The Consortium Agreement (CA) specifies the rights and obligations among the participants. For example, it contains provisions about internal organisation and decision-making, financial topics and the handling of intellectual property rights. A CA is obligatory for most projects and should be signed prior to the Grant Agreement (GA).
The consortium is solely responsible for the preparation of the CA (i.e. the EU Commission is in any way involved).
The participants can use the CA to complement the rules of the Grant Agreement (GA) (and modify so-called "default rules"). However, the CA must not contradict the GA (if it does, the respective rules of the GA prevail). The information provided in the Description of the Action (Annex 1 of the GA) is therefore binding for the CA.
CAs typically specify the following topics:
- General provisions: definitions, entry into force, duration, applicable law (often: Belgian law) etc.
- Obligations of contracting parties: compliance with deadlines for deliverables and reports, information obligations, participation in meetings etc. and consequences of non-compliance
- Internal organisation and decision-making: composition and duties of bodies (corresponding to the size of the consortium), meetings, voting rules etc.
- Financial provisions: allocation of funding and transfer to the contracting parties (e.g. payment of pre-financing in instalments), handling of receipts and financial losses etc.
- Provisions on the handling of intellectual property rights
- Other issues: liability, non-disclosure, dispute resolution etc.
Model consortium agreements such as DESCA, MCARD-2020 oder EUCAR are available free of charge, whose content needs to be adapted to the relevant project.
The costs incurred for preparing a CA are not eligible for funding. Costs incurred in revising the CA during the project are eligible.
More information can be found ...
- the Guide of the EU Commission "How to draw up your consortium agreement"
- in the presentation of the IPR Helpdesk "Consortium Agreements in Horizon 2020"
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