Belarus Denmark Estonia Finland Germany Latvia Lithuania Norway
Poland Russia Sweden Eligibility of expenditure - Relevant rules
and regulations BSR INTERREG III B Joint Secretariat Vclav Kaplan
Seminar on Financial Management and Auditing Rostock, 12 November
2004 Slide 2 What kind of project costs are eligible? INTERREG III
is an initiative in the framework of the ERDF and therefore all
general rules concerning eligibility of expenditure regarding the
structural funds are applicable. In the period 2000-2006,
expenditure usually eligible under the EAGGF, the ESF or the
Fisheries fund will also be eligible. This would concern, for
instance, rural development or training. EU funds may be required
for small infrastructure investment or for equipment, relevant to
the projects objectives. In any case, motorways, infrastructure or
other large-scale investments will not be eligible. Slide 3 Which
basic rules do projects/operations have to comply with? Any project
for which EU funding is granted must comply with specific EU
regulations and rules and in particular those applying to the ERDF.
Other Community rules must be taken into account, e.g.: rules with
regard to environment. Applicants must comply with specific
regulations (e.g. Natura 2000); rules with regard to public
procurement; rules with regard to publicity on EU funding; rules on
competition; rules on equal opportunities. Slide 4 Overview of
relevant regulations and rules Council Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999
on Structural Funds Commission Regulations (EC): >No
1685/2000+No 448/2004 Eligibility of expenditure >No 438/2001+No
2355/2002, No 448/2001 Management and control systems, Financial
corrections >No 1159/2000 on information and publicity measure
INTERREG III guidelines Programme Document, Programme Complement
Programme Manual National rules and regulation (national, regional,
local level) Slide 5 Expenditures must be -actually paid out by
eligible partners & within the project period; -related to the
products/services that have actually been delivered; -directly
linked to the approved budget and must not lead to exceeded
budgets; -directly related to the project implementation; -related
to operations that have been subject to Community rules; -Revenues
must be deducted from the reported costs => EC Reg. 448/2004,
Annex, Rule No 2 Slide 6 Expenditures must be -not claimed before
under this or any other EU financed programme; -supported by
relevant documents (invoices, account. documents) EC Reg. 448/2004,
Annex Rule 1. (2.1.) -properly accounted, certified, audited and
reported within the specified period by the responsible bodies to
the Joint Secretariat; -the general principles of efficiency, good
value for money, economy, expediency and legality of all actions to
be applied; -included under a category of expenditure listed in the
budget Slide 7 Budget lines Slide 8 Project co-ordination and audit
-Personnel resp. external expertise costs for Project Co-ordinator
and the Financial Manager -Meetings costs of persons involved in
the overall management and control of the project (e.g. steering /
advisory groups ) -Costs for travel and accommodation of the
project management. -Costs for the financial auditing (internal or
external auditors) 1 -IT equipment/administrative/other costs of
the project management -Eligible financial and bank charges (EC
Reg. 448/2004, Rule 3) -In normal case all partners contribute to
the co-ordination costs 1 projects from the 5 th round on, projects
1-4 th round BL 2 resp. BL 5 Slide 9 Personnel (incl. OH) -The cost
of staff (salaries including tax) directly engaged in the operation
(internal hours) => must not arise from the statutory
responsibilities of the public authority or the public authoritys
day-to-day management, monitoring and control tasks => counted
as in cash contribution -Employers contribution for national social
security purposes -Overheads => e.g. indirect administrative
costs such as costs for office accommodation - electricity, rent,
insurance, fax, phone, photocopies, Internet fees, heating, water,
etc. => directly linked to the project activities => see Rule
No.1 (1.8) of the EC Reg. 448/2004 => direct administrative
costs shall be budgeted under BL 6 Slide 10 Meetings and
dissemination -Costs related to organising and participating in
meetings and seminars -Costs related to all aspects of promotion
and publications specific to the project => relevant EC Reg. No
1159/2000 Note: -Travelling costs => BL4 -The fees of trainers,
speakers, facilitators => BL 5 Slide 11 Travel and accommodation
-costs for: travel, accommodation, subsistence allowances -related
to project activities -economy class travel on public transport -in
case of doubts on eligibility of travel to a third country contact
JS -Travel, accommodation and subsistence expenses of partners or
participants from Russia and Belarus also eligible (if related to
their travel to EU territory and actually paid by a EU project
partner) Slide 12 External expertise -all payments towards external
bodies that realise a temporary and specific work in the frame of
the project e.g. subcontracting of external staff, speakers for
workshops, trainers, web designer, studies, research, services,
etc. -All EU and national rules to be observed and fulfilled =>
in particular competition and public procurement rules -Expenditure
related to co-ordination or audit activities => BL 1
-Sub-contracting of partners is not possible Slide 13 Other costs
and equipment -All other eligible project costs relevant to the
project, which => cannot be included under the previous
categories => are directly linked to project activities =>
direct administration costs => in kind contribution -Costs for
small-scale office and other technical equipment (e.g. acquisition
of hardware and software, office furniture, etc.) => used as a
tool to reach the project objectives => not at the end of the
project Slide 14 Other costs and equipment -Either costs of the
purchase or depreciation costs -Only items listed in the
Application -Equipment to be seen as project output => BL 7
-Main relevant Rules: => competition and public procurement
rules => EC regulation 448/2004, Annex Rule No. 1 (1.5.-1.7.)
=> EC regulation 448/2004, Annex Rule No. 4 => EC regulation
448/2004, Annex Rule No. 10 Slide 15 Small scale investments -Small
scale physical infrastructure investments for pilot projects of
transnational relevance that are in line with the Programmes
objectives -Only items listed in the Application -Max. 40% of the
total project eligible budget -Either costs of the purchase or
depreciation costs -Main relevant Rules: => competition and
public procurement rules => EC regulation 448/2004, Annex Rule
No. 1 (1.5.-1.7.) => EC regulation 448/2004, Annex Rule No. 4
=> EC regulation 448/2004, Annex Rule No. 10 Slide 16 Horizontal
rules Reporting of VAT -relevant rule: EC regulation 448/2004,
Annex Rule No. 7 Exchange rate -ERDF funds will be transferred to
LP in EURO only -Three options of exchange rate calculation: 1.
daily calculation 2. average rate 3. fixed dates (30.06 / 31.12)
-Foreign exchange commissions and losses are NOT eligible Slide 17
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