Definition of eligible costs
Article 22
Eligible costs are costs that are directly and wholly attributable to the national programme approved by the Commission. Member States may apply stricter national rules for determining eligible costs.
Commission Regulation (EC) No 1737/2006 SECTION 1 — COSTS
Compiled from an official source version. Later amendments or repeals may not be reflected; the official text prevails. · Read the official text ↗
Justification of expenditure
Article 23
The expenditure shall be justified by adequate original documents, such as invoices, or documents of equal probative value. The original documents shall not be annexed to the statement of expenditures. The competent body shall, however, if requested, provide the Commission with all details, including invoices, which it might need to assure the evaluation of the expenditure.
Costs considered eligible
Article 24
1. To be considered eligible, costs must have been provided for in the approved national programme, and be directly linked to, and necessary for, carrying out that programme. 2. The costs must be reasonable and comply with the principles of sound financial management, in particular value for money and cost-effectiveness. 3. The costs must have been actually incurred during the period of eligibility set out in the Commission decision approving the national programme. A cost is considered as incurred during the period of eligibility when: (a) the legal obligation to pay the cost has been contracted after the beginning of the period of eligibility and before the end of that period; (b) the execution of the activity to which the cost is related must have started after the beginning of the period of eligibility and must be completed before the end of that period. 4. The costs must have been fully paid before the submission of the final documentation together with the final statement of expenditure and income.
Personnel costs
Article 25
Personnel costs may be considered as eligible direct expenditure in respect of the actual time devoted to the national programme. They shall be calculated on the basis of the actual gross salary or wages plus obligatory social charges, but excluding any other cost. The working time of each employee, including national civil servants and governmental agency employees working within the national programme, shall be registered using time sheets or reports from a time recording system established and certified by the competent body and its eventual partners.
Travel costs
Article 26
Travel costs may be considered eligible if they are directly and wholly attributable to the approved national programme. Travel costs shall be charged in accordance with the internal rules of the competent body.
Overhead costs
Article 27
1. Overhead costs which are intended to cover general indirect costs needed to employ, manage, accommodate and support directly or indirectly the personnel performing the work on the national programme or which relate to on-site infrastructure and equipment shall be eligible provided those costs are actual, justifiable and do not include costs assigned to another budget heading. 2. Overhead costs are eligible up to a maximum of 7 % of the total amount of eligible direct costs. 3. Overhead costs shall be charged to the national programme in accordance with the authorized cost accounting policy of the competent body.
Capital costs
Article 28
Where the costs include depreciation of capital investments with a life of more than one year and a price of more than EUR 500, these depreciation costs shall be considered eligible provided they relate exclusively to the national programme and the eligibility period of the concerned programme phase provided that: For investment in construction and infrastructure these costs are depreciated over 10 years using the straight line method, and for other equipment including informatics equipment 5 years straight line method.
Costs for the purchase of second-hand equipment
Article 29
The purchase costs of second-hand equipment shall be eligible under the following three conditions: (a) the seller of the equipment shall provide a declaration stating its origin, and confirm that at no point during the previous seven years has it been purchased with the aid of national or Community grants; (b) the price of the equipment shall not exceed its market value and shall be less than the cost of similar new equipment; and (c) the equipment shall have the technical characteristics necessary for the operation and comply with applicable norms and standards.
Subcontracting
Article 30
Expenditure relating to subcontracts with intermediaries or consultants shall be based upon actual costs and shall be supported by the appropriate invoices and other supporting documents. Exceptionally, where the cost is defined as a percentage of the total costs of the operations, such cost may be considered eligible only if the competent body is able to justify it by reference to the actual value of the work or services provided.
Value-added tax
Article 31
Value added tax (VAT) shall be considered eligible when the competent body is not in a position to recover the VAT paid under the national programme. The competent body shall provide a declaration from the relevant national authorities that VAT could not be recovered for the assets and services required for the measures carried out under the national programmes.
Ineligible costs
Article 32
1. The following shall not be regarded as eligible: (a) any cost incurred for actions which benefit from aid under other Community financial instruments; (b) exchange rate losses; (c) unnecessary or wasteful outlays; (d) distribution expenses and marketing and advertising expenses to promote products or commercial activities; (e) any provisions for possible future losses or liabilities; (f) any debtor interest and interest on borrowed capital; (g) bad debts. Certain of the costs referred to in point (d) may, however, be considered eligible as agreed with the Commission. 2. The non-eligible costs referred to in paragraph 1 shall not be considered by the Commission for the calculation of the total programme cost.
Exchange rate
Article 33
1. Conversion between the euro and the national currency shall be made using the daily euro rate published in the C series of the Official Journal of the European Union . 2. The rate to be used for conversion between the euro and national currencies shall be the exchange rate published on the last working day of the month preceding that in which the national programme, or as regards payments, the financial report and request for payment is signed and submitted to the Commission.
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