CHAPTER I — General provisions
Funding bodies and direct actions of JRC
1. The rules set out in this Title do not apply to direct actions undertaken by the JRC.
2. In duly justified cases, funding bodies may depart from the rules set out in this Title, except for Articles 18, 19 and 20, if:
(a)
such a departure is provided for in the basic act setting up the funding body or entrusting budget implementation tasks to it; or
(b)
for funding bodies under points (ii), (iii) or (v) of point (c) of Article 62(1) of the Financial Regulation if it is provided for in the contribution agreement and if their specific operating needs or the nature of the action so require.
Eligible actions and ethical principles
1. Without prejudice to paragraph 2 of this Article, only actions implementing the objectives referred to in Article 3 shall be eligible for funding.
The following fields of research shall not be financed:
(a)
activities aiming at human cloning for reproductive purposes;
(b)
activities intended to modify the genetic heritage of human beings which could make such modifications heritable ( 28 ) ;
(c)
activities intended to create human embryos solely for the purpose of research or for the purpose of stem cell procurement, including by means of somatic cell nuclear transfer.
2. Research on human stem cells, both adult and embryonic, may be financed depending both on the contents of the scientific proposal and the legal framework of the Member States involved. No funding shall be provided within or outside the Union for research activities that are prohibited in all Member States. No funding shall be provided in a Member State for a research activity which is forbidden in that Member State.
Ethics
1. Actions carried out under the Programme shall comply with ethical principles and relevant Union, national and international law, including the Charter and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and its Supplementary Protocols.
Particular attention shall be paid to the principle of proportionality, to the right to privacy, the right to the protection of personal data, the right to the physical and mental integrity of a person, the right to non-discrimination and to the need to ensure protection of the environment and high levels of human health protection.
2. Legal entities participating in an action shall provide:
(a)
an ethics self-assessment identifying and detailing all the foreseeable ethics issues related to the objective, implementation and likely impact of the activities to be funded, including a confirmation of compliance with paragraph 1 and a description of how it will be ensured;
(b)
a confirmation that the activities will comply with the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity published by All European Academies and that no activities excluded from funding will be conducted;
(c)
for activities carried out outside the Union, a confirmation that the same activities would have been allowed in a Member State; and
(d)
for activities making use of human embryonic stem cells, as appropriate, details of licensing and control measures that shall be taken by the competent authorities of the Member States concerned as well as details of the ethics approvals that shall be obtained before the activities concerned start.
3. Proposals shall be systematically screened to identify actions which raise complex or serious ethics issues and submit them to an ethics assessment. The ethics assessment shall be carried out by the Commission unless it is delegated to the funding body. All actions involving the use of human embryonic stem cells or human embryos shall be subject to an ethics assessment. Ethics screenings and assessments shall be carried out with the support of ethics experts. The Commission and the funding bodies shall ensure the transparency of the ethics procedures without prejudice to the confidentiality of the content of those procedures.
4. Legal entities participating in an action shall obtain all approvals or other mandatory documents from the relevant national, local ethics committees or other bodies, such as data protection authorities, before the start of the relevant activities. Those documents shall be kept on file and provided to the Commission or the relevant funding body upon request.
5. If appropriate, ethics checks shall be carried out by the Commission or the relevant funding body. For serious or complex ethics issues, ethics checks shall be carried out by the Commission unless the Commission delegates this task to the funding body.
Ethics checks shall be carried out with the support of ethics experts.
6. Actions which do not fulfil the ethics requirements referred to in paragraphs 1 to 4 and are therefore not ethically acceptable, shall be rejected or terminated once the ethical unacceptability has been established.
Security
1. Actions carried out under the Programme shall comply with the applicable security rules and in particular rules on the protection of classified information against unauthorised disclosure, including compliance with any relevant Union and national law. In the case of research carried out outside the Union using or generating classified information, it shall also be necessary that, in addition to the compliance with those requirements, a security agreement shall have been concluded between the Union and the third country in which the research is to be conducted.
2. Where appropriate, proposals shall include a security self-assessment identifying any security issues and detailing how those issues will be addressed in order to comply with the relevant Union and national law.
3. Where appropriate, the Commission or the relevant funding body shall carry out a security scrutiny procedure for proposals raising security issues.
4. Where appropriate, the actions carried out under the Programme shall comply with Decision (EU, Euratom) 2015/444 and its implementing rules.
5. Legal entities participating in an action shall ensure the protection against unauthorised disclosure of classified information used or generated by the action. They shall provide proof of personal security clearance or facility security clearance from the relevant national security authorities, prior to the start of the activities concerned.
6. If independent external experts have to deal with classified information, the appropriate security clearance shall be required before those experts are appointed.
7. Where appropriate, the Commission or the relevant funding body may carry out security checks.
8. Actions which do not comply with the security rules under this Article may be rejected or terminated at any time.
Grants
Grants under the Programme shall be awarded and managed in accordance with Title VIII of the Financial Regulation, unless otherwise specified in this Chapter.
Legal entities eligible for participation
1. Any legal entity, regardless of its place of establishment and including legal entities from non-associated third countries or international organisations, may participate in actions under the Programme, provided that the conditions laid down in this Regulation have been met together with any conditions laid down in the work programme or call for proposals.
2. Except in duly justified cases where the work programme otherwise provides, legal entities forming a consortium shall be eligible for participation in actions under the Programme provided that the consortium includes:
(a)
at least one independent legal entity established in a Member State; and
(b)
at least two other independent legal entities each established in different Member States or associated countries;
3. ERC frontier research actions, EIC actions, training and mobility actions or programme co-fund actions may be implemented by one or more legal entities, provided that one of those legal entities shall be established in a Member State or associated country on the basis of an agreement concluded in accordance with Article 16.
4. Coordination and support actions may be implemented by one or more legal entities, which may be established in a Member State, associated country or, in exceptional cases, in another third country.
5. For actions related to Union strategic assets, interests, autonomy or security, the work programme may provide that the participation can be limited to legal entities established only in Member States or to legal entities established in specified associated or other third countries in addition to Member States. Any limitation of the participation of legal entities established in associated countries which are EEA members shall be in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Agreement on the European Economic Area. For duly justified and exceptional reasons, in order to guarantee the protection of the strategic interests of the Union and its Member States, the work programme may also exclude the participation of legal entities established in the Union or in associated countries directly or indirectly controlled by non-associated third countries or by legal entities of non-associated third countries from individual calls for proposals, or make their participation subject to conditions set out in the work programme.
6. Where appropriate and duly justified, the work programme may provide for eligibility criteria in addition to those set out in paragraphs 2 to 5 to take into account specific policy requirements or the nature and objectives of the action, including the number of legal entities, the type of legal entity and the place of establishment.
7. For actions benefiting from amounts under Article 15(5), the participation shall be limited to a single legal entity established in the jurisdiction of the delegating managing authority, except if otherwise agreed with that managing authority.
8. Where indicated in the work programme, the JRC may participate in actions.
9. The JRC, international European research organisations and legal entities created under Union law shall be deemed to be established in a Member State other than the ones in which other legal entities participating in the action are established.
10. For ERC frontier research actions, training and mobility actions and when provided for in the work programme, international organisations with headquarters in a Member State or associated country shall be deemed to be established in that Member State or associated country. For other parts of the Programme, international organisations other than international European research organisations shall be deemed to be established in a non-associated third country.
Legal entities eligible for funding
1. Legal entities shall be eligible for funding if they are established in a Member State or an associated country. Only legal entities established in the jurisdiction of the delegating managing authority shall be eligible for funding for actions benefiting from amounts under Article 15(5), except if otherwise agreed by that managing authority.
2. Legal entities established in a non-associated third country shall bear the cost of their participation. However, a legal entity established in low to middle income non-associated third countries and, exceptionally, other non-associated third countries, shall be eligible for funding in an action if:
(a)
the third country is identified in the work programme adopted by the Commission; or
(b)
the Commission or the relevant funding body considers that the participation of the legal entity concerned is essential for implementing the action.
3. Affiliated entities are eligible for funding in an action if they are established in a Member State, an associated country or in a third country identified in the work programme adopted by the Commission.
4. The Commission shall make available on a regular basis to the European Parliament and to the Council information concerning the amount of the Union's financial contributions provided to legal entities established in associated and non-associated third countries. As regards associated countries, that information shall also include information on their financial balance.
Calls for proposals
1. The content of the calls for proposals for all actions shall be included in the work programme.
2. If necessary to achieve their objectives, calls for proposals may, in exceptional cases, be restricted in order to develop additional activities or to add additional partners to existing actions. In addition, the work programme may provide for the possibility for legal entities from low R&I performing countries to join already selected collaborative R&I actions, subject to the agreement of the respective consortium and provided that legal entities from such countries are not yet participating in it.
3. A call for proposals is not required for coordination and support actions or programme co-fund actions which:
(a)
are to be carried out by the JRC or legal entities identified in the work programme;
(b)
do not fall within the scope of a call for proposals, in accordance with point (e) of Article 195 of the Financial Regulation.
4. The work programme shall specify calls for proposals for which Seals of Excellence may be awarded. With prior authorisation from the applicant, information concerning the application and the evaluation may be shared with interested financing authorities, subject to the conclusion of confidentiality agreements.
Joint calls for proposals
The Commission or the relevant funding body may issue a joint call for proposals with:
(a)
third countries, including their scientific and technological organisations or agencies;
(b)
international organisations;
(c)
non-profit legal entities.
In the case of a joint call for proposals, the applicants shall fulfil the requirements under Article 22 and joint procedures shall be established for the selection and evaluation of proposals. Such procedures shall involve a balanced group of experts appointed by each party.
Pre-commercial procurement and public procurement of innovative solutions
1. Actions may involve or have as their primary aim the pre-commercial procurement or public procurement of innovative solutions that shall be carried out by beneficiaries which are contracting authorities or contracting entities as defined in Directives 2014/24/EU ( 29 ) and 2014/25/EU ( 30 ) of the European Parliament and of the Council.
2. The procurement procedures:
(a)
shall comply with competition rules and with the principles of transparency, non-discrimination, equal treatment, sound financial management, proportionality;
(b)
may authorise the award of multiple contracts within the same procedure (multiple sourcing);
(c)
shall provide for the award of the contracts to the tenders offering best value for money while ensuring absence of conflicts of interest.
In the case of pre-commercial procurement, where appropriate and without prejudice to the principles enumerated in point (a), the procurement procedure may be simplified or accelerated and may provide for specific conditions such as limiting the place of performance of the procured activities to the territory of the Member States and of the associated countries.
3. The contractor generating results in pre-commercial procurement shall own at least the intellectual property rights attached to those results. The contracting authorities shall enjoy at least royalty-free access rights to the results for their own use and the right to grant, or require the participating contractors to grant, non-exclusive licences to third parties to exploit the results for the contracting authority under fair and reasonable conditions without any right to sub-license. If a contractor fails to commercially exploit the results within a given period after the pre-commercial procurement as identified in the contract, the contracting authorities, after having consulted the contractor on the reasons for the non-exploitation, may require it to transfer any ownership of the results to the contracting authorities.
Financial capacity of applicants
1. In addition to the exceptions mentioned in Article 198(5) of the Financial Regulation, the financial capacity shall be verified only for the coordinator and only if the requested funding from the Union for the action is equal to or greater than EUR 500 000.
2. Notwithstanding paragraph 1, if there are grounds to doubt the financial capacity of an applicant, or if there is a higher risk due to the participation in several ongoing actions funded by Union R&I programmes, the Commission or the relevant funding body shall also verify the financial capacity of other applicants, or of coordinators even where the requested funding is below the threshold referred to in paragraph 1.
3. If the financial capacity is structurally guaranteed by another legal entity, the financial capacity of that other legal entity shall be verified.
4. In the case where the financial capacity of an applicant is weak, the Commission or the relevant funding body may make participation of the applicant conditional on provision of a declaration on joint and several liability by an affiliated entity.
5. The contribution to the Mechanism set out in Article 37 of this Regulation shall be considered to be a sufficient guarantee under Article 152 of the Financial Regulation. No additional guarantee or security shall be accepted from beneficiaries or imposed upon them.
Award criteria and selection
1. A proposal shall be evaluated on the basis of the following award criteria:
(a)
excellence;
(b)
impact;
(c)
quality and efficiency of the implementation.
2. Only the criterion referred to in point (a) of paragraph 1 shall apply to proposals for ERC frontier research actions.
3. The work programme shall lay down further details concerning the application of the award criteria laid down in paragraph 1 including any weighting, thresholds and where relevant rules for dealing with ex aequo proposals, taking into consideration the objectives of the call for proposals. The conditions for dealing with ex aequo proposals may include, but shall not be limited to, the following criteria: SMEs, gender, and geographical diversity.
4. The Commission and other funding bodies shall take into account the possibility of a two-stage submission and evaluation procedure and where appropriate, anonymised proposals may be evaluated during the first stage of evaluation based on one or more of the award criteria referred to in paragraph 1.
Evaluation
1. Proposals shall be evaluated by the evaluation committee which shall be composed of independent external experts.
For EIC activities, missions and in duly justified cases as set out in the work programme adopted by the Commission, the evaluation committee may be composed partially or, in the case of coordination and support actions, partially or fully of representatives of Union institutions or bodies as referred to in Article 150 of the Financial Regulation.
The evaluation process may be followed by independent observers.
2. Where applicable, the evaluation committee shall rank the proposals that have passed the applicable thresholds, according to:
(a)
the evaluation scores;
(b)
their contribution to the achievement of specific policy objectives, including the constitution of a consistent portfolio of projects namely for Pathfinder activities, missions and in other duly justified cases as set out in the work programme adopted by the Commission in detail.
For EIC activities, missions and in other duly justified cases as set out in the work programme adopted by the Commission in detail, the evaluation committee may also propose adjustments to the proposals insofar as those adjustments are needed for the consistency of the portfolio approach. Those adjustments shall be in conformity with the conditions for participation and comply with the principle of equal treatment. The Programme Committee shall be informed of such cases.
3. The evaluation process shall be designed to avoid conflicts of interest and bias. The transparency of the evaluation criteria and of the proposal scoring method shall be guaranteed.
4. In accordance with Article 200(7) of the Financial Regulation, applicants shall receive feedback at all stages of the evaluation and, where the proposal is rejected, the reasons for rejection.
5. Legal entities established in low R&I performing countries who have participated successfully in the component 'widening participation and spreading excellence' shall receive, upon request, a record of their participation, that may accompany proposals to the collaborative parts of the Programme that they coordinate.
Evaluation review procedure, enquiries and complaints
1. An applicant may request an evaluation review if it considers that the applicable evaluation procedure has not been correctly applied to its proposal ( 31 ) .
2. Only the procedural aspects of an evaluation may be the subject of a request for an evaluation review. The evaluation of the merits of a proposal shall not be the subject of an evaluation review.
3. A request for an evaluation review shall relate to a specific proposal and shall be submitted within 30 days after the communication of evaluation results.
An evaluation review committee shall provide an opinion on the procedural aspects of the evaluation, and shall be chaired by and include staff of the Commission or of the relevant funding body who were not involved in the evaluation of the proposals. The evaluation review committee may recommend one of the following:
(a)
a re-evaluation of the proposal to be carried out primarily by evaluators who were not involved in the previous evaluation; or
(b)
confirmation of the initial evaluation.
4. An evaluation review shall not delay the selection process for proposals that are not the subject of that review.
5. The Commission shall ensure the existence of a procedure for participants to make direct enquiries and complaints about their involvement in the Programme. Information on how to register enquiries or complaints shall be made available online.
Time-to-grant
1. By way of derogation from the first subparagraph of Article 194(2) of the Financial Regulation, the following periods shall apply:
(a)
for informing all applicants of the outcome of the evaluation of their application, a maximum period of five months from the final date for submission of complete proposals;
(b)
for signing grant agreements with applicants, a maximum period of eight months from the final date for submission of complete proposals.
2. The work programme may establish shorter periods than those provided for in paragraph 1.
3. In addition to the exceptions laid down in the second subparagraph of Article 194(2) of the Financial Regulation, the periods referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article may be exceeded for actions of the ERC, for missions and when actions are submitted to an ethics assessment or security scrutiny.
Implementation of the grant
1. If a beneficiary fails to comply with its obligations regarding the technical implementation of the action, the other beneficiaries shall comply with those obligations without any additional Union funding, unless they are expressly relieved of that obligation. The financial responsibility of each beneficiary shall be limited to its own debt subject to the provisions relating to the Mechanism.
2. The grant agreement may establish milestones and related pre-financing instalments. If milestones are not reached, the action may be suspended, amended, or, where duly justified, terminated.
3. An action may also be terminated where expected results have lost their relevance for the Union for scientific or technological reasons or, in the case of the Accelerator, also for economic reasons or, in the case of EIC and missions, also due to their relevance as part of a portfolio of actions. The Commission shall undergo a procedure with the action coordinator and, if appropriate, with independent external experts, before deciding to terminate an action, in accordance with Article 133 of the Financial Regulation.
Grant agreements
1. The Commission shall, in close cooperation with Member States, draw up model grant agreements between the Commission or the relevant funding body and the beneficiaries in accordance with this Regulation. If a significant modification of a model grant agreement is required, in view, among other things, of further simplification for beneficiaries, the Commission shall, in close cooperation with Member States, revise that model grant agreement as appropriate.
2. Grant agreements shall establish the rights and obligations of the beneficiaries and of either the Commission or the relevant funding body in compliance with this Regulation. They shall also establish the rights and obligations of legal entities which become beneficiaries during the implementation of the action, as well as the role and tasks of a coordinator.
Funding rates
1. A single funding rate per action shall apply for all activities it funds. The maximum rate per action shall be fixed in the work programme.
2. Up to 100 % of total eligible costs of an action under the Programme may be reimbursed, except for:
(a)
innovation actions where, up to 70 % of the total eligible costs may be reimbursed, except for non-profit legal entities where up to 100 % of the total eligible costs may be reimbursed;
(b)
programme co-fund actions where, at least 30 % and, in identified and duly justified cases, up to 70 % of the total eligible costs may be reimbursed.
3. The funding rates determined in this Article shall also apply for actions where flat-rate, unit or lump-sum financing is fixed for the whole action or part thereof.
Indirect costs
1. Indirect eligible costs shall be 25 % of the total direct eligible costs, excluding direct eligible costs for subcontracting, financial support to third parties and any unit costs or lump sums which include indirect costs.
Where appropriate, indirect costs included in unit costs or lump sums shall be calculated using the flat rate referred to in the first subparagraph, except for unit costs for internally invoiced goods and services, which shall be calculated on the basis of actual costs, in accordance with the beneficiaries' usual cost accounting practice.
2. Notwithstanding paragraph 1, if provided for in the work programme, indirect costs may be declared in the form of a lump sum or unit costs.
Eligible costs
1. In addition to the criteria set out in Article 186 of the Financial Regulation, for beneficiaries with project-based remuneration, personnel costs are eligible up to the remuneration that the person would be paid for work in R&I projects funded by national schemes including social security charges and other costs linked to the remuneration of personnel assigned to the action, arising from national law or from the employment contract.
2. By way of derogation from Article 190(1) of the Financial Regulation, costs of resources made available by third parties by means of in-kind contributions shall be eligible up to the direct eligible costs of the third party.
3. By way of derogation from Article 192 of the Financial Regulation, income generated by the exploitation of the results shall not be considered to be receipts of the action.
4. Beneficiaries may use their usual accounting practices to identify and declare the costs incurred in relation to an action in compliance with all terms and conditions set out in the grant agreement, in accordance with this Regulation and Article 186 of the Financial Regulation.
5. By way of derogation from Article 203(4) of the Financial Regulation, a certificate on the financial statements shall be mandatory at payment of the balance, if the amount claimed as actual costs and unit costs calculated in accordance with usual cost accounting practices is equal to or greater than EUR 325 000.
Certificates on financial statements may be produced by an approved external auditor or, in the case of public bodies, issued by a competent and independent public officer in accordance with Article 203(4) of the Financial Regulation.
6. Where appropriate, for MSCA training and mobility actions, the Union contribution shall take due account of any additional costs of the beneficiary related to maternity leave, parental leave, sick leave, special leave or to a change of recruiting host organisation or a change in the family status of researcher during the duration of the grant agreement.
7. Costs related to open access including data management plans shall be eligible for reimbursement as further stipulated in the grant agreement.
Mutual insurance mechanism
1. A mutual insurance mechanism (the 'Mechanism') is hereby established which shall replace and succeed the fund set up in accordance with Article 38 of Regulation (EU) No 1290/2013. The Mechanism shall cover the risk associated with non-recovery of sums due by the beneficiaries:
(a)
to the Commission under Decision No 1982/2006/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 32 ) ;
(b)
to the Commission and Union bodies under 'Horizon 2020';
(c)
to the Commission and funding bodies under the Programme.
The coverage of the risk regarding the funding bodies referred to in point (c) of the first subparagraph may be implemented through an indirect coverage system set out in the applicable agreement and taking into account the nature of the funding body.
2. The Mechanism shall be managed by the Union, represented by the Commission acting as executive agent. The Commission shall set up specific rules for the operation of the Mechanism.
3. Beneficiaries shall make a contribution of 5 % of the Union funding for the action. On the basis of periodic transparent evaluations, the Commission may increase that contribution up to 8 % or reduce it to under 5 %. The contribution of the beneficiaries to the Mechanism shall be offset against the initial pre-financing and paid to the Mechanism on behalf of the beneficiaries. That contribution shall not exceed the amount of the initial pre-financing.
4. The contribution of the beneficiaries shall be returned at the payment of the balance.
5. Any financial return generated by the Mechanism shall be added to the Mechanism. If the return is insufficient the Mechanism shall not intervene, and the Commission or the relevant funding body shall recover any amount owed directly from the beneficiaries or third parties.
6. The amounts recovered shall constitute revenue assigned to the Mechanism within the meaning of Article 21(5) of the Financial Regulation. Once all grants for which the risk is covered directly or indirectly by the Mechanism are completed, any sums outstanding shall be recovered by the Commission and entered into the budget of the Union, subject to decisions of the legislative authority.
7. The Mechanism may be extended to beneficiaries of any other directly managed Union programme. The Commission shall adopt conditions for participation of beneficiaries of other programmes.
Ownership and protection
1. Beneficiaries shall own the results they generate. They shall ensure that any rights of their employees or any other parties in relation to the results can be exercised in a manner compatible with the beneficiaries' obligations in the grant agreement.
Two or more beneficiaries shall own results jointly where:
(a)
they have jointly generated them; and
(b)
it is not possible to:
(i)
establish the respective contribution of each beneficiary; or
(ii)
separate them when applying for, obtaining or maintaining their protection.
The joint owners shall agree in writing on the allocation and terms of exercise of their joint ownership. Unless otherwise agreed in the consortium agreement or in the joint ownership agreement, each joint owner may grant non-exclusive licences to third parties to exploit the jointly-owned results (without any right to sub-license), if the other joint owners are given advance notice and fair and reasonable compensation. The joint owners may agree in writing to apply another regime than joint ownership.
2. Beneficiaries which have received Union funding shall adequately protect their results if protection is possible and justified, taking into account all relevant considerations, including the prospects for commercial exploitation and any other legitimate interests. When deciding on protection, beneficiaries shall also consider the legitimate interests of the other beneficiaries in the action.
Exploitation and dissemination
1. Each beneficiary that has received Union funding shall use its best efforts to exploit the results it owns, or to have them exploited by another legal entity. Exploitation may be direct by the beneficiaries or indirect in particular through the transfer and licensing of results in accordance with Article 40.
The work programme may provide for additional exploitation obligations.
If, despite a beneficiary's best efforts to exploit its results directly or indirectly, the results are not exploited within a given period as established in the grant agreement, the beneficiary shall use an appropriate online platform as identified in the grant agreement to find interested parties to exploit those results. That obligation may be waived at the request of the beneficiary if justified.
2. Beneficiaries shall disseminate their results as soon as feasible, in a publicly available format, subject to any restrictions due to the protection of intellectual property, security rules or legitimate interests.
The work programme may provide for additional dissemination obligations while safeguarding the Union's economic and scientific interests.
3. Beneficiaries shall ensure that open access to scientific publications applies under the terms and conditions laid down in the grant agreement. In particular, the beneficiaries shall ensure that they or the authors retain sufficient intellectual property rights to comply with their open access requirements.
Open access to research data shall be the general rule under the terms and conditions laid down in the grant agreement, ensuring the possibility of exceptions following the principle 'as open as possible, as closed as necessary', taking into consideration the legitimate interests of the beneficiaries including commercial exploitation and any other constraints, such as data protection rules, privacy, confidentiality, trade secrets, Union competitive interests, security rules or intellectual property rights.
The work programme may provide for additional incentives or obligations for the purpose of adhering to open science practices.
4. Beneficiaries shall manage all research data generated in an action under the Programme in line with the FAIR principles and in accordance with the grant agreement and shall establish a Data Management Plan.
The work programme may provide, where justified, for additional obligations to use the EOSC for storing and giving access to research data.
5. Beneficiaries that intend to disseminate their results shall give advance notice to the other beneficiaries in the action. Any other beneficiary may object if it can show that dissemination of the results would significantly harm its legitimate interests in relation to its results or background. In such cases, the results shall not be disseminated unless appropriate steps are taken to safeguard those legitimate interests.
6. Unless the work programme provides otherwise, proposals shall include a plan for the exploitation and dissemination of the results. If the expected exploitation of the results entails developing, creating, manufacturing and marketing a product or process, or in creating and providing a service, the plan shall include a strategy for such exploitation. If the plan provides for the exploitation of the results primarily in non-associated third countries, the legal entities shall explain how that exploitation is still to be considered to be in the Union interest.
The beneficiaries shall update the plan for the exploitation and dissemination of the results during and after the end of the action, in accordance with the grant agreement.
7. For the purposes of monitoring and dissemination by the Commission or the relevant funding body, the beneficiaries shall provide any information requested regarding the exploitation and dissemination of their results, in accordance with the grant agreement. Subject to the legitimate interests of the beneficiaries, such information shall be made publicly available.
Transfer and licensing
1. Beneficiaries may transfer ownership of their results. They shall ensure that their obligations also apply to the new owner and that the latter has the obligation to pass them on in any subsequent transfer.
2. Unless otherwise agreed in writing for specifically identified third parties including affiliated entities or unless impossible under applicable law, beneficiaries that intend to transfer ownership of results shall give advance notice to any other beneficiary that still has access rights to the results. The notification shall include sufficient information on the new owner to enable a beneficiary to assess the effects on its access rights.
Unless otherwise agreed in writing for specifically identified third parties including affiliated entities, a beneficiary may object to the transfer of ownership of results by another beneficiary if it can show that the transfer would adversely affect its access rights. In this case, the transfer shall not take place until agreement has been reached between the beneficiaries concerned. The grant agreement shall lay down time limits in this respect.
3. Beneficiaries may grant licences to their results or otherwise give the right to exploit them, including on an exclusive basis, if this does not affect compliance with their obligations. Exclusive licences for results may be granted subject to consent by all the other beneficiaries concerned that they will waive their access rights thereto.
4. Where justified, the grant agreement shall provide for the right for the Commission or the relevant funding body to object to transfers of ownership of results, or to grants of an exclusive licence regarding results, if:
(a)
the beneficiaries which generated the results have received Union funding;
(b)
the transfer or licensing is to a legal entity established in a non-associated third country; and
(c)
the transfer or licensing is not in line with Union interests.
If the right to object is provided for, the beneficiary shall give advance notice of its intention to transfer ownership of results or to grant an exclusive licence regarding results. The right to object may be waived in writing regarding transfers or grants to specifically identified legal entities if measures safeguarding Union interests are in place.
Access rights
1. Requests to exercise access rights and the waiver of access rights shall be in writing.
2. Unless otherwise agreed with the grantor, access rights shall not include the right to sub-license.
3. Before acceding to the grant agreement the beneficiaries shall inform each other of any restrictions to granting access to their background.
4. If a beneficiary is no longer involved in an action, this shall not affect its obligations to grant access.
5. If a beneficiary defaults on its obligations, the beneficiaries may agree that that beneficiary no longer has access rights.
6. Beneficiaries shall grant access to:
(a)
their results on a royalty-free basis to any other beneficiary in the action that needs them to implement its own tasks;
(b)
their background to any other beneficiary in the action that needs it to implement its own tasks, subject to any restrictions referred to in paragraph 3; that access shall be granted on a royalty-free basis, unless otherwise agreed by the beneficiaries before their accession to the grant agreement;
(c)
their results and, subject to any restrictions referred to in paragraph 3, to their background to any other beneficiary in the action that needs them to exploit its own results; that access shall be granted under fair and reasonable conditions to be agreed upon.
7. Unless otherwise agreed by the beneficiaries, they shall also grant access to their results and, subject to any restrictions referred to in paragraph 3, to their background to a legal entity that:
(a)
is established in a Member State or associated country;
(b)
is under the direct or indirect control of another beneficiary, or is under the same direct or indirect control as that beneficiary, or is directly or indirectly controlling that beneficiary; and
(c)
needs the access to exploit the results of that beneficiary, in accordance with the beneficiary's exploitation obligations.
Access shall be granted under fair and reasonable conditions to be agreed upon.
8. A request for access for exploitation purposes may be made up to one year after the end of the action, unless the beneficiaries agree on a different time limit.
9. Beneficiaries that have received Union funding shall grant access to their results on a royalty-free basis to the Union institutions, bodies, offices or agencies for developing, implementing and monitoring Union policies or programmes. Access shall be limited to non-commercial and non-competitive use.
Such access rights shall not extend to the beneficiaries' background.
In actions under the cluster 'Civil Security for Society', beneficiaries that have received Union funding shall also grant access to their results on a royalty-free basis to Member States' national authorities, for developing, implementing and monitoring their policies or programmes in that area. Access shall be limited to non-commercial and non-competitive use and shall be subject to a bilateral agreement defining specific conditions aimed at ensuring that those access rights are used only for the intended purpose and that appropriate confidentiality obligations are in place. The requesting Member State, Union institution, body, office or agency shall notify all Member States of such requests.
10. The work programme may provide, where appropriate, for additional access rights.
Specific provisions
1. Specific provisions on ownership, exploitation and dissemination, transfer and licensing as well as access rights may apply for ERC actions, training and mobility actions, pre-commercial procurement actions, public procurement of innovative solutions actions, programme co-fund actions and coordination and support actions.
2. The specific provisions referred to in paragraph 1 shall be set out in the grant agreement and shall not change the principles and obligations on open access.
Prizes
1. Unless otherwise specified in this Chapter, inducement or recognition prizes under the Programme shall be awarded and managed in accordance with Title IX of the Financial Regulation.
2. Unless otherwise provided in the work programme or the contest rules, any legal entity, regardless of its place of establishment, may participate in a contest.
3. The Commission or the relevant funding body may, where appropriate, organise prize contests with:
(a)
other Union bodies;
(b)
third countries, including their scientific and technological organisations or agencies;
(c)
international organisations; or
(d)
non-profit legal entities.
4. Work programmes or contest rules shall include obligations regarding communication and, where appropriate, exploitation and dissemination, ownership and access rights including licensing provisions.
CHAPTER III — Procurement
Procurement
1. Unless otherwise specified in this Chapter, procurement under the Programme shall be carried out in accordance with Title VII of the Financial Regulation.
2. Procurement may also take the form of pre-commercial procurement or public procurement of innovative solutions carried out by the Commission or the relevant funding body on its own behalf or jointly with contracting authorities from Member States and associated countries. In such cases, the rules set out in Article 26 shall apply.
CHAPTER IV — Blending operations and blended finance
Blending operations
Blending operations under the Programme shall be implemented in accordance with the InvestEU Programme and Title X of the Financial Regulation.
Horizon Europe blended finance and EIC blended finance
1. The grant and reimbursable advance components of Horizon Europe blended finance and EIC blended finance shall be subject to Articles 34 to 37.
2. EIC blended finance shall be implemented in accordance with Article 48 of this Regulation. Support under EIC blended finance may be granted until the action can be financed as a blending operation or as a financing and investment operation fully covered by the Union guarantee under the InvestEU Programme. By way of derogation from Article 209 of the Financial Regulation, the conditions laid down in paragraph 2 of that Article and, in particular points (a) and (d) thereof, do not apply at the time of the award of EIC blended finance.
3. Horizon Europe blended finance may be awarded to a programme co-fund action where a joint programme of Member States and associated countries provides for the deployment of financial instruments in support of selected actions. The evaluation and selection of such actions shall be made in accordance with Articles 15, 23, 24, 27, 28 and 29. The conditions for implementation of Horizon Europe blended finance shall comply with Article 32, by analogy with Article 48(10) and with any additional and justified conditions set out in the work programme.
4. Repayments including reimbursed advances and revenues of Horizon Europe blended finance and EIC blended finance shall be considered to be internal assigned revenues in accordance with point (f) of Article 21(3) and Article 21(4) of the Financial Regulation.
5. Horizon Europe blended finance and EIC blended finance shall be provided in a manner that promotes the Union's competitiveness while not distorting competition in the internal market.
The Pathfinder
1. The Pathfinder shall provide grants to high-risk cutting-edge projects, implemented by consortia or single beneficiaries, aiming to develop radical innovations and new market opportunities. The Pathfinder shall provide support for the earliest stages of scientific, technological or deep-tech research and development, including proof of concept and prototypes for technology validation.
The Pathfinder shall be implemented mainly through an open call for proposals for bottom-up proposals with regular cut-off dates per year and shall also provide for competitive challenges to develop key strategic objectives calling for deep-tech and radical thinking.
2. The Pathfinder's transition activities shall help all types of researchers and innovators develop the pathway to commercial development in the Union, such as demonstration activities and feasibility studies to assess potential business cases, and shall support the creation of spin-offs and start-ups.
The launch and the content of the calls for proposals for Pathfinder's transition activities shall be determined taking account of objectives and budget established by the work programme in relation with the portfolio of actions concerned.
Additional grants for a fixed amount not exceeding EUR 50 000 may be awarded to each proposal already selected under the Pathfinder, and where relevant Pathfinder's transition activities, through a call for proposals to carry out complementary activities, including urgent coordination and support actions, for reinforcing the portfolio's community of beneficiaries, such as assessing possible spin-offs, potential market-creating innovations or developing a business plan. The Programme Committee established under the specific programme shall be informed of such cases.
3. The award criteria referred to in Article 28 shall apply to the Pathfinder.
The Accelerator
1. The Accelerator shall aim to support essentially market-creating innovation. It shall support only single beneficiaries and shall mainly provide blended finance. Under certain conditions, it may also provide grant-only and equity-only supports.
The Accelerator shall provide the following types of support:
(a)
blended finance support to SMEs, including start-ups, and, in exceptional cases, small mid-caps, carrying out breakthrough and disruptive non-bankable innovation;
(b)
a grant-only support to SMEs, including start-ups, carrying out any type of innovation ranging from incremental to breakthrough and disruptive innovation and aiming to subsequently scale-up;
(c)
equity-only support to non-bankable SMEs, including start-ups, which have already received a grant-only support, may also be provided.
Grant-only support under the Accelerator shall be provided only under the following cumulative conditions:
(a)
the project shall include information on the capacities and willingness of the applicant to scale-up;
(b)
the beneficiary shall be a start-up or an SME;
(c)
a grant-only support under the Accelerator shall be provided only once to a beneficiary during the period of implementation of the Programme for a maximum of EUR 2,5 million.
2. The beneficiary of the Accelerator shall be a legal entity qualifying as a start-up, an SME or in exceptional cases as a small mid-cap intending to scale up, established in a Member State or associated country. The proposal may be submitted either by the beneficiary or, subject to the prior agreement by the beneficiary, by one or more natural persons or legal entities intending to establish or support that beneficiary. In the latter case, the funding agreement shall be signed only with the beneficiary.
3. A single award decision shall cover and provide funding for all forms of Union contribution provided under EIC blended finance.
4. Proposals shall be evaluated on their individual merits by independent external experts and selected for funding through an open call for proposals with cut-off dates, based on Articles 27, 28 and 29, subject to paragraph 5 of this Article.
5. The proposals submitted shall be evaluated on the basis of the following award criteria:
(a)
excellence;
(b)
impact;
(c)
the level of risk of the action that would prevent investments, the quality and efficiency of the implementation, and the need for Union support.
6. With the agreement of the applicants concerned, the Commission or the funding bodies implementing the Programme (including the EIT's KICs) may directly submit for evaluation under the award criterion referred to in point (c) of paragraph 5 a proposal for an innovation and market deployment action which already fulfils the award criteria referred to in points (a) and (b) of paragraph 5, subject to the following cumulative conditions:
(a)
the proposal shall stem from any other action funded under Horizon 2020, from the Programme or, subject to an exploratory pilot phase to be launched under the first work programme, from national and/or regional programmes, starting with the mapping of the demand for such a scheme, detailed provisions of which shall be laid down in the specific programme referred to in point (a) of Article 1(2);
(b)
the proposal is based on a project review which was carried out within the previous two years assessing the excellence and the impact of the proposal and subject to conditions and processes further detailed in the work programme.
7. A Seal of Excellence may be awarded subject to the following cumulative conditions:
(a)
the beneficiary is a start-up, an SME or a small mid-cap;
(b)
the proposal was eligible and has passed the applicable thresholds for the award criteria referred to in points (a) and (b) of paragraph 5;
(c)
the activity would be eligible under an innovation action.
8. For a proposal having passed the evaluation, independent external experts shall propose a corresponding Accelerator support, based on the risk incurred and the resources and time necessary to bring and deploy the innovation to the market.
The Commission may reject, for justified reasons, a proposal retained by independent external experts, including due to non-compliance with the objectives of Union policies. The Programme Committee shall be informed of the reasons for such a rejection.
9. The grant or the reimbursable advance component of the Accelerator support shall not exceed 70 % of the total eligible costs of the selected innovation action.
10. The conditions for implementation of the equity and the repayable support components of the Accelerator support are set out in Decision (EU) 2021/764
11. The contract for the selected action shall establish specific measurable milestones and the corresponding pre-financing and payments by instalments of the Accelerator support.
In the case of EIC blended finance, activities corresponding to an innovation action may be launched and the first pre-financing of the grant or the reimbursable advance paid, prior to the implementation of other components of the awarded EIC blended finance. The implementation of those components shall be subject to reaching specific milestones established in the contract.
12. In accordance with the contract, the action shall be suspended, amended or, if duly justified, terminated if measurable milestones are not reached. It may also be terminated where the expected market deployment, especially in the Union, cannot be met.
In exceptional cases and upon advice by the EIC board, the Commission may decide to increase the Accelerator support subject to a project review by independent external experts. The Programme Committee shall be informed of such cases.
Appointment of independent external experts
1. Independent external experts shall be identified and selected on the basis of calls for expression of interest from individuals and through calls addressed to relevant organisations such as research agencies, research institutions, universities, standardisation organisations, civil society organisations or enterprises with a view to establishing a database of candidates.
By way of derogation from Article 237(3) of the Financial Regulation, the Commission or the relevant funding body may, exceptionally and in duly justified cases, select in a transparent manner any individual expert with the appropriate skills not included in the database provided that a call for expression of interest has not identified suitable independent external experts.
Such experts shall declare their independence and capacity to support the objectives of the Programme.
2. In accordance with Article 237(2) and (3) of the Financial Regulation, the independent external experts shall be remunerated based on standard conditions. If justified, and in exceptional cases, an appropriate level of remuneration beyond the standard conditions based on relevant market standards, especially for specific high-level experts, may be granted. Such costs shall be covered by the Programme.
3. In addition to the information referred to in Article 38(2) and (3) of the Financial Regulation, the names of independent external experts evaluating grant applications who are appointed in a personal capacity shall be published, together with their area of expertise, at least once a year on the website of the Commission or of the funding body. Such information shall be collected, processed and published in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 33 ) .
4. The Commission or the relevant funding body shall take the appropriate measures to prevent conflicts of interest as regards the involvement of independent external experts in accordance with Article 61 and Article 150(5) of the Financial Regulation.
The Commission or the relevant funding body shall ensure that an expert faced with a conflict of interest in relation to a matter on which the expert is required to provide an opinion does not evaluate, advise or assist on the specific matter in question.
5. When appointing independent external experts, the Commission or the relevant funding body shall take appropriate measures to seek a balanced composition within the expert groups and evaluation panels in terms of skills, experience, knowledge, including in terms of specialisation, in particular on SSH, geographical diversity and gender, taking into account the situation in the field of the action.
6. Where appropriate, an adequate number of independent external experts shall be ensured for each proposal in order to guarantee the quality of the evaluation.
7. The information on the level of remuneration of all independent external experts shall be made available to the European Parliament and to the Council.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
