The Model Grant Agreement

in H2020 and the

Consortium Agreement
Reykjavik, 7th of May 2015

Nicole Schröder
EU‐Bureau of the BMBF, PT‐DLR
Legal Framework in H2020

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The Model Grant Agreement

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H2020 Grant Agreement
• The contract between the Funding Agency and the
beneficiary/ies

• Laying down all obligations and rights within the project

• One General MGA for all projects

 But different models for some instruments: ERC, MSC, SME,
COFUND

• Optional articles and programm related articles

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Grant Agreement - Parts

Annex I is your original proposal!

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 Chapter 1: General
• Single article: subject of the agreement

Chapter 2: Action
• Action, duration and budget

Chapter 3: Grant
• Amount, reimbursement rates, eligible costs

Chapter 4: Rights and obligations
• To implement the action: resources, in‐kind contributions, subcontracts
• Grant administration:  reporting, payments, audits
• Background and results:  access rights, protection of results, exploitation, dissemination
• Others: gender equality, ethics, confidentiality

Chapter 5: Division of roles
• Roles and responsibilities, internal arrangements

Chapter 6: Rejection, reduction, penalties, termination, etc.
• Rejection, reduction, recovery and penalties
• Suspension and termination of the action

Chapter 7: Final provisions
Souce: 
European 
• Accession, entry into force, amendments, applicable law
Commission

Disclaimer: Information not legally binding

 Cases where an amendement
is necessary

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Beneficiaries - changes
1. Removal of a beneficiary whose participation is
terminated

2. Adding a new beneficiary

3. Change of beneficiary due to "partial takeover"

(FP7: ‘partial transfer of rights and obligations’)

4. Removal or addition of linked third party (Article 14)

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Coordinator - changes

1. Change of coordinator

2. Change of the coordinator’s bank account for

payments
3. Change of the option for ‘authorisation to
administer’ (Option in Article 41.2) :

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Financial aspects - changes
1. Change of Annex 2
• Budget transfer of amounts between beneficiaries or budget
categories (or both) due to a significant change of Annex 1
• Budget transfer to a form of costs that is not provided for in
Annex 2
2. Change of the maximum grant amount, reimbursement rate(s),
action’s estimated eligible costs, amount of pre- financing,
contribution to the GF
3. Change concerning specific cost categories (‘specific unit
costs’)

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Changes of the action or action implementation

1. Change of Annex 1 (description of the action)

2. Change of action’s title, acronym, starting date, duration of the

action, reporting periods

3. Amendment for resuming the action after a suspension of the

action implementation (Article 49)

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1. Change of Annex 1 (description of the action)

• Significant change of the action tasks (e.g. if tasks are

added/removed) or their division among the beneficiaries

• Changes concerning tasks to be carried out by linked third

parties and related costs
• Changes concerning in-kind contributions provided by third
parties or subcontracts (could also be approved with the
reports –"approval without formal amendment" NEW)
• Changes to the options in the GA (e.g. options are removed or
added or modified)

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 Cases where an amendement is not
necessary

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 Source: European 
Commission

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 Source: European 
Commission
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No Amendment necessary:
• Change of name or address of beneficiary/coordinator/linked
third party (Preamble, Article 14)

• Change of beneficiary due to universal takeover

(In FP7: ‘universal transfer of rights and obligations’)

• Changes to name of the bank, address of branch, name of

account holder (requests validation of this data in the PP) NEW

- Procedure: Via LEAR in Participant Portal

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Amendments (art. 55 GA)
WHO?
• Requested by the parties
• Coordinator submits and signs amendments on behalf of the
beneficiaries (Annex 3 – Accession Form)

WHEN?
Requests will be introduced before the end of the action (i.e. date
set out in Article 3)
HOW?
• Art. 55 GA
• Prepared electronically in PPGMS by the coordinator

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Amendments (art. 55 GA)
• Amendment requests cannot be modified

• Requests containing several changes to the GA will be considered

as a package, partial approval is not possible

• Requests will be agreed or rejected by the other party as a

whole (cannot be modified)

• There is no tacit approval of amendments (contrary to FP7)

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The Consortium Agreement

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The Consortium Agreement in H2020 Art. 41.3 GA

• Beneficiaries must conclude a consortium agreement

• Unless: exceptionally stipulated otherwise in the work programme

• Internal agreement between the members of the consortium

• Arrangements are purely internal and set up between the partners, COM is not a party, has
no control or responsibilities

• Must not be contradictory to the GA!

• Should be concluded before the signature of the GA, paper version, not via Participant Portal

• According to the respective work programme

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41.3 Internal arrangements between beneficiaries —Consortium agreement

…. These internal arrangements must be set out in a written ‘consortium

agreement’ between the beneficiaries, 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
- settlement of internal disputes;
- liability, indemnification and confidentiality arrangements
between the beneficiaries.

The consortium agreement must not contain any provision contrary to the Agreement.

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Model Consortium Agrements:
DESCA http://www.desca-2020.eu/
MCARD
http://www.digitaleurope.org/Services/H2020ModelConsortiumAgree
ment.aspx

COM Guidance: How to draw up your consortium agreement

http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/other/gm/h2
020-guide-cons-a_en.pdf.

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http://www.desca-2020.eu/

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http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/support/national_contact_points.
html

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 German National Contact Point for Legal & Financial Matters
Financial Matters

ALEXANDRA BURGHOLZ Tel.: 0049 30-67055-737

LIANE LEWERENTZ Tel.: 0049 228-3821-1652
BASTIAN RAUE Tel.: 0049 30-67055-665
CHRISTIN KULKE Tel.: 0049 228-3821-1565
Legal Matters

NICOLE SCHRÖDER Tel.: 0049 30-67055-788

ALEXANDRA BURGHOLZ Tel.: 0049 30-67055-737
LIANE LEWERENTZ Tel.: 0049 228-3821-1652
CHRISTIN KULKE Tel.: 0049 228-3821-1565
General Information on Legal and
Financial Matters
MONIKA SCHULER Tel.: 0049 228-3821-1633

Internet: E-Mail: firstname.lastname@dlr.de

www.nks-ruf.de
www.horizont2020.de

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This project has received funding from the European 
Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation 
programme under grant agreement No 633563.