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10 Aug 2006
Unit:
Wageningen UR
Representatives of organisations that frequently participate in EU Framework Programmes have joined forces to develop a model consortium agreement for the Seventh Framework Programme 2006-2013 (FP7). The participants in this project, known as DESCA (DEvelopment of a Simplified Consortium Agreement for FP7), include large companies, small and mid-sized companies, research institutes and universities throughout Europe. The majority of FP7 projects will be required to have a consortium agreement involving all participants in addition to the contract with the European Commission. The European Commission does not provide a model agreement or terms and conditions for this consortium agreement (CA); their only stipulation is that the agreement must not conflict with the provisions in the contract (the grant agreement) between the European Commission and the other contracting parties. The European Commission will require a CA for all larger EU projects.
The purpose of a CA is to make arrangements about matters that are not adequately addressed by the grant agreement. This concerns aspects such as management (including financial management), intellectual property rights, dissemination and commercial exploitation. This is important for Wageningen UR because a CA will probably have to be drawn up and signed for hundreds of projects. A model agreement can significantly reduce the time and costs involved.
DESCA recently outlined a plan to present a model CA in January 2007. Willem Wolters of Wageningen International is in charge of the financial chapter and has been appointed to the group that is supervising the consistency of all four chapters of the model CA. By taking this role, Wageningen UR can not only access and use expertise modalities elsewhere in Europe, but can also provide a major contribution.
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