1. What is the date of approval of the project?
The date of approval is the date when the Steering Committee decided to approve the project. This will happen twice a year since two calls a year are planned so far.
Approval date
Application round 1: 17.12.2001 Application round 2: 29.05.2002 Application round 3: 17.12.2002 Application round 4: 3.06.2003 Application round 5: 3.06.2004 Application round 6: 10.12.2004 Application round 7: 3.06.2005
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2. What is meant by "starting date" of the project?
The starting date will be determined individually by each project. This date is important for calculating the end date of the project. The starting date of the project is the date when the first costs incurred. By the "first costs incurred" date is meant that these costs are clearly documented and traceable by the auditor either by bookings/records in the accounting system or by documents with equivalent value like time sheets, contracts (e.g. employment contracts).
The starting date has to be indicated by the auditor in the project´s first progress report. Anyway eligible costs can incur only after the date of approval of the Steering Committee and within the official project period.
The project has to start within three months after approval at the latest (date of approval plus 3 months). There are different ways to define the official starting date:
- The date when the first costs have incurred during the first three months after the date of approval. This date must be indicated by the auditor in the project's first progress report.
- If no costs incurred within 3 months after approval, the project has still officially started at the last day of the three months period starting on the date of approval.
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3. How long does a project last ("project period")?
The project period is understood as the period or duration of an approved project, which will cover the time between the official starting date and the official closing date. The project period in months is stated in the approved application form.
Each project has defined its set-up of work-packages and milestones when planning the time period needed for implementation. Counting from the starting date of the project, the project partners have committed themselves to implement the activities within the period stated in this set-up (number of month indicated in the approved application).
Any change of the implementation schedules must be reported to the Joint Secretariat immediately.
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4. Which costs are considered as "project costs"?
Only costs incurred, accounted and paid for within the project period can be considered as project costs. If these costs are eligible for funding (see Commission Regulation (EC) No 448/2004) they can be reported and refunded. Costs incurred and paid before and after the project period are not eligible and cannot be refunded.
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5. Which are the EU documents referred to in the subsidy contract?
These are EC regulations concerning the implementation of programmes financed from the EU Structural Funds. All documents are available for download in Programme documents section.
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6. What is meant by "Confirmation by an independent auditor"?
The auditor must be absolutely independent from the project activities as well as independent from the organisational unit, where the project activities are carried out/managed/financed. In addition to this the auditor must be qualified with accounting and EC regulations, since the auditor has also to check the compliance with all relevant BSR INTERREG III B documents (e.g. programme complement, programme manual) and corresponding EC regulations (e.g. Commission Regulation (EC) No 1685/2000...).
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7. Will there be an advance payments available in the BSR INTERREG III B?
No advance payments will be provided in the BSR INTERREG III B Programme. All payments from the Paying Authority to the Lead Partner must be based on expenditure actually paid out and recorded. Payments will be linked to reports - as soon as report is accepted, the payment is processed.
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8. Is it possible to move money from one year to the next?
In principle: No. Careful cash-flow planning and management is crucial in order not to "loose" the EU funds. The Programme is subject to the decommitment rule. In case allocated funds are not spent within certain time limit, these may be lost forever.
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9. Are reallocations between budget lines allowed? Who decides on them?
Budget reallocations between budget lines (limited, however) will be possible (in well-justified cases) once in a project period - on approval by the Steering Committee or Joint Secretariat - shall be rather the exception than the rule.
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Travel and subsistence expenses can only be co-financed by the BSR INTERREG III B grants if they have been paid for by the partner coming from the EU Member State or Norway and budgeted and accounted in its files. Depending of the Objective status of the partner, the co-financing rate is either 75% or 50% for other regions. If the travel and subsistence costs are paid for by the third country partners themselves, the BSR INTERREG III B grants cannot be used for reimbursing them.
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11. What is the "5% control reports" mentioned in the Programme Document (CIP)?
All interventions funded from the EU Structural Funds are subject to 5% controls performed by national auditing institutions. This means that within the BSR INTERREG III B Neighbourhood Programme at least 5% of the Programme's total eligible budget will be selected for such controls. It is a random selection based on a risk analysis and is carried out on a programme level. In case a project is selected for controls, the responsibility of the Lead Partner and the project partners is to cooperate with the auditing bodies and present all requested information.
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12. What are in-kind contributions?
Only voluntary unpaid work is considered as in-kind contribution. Staff costs - if properly accounted for and reported, are
not considered in-kind costs (e.g. internal hours), but cash contribution. The eligibility of in-kind contributions is defined in EU Regulation 1685/2000 Rule 1.6.
In-kind costs cannot exceed the rate of national co-financing per partner (i.e. 25% in case of Objective 1 areas and 50% in any other case).
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13. When will the final BSR INTERREG III B payment to the Lead Partner be made?
Council Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999 implies that the closure expenditure amounting to 5% of the Programmes funds will only be transfered to the Paying Authority after the final certified statement of expenditure actually paid has been submitted to the Commission, after the Final Programme Report has been submitted and approved by the Commission, and after the Member States have sent statements on winding up the assistance to the Commission. In relation to the above, the last 5% of the projects approved ERDF funds will be transfered to the Lead Partner only after the funds are received by the Paying Authority, i.e. as late as end 2010. Since the Norwegian national co-financing is part of the BSR INTERREG III B grants the 5% rule is applying for Norwegian funds as well.
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14. Can we add partners after approval of the project?
No, it is not possible to add partners after the approval of the project.
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15. What happens if a partner drops out of an approved project?
If a partner drops out of an approved BSR INTERREG III B project the Joint Secretariat has to be informed immediately. The Joint Secretariat and/or the Steering Commity will then decide what consequences this will entail for the project. If a main Partner drops out a redesign of the operation/project might be necessary, if it is a minor partner a budget reduction could be the consequence. This has to be decided case by case and the Joint Secretraiat will help to find the best solution.
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Travel and subsistence expenses of partners or participants from countries outside the EU can be eligible costs for an operation (project) when the meeting or seminar takes place in the EU/Norway and is part of an approved operation (project). Hence it is not possible to co-finance costs for travel and accommodation for those partners or participants if the meeting is organised on non-EU/Norwegian territory.
The travel and subsistence expenses for partners and participants from EU Member States/Norway on parts of operation (projects) that take place in a third country (on non EU/Norwegian territory) and are vital for the success of the project as a whole are also eligible for ERDF assistance (BSR INTERREG III B co-financing).
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In accordance with EU public procurement law, services or equipment used for implementing an INTERREG project in the EU/Norway can also come from the "partner country" or other third countries in question, according to general national, EU or international legislation on public procurement.
All services or equipment coming from third countries have to be reported and paid by a EU/Norwegian project partner in order to be eligible for co-funding by BSR INTERREG funds. The services or equipment can however not be delivered by project partner (participating in the project - listed in approved application) from the third country (non-eligible for BSR INTERREG III B co-financing).
BSR INTERREG III B project partners from third countries have to contribute to the project with own finances (real financial contribution either covered by Tacis, national funding or payments in-cash (e.g. staff costs))
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No, those costs cannot be considered as in kind contribution. See also question No 12 for further information.
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19. Are there any agreed limits for fee rates, salary costs and overhead costs for project staff?
No, there are no limits set by the BSR INTERREG III B programme. All costs should be based on real costs (salary plus social insurance). The calculation of labour costs should be based on rates per hour, day or month. Evidence should be provided that work has been carried out to the benefit of the project as stated in the approved application.
If extra personnel overhead costs will be accounted for, the calculation must be transparent. All cost items included in the calculation must be eligible for co-financing and clearly documented.
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The exchange rate must be based on one of the following options (one of the options must be chosen and used for the entire project time). Each project should establish a system and internal rules for using/calculating of the exchange rate.
- daily calculation (e.g. www.ecb.int)
- average rate (e.g. www.riksbank.se)
- fixed dates (30.06./31.12.)
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The lead partner is at all times obliged to retain all files, documents and data about the project for audit purposes for a minimum period of three years after the final payment of the ERDF to the BSR INTERREG III B programme.
The accounting documents (supporting documents regarding expenditure and checks) have to be made accessible for checks within a special time period (about two weeks). Since the final payment to the projects is connected to the closure of the programme as whole, which will not be before end of 2009 (estimation of JS), the period for storing the files and documents will start at the end of 2009 (therefore the files and documents will have to be kept at least until 2012/2013).
The LP is also responsible for all (original) documents of all project partners. It is up to the LP to decide either to keep all (original) documents of all project partners or to agree on a solution to have access at any time to the documents concerned at project partner level.
Documents must be held either as originals or on commonly accepted data carriers. Commonly accepted data carriers shall include, in particular,
- photocopies of original documents;
- microfiches of original documents;
- electronic versions of original documents on optical data carriers;
- documents existing in electronic version only.
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22. Can the LP withdraw from the subsidy contract?
The subsidy contract currently used for INTERREG III B BSR projects does not include any clause where the LP is allowed to withdraw from the contract.
That does not mean that the LP cannot refuse the grant at any time. If the LP declares that it does not want to implement the project and request payments, then it does not fulfil the obligations as laid down in the subsidy contract; in this case the IB acting as managing authority is entitled to withdraw from the contract and to demand repayment of funds in full or in part (cp. § 6 No. 1.1 in conjunction with § 2 No 1).
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23. Annexes to the final Activity Report - what is this?
Projects, which finished their planned activities, have to send the final Activity and Financial Report to the Joint Secretariat. When submitting the final report, project has to fill in two special annexes to the final Activity Report (AR). The first annex is common for projects in all measures (Annex A to the Final Activity Report) and the second is measure specific (e.g. Annex A.2.1 to the Final Activity Report for projects in Measure 2.1.). To download the annexes to the final AR go to Downloads in How to implement section.
24. Is sharing of the costs among the project partners allowed?
Costs arising from activities, goods and services performed for the benefit of all project partners (e.g. project coordination) can be shared between all participating project partners. It means, that activities are implemented by one project partner (implementing partner) but partly financed by the partnership.
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