The Rules for Participation in Horizon Europe provide a legal framework specifying the group of potential participants in the future framework programme "Horizon Europe" and the relevant conditions. They also include additional information on aspects including budget, financial instruments, open access, evaluation, cost eligibility and intellectual property.
- Simplified rules shall increase legal certainty and reduce administrative burden in Horizon Europe.
- The same rules for all EU funding programmes: The "single set of rules" principle will be strengthened and further improved – all funding rules are based on the financial regulation applicable to the general budget of the EU. Exceptions will only be made where mandated by the situation.
- Personnel cost rules that were not found to be practical, such as the "additional remuneration", will be abolished. There will be increased use of simplified cost options such as lump sum payments for entire projects wherever this is meaningful and practical. The usual (statutory) cost accounting practices applicable to the beneficiaries will be taken into account to a greater extent, e.g. for internal invoicing. This will further minimise the expense and effort involved in the implementation of EU projects.
- The Mutual Insurance Mechanism (formerly "Guarantee Fund") will be extended to all forms of institutional partnerships, including Article 185 Initiatives, which have previously not been covered.
- Actions that receive funding from different EU programmes will be audited only once, covering all involved EU programmes and their respective applicable rules.