Guide to Financial Issues relating to FP7 Indirect Actions - KoWi

sums are deemed to be undertaking only research and technological activities in the
project.
For a legal entity established in an ICPC, if the lump sum option is chosen, the
contribution in a project is based on the amounts in Table 1. These amounts must be
multiplied by the total number of person-years for the project requested by the ICPC legal
entity. When the person is not working full-time on the project, these amounts must be
reduced to take into account the portion of his/her working time devoted to the project.
The maximum EU/Euratom contribution is calculated by applying the upper funding
limits in Table 2 to the resulting amount. This amount is all inclusive, covering support
towards both the direct and the indirect costs. In other words, the lump sum is deemed to
cover all costs of a participant from an ICPC country, including not only the costs of
personnel and travel, but also, among others, equipment, consumables, subcontracts and
indirect costs.
Example: SME from ICPC country (low-income) having chosen a lump-sum, in a 3-year collaborative
project GA with 6 researchers working on the project full-time and 3 working part-time at 50%
Total researcher-years for the project: 3 years x 7.5 researchers/year= 22.5
Funding for the SME: 22.5 researcher/year x EUR 8,000 /year= EUR 180,000 x 0,75 (75% reimbursement
rate for an SME in a collaborative project)= EUR 135,000
Article 33 (6) of the Rules for participation provides for the application of upper funding limits to the lumpsums
amounts. For simplification purposes, for funding schemes with research and technological
development activities, participant's option for the use of lump-sums are deemed to be undertaking only
research and technological activities in the project.
2.2 Payment of lump-sums for ICPC beneficiaries
The payment of the pre-financing for the lump-sums follows the same rules as the
standard pre-financing (usually 160% of the average EU funding per reporting period).
The interim payments following a reporting period will also follow the general rules and
will be made on the basis of Form C (financial statement) and the actual time worked by
the ICPC beneficiary during the period in question. For the final payment, the same rules
apply (including the approval of the final report by the Commission)
The contribution for the ICPC participants is agreed as part of the budget during the
negotiations, based on the lump sums approved by the Commission. Their work is defined
in Annex 1 together with the work of the other participants. Payments will be made based
on actual effort involved. Payments are released based on periodic reporting (as for the
other beneficiaries) but ICPC beneficiaries only have to report on the time devoted to the
project and not on the costs incurred.
2.3 Reporting and auditing of lump-sums for ICPC beneficiaries:
As the lump-sums are calculated on the basis of researchers/year, the reports submitted by
the ICPC beneficiary will include the financial Form C and the number of actual hours
worked by the researchers on the project. Consequently, the beneficiary will keep a record
of the time (e.g. timesheets) worked by the researchers on the project The Commission
services and the other entities authorised by the ECGA may carry out audits on the
premises of the beneficiary to verify its compliance with this requirement
As the beneficiaries are paid on the basis of lump-sums, there is no requirement to submit
certificates on financial statements, even if the EU/Euratom contribution is above the
threshold of EUR 375,000.
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