Negotiating Horizon Europe projects

Overview

At the start of an EU project, it is essentially two things that must be in place: The contract with the Commission (Grant Agreement) and an agreement between the partners (Consortium Agreement). The Department of Research and Innovation Administration is always involved in this process. The legal signatory is the University Director or a person that has been delegated the right to sign from the University Director.

An overview of UiO's procedures for signing different EU-related contractual documents can be found here (in Norwegian)

Declaration of Honour

The Declaration of Honour form comes via the Funding and Tender opportunities portal directly from the Commission. When signing this document the institution guarantees that it is committed to participate in the action and has stable and sufficient sources of funding to maintain its activity throughout its participation. The institution also guarantees that it will comply with the rules and regulations applicable, and that all information given in the portal for the grant agreement preparation and concerning the legal status given in the Beneficiary Register is correct and complete.

The form have to be signed by the legal signatory directly in the portal. Before signing, the Head of department must confirm in writing that the department accepts the terms set forth in the Declaration of Honour. An e-mail to the UiO EU-office is sufficient.

As you are about to commit to participate in the project, you will also be asked to send an institutional Financial Identification Form, with bank information for the UiO. UiO EU-office keeps updated forms that can be obtained by request.

Grant Agreement - Contract with the Commission

All contact with the Commission goes through the coordinator. Based on feedback from the evaluators and the Commission, part of the application (Part B) should be converted to a job description (Description of Action), and will form part of the contract with the Commission (Annex 1). After the grant agreement has been signed, beneficiaries other than the coordinator will be asked to sign the accession form (Annex 3 to the grant agreement) in the portal.

The Grant Agreement or accession form has to be signed by the University Director or a person that has been delegated the right to sign from the University Director.

Consortium Agreement ¨C Collaboration Agreement between the partners

It is important that efforts to create a partnership start early. Consortium agreements are mandatory for all collaborative projects unless otherwise specified in the applicable work programme or call for proposals. However, we also recommend to prepare a consortium agreement for other projects. For coordinator projects UiO has prepared templates, but these must be adapted by FIADM's legal adviser to the individual project. In projects where UiO is partner, draft agreements from the coordinator must be sent to FIADM for review and comments. As this is a contract between the partners of the project, all consortium agreements shall be a signed paper original and not in portal. The agreements have to be signed by the University Director or a person that has been delegated the right to sign from the University Director.

Mono beneficiary - no consortium

Mono beneficiary funding instruments, where there are no consortiums, will not have a consortium agreement. Instead, there might be a supplementing contract between the PI and the host institution. More information under European Research Council at UiO and Marie Sk?odowska-Curie Actions at UiO

Information about contractual procedures for all externally funded research projects is gathered on the page Kontrakter (in Norwegian)

LEAR - Legal Entity Appointed Representative

One person in the central administration of the institution must according to the Commission be appointed LEAR. The LEAR is formally appointed by the legal representative of the institution and is validated by the Commission to perform certain tasks on behalf of his/her organisation, as part of its participation in EU funded grants and prizes.

LEAR mandate is (among other issues):

• providing the Commission with up-to-date legal and financial data;
• assign persons authorised to sign the different types of documents, as legal signatories/financial signatories;
• supervise assignment of other roles in the Funding and Tender portal for their organisation.

The LEAR function is administrated by UiO's EU-office.

Open Access

Projects funded under Horizon Europe are required to publish in open access. Read more about open access at UiO. You can also learn more at the European IPR Helpdesk's FAQ about Open Access