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
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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
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Article 1 – Subject of the Agreement
Chapter 2 - Action
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Article 21 – Payment and payment arrangements – consists of:
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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
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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
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Article 26 – Ownership of results
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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
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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.
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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.
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EU funding must be acknowledged.
Article 30 Transfer and licensing of results
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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
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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
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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
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Article 41 – Division of Beneficiaries’ Roles and Responsibilities
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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
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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
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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: roger.wallace@uct.ac.za