Legal Aspects in FP 7

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Legal Aspects in FP 7

• Nicole Schröder, LL.M.
• INCO-NET MIRA
• - Training Seminar for Palestine Information
  Point in Cyprus

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Content

• Documents in FP 7
• Participation
• Grant Negotiation
• Grant Agreement
• Consortium Agreement

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Grant Agreement Terminology

• Grant Financial contribution from EU-budget
• Grant Agreement Contract between
  Beneficiaries and Commission
• Beneficiary Contractor, project participant
• Funding Schemes Funding Instrument
• Certificate on Financial Statement Audit
  Certificate, Certificate on correctness of
  incurred costs

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Hierarchy of norms

• Documents for the implementation of FP 7 projects
  

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Official Documents http//cordis.europa.eu/fp7/fi
nd-doc_en.html
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Grant Agreement (binding texts)
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Guidelines (non binding)
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Participation

• Any legal entity (legal personality)natural
  person
• At least three legal entities from three
  different member states or asscociated states to
  FP7, independent of each other- Exception
  European Research Council (ERC), support
  actions (CSA-SA), Marie Curie grants
• Addtional requirements may be specified in the
  respective work programmes

Rules for Participation, OJ L 391/1-17, 30.12.2006
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Participation

• At least 3 independent legal entities from 3
  different countries

Guide for Applicants
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Participation

• Associated countries to FP7
• EEA countries Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway
• Candidate countries Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia,
  Turkey
• Israel
• Switzerland
• Any other countries are called Third Countries
• Third Countries may participate provided that the
  minimum conditions for participation are met

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Participation (Third Countries)

• Country groups
• ICPC International Cooperation Partner Countries
• Mediterranean partner countries (MPC)
• Western Balkan Countries (WBC)
• Eastern Europe and Central Asian countries (EECA)
• Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific countries
  (ACP)
• Asia
• Latin America
• Industrialised CountriesUSA, Kanada, Japan,
  Australia, South Korea, New Zealand
• http//cordis.europa.eu/fp7/who_en.htmlcountries

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http//cordis.europa.eu/fp7/who_en.htmlcountries
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ICPC - International Cooperation Partner Countries
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URF- Unique Registration Facility
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URF- Unique Registration Facility
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URF- Unique Registration Facility
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Validation
European Commission Research Directorate-General
T5 Framework programme logistics - URF Validation
Team SDME 11/083 B-1049 BrusselsBelgium Mail
RTD-URF-VALIDATION_at_ec.europa.eu
http//cordis.europa.eu/fp7/urf-valid_en.html
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LEAR - Legal entity appointed representative

• Each legal entity must appoint one person (the
  so-called LEAR Legal Entity Appointed
  Representative) for being the correspondent
  towards the Commission on all issues related to
  the legal status of the entity
• The LEAR provides the Commission with up-to-date
  legal and financial data (including supporting
  documents, where necessary) and commits to
  maintain the information up-to-date, enabling
  future use for grants and other transactions
  between the entity and the Commission research
  (and other) programmes.
• The LEAR communicates his/her role internally in
  his/her organisation and provides the PIC to
  other employees dealing with proposals and grant
  agreements
• http//cordis.europa.eu/fp7/urf-lear_en.html

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ftp//ftp.cordis.europa.eu/pub/fp7/docs/piclist_en
.pdf
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• Grant Agreement Negotiations

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Grant Agreement Relation Commission and
consortium
Partner
Partner
Partner
Partner
Partner
? ? ? ? ?
Third Parties
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Negotiation and award of grant

• Before Contract Negotiation
• Verification of legal existence and legal status
  of participant
• Verification of financial capacity of
  participants
• Verification of operational capacities
• Entry into Unique Registration Facility (URF)
• Single URF code for each participant in the
  Framework Programm

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Negotiation and award of grant

• Commission will use negotiation of grant
  agreement to define the project as clearly as
  possible
• Leave enough flexibility for the implementation
  of the project
• For transfer of budget between partners and
  activities
• For necessary adjustments in project
  implementation
• For unforeseen research need

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• Indicates
• clarifications and changes to be made to the
  project (Based on the ESR)
• maximum EC Contribution
• duration for the project
• deadline for receipt of first draft of DoW and
  GPFs
• deadline by which time negotiations should be
  completed
• contact details of the responsible Project
  Legal Officer at the Commission
• Negotiation Meetings (if needed)

• Negotiation Mandate

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1 Technical Negotiations 2 Legal and
Financial Negotiations The two are essentially
linked

• Two Negotiation Stages

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• To agree on the final content of the DoW
  including
• Addressing the comments made in the ESR
• Verifying that the project objectives are SMART
  (S-Specific, M-Measurable, A-Attainable,
  R-Realistic, T-Timely)
• The list of deliverables (timing, content and
  dissemination level)
• The project milestones and their assessment
  criteria
• An indicative time schedule for the reporting
  and the project reviews.

• 1 - Technical Negotiations

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• Listed in a table of standard format detailing
• WP reference number
• Beneficiary responsible for WP
• Estimated no. of Person/Months
• Date for submission
• Compulsory Deliverables
• Periodic and final reports
• A dissemination and use plan
• Report on horizontal issues (gender and science
  society related issues)

• Deliverables

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• Budget for full duration
• Budget breakdown per period
• Subcontracting and other third parties
• Pre-financing
• The capacity of the Coordinator to fulfil this
  role
• The start date of the project
• Any special clauses required

• 2. Legal Financial Negotiations

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• The GPFs- The Grant Agreement Preparation Forms

• Electronic submission for 1st negotiation round
• Must be completed by all applicants (even those
  who are not requesting a financial contribution)
• The use of the GPF editor is mandatory
• Basic information from the Proposal Submission
  Forms will be uploaded to pre-fill part of the
  GPFs
• Final version in paper with original signatures

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Completion of Negotiations

• Once agreement is reached on all technical,
  financial and legal issues a draft GA is sent to
  coordinator
• GA signature
• Coordinator signs two originals of the GA
• The coordinator must distribute a copy of the GA
• All beneficiaries must sign Form A to accede to
  the GA

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Grant Agreement Relation Commission and
consortium
Partner
Partner
Partner
Partner
Partner
? ? ? ? ?
Third Parties
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Grant Agreement

• to clearly define the technical/scientific
  content of the project
• to establish rights and obligations of
  participants (including submission of reports,
  termination etc.)
• to define start date, duration and budget of the
  project
• identify whether and what part of the EC
  financial contribution is based on reimbursement
  of eligible costs, lump sums, flat rates
• specific provisions for certain types of actions
  (IPR particularly)
• grant agreement comes into force upon signature
  by the coordinator and the Commission and applies
  to each participant that has acceded to it

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Grant Agreement

• Signature by coordinator Commission
• Accession of beneficiaries via Form A
• Later accession of beneficiaries via Form B
• Entry into force upon signature by coordinator
  Commission

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Grant Agreement

• Structure
• Core part GA parameters,
• Annex I Description of Work (DoW),
• Annex II General Conditions,
• Annex III Specific provisions for funding
  schemes
• Annex IV, V VI Form A,B C
• Annex VII Form D terms of reference for the
  certificate of costs and Form E certificate on
  the methodology (NEW)
• The conclusion of a Consortium Agreement is
  mandatory (except if excluded by Call)

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Grant Agreement - Structure

• Grant Agreement Core Text
• Annex I Technical Content, Description of Work
  (DoW)
• Annex II General Conditions
• Annex III Specific provisions (ERAnet-Plus,
  Research Infrastructures, SME actions, Civil
  Society Organisations
• Annex IV (Form A) Accession of beneficiaries to
  the grant agreement
• Annex V (Form B) Request for accession of a new
  benefiary
• Annex VI (Form C) Financial statement (specific
  to Funding Scheme)
• Annex VII (Form D) Certificate of Financial
  Statements
• (Form E) Certificate on the methodology
• List of special clauses, actual Version

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Grant Agreement Core Contract
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Grant Agreement Annex II General Conditions
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Grant Agreement

• Financial provisions
• Total EU-contribution
• Payment modalities
• Upper funding limits
• Indirect costs
• Certificates
• Third parties
• No financial collective responsibility
• Other provisions
• Reporting

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Consortium Agreement Relation between the
partners in the consortium
Partner
Partner
Partner
Partner
Partner
? ? ? ? ?
Third Parties
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Consortium Agreement

• Consortium Agreement (CA) governs the structure
  of the consortium and the relationship of the
  project participants
• Consortium Agreement may not contradict any parts
  of the grant agreement with the commission or the
  rules for participation
• Has to be signed by all project partners
  (before the project start)
• Is obligatory in the 7th Framework Programme
  (with few exceptions)
• Several model grant agreements exist (e.g. DESCA)

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Consortium Agreement Content

• Management, decision making structures, conflict
  resolution
• Responsibilities / roles of the partners
• Time schedule for project implementation
• Budget allocation
• Access to know how
• Liabilities
• Confidentiality
• Applicable law and arbitration

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ftp//ftp.cordis.europa.eu/pub/fp7/docs/checklist_
en.pdf
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Konsortialvertrag (KV) Beispiel
DESCA-Konsortialvertragsmodell
General Structure
GENERAL ISSUES
GOVERNANCE
Liability
Decision making
Responsibilities
Consortium Bodies
Access Rights
Budgeting
Payments
Dissemination
IPR
FINANCE
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http//www.desca-fp7.eu/
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Intellectual Property Rights Who is the owner
of the results

• IPR Definitions
• IPR Provisions
• Access Rights

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Intellectual Property Rights

• Important Definitions
• Background
• Knowledge held by participants prior to their
  accession to the EC grant agreement
• Background can be excluded from access in grant
  agreement
• Foreground
• Knowledge generated within a project by one or
  several participants

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Intellectual Property Provisions

• Ownership each participant owns the foreground
  it generates
• Joint ownership default joint ownership regime
  in absence of specific agreement
• any owner can grant non-exclusive licenses to
  third parties, subject to prior notification and
  fair and reasonable compensation to the other
  owner(s) with no right to sub-licence
• Transfer of ownership of foreground
• Prior notification only to the other
  participants who may waive their rights to be
  notified regarding specific third parties
• (requirement to notify Commission may be in
  grant agreement, Commission may object to
  transfers or exclusive licenses to third
  countries if contrary to ethical or
  competitiveness principles)

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Intellectual Property Provisions

• Protection, use, dissemination, publication
• Foreground capable of industrial or commercial
  application shall be protected
• Owner of foreground may transfer to another
  participant if it does not wish to protect or to
  the Commission
• Foreground to be used and disseminated
• Notice of dissemination (including publication)
  to be given to other participants (not
  Commission)
• Publications and patent applications must
  indicate the Community financial assistance

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Intellectual Property Provisions

• Access rights
• Participants generally have access to the
  background and foreground of the project partners
  if necessary for project implementation or use of
  the results
• Participants define the background they need and
  may exclude it from access to other partners -
  not necessarily prior to signature of EC grant
  agreement (positive or negative list)
• Possibility to grant exclusive licenses for
  knowledge generated in the project (foreground)
  if other participants agree
• Special provisions for certain types of actions
  e.g. frontier research, SME measures, security
  research

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Access rights (FP7)
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http//cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ncp_en.html
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http//ec.europa.eu/research/index.cfm?pgenquirie
s
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• Thank you very
• much for your
• attention !