of the GA. Only costs generated during the lifetime of the project can be eligible; as a result the period during which the project starts determines the period of eligibility of the corresponding costs (Article 2 of the GA – Duration and start date of the project). The GA foresees an exception for costs incurred in relation to final reports and reports corresponding to the last period as well as certificates on the financial statements when requested at the last period and final reviews if applicable. These costs may be incurred during the period of up to 60 days after the end of the project or the date of termination, whichever is earlier. It may be that some costs have not been paid when the request for the final payment is sent, in particular because the beneficiary is waiting for the final payment of the grant in order to be able to pay this expenditure. This situation is acceptable if it is certain that a debt exists (invoice or equivalent) for services or goods actually supplied during the lifetime of the project and the final cost is known; the Commission is entitled to check whether payment was actually made by asking for supporting documents to be produced when the payment has been made or during an ex post audit carried out later. Can depreciation costs for equipment used for the project but bought before the start of the project be eligible? If the equipment has not yet been fully depreciated according to the usual accounting practices of principles of the beneficiary, then the remaining depreciation (according to the amount of use, in percentage and time) can be eligible under the project. Example: Equipment bought in January 2005, with a depreciation period of 48 months according to the beneficiary accounting practices. If a GA is signed in January 2007 (when 24 months of depreciation have already passed), and the equipment is used for this GA, the beneficiary can declare the depreciation costs incurred under the project for the remaining 24 months. Costs related to preparing and submitting the proposal can never be charged to the project.
of the GA. Costs must be determined according to the applicable accounting rules of the country where the beneficiary is established and "according to the usual accounting and management principles and practices of the beneficiary". This also means that they do not have the possibility to create specific accounting principles for FP7 projects. If in their usual accounting principles a particular cost is always considered as an indirect cost they have to consider it also as an indirect cost in an FP7 indirect action. Costs which cannot be justified are, as a matter of principle, to be considered not eligible. The grant agreement states that "the beneficiary's internal accounting and auditing procedures must permit direct reconciliation of the costs and revenue declared in respect of the action with the corresponding accounting statements and supporting documents". The purpose of this provision is to give some assurance about the source of the costs and receipts declared, which must come directly from the beneficiary’s accounts and be backed up by appropriate supporting documents. However, when the beneficiary opts to charge indirect costs using a flat rate, by definition these indirect costs do not need to be backed up by accounting documents (see Article II.15.b and c of GA). More explanations on the justification and recording of costs are given in Article II.15 of GA.
of the GA. Costs of third parties – Costs of resources made available and costs of third parties carrying out part of the work What is a third party? A third party is, by definition, any legal entity which does not sign the GA. A subcontractor is a type of third party, but not the only one. As the implementation of the project is the responsibility of the beneficiaries (who do sign the GA), beneficiaries should have the capacity to carry out the work themselves. Therefore the rule is that the costs eligible in a project must be incurred by the beneficiaries (the signatories to the GA). However, in some circumstances the GA accepts some third parties whose costs may be eligible. Should a beneficiary wish to recur to the assistance of a third party in an ongoing project, this has to be discussed with the project Officer, and if approved and in conformity with the rules, the third party contribution and resources have to be detailed in the Technical Annex. A third party may contribute to the project in two possible ways:
of the GA. − For public bodies, the costs of public officials paid directly from central government or local government budgets may also be considered as eligible costs if the other provisions of Article IV.7 of GA are fulfilled. For more explanations concerning the case of personnel (resources) made available by third parties to a beneficiary, please see "special cases" under Article IV.7.2 of the GA. − The particular case of consultants: Consultants are natural (physical) persons, working for one or more beneficiaries in a JU project. They may be either self-employed or working for a third party. There are three possible ways of classifying the costs of consultants (in any event costs will ONLY be eligible if they fulfil the conditions listed in Article IV.7 of GA):
