Grant Agreement in Horizon 2020

The Grant Agreement (GA) is the funding agreement concluded between the EU Commission and the beneficiaries. It contains important provisions for the implementation of the project such as criteria for the eligibility of costs and provisions for handling intellectual property rights.

In Horizon 2020, a General Model Grant Agreement (General MGA) for Research and Innovation Actions (RIA), Innovation Actions (IA) and Coordination and Support Actions (CSA) as well as specific Model Grant Agreements for particular project types (e.g. ERC, MSCA, SME-Instrument; the particularities of these special contracts are indicated at the beginning of the respective contract) are provided.

The majority of the provisions of the MGA cannot be altered. Some details may however be individually agreed with the EU Commission during the grant preparation phase (e.g. start date of the project, amount of pre-financing). Furthermore, the MGA contains "default rules" which may be modified by the consortium in the Consortium Agreement (CA) (e.g. some provisions applicable to intellectual property).

The MGA also includes different options. These are special provisions that do not apply to all projects. The options applicable to the relevant project are printed in italics in the GA.

Structure of the General MGA

Preamble – Participants
Chapter 1 – General
Chapter 2 – Action (name, acronym, start and duration of project etc.)
Chapter 3 – Grant (max. amount and calculation of grant, funding rate(s), eligible costs)
Chapter 4 – Rights and obligations of the parties (e.g. third party costs, documentation obligations, reporting and payments, checks/reviews/audits and management of intellectual property)
Chapter 5 – Division of roles and responsibilities (within the consortium)
Chapter 6 – Rejection of costs, reduction of the grant etc.
Chapter 7 – Final provisions

Annexes:

Annex 1 – Description of the action (DoA)
Annex 2 – Estimated budget
Annex 3 – Accession Forms
Annex 4 – Model for the financial statements
Annex 5 – Model for the certificate on the financial statements (CFS)
Annex 6 – Model for the certificate on the methodology (CoMUC)

The Annotated Grant Agreement (AGA), which follows the same structure as the MGA, provides explanations and examples by the EU Commission concerning all provisions of the MGA. Please note that important details - in particular about eligible costs - can often only be found in these annotations and are not included in the text of the contract itself.

More information about amendments.

JTIs and article 185 initiatives

Joint Technology Initiatives (JTIs): IMI, Clean Sky 2, Fuel Cells and Hydrogen 2 (FCH), Bio-Based Industries (BBI), EPoSS, ECSEL, Shift2Rail, SESAR
Article 185 Initiatives: AAL, EUREKA-Eurostars, EMRP, EDCTP, Bonus

For questions please contact your thematic NCP.

The FFG has compiled a comparison document highlighting the differences between the MGA for the individual initiative and the General MGA (see "Downloads", in German only).

More detailed informationen can be found …