this obligation is a joint one and if the action is not implemented property the total grant amount can be reduced. Article 10 – Purchase of goods and services – beneficiaries must ensure the best value for money or, if appropriate, lowest price. Otherwise the cost may be ineligible and rejected. Article 13 – Subcontracting – Allowed for only a limited part of the Action. Tasks to be subcontracted must be set out in Annex 1 and total estimate costs of subcontracting must be set out in Annex 2. Research Contracts and IP Services Section 2 – Rights and obligations relating to the Grant administration • • • • Article 17 – General obligation to inform. Article 18 – Keeping records and supporting documents – original records must be kept for three years after the payment of the balance to prove proper implementation of the action and the eligible costs – including hourly time records Article 19 – Submission of deliverables – submitted by the coordinator Article 20 – Reporting and payment requests. Coordinator submits the technical and financial reports and requests for payments electronically. Reporting done in Euros at average daily rate of exchange over the reporting period not the rate at which the funds where receipted. Research Contracts and IP Services • Article 21 – Payment and payment arrangements – consists of: – – – • Pre financing payment One or more interim payment – reimbursement. Maximum of 90% of the grant Final Payment Payments are made by the EC to the coordinator which distributes it to the beneficiaries Article 22 – Checks, reviews, audits and investigations – Extension of findings Research Contracts and IP Services Section 3 – Rights and obligations related to background and results • • • Article 23 – Management of intellectual property – obligation to manage intellectual property in accordance with the relevant Commission Recommendations. Article 24 – Agreement on Background – Background must be identified and agreed to between the parties. Article 25 – Access rights to Background – – – • Article 26 – Ownership of results – – • Must be requested in writing Must be granted royalty free if other beneficiaries need access in order implement their own tasks unless otherwise agreed beforehand Must be granted on “fair and reasonable conditions” if other beneficiaries need access in order exploit their own results. Individually generated results are individually owned Jointly generated results are jointly owned. Joint owners must enter a “joint ownership agreement Article 27 – Protection of results – Obligation to protect the results if they can be reasonably expected to be commercially or industrially exploited and if protection would be possible, reasonable, and justified. Research Contracts and IP Services • • Article 28 – Exploitation of results – Obligation to exploit the results. (further research, developing a product or service etc) Article 29 – Dissemination of results – open access – visibility of EU Funding. – – • – Subject to confidentiality, security and protection of personal data obligations. Beneficiaries must give the other parties 45 days notice prior to dissemination of results in order to allow them to object if their legitimate interest would be harmed. Open access to scientific publications, including validating data. – EU funding must be acknowledged. Article 30 Transfer and licensing of results – – – • Existing obligations must be passed on to now owners (including access rights for other beneficiaries). Licences can be granted as long as the don’t impede access rights or change dissemination or security obligations. EC may object to transferring or licencing for a period of 4 years. Article 31 – Access rights to results – – – Royalty free access rights for beneficiaries needing access to implement their results Access rights on fair and reasonable conditions for beneficiaries needing access for exploiting their own results Access rights for the EU institutions, bodies, offices or agencies and EU Member states (option) – limited to non-commercial and non-competitive use. Research Contracts and IP Services Section 4 – Other rights and obligations • • • • • • • • Article 32 – Recruitment and working conditions for researchers Article 33 – Gender equality Article 34 – Ethics Article 35 – Conflict of interest – must notify EC Article 36 – Confidentiality – Mechanism for keeping information confidentially. – Applies only to information communicated by one beneficiary to another or to the EC. i.e. not your own results Article 37 – Security-related obligations – unlikely to apply to us. Article 38 – Promoting the Action – visibility of the funding Article 39 – Processing of Personal Data – restricts access to personal data. Research Contracts and IP Services Chapter 5 – Division of Beneficiaries’ Roles and responsibilities • Article 41 – Division of Beneficiaries’ Roles and Responsibilities – – – – Beneficiaries are jointly and severally liable for the technical implementation of the Action. Each beneficiary must keep “Beneficiary Register” up to date, inform coordinator of any events or circumstances likely to affect or delay implementation, and submit technical and financial reports, ethical committee communications and other documents required by the CA to the coordinator. Coordinator must monitor the action, act as intermediary with the CA, submit deliverables and reports, make payments to the beneficiaries, etc. The beneficiaries must enter a consortium agreement which sets out the internal arrangements regarding their cooperation and co-ordination which may cover: • internal organisation of the consortium; • management of access to the electronic exchange system; • distribution of EU funding; • additional rules on rights and obligations related to background and results (including whether access rights remain or not, if a beneficiary is in breach of its obligations) (see Section 3 of Chapter 4); • settlement of internal disputes; • liability, indemnification and confidentiality arrangements between the beneficiaries. Research Contracts and IP Services Chapter 6 • • • • • • Article 42 – Rejection of ineligible costs – mechanism, procedure and effect. Article 43 – Reduction of the Grant – mechanism, procedure and effect. Article 44 – Recovery of undue amounts Article 45 – Administrative and financial penalties Article 46 – liability for damages Section 3 – Suspension and termination Research Contracts and IP Services Chapter 7 – Final Provisions • • • • • • • Article 52 – Communication between the Parties Article 53 – Interpretation Article 54 – Calculation of Periods, Dates and Deadlines Article 55 – Amendments Article 56 – Accession to the Agreement Article 57 – Applicable Law and Settlements of disputes Article 58 – Entry into force of the agreement Research Contracts and IP Services Questions? Roger Wallace Research Contracts Manager Research Contracts and Intellectual Property Services Room 1.06, Allan Cormack House 2 Rhodes Avenue Mowbray,7700 Tel: 021 650 4718 Email: [email protected]