Commission presents grant agreement changes for Horizon 2020

The European Commission is changing the model grant agreement to be used for research projects under Horizon 2020, in a bid to reduce paperwork.

The Commission’s research and budget directorates presented the changes to National Contact Points in charge of legal and financial issues during a meeting in Brussels. The revamped structure seeks to iron out the differences of structure and terminology between various documents used for distinct EU programmes.

Changes include merging the core contract and its annexes into a single document; using electronic signatures to do away with hard copies sent by snail mail; and including the eligibility of non-recoverable VAT.