DocuSign Envelope ID: C4030644-1050-4067-83F0-230B6BADED7E
ACCORD Consortium Agreement, version 5 (FINAL), 1.7.2022
Consortium Agreement
ACCORD
Version 5.0 (FINAL) – 1.7.2022
(Based on DESCA – Model Consortium Agreement for Horizon Europe, version 1, December 2021)
DocuSign Envelope ID: C4030644-1050-4067-83F0-230B6BADED7E
ACCORD Consortium Agreement, version 5 (FINAL), 1.7.2022
Table of Contents
1 Definitions .................................................................................................................................5
2 Purpose .....................................................................................................................................6
3 Entry into force, duration and termination ...............................................................................6
4 Responsibilities of Parties ........................................................................................................7
5 Liability towards each other .....................................................................................................9
6 Governance structure .............................................................................................................10
7 Financial provisions................................................................................................................18
8 Results .....................................................................................................................................20
9 Access Rights .........................................................................................................................23
10 Non-disclosure of information ................................................................................................26
11 Miscellaneous..........................................................................................................................27
12 Signatures ...............................................................................................................................29
Attachment 1: Background included .............................................................................................50
Attachment 2: Accession document ..............................................................................................71
Attachment 3: List of third parties for simplified transfer according to Section 8.3.2.................72
Attachment 4: Identified entities under the same control according to Section 9.5 ....................73
Attachment 5: Non-Disclosure Commitment for External Advisory Board agreed under
Section 6..........................................................................................................................................74
EXTERNAL ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER COMMITMENT ............................................................74
External Advisory Board Commitment Annex 1: Terms of Confidentiality based on the
Consortium Agreement ..................................................................................................................76
Attachment 6: Grant Agreement ....................................................................................................77
Attachment 7: Consortium Plan .....................................................................................................78
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CONSORTIUM AGREEMENT
THIS CONSORTIUM AGREEMENT is based upon Regulation (EU) No 2021/695 of the European
Parliament and of the Council of 28 April 2021 establishing Horizon Europe – the Framework Programme
for Research and Innovation (2021-2027), laying down its rules for participation and dissemination
(hereinafter referred to as “Horizon Europe Regulation”), and on the European Commission’s General Model
Grant Agreement and its Annexes, and is made on Project start date, hereinafter referred to as the Effective
Date.
BETWEEN:
VTT TECHNICAL RESEARCH CENTRE OF FINLAND LTD, with legal address P.O. Box 1000, FI-
20244 VTT, Finland, (“VTT”), the Coordinator
FRAUNHOFER GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FOERDERUNG DER ANGEWANDTEN FORSCHUNG E.V.,
with legal address HANSASTRASSE 27C, MUNCHEN, 80686, Germany, (“FRA”),
OPEN GEOSPATIAL CONSORTIUM EUROPE, with legal address TECHNOLOGIELAAN 3, LEUVEN,
3001, Belgium, (“OGC”),
CONSEIL DES ARCHITECTES D'EUROPE, with legal address RUE PAUL EMILE JANSON 29, 1050,
BRUXELLES, Belgium, (“ACE”),
MAJANDUS JA KOMMUNIKATSIOONIMINISTEERIUM, with legal address SUUR-AMEERIKA 1,
10122, TALLINN, Estonia, (“MKM”),
FREIE UND HANSESTADT HAMBURG, with legal address RATHAUSMARKT 1, 20095, HAMBURG,
Germany, (“HAM”),
AYUNTAMIENTO DE MALGRAT DE MAR, with legal address Carrer del Carme 30, 08380, Malgrat de
Mar, Spain, (“AMM”),
SIRMA AI EAD, with legal address 135 TSARIGRADSKO SHOSE BLVD, 1784, SOFIA, Bulgaria,
(“ONTO”),
SOLIBRI OY, with legal address Tammasaarenkatu 5, 00180 Helsinki, Finland, (“SOL”),
FUTURE INSIGHT GROUP BV, with legal address ZWARTEWATERALLEE 44-48, 8031DX, ZWOLLE,
Netherlands, (“FUI”),
AETHER ENGINEERING S.A.S. TRA PROFESSIONISTI DI CHRISTOVASILIS IOANNIS, with legal
address Via Masaccio 252, 50132, Firenze, Italy, (“AE”),
INSTITUT MINES-TELECOM, with legal address 19 PLACE MARGUERITE PEREY, 91120,
PALAISEAU, France, (“IMT”),
INSTITUT DE TECNOLOGIA DE LA CONSTRUCCION DE CATALUNYA, with legal address Calle
Wellington 19, 08018 Barcelona, Spain, (“ITeC”),
FUNDACIO PRIVADA UNIVERSITAT I TECNOLOGIA, with legal address CALLE SANT JOAN DE LA
SALLE 42, 08022 BARCELONA, Spain, (“FUNITEC”),
STIFTELSEN HOGSKOLAN I JONKOPING, with legal address Gjuterigatan 5 , 55111 Jönköping,
Sweden, (“JU”),
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ACCORD Consortium Agreement, version 5 (FINAL), 1.7.2022
CLOUDPERMIT OY, with legal address Hämeenkatu 13A, 33100 Tampere, Finland, (“CP”),
TEGEL PROJEKT GMBH, with legal address Urban Tech Republic, Gebäude V, Flughafen Tegel 1,
13405, Berlin, Germany, (“TEGEL”),
hereinafter, jointly or individually, referred to as “Beneficiaries” of “Beneficiary”
CARDIFF UNIVERSITY, with legal address 30-36 NEWPORT ROAD, CARDIFF, CF24 ODE, United
Kingdom (“CU”),
BIRMINGHAM CITY UNIVERSITY, with legal address 15 BARTHOLOMEW ROW, BIRMINGHAM, B5
5JU, United Kingdom, (“BCU”),
BUILDINGSMART INTERNATIONAL LIMITED, with legal address 9 QUY COURT COLLIERS LANE
STOW-CUM-QUY, CAMBRIDGE, CB25 9AU, United Kingdom, (“BSI”),
hereinafter, jointly or individually, referred to as “Associated Partners” or “Associated Partner”
hereinafter Beneficiaries and Associated Partners, jointly or individually, referred to as ”Parties” or
”Party”
relating to the Action entitled
Automated Compliance Checks for Construction, Renovation or Demolition Works
in short ACCORD
hereinafter referred to as “Project”
WHEREAS:
The Parties, having considerable experience in the field concerned, have submitted a proposal for the
Project to the Granting Authority as part of Horizon Europe – the Framework Programme for Research
and Innovation (2021-2027).
The Parties wish to specify or supplement binding commitments among themselves.
The Grant Agreement will be signed by the Beneficiaries and the Granting Authority (hereinafter “Grant
Agreement”), annexed herewith as Attachment 6.
The Parties are aware that this Consortium Agreement is based upon the DESCA model consortium
agreement.
NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS HEREBY AGREED AS FOLLOWS:
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1 Definitions
Definitions
Words beginning with a capital letter shall have the meaning defined either herein or in the Horizon
Europe Regulation or in the Grant Agreement including its Annexes.
Additional Definitions
“Associated Partner Award”
Associated Partner Award means the agreed budget share to be paid by the UK Granting Authority to
each of the Associated Partners in respect of the Project.
“Award Agreement”
The Award Agreement means the Agreement entered into between the UK Granting Authority and each
of the Associated Partners in respect of each Associated Partner Award.
“Consortium Body”
Consortium Body means any management body described in Section 6 (Governance Structure) of this
Consortium Agreement.
“Consortium Plan”
Consortium Plan means the description of the Action and the related agreed budget and is appended to
this Agreement as Attachment 7
“Defaulting Party”
Defaulting Party means a Party which the General Assembly has identified to be in breach of this
Consortium Agreement and/or, in respect of the Beneficiaries, the Grant Agreement, as specified in
Section 4.3 of this Consortium Agreement.
“Granting Authority”
means the body awarding to each of the Beneficiaries its agreed funding share for the Project.
“Needed”
means:
For the implementation of the Project:
Access Rights are Needed if, without the grant of such Access Rights, carrying out the tasks assigned to
the recipient Party would be technically or legally impossible, significantly delayed, or require significant
additional financial or human resources.
For Exploitation of own Results:
Access Rights are Needed if, without the grant of such Access Rights, the Exploitation of own Results
would be technically or legally impossible.
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“Software”
Software means sequences of instructions to carry out a process in, or convertible into, a form
executable by a computer and fixed in any tangible medium of expression.
“UK Granting Authority”
UK Granting Authority means the body awarding the Associated Partner Award to each of the
Associated Partners for the Project.
2 Purpose
The purpose of this Consortium Agreement is to specify with respect to the Project the relationship
among the Parties, in particular concerning the organisation of the work between the Parties, the
management of the Project and the rights and obligations of the Parties concerning inter alia liability,
Access Rights and dispute resolution.
3 Entry into force, duration and termination
Entry into force
An entity becomes a Party to this Consortium Agreement upon signature of this Consortium Agreement
by a duly authorised representative.
This Consortium Agreement shall have effect from the Effective Date identified at the beginning of this
Consortium Agreement.
An entity becomes a new Party to the Consortium Agreement upon signature of the accession document
(Attachment 2) by the new Party and the Coordinator. Such accession shall have effect from the date
identified in the accession document.
Duration and termination
This Consortium Agreement shall continue in full force and effect until complete fulfilment of all
obligations undertaken by the Parties under the Grant Agreement and under this Consortium
Agreement.
However, this Consortium Agreement or the participation of one or more Parties to it may be terminated
in accordance with the terms of this Consortium Agreement.
If
− the Grant Agreement is not signed by the Granting Authority or a Beneficiary, or
− the Grant Agreement is terminated, or
− a Beneficiary's participation in the Grant Agreement is terminated, or
− an Award Agreement is not signed by an Associated Partner, or
− an Award Agreement is terminated,
this Consortium Agreement shall automatically terminate in respect of the affected Party/ies, subject to
the provisions surviving the expiration or termination under Section 3.3 of this Consortium Agreement.
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Survival of rights and obligations
The provisions relating to Access Rights, Dissemination and confidentiality, for the time period
mentioned therein, as well as for liability, applicable law and settlement of disputes shall survive the
expiration or termination of this Consortium Agreement.
Termination shall not affect any rights or obligations of a Party leaving the Project incurred prior to the
date of termination, unless otherwise agreed between the General Assembly and the leaving Party. This
includes the obligation to provide all necessary input, deliverables and documents for the period of its
participation.
4 Responsibilities of Parties
General principles
Each Party undertakes to take part in the efficient implementation of the Project, and to cooperate,
perform and fulfil, promptly and on time, all of its obligations under the Grant Agreement and this
Consortium Agreement as may be reasonably required from it and in a manner of good faith as
prescribed by Belgian law.
Each Beneficiary undertakes to notify promptly the Granting Authority and each Associated Partner the
UK Granting Authority, as appropriate, and each Party undertakes to notify promptly the other Parties,
in accordance with the governance structure of the Project, of any significant information, fact, problem
or delay likely to affect the Project.
Each Party shall promptly provide all information reasonably required by a Consortium Body or by the
Coordinator to carry out its tasks and shall responsibly manage the access of its employees to the EU
Funding & Tenders Portal.
Each Beneficiary acknowledges that each Associated Partner Award will be made subject to, and in
accordance with, an Award Agreement. Each Beneficiary agrees, as far as is legally possible and in
compliance with internal organisational requirements of the affected Beneficiary, to comply with all
reasonable requests made by an Associated Partner to provide any information and/or documentation
as that Associated Partner may reasonably require to comply with the Award Agreement.
Each Beneficiary consents to the outputs, outcomes and impacts of the Project being detailed in a
report(s) to the UK Granting Authority. In the case, that report(s) to the UK Granting Authority includes
any Beneficiary’s Results or Background, these reports or affected passages shall be reviewed and
approved by such Beneficiary in written form in the next 5 working days after providing reports to said
Beneficiary, such approval not to be unreasonably withheld, delayed, or conditioned.
Each Party shall take reasonable measures to ensure the accuracy of any information or materials it
supplies to the other Parties.
Specific responsibilities for Associated Partners
For the avoidance of doubt, the Associated Partners do not sign the Grant Agreement and do not receive
funding from the Granting Authority and therefore do not have a right to charge costs or claim
contributions from the Granting Authority. Associated Partners will receive an Associated Partner Award
from the UK Granting Authority for the purposes of their roles in the Project.
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Each Associated Partner accepts that certain terms and conditions of the Grant Agreement and its
Annexes are applicable to the Associated Partners.
The Associated Partners hereby commit to implement the Project tasks attributed to them in Annex 1 of
the Grant Agreement.
In addition, the Associated Partners hereby commit especially to the following articles of the Grant
Agreement:
- Proper implementation (Article 11)
- Conflicts of interest (Article 12)
- Confidentiality and security (Article 13)
- Ethics (Article 14)
- Intellectual Property (Article 16)
- Visibility (Article 17.2)
- Specific rules for carrying out action (Article 18)
- Information (Article 19)
- Record-keeping (Article 20).
Furthermore the Associated Partners hereby explicitly agree to cooperate with and grant access to the
bodies mentioned in Article 25 of the Grant Agreement (the Granting Authority, the European Anti-Fraud
Office (OLAF), the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), the Court of Auditors (ECA)) so that
these bodies can carry out checks, reviews, audits and investigations also towards the Associated
Partners.
Any Associated Partner from a non EU-country undertakes to comply additionally with any other
obligation arising from Art. 10.1. of the Grant Agreement.
In case of termination or being declared a Defaulting Party, an Associated Partner shall bear any
reasonable and justifiable costs occurring to the other Parties for performing such Associated Partners’
tasks and the costs for additional efforts necessary to implement the Project.
Moreover, an Associated Partner shall indemnify the other Parties from any claim of the Granting
Authority, UK Granting Authority or another third party, caused by actions or omissions of the Associated
Partner during the Grant Agreement preparation, Project implementation and/or after the Project end.
Regarding such claims, the Associated Partner´s special liability is limited to the amount of its total costs
as budgeted in the Proposal.
For the avoidance of doubt, each Associated Partner is obliged to ensure this Consortium Agreement
is not in conflict with the Award Agreement.
Breach
In the event that the General Assembly identifies a breach by a Party of its obligations under this
Consortium Agreement or the Grant Agreement (e.g. improper implementation of the Project), the
Coordinator or, if the Coordinator is in breach of its obligations, the Party appointed by the General
Assembly, will give formal notice to such Party requiring that such breach will be remedied within 30
calendar days from the date of receipt of the written notice by the Party.
If such breach is substantial and is not remedied within that period or is not capable of remedy, the
General Assembly may decide to declare the Party to be a Defaulting Party and to decide on the
consequences thereof which may include termination of its participation.
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Involvement of third parties
A Party that enters into a subcontract or otherwise involves third parties (including but not limited to
Affiliated Entities or other Participants) in the Project remains responsible for carrying out its relevant
part of the Project and for such third party’s compliance with the provisions of this Consortium
Agreement and of the Grant Agreement. Such Party has to ensure that the involvement of third parties
does not affect the rights and obligations of the other Parties under this Consortium Agreement and the
Grant Agreement.
Specific responsibilities regarding data protection
All Parties commit to comply with Article 15.2 of the Grant Agreement, so far as it is relevant to that
Party.
Where necessary, the Parties shall cooperate in order to enable one another to fulfil legal obligations
arising under applicable data protection laws (the Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament
and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of
personal data and on the free movement of such data and relevant national data protection law
applicable to said Party) within the scope of the performance and administration of the Project and of
this Consortium Agreement.
In particular, the Parties shall, where necessary, conclude a separate data processing, data sharing
and/or joint controller agreement before any data processing or data sharing takes place.
5 Liability towards each other
No warranties
In respect of any information or materials (incl. Results and Background) supplied by one Party to another
under the Project, no warranty or representation of any kind is made, given or implied as to the
sufficiency or fitness for purpose nor as to the absence of any infringement of any proprietary rights of
third parties.
Therefore,
− the recipient Party shall in all cases be entirely and solely liable for the use to which it puts such
information and materials, and
− no Party granting Access Rights shall be liable in case of infringement of proprietary rights of a
third party resulting from any other Party (or its entities under the same control) exercising its
Access Rights.
Limitations of contractual liability
No Party shall be responsible to any other Party for any indirect or consequential loss or similar damage
such as, but not limited to, loss of profit, loss of revenue or loss of contracts, except in case of breach
of confidentiality.
A Party’s general aggregate liability towards the other Parties collectively shall be limited to once the
Beneficiary’s share of the total costs of the Project as identified in Annex 2 of the Grant Agreement and
in case of Associated Partners once the total costs of the Project as identified in the Proposal for the
Project for each individual Associated Partner.
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A Party’s liability shall not be limited under either of the two foregoing paragraphs to the extent such
damage was caused by a wilful act or gross negligence or to the extent that such limitation is not
permitted by law.
Damage caused to third parties
Each Party shall be solely liable for any loss, damage or injury to third parties resulting from the
performance of the said Party’s obligations by it or on its behalf under this Consortium Agreement or
from its use of Results or Background.
Force Majeure
No Party shall be considered to be in breach of this Consortium Agreement if it is prevented from fulfilling
its obligations under the Consortium Agreement by Force Majeure.
Each Party will notify the General Assembly of any Force Majeure without undue delay. If the
consequences of Force Majeure for the Project are not overcome within 6 weeks after such notice, the
transfer of tasks - if any - shall be decided by the General Assembly.
Export control
No Party shall be considered to be in breach of this Consortium Agreement if it is prevented from fulfilling
its obligations under the Consortium Agreement due to a restriction resulting from import or export laws
and regulations and/or any delay of the granting or extension of the import or export license or any other
governmental authorisation, provided that the Party has used its reasonable efforts to fulfil its tasks and
to apply for any necessary license or authorisation properly and in time.
Each Party will notify the General Assembly of any such restriction without undue delay. If the
consequences of such restriction for the Project are not overcome within 6 weeks after such notice, the
transfer of tasks - if any - shall be decided by the General Assembly.
6 Governance structure
General structure
The organisational structure of the consortium shall comprise the following Consortium Bodies:
− The General Assembly as the ultimate decision-making body of the consortium
− The Executive Board as the supervisory body for the execution of the Project, which shall report
to and be accountable to the General Assembly
− The Coordinator as the legal entity acting as the intermediary between the Parties and the
Granting Authority. The Coordinator shall, in addition to its responsibilities as a Party, perform
the tasks assigned to it as described in the Grant Agreement and this Consortium Agreement.
General operational procedures for all Consortium Bodies
6.2.1 Representation in meetings
Any Party which is appointed to take part in a Consortium Body shall designate one representative
(hereinafter referred to as "Member").
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Any Member:
− should be present or represented at any meeting;
− may appoint a substitute or a proxy to attend and vote at any meeting;
and shall participate in a cooperative manner in the meetings.
6.2.2 Preparation and organisation of meetings
6.2.2.1 Convening meetings:
The chairperson of a Consortium Body shall convene meetings of that Consortium Body.
Ordinary meeting Extraordinary meeting
General Assembly At least once a year At any time upon request of the Executive Board or 1/3
of the Members of the General Assembly
Executive Board At least quarterly At any time upon request of any Member of the
Executive Board
6.2.2.2 Notice of a meeting
The chairperson of a Consortium Body shall give written notice of a meeting to each Member of that
Consortium Body as soon as possible and no later than the minimum number of days preceding the
meeting as indicated below.
Ordinary meeting Extraordinary meeting
General Assembly 14 calendar days 7 calendar days
Executive Board 14 calendar days 7 calendar days
6.2.2.3 Sending the agenda
The chairperson of a Consortium Body shall prepare and send each Member of that Consortium Body
an agenda no later than the minimum number of days preceding the meeting as indicated below.
General Assembly 14 calendar days, 7 calendar days for an extraordinary meeting
Executive Board 7 calendar days
6.2.2.4 Adding agenda items:
Any agenda item requiring a decision by the Members of a Consortium Body must be identified as such
on the agenda.
Any Member of a Consortium Body may add an item to the original agenda by written notice to all of the
other Members of that Consortium Body up to the minimum number of days preceding the meeting as
indicated below.
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General Assembly 7 calendar days, 3 calendar days for an extraordinary meeting
Executive Board 2 calendar days
6.2.2.5
During a meeting the Members of a Consortium Body present or represented can unanimously agree
to add a new item to the original agenda.
6.2.2.6
Meetings of each Consortium Body may also be held by tele- or videoconference, or other
telecommunication means.
6.2.2.7
Decisions will only be binding once the relevant part of the minutes has been accepted according to
Section 6.2.5.2.
6.2.2.8
Decisions without a meeting
Any decision may also be taken without a meeting if
a) the Coordinator circulates to all Members of the General Assembly a suggested decision with a
deadline for responses of at least 10 calendar days after receipt by a Party and
b) the decision is agreed by 51 % of all Parties.
The Coordinator shall inform all the Parties of the outcome of the vote.
A veto according to Section 6.2.5 may be submitted up to 15 calendar days after receipt of this
information.
The decision will be binding after the Coordinator sends a notification to all Members. The Coordinator
will keep records of the votes and make them available to the Parties on request.
6.2.3 Voting rules and quorum
6.2.3.1
Each Consortium Body shall not deliberate and decide validly in meetings unless two-thirds (2/3) of its
Members are present or represented (quorum).
If the quorum is not reached, the chairperson of the Consortium Body shall convene another ordinary
meeting within 15 calendar days. If in this meeting the quorum is not reached once more, the chairperson
shall convene an extraordinary meeting which shall be entitled to decide even if less than the quorum of
Members is present or represented.
6.2.3.2
Each Member of a Consortium Body present or represented in the meeting shall have one vote.
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6.2.3.3
A Party which the General Assembly has declared according to Section 4.3 to be a Defaulting Party may
not vote.
6.2.3.4
Decisions shall be taken by a majority of two-thirds (2/3) of the votes cast.
6.2.4 Veto rights
6.2.4.1
A Party which can show that its own work, time for performance, costs, liabilities, intellectual property
rights or other legitimate interests would be severely affected by a decision of a Consortium Body may
exercise a veto with respect to the corresponding decision or relevant part of the decision.
6.2.4.2
When the decision is foreseen on the original agenda, a Party may only veto such a decision during the
meeting.
6.2.4.3
When a decision has been taken on a new item added to the agenda before or during the meeting, a
Party may veto such decision during the meeting or within 15 calendar days after receipt of the draft
minutes of the meeting.
A Party that is not appointed to participate to a particular Consortium Body may veto a decision within
the same number of calendar days after receipt of the draft minutes of the meeting.
6.2.4.4
When a decision has been taken without a meeting a Party may veto such decision within 15 calendar
days after written notice by the chairperson of the outcome of the vote.
6.2.4.5
In case of exercise of veto, the Members of the related Consortium Body shall make every effort to
resolve the matter which occasioned the veto to the general satisfaction of all the Parties.
6.2.4.6
A Party may neither veto decisions relating to its identification to be in breach of its obligations nor to its
identification as a Defaulting Party. The Defaulting Party may not veto decisions relating to its
participation and termination in the consortium or the consequences of them.
6.2.4.7
A Party requesting to leave the consortium may not veto decisions relating thereto.
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6.2.5 Minutes of meetings
6.2.5.1
The chairperson of a Consortium Body shall produce minutes of each meeting which shall be the formal
record of all decisions taken. He/she shall send the draft minutes to all Members within 10 calendar
days of the meeting.
6.2.5.2
The minutes shall be considered as accepted if, within 14 calendar days from receipt, no Member has
sent an objection by written notice to the chairperson with respect to the accuracy of the draft of the
minutes by written notice.
6.2.5.3
The chairperson shall send the accepted minutes to all the Parties and to the Coordinator, who shall
retain copies of them.
Specific operational procedures for the Consortium Bodies
6.3.1 General Assembly
In addition to the rules described in Section 6.2, the following rules apply:
6.3.1.1 Members
6.3.1.1.1
The General Assembly shall consist of one representative of each Party (hereinafter General Assembly
Member).
6.3.1.1.2
Each General Assembly Member shall be deemed to be duly authorised to deliberate, negotiate and
decide on all matters listed in Section 6.3.1.2. of this Consortium Agreement.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Associated Partners are excluded from voting and vetoing on the
following decisions of the General Assembly:
- Financial changes to the Consortium Plan
- Distribution of EU-contribution among the Beneficiaries
- Proposals for Changes to Annex 2 of the Grant Agreement to be agreed by the Granting
Authority.
6.3.1.1.3
The Coordinator shall chair all meetings of the General Assembly, unless decided otherwise in a meeting
of the General Assembly.
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6.3.1.1.4
The Parties agree to abide by all decisions of the General Assembly. This does not prevent the Parties
from exercising their veto rights, according to Section 6.2.4.1, or from submitting a dispute to resolution
in accordance with the provisions of Settlement of disputes in Section 11.8.
6.3.1.2 Decisions
The General Assembly shall be free to act on its own initiative to formulate proposals and take decisions
in accordance with the procedures set out herein.
In addition, all proposals made by the Executive Board shall also be considered and decided upon by
the General Assembly.
The following decisions shall be taken by the General Assembly:
Content, finances and intellectual property rights
− Proposals for changes to Annexes 1 and 2 of the Grant Agreement to be agreed by the Granting
Authority
− Changes to the Consortium Plan
− Modifications or withdrawal of Background in Attachment 1 (Background Included)
− Additions to Attachment 3 (List of Third Parties for simplified transfer according to Section 8.3.2)
− Additions to Attachment 4 (Identified entities under the same control)
Evolution of the consortium
− Entry of a new Party to the Project and approval of the settlement on the conditions of the
accession of such a new Party
− Withdrawal of a Party from the Project and the approval of the settlement on the conditions of
the withdrawal
− Identification of a breach by a Party of its obligations under this Consortium Agreement or the
Grant Agreement
− Declaration of a Party to be a Defaulting Party
− Remedies to be performed by a Defaulting Party
− Termination of a Defaulting Party’s participation in the Project and measures relating thereto
− Proposal to the Granting Authority for a change of the Coordinator
− Proposal to the Granting Authority for suspension of all or part of the Project
− Proposal to the Granting Authority for termination of the Project and the Consortium Agreement
Appointments
On the basis of the Grant Agreement, the appointment if necessary of:
− Executive Board Members
− External Advisory Board Members
6.3.2 Executive Board
In addition to the rules in Section 6.2, the following rules shall apply:
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6.3.2.1 Members
The Executive Board shall consist of the Coordinator and the representatives of the work package
leaders.
The Coordinator shall chair all meetings of the Executive Board, unless decided otherwise by a majority
of two-thirds.
6.3.2.2 Minutes of meetings
Minutes of Executive Board meetings, once accepted, shall be sent by the Coordinator to the General
Assembly Members for information.
6.3.2.3 Tasks
6.3.2.3.1
The Executive Board shall prepare the meetings, propose decisions and prepare the agenda of the
General Assembly according to Section 6.3.1.2.
6.3.2.3.2
The Executive Board shall seek a consensus among the Parties.
6.3.2.3.3
The Executive Board shall be responsible for the proper execution and implementation of the decisions of
the General Assembly.
6.3.2.3.4
The Executive Board shall monitor the effective and efficient implementation of the Project.
6.3.2.3.5
In addition, the Executive Board shall collect information at least every 6 months on the progress of the
Project, examine that information to assess the compliance of the Project with the Consortium Plan and,
if necessary, propose modifications of the Consortium Plan to the General Assembly.
6.3.2.3.6
The Executive Board shall:
− support the Coordinator in preparing meetings with the Granting Authority and in preparing
related data and deliverables
− prepare the content and timing of press releases and joint publications by the consortium or
proposed by the Granting Authority in respect of the procedures of the Grant Agreement Article
17 and Annex 5 Section “Communication, Dissemination, Open Science and Visibility” and of
Section 8 of this Consortium Agreement.
6.3.2.3.7
In the case of abolished tasks as a result of a decision of the General Assembly, the Executive Board
shall advise the General Assembly on ways to rearrange tasks and budgets of the Parties concerned.
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Such rearrangement shall take into consideration any prior legitimate commitments which cannot be
cancelled.
Coordinator
6.4.1
The Coordinator shall be the intermediary between the Parties and the Granting Authority and shall
perform all tasks assigned to it as described in the Grant Agreement and in this Consortium Agreement.
6.4.2
In particular, the Coordinator shall be responsible for:
− monitoring compliance by the Parties with their obligations under this Consortium Agreement
and, where relevant, the Grant Agreement
− keeping the address list of Members and other contact persons updated and available
− collecting, reviewing to verify consistency and submitting reports, other deliverables (including
financial statements and related certifications) and specific requested documents to the
Granting Authority
− transmitting documents and information connected with the Project to any other Parties
concerned
− administering the financial contribution of the Granting Authority and fulfilling the financial tasks
described in Section 7.2
− providing, upon request, the Parties with official copies or originals of documents that are in the
sole possession of the Coordinator when such copies or originals are necessary for the Parties
to present claims.
If one or more of the Parties is late in submission of any Project deliverable, the Coordinator may
nevertheless submit the other ’Parties’ Project deliverables and all other documents required by the
Grant Agreement to the Granting Authority in time.
6.4.3
If the Coordinator fails in its coordination tasks, the General Assembly may propose to the Granting
Authority to change the Coordinator.
6.4.4
The Coordinator shall not be entitled to act or to make legally binding declarations on behalf of any other
Party or of the consortium, unless explicitly stated otherwise in the Grant Agreement or this Consortium
Agreement.
6.4.5
The Coordinator shall not enlarge its role beyond the tasks specified in this Consortium Agreement and
in the Grant Agreement.
External Advisory Board (EAB)
An External Advisory Board (EAB) will be appointed and steered by the Executive Board. The EAB shall
assist and facilitate the decisions made by the General Assembly.
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The Coordinator will ensure that a non-disclosure commitment is executed by each EAB member.
Its terms shall be not less stringent than those stipulated in this Consortium Agreement, and it shall be
concluded no later than 30 calendar days after their nomination or before any confidential information
will be exchanged/disclosed, whichever date is earlier. The Coordinator shall write the minutes of the
EAB meetings and submit them to the General Assembly. The EAB members shall be allowed to
participate in General Assembly meetings upon invitation but have not any voting rights.
The non-disclosure commitment for the EAB members is enclosed in Attachment 5.
7 Financial provisions
General Principles
7.1.1 Distribution of Financial Contribution
The financial contribution of the Granting Authority to the Project shall be distributed by the Coordinator
according to:
− the Consortium Plan
− the approval of reports by the Granting Authority, and
− the provisions of payment in Section 7.2.
A Party shall be funded only for its tasks carried out in accordance with the Consortium Plan. For the
avoidance of doubt, each Beneficiary will receive its funding share from the Granting Authority and each
Associated Partner will receive its funding share from the UK Granting Authority.
7.1.2 Justifying Costs
In accordance with its own usual accounting and management principles and practices, each Beneficiary
shall be solely responsible for justifying its costs (and those of its Affiliated Entities, if any) with respect
to the Project towards the Granting Authority. Neither the Coordinator nor any of the other Beneficiaries
shall be in any way liable or responsible for such justification of costs towards the Granting Authority.
7.1.3 Funding Principles
A Beneficiary that spends less than its allocated share of the budget as set out in the Consortium Plan
or – in case of reimbursement via unit costs - implements less units than foreseen in the Consortium
Plan will be funded in accordance with its units/actual duly justified eligible costs only.
A Beneficiary that spends more than its allocated share of the budget as set out in the Consortium Plan
will be funded only in respect of duly justified eligible costs up to an amount not exceeding that share.
7.1.4 Excess payments
A Beneficiary has received excess payment
a) if the payment received from the Coordinator exceeds the amount declared or
b) if a Beneficiary has received payments but, within the last year of the Project, its real Project
costs fall significantly behind the costs it would be entitled to according to the Consortium Plan.
In case a Beneficiary has received excess payment, the Beneficiary has to inform the Coordinator and
return the relevant amount to the Coordinator without undue delay. In case no refund takes place within
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30 days upon request for return of excess payment from the Coordinator, the Beneficiary is in substantial
breach of the Consortium Agreement.
In case a Beneficiary earns any receipt that is deductible from the total funding as set out in the
Consortium Plan, the deduction is only directed toward the Beneficiary earning such income. The other
Beneficiaries’ financial share of the budget shall not be affected by one Beneficiary’s receipt. In case
the relevant receipt is more than the allocated share of the Beneficiary as set out in the Consortium
Plan, the Beneficiary shall reimburse the funding reduction suffered by other Beneficiaries.
7.1.5 Revenue
In case a Beneficiary earns any revenue that is deductible from the total funding as set out in the
Consortium Plan, the deduction is only directed toward the Beneficiary earning such revenue. The other
Beneficiaries’ financial share of the budget shall not be affected by one Beneficiary’s revenue. In case
the relevant revenue is more than the allocated share of the Beneficiary as set out in the Consortium
Plan, the Beneficiary shall reimburse the funding reduction suffered by other Beneficiaries.
7.1.6 Financial Consequences of the termination of the participation of a Party
A Beneficiary leaving the consortium shall refund to the Coordinator any payments it has received except
the amount of contribution accepted by the Granting Authority or another contributor.
An Associated Partner leaving the consortium shall, in doing so, comply with its respective Award
Agreement with respect to refunding any payments to the UK Granting Authority.
In addition, a Beneficiary declared to be a Defaulting Party shall, within the limits specified in Section
5.2 of this Consortium Agreement, bear any reasonable and justifiable additional costs occurring to the
other Beneficiaries in order to perform the leaving Beneficiary´s task and necessary additional efforts to
fulfil them as a consequence of the Beneficiary leaving the consortium. The General Assembly should
agree on a procedure regarding additional costs which are not covered by the Defaulting Party or the
Mutual Insurance Mechanism.
Payments
7.2.1 Payments to Beneficiaries are the exclusive task of the Coordinator.
In particular, the Coordinator shall:
notify the Beneficiary concerned promptly of the date and composition of the amount transferred to its
bank account, giving the relevant references
perform diligently its tasks in the proper administration of any funds and in maintaining financial accounts
undertake to keep the Granting Authority’s financial contribution to the Project separated from its normal
business accounts, its own assets and property, except if the Coordinator is a Public Body or is not
entitled to do so due to statutory legislation.
With reference to Article 22 of the Grant Agreement, no Beneficiary shall before the end of the Project
receive more than its allocated share of the maximum grant amount less the amounts retained by the
Granting Authority for the Mutual Insurance Mechanism and for the final payment.
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7.2.2
The transfer of the initial pre-financing, the additional pre-financings (if any) and interim payments to
Beneficiaries will be handled in accordance with Article 22.1. and Article 7 of the Grant Agreement
following this payment schedule:
Funding of costs included in the Consortium Plan will be paid by the Coordinator to the Beneficiaries
after receipt of payments from the Granting Authority without undue delay and in conformity with the
provisions of the Grant Agreement. Costs accepted by the Granting Authority will be paid to the
Beneficiary concerned.
The Coordinator is entitled to withhold any payments due to a Beneficiary identified by the General
Assembly to be in breach of its obligations under this Consortium Agreement or the Grant Agreement
or to a Beneficiary which has not yet signed this Consortium Agreement.
The Coordinator is entitled to recover any payments already paid to a Beneficiary declared as a
Defaulting Party except the costs already claimed by the Defaulting Party and accepted by the Granting
Authority. The Coordinator is equally entitled to withhold payments to a Beneficiary when this is
suggested by or agreed with the Granting Authority.
8 Results
Ownership of Results
Results are owned by the Party that generates them.
Joint ownership
Joint ownership is governed by, or in the case of an Associated Partner, shall be in accordance with
Grant Agreement Article 16.4 and its Annex 5, Section Ownership of results, with the following additions:
Where Results are generated from work carried out jointly by two or more Parties and it is not possible
to separate such joint invention, design or work for the purpose of applying for, obtaining and/or
maintaining the relevant patent protection or any other intellectual property right, the Parties shall have
joint ownership of these Results. The joint owners shall, within a six (6) month period as from the date
of the generation of such Results, establish a written separate joint ownership agreement regarding the
allocation of ownership and terms of exercising, protecting, disseminating, the division of related costs
and exploiting such jointly owned Results on a case by case basis. However, until the time a joint
ownership agreement has been concluded, such Results shall be jointly owned in shares according to
their share of contribution (such share to be determined by taking into account in particular, but not
limited to, the contribution of a joint owner to an inventive step, the person months or costs spent on the
respective work etc.) to the Results by the joint owners concerned.
Unless otherwise agreed:
− each of the joint owners shall be entitled to use their jointly owned Results for non-commercial
research and teaching activities on a royalty-free basis, and without requiring the prior consent of
the other joint owner(s), whereas non-commercial research and teaching activities means use for
academic/teaching/scientific purposes, or mere internal use, and
• excludes use in contract research (= rendering a research service against payment to a
customer, using the joint Result), even when the charge is mere cost reimbursement
without profit;
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• excludes use of results for royalty bearing activities (such as licensing) or other activities
leading to monetary benefits (e.g. use in developing, creating or marketing a product or
process or creating and providing a service or use in standardisation activities);
• includes use in further (funded or unfunded) cooperative research projects. However
where such use leads to a grant of further user rights to others (e.g. project partners) for
royalty-bearing or other activities leading to monetary benefits, such further user rights
shall not be included in the category of non-commercial research activities under this
bullet point;
− each of the joint owners shall be entitled to otherwise Exploit the jointly owned Results and to
grant non-exclusive licenses to third parties (without any right to sub-license), if the other joint
owners are given: (a) at least 45 calendar days advance notice; and (b) fair and reasonable
compensation.
The joint owners shall agree on all protection measures and the division of related cost in advance.
Transfer of Results
8.3.1
Each Party may transfer ownership of its own Results, including its share in jointly owned Results,
following the procedures set out in the Grant Agreement Article 16.4 and its Annex 5, Section Transfer
and licensing of results, sub-section “Transfer of ownership”.
8.3.2
Each Party may identify specific third parties it intends to transfer the ownership of its Results to in
Attachment (3) of this Consortium Agreement. The other Parties hereby waive their right to prior notice
and their right to object to such a transfer to listed third parties according to the Grant Agreement Article
16.4 and its Annex 5, Section Transfer of licensing of results, sub-section “Transfer of ownership”, 3rd
paragraph.
8.3.3
The transferring Party shall, however, at the time of the transfer, inform the other Parties of such transfer
and shall ensure that the rights of the other Parties under the Consortium Agreement and, where
relevant, the Grant Agreement will not be affected by such transfer. Any addition to Attachment (3) after
signature of this Consortium Agreement requires a decision of the General Assembly.
8.3.4
The Parties recognise that in the framework of a merger or an acquisition of an important part of its
assets, it may be impossible under applicable EU and national laws on mergers and acquisitions for a
Party to give at least 45 calendar days’ prior notice for the transfer as foreseen in the Grant Agreement.
8.3.5
The obligations above apply only for as long as other Parties still have - or still may request - Access
Rights to the Results.
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Dissemination
8.4.1
For the avoidance of doubt, the confidentiality obligations set out in Section 10 apply to all dissemination
activities described in this Section 8.4 as far as Confidential Information is involved.
8.4.2 Dissemination of own (including jointly owned) Results
8.4.2.1
During the Project and for a period of 1 year after the end of the Project, the dissemination of own
Results by one or several Parties including but not restricted to publications and presentations, shall be
governed by, or in accordance with (as the case may be) the procedure of Article 17.4 of the Grant
Agreement and its Annex 5, Section Dissemination, subject to the following provisions.
Prior notice of any planned publication shall be given to the other Parties at least 30 calendar days
before the publication. Any objection to the planned publication shall be made in accordance with the
Grant Agreement by written notice to the Coordinator and to the Party or Parties proposing the
dissemination within 21 calendar days after receipt of the notice. Notwithstanding the foregoing, a notice
regarding a presentation to be held in a conference or a seminar shall be given to the other Parties at
least 10 days prior to the planned presentation. Any objection regarding the planned presentation shall
be given within 7 days after receipt of the notice. If no objection is made within the time limits stated
above, the publication is permitted.
8.4.2.2
An objection is justified if
a) the protection of the objecting Party's Results or Background would be adversely affected, or
b) the objecting Party's legitimate interests in relation to its Results or Background would be
significantly harmed, or
c) the proposed publication includes Confidential Information of the objecting Party.
The objection has to include a precise request for necessary modifications.
8.4.2.3
If an objection has been raised the involved Parties shall discuss how to overcome the justified grounds
for the objection on a timely basis (for example by amendment to the planned publication and/or by
protecting information before publication) and the objecting Party shall not unreasonably continue the
opposition if appropriate measures are taken following the discussion.
8.4.2.4
The objecting Party can request a publication delay of not more than 90 calendar days from the time it
raises such an objection. After 90 calendar days the publication is permitted, provided that the objections
of the objecting Party have been addressed.
8.4.3 Dissemination of another Party’s unpublished Results or Background
A Party shall not include in any dissemination activity another Party's Results or Background without
obtaining the owning Party's prior written approval, unless they are already published.
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8.4.4 Cooperation obligations
The Parties undertake to cooperate to allow the timely submission, examination, publication and defense
of any dissertation or thesis for a degree that includes their Results or Background subject to the
confidentiality and publication provisions agreed in this Consortium Agreement.
8.4.5 Use of names, logos or trademarks
Nothing in this Consortium Agreement shall be construed as conferring rights to use in advertising,
publicity or otherwise the name of the Parties or any of their logos or trademarks without their prior
written approval.
9 Access Rights
Background included
9.1.1
In Attachment 1, the Parties have identified and agreed on the Background for the Project and have
also, where relevant, informed each other that Access to specific Background is subject to legal
restrictions or limits.
Anything not identified in Attachment 1 shall not be the object of Access Right obligations regarding
Background.
9.1.2
Any Party may add additional Background to Attachment 1 during the Project provided they give written
notice to the other Parties. However, approval of the General Assembly is needed should a Party wish
to modify or withdraw its Background in Attachment 1.
General Principles
9.2.1
Each Party shall implement its tasks in accordance with the Consortium Plan and shall bear sole
responsibility for ensuring that its acts within the Project do not knowingly infringe third party property
rights.
9.2.2
Any Access Rights granted exclude any rights to sublicense unless expressly stated otherwise.
9.2.3
Access Rights shall be free of any administrative transfer costs.
9.2.4
Access Rights are granted on a non-exclusive basis.
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9.2.5
Results and Background shall be used only for the purposes for which Access Rights to it have been
granted.
9.2.6
All requests for Access Rights shall be made in writing. The granting of Access Rights may be made
conditional on the acceptance of specific conditions aimed at ensuring that these rights will be used only
for the intended purpose and that appropriate confidentiality obligations are in place.
9.2.7
The requesting Party must show that the Access Rights are Needed.
Access Rights for implementation
Access Rights to Results and Background Needed for the performance of the own work of a Party under
the Project shall be granted on a royalty-free basis, unless otherwise agreed for Background in
Attachment 1.
Access Rights for Exploitation
9.4.1 Access Rights to Results
Access Rights to Results if Needed for Exploitation of a Party's own Results shall be granted on Fair
and Reasonable conditions.
Access rights to Results for internal research and for teaching activities shall be granted on a royalty-
free basis.
9.4.2
Access Rights to Background if Needed for Exploitation of a Party’s own Results, shall be granted on
Fair and Reasonable conditions.
9.4.3
A request for Access Rights may be made up to twelve months after the end of the Project or, in the
case of Section 9.7.2.1.2, after the termination of the requesting Party’s participation in the Project.
Access Rights for entities under the same control
Entities under the same control as a Party have Access Rights under this Consortium Agreement, in
accordance with the conditions of the Grant Agreement Article 16.4 and its Annex 5, Section "Access
rights to results and background”, sub-section “Access rights for entities under the same control”, if they
are identified in Attachment 4 (Identified entities under the same control) to this Consortium Agreement.
Such Access Rights must be requested by the entity under the same control from the Party that holds
the Background or Results. Alternatively, the Party granting the Access Rights may individually agree
with the Party requesting the Access Rights to have the Access Rights include the right to sublicense to
the latter's entity under the same control listed in Attachment 4. Access Rights to an entity under the
same control shall be granted on Fair and Reasonable conditions and upon written bilateral agreement.
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Entities under the same control which obtain Access Rights in return fulfil all confidentiality obligations
accepted by the Parties under the Grant Agreement or this Consortium Agreement as if such entities
were Parties.
Access Rights may be refused to entities under the same control if such granting is contrary to the
legitimate interests of the Party which owns the Background or the Results.
Access Rights granted to any entity under the same control are subject to the continuation of the Access
Rights of the Party with whom it is under the same control, and shall automatically terminate upon
termination of the Access Rights granted to such Party.
Upon cessation of the status as an entity under the same control, any Access Rights granted to such
former entity under the same control shall lapse.
Further arrangements with entities under the same control may be negotiated in separate agreements.
Additional Access Rights
For the avoidance of doubt any grant of Access Rights not covered by the Grant Agreement or this
Consortium Agreement shall be at the absolute discretion of the owning Party and subject to such terms
and conditions as may be agreed between the owning and receiving Parties.
Access Rights for Parties entering or leaving the consortium
9.7.1 New Parties entering the consortium
As regards Results developed before the accession of the new Party, the new Party will be granted
Access Rights on the conditions applying for Access Rights to Background.
9.7.2 Parties leaving the consortium
9.7.2.1 Access Rights granted to a leaving Party
9.7.2.1.1 Defaulting Party
Access Rights granted to a Defaulting Party and such Party's right to request Access Rights shall cease
immediately upon receipt by the Defaulting Party of the formal notice of the decision of the General
Assembly to terminate its participation in the consortium.
9.7.2.1.2 Non-defaulting Party
A non-defaulting Party leaving voluntarily and with the other Parties' consent shall have Access Rights
to the Results developed until the date of the termination of its participation.
It may request Access Rights within the period of time specified in Section 9.4.3.
9.7.2.2 Access Rights to be granted by any leaving Party
Any Party leaving the Project shall continue to grant Access Rights pursuant to the Grant Agreement
and this Consortium Agreement as if it had remained a Party for the whole duration of the Project.
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Specific provisions for Access Rights to Software
For the avoidance of doubt, the general provisions for Access Rights provided for in this Section 9 are
applicable also to Software.
Parties’ Access Rights to Software do not include any right to receive source code or object code ported
to a certain hardware platform or any right to receive respective Software documentation in any
particular form or detail, but only as available from the Party granting the Access Rights.
10 Non-disclosure of information
All information in whatever form or mode of communication, which is disclosed by a Party (the
“Disclosing Party”) to any other Party (the “Recipient”) in connection with the Project during its
implementation and which has been explicitly marked as “confidential” at the time of disclosure, or when
disclosed orally has been identified as confidential at the time of disclosure and has been confirmed and
designated in writing within 15 calendar days from oral disclosure at the latest as confidential information
by the Disclosing Party, is “Confidential Information”.
The Recipient hereby undertakes in addition and without prejudice to any commitment on non-disclosure
under the Grant Agreement, for a period of 5 years after the end of the Project:
− not to use Confidential Information otherwise than for the purpose for which it was disclosed;
− not to disclose Confidential Information without the prior written consent by the Disclosing Party;
− to ensure that internal distribution of Confidential Information by a Recipient shall take place on
a strict need-to-know basis; and
− to return to the Disclosing Party, or destroy, on request all Confidential Information that has
been disclosed to the Recipients including all copies thereof and to delete all information stored
in a machine-readable form to the extent practically possible. The Recipients may keep a copy
to the extent it is required to keep, archive or store such Confidential Information because of
compliance with applicable laws and regulations or for the proof of on-going obligations provided
that the Recipient complies with the confidentiality obligations herein contained with respect to
such copy.
The Recipient shall be responsible for the fulfilment of the above obligations on the part of their
employees or third parties involved in the Project and shall ensure that they remain so obliged, as far
as legally possible, during and after the end of the Project and/or after the termination of the contractual
relationship with the employee or third party.
The above shall not apply for disclosure or use of Confidential Information, if and in so far as the
Recipient can show that:
− the Confidential Information has become or becomes publicly available by means other than a
breach of the Recipient’s confidentiality obligations;
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− the Disclosing Party subsequently informs the Recipient that the Confidential Information is no
longer confidential;
− the Confidential Information is communicated to the Recipient without any obligation of
confidentiality by a third party who is to the best knowledge of the Recipient in lawful possession
thereof and under no obligation of confidentiality to the Disclosing Party;
− the disclosure or communication of the Confidential Information is foreseen by provisions of the
Grant Agreement;
− the Confidential Information, at any time, was developed by the Recipient completely
independently of any such disclosure by the Disclosing Party;
− the Confidential Information was already known to the Recipient prior to disclosure, or
− the Recipient is required to disclose the Confidential Information in order to comply with
applicable laws or regulations or with a court or administrative order, subject to the provision
Section 10.7 hereunder.
10.5
The Recipient shall apply the same degree of care with regard to the Confidential Information disclosed
within the scope of the Project as with its own confidential and/or proprietary information, but in no case
less than reasonable care
10.6
Each Recipient shall promptly inform the relevant Disclosing Party by written notice of any unauthorised
disclosure, misappropriation or misuse of Confidential Information after it becomes aware of such
unauthorised disclosure, misappropriation or misuse.
10.7
If any Recipient becomes aware that it will be required, or is likely to be required, to disclose Confidential
Information in order to comply with applicable laws or regulations or with a court or administrative order
or in the case of the Associated Partners with the requirements of their Award Agreement or
requirements of the UK Granting Authority, it shall, to the extent it is lawfully able to do so, prior to any
such disclosure
− notify the Disclosing Party, and
− comply with the Disclosing Party’s reasonable instructions to protect the confidentiality of the
information.
11 Miscellaneous
Attachments, inconsistencies and severability
This Consortium Agreement consists of this core text and:
− Attachment 1 (Background included)
− Attachment 2 (Accession document)
− Attachment 3 (List of third parties for simplified transfer according to Section 8.3.2)
− Attachment 4 (Identified entities under the same control)
− Attachment 5 (NDA for External Advisory Board agreed under Section 6)
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In case the terms of this Consortium Agreement are in conflict with the terms of the Grant Agreement,
the terms of the latter shall prevail. In case of conflicts between the attachments and the core text of this
Consortium Agreement, the latter shall prevail.
Should any provision of this Consortium Agreement become invalid, illegal or unenforceable, it shall not
affect the validity of the remaining provisions of this Consortium Agreement. In such a case, the Parties
concerned shall be entitled to request that a valid and practicable provision be negotiated that fulfils the
purpose of the original provision.
No representation, partnership or agency
Except as otherwise provided in Section 6.4.4, no Party shall be entitled to act or to make legally binding
declarations on behalf of any other Party or of the consortium. Nothing in this Consortium Agreement
shall be deemed to constitute a joint venture, agency, partnership, interest grouping or any other kind
of formal business grouping or entity between the Parties.
Formal and written notices
Any notice to be given under this Consortium Agreement shall be addressed to the recipients as listed
in the most current address list kept by the Coordinator.
Any change of persons or contact details shall be immediately communicated to the Coordinator by
written notice. The address list shall be accessible to all Parties.
Formal notices:
If it is required in this Consortium Agreement (Sections 4.3, 9.7.2.1.1, and 11.4) that a formal notice,
consent or approval shall be given, such notice shall be signed by an authorised representative of a
Party and shall either be served personally or sent by mail with recorded delivery with acknowledgement
of receipt.
Written notice:
Where written notice is required by this Consortium Agreement, this is fulfilled also by other means of
communication such as e-mail.
Assignment and amendments
Except as set out in Section 8.3, no rights or obligations of the Parties arising from this Consortium
Agreement may be assigned or transferred, in whole or in part, to any third party without the other
Parties’ prior formal approval.
Amendments and modifications to the text of this Consortium Agreement not explicitly listed in 6.3.1.2
require a separate written agreement to be signed between all Parties.
Mandatory national law
Nothing in this Consortium Agreement shall be deemed to require a Party to breach any mandatory
statutory law under which the Party is operating.
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Language
This Consortium Agreement is drawn up in English, which language shall govern all documents, notices,
meetings, arbitral proceedings and processes relative thereto.
Applicable law
This Consortium Agreement shall be construed in accordance with and governed by the laws of Belgium
excluding its conflict of law provisions.
Settlement of disputes
The Parties shall endeavour to settle their disputes amicably.
All disputes arising out of or in connection with this Consortium Agreement, which cannot be solved
amicably, shall be finally settled in the English language by the courts of Brussels.
12 Signatures
AS WITNESS:
The Parties have caused this Consortium Agreement to be duly signed by the undersigned authorised
representatives the day and year first above written in separate signature pages in an electronic
signature system (DocuSign). The Consortium Agreement signed and delivered via the electronic
signature system shall have the same force and effect as an agreement with original handwritten
signatures. Each Party receives a fully executed copy of the Consortium Agreement. Each Party
warrants that the person(s) signing this Consortium Agreement is authorized to sign the Consortium
Agreement in the name of said Party.
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VTT TECHNICAL RESEARCH CENTRE OF FINLAND LTD
Date: 25 August 2022
Signature:
Name: Edgar Bohner
Title: Vice President, Smart Energy & Built Envi.
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CARDIFF UNIVERSITY
Date:
Signature:
Name:
Title:
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BIRMINGHAM CITY UNIVERSITY
Date: 25 August 2022
Signature:
Name: Julian Beer
Title: Deputy Vice Chancellor
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BUILDINGSMART INTERNATIONAL LIMITED
Date:
Signature:
Name:
Title:
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ACCORD Consortium Agreement, version 5 (FINAL), 1.7.2022
FRAUNHOFER GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FOERDERUNG DER ANGEWANDTEN FORSCHUNG E.V.
Date:
Signature:
Name:
Title:
Date:
Signature:
Name:
Title:
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OPEN GEOSPATIAL CONSORTIUM EUROPE
Date: 29 August 2022
Signature:
Name: Frank Balser
Title: Financial Director
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CONSEIL DES ARCHITECTES D'EUROPE
Date:
Signature:
Name:
Title:
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MAJANDUS JA KOMMUNIKATSIOONIMINISTEERIUM
Date: 31 August 2022
Signature:
Name: Jaan Saar
Title: Head of Digital Construction
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FREIE UND HANSESTADT HAMBURG
Date: 26. August 2022
Signature:
Name: Thomas Eichhorn
Title: CEO
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AYUNTAMIENTO DE MALGRAT DE MAR
Date:
Signature:
Name:
Title:
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SIRMA AI EAD
Date:
Signature:
Name:
Title:
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SOLIBRI OY
Date:
Signature:
Name:
Title:
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FUTURE INSIGHT GROUP BV
Date: 25 augustus 2022
Signature:
Name: Rick Klooster
Title: CTO
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ACCORD Consortium Agreement, version 5 (FINAL), 1.7.2022
AETHER ENGINEERING S.A.S. TRA PROFESSIONISTI DI CHRISTOVASILIS
IOANNIS
Date: 25 August 2022
Signature:
Name: Ioannis Christovasilis
Title: Director / LEAR of Aether Engineering
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INSTITUT MINES-TELECOM
Date:
Signature:
Name:
Title:
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INSTITUT DE TECNOLOGIA DE LA CONSTRUCCION DE CATALUNYA
Date: 26 de agosto de 2022
Signature:
Name: Francisco Diéguez
Title: Director General
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FUNDACIO PRIVADA UNIVERSITAT I TECNOLOGIA
Date:
Signature:
Name:
Title:
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STIFTELSEN HOGSKOLAN I JONKOPING
Date: 30 August 2022
Signature:
Name: Salem Seiffeddine
Title: Prof., associate dean of research
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CLOUDPERMIT OY
Date: 30 elokuuta 2022
Signature:
Name: Lassi Koskinen
Title: CFO
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TEGEL PROJEKT GMBH
Date: 25. August 2022
Signature:
Name: Ulrike Nier
Title: Leiterin Käufmännischer Bereich
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Attachment 1: Background included
According to the Grant Agreement (Article 16.1) Background is defined as “data, know-how or
information (…) that is (…) needed to implement the Action or exploit the results”. Because of this need,
Access Rights have to be granted in principle, but Parties must identify and agree amongst them on the
Background for the Project. This is the purpose of this attachment.
VTT
As to VTT, it is agreed between the Parties that, to the best of their knowledge, no data, know-how or
information of VTT is Needed by another Party for implementation of the Project (Article 16.1 and its
Annex 5 Grant Agreement, Section “Access rights to results and background”, sub-section “Access
rights to background and results for implementing the action”) or Exploitation of that other Party’s Results
(Article 16.1 and its Annex 5 Grant Agreement, Section “Access rights to results and background”, sub-
section “Access rights for exploiting the results”).
This represents the status at the time of signature of this Consortium Agreement.
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CARDIFF UNIVERSITY
As to CARDIFF UNIVERSITY, it is agreed between the Parties that, to the best of their knowledge, the
following Background is hereby identified and agreed upon for the Project. Specific limitations and/or
conditions, shall be as mentioned hereunder:
Describe Background Specific restrictions and/or Specific restrictions and/or
conditions for implementation conditions for Exploitation
(Article 16.4 Grant Agreement (Article 16.4 Grant
and its Annex 5, Section Agreement and its Annex 5,
“Access rights to results and Section “Access rights to
background”, sub-section results and background”,
“Access rights to background sub-section “Access rights
and results for implementing for exploiting the results”)
the Action”)
D-COM Digital Compliance Cardiff University only has the
Ecosystem. Consisting of Rule right to use this IP in a research
Engine, Document Service context. CU does not have a
and Result Service. licence to use this IP for
commercial purposes, nor does
Cardiff have any exploitation
rights in respect of this IP.Cardiff
can allow the Partners to use the
services and integrate with the
APIs – but Cardiff cannot provide
the source code to the Partners.
This represents the status at the time of signature of this Consortium Agreement.
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BIRMINGHAM CITY UNIVERSITY
As to BIRMINGHAM CITY UNIVERSITY, it is agreed between the Parties that, to the best of their
knowledge, the following Background is hereby identified and agreed upon for the Project. Specific
limitations and/or conditions, shall be as mentioned hereunder:
Describe Background Specific restrictions and/or Specific restrictions and/or
conditions for implementation conditions for Exploitation
(Article 16.4 Grant Agreement (Article 16.4 Grant
and its Annex 5, Section Agreement and its Annex 5,
“Access rights to results and Section “Access rights to
background”, sub-section results and background”,
“Access rights to background sub-section “Access rights
and results for implementing for exploiting the results”)
the Action”)
BIM models and associated Birmingham City University (BCU) No party can have any rights
data and information on offsite has the right to use BIM models to Exploitation.
building and associated data and
information on offsite buildings as
provided by Hadley Group.
BCU does not have the right to the
IP and does not have the right to
commercial exploitation of such
data.
BCU can allow the consortium
parties to access this data within
the context of Work Package 5,
and for research purposes only.
Specific uses of the data might
require explicit permission by the
Hadley Group.
IFC to BIM tools developed by BCU has the right to use No party can have any rights
Aether Engineering technologies developed by Aether for Exploitation
Engineering in the context of Work
Package 5, for research purposes.
BCU has no IP right to these
technologies, no rights of
commercial exploitation, and no
access to the source code.
The rights of use of the
Consortium Partners are covered
in the Aether Engineering
declaration.
This represents the status at the time of signature of this Consortium Agreement.
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BUILDINGSMART INTERNATIONAL LIMITED
As to BUILDINGSMART INTERNATIONAL LIMITED, it is agreed between the Parties that, to the best
of their knowledge, the following Background is hereby identified and agreed upon for the Project.
Specific limitations and/or conditions, shall be as mentioned hereunder:
Describe Background Specific restrictions and/or Specific restrictions and/or
conditions for implementation conditions for Exploitation
(Article 16.4 Grant Agreement (Article 16.4 Grant
and its Annex 5, Section Agreement and its Annex 5,
“Access rights to results and Section “Access rights to
background”, sub-section results and background”,
“Access rights to background sub-section “Access rights
and results for implementing for exploiting the results”)
the Action”)
buildingSMART Standards like To use as stated in the Creative To use as stated in the
IFC, BCF, IDS, and others. Commons license under which the Creative Commons license
Published on standard is published. under which the standard is
buildingSMART.org or published.
subdomains.
buildingSMART Data Use of the sandbox environment Access to publish data to the
Dictionary, published on for the project to publish data. bSDD production environment
bsdd.buildingsmart.,org and Access to all the freely available needs an additional
subdomains data in the bSDD through the API. agreement.
buildingSMART Validation Use of the live environment and Access is limited to the use;
services, published on testing environment under the access to source code is not
validate.buildingsmart.org buildingSMART Terms and possible.
conditions for (Technical)
Services
Use Case Marketplace / Use Use of the live environment and Access is limited to the use;
Case Management Service on testing environment under the access to source code is not
ucm.builingsmart.org buildingSMART Terms and possible.
conditions for (Technical)
Services.
Publications from the available Content can be referred with the Publications and work from
Technical reports and White correct source and copyright the projects are not publicly
papers attribution. available.
All publications on the Content can be used subject to
buildingSMART.org website copyright and licensing terms.
that are marked “Copyright
buildingSMART International
Limited.”
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All documentation held in the All content is owned by bSI
bSI box and sharepoint (unless marked otherwise) and
repositories. can only be accessed or used if
bSI grants permission.
bSI Logos and trademarks All are owned by bSI and can be
re-used without alteration based
on the bSi Logo and Branding
guidelines.
This represents the status at the time of signature of this Consortium Agreement.
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FRAUNHOFER GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FOERDERUNG DER ANGEWANDTEN FORSCHUNG E.V.
As to FRAUNHOFER GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FOERDERUNG DER ANGEWANDTEN FORSCHUNG
E.V., it is agreed between the Parties that, to the best of their knowledge, the following Background is
hereby identified and agreed upon for the Project. Specific limitations and/or conditions, shall be as
mentioned hereunder:
Describe Background Specific restrictions and/or Specific restrictions and/or
conditions for implementation conditions for Exploitation
(Article 16.4 Grant Agreement (Article 16.4 Grant
and its Annex 5, Section Agreement and its Annex 5,
“Access rights to results and Section “Access rights to
background”, sub-section results and background”,
“Access rights to background sub-section “Access rights
and results for implementing for exploiting the results”)
the Action”)
LCA calculation using Provision of access to the Utilisation of LCA results for
GENERIS® GENERIS BIM-API for the certification purposes or legal
German demonstration to all requirement compliance will
contributing parties. require an additional
agreement.
This represents the status at the time of signature of this Consortium Agreement.
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OPEN GEOSPATIAL CONSORTIUM EUROPE
As to OPEN GEOSPATIAL CONSORTIUM EUROPE, it is agreed between the Parties that, to the best
of their knowledge, no data, know-how or information of OPEN GEOSPATIAL CONSORTIUM EUROPE
is Needed by another Party for implementation of the Project (Article 16.1 and its Annex 5 Grant
Agreement, Section “Access rights to results and background”, sub-section “Access rights to
background and results for implementing the action”) or Exploitation of that other Party’s Results (Article
16.1 and its Annex 5 Grant Agreement, Section “Access rights to results and background”, sub-section
“Access rights for exploiting the results”).
This represents the status at the time of signature of this Consortium Agreement.
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CONSEIL DES ARCHITECTES D'EUROPE
As to CONSEIL DES ARCHITECTES D'EUROPE, it is agreed between the Parties that, to the best of
their knowledge, no data, know-how or information of ACE is Needed by another Party for
implementation of the Project (Article 16.1 and its Annex 5 Grant Agreement, Section “Access rights to
results and background”, sub-section “Access rights to background and results for implementing the
action”) or Exploitation of that other Party’s Results (Article 16.1 and its Annex 5 Grant Agreement,
Section “Access rights to results and background”, sub-section “Access rights for exploiting the results”).
This represents the status at the time of signature of this Consortium Agreement.
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ACCORD Consortium Agreement, version 5 (FINAL), 1.7.2022
MAJANDUS JA KOMMUNIKATSIOONIMINISTEERIUM
As to MAJANDUS JA KOMMUNIKATSIOONIMINISTEERIUM, it is agreed between the Parties that, to
the best of their knowledge, no data, know-how or information of MKM is Needed by another Party for
implementation of the Project (Article 16.1 and its Annex 5 Grant Agreement, Section “Access rights to
results and background”, sub-section “Access rights to background and results for implementing the
action”) or Exploitation of that other Party’s Results (Article 16.1 and its Annex 5 Grant Agreement,
Section “Access rights to results and background”, sub-section “Access rights for exploiting the results”).
This represents the status at the time of signature of this Consortium Agreement.
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FREIE UND HANSESTADT HAMBURG
As to FREIE UND HANSESTADT HAMBURG, it is agreed between the Parties that, to the best of their
knowledge, the following Background is hereby identified and agreed upon for the Project. Specific
limitations and/or conditions, shall be as mentioned hereunder:
Describe Background Specific restrictions and/or Specific restrictions and/or
conditions for implementation conditions for Exploitation
(Article 16.4 Grant Agreement (Article 16.4 Grant
and its Annex 5, Section Agreement and its Annex 5,
“Access rights to results and Section “Access rights to
background”, sub-section results and background”,
“Access rights to background sub-section “Access rights
and results for implementing for exploiting the results”)
the Action”)
Providing open data (geodata,
contracts, regulations, official
statistics, public plans (e.g.
legal binding land use plans
according to INSPIRE PLU
model or national XPlanGML
standard), results of public
measurements and
investigations, budgets etc.)
Production and publication of
official maps and the 3D city
model
Providing open spatial data on
standardized web services
(OGC)
This represents the status at the time of signature of this Consortium Agreement.
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ACCORD Consortium Agreement, version 5 (FINAL), 1.7.2022
AYUNTAMIENTO DE MALGRAT DE MAR
As to Ajuntament de Malgrat de Mar, it is agreed between the Parties that, to the best of their knowledge,
no data, know-how or information of Ajuntament de Malgrat de Mar is Needed by another Party for
implementation of the Project (Article 16.1 and its Annex 5 Grant Agreement, Section “Access rights to
results and background”, sub-section “Access rights to background and results for implementing the
action”) or Exploitation of that other Party’s Results (Article 16.1 and its Annex 5 Grant Agreement,
Section “Access rights to results and background”, sub-section “Access rights for exploiting the results”).
This represents the status at the time of signature of this Consortium Agreement.
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SIRMA AI EAD
As to SIRMA AI EAD, it is agreed between the Parties that, to the best of their knowledge, the following
Background is hereby identified and agreed upon for the Project. Specific limitations and/or conditions,
shall be as mentioned hereunder:
Describe Background Specific restrictions and/or Specific restrictions and/or
conditions for implementation conditions for Exploitation
(Article 16.4 Grant Agreement (Article 16.4 Grant
and its Annex 5, Section Agreement and its Annex 5,
“Access rights to results and Section “Access rights to
background”, sub-section results and background”,
“Access rights to background sub-section “Access rights
and results for implementing for exploiting the results”)
the Action”)
GraphDB Copyrighted and protected by Copyrighted and protected by
IPRs. IPRs.
The background described will be Prior to exploitation involving
made accessible to project the stated background,
partners for the purpose of the consent must be obtained from
project as defined by its task. Ontotext and usage terms
must be agreed.
Ontotext Reconciliation Copyrighted and protected by Copyrighted and protected by
Service IPRs. IPRs.
The background described will be Prior to exploitation involving
made accessible to project the stated background,
partners for the purpose of the consent must be obtained from
project as defined by its task. Ontotext and usage terms
must be agreed.
Ontotext Metadata Studio Copyrighted and protected by Copyrighted and protected by
(Manual Annotation Tool) IPRs. IPRs.
The background described will be Prior to exploitation involving
made accessible to project the stated background,
partners for the purpose of the consent must be obtained from
project as defined by its task. Ontotext and usage terms
must be agreed.
Ontotext Platform Services Copyrighted and protected by Copyrighted and protected by
IPRs. IPRs.
The background described will be Prior to exploitation involving
made accessible to project the stated background,
partners for the purpose of the consent must be obtained from
project if needed in some task. Ontotext and usage terms
must be agreed.
This represents the status at the time of signature of this Consortium Agreement.
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SOLIBRI OY
As to Solibri Oy, it is agreed between the Parties that, to the best of their knowledge, the following
Background is hereby identified and agreed upon for the Project. Specific limitations and/or conditions,
shall be as mentioned hereunder:
the following Background is hereby identified and agreed upon for the Project. Specific limitations and/or
conditions, shall be as mentioned hereunder:
Describe Background Specific restrictions and/or Specific restrictions and/or
conditions for implementation conditions for Exploitation
(Article 16.4 Grant Agreement (Article 16.4 Grant
and its Annex 5, Section Agreement and its Annex 5,
“Access rights to results and Section “Access rights to
background”, sub-section results and background”,
“Access rights to background sub-section “Access rights
and results for implementing for exploiting the results”)
the Action”)
Solibri Office Copyrighted and protected BY Copyrighted and protected by
Solibri. The software will be made Solibri. Prior to exploitation
accessible to project members for involving the stated
the purpose of the project. The background, consent must be
source code will not be provided. obtained from Solibri and
usage terms must be agreed.
Solibri Cloud Copyrighted and protected BY Copyrighted and protected by
Solibri. The software will be made Solibri. Prior to exploitation
accessible to project members for involving the stated
the purpose of the project. The background, consent must be
source code will not be provided. obtained from Solibri and
usage terms must be agreed.
This represents the status at the time of signature of this Consortium Agreement.
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FUTURE INSIGHT GROUP BV
As to FUTURE INSIGHT GROUP BV, it is agreed between the Parties that, to the best of their
knowledge, the following Background is hereby identified and agreed upon for the Project. Specific
limitations and/or conditions, shall be as mentioned hereunder:
Describe Background Specific restrictions and/or Specific restrictions and/or
conditions for implementation conditions for Exploitation
(Article 16.4 Grant Agreement (Article 16.4 Grant
and its Annex 5, Section Agreement and its Annex 5,
“Access rights to results and Section “Access rights to
background”, sub-section results and background”,
“Access rights to background sub-section “Access rights
and results for implementing for exploiting the results”)
the Action”)
Clearly.BIM.OUP Copyrighted and protected by FUI. Copyrighted and protected by
Basic ecosystem to The background described will be FUI. Prior to exploitation
everything we do within made accessible to project involving the stated
partners for the purpose of the background, consent must be
the project
project as defined by its task. obtained from Future Insight
- Based on the open MIM & PPI and usage terms must be
approach according to the Horizon agreed.
Espresso project
- All this standard functionality will
be available for anyone in the
project. All prototypes solutions
can use the ecosystem
This represents the status at the time of signature of this Consortium Agreement.
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AETHER ENGINEERING S.A.S. TRA PROFESSIONISTI DI CHRISTOVASILIS IOANNIS
As to Aether Engineering s.a.s. tra professionisti di Christovasilis Ioannis (AE), it is agreed between the
Parties that, to the best of their knowledge, the following Background is hereby identified and agreed
upon for the Project. Specific limitations and/or conditions, shall be as mentioned hereunder:
Describe Background Specific restrictions and/or Specific restrictions and/or
conditions for implementation conditions for Exploitation
(Article 16.4 Grant Agreement (Article 16.4 Grant
and its Annex 5, Section Agreement and its Annex 5,
“Access rights to results and Section “Access rights to
background”, sub-section results and background”,
“Access rights to background sub-section “Access rights
and results for implementing for exploiting the results”)
the Action”)
Structural BIM Viewer: a Copyrighted and protected by Copyrighted and protected by
specialist tool for an open- IPRs. IPRs.
source structural workflow.
Access to the tool to project Access to the service API for
Consists of front-end APP and members for the needs of the professional use will require an
back-end Service API. project will be provided. additional agreement with AE.
Source code of the tool can be
provided with an open-source
license. Source code of
production-critical and safety-
critical components shall not be
provided.
IFC2CA: open-source library To use as stated in the respective To use as stated in the
for BIM-driven structural license(s) under which the library respective license(s) under
engineering workflows. is published. which the library is published.
BIM models and associated AE has the right to use BIM BIM models created by AE to
data and information on offsite models and associated data and use as stated in the respective
building. information on offsite buildings as license under which the
provided by Hadley Group. models will be published.
BIM models created by AE will be
provided as study cases with a
Creative Commons License.
This represents the status at the time of signature of this Consortium Agreement.
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INSTITUT MINES-TELECOM
As to INSTITUT MINES-TELECOM, it is agreed between the Parties that, to the best of their knowledge,
no data, know-how or information of INSTITUT MINES-TELECOM is Needed by another Party for
implementation of the Project (Article 16.1 and its Annex 5 Grant Agreement, Section “Access rights to
results and background”, sub-section “Access rights to background and results for implementing the
action”) or Exploitation of that other Party’s Results (Article 16.1 and its Annex 5 Grant Agreement,
Section “Access rights to results and background”, sub-section “Access rights for exploiting the results”).
This represents the status at the time of signature of this Consortium Agreement.
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INSTITUT DE TECNOLOGIA DE LA CONSTRUCCION DE CATALUNYA
As to INSTITUT DE TECNOLOGIA DE LA CONSTRUCCION DE CATALUNYA, it is agreed between
the Parties that, to the best of their knowledge, no data, know-how or information of INSTITUT DE
TECNOLOGIA DE LA CONSTRUCCION DE CATALUNYA is Needed by another Party for
implementation of the Project (Article 16.1 and its Annex 5 Grant Agreement, Section “Access rights to
results and background”, sub-section “Access rights to background and results for implementing the
action”) or Exploitation of that other Party’s Results (Article 16.1 and its Annex 5 Grant Agreement,
Section “Access rights to results and background”, sub-section “Access rights for exploiting the results”).
This represents the status at the time of signature of this Consortium Agreement.
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ACCORD Consortium Agreement, version 5 (FINAL), 1.7.2022
FUNDACIO PRIVADA UNIVERSITAT I TECNOLOGIA
As to FUNDACIO PRIVADA UNIVERSITAT I TECNOLOGIA, it is agreed between the Parties that, to
the best of their knowledge, no data, know-how or information of FUNDACIO PRIVADA UNIVERSITAT
I TECNOLOGIA is Needed by another Party for implementation of the Project (Article 16.1 and its Annex
5 Grant Agreement, Section “Access rights to results and background”, sub-section “Access rights to
background and results for implementing the action”) or Exploitation of that other Party’s Results (Article
16.1 and its Annex 5 Grant Agreement, Section “Access rights to results and background”, sub-section
“Access rights for exploiting the results”).
This represents the status at the time of signature of this Consortium Agreement.
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STIFTELSEN HOGSKOLAN I JONKOPING
As to STIFTELSEN HOGSKOLAN I JONKOPING , it is agreed between the Parties that, to the best of
their knowledge, no data know-how or information of Stiftelsen Hogskolan i Jonkoping is Needed by
another Party for implementation of the Project (Article 16.1 and its Annex 5 Grant Agreement, Section
“Access rights to results and background”, sub-section “Access rights to background and results for
implementing the action”) or Exploitation of that other Party’s Results (Article 16.1 and its Annex 5 Grant
Agreement, Section “Access rights to results and background”, sub-section “Access rights for exploiting
the results”).
This represents the status at the time of signature of this Consortium Agreement.
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CLOUDPERMIT OY
As to Cloudpermit Oy, it is agreed between the Parties that, to the best of their knowledge, the following
Background is hereby identified and agreed upon for the Project. Specific limitations and/or conditions,
shall be as mentioned hereunder:
Describe Background Specific restrictions and/or Specific restrictions and/or
conditions for implementation conditions for Exploitation
(Article 16.4 Grant Agreement (Article 16.4 Grant
and its Annex 5, Section Agreement and its Annex 5,
“Access rights to results and Section “Access rights to
background”, sub-section results and background”,
“Access rights to background sub-section “Access rights
and results for implementing for exploiting the results”)
the Action”)
Cloudpermit Platform Copyrighted and protected BY Copyrighted and protected by
CP. The Platform will be made CP. Prior to exploitation
accessible to project members for involving the stated
the purpose of the project. The background, consent must be
source code will not be provided. obtained from CP.
This represents the status at the time of signature of this Consortium Agreement.
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TEGEL PROJEKT GMBH
Tegel Projekt GmbH, it is agreed between the Parties that, to the best of their knowledge, the following
Background is hereby identified and agreed upon for the Project. Specific limitations and/or conditions,
shall be as mentioned hereunder:
Describe Background Specific restrictions and/or Specific restrictions and/or
conditions for implementation conditions for Exploitation
(Article 16.4 Grant Agreement (Article 16.4 Grant
and its Annex 5, Section Agreement and its Annex 5,
“Access rights to results and Section “Access rights to
background”, sub-section results and background”,
“Access rights to background sub-section “Access rights
and results for implementing for exploiting the results”)
the Action”)
Production and publication of
maps and the 3D model
Providing spatial data on
standardized web services
(OGC) to partners / service
providers
Providing land-use plans
Providing open data (geo-data
and 3D model)
This represents the status at the time of signature of this Consortium Agreement.
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Attachment 2: Accession document
ACCESSION
of a new Party to
[Acronym of the Project] Consortium Agreement, version […, YYYY-MM-DD]
[OFFICIAL NAME OF THE NEW PARTY AS IDENTIFIED IN THE Grant Agreement]
hereby consents to become a Party to the Consortium Agreement identified above and accepts all the
rights and obligations of a Party starting [date].
[OFFICIAL NAME OF THE COORDINATOR AS IDENTIFIED IN THE Grant Agreement]
hereby certifies that the consortium has accepted in the meeting held on [date] the accession of [the
name of the new Party] to the consortium starting [date].
This Accession document has been done in 2 originals to be duly signed by the undersigned authorised
representatives.
[Date and Place]
[INSERT NAME OF THE NEW PARTY]
Signature(s)
Name(s)
Title(s)
[Date and Place]
[INSERT NAME OF THE COORDINATOR]
Signature(s)
Name(s)
Title(s)
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Attachment 3: List of third parties for simplified transfer according
to Section 8.3.2
• For Tegel Projekt GmbH: Land Berlin (state of Berlin)
• For Cardiff University: University College Cardiff Consultants
• For BIRMINGHAM CITY UNIVERSITY: BCU Enterprise Limited
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Attachment 4: Identified entities under the same control according
to Section 9.5
• For STIFTELSEN HOGSKOLAN I JÖNKÖPING: Tekniska Högskolan i Jönköping AB
• For Tegel Projekt GmbH: Land Berlin (state of Berlin)
• For Cardiff University: University College Cardiff Consultants Limited
• For BIRMINGHAM CITY UNIVERSITY: BCU Enterprise Limited
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Attachment 5: Non-Disclosure Commitment for External Advisory
Board agreed under Section 6
EXTERNAL ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER COMMITMENT
Automated Compliance Checks for Construction, Renovation or Demolition Works
in short ACCORD
Background: A consortium has been formed to implement the EU funded Horizon Europe Project
entitled Automated Compliance Checks for Construction, Renovation or Demolition
Works (the "Project") which is governed by a Consortium Agreement, dated [day] [month]
[year] (the "Consortium Agreement"). An External Advisory Board has been nominated
and it shall include expert External Advisory Board Members not representing any of the
parties of the consortium.
Now therefore in consideration of the aims and objectives set out herein the undersigned hereby
agree to the following:
[Name of the employer organisation of the External Advisory Board Member, if any] shall
appoint [Name of the External Advisory Board Member] as the External Advisory Board
Member and [Name and contact information of the External Advisory Board Member] is
willing to participate as such.
The External Advisory Board Member shall assist the consortium parties when
implementing the Project by providing information, advice and feedback when requested
(“Tasks”). The consortium may decide to terminate the participation of the External
Advisory Board Member and therewith this commitment at any moment, immediately,
without cause and without liability by giving a notice of termination to the External
Advisory Board Member. The consortium parties are entitled to freely use the contribution,
information, advice and feedback provided by the External Advisory Board Member for
any purpose, including for the purpose of implementing the Project. The External Advisory
Board Member is not entitled to any re-imbursement [with the exception of the travel costs
for the annual External Advisory Board meeting, after these are approved by the
consortium].
The External Advisory Board Member understands that he/she may receive Confidential
Information when implementing his/her Tasks. Such Confidential Information may be
used solely for the purpose of performing the Tasks. The terms of Confidentiality are
identified in Annex 1 attached hereto and the undersigned hereby accepts and agrees to
adhere these rules as a Recipient.
This Commitment shall be construed in accordance with and governed by the laws of
Belgium excluding its conflict of law provisions. All disputes arising out of or in connection
with this Commitment, which cannot be solved amicably, shall be finally settled by the
competent courts of Brussels, Belgium.
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This Commitment shall enter into force on the date of the signature and be enforceable
by any of the parties of the consortium.
Signatures:
Place and date: _________________________
Signature:
______________________________
Name: ______________________________
Place and date: ______________________
Name of the employer organisation, if any:
__________________________________
Signature:
__________________________________
Name and title of the signatory:
__________________________________
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External Advisory Board Commitment
Annex 1: Terms of Confidentiality based on the Consortium Agreement
[Copy-paste Section 10 from the Consortium Agreement]
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Attachment 6: Grant Agreement
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Attachment 7: Consortium Plan
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EUROPEAN HEALTH AND DIGITAL EXECUTIVE AGENCY
(HADEA)
HADEA.B – Digital, Industry and Space
B.3 – Industry
GRANT AGREEMENT
Project 101056973 — ACCORD
PREAMBLE
This Agreement (‘the Agreement’) is between the following parties:
on the one part,
the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HADEA) (‘EU executive agency’ or ‘granting
authority’), under the powers delegated by the European Commission (‘European Commission’),
and
on the other part,
1. ‘the coordinator’:
TEKNOLOGIAN TUTKIMUSKESKUS VTT OY (VTT), PIC 932760440, established in
TEKNIIKANTIE 21, ESPOO 02150, Finland,
and the following other beneficiaries, if they sign their ‘accession form’ (see Annex 3 and Article 40):
2. FRAUNHOFER GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FORDERUNG DER ANGEWANDTEN
FORSCHUNG EV (FHG), PIC 999984059, established in HANSASTRASSE 27C, MUNCHEN
80686, Germany,
3. OPEN GEOSPATIAL CONSORTIUM EUROPE (OGC), PIC 899555206, established in
TECHNOLOGIELAAN 3, LEUVEN 3001, Belgium,
4. CONSEIL DES ARCHITECTES D'EUROPE (ACE), PIC 924742517, established in RUE
PAUL EMILE JANSON 29, BRUXELLES 1050, Belgium,
5. MAJANDUS JA KOMMUNIKATSIOONIMINISTEERIUM (MKM), PIC 963638450,
established in SUUR-AMEERIKA 1, TALLINN 10122, Estonia,
6. FREIE UND HANSESTADT HAMBURG (HAM), PIC 998928602, established in
RATHAUSMARKT 1, HAMBURG 20095, Germany,
7. AYUNTAMIENTO DE MALGRAT DE MAR (AMM), PIC 890717827, established in
CARRER DEL CARME 30, MALGRAT DE MAR 08380, Spain,
8. SIRMA AI EAD (ONTO), PIC 900925331, established in 135 TSARIGRADSKO SHOSE BLVD,
SOFIA 1784, Bulgaria,
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9. SOLIBRI OY (SOL), PIC 888132001, established in TAMMASAARENKATU 5, HELSINKI
00180, Finland,
10. FUTURE INSIGHT GROUP BV (FUI), PIC 928328025, established in
ZWARTEWATERALLEE 44, ZWOLLE 8031 DX, Netherlands,
11. AETHER ENGINEERING S.A.S. TRA PROFESSIONISTI DI CHRISTOVASILIS
IOANNIS (AE), PIC 923674935, established in VIA MASACCIO 252, FIRENZE 50136, Italy,
12. INSTITUT MINES-TELECOM (IMT), PIC 999849326, established in 19 PLACE
MARGUERITE PEREY, PALAISEAU 91120, France,
13. INSTITUT DE TECNOLOGIA DE LA CONSTRUCCION DE CATALUNYA (ITeC), PIC
945306517, established in Calle Wellington 19, Barcelona 08018, Spain,
14. FUNDACIO PRIVADA UNIVERSITAT I TECNOLOGIA (FUNITEC), PIC 997191235,
established in CALLE SANT JOAN DE LA SALLE 42, BARCELONA 08022, Spain,
15. STIFTELSEN HOGSKOLAN I JONKOPING (JU), PIC 997539271, established in
GJUTERIGATAN 5, JONKOPING 551 11, Sweden,
16. CLOUDPERMIT OY (CP), PIC 887892120, established in HAMEENKATU 13, TAMPERE
33100, Finland,
17. TEGEL PROJEKT GMBH (TEGEL), PIC 934242503, established in URBAN TECH
REPUBLIC GEBAUDE V FLUGHAFEN TEGEL 1, BERLIN 13405, Germany,
Unless otherwise specified, references to ‘beneficiary’ or ‘beneficiaries’ include the coordinator and
affiliated entities (if any).
If only one beneficiary signs the grant agreement (‘mono-beneficiary grant’), all provisions referring
to the ‘coordinator’ or the ‘beneficiaries’ will be considered — mutatis mutandis — as referring to
the beneficiary.
The parties referred to above have agreed to enter into the Agreement.
By signing the Agreement and the accession forms, the beneficiaries accept the grant and agree to
implement the action under their own responsibility and in accordance with the Agreement, with all
the obligations and terms and conditions it sets out.
The Agreement is composed of:
Preamble
Terms and Conditions (including Data Sheet)
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Annex 1 Description of the action1
Annex 2 Estimated budget for the action
Annex 2a Additional information on unit costs and contributions (if applicable)
Annex 3 Accession forms (if applicable)2
Annex 3a Declaration on joint and several liability of affiliated entities (if applicable)3
Annex 4 Model for the financial statements
Annex 5 Specific rules (if applicable)
1 Template published on Portal Reference Documents.
2 Template published on Portal Reference Documents.
3 Template published on Portal Reference Documents.
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TERMS AND CONDITIONS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
GRANT AGREEMENT.................................................................................................................................................... 1
PREAMBLE........................................................................................................................................................................1
TERMS AND CONDITIONS...........................................................................................................................................4
DATASHEET...................................................................................................................................................................... 9
CHAPTER 1 GENERAL..............................................................................................................................................14
ARTICLE 1 — SUBJECT OF THE AGREEMENT ..................................................................................... 14
ARTICLE 2 — DEFINITIONS........................................................................................................................14
CHAPTER 2 ACTION................................................................................................................................................. 15
ARTICLE 3 — ACTION................................................................................................................................. 15
ARTICLE 4 — DURATION AND STARTING DATE...................................................................................15
CHAPTER 3 GRANT...................................................................................................................................................15
ARTICLE 5 — GRANT...................................................................................................................................15
5.1 Form of grant......................................................................................................................................15
5.2 Maximum grant amount..................................................................................................................... 16
5.3 Funding rate........................................................................................................................................16
5.4 Estimated budget, budget categories and forms of funding.............................................................. 16
5.5 Budget flexibility................................................................................................................................16
ARTICLE 6 — ELIGIBLE AND INELIGIBLE COSTS AND CONTRIBUTIONS......................................17
6.1 General eligibility conditions............................................................................................................. 17
6.2 Specific eligibility conditions for each budget category................................................................... 18
6.3 Ineligible costs and contributions...................................................................................................... 22
6.4 Consequences of non-compliance...................................................................................................... 23
CHAPTER 4 GRANT IMPLEMENTATION............................................................................................................ 24
SECTION 1 CONSORTIUM: BENEFICIARIES, AFFILIATED ENTITIES AND OTHER
PARTICIPANTS........................................................................................................................................ 24
ARTICLE 7 — BENEFICIARIES................................................................................................................... 24
ARTICLE 8 — AFFILIATED ENTITIES....................................................................................................... 26
ARTICLE 9 — OTHER PARTICIPANTS INVOLVED IN THE ACTION................................................... 26
9.1 Associated partners.............................................................................................................................26
9.2 Third parties giving in-kind contributions to the action.................................................................... 27
9.3 Subcontractors.....................................................................................................................................27
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9.4 Recipients of financial support to third parties..................................................................................27
ARTICLE 10 — PARTICIPANTS WITH SPECIAL STATUS....................................................................... 28
10.1 Non-EU participants......................................................................................................................... 28
10.2 Participants which are international organisations...........................................................................28
10.3 Pillar-assessed participants............................................................................................................... 28
SECTION 2 RULES FOR CARRYING OUT THE ACTION...........................................................................31
ARTICLE 11 — PROPER IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ACTION............................................................ 31
11.1 Obligation to properly implement the action................................................................................... 31
11.2 Consequences of non-compliance.................................................................................................... 31
ARTICLE 12 — CONFLICT OF INTERESTS.............................................................................................. 31
12.1 Conflict of interests.......................................................................................................................... 31
12.2 Consequences of non-compliance.................................................................................................... 31
ARTICLE 13 — CONFIDENTIALITY AND SECURITY............................................................................ 31
13.1 Sensitive information........................................................................................................................32
13.2 Classified information...................................................................................................................... 32
13.3 Consequences of non-compliance.................................................................................................... 33
ARTICLE 14 — ETHICS AND VALUES...................................................................................................... 33
14.1 Ethics.................................................................................................................................................33
14.2 Values................................................................................................................................................ 33
14.3 Consequences of non-compliance.................................................................................................... 33
ARTICLE 15 — DATA PROTECTION.......................................................................................................... 33
15.1 Data processing by the granting authority....................................................................................... 33
15.2 Data processing by the beneficiaries............................................................................................... 34
15.3 Consequences of non-compliance.................................................................................................... 34
ARTICLE 16 — INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS (IPR) — BACKGROUND AND RESULTS —
ACCESS RIGHTS AND RIGHTS OF USE................................................................................ 34
16.1 Background and access rights to background..................................................................................34
16.2 Ownership of results.........................................................................................................................35
16.3 Rights of use of the granting authority on materials, documents and information received for
policy, information, communication, dissemination and publicity purposes...................................35
16.4 Specific rules on IPR, results and background................................................................................ 36
16.5 Consequences of non-compliance.................................................................................................... 36
ARTICLE 17 — COMMUNICATION, DISSEMINATION AND VISIBILITY............................................ 36
17.1 Communication — Dissemination — Promoting the action........................................................... 36
17.2 Visibility — European flag and funding statement......................................................................... 36
17.3 Quality of information — Disclaimer..............................................................................................37
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17.4 Specific communication, dissemination and visibility rules............................................................37
17.5 Consequences of non-compliance.................................................................................................... 37
ARTICLE 18 — SPECIFIC RULES FOR CARRYING OUT THE ACTION............................................... 37
18.1 Specific rules for carrying out the action........................................................................................ 38
18.2 Consequences of non-compliance.................................................................................................... 38
SECTION 3 GRANT ADMINISTRATION......................................................................................................... 38
ARTICLE 19 — GENERAL INFORMATION OBLIGATIONS.................................................................... 38
19.1 Information requests......................................................................................................................... 38
19.2 Participant Register data updates..................................................................................................... 38
19.3 Information about events and circumstances which impact the action............................................38
19.4 Consequences of non-compliance.................................................................................................... 38
ARTICLE 20 — RECORD-KEEPING............................................................................................................ 39
20.1 Keeping records and supporting documents.................................................................................... 39
20.2 Consequences of non-compliance.................................................................................................... 40
ARTICLE 21 — REPORTING........................................................................................................................ 40
21.1 Continuous reporting........................................................................................................................ 40
21.2 Periodic reporting: Technical reports and financial statements....................................................... 40
21.3 Currency for financial statements and conversion into euros..........................................................41
21.4 Reporting language...........................................................................................................................41
21.5 Consequences of non-compliance.................................................................................................... 42
ARTICLE 22 — PAYMENTS AND RECOVERIES — CALCULATION OF AMOUNTS DUE................. 42
22.1 Payments and payment arrangements.............................................................................................. 42
22.2 Recoveries.........................................................................................................................................42
22.3 Amounts due.....................................................................................................................................42
22.4 Enforced recovery.............................................................................................................................48
22.5 Consequences of non-compliance.................................................................................................... 49
ARTICLE 23 — GUARANTEES....................................................................................................................50
ARTICLE 24 — CERTIFICATES................................................................................................................... 50
24.1 Operational verification report (OVR).............................................................................................50
24.2 Certificate on the financial statements (CFS).................................................................................. 50
24.3 Certificate on the compliance of usual cost accounting practices (CoMUC).................................. 50
24.4 Systems and process audit (SPA).....................................................................................................50
24.5 Consequences of non-compliance.................................................................................................... 51
ARTICLE 25 — CHECKS, REVIEWS, AUDITS AND INVESTIGATIONS — EXTENSION OF
FINDINGS..................................................................................................................................... 51
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25.1 Granting authority checks, reviews and audits................................................................................ 51
25.2 European Commission checks, reviews and audits in grants of other granting authorities..............53
25.3 Access to records for assessing simplified forms of funding.......................................................... 53
25.4 OLAF, EPPO and ECA audits and investigations........................................................................... 53
25.5 Consequences of checks, reviews, audits and investigations — Extension of results of reviews,
audits or investigations.................................................................................................................... 53
25.6 Consequences of non-compliance.................................................................................................... 55
ARTICLE 26 — IMPACT EVALUATIONS................................................................................................... 55
26.1 Impact evaluation............................................................................................................................. 55
26.2 Consequences of non-compliance.................................................................................................... 55
CHAPTER 5 CONSEQUENCES OF NON-COMPLIANCE.................................................................................. 55
SECTION 1 REJECTIONS AND GRANT REDUCTION.................................................................................55
ARTICLE 27 — REJECTION OF COSTS AND CONTRIBUTIONS...........................................................55
27.1 Conditions......................................................................................................................................... 55
27.2 Procedure.......................................................................................................................................... 56
27.3 Effects............................................................................................................................................... 56
ARTICLE 28 — GRANT REDUCTION........................................................................................................ 56
28.1 Conditions......................................................................................................................................... 56
28.2 Procedure.......................................................................................................................................... 56
28.3 Effects............................................................................................................................................... 57
SECTION 2 SUSPENSION AND TERMINATION............................................................................................57
ARTICLE 29 — PAYMENT DEADLINE SUSPENSION............................................................................. 57
29.1 Conditions......................................................................................................................................... 57
29.2 Procedure.......................................................................................................................................... 57
ARTICLE 30 — PAYMENT SUSPENSION...................................................................................................57
30.1 Conditions......................................................................................................................................... 57
30.2 Procedure.......................................................................................................................................... 58
ARTICLE 31 — GRANT AGREEMENT SUSPENSION..............................................................................58
31.1 Consortium-requested GA suspension............................................................................................. 58
31.2 EU-initiated GA suspension.............................................................................................................59
ARTICLE 32 — GRANT AGREEMENT OR BENEFICIARY TERMINATION......................................... 60
32.1 Consortium-requested GA termination............................................................................................ 60
32.2 Consortium-requested beneficiary termination................................................................................ 61
32.3 EU-initiated GA or beneficiary termination.................................................................................... 62
SECTION 3 OTHER CONSEQUENCES: DAMAGES AND ADMINISTRATIVE SANCTIONS............... 66
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ARTICLE 33 — DAMAGES...........................................................................................................................66
33.1 Liability of the granting authority....................................................................................................66
33.2 Liability of the beneficiaries............................................................................................................ 66
ARTICLE 34 — ADMINISTRATIVE SANCTIONS AND OTHER MEASURES....................................... 66
SECTION 4 FORCE MAJEURE.......................................................................................................................... 66
ARTICLE 35 — FORCE MAJEURE.............................................................................................................. 66
CHAPTER 6 FINAL PROVISIONS...........................................................................................................................67
ARTICLE 36 — COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE PARTIES...............................................................67
36.1 Forms and means of communication — Electronic management................................................... 67
36.2 Date of communication.................................................................................................................... 67
36.3 Addresses for communication.......................................................................................................... 68
ARTICLE 37 — INTERPRETATION OF THE AGREEMENT.....................................................................68
ARTICLE 38 — CALCULATION OF PERIODS AND DEADLINES..........................................................68
ARTICLE 39 — AMENDMENTS.................................................................................................................. 68
39.1 Conditions......................................................................................................................................... 68
39.2 Procedure.......................................................................................................................................... 68
ARTICLE 40 — ACCESSION AND ADDITION OF NEW BENEFICIARIES........................................... 69
40.1 Accession of the beneficiaries mentioned in the Preamble............................................................. 69
40.2 Addition of new beneficiaries.......................................................................................................... 69
ARTICLE 41 — TRANSFER OF THE AGREEMENT................................................................................. 69
ARTICLE 42 — ASSIGNMENTS OF CLAIMS FOR PAYMENT AGAINST THE GRANTING
AUTHORITY.................................................................................................................................70
ARTICLE 43 — APPLICABLE LAW AND SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTES.............................................. 70
43.1 Applicable law..................................................................................................................................70
43.2 Dispute settlement............................................................................................................................ 70
ARTICLE 44 — ENTRY INTO FORCE.........................................................................................................71
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DATA SHEET
1. General data
Project summary:
Project summary
ACCORD's objective is to digitalise permitting and compliance processes using BIM and other data sources to improve the productivity
and quality of design and construction processes, support the design of climate-neutral buildings and advance a sustainable built
environment in line with the EU Green Deal and new European Bauhaus initiative. These digitized processes must be human-centred,
transparent and cost-effective for the permit applicants and authorities. Another objective is to develop and integrate technical solutions
for automating compliance checking of buildings in their design, construction and renovation/demolition lifecycle phases. All this will
be based on open and neutral data exchange standards. ACCORD will develop a semantic framework for European digital building
permitting processes, regulations, data and tools. This framework will drive rule formalization and integration of existing compliance
tools as microservices. Solutions and tools are to be developed, providing consistency, interoperability and reliability with national
regulatory frameworks, processes and standards. The solutions are implemented and demonstrated across construction projects in various
EU regulatory contexts: UK, Finland, Estonia, Germany and Spain. ACCORD supports work programme KSOs, expected outcomes
and impacts by 1) developing open APIs allowing local authorities to choose their digital services without a lock-in, 2) automating
the checking of environmental regulations (CO2 emissions, LCA and circular economy) by developing machine-readable rules, thus
steering the digital and green transition, and involving relevant stakeholders through co-creation, and 3) creating information guidelines
for structured data models to increase the value of buildings and reduce their operating costs and 4) providing the open ACCORD
framework based on microservices allowing businesses to connect and develop solutions resulting in a scalable, durable and flexible
permitting ecosystem.
Keywords:
– Computer sciences, information science and bioinformatics
– Construction engineering, Municipal and structural engineering
Project number: 101056973
Project name: Automated Compliance Checks for Construction, Renovation or Demolition Works
Project acronym: ACCORD
Call: HORIZON-CL4-2021-TWIN-TRANSITION-01
Topic: HORIZON-CL4-2021-TWIN-TRANSITION-01-10
Type of action: HORIZON Innovation Actions
Granting authority: European Health and Digital Executive Agency
Grant managed through EU Funding & Tenders Portal: Yes (eGrants)
Project starting date: fixed date: 1 September 2022
Project end date: 31 August 2025
Project duration: 36 months
Consortium agreement: Yes
2. Participants
List of participants:
Total
Short eligible Max grant
N° Role Legal name Ctry PIC costs
name amount
(BEN
and AE)
1 COO VTT TEKNOLOGIAN TUTKIMUSKESKUS VTT OY FI 932760440 631 875.00 631 875.00
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Total
Short eligible Max grant
N° Role Legal name Ctry PIC costs
name amount
(BEN
and AE)
2 BEN FHG FRAUNHOFER GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FORDERUNG DE 999984059 456 843.75 456 843.07
DER ANGEWANDTEN FORSCHUNG EV
2.1 AE UNIKO UNIVERSITAET KOBLENZ-LANDAU DE 999856407 185 625.00 185 625.00
3 BEN OGC OPEN GEOSPATIAL CONSORTIUM EUROPE BE 899555206 356 036.25 356 036.00
4 BEN ACE CONSEIL DES ARCHITECTES D'EUROPE BE 924742517 112 500.00 112 500.00
5 BEN MKM MAJANDUS JA KOMMUNIKATSIOONIMINISTEERIUM EE 963638450 48 750.00 48 750.00
6 BEN HAM FREIE UND HANSESTADT HAMBURG DE 998928602 123 325.00 123 325.00
7 BEN AMM AYUNTAMIENTO DE MALGRAT DE MAR ES 890717827 49 130.00 49 130.00
8 BEN ONTO SIRMA AI EAD BG 900925331 285 937.50 200 156.00
9 BEN SOL SOLIBRI OY FI 888132001 473 750.00 331 625.00
10 BEN FUI FUTURE INSIGHT GROUP BV NL 928328025 568 750.00 398 125.00
11 BEN AE AETHER ENGINEERING S.A.S. TRA PROFESSIONISTI IT 923674935 72 884.18 51 018.93
DI CHRISTOVASILIS IOANNIS
12 BEN IMT INSTITUT MINES-TELECOM FR 999849326 141 320.00 141 320.00
13 BEN ITeC INSTITUT DE TECNOLOGIA DE LA CONSTRUCCION ES 945306517 50 000.00 50 000.00
DE CATALUNYA
14 BEN FUNITEC FUNDACIO PRIVADA UNIVERSITAT I TECNOLOGIA ES 997191235 151 250.00 151 250.00
15 BEN JU STIFTELSEN HOGSKOLAN I JONKOPING SE 997539271 191 750.00 191 750.00
16 BEN CP CLOUDPERMIT OY FI 887892120 242 968.75 170 078.00
17 BEN TEGEL TEGEL PROJEKT GMBH DE 934242503 176 250.00 176 250.00
18 AP CU CARDIFF UNIVERSITY UK 999979694 0.00 0.00
19 AP BCU BIRMINGHAM CITY UNIVERSITY UK 998955374 0.00 0.00
20 AP BSI BUILDINGSMART INTERNATIONAL LIMITED UK 993336067 0.00 0.00
Total 4 318 945.43 3 825 657.00
Coordinator:
– TEKNOLOGIAN TUTKIMUSKESKUS VTT OY (VTT)
3. Grant
Maximum grant amount, total estimated eligible costs and contributions and funding rate:
Total eligible costs Funding rate Maximum grant amount Maximum grant amount
(BEN and AE) (%) (Annex 2) (award decision)
4 318 945.43 100, 70 3 825 657.00 3 825 657.00
Grant form: Budget-based
Grant mode: Action grant
Budget categories/activity types:
- A. Personnel costs
- A.1 Employees, A.2 Natural persons under direct contract, A.3 Seconded persons
- A.4 SME owners and natural person beneficiaries
- B. Subcontracting costs
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- C. Purchase costs
- C.1 Travel and subsistence
- C.2 Equipment
- C.3 Other goods, works and services
- D. Other cost categories
- D.2 Internally invoiced goods and services
- E. Indirect costs
Cost eligibility options:
- In-kind contributions eligible costs
- Parental leave
- Project-based supplementary payments
- Average personnel costs (unit cost according to usual cost accounting practices)
- Limitation for subcontracting
- Travel and subsistence:
- Travel: Actual costs
- Accommodation: Actual costs
- Subsistence: Actual costs
- Equipment: depreciation only
- Indirect cost flat-rate: 25% of the eligible direct costs (categories A-D, except volunteers costs, subcontracting
costs, financial support to third parties and exempted specific cost categories, if any)
- VAT: Yes
- Other ineligible costs
Budget flexibility: Yes (no flexibility cap)
4. Reporting, payments and recoveries
4.1 Continuous reporting (art 21)
Deliverables: see Funding & Tenders Portal Continuous Reporting tool
4.2 Periodic reporting and payments
Reporting and payment schedule (art 21, 22):
Reporting Payments
Deadline
Reporting periods Type Deadline Type
(time to pay)
RP No Month from Month to
30 days from entry
into force/10 days
Initial prefinancing before starting
date – whichever
is the latest
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Reporting Payments
Deadline
Reporting periods Type Deadline Type
(time to pay)
RP No Month from Month to
1 1 18 Periodic report 60 days after end Interim payment 90 days from
of reporting period receiving
periodic report
2 19 36 Periodic report 60 days after end Final payment 90 days from
of reporting period receiving
periodic report
Prefinancing payments and guarantees:
Prefinancing payment
Type Amount
Prefinancing 1 (initial) 3 060 525.60
Reporting and payment modalities (art 21, 22):
Mutual Insurance Mechanism (MIM): Yes
MIM contribution: 5% of the maximum grant amount (191 282.85), retained from the initial prefinancing
Restrictions on distribution of initial prefinancing: The prefinancing may be distributed only if the minimum number of
beneficiaries set out in the call condititions (if any) have acceded to the Agreement and only to beneficiaries that have
acceded.
Interim payment ceiling (if any): 90% of the maximum grant amount
Exception for revenues: Yes
No-profit rule: Yes
Late payment interest: ECB + 3.5%
Bank account for payments:
FI0750000121503659
Conversion into euros: Double conversion
Reporting language: Language of the Agreement
4.3 Certificates (art 24):
Certificates on the financial statements (CFS):
Conditions:
Schedule: only at final payment, if threshold is reached
Standard threshold (beneficiary-level):
- financial statement: requested EU contribution to costs ≥ EUR 430 000.00
Special threshold for beneficiaries with a systems and process audit(see Article 24): financial statement: requested
EU contribution to costs ≥ EUR 725 000.00
4.4 Recoveries (art 22)
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First-line liability for recoveries:
Beneficiary termination: Beneficiary concerned
Final payment: Each beneficiary for their own debt
After final payment: Beneficiary concerned
Joint and several liability for enforced recoveries (in case of non-payment):
Individual financial responsibility: Each beneficiary is liable only for its own debts (and those of its affiliated entities,
if any)
5. Consequences of non-compliance, applicable law & dispute settlement forum
Suspension and termination:
Additional suspension grounds (art 31)
Additional termination grounds (art 32)
Applicable law (art 43):
Standard applicable law regime: EU law + law of Belgium
Dispute settlement forum (art 43):
Standard dispute settlement forum:
EU beneficiaries: EU General Court + EU Court of Justice (on appeal)
Non-EU beneficiaries: Courts of Brussels, Belgium (unless an international agreement provides for the
enforceability of EU court judgements)
6. Other
Specific rules (Annex 5): Yes
Standard time-limits after project end:
Confidentiality (for X years after final payment): 5
Record-keeping (for X years after final payment): 5 (or 3 for grants of not more than EUR 60 000)
Reviews (up to X years after final payment): 2
Audits (up to X years after final payment): 2
Extension of findings from other grants to this grant (no later than X years after final payment): 2
Impact evaluation (up to X years after final payment): 5 (or 3 for grants of not more than EUR 60 000)
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CHAPTER 1 GENERAL
ARTICLE 1 — SUBJECT OF THE AGREEMENT
This Agreement sets out the rights and obligations and terms and conditions applicable to the grant
awarded for the implementation of the action set out in Chapter 2.
ARTICLE 2 — DEFINITIONS
For the purpose of this Agreement, the following definitions apply:
Actions — The project which is being funded in the context of this Agreement.
Grant — The grant awarded in the context of this Agreement.
EU grants — Grants awarded by EU institutions, bodies, offices or agencies (including EU executive
agencies, EU regulatory agencies, EDA, joint undertakings, etc.).
Participants — Entities participating in the action as beneficiaries, affiliated entities, associated
partners, third parties giving in-kind contributions, subcontractors or recipients of
financial support to third parties.
Beneficiaries (BEN) — The signatories of this Agreement (either directly or through an accession
form).
Affiliated entities (AE) — Entities affiliated to a beneficiary within the meaning of Article 187 of
EU Financial Regulation 2018/10464 which participate in the action with similar rights
and obligations as the beneficiaries (obligation to implement action tasks and right to
charge costs and claim contributions).
Associated partners (AP) — Entities which participate in the action, but without the right to charge
costs or claim contributions.
Purchases — Contracts for goods, works or services needed to carry out the action (e.g. equipment,
consumables and supplies) but which are not part of the action tasks (see Annex 1).
Subcontracting — Contracts for goods, works or services that are part of the action tasks (see Annex 1).
In-kind contributions — In-kind contributions within the meaning of Article 2(36) of EU Financial
4 For the definition, see Article 187 Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 of the European Parliament and of the Council
of 18 July 2018 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union, amending Regulations (EU)
No 1296/2013, (EU) No 1301/2013, (EU) No 1303/2013, (EU) No 1304/2013, (EU) No 1309/2013, (EU) No 1316/2013,
(EU) No 223/2014, (EU) No 283/2014, and Decision No 541/2014/EU and repealing Regulation (EU, Euratom)
No 966/2012 (‘EU Financial Regulation’) (OJ L 193, 30.7.2018, p. 1): “affiliated entities [are]:
(a) entities that form a sole beneficiary [(i.e. where an entity is formed of several entities that satisfy the criteria for
being awarded a grant, including where the entity is specifically established for the purpose of implementing an
action to be financed by a grant)];
(b) entities that satisfy the eligibility criteria and that do not fall within one of the situations referred to in Article 136(1)
and 141(1) and that have a link with the beneficiary, in particular a legal or capital link, which is neither limited to
the action nor established for the sole purpose of its implementation”.
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Regulation 2018/1046, i.e. non-financial resources made available free of charge by
third parties.
Fraud — Fraud within the meaning of Article 3 of EU Directive 2017/13715 and Article 1 of the
Convention on the protection of the European Communities’ financial interests, drawn
up by the Council Act of 26 July 19956, as well as any other wrongful or criminal
deception intended to result in financial or personal gain.
Irregularities — Any type of breach (regulatory or contractual) which could impact the EU
financial interests, including irregularities within the meaning of Article 1(2) of EU
Regulation 2988/957.
Grave professional misconduct — Any type of unacceptable or improper behaviour in exercising one’s
profession, especially by employees, including grave professional misconduct within
the meaning of Article 136(1)(c) of EU Financial Regulation 2018/1046.
Applicable EU, international and national law — Any legal acts or other (binding or non-binding)
rules and guidance in the area concerned.
Portal — EU Funding & Tenders Portal; electronic portal and exchange system managed by the
European Commission and used by itself and other EU institutions, bodies, offices
or agencies for the management of their funding programmes (grants, procurements,
prizes, etc.).
CHAPTER 2 ACTION
ARTICLE 3 — ACTION
The grant is awarded for the action 101056973 — ACCORD (‘action’), as described in Annex 1.
ARTICLE 4 — DURATION AND STARTING DATE
The duration and the starting date of the action are set out in the Data Sheet (see Point 1).
CHAPTER 3 GRANT
ARTICLE 5 — GRANT
5.1 Form of grant
The grant is an action grant8 which takes the form of a budget-based mixed actual cost grant (i.e. a
5 Directive (EU) 2017/1371 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 July 2017 on the fight against fraud to
the Union’s financial interests by means of criminal law (OJ L 198, 28.7.2017, p. 29).
6 OJ C 316, 27.11.1995, p. 48.
7 Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95 of 18 December 1995 on the protection of the European Communities
financial interests (OJ L 312, 23.12.1995, p. 1).
8 For the definition, see Article 180(2)(a) EU Financial Regulation 2018/1046: ‘action grant’ means an EU grant to
finance “an action intended to help achieve a Union policy objective”.
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grant based on actual costs incurred, but which may also include other forms of funding, such as unit
costs or contributions, flat-rate costs or contributions, lump sum costs or contributions or financing
not linked to costs).
5.2 Maximum grant amount
The maximum grant amount is set out in the Data Sheet (see Point 3) and in the estimated budget
(Annex 2).
5.3 Funding rate
The funding rate for costs is 100% of the eligible costs for beneficiaries that are non-profit legal
entities9 and 70% of the eligible costs for beneficiaries that are profit legal entities.
Contributions are not subject to any funding rate.
5.4 Estimated budget, budget categories and forms of funding
The estimated budget for the action is set out in Annex 2.
It contains the estimated eligible costs and contributions for the action, broken down by participant
and budget category.
Annex 2 also shows the types of costs and contributions (forms of funding)10 to be used for each
budget category.
If unit costs or contributions are used, the details on the calculation will be explained in Annex 2a.
5.5 Budget flexibility
The budget breakdown may be adjusted — without an amendment (see Article 39) — by transfers
(between participants and budget categories), as long as this does not imply any substantive or
important change to the description of the action in Annex 1.
However:
- changes to the budget category for volunteers (if used) always require an amendment
- changes to budget categories with lump sums costs or contributions (if used; including
financing not linked to costs) always require an amendment
- changes to budget categories with higher funding rates or budget ceilings (if used) always
require an amendment
- addition of amounts for subcontracts not provided for in Annex 1 either require an amendment
or simplified approval in accordance with Article 6.2
9 For the definition, see Article XX of the Horizon Europe Framework Programme and Rules for Participation Regulation
(EU) XXX: ‘non-profit legal entity’ means a legal entity which by its legal form is non-profit-making or which has a
legal or statutory obligation not to distribute profits to its shareholders or individual members.
10 See Article 125 EU Financial Regulation 2018/1046.
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- other changes require an amendment or simplified approval, if specifically provided for in
Article 6.2
- flexibility caps: not applicable.
ARTICLE 6 — ELIGIBLE AND INELIGIBLE COSTS AND CONTRIBUTIONS
In order to be eligible, costs and contributions must meet the eligibility conditions set out in this
Article.
6.1 General eligibility conditions
The general eligibility conditions are the following:
(a) for actual costs:
(i) they must be actually incurred by the beneficiary
(ii) they must be incurred in the period set out in Article 4 (with the exception of costs relating
to the submission of the final periodic report, which may be incurred afterwards; see
Article 21)
(iii) they must be declared under one of the budget categories set out in Article 6.2 and
Annex 2
(iv) they must be incurred in connection with the action as described in Annex 1 and necessary
for its implementation
(v) they must be identifiable and verifiable, in particular recorded in the beneficiary’s
accounts in accordance with the accounting standards applicable in the country where
the beneficiary is established and with the beneficiary’s usual cost accounting practices
(vi) they must comply with the applicable national law on taxes, labour and social security
and
(vii) they must be reasonable, justified and must comply with the principle of sound financial
management, in particular regarding economy and efficiency
(b) for unit costs or contributions (if any):
(i) they must be declared under one of the budget categories set out in Article 6.2 and
Annex 2
(ii) the units must:
- be actually used or produced by the beneficiary in the period set out in Article 4
(with the exception of units relating to the submission of the final periodic report,
which may be used or produced afterwards; see Article 21)
- be necessary for the implementation of the action and
(iii) the number of units must be identifiable and verifiable, in particular supported by records
and documentation (see Article 20)
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(c) for flat-rate costs or contributions (if any):
(i) they must be declared under one of the budget categories set out in Article 6.2 and
Annex 2
(ii) the costs or contributions to which the flat-rate is applied must:
- be eligible
- relate to the period set out in Article 4 (with the exception of costs or contributions
relating to the submission of the final periodic report, which may be incurred
afterwards; see Article 21)
(d) for lump sum costs or contributions (if any):
(i) they must be declared under one of the budget categories set out in Article 6.2 and
Annex 2
(ii) the work must be properly implemented by the beneficiary in accordance with Annex 1
(iii) the deliverables/outputs must be achieved in the period set out in Article 4 (with the
exception of deliverables/outputs relating to the submission of the final periodic report,
which may be achieved afterwards; see Article 21)
(e) for unit, flat-rate or lump sum costs or contributions according to usual cost accounting
practices (if any):
(i) they must fulfil the general eligibility conditions for the type of cost concerned
(ii) the cost accounting practices must be applied in a consistent manner, based on objective
criteria, regardless of the source of funding
(f) for financing not linked to costs (if any): the results must be achieved or the conditions must
be fulfilled as described in Annex 1.
In addition, for direct cost categories (e.g. personnel, travel & subsistence, subcontracting and other
direct costs) only costs that are directly linked to the action implementation and can therefore be
attributed to it directly are eligible. They must not include any indirect costs (i.e. costs that are only
indirectly linked to the action, e.g. via cost drivers).
In-kind contributions provided by third parties free of charge may be declared as eligible direct costs
by the beneficiaries which use them (under the same conditions as if they were their own, provided
that they concern only direct costs and that the third parties and their in-kind contributions are set
out in Annex 1 (or approved ex post in the periodic report, if their use does not entail changes to the
Agreement which would call into question the decision awarding the grant or breach the principle of
equal treatment of applicants; ‘simplified approval procedure’).
6.2 Specific eligibility conditions for each budget category
For each budget category, the specific eligibility conditions are as follows:
Direct costs
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A. Personnel costs
A.1 Costs for employees (or equivalent) are eligible as personnel costs if they fulfil the general
eligibility conditions and are related to personnel working for the beneficiary under an employment
contract (or equivalent appointing act) and assigned to the action.
They must be limited to salaries (including net payments during parental leave), social security
contributions, taxes and other costs linked to the remuneration, if they arise from national law or the
employment contract (or equivalent appointing act) and be calculated on the basis of the costs actually
incurred, in accordance with the following method:
{daily rate for the person
multiplied by
number of day-equivalents worked on the action (rounded up or down to the nearest half-day)}.
The daily rate must be calculated as:
{annual personnel costs for the person
divided by
215}.
The number of day-equivalents declared for a person must be identifiable and verifiable (see
Article 20).
The actual time spent on parental leave by a person assigned to the action may be deducted from the
215 days indicated in the above formula.
The total number of day-equivalents declared in EU grants, for a person for a year, cannot be higher
than 215, minus time spent on parental leave (if any).
For personnel which receives supplementary payments for work in projects (project-based
remuneration), the personnel costs must be calculated at a rate which:
- corresponds to the actual remuneration costs paid by the beneficiary for the time worked by
the person in the action over the reporting period
- does not exceed the remuneration costs paid by the beneficiary for work in similar projects
funded by national schemes (‘national projects reference’)
- is defined based on objective criteria allowing to determine the amount to which the person
is entitled
and
- reflects the usual practice of the beneficiary to pay consistently bonuses or supplementary
payments for work in projects funded by national schemes.
The national projects reference is the remuneration defined in national law, collective labour
agreement or written internal rules of the beneficiary applicable to work in projects funded by national
schemes.
If there is no such national law, collective labour agreement or written internal rules or if the project-
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based remuneration is not based on objective criteria, the national project reference will be the average
remuneration of the person in the last full calendar year covered by the reporting period, excluding
remuneration paid for work in EU actions.
If the beneficiary uses average personnel costs (unit cost according to usual cost accounting practices),
the personnel costs must fulfil the general eligibility conditions for such unit costs and the daily rate
must be calculated:
- using the actual personnel costs recorded in the beneficiary’s accounts and excluding any
costs which are ineligible or already included in other budget categories; the actual personnel
costs may be adjusted on the basis of budgeted or estimated elements, if they are relevant
for calculating the personnel costs, reasonable and correspond to objective and verifiable
information
and
- according to usual cost accounting practices which are applied in a consistent manner, based
on objective criteria, regardless of the source of funding.
A.2 and A.3 Costs for natural persons working under a direct contract other than an employment
contract and costs for seconded persons by a third party against payment are also eligible as
personnel costs, if they are assigned to the action, fulfil the general eligibility conditions and:
(a) work under conditions similar to those of an employee (in particular regarding the way the
work is organised, the tasks that are performed and the premises where they are performed) and
(b) the result of the work belongs to the beneficiary (unless agreed otherwise).
They must be calculated on the basis of a rate which corresponds to the costs actually incurred for
the direct contract or secondment and must not be significantly different from those for personnel
performing similar tasks under an employment contract with the beneficiary.
A.4 The work of SME owners for the action (i.e. owners of beneficiaries that are small and medium-
sized enterprises11 not receiving a salary) or natural person beneficiaries (i.e. beneficiaries that are
natural persons not receiving a salary) may be declared as personnel costs, if they fulfil the general
eligibility conditions and are calculated as unit costs in accordance with the method set out in Annex
2a.
B. Subcontracting costs
Subcontracting costs for the action (including related duties, taxes and charges, such as non-
deductible or non-refundable value added tax (VAT)) are eligible, if they are calculated on the basis
11 For the definition, see Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC: micro, small or medium-sized enterprise (SME)
are enterprises
- engaged in an economic activity, irrespective of their legal form (including, in particular, self- employed persons
and family businesses engaged in craft or other activities, and partnerships or associations regularly engaged
in an economic activity) and
- employing fewer than 250 persons (expressed in ‘annual working units’ as defined in Article 5 of the
Recommendation) and which have an annual turnover not exceeding EUR 50 million, and/or an annual balance
sheet total not exceeding EUR 43 million.
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of the costs actually incurred, fulfil the general eligibility conditions and are awarded using the
beneficiary’s usual purchasing practices — provided these ensure subcontracts with best value for
money (or if appropriate the lowest price) and that there is no conflict of interests (see Article 12).
Beneficiaries that are ‘contracting authorities/entities’ within the meaning of the EU Directives on
public procurement must also comply with the applicable national law on public procurement.
Subcontracting may cover only a limited part of the action.
The tasks to be subcontracted and the estimated cost for each subcontract must be set out in Annex 1
and the total estimated costs of subcontracting per beneficiary must be set out in Annex 2 (or may
be approved ex post in the periodic report, if the use of subcontracting does not entail changes to the
Agreement which would call into question the decision awarding the grant or breach the principle of
equal treatment of applicants; ‘simplified approval procedure’).
C. Purchase costs
Purchase costs for the action (including related duties, taxes and charges, such as non-deductible or
non-refundable value added tax (VAT)) are eligible if they fulfil the general eligibility conditions and
are bought using the beneficiary’s usual purchasing practices — provided these ensure purchases with
best value for money (or if appropriate the lowest price) and that there is no conflict of interests (see
Article 12).
Beneficiaries that are ‘contracting authorities/entities’ within the meaning of the EU Directives on
public procurement must also comply with the applicable national law on public procurement.
C.1 Travel and subsistence
Purchases for travel, accommodation and subsistence must be calculated as follows:
- travel: on the basis of the costs actually incurred and in line with the beneficiary’s usual
practices on travel
- accommodation: on the basis of the costs actually incurred and in line with the beneficiary’s
usual practices on travel
- subsistence: on the basis of the costs actually incurred and in line with the beneficiary’s usual
practices on travel .
C.2 Equipment
Purchases of equipment, infrastructure or other assets used for the action must be declared as
depreciation costs, calculated on the basis of the costs actually incurred and written off in accordance
with international accounting standards and the beneficiary’s usual accounting practices.
Only the portion of the costs that corresponds to the rate of actual use for the action during the action
duration can be taken into account.
Costs for renting or leasing equipment, infrastructure or other assets are also eligible, if they do not
exceed the depreciation costs of similar equipment, infrastructure or assets and do not include any
financing fees.
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C.3 Other goods, works and services
Purchases of other goods, works and services must be calculated on the basis of the costs actually
incurred.
Such goods, works and services include, for instance, consumables and supplies, promotion,
dissemination, protection of results, translations, publications, certificates and financial guarantees,
if required under the Agreement.
D. Other cost categories
D.2 Internally invoiced goods and services
Costs for internally invoiced goods and services directly used for the action may be declared as unit
cost according to usual cost accounting practices, if and as declared eligible in the call conditions, if
they fulfil the general eligibility conditions for such unit costs and the amount per unit is calculated:
- using the actual costs for the good or service recorded in the beneficiary’s accounts, attributed
either by direct measurement or on the basis of cost drivers, and excluding any cost which
are ineligible or already included in other budget categories; the actual costs may be adjusted
on the basis of budgeted or estimated elements, if they are relevant for calculating the costs,
reasonable and correspond to objective and verifiable information
and
- according to usual cost accounting practices which are applied in a consistent manner, based
on objective criteria, regardless of the source of funding.
‘Internally invoiced goods and services’ means goods or services which are provided within the
beneficiary’s organisation directly for the action and which the beneficiary values on the basis of its
usual cost accounting practices.
This cost will not be taken into account for the indirect cost flat-rate.
Indirect costs
E. Indirect costs
Indirect costs will be reimbursed at the flat-rate of 25% of the eligible direct costs (categories A-D,
except volunteers costs, subcontracting costs, financial support to third parties and exempted specific
cost categories, if any).
Contributions
Not applicable
6.3 Ineligible costs and contributions
The following costs or contributions are ineligible:
(a) costs or contributions that do not comply with the conditions set out above (Article 6.1 and
6.2), in particular:
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(i) costs related to return on capital and dividends paid by a beneficiary
(ii) debt and debt service charges
(iii) provisions for future losses or debts
(iv) interest owed
(v) currency exchange losses
(vi) bank costs charged by the beneficiary’s bank for transfers from the granting authority
(vii) excessive or reckless expenditure
(viii) deductible or refundable VAT (including VAT paid by public bodies acting as public
authority)
(ix) costs incurred or contributions for activities implemented during grant agreement
suspension (see Article 31)
(x) in-kind contributions by third parties: not applicable
(b) costs or contributions declared under other EU grants (or grants awarded by an EU Member
State, non-EU country or other body implementing the EU budget), except for the following
cases:
(i) Synergy actions: not applicable
(ii) if the action grant is combined with an operating grant12 running during the same period
and the beneficiary can demonstrate that the operating grant does not cover any (direct
or indirect) costs of the action grant
(c) costs or contributions for staff of a national (or regional/local) administration, for activities that
are part of the administration’s normal activities (i.e. not undertaken only because of the grant)
(d) costs or contributions (especially travel and subsistence) for staff or representatives of EU
institutions, bodies or agencies
(e) other :
(i) country restrictions for eligible costs: not applicable
(ii) costs or contributions declared specifically ineligible in the call conditions.
6.4 Consequences of non-compliance
If a beneficiary declares costs or contributions that are ineligible, they will be rejected (see Article 27).
This may also lead to other measures described in Chapter 5.
12 For the definition, see Article 180(2)(b) of EU Financial Regulation 2018/1046: ‘operating grant’ means an EU grant
to finance “the functioning of a body which has an objective forming part of and supporting an EU policy”.
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CHAPTER 4 GRANT IMPLEMENTATION
SECTION 1 CONSORTIUM: BENEFICIARIES, AFFILIATED ENTITIES AND OTHER
PARTICIPANTS
ARTICLE 7 — BENEFICIARIES
The beneficiaries, as signatories of the Agreement, are fully responsible towards the granting authority
for implementing it and for complying with all its obligations.
They must implement the Agreement to their best abilities, in good faith and in accordance with all
the obligations and terms and conditions it sets out.
They must have the appropriate resources to implement the action and implement the action under
their own responsibility and in accordance with Article 11. If they rely on affiliated entities or other
participants (see Articles 8 and 9), they retain sole responsibility towards the granting authority and
the other beneficiaries.
They are jointly responsible for the technical implementation of the action. If one of the beneficiaries
fails to implement their part of the action, the other beneficiaries must ensure that this part is
implemented by someone else (without being entitled to an increase of the maximum grant amount
and subject to an amendment; see Article 39). The financial responsibility of each beneficiary in case
of recoveries is governed by Article 22.
The beneficiaries (and their action) must remain eligible under the EU programme funding the grant
for the entire duration of the action. Costs and contributions will be eligible only as long as the
beneficiary and the action are eligible.
The internal roles and responsibilities of the beneficiaries are divided as follows:
(a) Each beneficiary must:
(i) keep information stored in the Portal Participant Register up to date (see Article 19)
(ii) inform the granting authority (and the other beneficiaries) immediately of any events or
circumstances likely to affect significantly or delay the implementation of the action (see
Article 19)
(iii) submit to the coordinator in good time:
- the prefinancing guarantees (if required; see Article 23)
- the financial statements and certificates on the financial statements (CFS) (if
required; see Articles 21 and 24.2 and Data Sheet, Point 4.3)
- the contribution to the deliverables and technical reports (see Article 21)
- any other documents or information required by the granting authority under the
Agreement
(iv) submit via the Portal data and information related to the participation of their affiliated
entities.
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(b) The coordinator must:
(i) monitor that the action is implemented properly (see Article 11)
(ii) act as the intermediary for all communications between the consortium and the granting
authority, unless the Agreement or granting authority specifies otherwise, and in
particular:
- submit the prefinancing guarantees to the granting authority (if any)
- request and review any documents or information required and verify their quality
and completeness before passing them on to the granting authority
- submit the deliverables and reports to the granting authority
- inform the granting authority about the payments made to the other beneficiaries
(report on the distribution of payments; if required, see Articles 22 and 32)
(iii) distribute the payments received from the granting authority to the other beneficiaries
without unjustified delay (see Article 22).
The coordinator may not delegate or subcontract the above-mentioned tasks to any other beneficiary
or third party (including affiliated entities).
However, coordinators which are public bodies may delegate the tasks set out in Point (b)(ii) last
indent and (iii) above to entities with ‘authorisation to administer’ which they have created or which
are controlled by or affiliated to them. In this case, the coordinator retains sole responsibility for the
payments and for compliance with the obligations under the Agreement.
Moreover, coordinators which are ‘sole beneficiaries’13 (or similar, such as European research
infrastructure consortia (ERICs)) may delegate the tasks set out in Point (b)(i) to (iii) above to one of
their members. The coordinator retains sole responsibility for compliance with the obligations under
the Agreement.
The beneficiaries must have internal arrangements regarding their operation and co-ordination, to
ensure that the action is implemented properly.
If required by the granting authority (see Data Sheet, Point 1), these arrangements must be set out in
a written consortium agreement between the beneficiaries, covering for instance:
- the internal organisation of the consortium
- the management of access to the Portal
- different distribution keys for the payments and financial responsibilities in case of recoveries
(if any)
- additional rules on rights and obligations related to background and results (see Article 16)
13 For the definition, see Article 187(2) EU Financial Regulation 2018/1046: “Where several entities satisfy the criteria
for being awarded a grant and together form one entity, that entity may be treated as the sole beneficiary, including
where it is specifically established for the purpose of implementing the action financed by the grant.”
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- settlement of internal disputes
- liability, indemnification and confidentiality arrangements between the beneficiaries.
The internal arrangements must not contain any provision contrary to this Agreement.
ARTICLE 8 — AFFILIATED ENTITIES
The following entities which are linked to a beneficiary will participate in the action as ‘affiliated
entities’:
- UNIVERSITAET KOBLENZ-LANDAU (UNIKO), PIC 999856407, linked to
FRAUNHOFER GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FORDERUNG DER ANGEWANDTEN
FORSCHUNG EV (FHG)
Affiliated entities can charge costs and contributions to the action under the same conditions as the
beneficiaries and must implement the action tasks attributed to them in Annex 1 in accordance with
Article 11.
Their costs and contributions will be included in Annex 2 and will be taken into account for the
calculation of the grant.
The beneficiaries must ensure that all their obligations under this Agreement also apply to their
affiliated entities.
The beneficiaries must ensure that the bodies mentioned in Article 25 (e.g. granting authority, OLAF,
Court of Auditors (ECA), etc.) can exercise their rights also towards the affiliated entities.
Breaches by affiliated entities will be handled in the same manner as breaches by beneficiaries.
Recovery of undue amounts will be handled through the beneficiaries.
If the granting authority requires joint and several liability of affiliated entities (see Data Sheet,
Point 4.4), they must sign the declaration set out in Annex 3a and may be held liable in case of enforced
recoveries against their beneficiaries (see Article 22.2 and 22.4).
ARTICLE 9 — OTHER PARTICIPANTS INVOLVED IN THE ACTION
9.1 Associated partners
The following entities which cooperate with a beneficiary will participate in the action as ‘associated
partners’:
- CARDIFF UNIVERSITY (CU), PIC 999979694
- BIRMINGHAM CITY UNIVERSITY (BCU), PIC 998955374
- BUILDINGSMART INTERNATIONAL LIMITED (BSI), PIC 993336067
Associated partners must implement the action tasks attributed to them in Annex 1 in accordance with
Article 11. They may not charge costs or contributions to the action and the costs for their tasks are
not eligible.
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The tasks must be set out in Annex 1.
The beneficiaries must ensure that their contractual obligations under Articles 11 (proper
implementation), 12 (conflict of interests), 13 (confidentiality and security), 14 (ethics), 17.2
(visibility), 18 (specific rules for carrying out action), 19 (information) and 20 (record-keeping) also
apply to the associated partners.
The beneficiaries must ensure that the bodies mentioned in Article 25 (e.g. granting authority, OLAF,
Court of Auditors (ECA), etc.) can exercise their rights also towards the associated partners.
9.2 Third parties giving in-kind contributions to the action
Other third parties may give in-kind contributions to the action (i.e. personnel, equipment, other goods,
works and services, etc. which are free-of-charge) if necessary for the implementation.
Third parties giving in-kind contributions do not implement any action tasks. They may not charge
costs or contributions to the action, but the costs for the in-kind contributions are eligible and may be
charged by the beneficiaries which use them, under the conditions set out in Article 6. The costs will
be included in Annex 2 as part of the beneficiaries’ costs.
The third parties and their in-kind contributions should be set out in Annex 1.
The beneficiaries must ensure that the bodies mentioned in Article 25 (e.g. granting authority, OLAF,
Court of Auditors (ECA), etc.) can exercise their rights also towards the third parties giving in-kind
contributions.
9.3 Subcontractors
Subcontractors may participate in the action, if necessary for the implementation.
Subcontractors must implement their action tasks in accordance with Article 11. The costs for the
subcontracted tasks (invoiced price from the subcontractor) are eligible and may be charged by the
beneficiaries, under the conditions set out in Article 6. The costs will be included in Annex 2 as part
of the beneficiaries’ costs.
The beneficiaries must ensure that their contractual obligations under Articles 11 (proper
implementation), 12 (conflict of interest), 13 (confidentiality and security), 14 (ethics), 17.2
(visibility), 18 (specific rules for carrying out action), 19 (information) and 20 (record-keeping) also
apply to the subcontractors.
The beneficiaries must ensure that the bodies mentioned in Article 25 (e.g. granting authority, OLAF,
Court of Auditors (ECA), etc.) can exercise their rights also towards the subcontractors.
9.4 Recipients of financial support to third parties
If the action includes providing financial support to third parties (e.g. grants, prizes or similar forms of
support), the beneficiaries must ensure that their contractual obligations under Articles 12 (conflict of
interest), 13 (confidentiality and security), 14 (ethics), 17.2 (visibility), 18 (specific rules for carrying
out action), 19 (information) and 20 (record-keeping)also apply to the third parties receiving the
support (recipients).
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The beneficiaries must also ensure that the bodies mentioned in Article 25 (e.g. granting authority,
OLAF, Court of Auditors (ECA), etc.) can exercise their rights also towards the recipients.
ARTICLE 10 — PARTICIPANTS WITH SPECIAL STATUS
10.1 Non-EU participants
Participants which are established in a non-EU country (if any) undertake to comply with their
obligations under the Agreement and:
- to respect general principles (including fundamental rights, values and ethical principles,
environmental and labour standards, rules on classified information, intellectual property
rights, visibility of funding and protection of personal data)
- for the submission of certificates under Article 24: to use qualified external auditors which
are independent and comply with comparable standards as those set out in EU Directive
2006/43/EC14
- for the controls under Article 25: to allow for checks, reviews, audits and investigations
(including on-the-spot checks, visits and inspections) by the bodies mentioned in that Article
(e.g. granting authority, OLAF, Court of Auditors (ECA), etc.).
Special rules on dispute settlement apply (see Data Sheet, Point 5).
10.2 Participants which are international organisations
Participants which are international organisations (IOs; if any) undertake to comply with their
obligations under the Agreement and:
- to respect general principles (including fundamental rights, values and ethical principles,
environmental and labour standards, rules on classified information, intellectual property
rights, visibility of funding and protection of personal data)
- for the submission of certificates under Article 24: to use either independent public officers or
external auditors which comply with comparable standards as those set out in EU Directive
2006/43/EC
- for the controls under Article 25: to allow for the checks, reviews, audits and investigations
by the bodies mentioned in that Article, taking into account the specific agreements concluded
by them and the EU (if any).
For such participants, nothing in the Agreement will be interpreted as a waiver of their privileges or
immunities, as accorded by their constituent documents or international law.
Special rules on applicable law and dispute settlement apply (see Article 43 and Data Sheet, Point 5).
10.3 Pillar-assessed participants
14 Directive 2006/43/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 May 2006 on statutory audits of annual
accounts and consolidated accounts or similar national regulations (OJ L 157, 9.6.2006, p. 87).
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Pillar-assessed participants (if any) may rely on their own systems, rules and procedures, in so far as
they have been positively assessed and do not call into question the decision awarding the grant or
breach the principle of equal treatment of applicants or beneficiaries.
‘Pillar-assessment’ means a review by the European Commission on the systems, rules and procedures
which participants use for managing EU grants (in particular internal control system, accounting
system, external audits, financing of third parties, rules on recovery and exclusion, information on
recipients and protection of personal data; see Article 154 EU Financial Regulation 2018/1046).
Participants with a positive pillar assessment may rely on their own systems, rules and procedures,
in particular for:
- record-keeping (Article 20): may be done in accordance with internal standards, rules and
procedures
- currency conversion for financial statements (Article 21): may be done in accordance with
usual accounting practices
- guarantees (Article 23): for public law bodies, prefinancing guarantees are not needed
- certificates (Article 24):
- certificates on the financial statements (CFS): may be provided by their regular internal
or external auditors and in accordance with their internal financial regulations and
procedures
- certificates on usual accounting practices (CoMUC): are not needed if those practices
are covered by an ex-ante assessment
and use the following specific rules, for:
- recoveries (Article 22): in case of financial support to third parties, there will be no recovery if
the participant has done everything possible to retrieve the undue amounts from the third party
receiving the support (including legal proceedings) and non-recovery is not due to an error or
negligence on its part
- checks, reviews, audits and investigations by the EU (Article 25): will be conducted taking
into account the rules and procedures specifically agreed between them and the framework
agreement (if any)
- impact evaluation (Article 26): will be conducted in accordance with the participant’s internal
rules and procedures and the framework agreement (if any)
- grant agreement suspension (Article 31): certain costs incurred during grant suspension are
eligible (notably, minimum costs necessary for a possible resumption of the action and costs
relating to contracts which were entered into before the pre-information letter was received and
which could not reasonably be suspended, reallocated or terminated on legal grounds)
- grant agreement termination (Article 32): the final grant amount and final payment will be
calculated taking into account also costs relating to contracts due for execution only after
termination takes effect, if the contract was entered into before the pre-information letter was
received and could not reasonably be terminated on legal grounds
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- liability for damages (Article 33.2): the granting authority must be compensated for damage
it sustains as a result of the implementation of the action or because the action was not
implemented in full compliance with the Agreement only if the damage is due to an
infringement of the participant’s internal rules and procedures or due to a violation of third
parties’ rights by the participant or one of its employees or individual for whom the employees
are responsible.
Participants whose pillar assessment covers procurement and granting procedures may also do
purchases, subcontracting and financial support to third parties (Article 6.2) in accordance with their
internal rules and procedures for purchases, subcontracting and financial support.
Participants whose pillar assessment covers data protection rules may rely on their internal standards,
rules and procedures for data protection (Article 15).
The participants may however not rely on provisions which would breach the principle of equal
treatment of applicants or beneficiaries or call into question the decision awarding the grant, such as
in particular:
- eligibility (Article 6)
- consortium roles and set-up (Articles 7-9)
- security and ethics (Articles 13, 14)
- IPR (including background and results, access rights and rights of use), communication,
dissemination and visibility (Articles 16 and 17)
- information obligation (Article 19)
- payment, reporting and amendments (Articles 21, 22 and 39)
- rejections, reductions, suspensions and terminations (Articles 27, 28, 29-32)
If the pillar assessment was subject to remedial measures, reliance on the internal systems, rules and
procedures is subject to compliance with those remedial measures.
Participants whose assessment has not yet been updated to cover (the new rules on) data protection
may rely on their internal systems, rules and procedures, provided that they ensure that personal data is:
- processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner in relation to the data subject
- collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes and not further processed in a manner
that is incompatible with those purposes
- adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary in relation to the purposes for which they
are processed
- accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date
- kept in a form which permits identification of data subjects for no longer than is necessary for
the purposes for which the data is processed and
- processed in a manner that ensures appropriate security of the personal data.
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Participants must inform the coordinator without delay of any changes to the systems, rules and
procedures that were part of the pillar assessment. The coordinator must immediately inform the
granting authority.
Pillar-assessed participants that have also concluded a framework agreement with the EU, may
moreover — under the same conditions as those above (i.e. not call into question the decision awarding
the grant or breach the principle of equal treatment of applicants or beneficiaries) — rely on the
provisions set out in that framework agreement.
SECTION 2 RULES FOR CARRYING OUT THE ACTION
ARTICLE 11 — PROPER IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ACTION
11.1 Obligation to properly implement the action
The beneficiaries must implement the action as described in Annex 1 and in compliance with the
provisions of the Agreement, the call conditions and all legal obligations under applicable EU,
international and national law.
11.2 Consequences of non-compliance
If a beneficiary breaches any of its obligations under this Article, the grant may be reduced (see
Article 28).
Such breaches may also lead to other measures described in Chapter 5.
ARTICLE 12 — CONFLICT OF INTERESTS
12.1 Conflict of interests
The beneficiaries must take all measures to prevent any situation where the impartial and objective
implementation of the Agreement could be compromised for reasons involving family, emotional life,
political or national affinity, economic interest or any other direct or indirect interest (‘conflict of
interests’).
They must formally notify the granting authority without delay of any situation constituting or likely
to lead to a conflict of interests and immediately take all the necessary steps to rectify this situation.
The granting authority may verify that the measures taken are appropriate and may require additional
measures to be taken by a specified deadline.
12.2 Consequences of non-compliance
If a beneficiary breaches any of its obligations under this Article, the grant may be reduced (see
Article 28) and the grant or the beneficiary may be terminated (see Article 32).
Such breaches may also lead to other measures described in Chapter 5.
ARTICLE 13 — CONFIDENTIALITY AND SECURITY
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13.1 Sensitive information
The parties must keep confidential any data, documents or other material (in any form) that is identified
as sensitive in writing (‘sensitive information’) — during the implementation of the action and for at
least until the time-limit set out in the Data Sheet (see Point 6).
If a beneficiary requests, the granting authority may agree to keep such information confidential for
a longer period.
Unless otherwise agreed between the parties, they may use sensitive information only to implement
the Agreement.
The beneficiaries may disclose sensitive information to their personnel or other participants involved
in the action only if they:
(a) need to know it in order to implement the Agreement and
(b) are bound by an obligation of confidentiality.
The granting authority may disclose sensitive information to its staff and to other EU institutions and
bodies.
It may moreover disclose sensitive information to third parties, if:
(a) this is necessary to implement the Agreement or safeguard the EU financial interests and
(b) the recipients of the information are bound by an obligation of confidentiality.
The confidentiality obligations no longer apply if:
(a) the disclosing party agrees to release the other party
(b) the information becomes publicly available, without breaching any confidentiality obligation
(c) the disclosure of the sensitive information is required by EU, international or national law.
Specific confidentiality rules (if any) are set out in Annex 5.
13.2 Classified information
The parties must handle classified information in accordance with the applicable EU, international or
national law on classified information (in particular, Decision 2015/44415 and its implementing rules).
Deliverables which contain classified information must be submitted according to special procedures
agreed with the granting authority.
Action tasks involving classified information may be subcontracted only after explicit approval (in
writing) from the granting authority.
15 Commission Decision 2015/444/EC, Euratom of 13 March 2015 on the security rules for protecting EU classified
information (OJ L 72, 17.3.2015, p. 53).
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Classified information may not be disclosed to any third party (including participants involved in the
action implementation) without prior explicit written approval from the granting authority.
Specific security rules (if any) are set out in Annex 5.
13.3 Consequences of non-compliance
If a beneficiary breaches any of its obligations under this Article, the grant may be reduced (see
Article 28).
Such breaches may also lead to other measures described in Chapter 5.
ARTICLE 14 — ETHICS AND VALUES
14.1 Ethics
The action must be carried out in line with the highest ethical standards and the applicable EU,
international and national law on ethical principles.
Specific ethics rules (if any) are set out in Annex 5.
14.2 Values
The beneficiaries must commit to and ensure the respect of basic EU values (such as respect for
human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and human rights, including the rights
of minorities).
Specific rules on values (if any) are set out in Annex 5.
14.3 Consequences of non-compliance
If a beneficiary breaches any of its obligations under this Article, the grant may be reduced (see
Article 28).
Such breaches may also lead to other measures described in Chapter 5.
ARTICLE 15 — DATA PROTECTION
15.1 Data processing by the granting authority
Any personal data under the Agreement will be processed under the responsibility of the data
controller of the granting authority in accordance with and for the purposes set out in the Portal Privacy
Statement.
For grants where the granting authority is the European Commission, an EU regulatory or executive
agency, joint undertaking or other EU body, the processing will be subject to Regulation 2018/172516.
16 Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of
natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies
and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 and Decision No 1247/2002/EC
(OJ L 295, 21.11.2018, p. 39).
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15.2 Data processing by the beneficiaries
The beneficiaries must process personal data under the Agreement in compliance with the applicable
EU, international and national law on data protection (in particular, Regulation 2016/67917).
They must ensure that personal data is:
- processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner in relation to the data subjects
- collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes and not further processed in a manner
that is incompatible with those purposes
- adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary in relation to the purposes for which they
are processed
- accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date
- kept in a form which permits identification of data subjects for no longer than is necessary for
the purposes for which the data is processed and
- processed in a manner that ensures appropriate security of the data.
The beneficiaries may grant their personnel access to personal data only if it is strictly necessary
for implementing, managing and monitoring the Agreement. The beneficiaries must ensure that the
personnel is under a confidentiality obligation.
The beneficiaries must inform the persons whose data are transferred to the granting authority and
provide them with the Portal Privacy Statement.
15.3 Consequences of non-compliance
If a beneficiary breaches any of its obligations under this Article, the grant may be reduced (see
Article 28).
Such breaches may also lead to other measures described in Chapter 5.
ARTICLE 16 — INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS (IPR) — BACKGROUND AND
RESULTS —ACCESS RIGHTS AND RIGHTS OF USE
16.1 Background and access rights to background
The beneficiaries must give each other and the other participants access to the background identified
as needed for implementing the action, subject to any specific rules in Annex 5.
‘Background’ means any data, know-how or information — whatever its form or nature (tangible or
intangible), including any rights such as intellectual property rights — that is:
(a) held by the beneficiaries before they acceded to the Agreement and
17 Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural
persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive
95/46/EC (‘GDPR’) (OJ L 119, 4.5.2016, p. 1).
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(b) needed to implement the action or exploit the results.
If background is subject to rights of a third party, the beneficiary concerned must ensure that it is able
to comply with its obligations under the Agreement.
16.2 Ownership of results
The granting authority does not obtain ownership of the results produced under the action.
‘Results’ means any tangible or intangible effect of the action, such as data, know-how or information,
whatever its form or nature, whether or not it can be protected, as well as any rights attached to it,
including intellectual property rights.
16.3 Rights of use of the granting authority on materials, documents and information
received for policy, information, communication, dissemination and publicity purposes
The granting authority has the right to use non-sensitive information relating to the action and
materials and documents received from the beneficiaries (notably summaries for publication,
deliverables, as well as any other material, such as pictures or audio-visual material, in paper or
electronic form) for policy, information, communication, dissemination and publicity purposes —
during the action or afterwards.
The right to use the beneficiaries’ materials, documents and information is granted in the form of a
royalty-free, non-exclusive and irrevocable licence, which includes the following rights:
(a) use for its own purposes (in particular, making them available to persons working for the
granting authority or any other EU service (including institutions, bodies, offices, agencies,
etc.) or EU Member State institution or body; copying or reproducing them in whole or in part,
in unlimited numbers; and communication through press information services)
(b) distribution to the public (in particular, publication as hard copies and in electronic or digital
format, publication on the internet, as a downloadable or non-downloadable file, broadcasting
by any channel, public display or presentation, communicating through press information
services, or inclusion in widely accessible databases or indexes)
(c) editing or redrafting (including shortening, summarising, inserting other elements (e.g.
meta-data, legends, other graphic, visual, audio or text elements), extracting parts (e.g. audio
or video files), dividing into parts, use in a compilation)
(d) translation
(e) storage in paper, electronic or other form
(f) archiving, in line with applicable document-management rules
(g) the right to authorise third parties to act on its behalf or sub-license to third parties the modes
of use set out in Points (b), (c), (d) and (f), if needed for the information, communication and
publicity activity of the granting authority
(h) processing, analysing, aggregating the materials, documents and information received and
producing derivative works.
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The rights of use are granted for the whole duration of the industrial or intellectual property rights
concerned.
If materials or documents are subject to moral rights or third party rights (including intellectual
property rights or rights of natural persons on their image and voice), the beneficiaries must ensure
that they comply with their obligations under this Agreement (in particular, by obtaining the necessary
licences and authorisations from the rights holders concerned).
Where applicable, the granting authority will insert the following information:
“© – [year] – [name of the copyright owner]. All rights reserved. Licensed to the [name of granting authority]
under conditions.”
16.4 Specific rules on IPR, results and background
Specific rules regarding intellectual property rights, results and background (if any) are set out in
Annex 5.
16.5 Consequences of non-compliance
If a beneficiary breaches any of its obligations under this Article, the grant may be reduced (see
Article 28).
Such a breach may also lead to other measures described in Chapter 5.
ARTICLE 17 — COMMUNICATION, DISSEMINATION AND VISIBILITY
17.1 Communication — Dissemination — Promoting the action
Unless otherwise agreed with the granting authority, the beneficiaries must promote the action and its
results by providing targeted information to multiple audiences (including the media and the public),
in accordance with Annex 1 and in a strategic, coherent and effective manner.
Before engaging in a communication or dissemination activity expected to have a major media impact,
the beneficiaries must inform the granting authority.
17.2 Visibility — European flag and funding statement
Unless otherwise agreed with the granting authority, communication activities of the beneficiaries
related to the action (including media relations, conferences, seminars, information material, such as
brochures, leaflets, posters, presentations, etc., in electronic form, via traditional or social media, etc.),
dissemination activities and any infrastructure, equipment, vehicles, supplies or major result funded
by the grant must acknowledge EU support and display the European flag (emblem) and funding
statement (translated into local languages, where appropriate):
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The emblem must remain distinct and separate and cannot be modified by adding other visual
marks, brands or text.
Apart from the emblem, no other visual identity or logo may be used to highlight the EU support.
When displayed in association with other logos (e.g. of beneficiaries or sponsors), the emblem must
be displayed at least as prominently and visibly as the other logos.
For the purposes of their obligations under this Article, the beneficiaries may use the emblem without
first obtaining approval from the granting authority. This does not, however, give them the right to
exclusive use. Moreover, they may not appropriate the emblem or any similar trademark or logo, either
by registration or by any other means.
17.3 Quality of information — Disclaimer
Any communication or dissemination activity related to the action must use factually accurate
information.
Moreover, it must indicate the following disclaimer (translated into local languages where
appropriate):
“Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only
and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or [name of the granting authority]. Neither
the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.”
17.4 Specific communication, dissemination and visibility rules
Specific communication, dissemination and visibility rules (if any) are set out in Annex 5.
17.5 Consequences of non-compliance
If a beneficiary breaches any of its obligations under this Article, the grant may be reduced (see
Article 28).
Such breaches may also lead to other measures described in Chapter 5.
ARTICLE 18 — SPECIFIC RULES FOR CARRYING OUT THE ACTION
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18.1 Specific rules for carrying out the action
Specific rules for implementing the action (if any) are set out in Annex 5.
18.2 Consequences of non-compliance
If a beneficiary breaches any of its obligations under this Article, the grant may be reduced (see
Article 28).
Such a breach may also lead to other measures described in Chapter 5.
SECTION 3 GRANT ADMINISTRATION
ARTICLE 19 — GENERAL INFORMATION OBLIGATIONS
19.1 Information requests
The beneficiaries must provide — during the action or afterwards and in accordance with Article 7 —
any information requested in order to verify eligibility of the costs or contributions declared, proper
implementation of the action and compliance with the other obligations under the Agreement.
The information provided must be accurate, precise and complete and in the format requested,
including electronic format.
19.2 Participant Register data updates
The beneficiaries must keep — at all times, during the action or afterwards — their information stored
in the Portal Participant Register up to date, in particular, their name, address, legal representatives,
legal form and organisation type.
19.3 Information about events and circumstances which impact the action
The beneficiaries must immediately inform the granting authority (and the other beneficiaries) of any
of the following:
(a) events which are likely to affect or delay the implementation of the action or affect the EU’s
financial interests, in particular:
(i) changes in their legal, financial, technical, organisational or ownership situation
(including changes linked to one of the exclusion grounds listed in the declaration of
honour signed before grant signature)
(ii) linked action information: not applicable
(b) circumstances affecting:
(i) the decision to award the grant or
(ii) compliance with requirements under the Agreement.
19.4 Consequences of non-compliance
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If a beneficiary breaches any of its obligations under this Article, the grant may be reduced (see
Article 28).
Such breaches may also lead to other measures described in Chapter 5.
ARTICLE 20 — RECORD-KEEPING
20.1 Keeping records and supporting documents
The beneficiaries must — at least until the time-limit set out in the Data Sheet (see Point 6) — keep
records and other supporting documents to prove the proper implementation of the action in line with
the accepted standards in the respective field (if any).
In addition, the beneficiaries must — for the same period — keep the following to justify the amounts
declared:
(a) for actual costs: adequate records and supporting documents to prove the costs declared (such
as contracts, subcontracts, invoices and accounting records); in addition, the beneficiaries’
usual accounting and internal control procedures must enable direct reconciliation between
the amounts declared, the amounts recorded in their accounts and the amounts stated in the
supporting documents
(b) for flat-rate costs and contributions (if any): adequate records and supporting documents to
prove the eligibility of the costs or contributions to which the flat-rate is applied
(c) for the following simplified costs and contributions: the beneficiaries do not need to keep
specific records on the actual costs incurred, but must keep:
(i) for unit costs and contributions (if any): adequate records and supporting documents to
prove the number of units declared
(ii) for lump sum costs and contributions (if any): adequate records and supporting
documents to prove proper implementation of the work as described in Annex 1
(iii) for financing not linked to costs (if any): adequate records and supporting documents
to prove the achievement of the results or the fulfilment of the conditions as described
in Annex 1
(d) for unit, flat-rate and lump sum costs and contributions according to usual cost accounting
practices (if any): the beneficiaries must keep any adequate records and supporting documents
to prove that their cost accounting practices have been applied in a consistent manner, based on
objective criteria, regardless of the source of funding, and that they comply with the eligibility
conditions set out in Articles 6.1 and 6.2.
Moreover, the following is needed for specific budget categories:
(e) for personnel costs: time worked for the beneficiary under the action must be supported
by declarations signed monthly by the person and their supervisor, unless another reliable
time-record system is in place; the granting authority may accept alternative evidence
supporting the time worked for the action declared, if it considers that it offers an adequate
level of assurance
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(f) additional record-keeping rules: not applicable
The records and supporting documents must be made available upon request (see Article 19) or in the
context of checks, reviews, audits or investigations (see Article 25).
If there are on-going checks, reviews, audits, investigations, litigation or other pursuits of claims under
the Agreement (including the extension of findings; see Article 25), the beneficiaries must keep these
records and other supporting documentation until the end of these procedures.
The beneficiaries must keep the original documents. Digital and digitalised documents are considered
originals if they are authorised by the applicable national law. The granting authority may accept
non-original documents if they offer a comparable level of assurance.
20.2 Consequences of non-compliance
If a beneficiary breaches any of its obligations under this Article, costs or contributions insufficiently
substantiated will be ineligible (see Article 6) and will be rejected (see Article 27), and the grant may
be reduced (see Article 28).
Such breaches may also lead to other measures described in Chapter 5.
ARTICLE 21 — REPORTING
21.1 Continuous reporting
The beneficiaries must continuously report on the progress of the action (e.g. deliverables,
milestones, outputs/outcomes, critical risks, indicators, etc; if any), in the Portal Continuous
Reporting tool and in accordance with the timing and conditions it sets out (as agreed with the granting
authority).
Standardised deliverables (e.g. progress reports not linked to payments, reports on cumulative
expenditure, special reports, etc; if any) must be submitted using the templates published on the Portal.
21.2 Periodic reporting: Technical reports and financial statements
In addition, the beneficiaries must provide reports to request payments, in accordance with the
schedule and modalities set out in the Data Sheet (see Point 4.2):
- for additional prefinancings (if any): an additional prefinancing report
- for interim payments (if any) and the final payment: a periodic report.
The prefinancing and periodic reports include a technical and financial part.
The technical part includes an overview of the action implementation. It must be prepared using the
template available in the Portal Periodic Reporting tool.
The financial part of the additional prefinancing report includes a statement on the use of the previous
prefinancing payment.
The financial part of the periodic report includes:
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- the financial statements (individual and consolidated; for all beneficiaries/affiliated entities)
- the explanation on the use of resources (or detailed cost reporting table, if required)
- the certificates on the financial statements (CFS) (if required; see Article 24.2 and Data Sheet,
Point 4.3).
The financial statements must detail the eligible costs and contributions for each budget category
and, for the final payment, also the revenues for the action (see Articles 6 and 22).
All eligible costs and contributions incurred should be declared, even if they exceed the amounts
indicated in the estimated budget (see Annex 2). Amounts that are not declared in the individual
financial statements will not be taken into account by the granting authority.
By signing the financial statements (directly in the Portal Periodic Reporting tool), the beneficiaries
confirm that:
- the information provided is complete, reliable and true
- the costs and contributions declared are eligible (see Article 6)
- the costs and contributions can be substantiated by adequate records and supporting documents
(see Article 20) that will be produced upon request (see Article 19) or in the context of checks,
reviews, audits and investigations (see Article 25)
- for the final periodic report: all the revenues have been declared (if required; see Article 22).
Beneficiaries will have to submit also the financial statements of their affiliated entities (if any). In case
of recoveries (see Article 22), beneficiaries will be held responsible also for the financial statements
of their affiliated entities.
21.3 Currency for financial statements and conversion into euros
The financial statements must be drafted in euro.
Beneficiaries with general accounts established in a currency other than the euro must convert the
costs recorded in their accounts into euro, at the average of the daily exchange rates published in the C
series of the Official Journal of the European Union (ECB website), calculated over the corresponding
reporting period.
If no daily euro exchange rate is published in the Official Journal for the currency in question, they
must be converted at the average of the monthly accounting exchange rates published on the European
Commission website (InforEuro), calculated over the corresponding reporting period.
Beneficiaries with general accounts in euro must convert costs incurred in another currency into euro
according to their usual accounting practices.
21.4 Reporting language
The reporting must be in the language of the Agreement, unless otherwise agreed with the granting
authority (see Data Sheet, Point 4.2).
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21.5 Consequences of non-compliance
If a report submitted does not comply with this Article, the granting authority may suspend the
payment deadline (see Article 29) and apply other measures described in Chapter 5.
If the coordinator breaches its reporting obligations, the granting authority may terminate the grant or
the coordinator’s participation (see Article 32) or apply other measures described in Chapter 5.
ARTICLE 22 — PAYMENTS AND RECOVERIES — CALCULATION OF AMOUNTS
DUE
22.1 Payments and payment arrangements
Payments will be made in accordance with the schedule and modalities set out in the Data Sheet (see
Point 4.2).
They will be made in euro to the bank account indicated by the coordinator (see Data Sheet, Point 4.2)
and must be distributed without unjustified delay (restrictions may apply to distribution of the initial
prefinancing payment; see Data Sheet, Point 4.2).
Payments to this bank account will discharge the granting authority from its payment obligation.
The cost of payment transfers will be borne as follows:
- the granting authority bears the cost of transfers charged by its bank
- the beneficiary bears the cost of transfers charged by its bank
- the party causing a repetition of a transfer bears all costs of the repeated transfer.
Payments by the granting authority will be considered to have been carried out on the date when they
are debited to its account.
22.2 Recoveries
Recoveries will be made, if — at beneficiary termination, final payment or afterwards — it turns out
that the granting authority has paid too much and needs to recover the amounts undue.
Each beneficiary’s financial responsibility in case of recovery is in principle limited to their own debt
and undue amounts of their affiliated entities.
In case of enforced recoveries (see Article 22.4), affiliated entities will be held liable for repaying
debts of their beneficiaries, if required by the granting authority (see Data Sheet, Point 4.4).
22.3 Amounts due
22.3.1 Prefinancing payments
The aim of the prefinancing is to provide the beneficiaries with a float.
It remains the property of the EU until the final payment.
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For initial prefinancings (if any), the amount due, schedule and modalities are set out in the
Data Sheet (see Point 4.2).
For additional prefinancings (if any), the amount due, schedule and modalities are also set out in
the Data Sheet (see Point 4.2). However, if the statement on the use of the previous prefinancing
payment shows that less than 70% was used, the amount set out in the Data Sheet will be reduced by
the difference between the 70% threshold and the amount used.
The contribution to the Mutual Insurance Mechanism will be retained from the prefinancing payments
(at the rate and in accordance with the modalities set out in the Data Sheet, see Point 4.2) and
transferred to the Mechanism.
Prefinancing payments (or parts of them) may be offset (without the beneficiaries’ consent) against
amounts owed by a beneficiary to the granting authority — up to the amount due to that beneficiary.
For grants where the granting authority is the European Commission or an EU executive agency,
offsetting may also be done against amounts owed to other Commission services or executive
agencies.
Payments will not be made if the payment deadline or payments are suspended (see Articles 29 and
30).
22.3.2 Amount due at beneficiary termination — Recovery
In case of beneficiary termination, the granting authority will determine the provisional amount due
for the beneficiary concerned. Payments (if any) will be made with the next interim or final payment.
The amount due will be calculated in the following step:
Step 1 — Calculation of the total accepted EU contribution
Step 1 — Calculation of the total accepted EU contribution
The granting authority will first calculate the ‘accepted EU contribution’ for the beneficiary for all
reporting periods, by calculating the ‘maximum EU contribution to costs’ (applying the funding rate
to the accepted costs of the beneficiary), taking into account requests for a lower contribution to costs
and CFS threshold cappings (if any; see Article 24.5) and adding the contributions (accepted unit,
flat-rate or lump sum contributions and financing not linked to costs, if any).
After that, the granting authority will take into account grant reductions (if any). The resulting amount
is the ‘total accepted EU contribution’ for the beneficiary.
The balance is then calculated by deducting the payments received (if any; see report on the
distribution of payments in Article 32), from the total accepted EU contribution:
{total accepted EU contribution for the beneficiary
minus
{prefinancing and interim payments received (if any)}}.
If the balance is positive, the amount will be included in the next interim or final payment to the
consortium.
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If the balance is negative, it will be recovered in accordance with the following procedure:
The granting authority will send a pre-information letter to the beneficiary concerned:
- formally notifying the intention to recover, the amount due, the amount to be recovered and
the reasons why and
- requesting observations within 30 days of receiving notification.
If no observations are submitted (or the granting authority decides to pursue recovery despite the
observations it has received), it will confirm the amount to be recovered and ask this amount to be
paid to the coordinator (confirmation letter).
If payment is not made to the coordinator by the date specified in the confirmation letter, the granting
authority may call on the Mutual Insurance Mechanism to intervene, if continuation of the action is
guaranteed and the conditions set out in the rules governing the Mechanism are met.
In this case, it will send a beneficiary recovery letter, together with a debit note with the terms and
date for payment.
The debit note for the beneficiary will include the amount calculated for the affiliated entities which
also had to end their participation (if any).
If payment is not made by the date specified in the debit note, the granting authority will enforce
recovery in accordance with Article 22.4.
The amounts will later on also be taken into account for the next interim or final payment.
22.3.3 Interim payments
Interim payments reimburse the eligible costs and contributions claimed for the implementation of
the action during the reporting periods (if any).
Interim payments (if any) will be made in accordance with the schedule and modalities set out the
Data Sheet (see Point 4.2).
Payment is subject to the approval of the periodic report. Its approval does not imply recognition of
compliance, authenticity, completeness or correctness of its content.
The interim payment will be calculated by the granting authority in the following steps:
Step 1 — Calculation of the total accepted EU contribution
Step 2 — Limit to the interim payment ceiling
Step 1 — Calculation of the total accepted EU contribution
The granting authority will calculate the ‘accepted EU contribution’ for the action for the reporting
period, by first calculating the ‘maximum EU contribution to costs’ (applying the funding rate to the
accepted costs of each beneficiary), taking into account requests for a lower contribution to costs, and
CFS threshold cappings (if any; see Article 24.5) and adding the contributions (accepted unit, flat-rate
or lump sum contributions and financing not linked to costs, if any).
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After that, the granting authority will take into account grant reductions from beneficiary termination
(if any). The resulting amount is the ‘total accepted EU contribution’.
Step 2 — Limit to the interim payment ceiling
The resulting amount is then capped to ensure that the total amount of prefinancing and interim
payments (if any) does not exceed the interim payment ceiling set out in the Data Sheet (see Point 4.2).
Interim payments (or parts of them) may be offset (without the beneficiaries’ consent) against amounts
owed by a beneficiary to the granting authority — up to the amount due to that beneficiary.
For grants where the granting authority is the European Commission or an EU executive agency,
offsetting may also be done against amounts owed to other Commission services or executive
agencies.
Payments will not be made if the payment deadline or payments are suspended (see Articles 29 and
30).
22.3.4 Final payment — Final grant amount — Revenues and Profit — Recovery
The final payment (payment of the balance) reimburses the remaining part of the eligible costs and
contributions claimed for the implementation of the action (if any).
The final payment will be made in accordance with the schedule and modalities set out in the
Data Sheet (see Point 4.2).
Payment is subject to the approval of the final periodic report. Its approval does not imply recognition
of compliance, authenticity, completeness or correctness of its content.
The final grant amount for the action will be calculated in the following steps:
Step 1 — Calculation of the total accepted EU contribution
Step 2 — Limit to the maximum grant amount
Step 3 — Reduction due to the no-profit rule
Step 1 — Calculation of the total accepted EU contribution
The granting authority will first calculate the ‘accepted EU contribution’ for the action for all reporting
periods, by calculating the ‘maximum EU contribution to costs’ (applying the funding rate to the total
accepted costs of each beneficiary), taking into account requests for a lower contribution to costs, CFS
threshold cappings (if any; see Article 24.5) and adding the contributions (accepted unit, flat-rate or
lump sum contributions and financing not linked to costs, if any).
After that, the granting authority will take into account grant reductions (if any). The resulting amount
is the ‘total accepted EU contribution’.
Step 2 — Limit to the maximum grant amount
If the resulting amount is higher than the maximum grant amount set out in Article 5.2, it will be
limited to the latter.
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Step 3 — Reduction due to the no-profit rule
If the no-profit rule is provided for in the Data Sheet (see Point 4.2), the grant must not produce a
profit (i.e. surplus of the amount obtained following Step 2 plus the action’s revenues, over the eligible
costs and contributions approved by the granting authority).
‘Revenue’ is all income generated by the action, during its duration (see Article 4), for beneficiaries
that are profit legal entities (— with the exception of income generated by the exploitation of results,
which are not considered as revenues).
If there is a profit, it will be deducted in proportion to the final rate of reimbursement of the eligible
costs approved by the granting authority (as compared to the amount calculated following Steps 1 and
2 minus the contributions).
The balance (final payment) is then calculated by deducting the total amount of prefinancing and
interim payments already made (if any), from the final grant amount:
{final grant amount
minus
{prefinancing and interim payments made (if any)}}.
If the balance is positive, it will be paid to the coordinator.
The amount retained for the Mutual Insurance Mechanism (see above) will be released and paid to
the coordinator (in accordance with the rules governing the Mechanism).
The final payment (or part of it) may be offset (without the beneficiaries’ consent) against amounts
owed by a beneficiary to the granting authority — up to the amount due to that beneficiary.
For grants where the granting authority is the European Commission or an EU executive agency,
offsetting may also be done against amounts owed to other Commission services or executive
agencies.
Payments will not be made if the payment deadline or payments are suspended (see Articles 29 and
30).
If — despite the release of the Mutual Insurance Mechanism contribution — the balance is negative,
it will be recovered in accordance with the following procedure:
The granting authority will send a pre-information letter to the coordinator:
- formally notifying the intention to recover, the final grant amount, the amount to be recovered
and the reasons why
- requesting a report on the distribution of payments to the beneficiaries within 30 days of
receiving notification and
- requesting observations within 30 days of receiving notification.
If no observations are submitted (or the granting authority decides to pursue recovery despite the
observations it has received) and the coordinator has submitted the report on the distribution of
payments, it will calculate the share of the debt per beneficiary, by:
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(a) identifying the beneficiaries for which the amount calculated as follows is negative:
{{{total accepted EU contribution for the beneficiary
divided by
total accepted EU contribution for the action}
multiplied by
final grant amount for the action},
minus
{prefinancing and interim payments received by the beneficiary (if any)} }
and
(b) dividing the debt:
{{amount calculated according to point (a) for the beneficiary concerned
divided by
the sum of the amounts calculated according to point (a) for all the beneficiaries identified according to
point (a)}
multiplied by
the amount to be recovered}.
and confirm the amount to be recovered from each beneficiary concerned (confirmation letter),
together with debit notes with the terms and date for payment.
The debit notes for beneficiaries will include the amounts calculated for their affiliated entities (if any).
If the coordinator has not submitted the report on the distribution of payments, the granting authority
will recover the full amount from the coordinator (confirmation letter and debit note with the terms
and date for payment).
If payment is not made by the date specified in the debit note, the granting authority will enforce
recovery in accordance with Article 22.4.
22.3.5 Audit implementation after final payment — Revised final grant amount — Recovery
If — after the final payment (in particular, after checks, reviews, audits or investigations; see
Article 25) — the granting authority rejects costs or contributions (see Article 27) or reduces the grant
(see Article 28), it will calculate the revised final grant amount for the beneficiary concerned.
The beneficiary revised final grant amount will be calculated in the following step:
Step 1 — Calculation of the revised total accepted EU contribution
Step 1 — Calculation of the revised total accepted EU contribution
The granting authority will first calculate the ‘revised accepted EU contribution’ for the beneficiary,
by calculating the ‘revised accepted costs’ and ‘revised accepted contributions’.
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After that, it will take into account grant reductions (if any). The resulting ‘revised total accepted EU
contribution’ is the beneficiary revised final grant amount.
If the revised final grant amount is lower than the beneficiary’s final grant amount (i.e. its share in the
final grant amount for the action), it will be recovered in accordance with the following procedure:
The beneficiary final grant amount (i.e. share in the final grant amount for the action) is calculated
as follows:
{{total accepted EU contribution for the beneficiary
divided by
total accepted EU contribution for the action}
multiplied by
final grant amount for the action}.
The granting authority will send a pre-information letter to the beneficiary concerned:
- formally notifying the intention to recover, the amount to be recovered and the reasons why and
- requesting observations within 30 days of receiving notification.
If no observations are submitted (or the granting authority decides to pursue recovery despite the
observations it has received), it will confirm the amount to be recovered (confirmation letter),
together with a debit note with the terms and the date for payment.
Recoveries against affiliated entities (if any) will be handled through their beneficiaries.
If payment is not made by the date specified in the debit note, the granting authority will enforce
recovery in accordance with Article 22.4.
22.4 Enforced recovery
If payment is not made by the date specified in the debit note, the amount due will be recovered:
(a) by offsetting the amount — without the coordinator or beneficiary’s consent — against any
amounts owed to the coordinator or beneficiary by the granting authority.
In exceptional circumstances, to safeguard the EU financial interests, the amount may be offset
before the payment date specified in the debit note.
For grants where the granting authority is the European Commission or an EU executive
agency, debts may also be offset against amounts owed by other Commission services or
executive agencies.
(b) financial guarantee(s): not applicable
(c) joint and several liability of beneficiaries: not applicable
(d) by holding affiliated entities jointly and severally liable (if any, see Data Sheet, Point 4.4)
(e) by taking legal action (see Article 43) or, provided that the granting authority is the European
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Commission or an EU executive agency, by adopting an enforceable decision under Article 299
of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU) and Article 100(2) of EU Financial
Regulation 2018/1046.
If the Mutual Insurance Mechanism was called on by the granting authority to intervene, recovery will
be continued in the name of the Mutual Insurance Mechanism. If two debit notes were sent, the second
one (in the name of the Mutual Insurance Mechanism) will be considered to replace the first one (in
the name of the granting authority). Where the MIM intervened, offsetting, enforceable decisions or
any other of the above-mentioned forms of enforced recovery may be used mutatis mutandis.
The amount to be recovered will be increased by late-payment interest at the rate set out in
Article 22.5, from the day following the payment date in the debit note, up to and including the date
the full payment is received.
Partial payments will be first credited against expenses, charges and late-payment interest and then
against the principal.
Bank charges incurred in the recovery process will be borne by the beneficiary, unless
Directive 2015/236618 applies.
For grants where the granting authority is an EU executive agency, enforced recovery by offsetting or
enforceable decision will be done by the services of the European Commission (see also Article 43).
22.5 Consequences of non-compliance
22.5.1 If the granting authority does not pay within the payment deadlines (see above), the
beneficiaries are entitled to late-payment interest at the rate applied by the European Central Bank
(ECB) for its main refinancing operations in euros (‘reference rate’), plus the rate specified in the
Data Sheet (Point 4.2). The reference rate is the rate in force on the first day of the month in which the
payment deadline expires, as published in the C series of the Official Journal of the European Union.
If the late-payment interest is lower than or equal to EUR 200, it will be paid to the coordinator only
on request submitted within two months of receiving the late payment.
Late-payment interest is not due if all beneficiaries are EU Member States (including regional and
local government authorities or other public bodies acting on behalf of a Member State for the purpose
of this Agreement).
If payments or the payment deadline are suspended (see Articles 29 and 30), payment will not be
considered as late.
Late-payment interest covers the period running from the day following the due date for payment (see
above), up to and including the date of payment.
Late-payment interest is not considered for the purposes of calculating the final grant amount.
22.5.2 If the coordinator breaches any of its obligations under this Article, the grant may be reduced
(see Article 29) and the grant or the coordinator may be terminated (see Article 32).
18 Directive (EU) 2015/2366 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2015 on payment
services in the internal market, amending Directives 2002/65/EC, 2009/110/EC and 2013/36/EU and Regulation (EU)
No 1093/2010, and repealing Directive 2007/64/EC (OJ L 337, 23.12.2015, p. 35).
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Such breaches may also lead to other measures described in Chapter 5.
ARTICLE 23 — GUARANTEES
Not applicable
ARTICLE 24 — CERTIFICATES
24.1 Operational verification report (OVR)
Not applicable
24.2 Certificate on the financial statements (CFS)
If required by the granting authority (see Data Sheet, Point 4.3), the beneficiaries must provide
certificates on their financial statements (CFS), in accordance with the schedule, threshold and
conditions set out in the Data Sheet.
The coordinator must submit them as part of the periodic report (see Article 21).
The certificates must be drawn up using the template published on the Portal, cover the costs declared
on the basis of actual costs and costs according to usual cost accounting practices (if any), and fulfil
the following conditions:
(a) be provided by a qualified approved external auditor which is independent and complies with
Directive 2006/43/EC19 (or for public bodies: by a competent independent public officer)
(b) the verification must be carried out according to the highest professional standards to ensure
that the financial statements comply with the provisions under the Agreement and that the costs
declared are eligible.
The certificates will not affect the granting authority's right to carry out its own checks, reviews or
audits, nor preclude the European Court of Auditors (ECA), the European Public Prosecutor’s Office
(EPPO) or the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) from using their prerogatives for audits and
investigations under the Agreement (see Article 25).
If the costs (or a part of them) were already audited by the granting authority, these costs do not need
to be covered by the certificate and will not be counted for calculating the threshold (if any).
24.3 Certificate on the compliance of usual cost accounting practices (CoMUC)
Not applicable
24.4 Systems and process audit (SPA)
Beneficiaries which:
19 Directive 2006/43/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 May 2006 on statutory audits of annual
accounts and consolidated accounts or similar national regulations (OJ L 157, 9.6.2006, p. 87).
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- use unit, flat rate or lump sum costs or contributions according to documented (i.e. formally
approved and in writing) usual costs accounting practices (if any) or
- have formalised documentation on the systems and processes for calculating their costs
and contributions (i.e. formally approved and in writing), have participated in at least 150
actions under Horizon 2020 or the Euratom Research and Training Programme (2014-2018 or
2019-2020) and participate in at least 3 ongoing actions under Horizon Europe or the Euratom
Research and Training Programme (2021-2025 or 2026-2027)
may apply to the granting authority for a systems and process audit (SPA).
This audit will be carried out as follows:
Step 1 – Application by the beneficiary.
Step 2 – If the application is accepted, the granting authority will carry out the systems and process
audit, complemented by an audit of transactions (on a sample of the beneficiary’s Horizon
Europe or the Euratom Research and Training Programme financial statements).
Step 3 – The audit result will take the form of a risk assessment classification for the beneficiary:
low, medium or high.
Low-risk beneficiaries will benefit from less (or less in-depth) ex-post audits (see Article 25) and a
higher threshold for submitting certificates on the financial statements (CFS; see Articles 21 and 24.2
and Data Sheet, Point 4.3).
24.5 Consequences of non-compliance
If a beneficiary does not submit a certificate on the financial statements (CFS) or the certificate is
rejected, the accepted EU contribution to costs will be capped to reflect the CFS threshold.
If a beneficiary breaches any of its other obligations under this Article, the granting authority may
apply the measures described in Chapter 5.
ARTICLE 25 — CHECKS, REVIEWS, AUDITS AND INVESTIGATIONS — EXTENSION
OF FINDINGS
25.1 Granting authority checks, reviews and audits
25.1.1 Internal checks
The granting authority may — during the action or afterwards — check the proper implementation of
the action and compliance with the obligations under the Agreement, including assessing costs and
contributions, deliverables and reports.
25.1.2 Project reviews
The granting authority may carry out reviews on the proper implementation of the action and
compliance with the obligations under the Agreement (general project reviews or specific issues
reviews).
Such project reviews may be started during the implementation of the action and until the time-limit
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set out in the Data Sheet (see Point 6). They will be formally notified to the coordinator or beneficiary
concerned and will be considered to start on the date of the notification.
If needed, the granting authority may be assisted by independent, outside experts. If it uses outside
experts, the coordinator or beneficiary concerned will be informed and have the right to object on
grounds of commercial confidentiality or conflict of interest.
The coordinator or beneficiary concerned must cooperate diligently and provide — within the deadline
requested — any information and data in addition to deliverables and reports already submitted
(including information on the use of resources). The granting authority may request beneficiaries
to provide such information to it directly. Sensitive information and documents will be treated in
accordance with Article 13.
The coordinator or beneficiary concerned may be requested to participate in meetings, including with
the outside experts.
For on-the-spot visits, the beneficiary concerned must allow access to sites and premises (including
to the outside experts) and must ensure that information requested is readily available.
Information provided must be accurate, precise and complete and in the format requested, including
electronic format.
On the basis of the review findings, a project review report will be drawn up.
The granting authority will formally notify the project review report to the coordinator or beneficiary
concerned, which has 30 days from receiving notification to make observations.
Project reviews (including project review reports) will be in the language of the Agreement.
25.1.3 Audits
The granting authority may carry out audits on the proper implementation of the action and compliance
with the obligations under the Agreement.
Such audits may be started during the implementation of the action and until the time-limit set out in
the Data Sheet (see Point 6). They will be formally notified to the beneficiary concerned and will be
considered to start on the date of the notification.
The granting authority may use its own audit service, delegate audits to a centralised service or use
external audit firms. If it uses an external firm, the beneficiary concerned will be informed and have
the right to object on grounds of commercial confidentiality or conflict of interest.
The beneficiary concerned must cooperate diligently and provide — within the deadline requested —
any information (including complete accounts, individual salary statements or other personal data)
to verify compliance with the Agreement. Sensitive information and documents will be treated in
accordance with Article 13.
For on-the-spot visits, the beneficiary concerned must allow access to sites and premises (including
for the external audit firm) and must ensure that information requested is readily available.
Information provided must be accurate, precise and complete and in the format requested, including
electronic format.
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On the basis of the audit findings, a draft audit report will be drawn up.
The auditors will formally notify the draft audit report to the beneficiary concerned, which has 30 days
from receiving notification to make observations (contradictory audit procedure).
The final audit report will take into account observations by the beneficiary concerned and will be
formally notified to them.
Audits (including audit reports) will be in the language of the Agreement.
25.2 European Commission checks, reviews and audits in grants of other granting
authorities
Where the granting authority is not the European Commission, the latter has the same rights of checks,
reviews and audits as the granting authority.
25.3 Access to records for assessing simplified forms of funding
The beneficiaries must give the European Commission access to their statutory records for the periodic
assessment of simplified forms of funding which are used in EU programmes.
25.4 OLAF, EPPO and ECA audits and investigations
The following bodies may also carry out checks, reviews, audits and investigations — during the
action or afterwards:
- the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) under Regulations No 883/201320 and No 2185/9621
- the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) under Regulation 2017/1939
- the European Court of Auditors (ECA) under Article 287 of the Treaty on the Functioning of
the EU (TFEU) and Article 257 of EU Financial Regulation 2018/1046.
If requested by these bodies, the beneficiary concerned must provide full, accurate and complete
information in the format requested (including complete accounts, individual salary statements or
other personal data, including in electronic format) and allow access to sites and premises for
on-the-spot visits or inspections — as provided for under these Regulations.
To this end, the beneficiary concerned must keep all relevant information relating to the action, at
least until the time-limit set out in the Data Sheet (Point 6) and, in any case, until any ongoing checks,
reviews, audits, investigations, litigation or other pursuits of claims have been concluded.
25.5 Consequences of checks, reviews, audits and investigations — Extension of results of
reviews, audits or investigations
20 Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 883/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 September 2013
concerning investigations conducted by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and repealing Regulation (EC)
No 1073/1999 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Council Regulation (Euratom) No 1074/1999 (OJ
L 248, 18/09/2013, p. 1).
21 Council Regulation (Euratom, EC) No 2185/1996 of 11 November 1996 concerning on-the-spot checks and inspections
carried out by the Commission in order to protect the European Communities' financial interests against fraud and other
irregularities (OJ L 292, 15/11/1996, p. 2).
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25.5.1 Consequences of checks, reviews, audits and investigations in this grant
Findings in checks, reviews, audits or investigations carried out in the context of this grant may lead to
rejections (see Article 27), grant reduction (see Article 28) or other measures described in Chapter 5.
Rejections or grant reductions after the final payment will lead to a revised final grant amount (see
Article 22).
Findings in checks, reviews, audits or investigations during the action implementation may lead to a
request for amendment (see Article 39), to change the description of the action set out in Annex 1.
Checks, reviews, audits or investigations that find systemic or recurrent errors, irregularities, fraud
or breach of obligations in any EU grant may also lead to consequences in other EU grants awarded
under similar conditions (‘extension to other grants’).
Moreover, findings arising from an OLAF or EPPO investigation may lead to criminal prosecution
under national law.
25.5.2 Extension from other grants
Results of checks, reviews, audits or investigations in other grants may be extended to this grant, if:
(a) the beneficiary concerned is found, in other EU grants awarded under similar conditions, to
have committed systemic or recurrent errors, irregularities, fraud or breach of obligations that
have a material impact on this grant and
(b) those findings are formally notified to the beneficiary concerned — together with the list of
grants affected by the findings — within the time-limit for audits set out in the Data Sheet (see
Point 6).
The granting authority will formally notify the beneficiary concerned of the intention to extend the
findings and the list of grants affected.
If the extension concerns rejections of costs or contributions: the notification will include:
(a) an invitation to submit observations on the list of grants affected by the findings
(b) the request to submit revised financial statements for all grants affected
(c) the correction rate for extrapolation, established on the basis of the systemic or recurrent errors,
to calculate the amounts to be rejected, if the beneficiary concerned:
(i) considers that the submission of revised financial statements is not possible or practicable
or
(ii) does not submit revised financial statements.
If the extension concerns grant reductions: the notification will include:
(a) an invitation to submit observations on the list of grants affected by the findings and
(b) the correction rate for extrapolation, established on the basis of the systemic or recurrent
errors and the principle of proportionality.
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The beneficiary concerned has 60 days from receiving notification to submit observations, revised
financial statements or to propose a duly substantiated alternative correction method/rate.
On the basis of this, the granting authority will analyse the impact and decide on the implementation
(i.e. start rejection or grant reduction procedures, either on the basis of the revised financial statements
or the announced/alternative method/rate or a mix of those; see Articles 27 and 28).
25.6 Consequences of non-compliance
If a beneficiary breaches any of its obligations under this Article, costs or contributions insufficiently
substantiated will be ineligible (see Article 6) and will be rejected (see Article 27), and the grant may
be reduced (see Article 28).
Such breaches may also lead to other measures described in Chapter 5.
ARTICLE 26 — IMPACT EVALUATIONS
26.1 Impact evaluation
The granting authority may carry out impact evaluations of the action, measured against the objectives
and indicators of the EU programme funding the grant.
Such evaluations may be started during implementation of the action and until the time-limit set out
in the Data Sheet (see Point 6). They will be formally notified to the coordinator or beneficiaries and
will be considered to start on the date of the notification.
If needed, the granting authority may be assisted by independent outside experts.
The coordinator or beneficiaries must provide any information relevant to evaluate the impact of the
action, including information in electronic format.
26.2 Consequences of non-compliance
If a beneficiary breaches any of its obligations under this Article, the granting authority may apply
the measures described in Chapter 5.
CHAPTER 5 CONSEQUENCES OF NON-COMPLIANCE
SECTION 1 REJECTIONS AND GRANT REDUCTION
ARTICLE 27 — REJECTION OF COSTS AND CONTRIBUTIONS
27.1 Conditions
The granting authority will — at beneficiary termination, interim payment, final payment or
afterwards — reject any costs or contributions which are ineligible (see Article 6), in particular
following checks, reviews, audits or investigations (see Article 25).
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The rejection may also be based on the extension of findings from other grants to this grant (see
Article 25).
Ineligible costs or contributions will be rejected.
27.2 Procedure
If the rejection does not lead to a recovery, the granting authority will formally notify the coordinator
or beneficiary concerned of the rejection, the amounts and the reasons why. The coordinator or
beneficiary concerned may — within 30 days of receiving notification — submit observations if it
disagrees with the rejection (payment review procedure).
If the rejection leads to a recovery, the granting authority will follow the contradictory procedure with
pre-information letter set out in Article 22.
27.3 Effects
If the granting authority rejects costs or contributions, it will deduct them from the costs or
contributions declared and then calculate the amount due (and, if needed, make a recovery; see
Article 22).
ARTICLE 28 — GRANT REDUCTION
28.1 Conditions
The granting authority may — at beneficiary termination, final payment or afterwards — reduce the
grant for a beneficiary, if:
(a) the beneficiary (or a person having powers of representation, decision-making or control, or
person essential for the award/implementation of the grant) has committed:
(i) substantial errors, irregularities or fraud or
(ii) serious breach of obligations under this Agreement or during its award (including
improper implementation of the action, non-compliance with the call conditions,
submission of false information, failure to provide required information, breach of ethics
or security rules (if applicable), etc.), or
(b) the beneficiary (or a person having powers of representation, decision-making or control, or
person essential for the award/implementation of the grant) has committed — in other EU grants
awarded to it under similar conditions — systemic or recurrent errors, irregularities, fraud or
serious breach of obligations that have a material impact on this grant (see Article 25).
The amount of the reduction will be calculated for each beneficiary concerned and proportionate to the
seriousness and the duration of the errors, irregularities or fraud or breach of obligations, by applying
an individual reduction rate to their accepted EU contribution.
28.2 Procedure
If the grant reduction does not lead to a recovery, the granting authority will formally notify the
coordinator or beneficiary concerned of the reduction, the amount to be reduced and the reasons why.
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The coordinator or beneficiary concerned may — within 30 days of receiving notification — submit
observations if it disagrees with the reduction (payment review procedure).
If the grant reduction leads to a recovery, the granting authority will follow the contradictory procedure
with pre-information letter set out in Article 22.
28.3 Effects
If the granting authority reduces the grant, it will deduct the reduction and then calculate the amount
due (and, if needed, make a recovery; see Article 22).
SECTION 2 SUSPENSION AND TERMINATION
ARTICLE 29 — PAYMENT DEADLINE SUSPENSION
29.1 Conditions
The granting authority may — at any moment — suspend the payment deadline if a payment cannot
be processed because:
(a) the required report (see Article 21) has not been submitted or is not complete or additional
information is needed
(b) there are doubts about the amount to be paid (e.g. ongoing audit extension procedure, queries
about eligibility, need for a grant reduction, etc.) and additional checks, reviews, audits or
investigations are necessary, or
(c) there are other issues affecting the EU financial interests.
29.2 Procedure
The granting authority will formally notify the coordinator of the suspension and the reasons why.
The suspension will take effect the day the notification is sent.
If the conditions for suspending the payment deadline are no longer met, the suspension will be lifted
— and the remaining time to pay (see Data Sheet, Point 4.2) will resume.
If the suspension exceeds two months, the coordinator may request the granting authority to confirm
if the suspension will continue.
If the payment deadline has been suspended due to the non-compliance of the report and the revised
report is not submitted (or was submitted but is also rejected), the granting authority may also terminate
the grant or the participation of the coordinator (see Article 32).
ARTICLE 30 — PAYMENT SUSPENSION
30.1 Conditions
The granting authority may — at any moment — suspend payments, in whole or in part for one or
more beneficiaries, if:
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(a) a beneficiary (or a person having powers of representation, decision-making or control, or
person essential for the award/implementation of the grant) has committed or is suspected of
having committed:
(i) substantial errors, irregularities or fraud or
(ii) serious breach of obligations under this Agreement or during its award (including
improper implementation of the action, non-compliance with the call conditions,
submission of false information, failure to provide required information, breach of ethics
or security rules (if applicable), etc.), or
(b) a beneficiary (or a person having powers of representation, decision-making or control, or
person essential for the award/implementation of the grant) has committed — in other EU grants
awarded to it under similar conditions — systemic or recurrent errors, irregularities, fraud or
serious breach of obligations that have a material impact on this grant.
If payments are suspended for one or more beneficiaries, the granting authority will make partial
payment(s) for the part(s) not suspended. If suspension concerns the final payment, the payment (or
recovery) of the remaining amount after suspension is lifted will be considered to be the payment that
closes the action.
30.2 Procedure
Before suspending payments, the granting authority will send a pre-information letter to the
beneficiary concerned:
- formally notifying the intention to suspend payments and the reasons why and
- requesting observations within 30 days of receiving notification.
If the granting authority does not receive observations or decides to pursue the procedure despite the
observations it has received, it will confirm the suspension (confirmation letter). Otherwise, it will
formally notify that the procedure is discontinued.
At the end of the suspension procedure, the granting authority will also inform the coordinator.
The suspension will take effect the day after the confirmation notification is sent.
If the conditions for resuming payments are met, the suspension will be lifted. The granting authority
will formally notify the beneficiary concerned (and the coordinator) and set the suspension end date.
During the suspension, no prefinancing will be paid to the beneficiaries concerned. For interim
payments, the periodic reports for all reporting periods except the last one (see Article 21) must
not contain any financial statements from the beneficiary concerned (or its affiliated entities). The
coordinator must include them in the next periodic report after the suspension is lifted or — if
suspension is not lifted before the end of the action — in the last periodic report.
ARTICLE 31 — GRANT AGREEMENT SUSPENSION
31.1 Consortium-requested GA suspension
31.1.1 Conditions and procedure
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The beneficiaries may request the suspension of the grant or any part of it, if exceptional circumstances
— in particular force majeure (see Article 35) — make implementation impossible or excessively
difficult.
The coordinator must submit a request for amendment (see Article 39), with:
- the reasons why
- the date the suspension takes effect; this date may be before the date of the submission of the
amendment request and
- the expected date of resumption.
The suspension will take effect on the day specified in the amendment.
Once circumstances allow for implementation to resume, the coordinator must immediately request
another amendment of the Agreement to set the suspension end date, the resumption date (one day
after suspension end date), extend the duration and make other changes necessary to adapt the action
to the new situation (see Article 39) — unless the grant has been terminated (see Article 32). The
suspension will be lifted with effect from the suspension end date set out in the amendment. This date
may be before the date of the submission of the amendment request.
During the suspension, no prefinancing will be paid. Costs incurred or contributions for activities
implemented during grant suspension are not eligible (see Article 6.3).
31.2 EU-initiated GA suspension
31.2.1 Conditions
The granting authority may suspend the grant or any part of it, if:
(a) a beneficiary (or a person having powers of representation, decision-making or control, or
person essential for the award/implementation of the grant) has committed or is suspected of
having committed:
(i) substantial errors, irregularities or fraud or
(ii) serious breach of obligations under this Agreement or during its award (including
improper implementation of the action, non-compliance with the call conditions,
submission of false information, failure to provide required information, breach of ethics
or security rules (if applicable), etc.), or
(b) a beneficiary (or a person having powers of representation, decision-making or control, or
person essential for the award/implementation of the grant) has committed — in other EU grants
awarded to it under similar conditions — systemic or recurrent errors, irregularities, fraud or
serious breach of obligations that have a material impact on this grant
(c) other:
(i) linked action issues: not applicable
(ii) the action has lost its scientific or technological relevance, for EIC Accelerator actions:
the action has lost its economic relevance, for challenge-based EIC Pathfinder actions
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and Horizon Europe Missions: the action has lost its relevance as part of the Portfolio
for which it has been initially selected
31.2.2 Procedure
Before suspending the grant, the granting authority will send a pre-information letter to the
coordinator:
- formally notifying the intention to suspend the grant and the reasons why and
- requesting observations within 30 days of receiving notification.
If the granting authority does not receive observations or decides to pursue the procedure despite the
observations it has received, it will confirm the suspension (confirmation letter). Otherwise, it will
formally notify that the procedure is discontinued.
The suspension will take effect the day after the confirmation notification is sent (or on a later date
specified in the notification).
Once the conditions for resuming implementation of the action are met, the granting authority will
formally notify the coordinator a lifting of suspension letter, in which it will set the suspension
end date and invite the coordinator to request an amendment of the Agreement to set the resumption
date (one day after suspension end date), extend the duration and make other changes necessary to
adapt the action to the new situation (see Article 39) — unless the grant has been terminated (see
Article 32). The suspension will be lifted with effect from the suspension end date set out in the lifting
of suspension letter. This date may be before the date on which the letter is sent.
During the suspension, no prefinancing will be paid. Costs incurred or contributions for activities
implemented during suspension are not eligible (see Article 6.3).
The beneficiaries may not claim damages due to suspension by the granting authority (see Article 33).
Grant suspension does not affect the granting authority’s right to terminate the grant or a beneficiary
(see Article 32) or reduce the grant (see Article 28).
ARTICLE 32 — GRANT AGREEMENT OR BENEFICIARY TERMINATION
32.1 Consortium-requested GA termination
32.1.1 Conditions and procedure
The beneficiaries may request the termination of the grant.
The coordinator must submit a request for amendment (see Article 39), with:
- the reasons why
- the date the consortium ends work on the action (‘end of work date’) and
- the date the termination takes effect (‘termination date’); this date must be after the date of the
submission of the amendment request.
The termination will take effect on the termination date specified in the amendment.
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If no reasons are given or if the granting authority considers the reasons do not justify termination,
it may consider the grant terminated improperly.
32.1.2 Effects
The coordinator must — within 60 days from when termination takes effect — submit a periodic
report (for the open reporting period until termination).
The granting authority will calculate the final grant amount and final payment on the basis of the report
submitted and taking into account the costs incurred and contributions for activities implemented
before the end of work date (see Article 22). Costs relating to contracts due for execution only after
the end of work are not eligible.
If the granting authority does not receive the report within the deadline, only costs and contributions
which are included in an approved periodic report will be taken into account (no costs/contributions
if no periodic report was ever approved).
Improper termination may lead to a grant reduction (see Article 28).
After termination, the beneficiaries’ obligations (in particular Articles 13 (confidentiality and
security), 16 (IPR), 17 (communication, dissemination and visibility), 21 (reporting), 25 (checks,
reviews, audits and investigations), 26 (impact evaluation), 27 (rejections), 28 (grant reduction) and
42 (assignment of claims)) continue to apply.
32.2 Consortium-requested beneficiary termination
32.2.1 Conditions and procedure
The coordinator may request the termination of the participation of one or more beneficiaries, on
request of the beneficiary concerned or on behalf of the other beneficiaries.
The coordinator must submit a request for amendment (see Article 39), with:
- the reasons why
- the opinion of the beneficiary concerned (or proof that this opinion has been requested in
writing)
- the date the beneficiary ends work on the action (‘end of work date’)
- the date the termination takes effect (‘termination date’); this date must be after the date of the
submission of the amendment request.
If the termination concerns the coordinator and is done without its agreement, the amendment request
must be submitted by another beneficiary (acting on behalf of the consortium).
The termination will take effect on the termination date specified in the amendment.
If no information is given or if the granting authority considers that the reasons do not justify
termination, it may consider the beneficiary to have been terminated improperly.
32.2.2 Effects
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The coordinator must — within 60 days from when termination takes effect — submit:
(i) a report on the distribution of payments to the beneficiary concerned
(ii) a termination report from the beneficiary concerned, for the open reporting period until
termination, containing an overview of the progress of the work, the financial statement,
the explanation on the use of resources, and, if applicable, the certificate on the financial
statement (CFS; see Articles 21 and 24.2 and Data Sheet, Point 4.3)
(iii) a second request for amendment (see Article 39) with other amendments needed (e.g.
reallocation of the tasks and the estimated budget of the terminated beneficiary; addition of
a new beneficiary to replace the terminated beneficiary; change of coordinator, etc.).
The granting authority will calculate the amount due to the beneficiary on the basis of the report
submitted and taking into account the costs incurred and contributions for activities implemented
before the end of work date (see Article 22). Costs relating to contracts due for execution only after
the end of work are not eligible.
The information in the termination report must also be included in the periodic report for the next
reporting period (see Article 21).
If the granting authority does not receive the termination report within the deadline, only costs and
contributions which are included in an approved periodic report will be taken into account (no costs/
contributions if no periodic report was ever approved).
If the granting authority does not receive the report on the distribution of payments within the deadline,
it will consider that:
- the coordinator did not distribute any payment to the beneficiary concerned and that
- the beneficiary concerned must not repay any amount to the coordinator.
If the second request for amendment is accepted by the granting authority, the Agreement is amended
to introduce the necessary changes (see Article 39).
If the second request for amendment is rejected by the granting authority (because it calls into question
the decision awarding the grant or breaches the principle of equal treatment of applicants), the grant
may be terminated (see Article 32).
Improper termination may lead to a reduction of the grant (see Article 31) or grant termination (see
Article 32).
After termination, the concerned beneficiary’s obligations (in particular Articles 13 (confidentiality
and security), 16 (IPR), 17 (communication, dissemination and visibility), 21 (reporting), 25 (checks,
reviews, audits and investigations), 26 (impact evaluation), 27 (rejections), 28 (grant reduction) and
42 (assignment of claims)) continue to apply.
32.3 EU-initiated GA or beneficiary termination
32.3.1 Conditions
The granting authority may terminate the grant or the participation of one or more beneficiaries, if:
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(a) one or more beneficiaries do not accede to the Agreement (see Article 40)
(b) a change to the action or the legal, financial, technical, organisational or ownership situation
of a beneficiary is likely to substantially affect the implementation of the action or calls into
question the decision to award the grant (including changes linked to one of the exclusion
grounds listed in the declaration of honour)
(c) following termination of one or more beneficiaries, the necessary changes to the Agreement
(and their impact on the action) would call into question the decision awarding the grant or
breach the principle of equal treatment of applicants
(d) implementation of the action has become impossible or the changes necessary for its
continuation would call into question the decision awarding the grant or breach the principle
of equal treatment of applicants
(e) a beneficiary (or person with unlimited liability for its debts) is subject to bankruptcy
proceedings or similar (including insolvency, winding-up, administration by a liquidator or
court, arrangement with creditors, suspension of business activities, etc.)
(f) a beneficiary (or person with unlimited liability for its debts) is in breach of social security
or tax obligations
(g) a beneficiary (or person having powers of representation, decision-making or control, or person
essential for the award/implementation of the grant) has been found guilty of grave professional
misconduct
(h) a beneficiary (or person having powers of representation, decision-making or control, or person
essential for the award/implementation of the grant) has committed fraud, corruption, or is
involved in a criminal organisation, money laundering, terrorism-related crimes (including
terrorism financing), child labour or human trafficking
(i) a beneficiary (or person having powers of representation, decision-making or control, or person
essential for the award/implementation of the grant) was created under a different jurisdiction
with the intent to circumvent fiscal, social or other legal obligations in the country of origin
(or created another entity with this purpose)
(j) a beneficiary (or person having powers of representation, decision-making or control, or person
essential for the award/implementation of the grant) has committed:
(i) substantial errors, irregularities or fraud or
(ii) serious breach of obligations under this Agreement or during its award (including
improper implementation of the action, non-compliance with the call conditions,
submission of false information, failure to provide required information, breach of ethics
or security rules (if applicable), etc.)
(k) a beneficiary (or person having powers of representation, decision-making or control, or person
essential for the award/implementation of the grant) has committed — in other EU grants
awarded to it under similar conditions — systemic or recurrent errors, irregularities, fraud or
serious breach of obligations that have a material impact on this grant (extension of findings
from other grants to this grant; see Article 25)
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(l) despite a specific request by the granting authority, a beneficiary does not request — through
the coordinator — an amendment to the Agreement to end the participation of one of its
affiliated entities or associated partners that is in one of the situations under points (d), (f), (e),
(g), (h), (i) or (j) and to reallocate its tasks, or
(m) other:
(i) linked action issues: not applicable
(ii) the action has lost its scientific or technological relevance, for EIC Accelerator actions:
the action has lost its economic relevance, for challenge-based EIC Pathfinder actions
and Horizon Europe Missions: the action has lost its relevance as part of the Portfolio
for which it has been initially selected
32.3.2 Procedure
Before terminating the grant or participation of one or more beneficiaries, the granting authority will
send a pre-information letter to the coordinator or beneficiary concerned:
- formally notifying the intention to terminate and the reasons why and
- requesting observations within 30 days of receiving notification.
If the granting authority does not receive observations or decides to pursue the procedure despite
the observations it has received, it will confirm the termination and the date it will take effect
(confirmation letter). Otherwise, it will formally notify that the procedure is discontinued.
For beneficiary terminations, the granting authority will — at the end of the procedure — also inform
the coordinator.
The termination will take effect the day after the confirmation notification is sent (or on a later date
specified in the notification; ‘termination date’).
32.3.3 Effects
(a) for GA termination:
The coordinator must — within 60 days from when termination takes effect — submit a
periodic report (for the last open reporting period until termination).
The granting authority will calculate the final grant amount and final payment on the basis of
the report submitted and taking into account the costs incurred and contributions for activities
implemented before termination takes effect (see Article 22). Costs relating to contracts due
for execution only after termination are not eligible.
If the grant is terminated for breach of the obligation to submit reports, the coordinator may
not submit any report after termination.
If the granting authority does not receive the report within the deadline, only costs and
contributions which are included in an approved periodic report will be taken into account (no
costs/contributions if no periodic report was ever approved).
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Termination does not affect the granting authority’s right to reduce the grant (see Article 28)
or to impose administrative sanctions (see Article 34).
The beneficiaries may not claim damages due to termination by the granting authority (see
Article 33).
After termination, the beneficiaries’ obligations (in particular Articles 13 (confidentiality
and security), 16 (IPR), 17 (communication, dissemination and visibility), 21 (reporting), 25
(checks, reviews, audits and investigations), 26 (impact evaluation), 27 (rejections), 28 (grant
reduction) and 42 (assignment of claims)) continue to apply.
(b) for beneficiary termination:
The coordinator must — within 60 days from when termination takes effect — submit:
(i) a report on the distribution of payments to the beneficiary concerned
(ii) a termination report from the beneficiary concerned, for the open reporting period
until termination, containing an overview of the progress of the work, the financial
statement, the explanation on the use of resources, and, if applicable, the certificate
on the financial statement (CFS; see Articles 21 and 24.2 and Data Sheet, Point 4.3)
(iii) a request for amendment (see Article 39) with any amendments needed (e.g.
reallocation of the tasks and the estimated budget of the terminated beneficiary;
addition of a new beneficiary to replace the terminated beneficiary; change of
coordinator, etc.).
The granting authority will calculate the amount due to the beneficiary on the basis of the
report submitted and taking into account the costs incurred and contributions for activities
implemented before termination takes effect (see Article 22). Costs relating to contracts due
for execution only after termination are not eligible.
The information in the termination report must also be included in the periodic report for the
next reporting period (see Article 21).
If the granting authority does not receive the termination report within the deadline, only costs
and contributions included in an approved periodic report will be taken into account (no costs/
contributions if no periodic report was ever approved).
If the granting authority does not receive the report on the distribution of payments within the
deadline, it will consider that:
- the coordinator did not distribute any payment to the beneficiary concerned and that
- the beneficiary concerned must not repay any amount to the coordinator.
If the request for amendment is accepted by the granting authority, the Agreement is amended
to introduce the necessary changes (see Article 39).
If the request for amendment is rejected by the granting authority (because it calls into question
the decision awarding the grant or breaches the principle of equal treatment of applicants), the
grant may be terminated (see Article 32).
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After termination, the concerned beneficiary’s obligations (in particular Articles 13
(confidentiality and security), 16 (IPR), 17 (communication, dissemination and visibility),
21 (reporting), 25 (checks, reviews, audits and investigations), 26 (impact evaluation), 27
(rejections), 28 (grant reduction) and 42 (assignment of claims)) continue to apply.
SECTION 3 OTHER CONSEQUENCES: DAMAGES AND ADMINISTRATIVE
SANCTIONS
ARTICLE 33 — DAMAGES
33.1 Liability of the granting authority
The granting authority cannot be held liable for any damage caused to the beneficiaries or to third
parties as a consequence of the implementation of the Agreement, including for gross negligence.
The granting authority cannot be held liable for any damage caused by any of the beneficiaries or
other participants involved in the action, as a consequence of the implementation of the Agreement.
33.2 Liability of the beneficiaries
The beneficiaries must compensate the granting authority for any damage it sustains as a result of the
implementation of the action or because the action was not implemented in full compliance with the
Agreement, provided that it was caused by gross negligence or wilful act.
The liability does not extend to indirect or consequential losses or similar damage (such as loss of
profit, loss of revenue or loss of contracts), provided such damage was not caused by wilful act or
by a breach of confidentiality.
ARTICLE 34 — ADMINISTRATIVE SANCTIONS AND OTHER MEASURES
Nothing in this Agreement may be construed as preventing the adoption of administrative sanctions
(i.e. exclusion from EU award procedures and/or financial penalties) or other public law measures,
in addition or as an alternative to the contractual measures provided under this Agreement (see,
for instance, Articles 135 to 145 EU Financial Regulation 2018/1046 and Articles 4 and 7 of
Regulation 2988/9522).
SECTION 4 FORCE MAJEURE
ARTICLE 35 — FORCE MAJEURE
A party prevented by force majeure from fulfilling its obligations under the Agreement cannot be
considered in breach of them.
‘Force majeure’ means any situation or event that:
- prevents either party from fulfilling their obligations under the Agreement,
22 Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95 of 18 December 1995 on the protection of the European Communities
financial interests (OJ L 312, 23.12.1995, p. 1).
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- was unforeseeable, exceptional situation and beyond the parties’ control,
- was not due to error or negligence on their part (or on the part of other participants involved
in the action), and
- proves to be inevitable in spite of exercising all due diligence.
Any situation constituting force majeure must be formally notified to the other party without delay,
stating the nature, likely duration and foreseeable effects.
The parties must immediately take all the necessary steps to limit any damage due to force majeure
and do their best to resume implementation of the action as soon as possible.
CHAPTER 6 FINAL PROVISIONS
ARTICLE 36 — COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE PARTIES
36.1 Forms and means of communication — Electronic management
EU grants are managed fully electronically through the EU Funding & Tenders Portal (‘Portal’).
All communications must be made electronically through the Portal, in accordance with the Portal
Terms and Conditions and using the forms and templates provided there (except if explicitly instructed
otherwise by the granting authority).
Communications must be made in writing and clearly identify the grant agreement (project number
and acronym).
Communications must be made by persons authorised according to the Portal Terms and Conditions.
For naming the authorised persons, each beneficiary must have designated — before the signature of
this Agreement — a ‘legal entity appointed representative (LEAR)’. The role and tasks of the LEAR
are stipulated in their appointment letter (see Portal Terms and Conditions).
If the electronic exchange system is temporarily unavailable, instructions will be given on the Portal.
36.2 Date of communication
The sending date for communications made through the Portal will be the date and time of sending,
as indicated by the time logs.
The receiving date for communications made through the Portal will be the date and time the
communication is accessed, as indicated by the time logs. Formal notifications that have not been
accessed within 10 days after sending, will be considered to have been accessed (see Portal Terms
and Conditions).
If a communication is exceptionally made on paper (by e-mail or postal service), general principles
apply (i.e. date of sending/receipt). Formal notifications by registered post with proof of delivery will
be considered to have been received either on the delivery date registered by the postal service or the
deadline for collection at the post office.
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If the electronic exchange system is temporarily unavailable, the sending party cannot be considered
in breach of its obligation to send a communication within a specified deadline.
36.3 Addresses for communication
The Portal can be accessed via the Europa website.
The address for paper communications to the granting authority (if exceptionally allowed) is the
official mailing address indicated on its website.
For beneficiaries, it is the legal address specified in the Portal Participant Register.
ARTICLE 37 — INTERPRETATION OF THE AGREEMENT
The provisions in the Data Sheet take precedence over the rest of the Terms and Conditions of the
Agreement.
Annex 5 takes precedence over the Terms and Conditions; the Terms and Conditions take precedence
over the Annexes other than Annex 5.
Annex 2 takes precedence over Annex 1.
ARTICLE 38 — CALCULATION OF PERIODS AND DEADLINES
In accordance with Regulation No 1182/7123, periods expressed in days, months or years are calculated
from the moment the triggering event occurs.
The day during which that event occurs is not considered as falling within the period.
‘Days’ means calendar days, not working days.
ARTICLE 39 — AMENDMENTS
39.1 Conditions
The Agreement may be amended, unless the amendment entails changes to the Agreement which
would call into question the decision awarding the grant or breach the principle of equal treatment
of applicants.
Amendments may be requested by any of the parties.
39.2 Procedure
The party requesting an amendment must submit a request for amendment signed directly in the Portal
Amendment tool.
The coordinator submits and receives requests for amendment on behalf of the beneficiaries (see
Annex 3). If a change of coordinator is requested without its agreement, the submission must be done
by another beneficiary (acting on behalf of the other beneficiaries).
23 Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 1182/71 of the Council of 3 June 1971 determining the rules applicable to periods, dates
and time-limits (OJ L 124, 8/6/1971, p. 1).
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The request for amendment must include:
- the reasons why
- the appropriate supporting documents and
- for a change of coordinator without its agreement: the opinion of the coordinator (or proof that
this opinion has been requested in writing).
The granting authority may request additional information.
If the party receiving the request agrees, it must sign the amendment in the tool within 45 days of
receiving notification (or any additional information the granting authority has requested). If it does
not agree, it must formally notify its disagreement within the same deadline. The deadline may be
extended, if necessary for the assessment of the request. If no notification is received within the
deadline, the request is considered to have been rejected.
An amendment enters into force on the day of the signature of the receiving party.
An amendment takes effect on the date of entry into force or other date specified in the amendment.
ARTICLE 40 — ACCESSION AND ADDITION OF NEW BENEFICIARIES
40.1 Accession of the beneficiaries mentioned in the Preamble
The beneficiaries which are not coordinator must accede to the grant by signing the accession form
(see Annex 3) directly in the Portal Grant Preparation tool, within 30 days after the entry into force
of the Agreement (see Article 44).
They will assume the rights and obligations under the Agreement with effect from the date of its entry
into force (see Article 44).
If a beneficiary does not accede to the grant within the above deadline, the coordinator must — within
30 days — request an amendment (see Article 39) to terminate the beneficiary and make any changes
necessary to ensure proper implementation of the action. This does not affect the granting authority’s
right to terminate the grant (see Article 32).
40.2 Addition of new beneficiaries
In justified cases, the beneficiaries may request the addition of a new beneficiary.
For this purpose, the coordinator must submit a request for amendment in accordance with Article 39.
It must include an accession form (see Annex 3) signed by the new beneficiary directly in the Portal
Amendment tool.
New beneficiaries will assume the rights and obligations under the Agreement with effect from the
date of their accession specified in the accession form (see Annex 3).
Additions are also possible in mono-beneficiary grants.
ARTICLE 41 — TRANSFER OF THE AGREEMENT
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In justified cases, the beneficiary of a mono-beneficiary grant may request the transfer of the grant to
a new beneficiary, provided that this would not call into question the decision awarding the grant or
breach the principle of equal treatment of applicants.
The beneficiary must submit a request for amendment (see Article 39), with
- the reasons why
- the accession form (see Annex 3) signed by the new beneficiary directly in the Portal
Amendment tool and
- additional supporting documents (if required by the granting authority).
The new beneficiary will assume the rights and obligations under the Agreement with effect from the
date of accession specified in the accession form (see Annex 3).
ARTICLE 42 — ASSIGNMENTS OF CLAIMS FOR PAYMENT AGAINST THE
GRANTING AUTHORITY
The beneficiaries may not assign any of their claims for payment against the granting authority to
any third party, except if expressly approved in writing by the granting authority on the basis of a
reasoned, written request by the coordinator (on behalf of the beneficiary concerned).
If the granting authority has not accepted the assignment or if the terms of it are not observed, the
assignment will have no effect on it.
In no circumstances will an assignment release the beneficiaries from their obligations towards the
granting authority.
ARTICLE 43 — APPLICABLE LAW AND SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTES
43.1 Applicable law
The Agreement is governed by the applicable EU law, supplemented if necessary by the law of
Belgium.
Special rules may apply for beneficiaries which are international organisations (if any; see Data Sheet,
Point 5).
43.2 Dispute settlement
If a dispute concerns the interpretation, application or validity of the Agreement, the parties must bring
action before the EU General Court — or, on appeal, the EU Court of Justice — under Article 272
of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU).
For non-EU beneficiaries (if any), such disputes must be brought before the courts of Brussels,
Belgium — unless an international agreement provides for the enforceability of EU court judgements.
For beneficiaries with arbitration as special dispute settlement forum (if any; see Data Sheet, Point 5),
the dispute will — in the absence of an amicable settlement — be settled in accordance with the Rules
for Arbitration published on the Portal.
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If a dispute concerns administrative sanctions, offsetting or an enforceable decision under Article 299
TFEU (see Articles 22 and 34), the beneficiaries must bring action before the General Court — or, on
appeal, the Court of Justice — under Article 263 TFEU.
For grants where the granting authority is an EU executive agency (see Preamble), actions against
offsetting and enforceable decisions must be brought against the European Commission (not against
the granting authority; see also Article 22).
ARTICLE 44 — ENTRY INTO FORCE
The Agreement will enter into force on the day of signature by the granting authority or the
coordinator, depending on which is later.
SIGNATURES
For the coordinator For the granting authority
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ANNEX 1
Horizon Europe (HORIZON)
Description of the action (DoA)
Part A
Part B
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DESCRIPTION OF THE ACTION (PART A)
COVER PAGE
Part A of the Description of the Action (DoA) must be completed directly on the Portal Grant Preparation screens.
PROJECT
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Project number: 101056973
Project name: Automated Compliance Checks for Construction, Renovation or Demolition
Works
Project acronym: ACCORD
Call: HORIZON-CL4-2021-TWIN-TRANSITION-01
Topic: HORIZON-CL4-2021-TWIN-TRANSITION-01-10
Type of action: HORIZON-IA
Service: HADEA/B/03
Project starting date: fixed date: 1 September 2022
Project duration: 36 months
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Project summary ......................................................................................................................................................3
List of participants .................................................................................................................................................. 3
List of work packages .............................................................................................................................................5
Staff effort ............................................................................................................................................................. 14
List of deliverables ................................................................................................................................................16
List of milestones (outputs/outcomes) .................................................................................................................. 24
List of critical risks ............................................................................................................................................... 25
Project reviews ...................................................................................................................................................... 27
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PROJECT SUMMARY
Project summary
Grant Preparation (General Information screen) — Provide an overall description of your project (including context and overall
objectives, planned activities and main achievements, and expected results and impacts (on target groups, change procedures,
capacities, innovation etc)). This summary should give readers a clear idea of what your project is about.
Use the project summary from your proposal.
ACCORD's objective is to digitalise permitting and compliance processes using BIM and other data sources to improve
the productivity and quality of design and construction processes, support the design of climate-neutral buildings and
advance a sustainable built environment in line with the EU Green Deal and new European Bauhaus initiative. These
digitized processes must be human-centred, transparent and cost-effective for the permit applicants and authorities.
Another objective is to develop and integrate technical solutions for automating compliance checking of buildings in
their design, construction and renovation/demolition lifecycle phases. All this will be based on open and neutral data
exchange standards.
ACCORD will develop a semantic framework for European digital building permitting processes, regulations, data
and tools. This framework will drive rule formalization and integration of existing compliance tools as microservices.
Solutions and tools are to be developed, providing consistency, interoperability and reliability with national regulatory
frameworks, processes and standards. The solutions are implemented and demonstrated across construction projects in
various EU regulatory contexts: UK, Finland, Estonia, Germany and Spain.
ACCORD supports work programme KSOs, expected outcomes and impacts by 1) developing open APIs allowing local
authorities to choose their digital services without a lock-in, 2) automating the checking of environmental regulations
(CO2 emissions, LCA and circular economy) by developing machine-readable rules, thus steering the digital and green
transition, and involving relevant stakeholders through co-creation, and 3) creating information guidelines for structured
data models to increase the value of buildings and reduce their operating costs and 4) providing the open ACCORD
framework based on microservices allowing businesses to connect and develop solutions resulting in a scalable, durable
and flexible permitting ecosystem.
LIST OF PARTICIPANTS
PARTICIPANTS
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Number Role Short name Legal name Country PIC
1 COO VTT TEKNOLOGIAN TUTKIMUSKESKUS VTT OY FI 932760440
2 BEN FHG FRAUNHOFER GESELLSCHAFT ZUR DE 999984059
FORDERUNG DER ANGEWANDTEN
FORSCHUNG EV
2.1 AE UNIKO UNIVERSITAET KOBLENZ-LANDAU DE 999856407
3 BEN OGC OPEN GEOSPATIAL CONSORTIUM EUROPE BE 899555206
4 BEN ACE CONSEIL DES ARCHITECTES D'EUROPE BE 924742517
5 BEN MKM MAJANDUS JA EE 963638450
KOMMUNIKATSIOONIMINISTEERIUM
6 BEN HAM FREIE UND HANSESTADT HAMBURG DE 998928602
7 BEN AMM AYUNTAMIENTO DE MALGRAT DE MAR ES 890717827
8 BEN ONTO SIRMA AI EAD BG 900925331
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PARTICIPANTS
Grant Preparation (Beneficiaries screen) — Enter the info.
Number Role Short name Legal name Country PIC
9 BEN SOL SOLIBRI OY FI 888132001
10 BEN FUI FUTURE INSIGHT GROUP BV NL 928328025
11 BEN AE AETHER ENGINEERING S.A.S. TRA IT 923674935
PROFESSIONISTI DI CHRISTOVASILIS
IOANNIS
12 BEN IMT INSTITUT MINES-TELECOM FR 999849326
13 BEN ITeC INSTITUT DE TECNOLOGIA DE LA ES 945306517
CONSTRUCCION DE CATALUNYA
14 BEN FUNITEC FUNDACIO PRIVADA UNIVERSITAT I ES 997191235
TECNOLOGIA
15 BEN JU STIFTELSEN HOGSKOLAN I JONKOPING SE 997539271
16 BEN CP CLOUDPERMIT OY FI 887892120
17 BEN TEGEL TEGEL PROJEKT GMBH DE 934242503
18 AP CU CARDIFF UNIVERSITY UK 999979694
19 AP BCU BIRMINGHAM CITY UNIVERSITY UK 998955374
20 AP BSI BUILDINGSMART INTERNATIONAL LIMITED UK 993336067
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LIST OF WORK PACKAGES
Work packages
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Work Work Package name Lead Beneficiary Effort Start End Deliverable No(s)
Package No (Person- Month Month
Months)
WP1 Requirements for digitalising permitting and 18 - CU 24.50 1 10 D1.2, D1.1
compliance processes
WP2 Semantisation of regulation and open format for 19 - BCU 64.00 1 28 D2.2, D2.1, D2.3, D2.4
machine-readable rules
WP3 Transforming permit and compliance processes 20 - BSI 49.00 9 34 D3.2, D3.3, D3.1
WP4 Solutions development 2 - FHG 161.25 1 33 D4.4, D4.3, D4.2, D4.1
WP5 Prototype solutions demonstrations 1 - VTT 81.00 4 33 D5.1
WP6 Dissemination, communication, exploitation and 3 - OGC 42.50 1 36 D6.1, D6.3, D6.2
standardisation
WP7 Project management 1 - VTT 37.25 1 36 D7.1, D7.3, D7.6, D7.4, D7.5,
D7.2
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Work package WP1 – Requirements for digitalising permitting and compliance processes
Work Package Number WP1 Lead Beneficiary 18. CU
Work Package Name Requirements for digitalising permitting and compliance processes
Start Month 1 End Month 10
Objectives
This WP will analyse the complex landscape of build environment compliance checking and permitting across Europe
to ascertain the requirements for the future digitalisation of this complex interdisciplinary field. The WP will employ a
hybrid top-down (covering the consortium member states) and a bottom-up (with a specific focus on the demonstration
countries) approach to tackle the following objectives: (1) Conduct a landscape review and analysis of current adoption
of the concept of digitalisation of building permitting and compliance check-ing: (a) academic projects and methods,
(b) relevant software tools and technologies, and (c) national adoption efforts in the field. (2) Conduct an EU wide
survey into the attitudes of stakeholders to the prospective digitalisation of this domain. (3) Ascertain the current laws,
regulations and guidance that currently drive building permitting across EU consortium member states. (4) Investigate
and formally model the existing building permitting and compliance checking processes in the demonstration countries.
(5) Perform a preselection of regulations/requirements to focus the future development of prototype implementation
within the demonstration projects. (6) To develop and formally document the ACCORD semantic framework and user
requirements specification.
Description
T1.1 Landscape Review of Built Environment Compliance and Permitting (CU, all partners) [M1-M8]: This task will
answer WP objectives 1, 2 and 3. To meet these objectives, an EU-wide landscape review of the current adoption of
digitised compliance/permitting processes will be conducted, focusing on academic projects, existing software tools,
relevant efforts towards national adoption and existing EU projects/efforts. Furthermore, an EU wide construction
industry survey will be conducted; the goal of this survey will be to sample the “state of the industry” with regards to
attitudes, knowledge, and experiences of digitised building permitting and compliance processes and the regulations,
laws and guidance documents currently involved, along with encountered barriers and enablers to digitalisation. This task
will also establish contact with and understand the work of any relevant standardisation bodies (such as buildingSMART,
OGC) and any national networks in the area. Finally, the data collected will be analysed to identify research gaps and
potential barriers and enablers to adopt digitised compliance and permitting processes in the built environment. (D1.1)
T1.2 Identification of Building Permitting Processes and Regulations (VTT, FHG, CU, BCU, MKM, HAM, AMM,
FUI, ITeC, FUNITEC, TEGEL) [M3-M8]: This task will answer WP objectives 4 and 5. To do this, this task will first
analyse existing construction permitting and compliance processes in the demonstration countries. This will identify;
(a) the actors/stakeholders involved, (b) the activities and (c) the regulations involved. Following this identification, a
process mapping exercise will be conducted formally documenting the processes and actors within each demonstration
country. Finally, this task will perform the selection of the laws/regulations/guidance documents within each country
demonstration that will be targeted for digitalisation. (D1.1)
T1.3 ACCORD Framework and User Requirements Specification (FHG, VTT, CU, UNIKO, ONTO, FU-NITEC, ACE,
BCU, BSI, OGC, MKM, HAM, AMM, SOL, FUI, ITeC, CP, TEGEL) [M1-M10]: This task will define the ACCORD
semantic framework along with its user requirements specification (WP objective 6). This will include the identification
of relevant standards for the storing, processing, analysis and retrieval of administrative and regulatory information
related to construction, renovation and demolition works. A user-focused requirement specification is to be developed
in an interdisciplinary fashion, drawing on the previous tasks of this WP and validated by the project advisory board.
The specification will be supported by model-ling activities, including the product of UML use case and sequence
diagrams. The task will also produce a specification of the project’s demonstration deployments, including eliciting any
demonstration-specific requirements. (D1.2)
Work package WP2 – Semantisation of regulation and open format for machine-readable
rules
Work Package Number WP2 Lead Beneficiary 19. BCU
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Work Package Name Semantisation of regulation and open format for machine-readable rules
Start Month 1 End Month 28
Objectives
The WP will develop a set/suite of semantic models, Artificial Intelligence models and a rule formalisation tool
that involve the development of an ontology of laws, regulations, and administrative processes involved in the
design, construction, and operation of buildings and further defines a semantic platform-neutral open format for rule
representation facilitated by a rule formalisation tool. This will draw on the outcomes of WP 1, while its own outcomes
will feed into WPs 3, 4 and 5 to support the development of digital tools and well-defined alignment and interoperability
guidelines with existing construction/software standards.
Description
T2.1 Technical Review of Existing Standards (IMT, CU, BCU, FHG, ONTO, SOL, FUI, FUNITEC, JU) [M1-M12]:
Review of existing ontologies, standards and data models in the domain and how they can be re-used for the purpose
of the automatic compliance check. Includes analysis of potential alignments between existing ontologies/data models
and of representation gaps that T2.2/T2.3 may need to fill. (D2.1)
T2.2 Development of the Building Compliance Ontology (BCU, VTT, CU, FHG, ONTO, SOL, FUI, IMT, FUNITEC,
JU) [M8-M16]: Drawing on literature, expert interviews, T2.1 and WP1, develop a conceptual ontological model
of building compliance requirements, including laws, regulations, processes, and documentation. This Building
Compliance Ontology (BCO) is open-ended, and not tied to specific regional or legal systems. It is aligned and
compatible with established standard ontologies for representing both generic concepts (time, processes, files/document
metadata) and the building domain specifically (building topology, construction projects). Specific laws, regulations,
processes, and documentation will be implementations of this generic model. (D2.2)
T2.3 Machine-executable Regulations (CU, BCU, FHG, ONTO, SOL, FUI, IMT, FUNITEC, JU) [M4-M16]: This task
will analyse existing methodologies of producing machine-executable laws and regulations. This will draw from past
experience from both academic literature and existing software systems. The analysis will include both built environment
examples and those from other domains. Based on this analysis, this task will define the ACCORD methodology
for making laws and regulations (defined semantically in T2.2) machine-executable. This will focus on selecting and
adapting existing approaches and integrating them with the semantics defined in T2.2, as opposed to developing new
technologies. A ruleset database providing semantic rules for compliance checking of the demonstrations will be further
generated from this task with the facilitation of T2.5, aiming to provide a proof of concept and input set of rules to WP4
and WP5 in their checking processes. (D2.2)
T2.4 Artificial Intelligence for Natural Language Processing of Building Codes (BCU, FGH, ONTO, IMT, JU) [M6-
M24]: This task will develop a suite of AI models and other algorithms for the extraction, generation/formulation and
semantisation of rules from text. Deep learning Natural Language Processing (NLP) will be applied to the corpora of
building codes and regulations for extracting rule entities/axioms in the UK. More algorithms will be developed to embed
the NLP output, following an expert-led semi-automatic approach to the rule format defined in T2.3 and semantised
from the defined and reused ontologies and data models from T2.2 and T.2.1. Algorithms to semantise existing digitised/
automated rules will be developed here as well. (D2.3)
T2.5 Design and Implementation of Rule Formalisation Tool (FUNITEC, ONTO, JU, BCU, CU, IMT, FHG, SOL, FUI)
[M13-M24]: This task will design and implement a rule formalisation tool using and connect-ing parts implemented in
other tasks of this WP and utilities to assist rule creators in the process of formalisation of regulations and information
requirements into a processable rule form. The first release of the tool will make use of the outputs of T2.1, T2.2 and
T2.3, and the second release will be aided with NLP processing from T2.4. The task will also define the methodology
for how to formalise text into machine-interpretable rule form. (D2.3)
T2.6 Technical Guidelines (JU, BCU, FHG, ONTO, FUNITEC) [M17-M28]: Developing documentation for the
artefacts developed within the WP, including BCO ontology documentation (textual description and visualizations),
documentation of the developed rule formalisation tool to (automatically) generate the aforementioned documentation
from the artefacts, example instantiations of the ontology and rules for various real-world scenarios, and user-/consumer-
facing getting-started and guideline documents. (D2.4)
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Work package WP3 – Transforming permit and compliance processes
Work Package Number WP3 Lead Beneficiary 20. BSI
Work Package Name Transforming permit and compliance processes
Start Month 9 End Month 34
Objectives
This WP will model digital permitting and compliance processes based on AS-IS processes modelled in WP1 and provide
recommendations for a digital transformation of permit and compliance processes on EU and national levels while using
developed tools and solutions. This objective will be reached based on previous WP outcomes (1) analysis and formal
model of existing building permitting processes across the consortium’s EU countries including different stakeholders
(WP1), (2) semantic framework (WP2), (3) developed tools and solutions for digital compliance checking of buildings
and infrastructure (WP4); (4) outcomes of prototype implementation and validation in demonstration projects (WP5).
Description
T3.1 TO-BE Digital Permitting and Compliance Processes (VTT, BCU, BSI, FHG, OGC, MKM, HAM, AMM, ONTO,
SOL, FUI, FUNITEC, CP, TEGEL) [M14-M34]: Based on D1.1 and D1.2, ACCORD semantic framework and User
Requirements Specification and analysis on lessons learned from the country demonstrations (in WP5), model and
formalise a future (to-be) digital permitting and compliance process that incorporates data, tools (such as the rule
formalisation tool developed in WP2) and stakeholders (meeting ACCORD’s objective 1). Relevant stakeholders
(architects, authorities, etc.) will be engaged in the modelling. (D3.1)
T3.2 Information Reliability Measures (BSI, BCU, FHG, OGC, MKM, HAM, AMM, ONTO, SOL, FUI, FUNITEC, CP,
TEGEL) [M9-M24]: Compliance checks need to produce reliable outcomes. False-positive outcomes from rule checks
are unacceptable since they could lead to a legally compromised position. The rules from WP2 and WP4 assume valid
data input. For example, a rule that checks the height of a step in a stair assumes all stairs are provided in an identifiable
way. Data that represents a staircase but has no semantic annotation of being a stair might not be recognized by the rule
interpreter. Information reliability and correct semantic labelling of data is a prerequisite for reliable permit checking.
This task will identify semantic annotations that need to be in place and provide suggestions on setting up reliability
measurements by municipalities and governments. (D3.2)
T3.3 Transformation Pathways towards Digital Permitting Processes in Demo Countries (BSI, VTT, CU, FHG, FUI,
FUNITEC, ACE, MKM, SOL, HAM, AMM, TEGEL) [M10-M34]: Provide improvement proposals and pathways on
how to advance with digitalisation in permitting and compliance processes in the demonstration countries (T3.1 supports
this task) by engaging relevant stakeholders (such as architects, authorities and civil building permit applicants) in
facilitated co-creative open innovation development. Address possibilities for securing stored data using authentication
technologies. Provide recommendations from the impact assessment and recommendations to standardisation or
regulations, which will contribute to the call objectives and agenda of the Built4People partnership. (D3.1)
T3.4 Information Guidelines and Education Package (FUI, VTT, FHG, FUNITEC, BCU, ONTO, OGC, MKM, TEGEL)
[M12-M34]: Based on the industry partner experiences from the demonstrations, a very concrete starter package will be
put together, with which a country can start BIM-based permit checking success-fully. The task will create information
guidelines for all relevant stakeholders on how to prepare BIM and pro-vide other data (such as GIS) and interpret
the results from the automated compliance checking (in BCF format). The task will create e-learning material based
on defined learning outcomes for teaching professionals. Components of such a starter pack may include: 1) Minimal
BIM requirements, 2) Standardized set of IDS checks to check data quality, 2) Purchase conditions for BIM designs, 4)
Guide how to get your standardized object values from a library like bSDD, 5) List of most easy and relevant permit
checks to start with and the necessary BIM requirements, 6) Guide how to use the Digital Twin as a mechanism to get
requirements from (OGC), 7) A practical guide with examples how to translate legislation to a machine-readable format
and 8) Exchanging check results using BCF. (D3.3)
Work package WP4 – Solutions development
Work Package Number WP4 Lead Beneficiary 2. FHG
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Work Package Name Solutions development
Start Month 1 End Month 33
Objectives
This WP will develop innovative technological solutions for automating building permitting and compliance processes
across Europe. The WP will implement the ACCORD semantic framework that will integrate and provide access to
building compliance and permitting services allowing for the storing processing, analysis and retrieval of administrative
and regulatory information related to construction, renovation and demolition works. The ACCORD Building
Compliance Checking Microservices will integrate infrastructure-, platform- and cloud applications as a service and
ensure consistency to varying regulatory frameworks, compliance checking processes, use cases, stakeholder and data
ownership situations or data sovereignty and integrity aspects. Solutions will guarantee interoperability and integration
with other relevant tools, databases and processes, including existing stand-alone or open-source software and cloud
service solutions. The solutions will be demonstrated in the use cases of demonstrator projects across EU countries
(WP5).
Description
T4.1 Technical Requirements Elicitation and Analysis (UNIKO, all WP4 partners) [M1-M18]: Develop the Technical
Requirements Elicitation and Analysis in accordance with the ACCORD semantic framework and the User Requirements
Specification developed in T1.3. This task will define the technical, functional model identifying further actors and
functional scenarios, deriving use cases, their relationships, user interaction, error handling or environmental conditions
(i.e. interfaces), and non-functional requirements (quality aspects). An Analysis model (understood by developers) will
be developed based on the User Requirements Specification (T1.3) and the Technical Requirements Elicitation defining
the dynamic- and the object model and the architectural styles. (D4.1)
T4.2 Cloud Architecture Model (UNIKO, CU, FHG, OGC, HAM, ONTO, SOL, FUI, AE, FUNITEC, CP) [M3-
M18]: Design an integrated Cloud Computing Architectural Model for the storing, processing, analysis and retrieval
of administrative and regulatory information related to construction, renovation and demolition works in accordance
with the ACCORD semantic framework building upon the User Requirements Specification (T1.3) and the Technical
Requirements Elicitation and Analysis (T4.1). This will include Design Goals, Subsystem decomposition, Concurrency,
Hard- and Software-Mapping, Implementation technology, Persistent data management, Global resource handling,
Microservice architecture and -control, Interface design, Boundary conditions. The task will also define the ACCORD
Service-Setups integrating cloud-based ACCORD-, consortium partner's and existing (micro-)services according to the
specific needs of EU demonstrator projects. (D4.1)
T4.3 Implementation of ACCORD Building Compliance Checking Components, Microservices and APIs (FUI, CU,
BCU, BSI, FHG, OGC, ONTO, SOL, IMT, FUNITEC, JU) [M8-M31]: Implement the ACCORD Building Compliance
Checking Components, Microservices and its Application Programming Interfaces for the compliance checking of digital
building models forming part of the ACCORD semantic framework and based on the Cloud Architecture Model designed
in T4.2. The ACCORD Building Compliance Checking Components will comprise Hybrid Data Storage and Querying
(for BIM-, GIS-, semantic models related to buildings and sites), Data Input Processing, Result Processing, Reporting,
Visualisation and Feedback, Data Dictionary (bsDD and domain/country-specific) and Geoinformation Database.
Component development will reuse open-source- and existing solutions of consortium partners and build upon results
of recent research and innovation projects on the EU level. These components will serve for designing infrastructure-,
platform- and cloud applications as a service (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS) and Application Programming Interfaces including the
IaaS REST APIs, the PaaS APIs and the SaaS APIs. Finally, a plan for continuous Integration and -Deployment of novel
solutions as well as on Quality-, Configuration-, Build- and Release Management will be developed. (D4.2)
T4.4 Implementation of Consortium Microservice APIs and integrations in ACCORD Service-Setups (CU, FHG, OGC,
IMT, FUNITEC, JU, ONTO, SOL, FUI, AE, CP) [M10-M31]: This task will develop microservice applications and
Application Programming Interfaces for the permitting and compliance checking of buildings by individual ACCORD
consortium partners (FHG’s GENERIS, ONTO, SOL, FUI, AE, CP) related to the demonstration deployments. The task
will integrate consortium partner's infrastructure-, platform- and cloud applications as a service (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS) with
APIs for novel ACCORD Microservices (implemented in T4.3) and existing stand-alone, open-source software or cloud
service solutions according to the previously defined ACCORD Service-Setups for demonstration projects (T4.2). (D4.2)
T4.5 Integration, Testing and Validation (SOL, CU, FHG, OGC, HAM, ONTO, FUI, IMT, AE, FUNITEC, JU, CP)
[M11-M32]: Integrate and assure the quality of Components, Microservices and APIs developed in this WP that form
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part of the ACCORD semantic framework. Interactive testing and validation of prototypes developed in T4.3-4.4
upon ACCORD Service-Setups for demonstration projects making use of sample datasets including processes, key use
cases, service- and interface interoperability. Microservice Orchestration and management of software and microservice
solutions by consortium partners and novel ACCORD Microservices will take place in this task according to previously
designed ACCORD Service-Setups (T4.2) for further use in demonstration projects across EU countries (WP5). Provide
recommendations for Technical Guidelines (T4.6). (D4.3)
T4.6 Technical Guidelines (FHG, CU, BSI, UNIKO, OGC, HAM, ONTO, AE, FUNITEC, ONTO, SOL, CP) [M17-
M33]: Develop the Technical Documentation for solutions developed forming part of the ACCORD framework including
the ACCORD Building Compliance Checking Components, -Microservices and -APIs. (D4.4)
Work package WP5 – Prototype solutions demonstrations
Work Package Number WP5 Lead Beneficiary 1. VTT
Work Package Name Prototype solutions demonstrations
Start Month 4 End Month 33
Objectives
This WP will demonstrate digital permitting and compliance checking processes implemented in construction projects
across Europe (Finland/Estonia, Germany, UK and Spain). The demonstrations (demo) will serve to validate the semantic
model and the rule formalisation tool (developed in WP2) and the use of the developed solutions (WP4) and assist in
evaluating the new process (developed in WP3) against current permitting and compliance processes (T1.2). This WP
supports WP1 in describing the current country-specific permitting processes and identifying current challenges and
opportunities for digital permitting.
Description
All demonstrations follow these steps 1) identify regulations to be converted machine-executable (input for WP1, WP2,
WP4), 2) describe the permitting and compliance process related to the regulation (input for WP1-WP4), 3) define
requirements for digital building (BIM and other data) models to be checked in the project development, design and
construction phase (input for WP4), 4) configure, apply and validate solutions for automated compliance checking
(developed in WP4) to specific requirements for demonstration projects and regulations as part of overall BIM-based
permitting process (input for WP3), 5) provide recommendations for developing permitting processes in Europe (input
for WP3) and 6) support technical guidelines (input for WP2 and WP4). Demonstrations will be done with real
project data in cooperation with stakeholders of selected construction projects (including owner, designer and building
authorities). The use cases of each demonstration are described below T5.1-T5.4.
T5.1 Automated BIM-based Building Permit and Environmental Compliance – Finland & Estonia Demo (VTT, SOL, CP,
MKM, FUI) [M4-M34]: Conduct an automated compliance check with selected rules related, e.g. to accessibility, areas
(room & gross area), size of windows in relation to room area and exit routes, and start the automation of environmental
compliance checking (carbon footprint and circular economy) in BIM-based building permitting processes in Finland
and Estonia. The two collaborating country demonstrations are applying different software services, using the same
standards, increasing replicability of approaches. The country demonstrations will be evaluated by the Finnish Ministry
of Environment (Advisory Board member) and the Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications (MKM).
(D5.1)
T5.2 Automated Checking for Land Use Permitting, Green Building Certification and Architectural Design Compliance
of Industrialized Timber Housing (FHG, OGC, HAM, ONTO, TEGEL) [M4-M33]: Auto-mate checking for land
use permitting, lifecycle assessment (LCA) for Green Building Certification and architectural design compliance of
industrialized timber housing in the Federal State of Berlin. TEGEL will provide owner and construction requirements,
digital models and information on processes and regulations for all use cases arising from the adaptive reuse and new
planning of buildings on the area of the former Airport Berlin Tegel. Selected regulations and requirements for land use
permitting, Green Building Certification (according to the DGNB) and the architectural design of industrialized timber
housing will be converted to be machine-readable. HAM and OGC will support the use case “Land Use Permitting”. FHG
will develop APIs for the LCA web software GENERIS and elaborate the use case “Architectural design compliance for
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industrialized timber housing”. Implement and validate ACCORD Building Compliance Checking Microservices with
ON-TO, providing interoperability with German process and data standards (XPlanung and XBau). (D5.1)
T5.3 Automatic Checking of Structural Integrity of Steel Modular House Components – UK Demo (BCU, AE) [M4-
M33]: Automate the compliance checking of structural components in steel modular houses. The demonstration case
will draw on the combination of BIM-based inputs and Finite Element Analysis (FEA). High-level compliance processes
will be provided as inputs to WP1-4, while the analysis execution will be done on open source FEA software and the
reporting on a web-based front end. (D5.1)
T5.4 Automated Checking of Compliance with Urban Regulations - Spain Demo (FUNITEC, ITeC, ON-TO, SOL, OGC,
AMM) [M4-M33]: Automate checking of compliance with urban regulations in a municipality in Spain. The permitting
process will be applicable to both public and private buildings during the design and construction phases, using BIM
and GIS as input data. Various use cases will be considered in the development of several building renovations and new
construction projects that have been planned by the Malgrat de Mar City Council, which is the entity responsible for
granting the permits. (D5.1)
Work package WP6 – Dissemination, communication, exploitation and standardisation
Work Package Number WP6 Lead Beneficiary 3. OGC
Work Package Name Dissemination, communication, exploitation and standardisation
Start Month 1 End Month 36
Objectives
This WP will bundle the dissemination, communication, exploitation and standardization activities to maximize the
promotion of the project and its progress/results. WP6 will reach the identified project target groups and the general
public to support optimal conditions and solutions for exploiting and replicating the project outcomes. Doing so, WP6
ensures technology transfer to key user groups and software manufacturers. Furthermore, WP6 collaborates closely with
standardisation bodies to ensure sustainable project results beyond the project's lifetime.
Description
T6.1 Dissemination, Communication and Project Identity (OGC, all partners) [M1-M36]: An exhaustive plan for
dissemination, exploitation and communication is built upon the drafted version of the proposal (sections 2.2.1 and
2.2.2). The plan is a collaborative effort of this task (T6.1) and T6.2 (Innovation Management, Exploitation, Business
Development). OGC is the main responsible for the deliverable and coordinates the communication planning, and the
exploitation officer (CP) will coordinate the exploitation planning in synchronization with the work in T6.2. The plan
identifies the target audience, the communication tools and distribution channels to reach them and the key messages
to transmit, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for the distribution channels to constantly monitor the dissemination
and communication activities. A mid-term evaluation of the strategy is issued to assess its effectiveness. Through this,
the plan is regularly updated to fine-tune its objectives and actions by considering the project results and outputs. All
project partners review and comment to ensure that all target groups are successfully met. The work is reported at the
end of the project in D6.2. Development of a visual identity and its presence in all communication tools to reinforce
brand awareness by providing a unique, strong and consistent image of the project: logo, colours, typefaces, templates,
brochures and roll-up posters (ACE). The project will set up a website as essential communication and dissemination
channel for the project’s results and involve and enlarge the stakeholders’ community (OGC). The project will create
its own social media accounts on Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube. The impact of the social media channels will be
reviewed annually. A periodic eNewsletter (issued every six months, accessible via the website) will provide information
on project progress and results and links to press and news releases, articles and interviews (VTT) and sent out via e-
mail to registered stakeholders compliant with GDPR. (D6.1)
T6.2 Innovation Management, Exploitation, Business Development (CP, all partners) [M1-M36]: Business Cases
Analysis: Exploring market systems for the ACCORD services within the context of the identified business cases,
following a combined PESTEL and SWOT analysis type. It is focused on identifying the political, legal, economic,
social, technological and environmental factors that can act as barriers and enablers of those technologies (as explored in
the demonstrations in WP5). The analysis provides an important cornerstone for innovation management and technology
transfer. Exploitation and Business Plans: In the overall context of the project-specific innovation management process,
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building upon a common understanding of business models, entrepreneurship, and the outcomes of the demonstrative
case studies, a comprehensive exploitation strategy and business planning process will be developed. Exploitation
possibilities, and the management and protection of intellectual property (IP), will be explored in terms of exploitation
by individual partners and the consortium as a whole. The elaboration of the exploitation plan will be an iterative
and continuous process, aligned with the dissemination and communication activities, in close collaboration with the
industry partners. Innovation Management: This subtask will develop the measures for the sustained transfer of all
solutions developed in ACCORD towards a product portfolio. This includes analysing existing software solutions,
required extensions to integrate ACCORD results, and adaptations to address requirements specific to national settings.
T6.2 will be planned in D6.1 and work reported in D6.2.
T6.3 Community Building, Standardisation & Integration (OGC, BSI, FHG, ONTO, SOL, FUI, AE, ITeC, CP) [M1-
M36]: Community Building: This task addresses the important integration of the geospatial and BIM approaches with
respect to data modelling, semantics, and interface design. To ensure maximal uptake in standardisation activities
and community building, this task will be executed in close collaboration with the OGC/bSI Integrated Digital Built
Environment Subcommittee, and ideas will be exchanged with other projects funded under the same call in a working
group that will be set up by the EU BIM Task Group. Standardisation: The task will develop and execute an integration
path that outlines key milestones towards increased interoperability between the geospatial and built environment
domains, specifically through the coordination of standards. It will further ensure that ACCORD developments are
coordinated with ongoing activities within the standardization bodies bSI and OGC. Integration: The integration part of
this task will develop best practices that describe how geospatial and BIM models can be used jointly to reduce integration
costs and improve build quality along with the entire design, build, finance, maintain the lifecycle of buildings. All best
practices will be published through communication channels of OGC and bSI to ensure maximum uptake within both
communities. All activities and results of both parts of this task will be planned in D6.1 and work documented in D6.2.
T6.4 Training Material and Up-skilling (ACE, all partners) [M24-36]: All training activities will be aligned with D6.1
and reported in D6.2 at the end of the project. The information guidelines (D3.3) will be used alongside other results
material to prepare e-Learning material. The material will be developed in English and will most likely be translated
by training providers or authorities from a specific country who would like to use it. E-learning material can be used
by the partners and their respective countries as part of the exploitation efforts. This training material will also be
made available to the wider public through the EU PROF/TRAC open access online training material repository and
offered to ACE member associations who are acknowledged, national-level training providers. Three different material
packages are planned to up-skill various stakeholders: 1) One for software/ tools/service developers; content: General
technical specifications, ACCORD methodology for the development of machine-readable building codes and automated
compliance checking, 2) One for professionals of the permitting process; content: Guidelines, process flow, data flow,
information requirements, a roadmap for adaptation, and 3) Implementation of ACCORD methodology. Three webinars
will be held and recorded to be openly accessible via the project’s YouTube channel linked to the project website and
the EU BuildUp Portal. (D6.3)
Work package WP7 – Project management
Work Package Number WP7 Lead Beneficiary 1. VTT
Work Package Name Project management
Start Month 1 End Month 36
Objectives
This WP ensures the overall management, administration, coordination, execution and progress of the project and that
results are achieved in accordance with the Grant Agreement (GA) and expectations of the call.
Description
The Project Coordinator, VTT, is responsible for the overall coordination and management of the project and the
communication with the EC, within the consortium, and external bodies. The project management includes all
administrative, financial, and contractual issues and ensures the project's compliance with the GA. The coordinator
represents the project beneficiaries towards the EC.
T7.1 Financial and Administrative Management (VTT, all partners) [M1-M36]: VTT will manage the allocation and
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distribution of EC financial contributions to the beneficiaries and keep records of the payments. VTT will advise partners
to meet the EC administrative and financial requirements to follow Horizon Europe rules and provisions. VTT will
manage the GA with the EC and the Consortium Agreement (CA) with the Consorti-um. VTT will prepare any eventual
amendments and revisions of these Agreements when necessary. (D7.1)
T7.2 Coordination (VTT, all partners) [M1-M36]: Operational coordination at the consortium level: the overall day-
to-day coordination of the project, monitoring and supervision of activities concerning deliverables, milestones and
periodic reports, arranging for shared virtual workspaces and internal working procedures. Consortium and WP meetings
will be arranged in a timely manner, and review meetings with EC representatives will be held as agreed with the EC
Project Officer in the GA. The coordinator will define the management structure and procedures with all partners. A
detailed description of each Consortium body, their duties and responsibilities will be included in the CA, binding all
Consortium members. Resolution mechanisms for any emerging conflicts will be described in the CA. The management
structure is composed of a General Assembly (GenA, representing all partners) and a Management Committee (MC)
composed of WP leaders and coordinators. The GenA is the main decision-making body, while the MC supervises
the tasks and progress in different activities. An External Advisory Board (AB) will support requirements elicitation,
solution verification and country demonstration. The Project Quality Management Plan (PQMP) is developed to ensure i)
management of project-related documentation, ii) monitoring and quality control of project deliverables and milestones,
iii) risk contingency management. (D7.1)
T7.3 Ethics Management (VTT, all partners) [M1-M36]: The project will follow the ethics appraisal procedure in Horizon
Europe to ensure that the provisions on ethics regulation and rules are respected. VTT will act as an ethics mentor
monitoring the ethics issues involved in the project and how they are handled. The ethics plan details the forthcoming
actions and responsibilities to ensure that ethics requirements are satisfied. The ethics plan will include a schedule to
obtain and deliver all documents related to ethics requirements identified in Part A. (D7.2)
T7.4 Data Management (VTT), all partners) [M1-M36]: The consortium will prepare a Project Data Management Plan
(PDMP; D7.2), including a description of methodology and standards to be followed, what data sets are exploitable or
made accessible for verification and re-use. The PDMP will be a dynamic tool that is updated regularly throughout the
project duration. (D7.2)
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STAFF EFFORT
Staff effort per participant
Grant Preparation (Work packages - Effort screen) — Enter the info.
Participant WP1 WP2 WP3 WP4 WP5 WP6 WP7 Total Person-Months
1 - VTT 4.75 6.00 10.00 2.00 16.00 38.75
2 - FHG 4.75 3.00 2.00 14.00 8.00 2.00 2.00 35.75
2.1 - UNIKO 0.25 13.00 1.00 0.75 15.00
3 - OGC 0.25 1.00 7.00 2.00 10.00 2.00 22.25
4 - ACE 0.25 1.00 8.00 0.75 10.00
5 - MKM 0.75 2.00 2.00 0.50 0.75 6.00
6 - HAM 0.50 2.00 3.00 3.00 2.00 0.50 0.75 11.75
7 - AMM 0.50 1.00 3.00 0.50 0.75 5.75
8 - ONTO 0.25 7.00 1.00 25.00 5.00 0.50 0.75 39.50
9 - SOL 0.25 8.00 3.00 18.50 8.00 0.50 0.75 39.00
10 - FUI 0.25 4.00 5.00 20.00 7.00 0.50 0.75 37.50
11 - AE 0.25 4.00 3.00 0.50 0.75 8.50
12 - IMT 0.25 6.00 7.00 2.00 0.75 16.00
13 - ITeC 1.00 4.00 0.50 0.75 6.25
14 - FUNITEC 0.50 10.00 2.00 8.00 8.00 2.00 0.75 31.25
15 - JU 0.25 5.00 7.00 2.00 0.75 15.00
16 - CP 0.25 3.00 11.00 3.00 2.50 0.75 20.50
17 - TEGEL 0.25 7.00 7.00 1.00 0.75 16.00
18 - CU 7.50 5.00 4.00 17.50 2.00 2.00 38.00
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Staff effort per participant
Grant Preparation (Work packages - Effort screen) — Enter the info.
Participant WP1 WP2 WP3 WP4 WP5 WP6 WP7 Total Person-Months
19 - BCU 1.25 14.00 1.00 2.00 8.00 2.00 2.00 30.25
20 - BSI 0.25 7.00 4.25 1.00 2.00 2.00 16.50
Total Person-Months 24.50 64.00 49.00 161.25 81.00 42.50 37.25 459.50
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LIST OF DELIVERABLES
Deliverables
Grant Preparation (Deliverables screen) — Enter the info.
The labels used mean:
Public — fully open ( automatically posted online)
Sensitive — limited under the conditions of the Grant Agreement
EU classified —RESTREINT-UE/EU-RESTRICTED, CONFIDENTIEL-UE/EU-CONFIDENTIAL, SECRET-UE/EU-SECRET under Decision 2015/444
Deliverable Deliverable Name Work Lead Beneficiary Type Dissemination Level Due Date
No Package (month)
No
D1.1 Landscape Review Report WP1 18 - CU R — Document, report PU - Public 8
D1.2 ACCORD Framework and User WP1 2 - FHG R — Document, report PU - Public 10
Requirements Specification
D2.1 Technical Report: Existing Models WP2 12 - IMT R — Document, report PU - Public 12
D2.2 BCO Ontology and Rules Format WP2 19 - BCU R — Document, report PU - Public 16
D2.3 Rules Toolset WP2 14 - FUNITEC OTHER PU - Public 24
D2.4 ACCORD Semantics Documentation WP2 15 - JU R — Document, report PU - Public 28
D3.1 Transformation Pathways Report WP3 20 - BSI R — Document, report PU - Public 34
D3.2 Information Reliability Measures Paper WP3 20 - BSI R — Document, report PU - Public 24
D3.3 Information Guidelines and Education WP3 10 - FUI DEC —Websites, patent PU - Public 34
Package filings, videos, etc
D4.1 Technical Requirements Elicitation, WP4 2 - FHG R — Document, report PU - Public 18
Analysis and Cloud Architecture Model
D4.2 ACCORD Building Compliance Checking WP4 10 - FUI R — Document, report PU - Public 31
Components, Microservices and APIs
D4.3 Quality Assurance and Validation Report WP4 9 - SOL R — Document, report PU - Public 32
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Deliverables
Grant Preparation (Deliverables screen) — Enter the info.
The labels used mean:
Public — fully open ( automatically posted online)
Sensitive — limited under the conditions of the Grant Agreement
EU classified —RESTREINT-UE/EU-RESTRICTED, CONFIDENTIEL-UE/EU-CONFIDENTIAL, SECRET-UE/EU-SECRET under Decision 2015/444
Deliverable Deliverable Name Work Lead Beneficiary Type Dissemination Level Due Date
No Package (month)
No
D4.4 ACCORD Solutions Documentation WP4 2 - FHG R — Document, report PU - Public 33
D5.1 Best Practices of Modern Digital Building WP5 1 - VTT R — Document, report PU - Public 33
Permitting Processes in Europe
D6.1 Dissemination, Exploitation, WP6 3 - OGC R — Document, report PU - Public 6
Standardization, Integration and
Communication Plan
D6.2 Dissemination, Exploitation, WP6 3 - OGC R — Document, report PU - Public 36
Standardization, Integration and
Communication Report
D6.3 Training and Up-Skilling Report WP6 4 - ACE R — Document, report PU - Public 36
D7.1 Project Management Plan (PMP) WP7 1 - VTT R — Document, report SEN - Sensitive 2
D7.2 Project Data Management Plan PDMP WP7 1 - VTT R — Document, report SEN - Sensitive 6
D7.3 Short Interim Management Report I WP7 1 - VTT R — Document, report SEN - Sensitive 6
D7.4 Short Interim Management Report II WP7 1 - VTT R — Document, report SEN - Sensitive 12
D7.5 Short Interim Management Report III WP7 1 - VTT R — Document, report SEN - Sensitive 24
D7.6 Short Interim Management Report IV WP7 1 - VTT R — Document, report SEN - Sensitive 30
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Deliverable – Landscape Review Report
Deliverable Number D1.1 Lead Beneficiary 18. CU
Deliverable Name Landscape Review Report
Type R — Document, report Dissemination Level PU - Public
Due Date (month) 8 Work Package No WP1
Description
The landscape review of built environment compliance and permitting, industry survey results, research gaps, potential
barriers and enablers. (CU) The state-level process maps of the current compliance/permitting, the laws, regulations,
guidance documents and stakeholders. (VTT)
Deliverable – ACCORD Framework and User Requirements Specification
Deliverable Number D1.2 Lead Beneficiary 2. FHG
Deliverable Name ACCORD Framework and User Requirements Specification
Type R — Document, report Dissemination Level PU - Public
Due Date (month) 10 Work Package No WP1
Description
The ACCORD semantic framework and associated User Requirements Specification, including supporting modelling.
Additionally, this report will document specifications for each of the project’s demonstration deployments.
Deliverable – Technical Report: Existing Models
Deliverable Number D2.1 Lead Beneficiary 12. IMT
Deliverable Name Technical Report: Existing Models
Type R — Document, report Dissemination Level PU - Public
Due Date (month) 12 Work Package No WP2
Description
The result of T2.1, describing existing ontologies, standards, and data models in the building data domain relevant to
compliance checking, including their overlaps and knowledge gaps.
Deliverable – BCO Ontology and Rules Format
Deliverable Number D2.2 Lead Beneficiary 19. BCU
Deliverable Name BCO Ontology and Rules Format
Type R — Document, report Dissemination Level PU - Public
Due Date (month) 16 Work Package No WP2
Description
The Building Compliance Ontology describing concepts and relations required to support automated rule checking in
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permitting/compliance checking processes and the ruleset database (CU). A technology-neutral format describing rules
in building codes in an unambiguous way using terms defined in D2.1 and other public ontologies, such as bSDD.
Deliverable – Rules Toolset
Deliverable Number D2.3 Lead Beneficiary 14. FUNITEC
Deliverable Name Rules Toolset
Type OTHER Dissemination Level PU - Public
Due Date (month) 24 Work Package No WP2
Description
A deep learning NLP model trained with building codes and regulations in English and a tool for assisting domain
experts in the process of rule formalization.
Deliverable – ACCORD Semantics Documentation
Deliverable Number D2.4 Lead Beneficiary 15. JU
Deliverable Name ACCORD Semantics Documentation
Type R — Document, report Dissemination Level PU - Public
Due Date (month) 28 Work Package No WP2
Description
Documentation package(s) and associated technical documentation for D2.2 and D2.3.
Deliverable – Transformation Pathways Report
Deliverable Number D3.1 Lead Beneficiary 20. BSI
Deliverable Name Transformation Pathways Report
Type R — Document, report Dissemination Level PU - Public
Due Date (month) 34 Work Package No WP3
Description
Improvement proposals and guidelines about how to set up an environment for automated permit checking in a country or
municipality. (BSI) The lessons learned from the country demonstrations (WP5) and digital permitting and compliance
processes. (VTT)
Deliverable – Information Reliability Measures Paper
Deliverable Number D3.2 Lead Beneficiary 20. BSI
Deliverable Name Information Reliability Measures Paper
Type R — Document, report Dissemination Level PU - Public
Due Date (month) 24 Work Package No WP3
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Description
A paper intended to be published at a conference or journal, identifying reliability risks and semantic requirements for
digital permit checking.
Deliverable – Information Guidelines and Education Package
Deliverable Number D3.3 Lead Beneficiary 10. FUI
Deliverable Name Information Guidelines and Education Package
Type DEC —Websites, patent Dissemination Level PU - Public
filings, videos, etc
Due Date (month) 34 Work Package No WP3
Description
E-learning material with a practical approach to help all stakeholders in different regions to set up digital permit checking
in their organization.
Deliverable – Technical Requirements Elicitation, Analysis and Cloud Architecture Model
Deliverable Number D4.1 Lead Beneficiary 2. FHG
Deliverable Name Technical Requirements Elicitation, Analysis and Cloud Architecture Model
Type R — Document, report Dissemination Level PU - Public
Due Date (month) 18 Work Package No WP4
Description
Documentation of the Technical Requirement Elicitation and Analysis and the Cloud Architecture Model for solutions
to be developed in this WP.
Deliverable – ACCORD Building Compliance Checking Components, Microservices and APIs
Deliverable Number D4.2 Lead Beneficiary 10. FUI
Deliverable Name ACCORD Building Compliance Checking Components, Microservices and APIs
Type R — Document, report Dissemination Level PU - Public
Due Date (month) 31 Work Package No WP4
Description
Open-source codes for ACCORD Building Compliance Checking Components, Microservice and APIs and a report
providing results of microservice implementation and integrations in ACCORD Service-Setups.
Deliverable – Quality Assurance and Validation Report
Deliverable Number D4.3 Lead Beneficiary 9. SOL
Deliverable Name Quality Assurance and Validation Report
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Type R — Document, report Dissemination Level PU - Public
Due Date (month) 32 Work Package No WP4
Description
A report documenting the quality assurance and validation of solutions developed in this WP.
Deliverable – ACCORD Solutions Documentation
Deliverable Number D4.4 Lead Beneficiary 2. FHG
Deliverable Name ACCORD Solutions Documentation
Type R — Document, report Dissemination Level PU - Public
Due Date (month) 33 Work Package No WP4
Description
Technical documentation of solutions developed, including the ACCORD Building Compliance Checking Components,
Microservices and APIs.
Deliverable – Best Practices of Modern Digital Building Permitting Processes in Europe
Deliverable Number D5.1 Lead Beneficiary 1. VTT
Deliverable Name Best Practices of Modern Digital Building Permitting Processes in Europe
Type R — Document, report Dissemination Level PU - Public
Due Date (month) 33 Work Package No WP5
Description
Best practices of modern digital building permitting and compliance processes in the demonstration countries: Finland,
Estonia, Germany, the UK and Spain.
Deliverable – Dissemination, Exploitation, Standardization, Integration and Communication
Plan
Deliverable Number D6.1 Lead Beneficiary 3. OGC
Deliverable Name Dissemination, Exploitation, Standardization, Integration and Communication Plan
Type R — Document, report Dissemination Level PU - Public
Due Date (month) 6 Work Package No WP6
Description
Plan on the dissemination, exploitation, standardization, integration and communication activities with all
communication material (website, templates, brochures etc.).
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Deliverable – Dissemination, Exploitation, Standardization, Integration and Communication
Report
Deliverable Number D6.2 Lead Beneficiary 3. OGC
Deliverable Name Dissemination, Exploitation, Standardization, Integration and Communication Report
Type R — Document, report Dissemination Level PU - Public
Due Date (month) 36 Work Package No WP6
Description
Report the dissemination, exploitation, standardization, integration and communication activities.
Deliverable – Training and Up-Skilling Report
Deliverable Number D6.3 Lead Beneficiary 4. ACE
Deliverable Name Training and Up-Skilling Report
Type R — Document, report Dissemination Level PU - Public
Due Date (month) 36 Work Package No WP6
Description
Training material and up-skilling activities.
Deliverable – Project Management Plan (PMP)
Deliverable Number D7.1 Lead Beneficiary 1. VTT
Deliverable Name Project Management Plan (PMP)
Type R — Document, report Dissemination Level SEN - Sensitive
Due Date (month) 2 Work Package No WP7
Description
Internal procedures for communication, progress monitoring, quality assurance and risk management.
Deliverable – Project Data Management Plan PDMP
Deliverable Number D7.2 Lead Beneficiary 1. VTT
Deliverable Name Project Data Management Plan PDMP
Type R — Document, report Dissemination Level SEN - Sensitive
Due Date (month) 6 Work Package No WP7
Description
First version of PDMP, including the ethics plan, at M6. PDMP will be updated by each periodic report.
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Deliverable – Short Interim Management Report I
Deliverable Number D7.3 Lead Beneficiary 1. VTT
Deliverable Name Short Interim Management Report I
Type R — Document, report Dissemination Level SEN - Sensitive
Due Date (month) 6 Work Package No WP7
Description
A short (max 8-10 pages) interim management report.
Deliverable – Short Interim Management Report II
Deliverable Number D7.4 Lead Beneficiary 1. VTT
Deliverable Name Short Interim Management Report II
Type R — Document, report Dissemination Level SEN - Sensitive
Due Date (month) 12 Work Package No WP7
Description
A short (max 8-10 pages) interim management report.
Deliverable – Short Interim Management Report III
Deliverable Number D7.5 Lead Beneficiary 1. VTT
Deliverable Name Short Interim Management Report III
Type R — Document, report Dissemination Level SEN - Sensitive
Due Date (month) 24 Work Package No WP7
Description
A short (max 8-10 pages) interim management report.
Deliverable – Short Interim Management Report IV
Deliverable Number D7.6 Lead Beneficiary 1. VTT
Deliverable Name Short Interim Management Report IV
Type R — Document, report Dissemination Level SEN - Sensitive
Due Date (month) 30 Work Package No WP7
Description
A short (max 8-10 pages) interim management report.
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LIST OF MILESTONES
Milestones
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Milestone Milestone Name Work Package No Lead Beneficiary Means of Verification Due Date
No (month)
1 User requirements WP2, WP4 1-VTT User requirements are defined. 7
2 Artificial intelligence WP2 14-FUNITEC AI models and other algorithms are developed 19
supporting the rule formalisation tool.
3 Education material WP2, WP3, WP4 4-ACE Results and materials are ready to develop the e- 25
learning material and webinars.
4 Testing: phase 1 WP5, WP4 2-FHG Solutions are tested (phase 1), and they conform 15
to user requirements.
5 Testing: phase 2 WP5, WP4 2-FHG Solutions are tested (phase 2), and the 21
demonstration partners know how the solutions
work.
6 Testing: phase 3 WP2, WP5, WP4 2-FHG Solutions are tested (phase 3) and ready to be used 27
in the demonstrations (WP5).
7 Demo plans WP5 1-VTT Demonstration countries’ demo plans are ready, 6
and regulations to be made machine-readable are
identified.
8 Enriched BIM WP5 1-VTT Demos’ BIMs are enriched, and regulations are 14
turned into machine-readable rules.
9 Machine-readable regulations WP5 1-VTT Integration of the rules into the processing 25
environment to demonstrate the tools in M27.
10 Project kicked-off WP4, WP7 1-VTT Kick-off meeting minutes shared, website 4
existing, the management structure of the project
decided, including the members of the general
assembly, executive board and technical board.
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Milestones
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Milestone Milestone Name Work Package No Lead Beneficiary Means of Verification Due Date
No (month)
11 Education package structure WP3, WP5 10-FUI The structure of the education package has been 22
approved by the Executive Board.
12 Market exploration WP6, WP4 16-CP Business cases have been identified (through 17
PESTEL and SWOT analysis) and the process for
building an exploitation strategy has been started.
LIST OF CRITICAL RISKS
Critical risks & risk management strategy
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Risk Description Work Package Proposed Mitigation Measures
number No(s)
1 Unclear roles and responsibilities between WP2, WP3, WP5, Defined in Consortium Agreement (CA), Grant Agreement; effective communication.
participants. WP6, WP4, WP1,
WP7
2 A weak commitment of participants to the project WP3, WP2, WP5, At the beginning of each task, a detailed plan will be prepared and agreed upon, with clear
plan and deadlines. Potential for serious delays as WP6, WP4, WP1, responsibilities allocated to all participants. Progress of ongoing tasks will be monitored, and
lack of progress in one or more tasks may cause WP7 issues managed via monthly reports from TLs. Evolving deliverables will be followed to
delays for linked or subsequent tasks, and hence for identify possible problems. The quality of project outputs is ensured by the Quality Manager
the project as a whole. in accordance with the Project Quality Management Plan PQMP (D7.1).
3 Partner leaving the consortium. WP2, WP3, WP5, In the unlikely event that a partner departs for financial reasons, other consortium members
WP6, WP4, WP1, can assume incomplete tasks initially assigned to the partner departing. If necessary, a new
WP7 consortium partner can be identified using the networks of remaining consortium partners.
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Critical risks & risk management strategy
Grant Preparation (Critical Risks screen) — Enter the info.
Risk Description Work Package Proposed Mitigation Measures
number No(s)
4 Risks related to project partners operational WP2, WP3, WP5, Effective communication; participants’ obligation to inform Coordinator and Consortium;
environment (bankruptcy, force majeure etc.) WP6, WP4, WP1, amendments to the Description of Action; suspension of the project; termination of the
WP7 project.
5 Developed solutions and standards are not in line WP2, WP3, WP5, By giving experienced industry partners an important role in developing and testing the
with the user needs, which means that they will not WP6, WP4, WP1, solutions and standards to be developed with the needs of the demonstration users from WP5
be used in practice. WP7 right from the start, we ensure that we meet the needs from practice as much as possible.
6 Not finding suitable demonstration projects. WP5 Each country demo involves a municipality or a building owner with several (at least three)
forthcoming projects starting in 2022. These projects are now identified, and the final project
selection will be made by M6 (demo plan milestone). Project owners are identified as critical
for ACCORD. They are thus involved in ACCORD as either project partners (Estonia:
MKM, Germany: TEGEL, Spain: AMM) or members of the advisory board (UK: Hadley
Group, Finland: City of Järven-pää).
7 Environmental regulations are not finalized before WP2, WP5 Communication with authorities about environmental regulation takes place early in the
the project starts, and they may prove difficult or ACCORD project to know the status of the regulation. If environmental regulations are
impossible to check using BIM. not available or they prove impossible to check, ACCORD will focus on other building
permitting topics, such as accessibility. Lessons learned from demos will give an insight into
how regulations should be presented in the future.
8 The implementation of the building permitting WP4 The implementation status will be carefully and regularly monitored at least monthly by the
system’s components is not progressing in time. WP4 leader and the coordinator to ensure timely progress. Three milestones are set to follow
the progress and align with the demonstration projects.
9 Applying artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, WP2, WP5 The WP2 leader will follow the progress and inform WP5 leaders if AI technologies are not
like natural language processing, proves available. In that case, the rule formalisation tool is not applying AI, but rule formalisation
impractical. is done manually but using data dictionaries and a rule language.
10 T6.4 Training Material and Up-skilling do not WP6 Progress is followed, and a milestone (MS3) is set for WPs 2-4 to make sure they deliver
receive ACCORD results and materials in time. the necessary results and materials that will be used for the e-learning material and training
webinars.
11 Lack of commitment in the demonstrator at the WP5 All external advisory board members will sign a Non-Disclosure Commitment for External
external advisory board Advisory Board, which is Attachment 5 in ACCORD’s Consortium Agreement. We will
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Critical risks & risk management strategy
Grant Preparation (Critical Risks screen) — Enter the info.
Risk Description Work Package Proposed Mitigation Measures
number No(s)
involve the external advisory board (EAB) in the planning of the demonstration projects from
the beginning, M4. Most of the EAB members have been informed during project preparation
about the demonstrations, and the Finnish demonstration project is done in close cooperation
with The City of Järvenpää, a building permit officer who is part of the EAB.
12 Microservices are not ready for demonstration WP5, WP4 We have agreed with FUI that their modular platform can be used to fill the gaps in
purposes. microservices and ensure smooth and effective demonstrations.
PROJECT REVIEWS
Project Reviews
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Review Timing Location Comments
No (month)
RV1 18 Either Brussels or the premises of a project To assess the project and recommend re-orientations (if needed)
beneficiary
RV2 36 Brussels To properly assess the action's implementation
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ANNEX 1
Horizon Europe (HORIZON)
Description of the action (DoA)
Part A
Part B
Version 1.8
4 April 2022
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AUTOMATED COMPLIANCE CHECKS FOR CONSTRUCTION, RENOVATION OR DEMOLITION WORKS
ACCORD
TABLE OF HISTORY OF CHANGES
VERSION (date) CHANGES
Annex 1 Part A
1.0 (3.1.2022) • Added VTT researchers
• Added WP descriptions (WP1 and WP2)
• Added staff efforts
Annex 1 Part B
• Changed the footer to include project information.
• Removed the list of participants.
1.0 (3.1.2022) • Removed Table 3.1a (list of work packages).
• Removed WP1 and WP2 from 3.1b (work packages descriptions).
• Removed table 3.1f (summary of staff effort).
Created section 4 ‘ethics self-assessment’ and copied into this section the ethics self-assessment
from the proposal Part A.
Annex 1 Part A
• Added WP descriptions (WP3-WP7)
• Changed the responsibilities from UNIKO to FRA (T4.1, T4.2 and D4.1), because UNIKO is the
affiliated entity of FRA.
• The type of D4.2 was changed from OTHER to R.
1.1 (4.1.2022) • Removed letter Q from the title of D7.1. Now the title is Project Management Plan (PMP), but
previously Project Management Plan (PQMP).
• Changed the dissemination level of D7.1 from PU to SEN.
• Changed the type of D7.2 from DPM to R, because the drop-down list did not have DMP as a
type.
• Added lead beneficiaries to milestones.
• Added risks.
Annex 1 Part B
• Removed the rest of the WPs from 3.1b (work packages descriptions).
• Removed Table 3.1c: List of Deliverables (D).
1.1 (4.1.2022) • Removed Table 3.1d: List of milestones.
• Removed Table 3.1e: Critical risks for implementation.
• Changed the title of 3.1.2 to Subcontracting and purchase costs, because critical risks were
moved to the portal.
Annex 1 Part A
• Added three milestones to the EC portal: 1) MS10 Project kicked off. Means of verification:
Kick-off meeting minutes shared, website existing, the management structure of the project
decided, including the members of the general assembly, executive board and technical board. 2)
MS11 Education package structure. Means of verification: The structure of the education
package has been approved by the Executive Board. 3) MS12 Market exploration. Means of
1.2 (21.1.2022) verification: Business cases have been identified (through PESTEL and SWOT analysis) and the
process for building an exploitation strategy has been started.
• Added four short interim management reports (max 8-10 pages) as deliverables (D7.3-D7.6), as
suggested by the project officer’s technical comments.
• Added the suggested risk “Lack of commitment in the demonstrator at the external advisory
board” to the EC portal. As a mitigation measure, we wrote “All external advisory board
members will sign a Non-Disclosure Commitment for External Advisory Board, which is
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Attachment 5 in ACCORD’s Consortium Agreement. We will involve the external advisory
board (EAB) in the planning of the demonstration projects from the beginning, M4. Most of the
EAB members have been informed during project preparation about the demonstrations, and the
Finnish demonstration project is done in close cooperation with The City of Järvenpää, a
building permit officer who is part of the EAB.”
1.2 (21.1.2022) Annex 1 Part B
• Changed the word advisory board (AB) to external advisory board (EAB).
Annex 1 Part A
• Added a risk “Microservices are not ready for demonstration purposes”. As a mitigation
measure, we wrote “We have agreed with FUI that their modular platform can be used to fill the
gaps in microservices and ensure smooth and effective demonstrations.”
1.3 (25.1.2022) • Changed the PIC of JU to 997539271 (STIFTELSEN HOGSKOLAN I JONKOPING)
• Changed the PIC of SOL to 101056973 (Solibri).
• Changed the PIC of CP to 887892120. The official name of CP was also changed from Evolta to
Cloudpermit.
• Updated the related WPs of MS4-MS6.
Annex 1 Part B
• Under section 1.1.1 Objectives and relationship to the work programme, changed the sentence
“ACCORD will build on the DigiPLACE project’s reference architecture framework.” to
“ACCORD will analyse the DigiPLACE Architecture guidelines (D5.2) at the beginning of T4.1
to understand the best possible usage of the framework.”
• Added to section 3.2.3 Complementarity and contribution of partners that the affiliated entity
“UNIKO is involved in T1.3, T4.1, T4.2, T4.6, and writing D4.1.”, following the GAP comment
H.
• The following sentence was added after Table 3.1g: ‘Subcontracting costs’ items “The purchase
costs for the action and subcontracting will meet the conditions laid down in Articles 6.2. In
particular, the best value for money (or if appropriate the lowest price) principle will be
respected and no conflict of interests will be ensured.”
1.3 (25.1.2022) • Added “, of which UNIKO is an affiliated entity,” to section 3.2.1 Consortium. So, now the
sentence is the following “The 21 partners, of which UNIKO is an affiliated entity, have a wide
spectrum of expertise and operational capacity in complementary fields related to the proposal
topic on digital tools and automated methods for designing, building and authorising
construction works, which will ascertain the high quality of the project outcomes and impact.”
• Added sentences to ensure that the objectives are verifiable. Therefore, we added the following
sentence to the success criteria of objective 1 “The meeting minutes from EAB will be used for
verification of these success criteria.” Two words (used and verified) were added to the success
criteria of objective 2. We added the following sentence to the success criteria of objective 3
“The verification will be based on the milestones in WP4 (MS4-MS6).” The word implemented
and the sentence “(verified in demonstration projects of WP5).” was added to the success criteria
of objective 4. Finally, we added the following sentence to the success criteria of objective 5
“The list of dissemination activities will serve as the verification of these criteria.”.
• Updated the GANNT with the new milestones (MS10-MS12) and changes with links to WPs.
Annex 1 Part A
Fraunhofer’s previous short name (FRA) changed to FHG. Therefore, WP descriptions were
updated (from FRA to FHG).
1.4 (3.2.2022) Annex 1 Part B
Budget category changes in Table 3.1h (partner 13 FUI). We made a change inside the “purchase
costs” category: We moved the “equipment” cost (140k€) to “other goods, works and services”.
Table 3.1h partner numbering corrected to match the EC portal.
Annex 1 Part A
FHG’s budget was reduced by 0,68 € to match the maximum grant amount annex 2 and after
evaluation.
1.5 (9.3.2022) Tegel’s status in the portal is now a non-profit company. Therefore, we changed their EU
contribution in annex 2 (added 52 875€).
Annex 1 Part B
Updated the GANNT with the short interim reports (D7.3-D7.6) and FRA to FHG.
Annex 1 Part A
The UK partners were changed to Associated Partners. Therefore, their EC budget was removed.
1.6 (24.3.2022) The UK partners will fund their work through national UKRI funding.
Annex 1 Part B
The UK partners (CU and BSI) subcontracting costs were removed from table 3.1g:
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‘Subcontracting costs’ items.
In section 3.21 Consortium, it was added that UK partners (CU, BCU and BSI) are Associated
Partners.
Changed a sentence in section 3.2.3 Complementarity and contribution of partners “The consortia
include partners from the UK, which are Associated Partners.”
Annex 1 Part A
VTT bank number was linked again. There was a technical problem in the portal, which has now
been corrected.
supporting document which establishes the legal link between the beneficiary (FHG) and its
1.7 (30.3.2022) affiliated (UNIKO)
Annex 1 Part B
Changed the partner number of FHG from 5 to 2 in table 3.1h “ Purchase costs”.
Added to Table 3.1g – “Subcontracting costs” that both tasks are linked to WP5, T5.1.
Table 3.1g is now following the template.
Annex 1 Part A
The supporting document which establishes the legal link between the beneficiary (FHG) and its
affiliated (UNIKO) was submitted through formal notification.
1.8 (4.4.2022) The beneficiary AE completed their self-assessment for 2020 and 2021.
Annex 1 Part B
Table 3.1h is now following the template (detailed justifications were also added) and the
partner numbers were updated.
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Table of Contents
1. EXCELLENCE ............................................................................................................................................................ 6
OBJECTIVES AND AMBITION .................................................................................................................................... 6
1.1.1 Objectives and relationship to the work programme ........................................................................................... 6
1.1.2 Progress beyond the state-of-the-art................................................................................................................... 9
1.1.3 R&I maturity (TRL levels) ................................................................................................................................ 12
METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................................................................... 12
1.2.1 Overall methodology........................................................................................................................................ 12
1.2.2 Related national or international research and innovation activities ................................................................. 17
1.2.3 Inter-disciplinary approach including social sciences and humanities .............................................................. 18
1.2.4 Gender-dimension ........................................................................................................................................... 18
1.2.5 Open science practices..................................................................................................................................... 19
1.2.6 Data management and management of other research outputs .......................................................................... 19
IMPACT..................................................................................................................................................................... 20
PROJECT’S PATHWAYS TOWARDS IMPACT .............................................................................................................. 20
2.1.1 Unique contribution ......................................................................................................................................... 20
2.1.2 Potential barriers ............................................................................................................................................ 24
2.1.3 Scale and significance of the project’s contribution to the expected outcomes and impacts ................................ 25
MEASURES TO MAXIMISE IMPACT - DISSEMINATION, EXPLOITATION AND COMMUNICATION ..................................... 25
2.2.1 Dissemination and communication activities .................................................................................................... 25
2.2.2 Business cases and exploitation strategies of ACCORD partners ...................................................................... 27
2.2.3 Management and protection of intellectual property ......................................................................................... 28
SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................................................ 30
QUALITY AND EFFICIENCY OF THE IMPLEMENTATION ............................................................................ 32
WORK PLAN AND RESOURCES................................................................................................................................ 32
3.1.1 Overall structure of the work plan .................................................................................................................... 32
3.1.2 Subcontracting and purchase costs................................................................................................................... 34
CAPACITY OF PARTICIPANTS AND CONSORTIUM AS A WHOLE .................................................................................. 37
3.2.1 Consortium...................................................................................................................................................... 37
3.2.2 Access to critical infrastructure........................................................................................................................ 38
3.2.3 Complementarity and contribution of partners ................................................................................................. 39
ETHICS SELF-ASSESSMENT ................................................................................................................................. 42
ETHICAL DIMENSION OF THE OBJECTIVES, METHODOLOGY AND LIKELY IMPACT ...................................................... 42
4.1.1 Humans and personal data............................................................................................................................... 42
4.1.2 Artificial Intelligence ....................................................................................................................................... 42
4.1.3 Safety and Security .......................................................................................................................................... 43
4.1.4 Research in non-EU Countries ......................................................................................................................... 43
COMPLIANCE WITH ETHICAL PRINCIPLES AND RELEVANT LEGISLATIONS ................................................................. 43
4.2.1 Humans and personal data............................................................................................................................... 43
4.2.2 Artificial Intelligence ....................................................................................................................................... 43
4.2.3 Safety and Security .......................................................................................................................................... 43
4.2.4 Research in non-EU Countries ......................................................................................................................... 43
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1. EXCELLENCE
Objectives and ambition
The architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) sector has a lot of potentials to improve quality, productivity
and sustainability. For example, the mean cost of design errors in construction projects in 2011 was 6,85%, and
indirect costs were 7,36% relative to the contract value.1 These costs could potentially be reduced and construction
quality improved by smarter design and construction processes supported by digital solutions. Cost-effective and
user-friendly solutions to manage and analyse data created in the sector could support decision making for designing
and constructing a sustainable built environment. For instance, data can be analysed to create sustainable designs that
produce less carbon dioxide emissions and have less impact on climate change2.
Building codes (or building regulations), standards and requirements are essential in designing and constructing
buildings and infrastructure. They help to ensure that our buildings and infrastructure are of high quality. Currently,
however, there is a substantial administrative burden of extensive regulation and requirements, necessitating
extensive documentation with multiple formats, such as documents, drawings, calculation sheets and, more recently,
models and simulations. As part of the official compliance process, automatically checking whether the future
building or infrastructure complies with the codes, standards and requirements, especially related to the environment
– CO2 emissions, LCA and circular economy – would reduce construction costs, improve built quality, and increase
energy efficiency and reduce negative environmental effects of buildings and infrastructure, thus enabling the twin
transition of green and digital. However, the adoption of automation in permitting processes is still low around
Europe3 due to the following limitations that ACCORD will address:
a) Current building permitting and compliance processes vary between countries complicating the
development of replicable digital solutions for different markets. For example, planning and building permits
can be separated, some handling can be done electronically, and plan approval may be approved by either
building authorities or inspectors4.
b) There is a lack of agreed standards for representing regulation, requirement and guidance documents that
govern building permitting and compliance processes and, by extension, the rules embedded within them. In
addition, the work in this area is not grounded in formal semantics, which would help computers understand
the regulation, requirement, and guidance documents.
c) Existing software tools, meeting only a part of the needs related to building permitting and compliance, lack
integration and alignment with wider compliance processes and data providers/consumers. Also, the cost
of modelling tools prevents some stakeholders, such as small architecture offices, from using them.
d) There is a lack of data to drive digital permitting and checking. Existing building data sets (primarily IFC
models) generally lack the richness of information required for digital permitting or compliance checking.
Furthermore, other data sources, such as product data sets, lack semantic formalism and the adoption of
open APIs to enable their exploitation by checking processes.
The vision of ACCORD is that permitting and compliance processes for buildings and infrastructure support the
design and construction of a sustainable built environment. These processes are user-friendly for the permit
applicant and cost-effective, and less labour intensive for the authorities approving the permits. ACCORD foresees
that these processes should be achieved, where possible, through the integration of existing industry tools supported
by a set of shared software components. ACCORD adopts a semantic approach and treats all individual tools as
microservices that support the permitting process, thus avoiding the need for new centralised systems that are
expensive to create and maintain.
1.1.1 Objectives and relationship to the work programme
The overall objective of ACCORD is to digitalise permitting and compliance processes to improve the
productivity and quality of design and construction processes and support the design and construction of a
sustainable built environment. These processes should be human-centred, user-friendly, transparent, cost-effective
and support the design and construction of sustainable buildings and infrastructure that are carbon neutral and
designed for circularity. Another objective is to develop and integrate tools and solutions – for automated compliance
checking for the design, construction and renovation/demolition of buildings and infrastructure – based on open and
1 Lopez, R. & Love, P. (2012), Design Error Costs in Construction Projects. J. Constr. Eng. Manage., 138(5), 585–593.
2 Ahmed, N. et al. (2020), Impact of sustainable design in the construction sector on climate change, Ain Shams Eng. J., 12(2), 1375-1383.
3 Beach, T.H. et al. (2020), “Towards the adoption of automated regulatory compliance checking in the built environment”, Autom. in Constr., 118(June).
4
Pedro, J., Meijer, F & Visscher, H. (2011), Comparison of building permit procedures in European Union countries. COBRA 2011 – Proc. of RICS
Construction and Property Conf., 356-375.
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neutral data exchange standards. The specific technical objectives will follow:
Objective 1: Specify and develop a semantic framework for European Digital Building Permitting processes,
regulations, rules, data and tools. This framework will leverage and align with existing semantics efforts and current
open standards and neutral data formats within the built environment, especially focusing on the work of
BuildingSMART and Open Geospatial Consortium and also build on previous development in BIM (Building
Information Models) processes and construction-related data. (WP1)
Success criteria: The specification of the semantic framework is developed and validated by users and the external
advisory board (finalised in T1.3). The meeting minutes from EAB will be used for verification of these success
criteria.
Objective 2: Formalise, using semantics, permitting and compliance process that incorporates data, software tools
and stakeholders. This process will be based on existing international standards, such as the W3C recommendations
and results of community efforts, such as the W3C Linked Building Data community group, and at a high enough
level of abstraction to be applicable to different EU countries, but with the ability to maintain flexibility to allow
portability and adaption to the specificities of individual member states. The process development starts in WP1, and
the process is formalised in WP3 after lessons learned in country demonstrations WP5.
Success criteria: A rule formalisation tool (T2.5) is used in the platform-neutral open format for describing machine-
readable format on a variety of building codes across Europe (verified in demonstration projects of WP5).
Objective 3: Integrate existing state-of-the-art tools and solutions in this area and develop new ones that are able to
handle a wide variety of data described according to different specifications and standards (IFC, bSDD, BCF) and
rule languages (such as RASE, SWRL, N3-logic and SHACL) (WP1, WP2 and WP4). These tools and solutions will
utilise the developed semantic framework to implement the ACCORD vision of digital permitting and automatic
compliance checking processes for buildings and infrastructure.
Success criteria: All the components of the semantic framework (defined in WP1) will have software developed and
tested (WP4) and demonstrated (WP5). Furthermore, the integration of components using ACCORD APIs will be
tested and validated (WP4). The verification will be based on the milestones in WP4 (MS4-MS6).
Objective 4: By utilising the semantic framework (WP1), demonstrate the automated permitting and compliance
processes for construction, renovation and demolition work, taking place in a set of demonstration projects in various
EU regulatory contexts: Finland, Estonia, Germany, UK and Spain (WP5).
Success criteria: Digital models from various construction projects are successfully implemented by the semantic
framework across Europe in the UK, Estonia, Finland, Germany and Spain (verified in demonstration projects of
WP5).
Objective 5: Foster wide impact and replication potential of semantic-enabled digital building permitting and
compliance checking solutions at the European and international levels through a combination of targeted
dissemination, focused business exploitation pathways, and participation in relevant international community efforts,
such as BuildingSMART and W3C Linked Building Data Community Group (WP3 and WP6).
Success criteria: BuildingSMART and W3C LBD publicly recognise and advertise semantic framework and the
developed APIs, which improve construction sector interoperability, allowing for digital building permitting and
compliance. ACCORD industry partners have successfully implemented the developed APIs as part of their software
portfolios (WP5). The list of dissemination activities will serve as the verification of these criteria.
The work programme has set the scope and requirements (here shortly cited) of the topic HORIZON-CL4-
2021-TWIN-TRANSITION-01-10, and ACCORD addresses all of them in the following ways:
“Develop, connect and align new technologies and digital tools for construction, including improved and automated
methods of designing, building and authorising construction works”: ACCORD will develop a semantic framework
that consists of building compliance and information services - integrated using open APIs (WP4) - and a rule
formalisation tool (WP2) to ease the creation of machine-readable rules from text-based regulation. The ACCORD
services will improve and automate the design, building and authorizing of construction works.
"Information … imported into digital models during early design phases can … streamline the application and
granting of digital administrative permits… facilitate informed decision making including compliance checks …
throughout the life cycle of the built asset”: ACCORD takes early design data, such as BIM and geographic
information system (GIS), as a starting point to streamline the permitting process, and integrate them, following
earlier suggestions by related projects (reported in section 1.2.1). ACCORD will report the information requirements
for digital permitting and compliance processes (WP3, T3.4).
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“Develop and demonstrate novel ways of digitalising permitting and compliance processes for construction works”:
ACCORD will develop digital permitting and compliance processes (WP3) which are semantically driven. The
application of semantics in compliance is novel but has already seen success in existing tools, such as data dictionaries
by BuildingSmart and Open Geospatial Consortium and rule languages. The adoption of semantics will allow for the
dynamic integration of existing industry tools and the flexibility to allow portability and adaptation of the approach
to the specificities of Member States. The processes will be demonstrated in five countries around Europe (UK,
Germany, Spain, Finland and Estonia). ACCORD will provide advice on how to digitalise permitting processes in
countries with various maturity levels (Related to objectives 4 and 5).
“Demonstrate new tools and solutions for the storing, processing, analysis and retrieval of administrative and
regulatory information related to construction works... use of neutral data formats, addressing rule interpretation
and machine-readable information, and supporting analysis and exploitation of relevant digitalised acts, regulations,
requirements and standards”: ACCORD will demonstrate new tools and solutions (a rule formalisation tool and
open APIs) for storing (a ruleset database will be developed in WP2), processing (cloud-based permitting
management services showing the current status of the process), analysing (integration of microservices for various
analysis, such as health & safety, accessibility, LCA and carbon footprint) and retrieving (neutral formats, such as
BCF) of administrative and regulatory information of construction works, which ACCORD transforms to machine-
readable rules. Demonstrations will take place in five European countries (WP5).
“New solutions are interoperable and integrated with other relevant tools, databases and processes… Proposals
should ensure that spatial information, where relevant, aligns with the aims of the INSPIRE Directive”: ACCORD
solutions will build on open BIM (IFC, ISO16739, 2013) and ISO 19650 standard5 to ensure integration and
interoperability. The solutions will use BIM, GIS, public registries (e.g. building registries, land-use plan of
Germany’s city digital twin) and lifecycle analysis data (FHG’s GENERIS). Reporting will use the BCF standard
from BuildingSmart. BIM requirements will be expressed, when appropriate, with the upcoming BuildingSmart’s
Information Delivery Specification (IDS). The tools (developed in WP2 and WP4) will conform to geospatial
encoding rules published by OGC, such as INSPIRE Planned Land Use (PLU) data model and German standard
XPlanung.
“…new solutions developed can handle a wide variety of relevant data…”: ACCORD software solutions (developed
in WP4) will be able to handle IFC, GIS and RDF data as well as environmental data (e.g. CO2 emissions and lifecycle
analysis) and be able to connect to various databases using APIs (developed in WP4). ACCORD will define interface
resource models based on the OGC Open API suite of standards for geospatial data. These data sets allow direct,
service-based access to development plans and other geospatial data in a standardized, efficient manner.
“…proposals should make use of disruptive technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, algorithm based checks,
Human Aided Design and Compliance”; ACCORD will leverage emerging Artificial Intelligence techniques, such
as semantic deep learning Natural Language Processing (NLP), to decrease the manual work of rule interpretation
from building codes (WP2). Algorithm-based compliance checks are deployed in WP4, but the checks will also
include Human Aided Design of Rules (T2.4) applying the rule formalisation tool (T2.5).
“Address potential barriers to the use of digital building permits and compliance checks including knowledge gaps,
technology deployment, standards, and the regulatory and policy context.”: ACCORD will address barriers, such as
knowledge gaps, technology deployment, standards, and the regulatory and policy context (a survey and process
modelling in WP1), for digital building permitting and compliance processes in country-specific demonstrations
(WP5) and stakeholder interviews (WP3).
“Take into account the relevant actors involved in applying for, receiving and using permits and the related
compliance…, taking into consideration questions of accessibility, inclusivity including gender issues, and user
acceptance”: Each country-specific demonstration has been designed taking into account inclusivity, thus including
in the demonstration all the stakeholders involved in applying for, receiving and using permits and the related
compliance: designer and/or engineer, the construction project owner, the municipality representing the authority
handling the permit application. ACCORD will address the gender-dimension by analysing the different effects of
the planned tools and solutions on women and men (following gender impact analysis method), with various cultural,
socioeconomic backgrounds and ages (following the intersectionality method) when possible at the beginning of the
project in T1.1. This ensures that both genders’ needs, values and motivations are met to allow user acceptance and
accessibility. ACCORD will involve both males and females in tool development, which will incorporate co-creation
5
An international standard for managing information over the whole lifecycle of a built asset using building information modelling (BIM)
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and participatory research involving users from various phases in the value chain, such as designers (architects and
other specialists), engineers (general contractors), building/infrastructure owners and permitting authorities.
ACCORD research team and tools testing group will include both genders (see detailed explanations in sections 1.2.3
and 1.2.4).
“Take into account the international contexts and developments in construction-related data including BIM and GIS
but also the capacities and opportunities presented in different parts of Europe. Proposals should therefore build on
previous research, such as the outputs of the DigiPLACE project”: ACCORD will analyse the DigiPLACE
Architecture guidelines (DigiPLACE D5.2) at the beginning of T4.1 to understand the best possible usage of the
framework. Accord includes university and industry experts in BIM and GIS developments and has the international
standardization organizations, BuildingSmart and OGC as partners. Practices and standards developed in this project
will be provided to these organizations for further development and standardization. T6.3 Innovation Management,
Exploitation, Business Development will develop and execute an integration path that outlines key milestones
towards increased interoperability between the geospatial and built environment domains, specifically through
coordination of standards.
“Address the potential for upskilling and re-skilling of the construction value chain as a result of the innovation”:
ACCORD will produce e-learning material for upskilling and re-skilling designers and authorities (guidelines,
information requirements, process flow, roadmap for adaptation) and software developers (general technical
specifications, ACCORD methodology for the development of machine-readable building codes and automated
compliance checking). E-learning material (D3.3) will be presented in three webinars and distributed through
YouTube, EU’s BuildUp portal and by partner universities and associations (ACE, OGC, BSI) to ensure interest in
and uptake of digital building permitting processes (D6.3).
“Contribute to an EU-wide framework for the digitalisation and automation of machine readable permits and
compliance checks …”: ACCORD will work in close cooperation with national and international projects and
standardisation associations (buildingSMART and Open Geospatial Consortium are partners). ACCORD will build
collaboration with similar projects funded under this call in T6.4 (Community Building, Standardisation &
Integration) to ensure maximal uptake in standardisation activities and community building, in close collaboration
with the OGC/BSI Integrated Digital Built Environment Subcommittee. Furthermore, ideas will be exchanged with
the other projects in a working group that will be set up by the EU BIM Task Group.
“Develop technical guidelines and semantic models applicable to different EU countries”: ACCORD will produce
technical guidelines (D2.4 and D3.3) and specify a semantic representation of concepts (D2.4) typically appearing in
building codes (e.g., wheelchair turning circles and escape routes).
“…provide contributions to relevant standards and seek to ensure synergies with the Horizon Europe ‘Built4People’
co-programmed Partnership”: ACCORD will provide recommendations to standardisation bodies to standardise
processes and data formats in the following domains: development plans conforming to geospatial encoding rules
published by OGC, such as INSPIRE Planned Land Use (PLU) data model or German standard XPlanung. These
standardised data models (UML based) and data formats (GML encoded) can be transformed into a BIM model to
conform to building smart encoding rules (IFC format). The corresponding transformation rules will be developed
as IFC types with entities representing spatial regulation in urban development plans. This work will be carried out
in coordination with OGC and building standardisation organisations (WP3). In addition, ACCORD will contribute
to the Built4People co-programmed partnership objectives A and B and their expected outcomes O2 (increased
economic activity), O3 (decreased carbon footprint) and O4 (increased resilience) by automating the building
permitting and checking of environmental regulations, thus allowing the design to focus on sustainable solutions,
such as carbon neutrality and circularity (WP4).
1.1.2 Progress beyond the state-of-the-art
The increasing maturity of information modelling and other supporting digital technologies in the built environment
is now paving the way to adopting digital processes, automation, and other innovative technologies in construction
permitting and compliance checking. The key enabling technology is increasing BIM adoption within the
construction sector and the interoperability provided by the underpinning IFC standards and emergence of industry-
wide interoperable semantic models.
In the EU, thirteen countries’ have already started work by adopting partially digitised approaches, while a further
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five have taken the significant step of implementing partially/fully utilising BIM in their permitting processes6. This
adoption has recorded several benefits, such as streamlined, shorter and more straightforward processes, increased
public access to information, increased transparency, and improved communication between authorities and permit
applicants7. However, despite this promising adoption across the EU Member States, ACCORD has identified a
significant risk of the proliferation of divergent technological developments, leading to increased integration costs
and duplication of effort. Thus, ACCORD proposes a key innovation over current efforts; a semantic framework of
microservices, with tools and solutions for digital permitting and automated compliance checking of buildings and
infrastructure. This innovative solution will allow for the dynamic integration of existing industry tools and services
and the flexibility to allow portability and adaptation of the approach to the specificities of Member States.
Additionally, the adoption of microservices to support the permitting process will avoid the need for new centralised
systems that are expensive to create and maintain.
ACCORD views that a semantic framework of microservices can provide BIM-based compliance checking and
building permitting. However, achieving this goal necessitates research and development efforts across four key
areas: (1) Built Environment Semantic Modelling, (2) Digitisation of Construction Regulations, Requirements and
Guidance, (3) BIM-based Building Permitting and (4) Automated Code Checking. The development in these keys
areas will be underpinned by developments in BIM and built environment semantic modelling.
Semantic Modelling of the Built Environment: The past decades have seen an uptake in research on semantic web-
based BIM technologies for building construction and operations purposes. The Industry Foundation Classes (IFC)
standard was established in the 1990s by the buildingSMART industry group; it has since been broadly adopted and
is supported in leading tools such as Revit and ArchiCAD. IFC has been translated into the Web Ontology
Language (OWL) for use with semantic web tooling. These ontologies have been included as part of the IFC standard
since version 2x3, released in late 2015.
Following on from the IFC development, other semantic representations of the built environment have emerged,
among them the Building Topology Ontology (BOT)8 , which is a lightweight variant of IFC providing a spatial
model describing the topology of building spaces, their enclosing building elements, and the intersections between
them. Unlike IFC, BOT does not include a large number of domain-specific classes and properties (e.g., specific
types of objects or systems), but rather only a few high-level abstractions (e.g., rooms and storeys). This minimalistic
approach enables its reuse and extension by more specific domain ontologies. Beyond this, there are a plethora of
other relevant ontologies, including BRICK9 and Real Estate Core10. Currently, examples of building permitting and
compliance checking based on semantics are limited, primarily found as part of isolated academic examples11,12,13.
ACCORD will move beyond this state of the art by specifying and developing formalised semantic models covering
the following key aspects; (a) building permitting processes and the tools that drive them, (b) construction
regulation/requirement/guidance structure, (c) specification of rules embedded within construction regulations.
ACCORD will also suggest necessary enhancements to existing built environment data standards to support
additional required data items. Furthermore, ACCORD will adopt the project solutions in the country demonstrations.
Digitisation of Construction Regulations, Requirements and Guidance: The common practice in the architecture,
construction, and engineering (AEC) sector is to develop building codes/regulations by a local or national authority.
Building codes can address, e.g., safety and accessibility issues, among others. However, currently, these documents
are primarily published solely as human-readable documents, not as machine-readable documents. There are some
examples of cases where these rules are exposed as partially machine-readable, using HTML14. However, currently,
we lack in-use examples of formally structured construction regulations. Several academic efforts have attempted to
6
Digitalisation in the Construction Sector, 2021, European Commission, available:
https://ec.europa.eu/docsroom/documents/45547/attachments/1/translations/en/renditions/pdf.
7
World Bank Group. (2020), Doing Business 2020 - Comparing Business Regulation in 190 Economies.
8
BOT Ontology, available: https://w3c-lbd-cg.github.io/bot/
9
BRICK Ontology, available: https://brickschema.org/
10
Real Estate Core, available: https://www.realestatecore.io/
11
Soliman-Junior, J., Formoso, C. T. and Tzortzopoulos, P. (2019) A semantic-based framework for automated rule checking in healthcare construction
projects. Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering. 47(2): 202-214
12
Xin, X. and Hubo, C. (2020) Semantic approach to compliance checking of underground utilities, Automation in Construction, 109.
13
Beach, T.H., Rezgui, Y., Li, H. Kasim, T. (2015) A rule-based semantic approach for automated regulatory compliance in the construction sector, Expert
Systems with Applications, 42(12):5219-5231.
14
Scottish Government - https://www.gov.scot/policies/building-standards/monitoring-improving-building-regulations/
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achieve this in the UK15 , the USA16 and France17. However, only limited work has been done on specifying this
semantically6. The application of Natural Language Processing (NLP) is still in the early phases of investigation18 ,
and it has only been used in isolation on selected clauses.
ACCORD will advance state of the art in this area by comparing the various methodologies of digitising construction
regulations requirements and standards to develop a set of formalised unifying semantics for regulatory documents
and their embedded rules. ACCORD will investigate how NLP can be used as part of a hybrid approach, in
combination with the classic manual approach, to enable its application across construction regulation sets. ACCORD
will implement a hybrid approach in the country demonstrations utilizing manual and NLP based digitization of
regulations and requirements.
BIM-based Building Permitting: There have only been a few examples of BIM adoption as part of building
permitting processes. Building permitting still relies on either paper or digital drawings and other documents that
humans can only understand and analyse. Finland implemented the world’s first BIM-based (IFC-model) building
permit in Järvenpää on the 27th of May 2021. A city landscape examination of the building and its location in the
surroundings were made in Kunta3d service19, developed by Sova3D (external advisory board member). The
compliance review was carried out in the Solibri software. The permit was processed in the Lupapiste.fi, a cloud-
based service developed by Cloudpermit (CP). Currently, in Finland, 64% of municipalities utilise a cloud-based
building permitting system. The XBau and XPlanung data exchange formats are used in Germany, and Estonia has
adopted a cloud-based permitting system. Outside Europe, BIM-based permitting has been implemented in Florida20
and South Korea21.
However, all these efforts are focused only on the national level. Thus, they implicitly embed the permitting and
compliance processes of these countries' permitting and compliance processes, limiting their scalability and usability
at the European level. ACCORD will advance state of the art in this area by developing a permitting process driven
by a semantic framework. This will enable the creation of a formally specified process that is generic enough to be
scaled to the European level but flexible enough to allow the specific nature of each nation’s permitting processes to
be handled. This flexibility will be shown through the adoption of the process in multiple country demonstrations.
Automated Code Checking: The Automated Code Compliance (ACC) checking processes in the construction
industry rely on BIM and a machine-readable/interpretable representation of the regulations, norms, and
requirements. Currently, several commercial tools offer the automation of elements of the code checking process, for
example, Solibri, Autodesk, Glider and Xinaps. However, these tools all focus on a specific aspect and do not support
compliance checking across the entirety of construction codes and regulations. Several academic efforts have also
produced prototypes in this area, for example, in the UK8, New Zealand22 and France23. However, none of these has
ever reached a commercial level of maturity. One of the few examples of automated code checking in operation is
the Singapore E-Plan check system24. However, its use has now been interrupted. A primary limitation of these
applications is that they rely on a centralised system, implementing code checking from scratch instead of using
available technologies. However, some effort has been made to integrate automated code checking with GIS data25.
ACCORD will advance state of the art by demonstrating semantically driven automated code compliance checking
that can utilise the existing services in member states, taking a distributed approach instead of a centralised approach.
In addition, ACCORD will perform checks in environmental norms, circular economy, lifecycle assessment, and
design integrity for steel modular house products. Thus, enabling the twin (green and digital) transition of
15
Beach, T.H., Rezgui, Y., Li, H. Kasim, T. (2015) A rule-based semantic approach for automated regulatory compliance in the construction sector, Expert
Systems with Applications, 42(12):5219-5231.
16
Nawari O. N. Generalized Adaptive Framework for Computerizing the Building Design Review Process
17
Bus, Nicolas, et al. (2019) "Towards French smart building code: compliance checking based on semantic rules." arXiv preprint arXiv:1910.00334.
18
Zhang, J., ASCE, S.M. and El-Gohary N. M. (2016) Extending Building Information Models Semiautomatically Using Semantic Natural Language
Processing Techniques Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering.
19
Kunta3D, a Collaborative City Publishing tool, available: https://www.sova3d.fi/i/s3d-collabcity/. Accessed 11.8.2021.
20 Messaoudi M., Nawari N.O. (2021) Virtual Permitting Framework for Off-site Construction Case Study: A Case Study of the State of Florida. In:
Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Computing in Civil and Building Engineering..
21 Kim, I., Choi, J., Teo, E. A. L., & Sun, H. (2020). Development of K-BIM e-Submission prototypical system for the openBIM-based building permit
framework. Journal of Civil Engineering and Management, 26(8), 744-756.
22 Amor, R. and Dimyadi, J. (2021) The promise of automated compliance checking, Developments in the Built Environment, 5.
23 Bus, Nicolas, et al. (2019) "Towards French smart building code: compliance checking based on semantic rules." arXiv preprint arXiv:1910.00334.
24 Liebich, T. & Wix, J. & Qi, Z. (2004). Speeding-up the submission process: The Singapore e-plan checking project offers automatic plan checking based on
IFC. International Conference on Construction Information Technology (INCITE 2004). 245-252.
25 İlal, Mustafa Emre (2020). A method for GIS and BIM integration to support automated zoning code compliance checking.
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Europe. This will be conducted by a selection of differing regulations across country demonstrations.
1.1.3 R&I maturity (TRL levels)
ACCORD will adapt and integrate existing state-of-the-art tools and solutions for permitting and compliance
checking and develop new ones that are able to handle a wide variety of data according to different specifications
and standards (objective 3, WP2 and WP4). ACCORD will demonstrate automated permitting and compliance
processes for construction, renovation and demolition work, taking place in a set of demonstrator projects in various
EU regulatory contexts: Finland, Estonia, Germany, UK and Spain (objective 4, WP5).
To guarantee the semantically driven automated code compliance checking, all rule and data dictionaries as well as
semantic microservice orchestration will be represented as an RDF model and stored in a semantic database. ONTO's
GraphDB is a W3C standards compliant RDF graph database and one of the few triple stores that can perform
semantic inferencing at scale, allowing users to derive new semantic facts from existing facts. It can ingest diverse
data, providing flexibility for schema changes and mappings. In ACCORD, the GraphDB connectivity capabilities
will be extended to work with IFC model data by enabling Hybrid Data Storage and Querying (TRL 7).
Semantization of Data Dictionaries will apply a reconciliation service (provided by ONTO) that maps tabular data
(strings) to entities (things) and match entities between domain-specific dictionaries (TRL 5). During ACCORD, the
service will be improved by adding multilingual support and increasing entity matching scores (TRL 7).
The Finnish demonstration project will apply building permitting management service (provided by CP), which is
currently pdf-based and has data orchestration based on solution APIs. CP’s goal is to provide a data platform for
automated building permitting. During ACCORD, the data orchestration service for compliance checking of
environmental regulations will be widened, and interoperability for environmental data and geospatial data,
including the technical data platform, will be developed based on defined IFC model data content (properties).
(TRL 7) The Finnish demonstration project will also apply Solibri Office (provided by SOL) compliance checking
service, which has tested technology for checking BIM models (TRL 5). The service will be developed towards an
online service and integrated into CP’s service by implementing the APIs defined in ACCORD (TRL 7).
The Estonia demonstration project will apply BIM Works, an online BIM handling service (provided by FUI), a
microservice-based BIM storage that provides analysing, checking and integration solutions using open standards,
already integrated within the Estonian e-Construction platform (TRL 5). This service will connect to new open
standards, services and API’s developed in ACCORD and will be a standardised service (TRL 7).
The German demonstration project will apply land use permitting microservices based on OGC’s features for API
design that allow pre-checks of building designs while being interoperable with German process and data standards
(XPlanung and XBau) (TRL 7) and apply the IFC interface of Generis, a web-based LCA software. ACCORD will
develop and integrate a standard API to it. The Spanish demonstration project will apply SOL’s compliance checking
service and a software tool (TRL 7) - further developed by FUNITEC with ONTO - directly compatible with the
ACCORD rule format and interoperable with the rule formalisation tool. ONTO’s Manual Annotation Tool
(MANT) will be integrated into the rule formalisation tool (TRL 7) developed in WP2 and demonstrated in T5.3.
MANT supports manual annotation of the processed regulations using NLP and improves the quality of the results.
The UK demonstration project will apply AE’s Structural BIM Viewer, which is a specialist tool for an open-
source structural workflow. A new App (front-end) will be developed to communicate with existing compliance
checking tools (back-end) by AE (TRL 7).
Methodology
1.2.1 Overall methodology
Figure 1 illustrates ACCORD’s overall methodology that follows the design science research to create functional,
useful knowledge for practitioners to apply in daily practices26. The design science process consists of two phases:
1) designing and building artefacts and 2) evaluating those artefacts27. During the first phase, the artefacts are
designed and built for a specific purpose. ACCORD will define the purpose through user requirements elicitation
(WP1). In ACCORD, the artefacts will be a rule formalisation tool (WP2) and the integration of various data sources
and software (WP4) for the cost-effective transformation of regulation to machine-readable rules. The rule
26
Van Aken, J.E. and Romme, G. (2009), “Reinventing the future: Adding design science to the repertoire of organization and management studies”,
Organisation Management Journal, Vol. 6 No. 1, pp. 5–12.
27
Voordijk, H. and Adriaanse, A. (2016), “Engaged scholarship in construction management research: the adoption of information and communications
technology in construction projects”, Construction Management and Economics, Vol. 34 No. 7/8, pp. 536–551.
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formalisation tool will leverage emerging Artificial Intelligence techniques such as semantic deep learning Natural
Language Processing to decrease the manual efforts of rule interpretation from building codes. ACCORD maintains
trust in AI by having a human ultimately oversight the technology and developing keeping a human-in-the-loop.
Humans will be able to monitor the behaviour of the AI application and can identify inconsistencies and take
corrective action. AI techniques are used to support human decision making. A more detailed explanation of the
ethical dimension is provided in the application form Part A. Agile and iterative development is applied in tool/service
development and integration. During the second phase of design science, ACCORD will assess the functioning of
the artefacts in four demonstrations in five countries (WP5), report lessons learned and create e-learning materials
(WP3).
ACCORD starts (WP1) by identifying the needs and barriers to using digital permits and compliance checks for
buildings and infrastructure, using a survey to which participants can answer anonymously. It will be organised by a
UK partner (CU). All partners participate in WP1, but only to the extent they provide knowledge from their country
and create a common understanding of the knowledge gaps, technology deployment, standards, and the regulatory
and policy context. The needs and barriers of digital permitting will be addressed by building the basis for sustainable
digital transformation, consisting of three layers. The first layer is a semantic framework that will be created to
support European digital built environment permitting processes, documents, rules, data and tools. The second layer
consists of formalised permitting and compliance processes, which incorporate data, tools and stakeholders. The
third layer describes the microservices (software tools at TRL7) that automatically perform compliance checks,
calculations, simulations and analyses. Microservices are created by further developing and integrating existing tools
and by developing the rule formalisation tool. The basis for the sustainable digital transformation of permitting and
compliance processes will be demonstrated and validated in real-life projects in five countries around Europe
(Finland, Estonia, Germany, UK and Spain). The real-life demonstrations provide the basis for suggestions for the
EU-wide digital transformation of permitting and compliance processes (WP3). Also, business cases and business
models emerging from open BIM and automation will be further developed and described in more detail (WP6).
Figure 1. ACCORD’s overall methodology
The main short-term impact of ACCORD is the empirically validated proof-of-concept of transparent, cost-effective
and user-friendly permitting and compliance process that is enabled by digital tools. The process improves build
quality and enables the long-term impact of a healthy, safe and sustainable built environment by reducing errors
through the automation of the building permitting and checking of environmental regulations, thus allowing the
design to focus on sustainable solutions, such as carbon-neutral buildings and infrastructure and design for circularity.
ACCORD follows the principle of ‘do no harm’ and does not involve potentially harmful substances, processes,
technologies, organisms or materials in a manner that raises significant concerns about individual security or safety
or the protection of public health or negative effects on the environment. ACCORD software tools will necessitate
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energy use, but as the EU has noted, digitalisation measures leading to greater electrification of sectors is also required
for a climate-neutral economy.28
ACCORD methodology is based on the concept that the users – permit applicants and authorities – would
communicate through a cloud-based interface, hiding the complexity needed to deliver the solution (Figure 2). Digital
data (e.g. BIM) would flow seamlessly through the permitting and compliance process. Compliance checks, energy
assessment calculations and visualisations, LCA simulations or analyses would be autonomously performed by
microservices, which are individual cloud-based solutions. This will be supported by value-adding functionalities,
such as orchestration of microservices, BIM storage and querying integrated to data dictionaries and a rule
formalisation tool, as well as a repository of machine-readable rules (in the Common Data Environment CDE).
The semantic framework envisages semantically integrated regulations, digital data, and tools, which allow the
development of the current – often manual - permitting and compliance processes for buildings and infrastructure
towards digital and automatic, which necessitates interoperability, use of open standards and machine-readable
regulations.
In technical terms, the semantic framework necessitates converting a set of natural language rules and regulations
into a machine-readable form. To do it, it is necessary to extract all resources and their relationships in a semantic
model that the machine-processable rules can work against.
Figure 2. Transparent & resource-efficient digital permitting and compliance process for buildings and infrastructure
A building permitting engine loads all required building and geospatial information for each building request, extracts
the necessary data according to the semantic model and applies the machine-readable set of rules and regulations
against that data. The data is provided partly by the requesting party, partly by online services made available by
governmental authorities and other legal bodies involved. In sum, the semantic framework automates compliance
checking (reduces errors) and
communication of the checking results with
the applicants, reduces authorities’ workload
and transforms authoring to concentrate on
demanding issues and exceptions requiring
human evaluation; also, allowing the design
to focus on sustainable solutions, such as
carbon-neutrality and circularity. Thus, better
public service is provided to citizens.
The semantic framework, allowing open
innovation, will enable the development of a
new generation of semantically aware digital
permitting and automated compliance
tools that can scale digital permitting and Figure 3. Information flows in a digital building permitting and compliance process
28
EC (2021), Technical guidance on the application of ‘do no significant harm’ under the Recovery and Resilience Facility Regulation, (2021/C 58/01).
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compliance processes from national, isolated efforts to a whole-European scale. The information flows - from the
building authority’s regulations to automatically checked compliance - are presented in Figure 3.
Demonstration projects
ACCORD will demonstrate BIM-based building permitting and compliance checking processes with various
regulations/building codes/norms implemented in construction projects across Europe (Finland/Estonia, Germany,
UK and Spain). The demonstrations will be based on the semantic framework (developed in WP2) and microservices
(developed in WP4). The demonstrations cover the whole building lifecycle (Figure).
Each demonstration
will follow similar
steps, but different
country-specific
regulations will be
Figure 4. The demonstrations in the building lifecycle automatically checked:
1) identify regulations
to be converted machine-readable and support the transition to machine-readable (input for WP1, WP2, WP4), 2)
describe the permitting and compliance process related to the regulation (input for WP1-WP4), 3) define requirements
for digital (BIM and other data) models to be checked in the project development, design and construction phase
(input for WP3), 4) configure, apply and validate solutions for automated compliance checking (developed in WP4)
to specific requirements for demonstration projects and regulations as part of overall BIM-based permitting process
(input for WP3), 5) provide recommendations for developing permitting processes in Europe (input for WP3) and 6)
support the creation of technical guidelines (input for WP2 and WP4). Demonstrations will be done with real project
data in cooperation with stakeholders of selected construction projects (including owner, designer and building
authority handling the permit application). Thus, ACCORD will involve human participants by interviewing them
(WP5) and involving them in process modelling (WP3). Several possible demonstration projects have been identified
with the stakeholders, and the final selection of demonstration projects will take place by M6 at the beginning of
WP1, in T1.2.
Each demonstration will compare the current country-specific permitting process (modelled in WP1) with the new
suggested BIM-based permitting process with automated checking of the selected regulations (modelled in WP3).
The following KPIs will be measured during the demonstrations when possible: a) time to get from final design to
permit, b) a number of conversion/exports/scans to different file formats, c) person-hours to verify the submitted
documentation and d) time and number of persons needed for the final physical inspection. Also, the key persons
applying for (architect, engineer), receiving and using permits and the related compliance (local building permitting
authority) will be asked for user feedback related to the tools and the process.
Automated BIM-based building permit and environmental compliance – Finland & Estonia
The target of the collaborative demonstration between Finland and Estonia is to demonstrate an automated
compliance check with selected rules related, e.g. to accessibility, areas (room & gross area), size of windows in
relation to room area and exit routes, and start the automation of environmental compliance checking (carbon
footprint and circular economy) in BIM-based building permitting processes in Finland and Estonia. The two
collaborating country demonstrations are applying different software services, using the same standards, increasing
replicability of approaches. Both approaches will be tested with real project data in cooperation with stakeholders of
the selected construction projects (including owner, designer and/or general contractor and building authorities).
VTT leads the Finnish-Estonian demonstration. In the Finnish demonstration project, CP provides a permitting
management system, and SOL provides Solibri Checker (the building compliance service). In the Estonian
demonstration project, FUI provides BIM.Works (the building compliance service), the Estonian Ministry (MKM)
provides the Building Registry (permitting management service), and the local government office is responsible for
handling the building permit. Both projects include the designer providing the BIM and the general contractor. The
Finnish Ministry of Environment (external advisory board member) and Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs and
Communications (partner MKM) will be collaborating on defining the environmental norms. The City of Järvenpää
(part of external advisory board), acting as the local building authority, provides a real-life project for demonstration
purposes in Finland. Riigi Kinnisvara, or Tallinn city municipality, provides the building project in Estonia. The
demonstration projects’ BIM will be enriched with IFC propertysets. After the demonstration, standard BIM data
exchange requirements will be specified in the following formats: use case, MVD and IFC. Finally, the demonstration
will support Technical Guidelines (WP4) and recommendations for developing the current permitting and compliance
processes (WP3).
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Success criteria: 1) 25% of the environmental code is translated into the ACCORD rule format 2) the outcome of
the automated check is in line with the traditional procedure. 3) 5 Finnish and Estonian building authorities express
interest in implementing BIM-based permitting according to the process defined in ACCORD.
Automated Checking for Land Use Permitting, Green Building Certification and Architectural Design
Compliance of Industrialized Timber Housing - Germany
The goal of the demonstration (led by FHG) is to automate compliance checking for three uses cases arising for the
adaptive reuse and new planning of buildings in the area of the former Airport Berlin Tegel: (1) Land use permitting,
(2) Green building certification and (3) Architectural design compliance of industrialised timber housing. TEGEL
will provide owner and construction requirements, digital models, data and information on processes and regulations
for the use cases, which will use ACCORD’s building compliance checking microservices (WP4). The demonstration
partners will collaborate in monitoring processes, validating developed solutions, defining information requirements,
providing recommendations for future permitting and compliance checking processes, and standardising processes
and data formats.
Use cases 1 and 2 apply for the “Urban Tech Republic”: the adaptive reuse of buildings in the ownership of TEGEL.
HAM will support use case 1 by transforming land-use plans into the standardised German data format XPlanGML
and by translating those and other regulations into appropriate data formats conforming to geospatial encoding rules
published by OGC. HAM will also implement APIs designed by OGC for selected pre-checks of building designs
against land use requirements and support the orchestration of individual microservices. The Senate Department for
Urban Development and Housing, Berlin, will support the validated solutions as a responsible building permitting
authority. Use case 2 concerns the adaptive reuse of former terminal buildings and the German Sustainable Building
Council’s (DGNB e.V.) certification requirements to be made machine-executable. FHG will develop interfaces to
the web software GENERIS® for BIM-based Lifecycle Assessment, using enriched BIM models. Use case 3 applies
for the “Schumacher Quarter” dedicated to constructing timber housing on a large scale. TEGEL is in charge of
providing possible investors with the requirements for tendering, construction and concept approval of the quarter’s
sites. Relevant regulations to made machine-executable will be selected, including built-up area, timber construction
system and -elements to be used, environmental criteria and requirements for timber construction approval. The
company LiWood is dedicated to prefabricated, modular timber construction and provides digital models and sample
data sets. FHG will elaborate the use case based on its ample experience in BIM for timber construction.
Success criteria: 1) Selected regulations and requirements from land use plans and building codes for land use
permitting, for Green Building Certification and for the architectural design of industrialized timber housing
converted to be machine-readable; 2) Validated implementation of building permitting and compliance checking
solutions and interoperability with German process and data standards (XPlanung and XBau).
Automatic Checking of Structural Integrity of Steel Modular House Components – UK
The target of the demonstration, led by BCU, is to automate the compliance checking of design integrity of structural
components for steel modular houses: EC 3 (The European standard for structural design, a replacement for BS5950).
The relevant harmonised standard for cold-formed steel is BS EN 1090-1. The project will be selected for the relevant
local council, potentially Walsall Council in the West Midlands, the authority handling the building permit. Hadley
Group is the designer providing BIM.
The demonstration will draw on the combination of BIM-based inputs and Finite Element Analysis (FEA). High-
level compliance processes will be provided as inputs to WP1-4, while the analysis execution will be done on open
source FEA software and the reporting on a web-based front end. A new App (front-end) will be developed to
communicate with existing compliance checking tools (back-end) by ACCORD partner AE, an engineering practice
specialising in custom software solutions for the structural engineering domain. AE’s Structural BIM Viewer will be
used as a specialist tool for an open-source structural workflow.
Success criteria: 1) Identified structural integrity codes for this typology to be machine-readable. 2) Compliance
check of identified codes is reported together with the relevant compliance information accessible from the system.
Automated Checking of Compliance with Urban Regulations - Spain
The goal of the demonstration, led by FUNITEC, is to automate the checking of compliance with urban regulations,
including dangerous materials and coastal law, for major works licenses in a municipality in Spain. The permitting
process will be applicable in both public and private buildings in the design and construction stages of the building’s
lifecycle, using BIM and cadastre data as the main input data sources. Various use cases will be considered in the
development of several building renovations and new construction projects that have been planned by the Malgrat
de Mar City Council, which is the entity responsible for granting the permits: Project 1: Design and construction of
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a new theatre, Project 2: Renovation of a cultural centre, and Project 3: Expansion of the production plant of the
company AGC (Formerly Boehringer Ingelheim).
The automation of regulatory compliance checking will include the minimum plot, buildability, maximum
occupancy, minimum facade, regulatory height, minimum separations and occupancy of auxiliary buildings. ITeC is
experienced in the application and checking of building codes and will provide state / regional government’s
environmental regulations. Malgrat city hall (AMM) represents the local city authority handling the construction
permits. The architect or owner will provide a simplified BIM. In the compliance checking, Solibri and the ACCORD
building compliance checking microservices (WP4) will be used.
Success criteria: 1) 75% of the urban regulations are translated into an ACCORD rule format and 2) the outcome of
the automated check is in line with the traditional procedure.
1.2.2 Related national or international research and innovation activities
Table 1 lists the research and innovation (R&I) activities and projects that are most relevant to ACCORD. Please,
see partners’ other research and innovation projects and activities in part A.
Table 1. A list of research and innovation actions that are most relevant to ACCORD
R&I activities and their description Relevance for ACCORD and its partners
DigiPLACE – EU project that developed a ACE was a partner in DigiPLACE, and VTT and CU were
reference architecture framework providing linked third parties. The design principles for ACCORD
common guidelines for buildings and deploying solutions will be interoperability, common data environment
interoperability in construction. (CDE), open standards and data, data security and privacy.
Built4People (B4P) - Horizon Europe co- Synergies are created by ACCORD partners participating in
programmed partnership targeting definition of the B4P partnership; VTT is in the ECTP steering committee
R&D&I priorities for the Built Environment co- and coordinating the Digital Built Environment committee
created between public and private stakeholders. and in the executive board of the committees for
The European Construction, Technology Platform infrastructure, energy-efficient buildings and active ageing.
(ECTP) – a member organisation promoting and Also, ECTP will be in the ACCORD’s external advisory
influencing the future of the Built Environment. board.
New European Bauhaus (NEB) – EC’s initiative to ACCORD project aims to create easy to access solutions for
generate environmental (respect nature, an efficient and transparent permitting process. Consortium
sustainable buildings), economic (e.g., partner ACE is an official partner of the NEB initiative and
affordability) and cultural (e.g., socially just, the founder of the NEB Collective.
beautiful, accessibility) goals for Europe.
European Network for Digital Building Permits ACCORD follows the network’s development. MKM’s Jaan
(EUnet4DBP) - defines a common strategy for the Saar and FUI’s Rick Klooster are partners of the network.
digitization of the building permitting process in
Europe.
BuildingSMART data dictionary (bSDD) - A The semantic framework and the rule formalisation tool will
service that hosts classifications and their allow interoperating with the bSDD allows standardized
properties, values allowed, units and translations. workflow for guaranteed data quality and consistency.
Building Digital Twin association - developed an The association’s standard framework will be used to align
open and ethical techno-economic ecosystem to ACCORD’s semantic framework with building digital twins.
advance the implementation of building digital VTT is a partner in SPHERE, the founding project
twins. consortium.
Finnish development of municipalities’ digital The project will support ACCORD’s efforts in digitalising
building permit processes (2021-2023) and Land processes in Finland. The goal is to create the capacity of
Use and Building Act reform 2023 - BIM is used municipal systems to manage IFC models and automatically
to apply for building permits, design & as-built transfer data from the IFC model to the municipal register
BIM models are stored to the national register in an and the 3D city model. The project supports ACCORD Task
open standard format. 5.1.
XBau and XPlanung - open XML based data XBau and XPlanung ensure standardized communication
exchange formats for electronic data transmission between building owners, architects and authorities in the
in building supervision procedures German demonstration project (T5.2).
Estonian Building Registry - includes a nationwide Developments in the project will be built on top of and
3D Digital Twin and BIM-based permit checking improve this service in the Estonian demonstration project
service. (T5.1).
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CBIM – European Training Network for cloud- ACCORD will build on CBIM’s results on semantic
based BIM. enrichment for BIM and linked data models (presented by
Prof. Sacks at the Eastman Symposium 2021).
GAIA-X - A secure federated system that meets the GAIA-X develops the foundations for an open data
highest standards of digital sovereignty while infrastructure, which is also ACCORD’s long-term goal.
promoting innovation. An open digital ecosystem Executive Vice President Erja Turunen at VTT was elected
that offers openness, transparency and connects board member to the first board of the European Association
several organizations in Europe. for DATA and Cloud AISBL (GAIA-X).
DCOM – UK Digital Compliance Research CU leads this research network that has constructed a UK-
Network focused on driving forward the adoption based roadmap to adopt digital building control. ACCORD
of automated compliance checking in the UK will follow the network’s current development of a variety
construction sector. of proof-of-concept software prototypes.
1.2.3 Inter-disciplinary approach including social sciences and humanities
The development of the complex landscape of build environment compliance checking and permitting across Europe
necessitates an inter-disciplinary approach. For this reason, the ACCORD consortium has been compiled of
researchers representing different scientific fields, not only engineering but also social sciences, such as
communication, pedagogy and sociology and societal sciences. Thus, the consortium possesses expertise in and will
apply different social science research methodologies, such as a survey (in WP1), facilitated co-creation in workshops
(WP3) and ethnographic research (observation and in-depth interviews in WP5) in ACCORD research activities.
WP1 will bring all ACCORD researchers together at the beginning of the project to collaboratively study and analyse
the requirements for digitalizing building permitting and compliance processes. All partners from eleven European
countries are committed to spreading the European wide survey and providing the needed information from their
country: information on academic projects and methods, relevant software tools and technologies, the current laws,
regulations, guidance and national digital permitting adoption efforts in the field.
ACCORD will work with demonstration countries’ local authorities to test innovative BIM-based building permitting
and compliance processes supported by digital tools. The application of social science research methodologies to
local cases in various countries enables ACCORD to provide insights on barriers and enablers to digitalising building
permitting and compliance processes. For example, insights could be discovered to enhance the acceptance of tools
and solutions developed in ACCORD. In particular, the monetary and non-monetary motivations to digitalization,
environmental and economic effects of digitalization, and ways to encourage permitting stakeholders (applicants and
authorities) for data-driven workflows.
1.2.4 Gender-dimension
ACCORD will follow the gender policy of the European Union and a Responsible Research and Innovation inclusive
approach and take all measures to promote equal opportunities between men and women and promote functional and
cultural diversity, especially in the implementation of the action. Gender perspectives will be considered throughout
all project plans, in which women and men are equally integrated. Gender issues will be considered in long- and
short-term project and planning goals, as well as in the personnel perspectives of the involved partners. The language
and images used in the project will be appropriate for all stakeholders and gender-sensitive. ACCORD is in every
way committed to fair principles: open, just, equal, humane, and tolerant.
ACCORD acknowledges that gender and socioeconomic background, e.g., less financial resources available or less
knowledge on using technical tools, may affect the willingness of using new ICT tools. Thus, gender but also
socioeconomic background needs to be considered while designing and implementing new ICT tools. ACCORD will
address the gender-dimension by incorporating gender knowledge into the ACCORD’s engineering innovation
processes, following the recommendations set by Schiebinger et al. 29 For example, ACCORD will analyse the
different effects of the planned tools on women and men (following gender impact analysis method), with various
cultural, socioeconomic backgrounds and ages (following the intersectionality method) at the beginning of the project
(WP1) to ensure that genders’ needs, values and motivations are met to allow user acceptance and accessibility.30
ACCORD will involve both males and females in the tool development, which will incorporate co-creation and
participatory research involving users from various phases in the value chain, such as designers (architects and other
29 Schiebinger, L., Klinge, I., Sánchez de Madariaga, I., Paik, H. Y., Schraudner, M. and Stefanick, M. (eds.) (2011–2020), ‘Methods of sex and gender
analysis’, Gendered Innovations in Science, Health & Medicine, Engineering, and Environment
30 European Commission (2020). ‘Gendered Innovations 2: How inclusive analysis contributes to research and innovation’, Policy Review. Luxembourg:
Publications Office of the European Union, 2020.
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special designers), engineers (general contractors), building/infrastructure owners and permitting authorities.
ACCORD will follow the five practical steps for incorporating gender analysis into the participatory research, also
recommended by Schiebinger et al. First, the area of work the users wish to address is identified. ACCORD will
conduct literature reviews and send out a questionnaire (carried out in WP1). Second, the potential target groups are
identified. During the project planning, ACCORD has identified target groups (permit applicants,
building/infrastructure owners and authorities providing permits). Still, potential women and men from these target
groups will be sought (in WP4).
The third step in the participatory research is to seek user input. ACCORD will engage potential tools users in the
problem definition, requirements elicitation (user needs) and solution development and testing. The ACCORD
research team will urge to involve users with varying gender, age and socioeconomic statuses to gather information
about how the developed tool might affect users’ work. The fourth step is to observe users. For instance, it is planned
that a woman and a man representing the authority in each demonstration country will be observed at work for
understanding their work processes related to planning and permitting of buildings/infrastructure and how gender
might affect the use of the tool (carried out in WP5). It will also be important to understand authorities’ interactions
with the permit applicants. The fifth, final step is to evaluate and possibly redesign in cooperation with the users. This
step will be carried out in WP3. ACCORD researchers will also try to capture tacit knowledge by observing these
users using the developed tools (carried out in WP5). This may allow the researchers to identify potential challenges
in tool usage.
1.2.5 Open science practices
The project coordinator, VTT, is strongly committed to promote open science by signing the national Open science
declaration and creating and committing to its own open science principles. The principles will be followed in
ACCORD and stated in the data management plan (D7.2 Project Data Management Plan PDMP). Researchers will
carry out and document research in a careful and considered manner. Researchers will publish results and
interpretations of their research openly and transparently and respect the confidentiality of data or findings when
legitimately required.
All the scientific publications produced are published primarily according to open access principles. The publications
will be opened in external services, and the Gold model will be promoted. The ACCORD consortium will also open
a zenodo.org (open-access repository, operated by CERN) community to create one open-source location for all
publications, data and metadata. The publications will also be openly available in research organisations’ own
repositories (through self-archiving, following the Green Open Access). Information on all publications will be
available on the ACCORD’s web pages. ACCORD research organisations will strive to retain copyright to
publications to enhance their reuse. The Creative Commons license CC BY 4.0 is recommended. The Open Research
Europe publishing platform is utilised when applicable.
A collaborative way to work is a core element in the ACCORD research processes and promoted within the
consortium partners, following the targets and tasks of the project. Project-specific dissemination practices will be
detailed in the Grant Agreement and Consortium Agreement signed by all beneficiaries. ACCORD will engage with
society for wider dissemination of results and creating more value by providing wider perspectives and input for the
project’s execution. In practice, society engagement will involve relevant stakeholders (such as architects, authorities,
and civil building permit applicants) in co-creative open innovation development in WP3 to create improvement
proposals and pathways to develop digital permitting and compliance processes.
1.2.6 Data management and management of other research outputs
ACCORD results, such as the semantic framework, ontology, methodologies, the software architecture model and
standardized APIs, will be made available according to the FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable and re-usable)
principles, applying appropriate channels.
Types of data generated
In the country demonstrations, ACCORD will apply and generate various data formats, such as BCF, IFC and RDF.
The research infrastructure to be developed in ACCORD is described in section 1.1.3 R&I maturity (TRL levels).
Other supporting infrastructures are described in Application form Part A: partners’ research infrastructure section.
ACCORD will produce also interview and workshop data. Here the personal data is related to the participants' names
and email addresses. Compliance with ethical principles and relevant legislation is explained in part A of this
application. ACCORD will carefully examine all options of re-using pre-existing open research data, open-source
software, algorithms and workflows during the project.
Findability
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In addition to generic metadata elements, discipline compliant metadata elements will also be used to describe the
data to aid data discovery and potential re-use, if needed. Persistent identifiers (either DOI or URN) provided by the
data repository will be generated and used in linking to datasets.
Accessibility
Published and FAIR-compliant data will be archived in an open data repository. When applicable, the focus of the
data sharing will be on data underlying prospective scientific publications ensuring the validation of results presented
in publications. A certified repository service Zenodo (operated by CERN) will be used to enhance the long-term
accessibility of the data. In collaboration with project partners, the coordinator will take all the appropriate measures
to make relevant data openly available and usable for third parties for study, teaching and research purposes. Privacy
of data subjects will be secured by fully complying with the General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU)
2016/679 of the European Parliament and the Council). The project consortium has appropriate technical and
organizational measures to carry out data protection during the project. VTT has an appointed Data Protection Officer
(Seppo Viinikainen). If, after project closure, permission to re-use the data is required, it will be granted, providing
there are no IPR or confidentiality issues involved or any direct overlap of research questions with the primary
research. If data re-use would require permission, it will be provided by contacting the Coordinator. The project
consortium will decide justification for possible case-specific embargo for published data. An embargo will be sought
primarily in connection with any potential commercial exploitation or patent application based on project results.
Interoperability
Variables and value names will be constructed and provided following general data processing conventions common
to the research subject. Examples of vocabulary information to be managed within the project will be, e.g. units of
observation, list of variables with the name and label to each variable. After project closure, metadata of opened
datasets will be made available via FAIR-compliant repository Zenodo for research and re-use as described above.
The formats used for the datasets are anticipated to be: csv, xlsx, IFC, BCF and RDF.
Reusability
Potential re-utilization will be enabled and the quality of the data ensured by careful documentation of data collection
methods and the contents of the datasets. After the project completion, ownership of datasets belongs to the partner/s
generating them, co-shared by the group of consortium members in accordance with the Consortium Agreement.
Creative Commons license CC-BY-SA or CC-BY will be used for any opened datasets unless there are compelling
reasons to select a more restricted type of CC-license. Licenses will, by default, include a disclaimer of liability for
the re-use of opened data. The opened data will be deposited in a repository that guarantees data integrity on the bit
level. No continuous data curation policy to guarantee full long-term digital preservation of datasets is planned.
Allocation of resources
Cost allocation is based on the resources needed to make research data quality-controlled, FAIR-compliant and as
open as possible. During the project, consortium partners will be responsible for managing datasets securely in their
possession. To manage the lifecycle of datasets collected, processed, or created throughout the project duration, D7.2
Project Data Management Plan PDMP will be generated. It will include a description of methodology and standards
to be followed, and which data sets will be made accessible for verification and re-use after project closure. DMP
will be a dynamic tool that is updated regularly throughout the project duration. Sufficient resourcing is ensured
through a nominated Data Manager and dedicated data management task (T7.4 Data Management).
IMPACT
Project’s pathways towards impact
2.1.1 Unique contribution
The work programme’s call has specified four expected outcomes (medium-term effects, here shortly cited), and
ACCORD will contribute to each of them in the following ways:
Outcome 1: “Efficiency and productivity gains in design and construction processes.”
ACCORD’s contribution: ACCORD’s main result is a semantic building permitting framework based on
microservices that integrate many manual steps in design and construction into a semi-automated workflow
environment. The use of the framework is expected to increase the efficiency and productivity of the design and
construction processes by 50% by halving the time needed for obtaining permit decisions, which varies from country
to country. For example, obtaining the permit takes 5 to 15 weeks, depending on the size of the project in Norway,
which is the most advanced country in digital permitting, according to the World Bank. The use of the ACCORD’s
framework leads to efficient, user-friendly, and transparent building permitting processes with a quick turn-around
time.
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The semantic building permitting framework consists of various software components (marked in orange colour and
a number 1-4 in Figure) that will be developed during the ACCORD project by developing new and integrating
already existing technologies, solutions and commercial services. These components are ACCORD project results:
1) A rule formalisation tool (D2.3) allows for a standardized rule representation. The tool is based on Semantic
Web Technologies, and assists rule creators (building permitting authorities) in formalising regulations and
information requirements into a processable rule form. This tool applies existing Data Dictionaries (by
BuildingSmart and Open Geospatial Consortium), a Rule Language and a Building Compliance Ontology,
BCO (D2.2), which is a method for describing concepts, like wheelchair turning circle, escape route length
or corridor width, in a standardized way including name, description, example IFC files. Also, other
ontologies will be used to represent the building codes unambiguously. The tool includes an AI module (A
deep learning NLP model trained with building codes and regulations in English, D2.3) that pre-processes
text analysis of existing regulations for domain experts who accept/adjust rules with the rule formalisation
tool.
2) A Ruleset Database (D2.2) allowing for the storage and retrieval of rules stored in a semantic format for
applications of various stakeholders when using building permitting and compliance checking services.
3) Building Compliance Checking Microservices (D4.2) enable applicants to check compliance in early
design phases to identify possible errors and issues with authorities. This will transform the permitting
process towards a more proactive and supportive guidance process without requiring extensive work of
authorities.
4) Open Standardized Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) (D4.2) for the building compliance and
other information services to allow integrated dataflows between building permitting, building compliance
and other information services.
Figure 5. ACCORD’s semantic building permitting framework and its main components
KPIs: 1) The building permitting framework is successfully applied in the five countries’ demonstrations (WP5). 2)
15 European countries’ public authorities have started demanding data-driven building permit processes that collect
the needed information in building and land registries and 3D city models, and up-to-date city plans.
The target groups for the building permitting framework are local building permitting authorities as customers and
users of cloud-based permitting and compliance checking services. Building permit applicants (architects, engineers,
general contracts) are also users of permitting services. European building authorities (10 per country) are users of
the rule formalisation tool (incl. manual interaction and reporting points to avoid black-box decisions) and its related
rule database.
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Outcome 2: “Fewer errors in planning, design and construction processes.”
ACCORD’s contribution: The use of the ACCORD building permitting framework reduces the errors during the
planning, design, and construction processes by preventing the violations in the selected building codes and
regulations and making the permit decision more transparent, as the results of all rules and validation aspects are
consistently provided. Errors are also reduced because the standardized and complete data models (D3.3) preserve
all details throughout the workflows, and data is easily accessed through cloud-based services integrated through
Web APIs. ACCORD also reduces errors by re-skilling stakeholders by producing e-learning materials (D6.3) for
different target groups: 1) software developers will be provided with general technical specifications, ACCORD
methodology for the development of machine-readable building codes and automated compliance checking and
machine-readable rules of environmental, circular economy, lifecycle assessment and architectural design
compliance of wooden modular buildings, and design integrity for steel modular house products and 2) permitting
process stakeholders will be provided with guidelines, process and data flows, information requirements, and a
roadmap for adaptation (D3.3).
KPIs: 1) The construction projects’ data models (BIM) are detailed enough to be checked against the machine-
executable rules in the demonstrations. 2) 10 European countries’ public authorities have set public requirements for
BIM content of a permitting process, which will conclude in a more systematic modelling work and better quality of
BIMs, also supporting BIM utilization in business processes as the quality of the data can be trusted. 3) 405
professionals are upskilled on BIM requirements regarding BIM-based building permitting process through the
webinars.
The target group: Software service providers of building permitting and compliance checks can apply the semantic
framework’s software architecture and the open APIs developed in ACCORD (WP4).
Outcome 3: “Automated, faster, more accurate and efficient permitting and compliance for construction works…”
ACCORD’s contribution: ACCORD will automate the building permitting and compliance of construction works
of regulatory, health, safety, and performance by creating machine-readable rules of country-specific building codes
and regulations (WP2) and automating the compliance checking of those rules (WP4). Automated building permitting
allows code compliance and model quality inspection, speeds up the process, reduces paper use, allows electronic
record-keeping and reveals errors that might be missed in the manual approval process. The automated building
permitting processes will be demonstrated in five countries (WP5), lessons learned from the demonstrations will be
reported as information guidelines. Also, an education package (D3.3) and e-learning material are produced to
maximise the exploitation of results in Europe (D6.3) and be up-scaled through the European Social Fund Plus
(ESF+).
KPIs: 1) The regulations to be made machine-readable are identified and made into rules, and the compliance
checking is successfully automated in the demonstrations. 2) The local authorities in the demonstration projects have
expressed their interest in semantically structured 3D digital city plans as an important part of compliance checking,
which will be done against city plan requirements. This remarkably supports the data management of the whole built
environment and the quality of registry data. 3) Automation often necessitates standardisation. Thus, one success
criterion is that the public demand and standardisation activities for BIM and machine-readable information of the
built environment are increased, leading to better integration and harmonisation in Europe.
The target group: Local building permitting authorities will have digital building permitting processes.
Outcome 4: “Improved build quality and resource efficiency in construction, in line with …New European Bauhaus.”
ACCORD’s contribution: ACCORD will improve build quality in various ways. For example, ACCORD will
describe how geospatial and BIM models can be used jointly to reduce integration costs and improve build quality
along with the entire design, build, finance, and maintain the lifecycle of buildings (D6.2). This will allow designers
to visually see how the forthcoming building fits and affects its environment. ACCORD will also automate the
checking of accessibility, exit routes, urban regulations and structural integrity of modular steel houses, thus
improving build quality (D5.1). The automated checking gives the ability for pre-checking – allowing design teams
to check their work informally during the process allowing for better quality building design. ACCORD’s building
permitting solutions will enhance the quality of service and coordination with private and public entities and improve
customer service. ACCORD improves resource efficiency in construction through authorities’ lower cost for
validation, as the building permitting process is partly automated by the ACCORD system. The New European
Bauhaus (NEB) initiative connects green and digital transformations, which is the goal of ACCORD as well.
ACCORD will automate the compliance checking of environmental norms and regulations related to carbon
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footprint, circular economy and lifecycle assessment, thus supporting sustainability, which is also one of the aims of
the NEB. These are demonstrated in three countries in the Finnish/Estonian and the German demonstrations (D5.1).
KPIs: 1) The regulations related to the environment are identified, 2) converted to machine-executable rules and 3)
successfully demonstrated in the Finnish, Estonian and German demonstrations, leading to automatic checking of
environmental regulations.
The target group: Building permitting and compliance service providers will apply the digital rules.
ACCORD will also produce scientific publications on various topics, such as a state-of-the-art adoption of digitised
compliance/permitting processes in Europe and barriers and enablers to adoption.
KPIs: 17 open-access publications are written during ACCORD.
The target group: Publications are mainly targeted at the scientific community in the fields of engineering.
The work programme's call has set a number of expected impacts (long-term effects, here shortly cited), and
ACCORD will contribute to each of them in the following ways:
Impact 1: “Global leadership in clean and climate-neutral industrial value chains, circular economy and climate-
neutral digital systems …, through innovative production … and their digitisation, new business models, … enabling
the switch to decarbonisation …”
ACCORD’s contribution: ACCORD helps Europe be a global leader in the clean and climate-neutral construction
value chain by designing (WP2, WP4) and demonstrating (WP5) a digital building permitting framework that is
climate-neutral and green. ACCORD enhances the circular economy and decarbonisation by turning the available
environmental norms and regulations into machine-readable rules and demonstrating their automatic compliance
checking as part of a building permitting process (WP5). The regulations are related to the circular economy and
carbon footprint in Finland and Estonia and lifecycle assessment in Germany. ACCORD promotes prefabrication, an
innovative production process by automating the architectural design compliance of industrialised timber housing
and Green Building Certification and automating the design integrity for steel modular house products (WP5).
ACCORD will identify suitable business models in T6.3 Innovation Management, Exploitation, Business
Development.
Impact 2: “Accelerate the twin green and digital transition of the manufacturing and construction sectors.”
ACCORD’s contribution: ACCORD will accelerate
the twin transition of green and digital to enable the
EU’s economy to transform towards sustainability by
designing a climate-neutral building permitting system
and automating the checking of environmental
regulations. Figure 6 illustrates the specific places to
which ACCORD plans to contribute green and digital
transition.
Impact 3: “Create a new green, flexible and digital way
to build ... This will lead to sustainable … value chains,
enabled by digitisation, AI, data sharing, ... help reduce
CO2 emissions... ensure better and more efficient use of
construction-generated data to sustain
Figure 6. ACCORD’s contribution in the twin green and digital
transition
competitiveness and greening of the sector.”
ACCORD’s contribution: ACCORD will create a new building permitting framework that helps the greening of
the construction sector by automating the checking of environmental regulations, thus supporting the creation of
sustainable, climate-neutral buildings, in line with the aims of the EU Green Deal.
Impact 4: “Make jobs in manufacturing & construction safer, more attractive + offer upskilling opportunities.”
ACCORD’s contribution: ACCORD will make jobs in the construction safer by supporting prefabrication (work is
done in factories where safety issues are in better control) through the automation of architectural design compliance
of prefabricated (i.e., industrialised) timber housing and Green Building Certification and design integrity for steel
modular house products. ACCORD will offer upskilling opportunities by creating information guidelines, an
education package (D3.3) and e-learning material to maximise the exploitation of results in Europe (D6.3).
Impact 5: “Set out a credible pathway to contributing to climate neutral, circular and digitalised …industries.”
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ACCORD’s contribution: ACCORD will strive for climate neutrality and digital transition in the construction
sector by producing machine-readable rules of environmental (carbon footprint, circular economy and lifecycle
assessment) norms. Automation enables the design to focus on carbon-neutrality and circularity mitigating climate
change.
Impact 6: “Increase productivity, innovation capacity, resilience, sustainability and global competitiveness of
European … industries.”
ACCORD’s contribution: ACCORD will increase the productivity, innovation capacity and
flexibility of the construction sector to adapt to sudden changes and needs caused by climate change
and unforeseen crises by developing the building permitting framework leading to shorter
permitting time and databases of high-quality building models and machine-readable rules,
including the automated checking of environmental regulations, aligning with the United Nations
Sustainable Development Goal 9: Build resilient infrastructure, promote sustainable industrialization and foster
innovation.
Impact 7: “Contribute to a substantial reduction of waste and CO2 emissions…”
ACCORD’s contribution: ACCORD will translate regulations related to CO2 emissions and circular economy into
machine-readable rules that can be automatically checked by building compliance services. This supports the
reduction of waste and CO2 emissions during the decision making of the design phase.
The work programme has specified that the proposal should support three Key Strategic Orientations KSOs outlined
in the Strategic Plan, and which are here shortly cited:
Specified KSO A “Promoting an open strategic autonomy by leading the development of key digital… value chains
to accelerate … the digital and green transitions through human-centred technologies and innovations.”
Specified KSO C “Making Europe the first digitally led circular, climate-neutral and sustainable economy through
the transformation of its mobility, energy, construction and production systems.”
Specified KSO D “Creating a more resilient, inclusive and democratic European society, … empowering all citizens
to act in the green and digital transitions.”
ACCORD will contribute to the KSOs in the following way: ACCORD will create open APIs that allow local
authorities to choose the digital services they want to use without fearing a lock-in to the service (allowing strategic
autonomy). In addition, ACCORD will automate the checking of environmental regulations by developing machine-
interpretable rules of regulations related to CO2 emissions and circular economy (sustainability), thus steering the
digital and green transition and involving relevant stakeholders through co-creation (empowering citizens).
ACCORD will create information guidelines for structured data models, increasing the value of buildings and
reducing their operating costs, thus helping Europe implement digitalisation. ACCORD will also develop open,
shared and distributed modelling pipelines that transform natural language into machine-processable information.
This information contributes to the foundation of fair (democratic), comparable decisions based on rule-based data
processing.
ACCORD will not carry out activities that do significant harm to any of the six environmental objectives of the EU
Taxonomy Regulation.
2.1.2 Potential barriers
ACCORD partners foresee four specific potential barriers that may affect the desired outcomes and impacts. The first
barrier is a slow cultural change to move to BIM-based automatic permitting and checking, which may be too large
in some areas. ACCORD will mitigate this barrier by actively engaging relevant stakeholders through a
comprehensive dissemination, exploitation and communication plan (D6.2) that includes various channels for
different stakeholders. Also, ACCORD will produce e-learning materials (D6.6) for different target groups: 1)
software developers will be provided with general technical specifications, ACCORD methodology for the
development of machine-readable building codes and automated compliance checking and machine-readable rules
of environmental, circular economy, lifecycle assessment, and design integrity for steel modular house products and
2) permitting process stakeholders will be provided with guidelines, process and data flows, information
requirements, and a roadmap for adaptation (D3.3).
The second barrier could be that the building regulations are very localized and ambiguous, leading to extra efforts
in implementation and adaptation. ACCORD will work intensively and collaboratively with the authorities to identify
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regulations that can be made machine-readable. ACCORD’s demonstrations will produce lessons learned that will
give an insight into how regulations should be presented in the future to allow BIM-based building permitting and
compliance checks. The third possible barrier is that the lifecycle costs of digitalization are considered too large and
ambiguous in relation to the benefits. ACCORD will work closely with building permitting authorities to find the
right balance with digitalization costs and benefits. The fourth barrier might be that it is hard to transfer the learnings
gathered in the project to a wider audience. The risk is mitigated by implementing comprehensive dissemination,
communication and exploitation plan (D6.1).
2.1.3 Scale and significance of the project’s contribution to the expected outcomes and impacts
ACCORD’s main result, the building permitting framework, including its software components – Rule formalisation
tool, Ruleset database, APIs, building permitting and compliance checking services – could be beneficial for several
stakeholder groups:
Thousands of local building permitting authorities in Europe and worldwide as users of the cloud-based
permitting service and selectors of compliance checking services
Building permit applicants as users of the cloud-based permitting service: architects, engineers, general contracts.
Architects are covered by including consortium partner Architects’ Council of Europe (ACE), representing all
600.000 European architects and has multiple channels of reaching them.
European building authorities (10 per country) as users of the rule formalisation tool (incl. manual interaction
and reporting points to avoid black-box decisions) and its related rule database
Software service providers of building permitting and compliance checks
ACCORD’s scientific publications are mainly targeted to the scientific community in the fields of engineering.
Measures to maximise impact - Dissemination, exploitation and communication
2.2.1 Dissemination and communication activities
This section 2.2.1 and the following 2.2.2 form the initial plan for dissemination, exploitation and communication.
D6.1 (Dissemination, Exploitation, Standardization, Integration and Communication Plan) will update this plan,
maximise project impact and ensure effective dissemination, communication and exploitation activities. These
activities foster targeted promotion of project results towards key target groups via tailored action, assuring key
stakeholders' committed participation and interest in the project. Table 2 introduces the target groups and
objectives/key messages of dissemination and communication activities. Table 3 presents ACCORD’s dissemination
and communication channels. The exploitation activities are presented in the following section 2.2.2 Business cases
and exploitation strategies of ACCORD partners.
Communication activities promote the project and its impact widely on all stakeholders throughout the project's
lifespan. ACCORD will reach out to society to show the benefits of the project for citizens. A visual identity will be
created to raise interest, clarify the main messages and increase awareness of the project and its outcomes. An e-
newsletter is delivered every six months. Also, one project roll-up poster and two digital brochures or infographics
will be created with updated information on the project achievements. The brochures will be translated into the
national languages of all partners. The partners will represent the project in various events, conferences and fairs
nationally and EU-wide, such as the EUSEW, EU Utility Week and other EU initiatives. The communication
activities also include the Search Engine optimised (SEO) project website, which will be considered a lively tool
with continuously updated contents (e.g. press releases, e-Newsletters, articles and interviews, posts of project-related
news from external sources and e-training material).
Table 2. Target groups and objectives of dissemination and communication activities.
Result disseminated Objective / key messages
Target group: Market/industrial stakeholders, such as designers, software developers, authorities
ACCORD results, such as software tools and solutions (rule Generate interest towards ACCORD’s results, project progress,
formalisation tool, ruleset database, APIs, building events and relevant news, upskilling, offer E-learning material.
permitting and compliance services), market and replication
potential
Target group: Scientific community, EU projects and networks
ACCORD results regarding the semantic framework, state- Contribute to scientific literature in the fields of BIM-based
of-the-art, developed/integrated building permitting and permitting and compliance and AI
compliance services
Target group: Policymakers at national, EU and international levels
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Economic and environmental performance compared to the Removal of barriers to the uptake and spread of digitalised
current building permitting and compliance processes building permitting and compliance checks and compliance of
protocols with relevant standards
Target group: Standardisation bodies
Technical characteristics/ specifications of the ACCORD Ensure compliance of processes and ICT tools with current
building permitting system standards, and/or feed the development of new and adapted
standards, ensure synergies with the Horizon Europe
‘Built4People’ co-programmed Partnership
Target group: Civil society, NGOs, public, media
Benefits and impact of the digital building permitting and Raise awareness of the benefits and potential impact of digital
compliance processes building permitting and compliance processes
Table 3. ACCORD dissemination and communication channels.
Channel Type of audience KPI Frequency/No
Number of website Once per
Project and partners’ websites
visitors; 1000 sessions month/36
Every six
Newsletters The general public, all identified Mailing list goal: 150
months/6
target groups
Project poster and brochures 2000 viewers Altogether 3
Social media channels 150 followers, 2000
>75 posts
(LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook) visitors
Citizen outreach events and the Civil society, NGOs, public,
2 events
public discussion media
Conference participation as
7 participations
presenters
The scientific community
Scientific publications 5 open access publications
(engineering fields), EU projects
Webinars (upskilling) 450 viewers 3
and networks, Market/industrial
YouTube channel and TV
stakeholders 2 broadcasts, 500 views
broadcast
Horizon Results Platform 200 readers, all public deliverables
Events participation and the
EU projects, networks, other ECTP events, built4People partnership,
working group set up by the EU
(sister) projects funded in the call WGBC, collaboration with sister projects
BIM Task Group
EU projects and networks,
Horizon Europe project events 3 events 3
policymakers
Policy recommendations Local-level policymakers (EU and 300 readers 3
Contacts/meetings international levels) 5 local & 1 EU-level >5
E-Learning materials through EU
PROF/TRAC repository, EU Market/industrial stakeholders, 500 viewers 3 packages
BuildUp Portal & Youtube such as designers, software
Stakeholder workshops developers, authorities Goal: 100 participants 3
ACE Newsletter 3 Articles
OGC/bSI Integrated Digital Built Active participation in the Subcommittee and
Standardisation bodies (such as
Environment Subcommittee and BSI Regulatory Room: Common Guidelines
BuildingSMART and Open
BuildingSMART International to Introduce BIM to Building Process and
Geospatial Consortium)
Regulatory Room automate regulatory control and permit.
The EU/National/Regional communication levels and the responsibilities/roles will be attributed to each partner. It
is expected to gather all the information on the already existing channels and platforms at the European level. In each
involved country, one partner will be responsible for disseminating at the national level, including national
newsletters/alerts around events. ACCORD will produce guidelines for implementing communication and
dissemination actions (messages to convey, internal reporting rules, tracking of distribution of disseminations) as
part of D6.1.
ACCORD will produce e-Learning material in English, possibly to be translated by training providers or authorities
from a specific country who would like to use it. E-learning material can be used by the partners and their respective
countries as part of the exploitation efforts. This training material will also be made available to the wider public
through the EU PROF/TRAC open access online training material repository, the BuildUp Portal and offered to ACE
member associations who are acknowledged, national training providers. Three different material packages are
planned to up-skill various stakeholders: 1) One for software/ tools/service developers; content: General technical
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specifications, ACCORD methodology for the development of machine-readable building codes and automated
compliance checking, 2) One for professionals of the permitting process; content: Guidelines, process flow, data
flow, information requirements, a roadmap for adaptation, and 3) Implementation of ACCORD methodology in the
demonstrations. Three upskilling webinars will be held and recorded to be openly accessible via the project’s
YouTube channel linked to the project website and the EU BuildUp Portal (D6.3).
ACCORD will build collaboration with similar projects funded under this call in T6.4 (Community Building,
Standardisation & Integration) that ensures maximal uptake in standardisation activities and community building, in
close collaboration with the OGC/bSI Integrated Digital Built Environment Subcommittee, and ideas will be
exchanged with other projects funded under the same call in a working group that will be set up by the EU BIM Task
Group.
2.2.2 Business cases and exploitation strategies of ACCORD partners
Human-centred software components developed and integrated into ACCORD provide business cases for the
software industry operating in the real estate and construction sector and ACCORD’s partners (FHG, SOL, CP, FUI,
ONTO, AE and ITeC) operating in software service production. The results provide good EU-wide market
opportunities since Europe has a building regulatory system encompassing the building regulations and the building
control system in every European country, for which the proposed ACCORD building permitting framework can be
utilized. Each industry partner has IPR to their own results, and they will commercialize and decide their distribution
channels individually. The legal owners of software components used in ACCORD are CP, SOL, FUI, ONTO, AE
and FHG. Services developed together will follow the IPR rules described in the following section 2.2.3 Management
and protection of intellectual property.
A European-wide uptake of building permitting and compliance services would improve the current building control
processes significantly. These services create new opportunities to unify and streamline operations. They improve
customer service and reduce the need for local customer service. The ACCORD cloud-based framework supports
citizens and city officials in the building permit process. The targeted market of these services is worldwide, but, e.g.,
in Europe, 2,5 million building permits are issued yearly, and most of the issuing takes place without a digital building
permitting system. The estimated market size only in Europe is several hundred million euros. For example, only in
Finland, 38 000 new building permits are issued yearly, and the permit approval costs in Helsinki are 680€+6,2€/m².
The open APIs (developed in WP4) support KSO A (open strategic autonomy) and lay a standardized framework for
any compliance service, but also to ACCORD’s partners (SOL, FUI, ONTO, AE and ITeC), to be used as a part of a
building permitting system. Any Building Permitting Service will be able to use the API with any Compliance
Service. For SOL and FUI, this creates an opportunity to provide their services easily without the need to create
custom API implementations. The standardized rule formats and APIs create a new blueprint by which a building
permitting system can be built. This establishes a new market. The upcoming requirements to reduce the
environmental footprint of the built environment will be met more easily when the plans can be checked automatically
and consistently. The machine-readable format of building codes will provide an example and method to represent
the owners’ requirements and targets for a construction project in a formal way. This provides opportunities to
develop private requirement management and compliance checking tools and services.
FHG will exploit Generis®, which will be further developed in ACCORD. The integration of (semi-)automatic
lifecycle assessment allows to drastically reduce the effort and costs for LCA-based assessment of buildings and
infrastructure. As generis® aims to provide such an approach, its development options and business case potentials
in the context of the Green New Deal and the Renovation Wave and the EU Taxonomy are potentially covering
millions of assessed units. However, as this also depends on legislative framework developments, the innovation
targeted in ACCORD does not solely allow to access this potential but provides a key step in mainstreaming LCA.
The adoption of a semantic framework offers tangible advantages, including (a) the dynamic integration of existing
industry tools, (b) the ability to maintain flexibility to allow portability and adaption to the specificities of differing
processes and regulations across individual member states and (c) integration with existing semantic methodologies
now gaining traction in the construction sector (e.g., BsDD, IFCOwl). ACCORD industrial partners will adopt (WP4)
and demonstrate (WP5) the framework, indicating their commitments. The ACCORD semantic approach provides
for increased integration, portability and maintainability, which are part of ACCORD’s strategy towards full-scale
off-site construction manufacturing in the EU. The strategy also includes supporting manufacturing (industrialised
construction) by automating the compliance checking for land use permitting, environmental (Lifecycle Assessment,
LCA, Green Building Certification) and building compliance for industrialised timber housing and the design
integrity of structural components for steel modular houses.
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All other partners are also committed to the exploitation of results with the following exploitation strategies.
Universities (training and academic) and RTOs (close to market developments, technology transfer): CU, BCU, JU,
FUNITEC, UNIKO, FHG and VTT will use the knowledge gained, along with the joined papers, to increase their
reputation and participation in the automated checking research agenda across Europe. This will result in participation
in future funded research projects in this or related areas. The universities will improve the teaching on the BIM and
code checking area and develop e-learning courses based on T2.6 Technical Guidelines and align work in the
respective countries with the latest technological developments in Europe.
FUI, VTT, FHG, ONTO, OGC, MKM and FUNITEC will develop e-learning material for the software users based
on T2.6 and T4.6 Technical Guidelines, and VTT, FHG and IMT support software developers in their countries.
ONTO will leverage the experience with IFC data and relations with AEC companies gained to grow its business in
the AEC sector and productize the developed Hybrid Storage and Querying capabilities as part of GraphDB.
The standardisation bodies, BSI and OGC, will enhance their suite of standards to describe, access and process
building data. The current standards shall be further aligned with other BSI and OGC standards to improve the
integration of building information with other data, such as spatial-temporal data, which will make these
organisations’ standards more attractive to a wider audience. OGC will further exploit enhancements to semantic
interoperability concepts as part of its OGC Definition Server, which is of overarching interest by multiple domains
that use OGC technology. BSI, on the other hand, will further exploit ACCORD results in relation to
BuildingSMART data dictionary.
Estonian Ministry (MKM) has its own Building Registry (permitting management service) which is integrated with
the FUI’s BIM.Works (the building compliance service). The ACCORD results related to machine-readable
environmental rules and their automatic checking in BIM.Works will be integrated into the Building Registry.
Hamburg (HAM) and Berlin (TEGEL) have signed an administrative agreement for cooperation in the area of
digitization of planning and building in the public administration. The goal is to develop specialized procedures
software to speed up the planning procedure and the building permitting process. The software development will
follow the principle of “one for all” and European digital sovereignty. The results of the ACCORD project will be
exploited within the scope of this cooperation. Malgrat City (AMM) is aiming towards digital building permitting
and will use ACCORD results in their decision making concerning future digitalization efforts for permitting.
External advisory board members (presented in section 3.2.1 Consortium) representing ministries, universities,
software companies and non-profit associations will integrate the project results into their work and business
processes as relevant.
2.2.3 Management and protection of intellectual property
The general strategy for the management and protection of intellectual property (IP) outlined in this section has been
agreed upon by all consortium partners. It will be further detailed in the consortium agreement (CA) to be signed
before the beginning of the project. To ensure these principles and terms are followed, a dedicated task is planned
(T6.2 Innovation Management, Exploitation, Business Development) to avoid disputes and facilitate
commercialization strategies and technology transfer. Also, Dissemination, Exploitation, Standardization, Integration
and Communication Report will be compiled (D6.2). The report will document all items of IP related to the work of
the project (background, achieved results and licenses) and business case analysis. An IPR/exploitation officer will
be nominated among the partners to supervise and guide the project’s actions towards effective exploitation of project
results. JU has volunteered to take this role, but the final decision will be made during the CA negotiations. Invention
potential and patent landscape will be continuously followed under the guidance of the IPR/exploitation officer as
part of the innovation management. The exploitation of results and IPR management will be discussed at the
consortium, T6.2 meetings and in dedicated internal workshops following the methodology from the ECs innovation
radar.
A detailed procedure for dissemination will be stated in the CA, and dissemination activities will respect the
following: A) Planned publications will be distributed to all partners within an agreed period prior to publication, B)
A partner may object to the planned publication within an agreed period if the protection of its results or background
would be adversely affected of if it can show that its legitimate interests in relation to the results or background would
be significantly harmed and C) Any objection has to include a precise request for necessary modifications.
The following ownership and protection principles for IP will be further established in the CA in the spirit of
Horizon Europe: 1) Results shall be the property of the partner carrying out the work leading to the results. 2) Where
several partners have jointly carried out work generating the results and where their respective share of the work is
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indivisible, they shall have joint ownership of such results. The partners concerned shall agree in writing the
allocation, terms of exercising ownership and protection of the joint results. 3) Where a partner transfers ownership
of results, it shall take steps to get the approval of other partners and to transfer to the assignee obligations regarding
the results (e.g. granting of access rights and dissemination). 4) Where results are capable of industrial or commercial
application, its owner shall provide for its adequate and effective protection, in conformity with relevant legal
provisions, and having due regard to the legitimate interests of the partners concerned.
Access rights for implementation: Partners shall enjoy access rights to the results and to the background identified in
the CA for the project if those are needed to carry out their own work in the project. For implementing the project,
access rights to both results and background shall be granted on a royalty-free basis.
Access rights for exploitation: Partners shall enjoy access rights to the results and the identified background if those
results or backgrounds are needed to exploit their own results. In that case, access rights to results and background for
exploitation shall be granted on fair and reasonable conditions. Access rights will be granted upon written request.
The requesting partner must show that the access right is needed. The granting of access rights may be
made conditional on the acceptance of specific conditions to be specified in the CA.
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Summary
KEY ELEMENT OF THE IMPACT SECTION
SPECIFIC NEEDS EXPECTED RESULTS D & E & C MEASURES
Current building permitting and Building permitting framework Project poster and brochure
compliance processes vary between
Building permitting and compliance Project website (press releases, articles, interviews, posts)
countries, complicating the
checking software services Newsletters
development of replicable digital
A rule formalisation tool for the Stakeholder workshops
solutions for different markets. Contacts/meetings of partners
building authority to develop
There is a lack of agreed standards machine-readable rules to be used by Active interaction on social media accounts: LinkedIn profiles, Twitter,
for representing regulation, Youtube, Facebook
compliance checking services.
requirement and guidance documents
Methodology from legal text to Participating in conferences as speakers
governing building permitting and Conference paper presentations
semantic framework
compliance processes and the rules
Standardized APIs with Scientific journal publications
embedded within them. Previous
data/information (BIM, GIS, …) Participation in ECTP events and events promoting the Built4People
work is not grounded in formal
models partnership.
semantics to help computers
understand the regulation, Five demonstrations of building Exchanging information with the World Green Building Council
requirement, and guidance permitting and compliance processes (WGBC) offices
documents. where specific regulations are Further research activities after ACCORD
Existing building permitting and
automatically checked. E-learning materials
compliance software tools lack Findings of applying various Policy recommendations
integration and alignment with wider technologies, like Artificial Attendance in other Horizon Europe project events
compliance processes and data Intelligence on Building Codes to Open-source licencing the rule formalisation tool
providers/consumers. extract candidates that potentially can Standardisation activities
be analyzed automatically
A lack of data to drive digital Participation in BuildingSMART International Regulatory Room
permitting and checking. Existing Scientific publications; e.g., state-of- Close collaboration with the OGC/bSI Integrated Digital Built
building data sets lack the richness of the-art of the current adoption of Environment Subcommittee
information required for digital digitised compliance/permitting Ideas exchange with other projects funded under the same call in a
permitting or compliance checking. processes in Europe and working group that will be set up by the EU BIM Task Group
Other data sources, such as product barriers/enablers to adoption, the use
data sets, lack semantic formalism of NLP in extraction rule entities
and the adoption of open APIs to
enable their exploitation by checking
processes.
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TARGET GROUPS OUTCOMES IMPACTS
Building permits applicants in Europe Increased efficiency and productivity of the Europe is moving towards a global leader in clean and
but also worldwide: architects, general construction process by shortening the time for climate-neutral (twin green and digital) construction
contractors, private persons. obtaining permit decisions value chain by the uptake of the digital building
Building authorities and local building Increased efficiency of the design process and permitting framework, which is climate-neutral and
improved build quality and safety through fewer errors green.
permitting authorities in Europe and The framework allows the automatic compliance
worldwide. and violations in building codes and a more reliable
permitting process checking of environmental regulations (carbon
Software companies worldwide Improved resource efficiency in construction through footprint, circular economy and lifecycle assessment).
offering solutions/services to building lower cost for validation (authorities) This will enable circularity, energy and carbon
permitting and compliance processes. Improved sustainability of the building project through neutrality, and reduction of waste and thus help to
ACCORD industrial (SME) partners: validated 3D model that can be used throughout the mitigate climate change in the long term.
ONTO, SOL, AE, CP, FUI. lifecycle Improved urban planning (reduced errors through
Improved maintenance and recycling through building permitting and compliance checks
Scientific community (fields of automation) and accelerated permit processes by 50%.
engineering). enhanced BIMs in line with the new European
BAUHAUS initiative 30% increased demand and standardisation activities
Automatic compliance checking of the machine- for BIM and machine-readable information of the built
readable rules, enabling faster, more accurate and more environment, leading to better integration and
efficient permitting and compliance for construction harmonisation in Europe.
works 10% increase in the value of buildings and reduced
Reduced subjectiveness in interpreting the regulations operating costs through structured data models, which
and norms (authorities) is in line with the United Nations sustainable
Driving up the demand and standardisation of BIM and development goal 9 (build resilient infrastructure,
machine-readable information of the built promote sustainable industrialization and foster
environment, leading to better integration and innovation).
harmonisation in Europe The machine-readable format of building codes will
New opportunities for upskilling professionals provide an example and method to represent the
New business opportunities and models based on the owners’ requirements and targets for a construction
demonstrated services (software developers) project in a formal way. This provides business
opportunities to develop private requirement
management and compliance checking tools and
services.
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QUALITY AND EFFICIENCY OF THE IMPLEMENTATION
Work plan and resources
3.1.1 Overall structure of the work plan
The ACCORD work plan is structured around demonstrations in five countries and seven work packages (Figure 7).
Adequate resources are planned, especially for WP 2, WP4 and WP5, to ensure ACCORD fulfils the proposal request
for developing and demonstrating novel ways for digitalising permitting and compliance processes for construction
works, including requests for interoperability and integration with relevant tools, databases and processes.
Figure 7. Work packages and their relationships
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Table 3.1g: ‘Subcontracting costs’ items
The purchase costs for the action and subcontracting will meet the conditions laid down in Articles 6.2. In
particular, the best value for money (or if appropriate the lowest price) principle will be respected and no conflict of
interests will be ensured.
1/VTT
Cost (€) Description of tasks and justification
The Finnish demonstration project’s BIM model enrichment. Expertise in Finnish
Subcontracting 70 000 BIM requirements and the Finnish environmental norms and regulations. Both
tasks are linked to WP5, T5.1.
Table 3.1h: ‘Purchase costs’ items
1/VTT
Cost (€) Justification
Consortium General Assembly meeting once a year with 6
persons, each travel about 1 500 € (12 000 €), conferences
Travel and subsistence 25 350
(9 000 €), international and national workshops and their
catering (4 350 €)
Equipment
Meeting arrangement costs (10000 €), 3 open access articles
(2000 € x 3 = 6 000 €) and journals (5000 €), financial audit
Other goods, works and services 32 000
(3500 €), translation, proof reading and printing costs (5500
€), transcription (2000 €)
Remaining purchase costs (<15%
51 150
of pers. costs)
Total 108 500
4/ACE
Cost (€) Justification
Consortium General Assembly meeting once a year, 1-2
Travel and subsistence 9 000
persons attending, each travel about 1 500 € (9 000 €)
Equipment
Other goods, works and services
Remaining purchase costs (<15%
9 000
of pers. costs)
Total 18 000
5/MKM
Cost (€) Justification
Consortium General Assembly meeting once a year, 1-2
Travel and subsistence 11 400 persons attending, each travel about 1 500 € (9 000 €),
workshops (2 400 €)
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Other goods, works and services
Remaining purchase costs (<15%
3 600
of pers. costs)
Total 15 000
6/HAM
Cost (€) Justification
Consortium General Assembly meeting once a year, 1-2
Travel and subsistence 9 000
persons attending, each travel about 1 500 € (9 000 €)
Equipment
Other goods, works and services
Remaining purchase costs (<15%
6 000
of pers. costs)
Total 15 000
7/AMM
Cost (€) Justification
Consortium General Assembly meeting once a year, 1-2
Travel and subsistence 14 804 persons attending, each travel about 1 500 € (9 000 €),
workshops (5 804 €)
Equipment
Other goods, works and services
Remaining purchase costs (<15%
3196
of pers. costs)
Total 18 000
8/ONTO
Cost (€) Justification
Travel and subsistence
Cost for the development and test environments (36 x 600 €
Equipment 24 337
= 21 600 €), equipment depreciation (2 737 €)
Other goods, works and services
Remaining purchase costs (<15%
26 662
of pers. costs)
Total 51 000
10/FUI
Cost (€) Justification
Travel and subsistence
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Other goods, works and services 110 000 Hosting & maintenance of FUI’s Clearly.BIM OUP (Open
Urban Platform) service for the demonstration projects. The
service necessitates a separate cloud infrastructure for the
technical implementation and testing (5000€/month). The
service consists of three sub-services: 1) a 3D digital twin
service 1500 €/month, 2) openBIM service 1500 €/month
and 3) hosting services for the ecosystem 2000 €/month.
Remaining purchase costs (<15% 45 000
of pers. costs)
Total 155 000
11/AE
Cost (€) Justification
Travel and subsistence Consortium General Assembly meeting once a year, 1-2
9 000
persons attending, each travel about 1 500 € (9 000 €)
Equipment
Other goods, works and services
Remaining purchase costs (<15% 6 000
of pers. costs)
Total 15 000
12/IMT
Cost (€) Justification
Travel and subsistence Consortium General Assembly meeting once a year, 1-2
9 000
persons attending, each travel about 1 500 € (9 000 €)
Equipment
Other goods, works and services
Remaining purchase costs (<15% 11 000
of pers. costs)
Total 20 000
13/ITeC
Cost (€) Justification
Travel and subsistence Consortium General Assembly meeting once a year, 1-2
11 250 persons attending, each travel about 1 500 € (9 000 €),
workshops (2 250 €)
Equipment
Other goods, works and services
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Remaining purchase costs (<15% 3750 Associated with document Ref. Ares(2022)3656727 - 13/05/2022
of pers. costs)
Total 15 000
14/FUNITEC
Cost (€) Justification
Travel and subsistence Consortium General Assembly meeting once a year, 1-2
9 000
persons attending, each travel about 1 500 € (9 000 €)
Equipment
Other goods, works and services
Remaining purchase costs (<15% 12 000
of pers. costs)
Total 21 000
15/JU
Cost (€) Justification
Travel and subsistence Consortium General Assembly meeting once a year, 1-2
9 000
persons attending, each travel about 1 500 € (9 000 €)
Equipment
Other goods, works and services 16 000 Cloud services for hosting development and prototyping
environments, does not include cost of deployment
environments/hardware, (10 000 €), 3 open-access articles
2000 € each (6 000 €)
Remaining purchase costs (<15% 9 000
of pers. costs)
Total 34 000
Capacity of participants and consortium as a whole
3.2.1 Consortium
ACCORD is an innovation action project connecting research, public and industrial partners from 11 European
countries: Finland, Germany, United Kingdom, Belgium, Spain, Estonia, Netherlands, Sweden, France, Bulgaria and
Italy. The 21 partners, of which UNIKO is an affiliated entity and UK partners (CU, BCU and BSI) as Associated
Partners, have a wide spectrum of expertise and operational capacity in complementary fields related to the proposal
topic on digital tools and automated methods for designing, building and authorising construction works, which will
ascertain the high quality of the project outcomes and impact. Additionally, the consortium includes partners
experienced in user engagement, business model development, and communication, exploitation, and dissemination
activities. The ACCORD partners are experienced organisations in R&D and have participated in several national
and international projects in the fields.
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VTT (Coordinator) has a long-standing experience in participatingAssociated withprogrammes
in research document Ref. Ares(2022)3656727 - 13/05/2022
funded by the European
Commission (533 projects in the H2020 programme, 121 of which as a coordinator), cooperating with leading
research institutes, universities and consultancy firms in most European nations. Also, most ACCORD partners can
show a consolidated experience of participation in EU-funded projects under several research programmes on the
topic. See the list of previous actions and funded projects of the participants in Application form (Part A) and Section
1.2.2 Linked activities. VTT, with its 2500 employees, has the necessary infrastructure, experience, and skills needed
to guide the project. VTT has a professional EU team of 15 full-time professionals that support project managers of
EU funded projects in all financial and administrative aspects at the proposal stage and during the whole lifespan of
the project. VTT's Legal Affairs will act as strong support for the management of the Project.
Project coordinator Rita Lavikka is a Senior Scientist who has
published several academic articles on digitalizing the construction
sector and has industrial experience facilitating digital
transformation in the sector. She is working in the EU-funded
BIM4EEB and EXCESS projects, focusing on digital tool
development and energy efficiency, especially positive-energy
buildings.
The ACCORD consortium represents research institutes,
universities, associations and SMEs, playing a long-term and
active role in automating permitting and compliance processes.
The ACCORD consortium offers important qualities, such as an
international reputation for scientific excellence and consolidated
managerial competencies with the expertise and facilities required
to manage a project of this size and complexity and mobilise and
link the multidisciplinary knowledge and other complementary
qualities for achieving the project objectives.
The ACCORD consortium’s external advisory board (EAB)
includes associations at EU, national and local levels, which are
active in the construction ecosystem, businesses active in the
construction industry and universities outside the EU. The EAB
consists of the European Construction Technology Platform ECTP
(Dr Alain Zarli), Indian Institute of Science IISc (Dr Vishal Singh),
Finnish Ministry of Environment (Mr Pekka Virkamäki), City of
Järvenpää (Mr Jouni Vastamäki), Gravicon (Tomi Henttinen), Sova3D (Petri Kokko), Hadley Group (Mr Paul Nicol),
Green Building Council Finland (Mr Lauri Tähtinen), Building Digital Twin Association (Mr Eduard Loscos), The
University of Auckland (prof. Robert Amor) and LiWooD Management AG (Stefan Stenzel). Their Letters of Interest
are provided as an appendix to the proposal.
3.2.2 Access to critical infrastructure
ACCORD has secured access to critical infrastructure by involving the relevant stakeholders (designers/engineers,
project owners, authorities) either as project partners or AB members or supporters (Letters of Intent). ACCORD’s
critical infrastructure refers to BIMs and other digital data, host servers and cloud infrastructure needed in the
demonstrations (demo). Software component and service developers will provide most of the software development
infrastructure (see part A, infrastructure or equipment), and funding has been reserved for the most expensive
infrastructure. See Table 3.1h: ‘Purchase costs’ items exceeding 15% of the personnel costs: travel, equipment,
goods, services.
All demonstration projects will rely on semantic data storage to manage compliance checking rules, data dictionaries
and semantic micro-service descriptions. For this purpose, ONTO will provide ACCORD GraphDB development
licenses free of charge for the project's duration. GraphDB will be hosted on dedicated infrastructure to ensure the
technical implementation and reliability of the storage service.
In the Finnish demo project, SOL’s Solibri Office will be used for checking BIM models against Building Codes.
CP’s Cloudpermit will be used as a building permitting system. The current Estonian BIM-based checking service is
developed on top of FUI’s open BIM.works service. FUI’s BIM.Works development environment will be applied in
the Estonian demo project to connect and test the new standards and services developed in ACCORD. Access to the
Estonian Building Registry (including nationwide 3D Digital Twin) will be provided by MKM.
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FHG’s web software GENERIS® will be used for BIM-based environmental document Ref. checking
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in the German
demo projects. Also, UNIKO’s faculty research cloud infrastructure will be used for resource-intensive computations
in the projects. ACCORD will apply ONTO’s reconciliation service to map tabular data to entities and match entities
between domain-specific dictionaries. The Spanish demo project will apply SOL’s Solibri Checker, and FUNITEC
will develop a software tool directly compatible with the rules format after applying the rule formalisation tool.
ACCORD will integrate ONTO’s Manual Annotation Tool (MANT) into a rule formalisation tool. MANT provides
the ability to manually annotate the processed with NLP regulations and improve the quality of the results. The UK
demo project will apply AE’s Structural BIM Viewer, a specialist tool for an open-source structural workflow.
3.2.3 Complementarity and contribution of partners
ACCORD consortium covers the actors involved in building permitting and compliance: SMEs, ministries and cities’
local authorities, research organisations, and associations/foundations representing construction professionals and
standardisation. The consortia include partners from the UK, which are Associated Partners. Table 4 presents
ACCORD partners’ differentiating knowledge and key roles.
Table 4. Partners’ differentiating/complementing knowledge, key roles and person month (PM) resourcing (operational capacity)
Partner’s differentiating/complementing knowledge Contribution and PM resources in ACCORD
Industrial/commercial involvement (SMEs)
Future Insight (FUI) is a young SME developing a smart FUI will expand the Estonian BIM-based
online solution to improve collaboration within the spatial checking service with environmental regulations
development process. By combining the newest open and testing and connects with the new services,
technologies (WFM, GIS, 3D Digital Twin & BIM standards and API’s (WP2, 4PM; WP4, 20PM;
technologies) with extensive guidance, these solutions are WP5, 7PM), allowing the replication of the
successfully implemented at large organisations. For example, Estonian service to other governments. FUI
the guidance assisted the City of Rotterdam with setting up writes a guideline for other countries on the
their 3D Digital Twin. FUI has developed an automated online successful implementation of BIM-based permit
BIM-based checking service for Estonia. checks, based on the demonstration experiences
in WP3 (5PM).
Aether Engineering (AE) is an engineering company AE is the Industry Partner in the UK demo, T5.3
specialising in custom software solutions for structural of WP5 automatic checking of the structural
engineering. AE has expertise in working with IFC-to-FEA integrity of steel modular house components. A
processes for structural analysis. AE has provided consulting front-end will be developed to AE’s open-source
services for this topic to a range of clients, for corporations Structural BIM Viewer (WP4, 4PM) and used in
such as EDF to SME practices. the structural workflow (WP5, 3PM).
Solibri (SOL) has analysed building models for over 20 years. SOL contributes to developing the standard rule
Solibri’s technology is used by architects, engineers, concepts, representation and API specifications
construction companies, and building owners to find problems (WP2, 8PM), implements a checking service with
early so that they can be fixed before construction. Solibri is an API that can be invoked by permitting service,
also used in early phases to analyse the plans and see the big accesses additional information from information
picture. services (WP4, 18,5PM) and provides the
checking results to the permitting service (WP5,
8PM).
Ontotext (ONTO) has worked on semantic technologies for 21 ONTO will work on the semantic representation
years and has a lot of industry experience. ONTO has created of regulations in WP2 (7 PM) and construction
a new Knowledge Graph (KG) solutions group focusing on data in WP5 (5 PM), KG building, storage of
industrial data (manufacturing, construction, infrastructure semantic KG data, hybrid storage, inference and
transport, logistics and product classification). semantic services (WP4, 25PM).
Cloudpermit (CP) offers advanced and agile e-permitting CP will lead T6.2 Innovation Management,
software solutions for local government building departments. Exploitation, Business Development. (2,5PM)
User-friendly solutions involve all parties in building permit CP provides a more automatic data flow, review
processes. Cloudpermit features include: submit, track, and process, and its follow up during permitting
pay for permits, schedule building inspections, conduct and process management in the Finnish demo project
complete on-site mobile building inspections, review, (WP5, 3PM). CP designs and implements the API
approve, and issue permits and automatic interactive maps between the building permitting and compliance
with GIS integration and reporting tools and easy-to-configure services (WP4, 11PM).
software.
Ministries and cities’ local authorities
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Malgrat City (AMM) has a powerful Geographic Information Associated
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local city authority
System. Related to the management of the geographic handling and granting the construction permits in
cadastral information, the municipality uses the SIGCA the Spanish demonstration. AMM will provide
software used by the National Cadastral Office linked to the access to the three real-life projects (WP5, 3PM)
Finance Ministry. and participates in defining future digital
permitting processes (WP3, 1 PM).
The Coordination Office (HAM) for Semantic Standardisation HAM will provide recommendations to
in Planning and Building for Public Service is responsible for standardisation bodies for standardisation of
the maintenance and further development of two national processes and data formats in the following
standards for planning and building: XPlanung and XBau. domains: development plans conform to
HAM is established upon an administrative agreement between geospatial encoding rules publishes by OGC such
the German federal and state governments and thus a national as INSPIRE Planned Land Use (PLU) data model
institution, located at the Agency for Geoinformation and or German standard XPlanung (WP3, 3PM). The
Surveying in Hamburg, with a local team working on the corresponding transformation rules have to be
infrastructure for XPlanung-data in Hamburg but also for the developed (WP2, 2PM) as IFC types with entities
adjacent states. The national and local teams work together representing spatial regulation in development
regarding XPlanung: the further development of the data plans on the urban planning level. Appropriate
model and facilitating XPlanung geo-data more efficiently for development should be coordinated with OGC
planning and building authorities. and building standardisation organisations (WP5,
2PM).
The Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs and MKM will be expanding the existing BIM-based
Communications (MKM) manages and develops the Building checking service by implementing and testing the
Registry, the building permitting system used by all Estonian environmental regulation checks developed by
municipalities. The permit process is digital, but mainly based ACCORD (WP5, 2PM). The Estonian system
on “digital paper”. MKM is currently redesigning Building needs to be compatible with the new services,
Registry services to take advantage of the modern micro- standards and API’s developed in the project to
service IT architecture of a new e-construction platform: pave the way for easy adoption and fast
integrating IFC models into the permitting process to provide implementation of BIM-based checks in other
easy 3D design visualization and automated compliance European countries (WP3, 2PM).
checks.
The State of Berlin has commissioned the state-owned Tegel TEGEL is an implementation partner and
Projekt GmbH (TEGEL) with the development and provides the German demo with construction
management of Berlin TXL – The Urban Tech Republic requirements, digital models, data and
(UTR) and of Schumacher Quartier: Tasks include revising the information on processes and regulations for use
master plan; brand development; planning for building cases arising from the adaptive reuse and new
construction, as well as for technical, energy, and traffic planning (WP5, 7PM). TEGEL defines future
infrastructure; sales preparation; and the communication. digital building permitting processes (WP3,
7PM)
Research organisations
VTT is an RTO focusing on Carbon neutral solutions, VTT acts as the coordinator and project manager
Sustainable products and materials, and Digital technologies. (WP7, 14PM), leader of demo WP5 (10PM),
VTT has a wide multi-technological knowledge base to participation in requirements engineering (WP1,
strengthen Finnish and European industrial competitiveness. 4,75PM), process development (WP3, 6PM), and
VTT has expertise in digital tool development, process communication and dissemination (WP6, 2PM).
modelling, and facilitation of digital transformation in the
AEC sector.
Cardiff University (CU) is a higher education institution with CU leads WP1 (7,5PM) along with various
expertise in automated compliance checking. CU is leading the technical tasks throughout the project. CU will
initiatives towards the automation of the UK building contribute its technical expertise to the
regulations, on a technical level in the development of tools specification of the rule language to be used in the
and technologies, but also in a managerial sense through its project (WP2, 5PM). CU will contribute to the
leadership of the D-COM (Digital Compliance) network. CU development of many of the system components
has expertise in the use and development of BIM technologies (WP4, 17,5PM).
and is a participant in BuildingSmart (UK and international)
activities.
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Birmingham City University (BCU) has expertise in ontology Associated
BCU with document
helps developRef.the
Ares(2022)3656727 - 13/05/2022
formal semantic
development, knowledge-based engineering, off-site framework (WP2, 14PM) – defines, classifies
manufacturing, services API design and implementation, NLP and relates the regulations and administrative
and AI for using ontology in information retrieval and processes in the building's lifecycle – and the
automatic ontology engineering from the text. platform-neutral open format for describing
machine-readable rules. BCU leads the UK demo
(WP5, 8PM).
Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft für angewandte Forschung e.V. FHG will develop APIs for the GENERIS and
(FHG) is the world’s leading applied research organization, leads solutions development and (WP4, 14PM)
playing a central role in the technological innovation process. the German demo (T5.2, 8PM). FHG contributes
FHG has expertise in BIM requirements development, BIM to requirements elicitation (WP1, 4,75PM),
modelling tools, semantic web technologies, linked data, semantisation of regulations (WP2, 3PM) and
ontology engineering and digitizing systems and services transforming permit processes (WP3, 2PM).
throughout the building lifecycle.
The Institute for Software Technology IST at the University of UNIKO will perform scientific methods to
Koblenz (UNIKO, Affiliated Entity to the Fraunhofer- capture the technical requirements for solutions
Gesellschaft) conceives and implements software development and lead the task to specify and
development concepts, methods, and tools. The research group design the cloud architecture model and the
for Software Engineering, led by Prof. Jürjens, works in the components to be developed, support the quality
field of software tool building targeted at the certification of assurance of developed solutions and technical
smart data services’ security requirements in the Industrial guidelines (WP4, 13PM). UNIKO is involved in
Data Space. T1.3, T4.1, T4.2, T4.6, and writing D4.1.
University of Jönköping (JU) has ontology engineering JU participates in ontology engineering (WP2,
expertise in the real estate management and operations 5PM) and interfaces and/or reference
domain: modelling and constructing semantic digital twin implementations development (WP4, 7PM). JU
solutions. This expertise will contribute to the real-world provides expertise in Swedish planning
applicability of the delivered systems and APIs. processes, and builds cooperation to the W3C
Linked Building Data Community Group.
University of Ramon Llull (FUNITEC) is experienced in FUNITEC will participate in ontology
ontology engineering and data integration solutions using engineering work (WP2, 10,25PM) and the
Semantic Web technologies applied to building data modelling development of data connectors for semantic
in energy efficiency and certifications. tools and their corresponding implementation
(WP4, 8). FUNITEC leads the Spanish demo
(WP5, 8PM).
Institut Mines-Télécom (IMT) is a French public institution IMT participates in ontology engineering work
dedicated to higher education, research and innovation in (WP2, 6PM) and semantic web-based software
engineering and digital technologies. IMT has expertise in development (WP4, 7PM).
knowledge representation, reasoning and Semantic Web. IMT
is a contributor to well-known ontologies such as W3C&OGC
SOSA/SSN, BOT, ETSI SAREF.
Associations and foundations representing design, engineering and other construction professionals &
standardisation
ACE is the representative organisation for the architectural ACE represents the interests of architects in the
profession, consisting of 43 Member Organisations (600.000 development processes (WP3, 1PM). ACE leads
architects), which are the regulatory and professional several dissemination and communication
representative bodies in all European Union (EU) member activities (WP6, 8PM), leading to a better
states, and accession Countries, Switzerland and Norway. understanding of technical, environmental, and
cultural values and promoting the highest
standards of education and practice in
architecture.
BuildingSMART International (BSI) is a worldwide not-for- BSI will lead WP3 (7PM) on transforming permit
profit organisation creating and adopting open, international and compliance processes, focusing on semantic
standards and solutions for infrastructure and buildings. BSI annotations and setting up reliability
provides access to bSDD. measurements. BSI ensures that solutions are
compliant with various other standards. (WP4,
4,25PM)
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The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) consists of more Associated
OGC willwith document
lead WP6 Ref. Ares(2022)3656727
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the
than 530 businesses, government agencies, research development of interoperable solutions focusing
organizations, and universities driven to make geospatial on standardized Web APIs, cross-platform and
(location) information and services FAIR - Findable, community interoperability, and cloud-to-cloud
Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable. OGC’s drives for communication and security management. OGC
publicly available geospatial standards and offers a global provides evaluation and assessment of envisioned
forum of experts and communities that use location to connect solutions and guides architecture solutions and
people with technology and improve decision-making at all system design decisions. (WP4, 8PM)
levels.
ITeC is a private non-profit foundation supporting ITeC will provide BIM standards, methodologies
construction innovation by generating and transferring and tools (BIM libraries and BIM cloud software)
knowledge to the market through services, tools, software, and to check urban compliance in the UK
training. ITeC has expertise in standards, processes and digital demonstration (T5.3, 4PM).
models, sustainable construction and databases.
Ethics self-assessment
Ethical dimension of the objectives, methodology and likely impact
4.1.1 Humans and personal data
The ACCORD project foresees the involvement of approximately 150 human volunteers for participating in a
survey conducted in work package 1 (Requirements for digitalising permitting and compliance processes) in T1.1
(Landscape Review of Built Environment Compliance and Permitting) and in interviews (WP5) and process
modelling workshops organised as part of T1.2 (Identification of Regulations and Processes) and WP3. Personal
data is related to the participants' name and email address. The survey respondents can answer anonymously.
The ACCORD project also plans to involve approximately 50 human volunteers in process modelling sessions in
work package 3 (Transforming permit and compliance processes) in T3.1 (TO-BE Digital Permitting and
Compliance Processes). The participants can, if they will, participate online and remain anonymous (without
camera). ACCORD does not foresee any negative impact of humans participating in these research activities. On
the contrary, the idea is to allow people to provide their views and requirements for further developing building
permitting processes. All subjects are adults able to give informed consents, and their participation will be on a
voluntary basis depending on their acceptance of the informed consent modules.
4.1.2 Artificial Intelligence
ACCORD will leverage emerging Artificial Intelligence techniques such as semantic deep learning Natural
Language Processing to decrease the manual efforts of rule interpretation from building codes. ACCORD will
report findings and apply various AI technologies on Building Codes to extract candidates that potentially can be
analyzed automatically. ACCORD will develop a set/suite of semantic models, Artificial Intelligence models and a
rule formalisation tool that involve the development of an ontology of laws, regulations, and administrative
processes involved in the design, construction, and operation of buildings and further defines a semantic open
format for rule representation facilitated from a rule formalization tool. ACCORD will develop a suite of AI
models and other algorithms for the extraction, generation/formulation and semantisation of rules from text.
Deep learning Natural Language Processing (NLP) will be applied to the corpora of building codes and regulations
for extracting rule entities/axioms in the UK. More algorithms will be developed to embed the NLP output,
following an expert-led semi-automatic approach to the rule defined in the ontologies and data models. Algorithms
to semantise existing digitised/automated rules will be developed as well.
The AI used is not designed to create unanticipated goals that can control the system or allow to provide reasoning
that is not aligned with expected system outputs. ACCORD maintains trust in AI, by having human ultimate
oversight over the technology and we develop always keeping a human-in-the-loop. Human operators will be able
to monitor the behaviour of the AI application and can identify inconsistencies and take corrective action. The AI
techniques are used to support human decision making. The work anticipated is not biased against any particular
groups within the society and is aligned with public morals and ethics. It does not screen people for any reason
where they can be discriminated or stigmatised and only focus on digitalising permitting and compliance processes
based on existing laws defined for the country of each participating partner.
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ACCORD does not raise considerable risks to the health and safety of researchers and participants and does not
involve the use of potentially harmful substances, processes, technologies, organisms or materials in a manner that
raises significant concerns about individual security or safety or the protection of public health or negatively affect
the environment.
4.1.4 Research in non-EU Countries
The survey of ACCORD (T1.1) will be carried by the UK, a non-EU country. Data is not planned to be transferred
between the UK and other EU countries. Thus, the foreseen activities to be implemented in non-EU countries do
not raise any particular Ethics concern per se: no controversial research methods or technologies are involved, no
risks of discrimination or stigmatisation for people involved in such activities.
Compliance with ethical principles and relevant legislations
4.2.1 Humans and personal data
ACCORD will follow the ethics appraisal procedure in Horizon Europe. The aim is to ensure that the provisions on
ethics regulation and rules are respected. T7.3 Ethics Management is dedicated to ethics issues. As the task leader,
VTT will act as an ethics mentor monitoring the ethics issues involved in the project and how they are handled. The
ethics plan (part of D7.2) details the forthcoming actions and responsibilities to ensure that ethics requirements are
satisfied. The ethics plan will include a schedule to obtain and deliver all documents related to ethics requirements
identified in Part A.
Informed consent will be prepared in languages understandable by the volunteers (participating in the survey,
interviews and process modelling sessions). It will include information about the ACCORD activities, the
objectives and the anticipated outcome. Information on data processing methods, data privacy protection, handling
of personal data and other rights of the participant will also be informed. The participants will be informed of their
right to participate, decline, or withdraw from the project. Regarding the data processing, all personal details and
identification obtained from the ACCORD activities are handled according to the legislative requirements and EU
GDPR principles and will be kept confidential in any public documents that may be produced using the data.
The access to the personal data of the volunteers is limited to the dedicated partners’ employees who need to know
for research purposes. If there is a processor processing personal data on behalf of any controller, said controller is
responsible for entering into a data processing agreement with said processor and providing legally required
information to the data subjects. All partners that are involved in processing volunteers’ data are accountable for
compliance with the applicable legislative requirements. The data management plan D7.2 of ACCORD includes
personal data protection protocols.
4.2.2 Artificial Intelligence
ACCORD will perform AI Ethics self-assessment following the “Assessment List for Trustworthy Artificial
Intelligence (ALTAI)” suggested from EU and follow closely updates on the approval of the Artificial Intelligence
Act currently pending adoption by the EU legislator. ACCORD will also follow the EC High-Level Group on AI’s
“Ethics guidelines for trustworthy AI” to guide the design of the rule formalisation tool, developed in ACCORD,
deploying Artificial Intelligence (natural language processing) towards ethically sustainable solutions. Special
attention will be paid to the guidelines recommendations for human agency and oversight. Ethics is a central
viewpoint in evaluation activities. This supports identifying unforeseen ethical concerns and reacting to them to
prevent potential harm.
4.2.3 Safety and Security
All researchers will follow appropriate occupational health and safety in ACCORD. VTT (Coordinator) complies
with National and European legislation on Protection of Environment and Occupational Safety. The partners have
their own Occupational Health and safety procedures that comply with their national legislation.
4.2.4 Research in non-EU Countries
The survey carried out by the UK will increase the relevance and impact of ACCORD and its results while they are
not meant to take advantage of different legislation, standards or local resources. The UK partners will ensure
standards for research participants and local staff similar to those of the EU counterparts.
101056973 — ACCORD — Part B — Page 43 of 43
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HE Ref.
Associated with document MGAAres(2022)3656727
— Multi & Mono:-v1.0
13/05/2022
ANNEX 2
ESTIMATED BUDGET FOR THE ACTION
Estimated eligible1 costs (per budget category) Estimated EU contribution2
Direct costs Indirect costs EU contribution to eligible costs
Maximum
B. Subcontracting D. Other cost Total costs Maximum EU Requested EU
A. Personnel costs C. Purchase costs E. Indirect costs 3 4
Funding rate % grant amount6
costs categories contribution5 contribution
A.1 Employees (or equivalent) A.4 SME owners B. Subcontracting C.1 Travel and C.2 Equipment C.3 Other goods, D.2 Internally E. Indirect costs
and natural person subsistence works and services invoiced goods and
A.2 Natural persons under direct contract beneficiaries services
A.3 Seconded persons
Unit costs (usual Unit costs (usual
Forms of funding Actual costs accounting Unit costs7 Actual costs Actual costs Actual costs Actual costs accounting Flat-rate costs8
practices) practices)
e = 0,25 * (a1 + a2
a1 a2 a3 b c1 c2 c3 d2 f=a+b+c+d+e U g = f * U% h m
+ a3 + c1 + c2 + c3)
1 - VTT 0.00 341 000.00 0.00 70 000.00 76 500.00 0.00 32 000.00 0.00 112 375.00 631 875.00 100 631 875.00 631 875.00 631 875.00
2 - FHG 0.00 318 175.00 0.00 0.00 18 000.00 6 500.00 22 800.00 0.00 91 368.75 456 843.75 100 456 843.75 456 843.07 456 843.07
2.1 - UNIKO 133 500.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 10 000.00 0.00 5 000.00 0.00 37 125.00 185 625.00 100 185 625.00 185 625.00 185 625.00
3 - OGC 263 329.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 18 000.00 0.00 3 500.00 0.00 71 207.25 356 036.25 100 356 036.25 356 036.00 356 036.00
4 - ACE 72 000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 18 000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 22 500.00 112 500.00 100 112 500.00 112 500.00 112 500.00
5 - MKM 24 000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 15 000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 9 750.00 48 750.00 100 48 750.00 48 750.00 48 750.00
6 - HAM 83 660.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 15 000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 24 665.00 123 325.00 100 123 325.00 123 325.00 123 325.00
7 - AMM 21 304.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 18 000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 9 826.00 49 130.00 100 49 130.00 49 130.00 49 130.00
8 - ONTO 177 750.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 15 000.00 28 000.00 8 000.00 0.00 57 187.50 285 937.50 70 200 156.25 200 156.00 200 156.00
9 - SOL 351 000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 18 000.00 0.00 10 000.00 0.00 94 750.00 473 750.00 70 331 625.00 331 625.00 331 625.00
10 - FUI 300 000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 15 000.00 0.00 140 000.00 0.00 113 750.00 568 750.00 70 398 125.00 398 125.00 398 125.00
11 - AE 0.00 0.00 43 307.34 0.00 15 000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 14 576.84 72 884.18 70 51 018.93 51 018.93 51 018.93
12 - IMT 93 056.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 18 000.00 2 000.00 0.00 0.00 28 264.00 141 320.00 100 141 320.00 141 320.00 141 320.00
13 - ITeC 25 000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 15 000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 10 000.00 50 000.00 100 50 000.00 50 000.00 50 000.00
14 - FUNITEC 100 000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 15 000.00 0.00 6 000.00 0.00 30 250.00 151 250.00 100 151 250.00 151 250.00 151 250.00
15 - JU 119 400.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 18 000.00 0.00 16 000.00 0.00 38 350.00 191 750.00 100 191 750.00 191 750.00 191 750.00
16 - CP 176 375.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 18 000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 48 593.75 242 968.75 70 170 078.13 170 078.00 170 078.00
17 - TEGEL 128 000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 10 000.00 2 500.00 500.00 0.00 35 250.00 176 250.00 100 176 250.00 176 250.00 176 250.00
18 - CU
19 - BCU
20 - BSI
Σ consortium 2 068 374.00 659 175.00 43 307.34 70 000.00 345 500.00 39 000.00 243 800.00 0.00 849 789.09 4 318 945.43 3 825 658.31 3 825 657.00 3 825 657.00
1 See Article 6 for the eligibility conditions. All amounts must be expressed in EUR (see Article 21 for the conversion rules).
2 The consortium remains free to decide on a different internal distribution of the EU funding (via the consortium agreement; see Article 7).
3 Indirect costs already covered by an operating grant (received under any EU funding programme) are ineligible (see Article 6.3). Therefore, a beneficiary/affiliated entity that receives an operating grant during the action duration cannot declare indirect costs for the year(s)/reporting period(s) covered by the operating grant, unless they can
demonstrate that the operating grant does not cover any costs of the action. This requires specific accounting tools. Please immediately contact us via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal for details.
4 See Data Sheet for the funding rate(s).
5 This is the theoretical amount of the EU contribution to costs, if the reimbursement rate is applied to all the budgeted costs. This theoretical amount is then capped by the 'maximum grant amount'.
6 The 'maximum grant amount' is the maximum grant amount decided by the EU. It normally corresponds to the requested grant, but may be lower.
7 See Annex 2a 'Additional information on the estimated budget' for the details (units, cost per unit).
8 See Data Sheet for the flat-rate.
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ANNEX 2a
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON UNIT COSTS AND CONTRIBUTIONS
SME owners/natural person beneficiaries without salary (Decision C(2020) 71151)
Type: unit costs
Units: days spent working on the action (rounded up or down to the nearest half-day)
Amount per unit (daily rate): calculated according to the following formula:
{EUR 5 080 / 18 days = 282,22}
multiplied by
{country-specific correction coefficient of the country where the beneficiary is established}
The country-specific correction coefficients used are those set out in the Horizon Europe Work Programme
(section Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions) in force at the time of the call (see Portal Reference Documents).
HE and Euratom Research Infrastructure actions2
Type: unit costs
Units3: see (for each access provider and installation) the unit cost table in Annex 2b
Amount per unit*: see (for each access provider and installation) the unit cost table in Annex 2b
* Amount calculated as follows:
For trans-national access:
average annual total trans-national access costs to the installation (over past two years4)
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
average annual total quantity of trans-national access to the installation (over past two years5)
For virtual access:
total virtual access costs to the installation (over the last year 6)
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
total quantity of virtual access to the installation (over the last year7)
Euratom staff mobility costs8
Monthly living allowance
Type: unit costs
1
Commission Decision of 20 October 2020 authorising the use of unit costs for the personnel costs of the owners of small and medium-
sized enterprises and beneficiaries that are natural persons not receiving a salary for the work carried out by themselves under an
action or work programme (C(2020)7715).
2
Decision of 19 April 2021 authorising the use of unit costs for the costs of providing trans-national and virtual access in Research
Infrastructure actions under the Horizon Europe Programme (2021-2027) and the Research and Training Programme of the European
Atomic Energy Community (2021-2025).
3
Unit of access (e.g. beam hours, weeks of access, sample analysis) fixed by the access provider in proposal.
4
In exceptional and duly justified cases, the granting authority may agree to a different reference period.
5
In exceptional and duly justified cases, the granting authority may agree to a different reference period.
6
In exceptional and duly justified cases, the granting authority may agree to a different reference period.
7
In exceptional and duly justified cases, the granting authority may agree to a different reference period.
8
Decision of 15 March 2021 authorising the use of unit costs for mobility in co-fund actions under the Research and Training
Programme of the European Atomic Energy Community (2021-2025).
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Units: months spent by the seconded staff member(s) on research and training in fission and fusion activities
(person-month)
Amount per unit*: see (for each beneficiary/affiliated entity and secondment) the unit cost table in Annex 2b
* Amount calculated as follows from 1 January 2021:
{EUR 4 300 multiplied by
country-specific correction coefficient** of the country where the staff member is seconded}9
**Country-specific correction coefficients as from 1 January 202110
EU-Member States11
Country / Place Coefficient (%)
Bulgaria 59,1
Czech Rep. 85,2
Denmark 131,3
Germany 101,9
Bonn 95,8
Karlsruhe 98
Munich 113,9
Estonia 82,3
Ireland 129
Greece 81,4
Spain 94,2
France 120,5
Croatia 75,8
Italy 95
Varese 90,7
Cyprus 78,2
Latvia 77,5
Lithuania 76,6
Hungary 71,9
Malta 94,7
Netherlands 113,9
Austria 107,9
Poland 70,9
Portugal 91,1
Romania 66,6
Slovenia 86,1
9
Unit costs for living allowances are calculated by using a method of calculation similar to that applied for the secondment to the
European Commission of seconded national experts (SNEs).
10
For the financial statements, the amount must be adjusted according to the actual place of secondment.
The revised coefficients were adopted in the Decision authorising the use of unit costs for the Fusion Programme co-fund action under
the Research and training Programme of the European Atomic Energy Community 2021-2025. They are based on the 2020 Annual
update of the remuneration and pensions of the officials and other servants of the European Union and the correction coefficients
applied thereto (OJ C 428, 11.12.2020) to ensure purchasing power parity. The revised coefficient are applied as from 1 January 2021
through an amendment to the grant agreement.
11
No correction coefficient shall be applicable in Belgium and Luxembourg.
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Slovakia 80,6
Finland 118,4
Sweden 124,3
Third countries
Country/place Coefficient (%)
China 82,2
India 72,3
Japan 111,8
Russia 92,7
South Korea 92,3
Switzerland 129.2
Ukraine 82.3
United Kingdom 97.6
United States 101,4 (New-York)
90,5 (Washington)
Mobility allowance
Type: Unit costs
Units: months spent by the seconded staff member(s) on research and training in fission and fusion activities
(person-month)
Amount per unit: EUR 600 per person-month; see (for each beneficiary/affiliated entity and secondment) the unit
cost table in Annex 2b
Family allowance
Type: unit costs
Units: months spent by the seconded staff member(s) on research and training in fission and fusion activities
(person-month)
Amount per unit: EUR 660 per person-month; see (for each beneficiary/affiliated entity and secondment) the
unit cost table in Annex 2b
Education allowance
Type: Unit costs
Units: months spent by the seconded staff member(s) on research and training in fission and fusion activities
(person-month)
Amount per unit*: see (for each beneficiary/affiliated entity and secondment) the unit cost table in Annex 2b
*Amount calculated as follows from 1 January 2021:
{EUR 283.82 x number of dependent children12}
12
For the estimated budget (Annex 2): an average should be used. ( For the financial statements, the number of children (and months)
must be adjusted according to the actual family status at the moment the secondment starts.)
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ANNEX 3
ACCESSION FORM FOR BENEFICIARIES
FRAUNHOFER GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FORDERUNG DER ANGEWANDTEN
FORSCHUNG EV (FHG), PIC 999984059, established in HANSASTRASSE 27C, MUNCHEN
80686, Germany,
hereby agrees
to become beneficiary
in Agreement No 101056973 — ACCORD (‘the Agreement’)
between TEKNOLOGIAN TUTKIMUSKESKUS VTT OY (VTT) and the European Health and
Digital Executive Agency (HADEA) (‘EU executive agency’ or ‘granting authority’), under the
powers delegated by the European Commission (‘European Commission’),
and mandates
the coordinator to submit and sign in its name and on its behalf any amendments to the Agreement,
in accordance with Article 39.
By signing this accession form, the beneficiary accepts the grant and agrees to implement it in
accordance with the Agreement, with all the obligations and terms and conditions it sets out.
SIGNATURE
For the beneficiary
[--TGSMark#signature-999984059_75_210--]
Christoph SCHULTE with ECAS id nschulch signed in the Participant
Portal on 22/06/2022 at 10:57:59 (transaction id SigId-203226-AXkK
hBexXMbDzRTucH0JbzSdEzNEEJwf8cDtOWzQzsse1j2cYOtv1VFNHb
x61exbzik9Ejf9P9uznaboR3cfTEh8-yntOf97TTHq9QCab4GzIaj-BvX9
IG8sQOKvFoEZkxfa4zHzrVhqPGo6LKfqtqFoU8IlaDnoaA5ujE2EpNN
f9LAblPrdFR6y2YzeN2UqY6tcLxG). Timestamp by third party at
2022.06.22 11:58:07 CEST
1
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Associated with document Ref. Ares(2022)3656727 - 13/05/2022
ANNEX 3
ACCESSION FORM FOR BENEFICIARIES
OPEN GEOSPATIAL CONSORTIUM EUROPE (OGC), PIC 899555206, established in
TECHNOLOGIELAAN 3, LEUVEN 3001, Belgium,
hereby agrees
to become beneficiary
in Agreement No 101056973 — ACCORD (‘the Agreement’)
between TEKNOLOGIAN TUTKIMUSKESKUS VTT OY (VTT) and the European Health and
Digital Executive Agency (HADEA) (‘EU executive agency’ or ‘granting authority’), under the
powers delegated by the European Commission (‘European Commission’),
and mandates
the coordinator to submit and sign in its name and on its behalf any amendments to the Agreement,
in accordance with Article 39.
By signing this accession form, the beneficiary accepts the grant and agrees to implement it in
accordance with the Agreement, with all the obligations and terms and conditions it sets out.
SIGNATURE
For the beneficiary
[--TGSMark#signature-899555206_75_210--]
Francis Balser with ECAS id n0078j1g signed in the Participant Portal
on 16/05/2022 at 20:25:33 (transaction id SigId-77079-nZrT8UuLgDyf
6ef0agxR0tZ1kVu514PVRDBaRF3tnpiOsO051D7OSMaWzqX4KFMoKx
Y84Y86xpuoDbLdV11R6e-yntOf97TTHqKVldA5iP0lm-efRYQxeSBpVe4
nB8vTk0D2EmnzwHizWXDpre2O0aqb8mqOahq1YnAUkNWXUqCjIrR
1Eutf5fpGztDy5FWdSdHgW). Timestamp by third party at
2022.05.16 21:25:38 CEST
2
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ANNEX 3
ACCESSION FORM FOR BENEFICIARIES
CONSEIL DES ARCHITECTES D'EUROPE (ACE), PIC 924742517, established in RUE PAUL
EMILE JANSON 29, BRUXELLES 1050, Belgium,
hereby agrees
to become beneficiary
in Agreement No 101056973 — ACCORD (‘the Agreement’)
between TEKNOLOGIAN TUTKIMUSKESKUS VTT OY (VTT) and the European Health and
Digital Executive Agency (HADEA) (‘EU executive agency’ or ‘granting authority’), under the
powers delegated by the European Commission (‘European Commission’),
and mandates
the coordinator to submit and sign in its name and on its behalf any amendments to the Agreement,
in accordance with Article 39.
By signing this accession form, the beneficiary accepts the grant and agrees to implement it in
accordance with the Agreement, with all the obligations and terms and conditions it sets out.
SIGNATURE
For the beneficiary
[--TGSMark#signature-924742517_75_210--]
Ian PRITCHARD with ECAS id npritcin signed in the Participant
Portal on 16/05/2022 at 07:48:08 (transaction id SigId-65131-V8D7
QgsBFF2BkfSbKDxKoETlBq5uRdEtIhwGCnqTiDE1923kCqwzMXGM
czLFVgfo57RzGJiI9vt85DJnKQiPlGW-yntOf97TTHqKVldA5iP0lm-18t
yQ0Y02S0bCxtZkHivOzzHgsXx0IyPTvJaJE9kPJcPC6YN0zXuCEXVRzg
8KEzfm0etyTsUYKZRgxLIzhx8MWlm). Timestamp by third party at
2022.05.16 08:48:28 CEST
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ANNEX 3
ACCESSION FORM FOR BENEFICIARIES
MAJANDUS JA KOMMUNIKATSIOONIMINISTEERIUM (MKM), PIC 963638450,
established in SUUR-AMEERIKA 1, TALLINN 10122, Estonia,
hereby agrees
to become beneficiary
in Agreement No 101056973 — ACCORD (‘the Agreement’)
between TEKNOLOGIAN TUTKIMUSKESKUS VTT OY (VTT) and the European Health and
Digital Executive Agency (HADEA) (‘EU executive agency’ or ‘granting authority’), under the
powers delegated by the European Commission (‘European Commission’),
and mandates
the coordinator to submit and sign in its name and on its behalf any amendments to the Agreement,
in accordance with Article 39.
By signing this accession form, the beneficiary accepts the grant and agrees to implement it in
accordance with the Agreement, with all the obligations and terms and conditions it sets out.
SIGNATURE
For the beneficiary
[--TGSMark#signature-963638450_75_210--]
Jaan Saar with ECAS id n002b8cf signed in the Participant Portal
on 20/05/2022 at 14:57:46 (transaction id SigId-26138-dZwYkilIuvr
pQKLr1MrkpSDMKOtzNslycZgm8SYL5e2DnYjAKyIlN8yXdG5xqzHR
mSIrnemZtzktiqY7uYfKHGm-rS0vSrmBGYCauwjXQJdVBy-b92LGdT
BoEGel9Z4hcKjtChqyGLaNmeeSoqjItPWmyscaznDgocKK1caYLHX
YI2vylCzcLRBGu5UnzrN4EREnFW). Timestamp by third party at
2022.05.20 15:57:53 CEST
4
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ANNEX 3
ACCESSION FORM FOR BENEFICIARIES
FREIE UND HANSESTADT HAMBURG (HAM), PIC 998928602, established in
RATHAUSMARKT 1, HAMBURG 20095, Germany,
hereby agrees
to become beneficiary
in Agreement No 101056973 — ACCORD (‘the Agreement’)
between TEKNOLOGIAN TUTKIMUSKESKUS VTT OY (VTT) and the European Health and
Digital Executive Agency (HADEA) (‘EU executive agency’ or ‘granting authority’), under the
powers delegated by the European Commission (‘European Commission’),
and mandates
the coordinator to submit and sign in its name and on its behalf any amendments to the Agreement,
in accordance with Article 39.
By signing this accession form, the beneficiary accepts the grant and agrees to implement it in
accordance with the Agreement, with all the obligations and terms and conditions it sets out.
SIGNATURE
For the beneficiary
[--TGSMark#signature-998928602_75_210--]
Thomas EICHHORN with ECAS id neichhth signed in the Participant
Portal on 20/05/2022 at 16:42:48 (transaction id SigId-28004-9Yp48U
7E15Rbm7C1Jxj694W0HDEqoovmzhdKD67hdSq4zUj5ZihzgzlRWjJMk
GLGznggHrw2RQKN5AD3YEhEpfn-rS0vSrmBGYCauwjXQJdVBy-jQep0
PXibmLOzUMjbTXY10zKSzfeMlPUxzGzkjxinLOhF0tQErwwB0nkkdD4z
kaO02nM3oE90swfVtllANpE2CYW). Timestamp by third party at
2022.05.20 17:42:54 CEST
5
DocuSign Envelope ID: C4030644-1050-4067-83F0-230B6BADED7E
Grant Agreement number: 101056973 — ACCORD — HORIZON-CL4-2021-TWIN-TRANSITION-01
Associated with document Ref. Ares(2022)3656727 - 13/05/2022
ANNEX 3
ACCESSION FORM FOR BENEFICIARIES
AYUNTAMIENTO DE MALGRAT DE MAR (AMM), PIC 890717827, established in CARRER
DEL CARME 30, MALGRAT DE MAR 08380, Spain,
hereby agrees
to become beneficiary
in Agreement No 101056973 — ACCORD (‘the Agreement’)
between TEKNOLOGIAN TUTKIMUSKESKUS VTT OY (VTT) and the European Health and
Digital Executive Agency (HADEA) (‘EU executive agency’ or ‘granting authority’), under the
powers delegated by the European Commission (‘European Commission’),
and mandates
the coordinator to submit and sign in its name and on its behalf any amendments to the Agreement,
in accordance with Article 39.
By signing this accession form, the beneficiary accepts the grant and agrees to implement it in
accordance with the Agreement, with all the obligations and terms and conditions it sets out.
SIGNATURE
For the beneficiary
[--TGSMark#signature-890717827_75_210--]
Víctor Martínez with ECAS id n006ydyf signed in the Participant
Portal on 18/05/2022 at 16:19:10 (transaction id SigId-106364-3UM
MXcd17kdeuZpuRSHxJw4hV7fs81SJzfnjbYeSQDWsJCfdcUvvANXwCt
JOgTo5zjyCmekHDWKHuOk4RBipzG0-yntOf97TTHqKVldA5iP0lm-kE
eB3kNuQJMLMMjShZnxPx78J0tS9R2t0kV7eVNA16Os8155lzuJQk7lu
Ve00U4uFxBIFN8J8loMHQUOMiUV3i). Timestamp by third party at
2022.05.18 17:19:18 CEST
6
DocuSign Envelope ID: C4030644-1050-4067-83F0-230B6BADED7E
Grant Agreement number: 101056973 — ACCORD — HORIZON-CL4-2021-TWIN-TRANSITION-01
Associated with document Ref. Ares(2022)3656727 - 13/05/2022
ANNEX 3
ACCESSION FORM FOR BENEFICIARIES
SIRMA AI EAD (ONTO), PIC 900925331, established in 135 TSARIGRADSKO SHOSE BLVD,
SOFIA 1784, Bulgaria,
hereby agrees
to become beneficiary
in Agreement No 101056973 — ACCORD (‘the Agreement’)
between TEKNOLOGIAN TUTKIMUSKESKUS VTT OY (VTT) and the European Health and
Digital Executive Agency (HADEA) (‘EU executive agency’ or ‘granting authority’), under the
powers delegated by the European Commission (‘European Commission’),
and mandates
the coordinator to submit and sign in its name and on its behalf any amendments to the Agreement,
in accordance with Article 39.
By signing this accession form, the beneficiary accepts the grant and agrees to implement it in
accordance with the Agreement, with all the obligations and terms and conditions it sets out.
SIGNATURE
For the beneficiary
[--TGSMark#signature-900925331_75_210--]
Atanas KIRYAKOV with ECAS id nkiryaas signed in the Participant
Portal on 18/05/2022 at 08:59:08 (transaction id SigId-97172-qV8fI
1co09T0UOrZvfU5HVstPwVoRjtzSfGrDSYEE3IbB1MlSTJeFaWAw26
AIyipR7zeClXMkkVjljzGrfbLQcm-yntOf97TTHqKVldA5iP0lm-IimOvg
6K5XkdbfNmGKDbGXFKSflGmCa6v4gU4yBJExw0nj0ziZOvTHgPNH
RxzGIwrjXysmp1uYgzUa7kRzeDI9C). Timestamp by third party at
2022.05.18 09:59:16 CEST
7
DocuSign Envelope ID: C4030644-1050-4067-83F0-230B6BADED7E
Grant Agreement number: 101056973 — ACCORD — HORIZON-CL4-2021-TWIN-TRANSITION-01
Associated with document Ref. Ares(2022)3656727 - 13/05/2022
ANNEX 3
ACCESSION FORM FOR BENEFICIARIES
SOLIBRI OY (SOL), PIC 888132001, established in TAMMASAARENKATU 5, HELSINKI
00180, Finland,
hereby agrees
to become beneficiary
in Agreement No 101056973 — ACCORD (‘the Agreement’)
between TEKNOLOGIAN TUTKIMUSKESKUS VTT OY (VTT) and the European Health and
Digital Executive Agency (HADEA) (‘EU executive agency’ or ‘granting authority’), under the
powers delegated by the European Commission (‘European Commission’),
and mandates
the coordinator to submit and sign in its name and on its behalf any amendments to the Agreement,
in accordance with Article 39.
By signing this accession form, the beneficiary accepts the grant and agrees to implement it in
accordance with the Agreement, with all the obligations and terms and conditions it sets out.
SIGNATURE
For the beneficiary
[--TGSMark#signature-888132001_75_210--]
Heini Kautonen with ECAS id n008l7e3 signed in the Participant
Portal on 15/05/2022 at 15:21:40 (transaction id SigId-63037-gGHxh
WeAtIRDHuapakleY2qIDsa5ReVAqL6h8XJ2zMwOi8b64515VKAHoqB
GHLe0vL93yMfg1KMKKW2xr8VmoC-yntOf97TTHqKVldA5iP0lm-Nk0
agKuuh2K9ld95S4RDB6ZLhiO12rbX5d638BytCnaBUC6wJEUwULess
GzJ1Wg3eiZRQUzldK6TlEdn2O4BwB). Timestamp by third party at
2022.05.15 16:21:46 CEST
8
DocuSign Envelope ID: C4030644-1050-4067-83F0-230B6BADED7E
Grant Agreement number: 101056973 — ACCORD — HORIZON-CL4-2021-TWIN-TRANSITION-01
Associated with document Ref. Ares(2022)3656727 - 13/05/2022
ANNEX 3
ACCESSION FORM FOR BENEFICIARIES
FUTURE INSIGHT GROUP BV (FUI), PIC 928328025, established in ZWARTEWATERALLEE
44, ZWOLLE 8031 DX, Netherlands,
hereby agrees
to become beneficiary
in Agreement No 101056973 — ACCORD (‘the Agreement’)
between TEKNOLOGIAN TUTKIMUSKESKUS VTT OY (VTT) and the European Health and
Digital Executive Agency (HADEA) (‘EU executive agency’ or ‘granting authority’), under the
powers delegated by the European Commission (‘European Commission’),
and mandates
the coordinator to submit and sign in its name and on its behalf any amendments to the Agreement,
in accordance with Article 39.
By signing this accession form, the beneficiary accepts the grant and agrees to implement it in
accordance with the Agreement, with all the obligations and terms and conditions it sets out.
SIGNATURE
For the beneficiary
[--TGSMark#signature-928328025_75_210--]
Rick KLOOSTER with ECAS id nklorick signed in the Participant
Portal on 25/05/2022 at 09:14:00 (transaction id SigId-25310-1pS32
DIdghtwXCYjoGO3tYlhj3NzJWtfk3lSMCzOgECIYX5WgFSjqQJqpzwLz
PRMdRzvSIsl0dk2Re7zngzMq3ze-rS0vSrmBGYCaOdCqTjRT1e-XmJu
yvdldjKjMiHsTyaiCDAdaRJerW9qnYlBndbLY3gGkBVHIBVkm8iMr3M
3kSMHzzecDzrrRPse0nZKzTkFOgu). Timestamp by third party at
2022.05.25 10:14:09 CEST
9
DocuSign Envelope ID: C4030644-1050-4067-83F0-230B6BADED7E
Grant Agreement number: 101056973 — ACCORD — HORIZON-CL4-2021-TWIN-TRANSITION-01
Associated with document Ref. Ares(2022)3656727 - 13/05/2022
ANNEX 3
ACCESSION FORM FOR BENEFICIARIES
AETHER ENGINEERING S.A.S. TRA PROFESSIONISTI DI CHRISTOVASILIS IOANNIS
(AE), PIC 923674935, established in VIA MASACCIO 252, FIRENZE 50136, Italy,
hereby agrees
to become beneficiary
in Agreement No 101056973 — ACCORD (‘the Agreement’)
between TEKNOLOGIAN TUTKIMUSKESKUS VTT OY (VTT) and the European Health and
Digital Executive Agency (HADEA) (‘EU executive agency’ or ‘granting authority’), under the
powers delegated by the European Commission (‘European Commission’),
and mandates
the coordinator to submit and sign in its name and on its behalf any amendments to the Agreement,
in accordance with Article 39.
By signing this accession form, the beneficiary accepts the grant and agrees to implement it in
accordance with the Agreement, with all the obligations and terms and conditions it sets out.
SIGNATURE
For the beneficiary
[--TGSMark#signature-923674935_75_210--]
Ioannis CHRISTOVASILIS with ECAS id ncistoio signed in the
Participant Portal on 19/05/2022 at 10:34:07 (transaction id SigId-
5914-FxxVRWeIItpuCeCqJGgIbH3gIq1Qt9edzKSzOGtBSImQAdGckkFp
tedbKeaU3sjA5cS3vGC0JWkwhze8oBu6ZVG-
rS0vSrmBGYCauwjXQJdVBy-PA4wTpcPF99l0pSD3LcQIpYAcskJzfo1zPG
f6JzqqV14ykOEb9a4CncSc9K8O2HKMoCiV3gt65TMERI1SJcAqbm).
Timestamp by third party at
2022.05.19 11:34:14 CEST
10
DocuSign Envelope ID: C4030644-1050-4067-83F0-230B6BADED7E
Grant Agreement number: 101056973 — ACCORD — HORIZON-CL4-2021-TWIN-TRANSITION-01
Associated with document Ref. Ares(2022)3656727 - 13/05/2022
ANNEX 3
ACCESSION FORM FOR BENEFICIARIES
INSTITUT MINES-TELECOM (IMT), PIC 999849326, established in 19 PLACE MARGUERITE
PEREY, PALAISEAU 91120, France,
hereby agrees
to become beneficiary
in Agreement No 101056973 — ACCORD (‘the Agreement’)
between TEKNOLOGIAN TUTKIMUSKESKUS VTT OY (VTT) and the European Health and
Digital Executive Agency (HADEA) (‘EU executive agency’ or ‘granting authority’), under the
powers delegated by the European Commission (‘European Commission’),
and mandates
the coordinator to submit and sign in its name and on its behalf any amendments to the Agreement,
in accordance with Article 39.
By signing this accession form, the beneficiary accepts the grant and agrees to implement it in
accordance with the Agreement, with all the obligations and terms and conditions it sets out.
SIGNATURE
For the beneficiary
[--TGSMark#signature-999849326_75_210--]
David DELAFOSSE with ECAS id ndelafod signed in the Participant
Portal on 31/05/2022 at 16:39:37 (transaction id SigId-14519-duOr6
AeqsnV0zbQXhzcn18zKSa1BqF8cHb7PTu9BhNBQABeYG6VpPugAe
NbwM8NGjaClWytt7Hek9D3qCci2X00-yntOf97TTHq9QCab4GzIaj-Mi
9D6zMJPx22EeGFvuPQzylfQMUG1CZlLxGXxrNOBwpyhSjI23TIuG9W
zwWdiLnIyAojqiBtzzmkZjHMTN9jGtG). Timestamp by third party at
2022.05.31 17:39:44 CEST
11
DocuSign Envelope ID: C4030644-1050-4067-83F0-230B6BADED7E
Grant Agreement number: 101056973 — ACCORD — HORIZON-CL4-2021-TWIN-TRANSITION-01
Associated with document Ref. Ares(2022)3656727 - 13/05/2022
ANNEX 3
ACCESSION FORM FOR BENEFICIARIES
INSTITUT DE TECNOLOGIA DE LA CONSTRUCCION DE CATALUNYA (ITeC), PIC
945306517, established in Calle Wellington 19, Barcelona 08018, Spain,
hereby agrees
to become beneficiary
in Agreement No 101056973 — ACCORD (‘the Agreement’)
between TEKNOLOGIAN TUTKIMUSKESKUS VTT OY (VTT) and the European Health and
Digital Executive Agency (HADEA) (‘EU executive agency’ or ‘granting authority’), under the
powers delegated by the European Commission (‘European Commission’),
and mandates
the coordinator to submit and sign in its name and on its behalf any amendments to the Agreement,
in accordance with Article 39.
By signing this accession form, the beneficiary accepts the grant and agrees to implement it in
accordance with the Agreement, with all the obligations and terms and conditions it sets out.
SIGNATURE
For the beneficiary
[--TGSMark#signature-945306517_75_210--]
Francisco DIEGUEZ with ECAS id ndiegfra signed in the Participant
Portal on 17/05/2022 at 07:53:25 (transaction id SigId-80009-0sRzb
OGo7buYzWC7yFzMIXxGxzWP3eHBfkzHbtscb85qtqwxZRa704SgEg
cGVXu8p3FgcW7c4HE6y65shYhr95c-yntOf97TTHqKVldA5iP0lm-Wi2
fhWbtIVAkFRkWWNyQBawSr5mlifzt2P6iTjEUAyC5aW4rAczwJE7LqY
177TzWTQZjlY2eZCzKxPfzzP1qVTPG). Timestamp by third party at
2022.05.17 08:53:32 CEST
12
DocuSign Envelope ID: C4030644-1050-4067-83F0-230B6BADED7E
Grant Agreement number: 101056973 — ACCORD — HORIZON-CL4-2021-TWIN-TRANSITION-01
Associated with document Ref. Ares(2022)3656727 - 13/05/2022
ANNEX 3
ACCESSION FORM FOR BENEFICIARIES
FUNDACIO PRIVADA UNIVERSITAT I TECNOLOGIA (FUNITEC), PIC 997191235,
established in CALLE SANT JOAN DE LA SALLE 42, BARCELONA 08022, Spain,
hereby agrees
to become beneficiary
in Agreement No 101056973 — ACCORD (‘the Agreement’)
between TEKNOLOGIAN TUTKIMUSKESKUS VTT OY (VTT) and the European Health and
Digital Executive Agency (HADEA) (‘EU executive agency’ or ‘granting authority’), under the
powers delegated by the European Commission (‘European Commission’),
and mandates
the coordinator to submit and sign in its name and on its behalf any amendments to the Agreement,
in accordance with Article 39.
By signing this accession form, the beneficiary accepts the grant and agrees to implement it in
accordance with the Agreement, with all the obligations and terms and conditions it sets out.
SIGNATURE
For the beneficiary
[--TGSMark#signature-997191235_75_210--]
Jose Martin SANTOS FERNANDEZ with ECAS id nsjemart signed in the
Participant Portal on 14/05/2022 at 08:22:32 (transaction id SigId-
62349-7WZ39n6rMwzfw7w7MmqOSiTkQpVBvQka1sabVTxLWKu7o4b
vPvsSGAvudx7fQdOOOJLsWfXBq2tgznkaZLofU3-
yntOf97TTHqKVldA5iP0lm-Or9QRmG13D8BJrdhLwhRZjRN0V4LorNr4
porDxpFwq5WtzIasJj17w364TWtRd89HlW3pEN6qcfna996QuPHMG).
Timestamp by third party at
2022.05.14 10:23:12 CEST
13
DocuSign Envelope ID: C4030644-1050-4067-83F0-230B6BADED7E
Grant Agreement number: 101056973 — ACCORD — HORIZON-CL4-2021-TWIN-TRANSITION-01
Associated with document Ref. Ares(2022)3656727 - 13/05/2022
ANNEX 3
ACCESSION FORM FOR BENEFICIARIES
STIFTELSEN HOGSKOLAN I JONKOPING (JU), PIC 997539271, established in
GJUTERIGATAN 5, JONKOPING 551 11, Sweden,
hereby agrees
to become beneficiary
in Agreement No 101056973 — ACCORD (‘the Agreement’)
between TEKNOLOGIAN TUTKIMUSKESKUS VTT OY (VTT) and the European Health and
Digital Executive Agency (HADEA) (‘EU executive agency’ or ‘granting authority’), under the
powers delegated by the European Commission (‘European Commission’),
and mandates
the coordinator to submit and sign in its name and on its behalf any amendments to the Agreement,
in accordance with Article 39.
By signing this accession form, the beneficiary accepts the grant and agrees to implement it in
accordance with the Agreement, with all the obligations and terms and conditions it sets out.
SIGNATURE
For the beneficiary
[--TGSMark#signature-997539271_75_210--]
Salem SEIFEDDINE with ECAS id nseifsal signed in the Participant
Portal on 17/05/2022 at 10:50:41 (transaction id SigId-84007-GrCPs
BwWkRV63u70DU3yKBQ3cXiKmtMaQqoEV7GjxdItixl7kaLdJnSYxVf0
FTJa9NZr3ZsVcHd5JlV6aAwq1m-yntOf97TTHqKVldA5iP0lm-Bdkvvqr
ztsY1m4KdHhnCZ0u6boeWDlRBGw70IvYYBIE69bzbJw5cgMNW75P
5inzSKw9zcLyzvlEMgwB36NzUHvIW). Timestamp by third party at
2022.05.17 11:50:49 CEST
14
DocuSign Envelope ID: C4030644-1050-4067-83F0-230B6BADED7E
Grant Agreement number: 101056973 — ACCORD — HORIZON-CL4-2021-TWIN-TRANSITION-01
Associated with document Ref. Ares(2022)3656727 - 13/05/2022
ANNEX 3
ACCESSION FORM FOR BENEFICIARIES
CLOUDPERMIT OY (CP), PIC 887892120, established in HAMEENKATU 13, TAMPERE 33100,
Finland,
hereby agrees
to become beneficiary
in Agreement No 101056973 — ACCORD (‘the Agreement’)
between TEKNOLOGIAN TUTKIMUSKESKUS VTT OY (VTT) and the European Health and
Digital Executive Agency (HADEA) (‘EU executive agency’ or ‘granting authority’), under the
powers delegated by the European Commission (‘European Commission’),
and mandates
the coordinator to submit and sign in its name and on its behalf any amendments to the Agreement,
in accordance with Article 39.
By signing this accession form, the beneficiary accepts the grant and agrees to implement it in
accordance with the Agreement, with all the obligations and terms and conditions it sets out.
SIGNATURE
For the beneficiary
[--TGSMark#signature-887892120_75_210--]
Lassi Koskinen with ECAS id n008whc4 signed in the Participant
Portal on 27/05/2022 at 16:48:32 (transaction id SigId-46919-XQ66
WAxjgEoG8oOcRoKIh1AW6GZb3kqudzgHhnLfJH9AEHdmwmsTxEcN
Zn6R7ykodOtFXLHkO8XugxImVu4Yq8-rS0vSrmBGYCaOdCqTjRT1e-v
9NQBUMewAZRBTYU2tYf19AbBxmUptw4zc5obzpevvFP4fA2tITXp1F
ZdJvc7yFtnC3jPhUfpBXnfK4MXatVvw). Timestamp by third party at
2022.05.27 17:48:36 CEST
15
DocuSign Envelope ID: C4030644-1050-4067-83F0-230B6BADED7E
Grant Agreement number: 101056973 — ACCORD — HORIZON-CL4-2021-TWIN-TRANSITION-01
Associated with document Ref. Ares(2022)3656727 - 13/05/2022
ANNEX 3
ACCESSION FORM FOR BENEFICIARIES
TEGEL PROJEKT GMBH (TEGEL), PIC 934242503, established in URBAN TECH REPUBLIC
GEBAUDE V FLUGHAFEN TEGEL 1, BERLIN 13405, Germany,
hereby agrees
to become beneficiary
in Agreement No 101056973 — ACCORD (‘the Agreement’)
between TEKNOLOGIAN TUTKIMUSKESKUS VTT OY (VTT) and the European Health and
Digital Executive Agency (HADEA) (‘EU executive agency’ or ‘granting authority’), under the
powers delegated by the European Commission (‘European Commission’),
and mandates
the coordinator to submit and sign in its name and on its behalf any amendments to the Agreement,
in accordance with Article 39.
By signing this accession form, the beneficiary accepts the grant and agrees to implement it in
accordance with the Agreement, with all the obligations and terms and conditions it sets out.
SIGNATURE
For the beneficiary
[--TGSMark#signature-934242503_75_210--]
Ulrike Nier with ECAS id n007lxbt signed in the Participant Portal
on 17/05/2022 at 16:46:49 (transaction id SigId-91308-YbzvOren3
r4tw6gjrzcE50SiE5LUMiAbaaHTjr4inIAaEE6aARs4TOQet8o0Ny6i
WhX4cadbezslk1WLxCd8OZ0-yntOf97TTHqKVldA5iP0lm-RUPTSIz
vfZXCQXNBpru2UQvKt6kvHdXokvPDKnxNYalRD8RppQ2yfRLBzp2
thDzdN0x1qDWtCEjKw2JvLA53Y3W). Timestamp by third party at
2022.05.17 17:46:54 CEST
16
DocuSign Envelope ID: C4030644-1050-4067-83F0-230B6BADED7E
Associated with document Ref. Ares(2022)3656727 - 13/05/2022
ANNEX 4 HORIZON EUROPE MGA — MULTI + MONO
FINANCIAL STATEMENT FOR [PARTICIPANT NAME] FOR REPORTING PERIOD [NUMBER]
1 2
Eligible costs (per budget category) EU contribution Revenues
Direct costs Indirect costs EU contribution to eligible costs
Total requested EU Income generated by the
Total costs
Requested EU contribution action
A. Personnel costs B. Subcontracting costs C. Purchase costs D. Other cost categories 2 3 4
E. Indirect costs Funding rate % Maximum EU contribution contribution
[OPTION for HE ERC
[ D.3 Transnational [OPTION for Euratom
[ D.4 Virtual access to [OPTION for HE [OPTION for HE ERC Grants: D.8 ERC additional
C.3 Other goods, works and [ D.1 Financial support to D.2 Internally invoiced access to research Programme Cofund Actions:
A.1 Employees (or equivalent) A.4 SME owners and B. Subcontracting C.1 Travel and subsistence C.2 Equipment research infrastructure PCP/PPI: D.5 PCP/PPI Grants: D.7 ERC additional funding (subcontracting, E. Indirect costs
services third parties] goods and services infrastructure unit costs D.6 Euratom Cofund staff
natural person unit costs ] procurement costs] funding] FSTP and internally invoiced
] mobility costs]
beneficiaries goods and services)]
A.2 Natural persons under direct contract
A.3 Seconded persons
Unit costs (usual
5 Unit costs (usual 5 5 5 6
Forms of funding Actual costs accounting Unit costs Actual costs Actual costs Actual costs Actual costs [ Actual costs] [ Unit costs ] [ Unit costs ] [ Actual costs] [ Unit costs ] [ Actual costs] [ Actual costs] Flat-rate costs
accounting practices)
practices)
e=
0,25 * (a1 + a2 + a3 + b + c1 f=
a1 a2 a3 b c1 c2 c3 [ d1a] d2 [ d3] [ d4] [ d5] [ d6] [ d7] [ d8] U g = f*U% h m (i) n
+c2 + c3 + d1a + d2 + d3 + d4 [ + a+b+c+d+e
d5][+ d6] [ +d7] [+ d8] )
XX – [short name beneficiary/affiliated entity]
The beneficiary/affiliated entity hereby confirms that:
The information provided is complete, reliable and true.
The costs and contributions declared are eligible (see Article 6).
The costs and contributions can be substantiated by adequate records and supporting documentation that will be produced upon request or in the context of checks, reviews, audits and investigations (see Articles 19, 20 and 25).
For the last reporting period: that all the revenues have been declared (see Article 22).
i Please declare all eligible costs and contributions, even if they exceed the amounts indicated in the estimated budget (see Annex 2). Only amounts that were declared in your individual financial statements can be taken into account lateron, in order to replace costs/contributions that are
found to be ineligible.
1
See Article 6 for the eligibility conditions. All amounts must be expressed in EUR (see Article 21 for the conversion rules).
2
If you have also received an EU operating grant during this reporting period, you cannot claim indirect costs - unless you can demonstrate that the operating grant does not cover any costs of the action. This requires specific accounting tools. Please contact us immediately via the Funding &
Tenders Portal for details.
3
See Data Sheet for the reimbursement rate(s).
4
This is the theoretical amount of EU contribution to costs that the system calculates automatically (by multiplying the reimbursement rates by the costs declared). The amount you request (in the column 'requested EU contribution') may be less.
5
See Annex 2a 'Additional information on the estimated budget' for the details (units, cost per unit).
6
See Data Sheet for the flat-rate.
DocuSign Envelope ID: C4030644-1050-4067-83F0-230B6BADED7E
Associated with document Ref. Ares(2022)3656727 - 13/05/2022
ANNEX 5
SPECIFIC RULES
CONFIDENTIALITY AND SECURITY (— ARTICLE 13)
Sensitive information with security recommendation
Sensitive information with a security recommendation must comply with the additional
requirements imposed by the granting authority.
Before starting the action tasks concerned, the beneficiaries must have obtained all approvals
or other mandatory documents needed for implementing the task. The documents must be
kept on file and be submitted upon request by the coordinator to the granting authority. If they
are not in English, they must be submitted together with an English summary.
For requirements restricting disclosure or dissemination, the information must be handled in
accordance with the recommendation and may be disclosed or disseminated only after written
approval from the granting authority.
EU classified information
If EU classified information is used or generated by the action, it must be treated in
accordance with the security classification guide (SCG) and security aspect letter (SAL) set
out in Annex 1 and Decision 2015/4441 and its implementing rules — until it is declassified.
Deliverables which contain EU classified information must be submitted according to special
procedures agreed with the granting authority.
Action tasks involving EU classified information may be subcontracted only with prior
explicit written approval from the granting authority and only to entities established in an EU
Member State or in a non-EU country with a security of information agreement with the EU
(or an administrative arrangement with the Commission).
EU classified information may not be disclosed to any third party (including participants
involved in the action implementation) without prior explicit written approval from the
granting authority.
ETHICS (— ARTICLE 14)
Ethics and research integrity
The beneficiaries must carry out the action in compliance with:
- ethical principles (including the highest standards of research integrity)
1
Commission Decision 2015/444/EC, Euratom of 13 March 2015 on the security rules for protecting EU
classified information (OJ L 72, 17.3.2015, p. 53).
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and
- applicable EU, international and national law, including the EU Charter of
Fundamental Rights and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights
and Fundamental Freedoms and its Supplementary Protocols.
No funding can be granted, within or outside the EU, for activities that are prohibited in all
Member States. No funding can be granted in a Member State for an activity which is
forbidden in that Member State.
The beneficiaries must pay particular attention to the principle of proportionality, the right to
privacy, the right to the protection of personal data, the right to the physical and mental
integrity of persons, the right to non-discrimination, the need to ensure protection of the
environment and high levels of human health protection.
The beneficiaries must ensure that the activities under the action have an exclusive focus on
civil applications.
The beneficiaries must ensure that the activities under the action do not:
- aim at human cloning for reproductive purposes
- intend to modify the genetic heritage of human beings which could make such
modifications heritable (with the exception of research relating to cancer treatment of
the gonads, which may be financed)
- intend to create human embryos solely for the purpose of research or for the purpose
of stem cell procurement, including by means of somatic cell nuclear transfer, or
- lead to the destruction of human embryos (for example, for obtaining stem cells).
Activities involving research on human embryos or human embryonic stem cells may be
carried out only if:
- they are set out in Annex 1 or
- the coordinator has obtained explicit approval (in writing) from the granting authority.
In addition, the beneficiaries must respect the fundamental principle of research integrity —
2
as set out in the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity .
This implies compliance with the following principles:
- reliability in ensuring the quality of research reflected in the design, the methodology,
the analysis and the use of resources
- honesty in developing, undertaking, reviewing, reporting and communicating research
in a transparent, fair and unbiased way
2
European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity of ALLEA (All European Academies).
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- respect for colleagues, research participants, society, ecosystems, cultural heritage and
the environment
- accountability for the research from idea to publication, for its management and
organisation, for training, supervision and mentoring, and for its wider impacts
and means that beneficiaries must ensure that persons carrying out research tasks follow the
good research practices including ensuring, where possible, openness, reproducibility and
traceability and refrain from the research integrity violations described in the Code.
Activities raising ethical issues must comply with the additional requirements formulated by
the ethics panels (including after checks, reviews or audits; see Article 25).
Before starting an action task raising ethical issues, the beneficiaries must have obtained all
approvals or other mandatory documents needed for implementing the task, notably from any
(national or local) ethics committee or other bodies such as data protection authorities.
The documents must be kept on file and be submitted upon request by the coordinator to the
granting authority. If they are not in English, they must be submitted together with an English
summary, which shows that the documents cover the action tasks in question and includes the
conclusions of the committee or authority concerned (if any).
VALUES (— ARTICLE 14)
Gender mainstreaming
The beneficiaries must take all measures to promote equal opportunities between men and
women in the implementation of the action and, where applicable, in line with the gender
equality plan. They must aim, to the extent possible, for a gender balance at all levels of
personnel assigned to the action, including at supervisory and managerial level.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS (IPR) — BACKGROUND AND RESULTS —
ACCESS RIGHTS AND RIGHTS OF USE (— ARTICLE 16)
Definitions
Access rights — Rights to use results or background.
Dissemination — The public disclosure of the results by appropriate means, other than
resulting from protecting or exploiting the results, including by scientific
publications in any medium.
Exploit(ation) — The use of results in further research and innovation activities other than
those covered by the action concerned, including among other things,
commercial exploitation such as developing, creating, manufacturing and
marketing a product or process, creating and providing a service, or in
standardisation activities.
Fair and reasonable conditions — Appropriate conditions, including possible financial terms
or royalty-free conditions, taking into account the specific circumstances of
the request for access, for example the actual or potential value of the results
or background to which access is requested and/or the scope, duration or
other characteristics of the exploitation envisaged.
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FAIR principles — ‘findability’, ‘accessibility’, ‘interoperability’ and ‘reusability’.
Open access — Online access to research outputs provided free of charge to the end-user.
Open science — An approach to the scientific process based on open cooperative work, tools
and diffusing knowledge.
Research data management — The process within the research lifecycle that includes the
organisation, storage, preservation, security, quality assurance, allocation of
persistent identifiers (PIDs) and rules and procedures for sharing of data
including licensing.
Research outputs — Results to which access can be given in the form of scientific
publications, data or other engineered results and processes such as
software, algorithms, protocols, models, workflows and electronic
notebooks.
Scope of the obligations
For this section, references to ‘beneficiary’ or ‘beneficiaries’ do not include affiliated entities
(if any).
Agreement on background
The beneficiaries must identify in a written agreement the background as needed for
implementing the action or for exploiting its results.
Where the call conditions restrict control due to strategic interests reasons, background that is
subject to control or other restrictions by a country (or entity from a country) which is not one
of the eligible countries or target countries set out in the call conditions and that impact the
exploitation of the results (i.e. would make the exploitation of the results subject to control or
restrictions) must not be used and must be explicitly excluded from it in the agreement on
background — unless otherwise agreed with the granting authority.
Ownership of results
Results are owned by the beneficiaries that generate them.
However, two or more beneficiaries own results jointly if:
- they have jointly generated them and
- it is not possible to:
- establish the respective contribution of each beneficiary, or
- separate them for the purpose of applying for, obtaining or maintaining their
protection.
The joint owners must agree — in writing — on the allocation and terms of exercise of their
joint ownership (‘joint ownership agreement’), to ensure compliance with their obligations
under this Agreement.
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Unless otherwise agreed in the joint ownership agreement or consortium agreement, each
joint owner may grant non-exclusive licences to third parties to exploit the jointly-owned
results (without any right to sub-license), if the other joint owners are given:
- at least 45 days advance notice and
- fair and reasonable compensation.
The joint owners may agree — in writing — to apply another regime than joint ownership.
If third parties (including employees and other personnel) may claim rights to the results, the
beneficiary concerned must ensure that those rights can be exercised in a manner compatible
with its obligations under the Agreement.
The beneficiaries must indicate the owner(s) of the results (results ownership list) in the final
periodic report.
Protection of results
Beneficiaries which have received funding under the grant must adequately protect their
results — for an appropriate period and with appropriate territorial coverage — if protection
is possible and justified, taking into account all relevant considerations, including the
prospects for commercial exploitation, the legitimate interests of the other beneficiaries and
any other legitimate interests.
Exploitation of results
Beneficiaries which have received funding under the grant must — up to four years after the
end of the action (see Data Sheet, Point 1) — use their best efforts to exploit their results
directly or to have them exploited indirectly by another entity, in particular through transfer or
licensing.
If, despite a beneficiary’s best efforts, the results are not exploited within one year after the
end of the action, the beneficiaries must (unless otherwise agreed in writing with the granting
authority) use the Horizon Results Platform to find interested parties to exploit the results.
If results are incorporated in a standard, the beneficiaries must (unless otherwise agreed with
the granting authority or unless it is impossible) ask the standardisation body to include the
funding statement (see Article 17) in (information related to) the standard.
Additional exploitation obligations
Where the call conditions impose additional exploitation obligations (including obligations
linked to the restriction of participation or control due to strategic assets, interests, autonomy
or security reasons), the beneficiaries must comply with them — up to four years after the end
of the action (see Data Sheet, Point 1).
Where the call conditions impose additional exploitation obligations in case of a public
emergency, the beneficiaries must (if requested by the granting authority) grant for a limited
period of time specified in the request, non-exclusive licences — under fair and reasonable
conditions — to their results to legal entities that need the results to address the public
emergency and commit to rapidly and broadly exploit the resulting products and services at
fair and reasonable conditions. This provision applies up to four years after the end of the
action (see Data Sheet, Point 1).
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Additional information obligation relating to standards
Where the call conditions impose additional information obligations relating to possible
standardisation, the beneficiaries must — up to four years after the end of the action (see Data
Sheet, Point 1) — inform the granting authority, if the results could reasonably be expected to
contribute to European or international standards.
Transfer and licensing of results
Transfer of ownership
The beneficiaries may transfer ownership of their results, provided this does not affect
compliance with their obligations under the Agreement.
The beneficiaries must ensure that their obligations under the Agreement regarding their
results are passed on to the new owner and that this new owner has the obligation to pass
them on in any subsequent transfer.
Moreover, they must inform the other beneficiaries with access rights of the transfer at least
45 days in advance (or less if agreed in writing), unless agreed otherwise in writing for
specifically identified third parties including affiliated entities or unless impossible under the
applicable law. This notification must include sufficient information on the new owner to
enable the beneficiaries concerned to assess the effects on their access rights. The
beneficiaries may object within 30 days of receiving notification (or less if agreed in writing),
if they can show that the transfer would adversely affect their access rights. In this case, the
transfer may not take place until agreement has been reached between the beneficiaries
concerned.
Granting licences
The beneficiaries may grant licences to their results (or otherwise give the right to exploit
them), including on an exclusive basis, provided this does not affect compliance with their
obligations.
Exclusive licences for results may be granted only if all the other beneficiaries concerned
have waived their access rights.
Granting authority right to object to transfers or licensing — Horizon Europe actions
Where the call conditions in Horizon Europe actions provide for the right to object to transfers
or licensing, the granting authority may — up to four years after the end of the action (see
Data Sheet, Point 1) — object to a transfer of ownership or the exclusive licensing of results,
if:
- the beneficiaries which generated the results have received funding under the grant
- it is to a legal entity established in a non-EU country not associated with Horizon
Europe, and
- the granting authority considers that the transfer or licence is not in line with EU
interests.
Beneficiaries that intend to transfer ownership or grant an exclusive licence must formally
notify the granting authority before the intended transfer or licensing takes place and:
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- identify the specific results concerned
- describe in detail the new owner or licensee and the planned or potential
exploitation of the results, and
- include a reasoned assessment of the likely impact of the transfer or licence on EU
interests, in particular regarding competitiveness as well as consistency with
ethical principles and security considerations.
The granting authority may request additional information.
If the granting authority decides to object to a transfer or exclusive licence, it must formally
notify the beneficiary concerned within 60 days of receiving notification (or any additional
information it has requested).
No transfer or licensing may take place in the following cases:
- pending the granting authority decision, within the period set out above
- if the granting authority objects
- until the conditions are complied with, if the granting authority objection comes
with conditions.
A beneficiary may formally notify a request to waive the right to object regarding intended
transfers or grants to a specifically identified third party, if measures safeguarding EU
interests are in place. If the granting authority agrees, it will formally notify the beneficiary
concerned within 60 days of receiving notification (or any additional information requested).
Granting authority right to object to transfers or licensing — Euratom actions
Where the call conditions in Euratom actions provide for the right to object to transfers or
licensing, the granting authority may — up to four years after the end of the action (see Data
Sheet, Point 1) — object to a transfer of ownership or the exclusive or non-exclusive licensing
of results, if:
- the beneficiaries which generated the results have received funding under the grant
- it is to a legal entity established in a non-EU country not associated to the Euratom
Research and Training Programme 2021-2025 and
- the granting authority considers that the transfer or licence is not in line with the EU
interests.
Beneficiaries that intend to transfer ownership or grant a licence must formally notify the
granting authority before the intended transfer or licensing takes place and:
- identify the specific results concerned
- describe in detail the results, the new owner or licensee and the planned or
potential exploitation of the results, and
- include a reasoned assessment of the likely impact of the transfer or licence on EU
interests, in particular regarding competitiveness as well as consistency with
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ethical principles and security considerations (including the defence interests of the
EU Member States under Article 24 of the Euratom Treaty).
The granting authority may request additional information.
If the granting authority decides to object to a transfer or licence, it will formally notify the
beneficiary concerned within 60 days of receiving notification (or any additional information
requested).
No transfer or licensing may take place in the following cases:
- pending the granting authority decision, within the period set out above
- if the granting authority objects
- until the conditions are complied with, if the granting authority objection comes
with conditions.
A beneficiary may formally notify a request to waive the right to object regarding intended
transfers or grants to a specifically identified third party, if measures safeguarding EU
interests are in place. If the granting authority agrees, it will formally notify the beneficiary
concerned within 60 days of receiving notification (or any additional information requested).
Limitations to transfers and licensing due to strategic assets, interests, autonomy or security
reasons of the EU and its Member States
Where the call conditions restrict participation or control due to strategic assets, interests,
autonomy or security reasons, the beneficiaries may not transfer ownership of their results or
grant licences to third parties which are established in countries which are not eligible
countries or target countries set out in the call conditions (or, if applicable, are controlled by
such countries or entities from such countries) — unless they have requested and received
prior approval by the granting authority.
The request must:
- identify the specific results concerned
- describe in detail the new owner and the planned or potential exploitation of the
results, and
- include a reasoned assessment of the likely impact of the transfer or license on the
strategic assets, interests, autonomy or security of the EU and its Member States.
The granting authority may request additional information.
Access rights to results and background
Exercise of access rights — Waiving of access rights — No sub-licensing
Requests to exercise access rights and the waiver of access rights must be in writing.
Unless agreed otherwise in writing with the beneficiary granting access, access rights do not
include the right to sub-license.
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If a beneficiary is no longer involved in the action, this does not affect its obligations to grant
access.
If a beneficiary defaults on its obligations, the beneficiaries may agree that that beneficiary no
longer has access rights.
Access rights for implementing the action
The beneficiaries must grant each other access — on a royalty-free basis — to background
needed to implement their own tasks under the action, unless the beneficiary that holds the
background has — before acceding to the Agreement —:
- informed the other beneficiaries that access to its background is subject to restrictions,
or
- agreed with the other beneficiaries that access would not be on a royalty-free basis.
The beneficiaries must grant each other access — on a royalty-free basis — to results needed
for implementing their own tasks under the action.
Access rights for exploiting the results
The beneficiaries must grant each other access — under fair and reasonable conditions — to
results needed for exploiting their results.
The beneficiaries must grant each other access — under fair and reasonable conditions — to
background needed for exploiting their results, unless the beneficiary that holds the
background has — before acceding to the Agreement — informed the other beneficiaries that
access to its background is subject to restrictions.
Requests for access must be made — unless agreed otherwise in writing — up to one year
after the end of the action (see Data Sheet, Point 1).
Access rights for entities under the same control
Unless agreed otherwise in writing by the beneficiaries, access to results and, subject to the
restrictions referred to above (if any), background must also be granted — under fair and
reasonable conditions — to entities that:
- are established in an EU Member State or Horizon Europe associated country
- are under the direct or indirect control of another beneficiary, or under the same direct
or indirect control as that beneficiary, or directly or indirectly controlling that
beneficiary and
- need the access to exploit the results of that beneficiary.
Unless agreed otherwise in writing, such requests for access must be made by the entity
directly to the beneficiary concerned.
Requests for access must be made — unless agreed otherwise in writing — up to one year
after the end of the action (see Data Sheet, Point 1).
Access rights for the granting authority, EU institutions, bodies, offices or agencies and
national authorities to results for policy purposes — Horizon Europe actions
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In Horizon Europe actions, the beneficiaries which have received funding under the grant
must grant access to their results — on a royalty-free basis — to the granting authority, EU
institutions, bodies, offices or agencies for developing, implementing and monitoring EU
policies or programmes. Such access rights do not extend to beneficiaries’ background.
Such access rights are limited to non-commercial and non-competitive use.
For actions under the cluster ‘Civil Security for Society’, such access rights also extend to
national authorities of EU Member States for developing, implementing and monitoring their
policies or programmes in this area. In this case, access is subject to a bilateral agreement to
define specific conditions ensuring that:
- the access rights will be used only for the intended purpose and
- appropriate confidentiality obligations are in place.
Moreover, the requesting national authority or EU institution, body, office or agency
(including the granting authority) must inform all other national authorities of such a request.
Access rights for the granting authority, Euratom institutions, funding bodies or the Joint
Undertaking Fusion for Energy — Euratom actions
In Euratom actions, the beneficiaries which have received funding under the grant must grant
access to their results — on a royalty-free basis — to the granting authority, Euratom
institutions, funding bodies or the Joint Undertaking Fusion for Energy for developing,
implementing and monitoring Euratom policies and programmes or for compliance with
obligations assumed through international cooperation with non-EU countries and
international organisations.
Such access rights include the right to authorise third parties to use the results in public
procurement and the right to sub-license and are limited to non-commercial and non-
competitive use.
Additional access rights
Where the call conditions impose additional access rights, the beneficiaries must comply with
them.
COMMUNICATION, DISSEMINATION, OPEN SCIENCE AND VISIBILITY (—
ARTICLE 17)
Dissemination
Dissemination of results
The beneficiaries must disseminate their results as soon as feasible, in a publicly available
format, subject to any restrictions due to the protection of intellectual property, security rules
or legitimate interests.
A beneficiary that intends to disseminate its results must give at least 15 days advance notice
to the other beneficiaries (unless agreed otherwise), together with sufficient information on
the results it will disseminate.
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Any other beneficiary may object within (unless agreed otherwise) 15 days of receiving
notification, if it can show that its legitimate interests in relation to the results or background
would be significantly harmed. In such cases, the results may not be disseminated unless
appropriate steps are taken to safeguard those interests.
Additional dissemination obligations
Where the call conditions impose additional dissemination obligations, the beneficiaries must
also comply with those.
Open Science
Open science: open access to scientific publications
The beneficiaries must ensure open access to peer-reviewed scientific publications relating to
their results. In particular, they must ensure that:
- at the latest at the time of publication, a machine-readable electronic copy of the
published version or the final peer-reviewed manuscript accepted for publication, is
deposited in a trusted repository for scientific publications
- immediate open access is provided to the deposited publication via the repository,
under the latest available version of the Creative Commons Attribution International
Public Licence (CC BY) or a licence with equivalent rights; for monographs and other
long-text formats, the licence may exclude commercial uses and derivative works (e.g.
CC BY-NC, CC BY-ND) and
- information is given via the repository about any research output or any other tools
and instruments needed to validate the conclusions of the scientific publication.
Beneficiaries (or authors) must retain sufficient intellectual property rights to comply with the
open access requirements.
Metadata of deposited publications must be open under a Creative Common Public Domain
Dedication (CC 0) or equivalent, in line with the FAIR principles (in particular machine-
actionable) and provide information at least about the following: publication (author(s), title,
date of publication, publication venue); Horizon Europe or Euratom funding; grant project
name, acronym and number; licensing terms; persistent identifiers for the publication, the
authors involved in the action and, if possible, for their organisations and the grant. Where
applicable, the metadata must include persistent identifiers for any research output or any
other tools and instruments needed to validate the conclusions of the publication.
Only publication fees in full open access venues for peer-reviewed scientific publications are
eligible for reimbursement.
Open science: research data management
The beneficiaries must manage the digital research data generated in the action (‘data’)
responsibly, in line with the FAIR principles and by taking all of the following actions:
- establish a data management plan (‘DMP’) (and regularly update it)
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- as soon as possible and within the deadlines set out in the DMP, deposit the data in a
trusted repository; if required in the call conditions, this repository must be federated
in the EOSC in compliance with EOSC requirements
- as soon as possible and within the deadlines set out in the DMP, ensure open access —
via the repository — to the deposited data, under the latest available version of the
Creative Commons Attribution International Public License (CC BY) or Creative
Commons Public Domain Dedication (CC 0) or a licence with equivalent rights,
following the principle ‘as open as possible as closed as necessary’, unless providing
open access would in particular:
- be against the beneficiary’s legitimate interests, including regarding
commercial exploitation, or
- be contrary to any other constraints, in particular the EU competitive interests
or the beneficiary’s obligations under this Agreement; if open access is not
provided (to some or all data), this must be justified in the DMP
- provide information via the repository about any research output or any other tools and
instruments needed to re-use or validate the data.
Metadata of deposited data must be open under a Creative Common Public Domain
Dedication (CC 0) or equivalent (to the extent legitimate interests or constraints are
safeguarded), in line with the FAIR principles (in particular machine-actionable) and provide
information at least about the following: datasets (description, date of deposit, author(s),
venue and embargo); Horizon Europe or Euratom funding; grant project name, acronym and
number; licensing terms; persistent identifiers for the dataset, the authors involved in the
action, and, if possible, for their organisations and the grant. Where applicable, the metadata
must include persistent identifiers for related publications and other research outputs.
Open science: additional practices
Where the call conditions impose additional obligations regarding open science practices, the
beneficiaries must also comply with those.
Where the call conditions impose additional obligations regarding the validation of scientific
publications, the beneficiaries must provide (digital or physical) access to data or other results
needed for validation of the conclusions of scientific publications, to the extent that their
legitimate interests or constraints are safeguarded (and unless they already provided the
(open) access at publication).
Where the call conditions impose additional open science obligations in case of a public
emergency, the beneficiaries must (if requested by the granting authority) immediately
deposit any research output in a repository and provide open access to it under a CC BY
licence, a Public Domain Dedication (CC 0) or equivalent. As an exception, if the access
would be against the beneficiaries’ legitimate interests, the beneficiaries must grant non-
exclusive licenses — under fair and reasonable conditions — to legal entities that need the
research output to address the public emergency and commit to rapidly and broadly exploit
the resulting products and services at fair and reasonable conditions. This provision applies up
to four years after the end of the action (see Data Sheet, Point 1).
Plan for the exploitation and dissemination of results including communication activities
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Unless excluded by the call conditions, the beneficiaries must provide and regularly update a
plan for the exploitation and dissemination of results including communication activities.
SPECIFIC RULES FOR CARRYING OUT THE ACTION (— ARTICLE 18)
Implementation in case of restrictions due to strategic assets, interests, autonomy or
security of the EU and its Member States
Where the call conditions restrict participation or control due to strategic assets, interests,
autonomy or security, the beneficiaries must ensure that none of the entities that participate as
affiliated entities, associated partners, subcontractors or recipients of financial support to third
parties are established in countries which are not eligible countries or target countries set out
in the call conditions (or, if applicable, are controlled by such countries or entities from such
countries) — unless otherwise agreed with the granting authority.
The beneficiaries must moreover ensure that any cooperation with entities established in
countries which are not eligible countries or target countries set out in the call conditions (or,
if applicable, are controlled by such countries or entities from such countries) does not affect
the strategic assets, interests, autonomy or security of the EU and its Member States.
Recruitment and working conditions for researchers
The beneficiaries must take all measures to implement the principles set out in the
Commission Recommendation on the European Charter for Researchers and the Code of
Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers3, in particular regarding:
- working conditions
- transparent recruitment processes based on merit, and
- career development.
The beneficiaries must ensure that researchers and all participants involved in the action are
aware of them.
3
Commission Recommendation 2005/251/EC of 11 March 2005 on the European Charter for Researchers
and on a Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers (OJ L 75, 22.3.2005, p. 67).
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SMS Auth:
Transaction: 660B5051D9980E049197A912E81AB900
Result: passed
Vendor ID: TeleSign
Type: SMSAuth
Performed: 25 August 2022 | 11:25
Phone: +44 7903 325151
Electronic Record and Signature Disclosure:
Not Offered via DocuSign
Ekaterina Dibutsch Sent: 25 August 2022 | 09:28
[email protected]
Security Level: Email, Account Authentication
(None), Authentication
Electronic Record and Signature Disclosure:
Signer Events Signature Timestamp
Not Offered via DocuSign
Francisco Diéguez Sent: 25 August 2022 | 09:28
[email protected] Viewed: 26 August 2022 | 11:44
Director General Signed: 26 August 2022 | 12:50
Security Level: Email, Account Authentication
(None), Authentication Signature Adoption: Pre-selected Style
Using IP Address: 2.139.248.75
Authentication Details
SMS Auth:
Transaction: 660B6546E39C020491962104F61A443E
Result: passed
Vendor ID: TeleSign
Type: SMSAuth
Performed: 26 August 2022 | 11:44
Phone: +34 645 20 67 34
SMS Auth:
Transaction: 660B663C39F412049195FBA46A3A627A
Result: passed
Vendor ID: TeleSign
Type: SMSAuth
Performed: 26 August 2022 | 12:50
Phone: +34 645 20 67 34
Electronic Record and Signature Disclosure:
Not Offered via DocuSign
Frank Balser Sent: 25 August 2022 | 09:28
[email protected] Viewed: 29 August 2022 | 16:01
Financial Director Signed: 29 August 2022 | 16:57
Security Level: Email, Account Authentication
(None), Authentication Signature Adoption: Pre-selected Style
Using IP Address: 173.73.91.43
Authentication Details
SMS Auth:
Transaction: 660BA6C3E734030491967C5B6E3A5FD4
Result: passed
Vendor ID: TeleSign
Type: SMSAuth
Performed: 29 August 2022 | 16:01
Phone: +1 703-533-7303
Electronic Record and Signature Disclosure:
Not Offered via DocuSign
Ian Pritchard Sent: 25 August 2022 | 09:28
[email protected]
Security Level: Email, Account Authentication
(None), Authentication
Electronic Record and Signature Disclosure:
Not Offered via DocuSign
Ioannis Christovasilis Sent: 25 August 2022 | 09:28
[email protected] Viewed: 25 August 2022 | 09:41
Director / LEAR of Aether Engineering Signed: 25 August 2022 | 09:51
Security Level: Email, Account Authentication
(None), Authentication Signature Adoption: Pre-selected Style
Using IP Address: 87.10.131.135
Authentication Details
Signer Events Signature Timestamp
SMS Auth:
Transaction: 660B4EEA36FC0F04919692B1554AAA4F
Result: passed
Vendor ID: TeleSign
Type: SMSAuth
Performed: 25 August 2022 | 09:40
Phone: +39 331 408 3022
Electronic Record and Signature Disclosure:
Not Offered via DocuSign
Jaan Saar Sent: 25 August 2022 | 09:28
[email protected] Viewed: 31 August 2022 | 14:53
Head of Digital Construction Signed: 31 August 2022 | 14:59
Security Level: Email, Account Authentication
(None), Authentication Signature Adoption: Drawn on Device
Using IP Address: 195.80.103.229
Authentication Details
SMS Auth:
Transaction: 660BCEF8585803049195CD3A316A45F7
Result: passed
Vendor ID: TeleSign
Type: SMSAuth
Performed: 31 August 2022 | 14:51
Phone: +372 529 0777
Electronic Record and Signature Disclosure:
Not Offered via DocuSign
Jacques Fayolle Sent: 25 August 2022 | 09:28
[email protected]
Security Level: Email, Account Authentication
(None), Authentication
Electronic Record and Signature Disclosure:
Not Offered via DocuSign
Josep Santos Sent: 25 August 2022 | 09:28
[email protected]
Security Level: Email, Account Authentication
(None), Authentication
Electronic Record and Signature Disclosure:
Not Offered via DocuSign
Julian Beer Sent: 25 August 2022 | 09:28
[email protected] Viewed: 25 August 2022 | 12:40
Deputy Vice Chancellor Signed: 25 August 2022 | 12:41
Security Level: Email, Account Authentication
(None), Authentication Signature Adoption: Pre-selected Style
Using IP Address: 80.3.49.10
Authentication Details
SMS Auth:
Transaction: 660B517D4A40130491961CABD9BACBE7
Result: passed
Vendor ID: TeleSign
Type: SMSAuth
Performed: 25 August 2022 | 12:40
Phone: +44 7872 418320
Electronic Record and Signature Disclosure:
Not Offered via DocuSign
Kathrin Werner Sent: 25 August 2022 | 09:28
[email protected]
Security Level: Email, Account Authentication
(None), Authentication
Electronic Record and Signature Disclosure:
Signer Events Signature Timestamp
Not Offered via DocuSign
Lassi Koskinen Sent: 25 August 2022 | 09:28
[email protected] Viewed: 29 August 2022 | 14:46
CFO Signed: 30 August 2022 | 11:39
Security Level: Email, Account Authentication
(None), Authentication Signature Adoption: Pre-selected Style
Using IP Address: 185.11.210.141
Authentication Details
SMS Auth:
Transaction: 660BA5B0D8A00C0491972824DE4A4B99
Result: passed
Vendor ID: TeleSign
Type: SMSAuth
Performed: 29 August 2022 | 14:46
Phone: +358 50 3424555
Electronic Record and Signature Disclosure:
Not Offered via DocuSign
Richard Kelly Sent: 25 August 2022 | 09:28
[email protected] Viewed: 25 August 2022 | 18:46
Security Level: Email, Account Authentication
(None), Authentication
Authentication Details
SMS Auth:
Transaction: 660B56B64678140491968E900D5A46E5
Result: passed
Vendor ID: TeleSign
Type: SMSAuth
Performed: 25 August 2022 | 18:45
Phone: +44 7833 657036
Electronic Record and Signature Disclosure:
Not Offered via DocuSign
Rick Klooster Sent: 25 August 2022 | 09:28
[email protected] Viewed: 25 August 2022 | 16:14
CTO Signed: 25 August 2022 | 16:15
Security Level: Email, Account Authentication
(None), Authentication Signature Adoption: Drawn on Device
Using IP Address: 86.89.8.1
Authentication Details
SMS Auth:
Transaction: 660B548B7A2C130491961CD96F5A0CAC
Result: passed
Vendor ID: TeleSign
Type: SMSAuth
Performed: 25 August 2022 | 16:13
Phone: +31 6 46909779
Electronic Record and Signature Disclosure:
Not Offered via DocuSign
Salem Seiffeddine Sent: 25 August 2022 | 09:28
[email protected] Viewed: 30 August 2022 | 17:35
Prof., associate dean of research Signed: 30 August 2022 | 17:36
Security Level: Email, Account Authentication
(None), Authentication Signature Adoption: Pre-selected Style
Using IP Address: 212.25.137.158
Authentication Details
Signer Events Signature Timestamp
SMS Auth:
Transaction: 260BBCB2968C070491937C30910A18F0
Result: passed
Vendor ID: TeleSign
Type: SMSAuth
Performed: 30 August 2022 | 17:34
Phone: +46 70 383 16 62
Electronic Record and Signature Disclosure:
Not Offered via DocuSign
Thomas Eichhorn Sent: 25 August 2022 | 09:28
[email protected] Viewed: 26 August 2022 | 14:38
CEO Signed: 26 August 2022 | 14:41
Security Level: Email, Account Authentication
(None), Authentication Signature Adoption: Pre-selected Style
Using IP Address: 141.91.18.143
Authentication Details
SMS Auth:
Transaction: 660B67C53D88130491961CD22A0A7017
Result: passed
Vendor ID: TeleSign
Type: SMSAuth
Performed: 26 August 2022 | 14:37
Phone: +49 172 4471923
Electronic Record and Signature Disclosure:
Not Offered via DocuSign
Ulrike Nier Sent: 25 August 2022 | 09:28
[email protected] Viewed: 25 August 2022 | 12:14
Leiterin Käufmännischer Bereich Signed: 25 August 2022 | 18:27
Security Level: Email, Account Authentication
(None), Authentication Signature Adoption: Uploaded Signature Image
Using IP Address: 83.135.84.178
Authentication Details
SMS Auth:
Transaction: 660B511FD1D004049196B7CFF42AC36E
Result: passed
Vendor ID: TeleSign
Type: SMSAuth
Performed: 25 August 2022 | 12:14
Phone: +49 172 3983268
Electronic Record and Signature Disclosure:
Not Offered via DocuSign
Víctor Martinez del Rey Sent: 25 August 2022 | 09:28
[email protected]
Security Level: Email, Account Authentication
(None), Authentication
Electronic Record and Signature Disclosure:
Not Offered via DocuSign
Ville Kyytsönen Sent: 25 August 2022 | 09:28
[email protected]
Security Level: Email, Account Authentication
(None), Authentication
Electronic Record and Signature Disclosure:
Not Offered via DocuSign
In Person Signer Events Signature Timestamp
Editor Delivery Events Status Timestamp
Agent Delivery Events Status Timestamp
Intermediary Delivery Events Status Timestamp
Certified Delivery Events Status Timestamp
Carbon Copy Events Status Timestamp
Louise Heath
[email protected]
Security Level: Email, Account Authentication
(None)
Electronic Record and Signature Disclosure:
Not Offered via DocuSign
Witness Events Signature Timestamp
Notary Events Signature Timestamp
Envelope Summary Events Status Timestamps
Envelope Sent Hashed/Encrypted 25 August 2022 | 08:06
Payment Events Status Timestamps
Project: 101056973 — ACCORD — HORIZON-CL4-2021-TWIN-TRANSITION-01
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EUROPEAN HEALTH AND DIGITAL EXECUTIVE AGENCY
(HADEA)
HADEA.B – Digital, Industry and Space
B.3 – Industry
GRANT AGREEMENT
Project 101056973 — ACCORD
PREAMBLE
This Agreement (‘the Agreement’) is between the following parties:
on the one part,
the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HADEA) (‘EU executive agency’ or ‘granting
authority’), under the powers delegated by the European Commission (‘European Commission’),
and
on the other part,
1. ‘the coordinator’:
TEKNOLOGIAN TUTKIMUSKESKUS VTT OY (VTT), PIC 932760440, established in
TEKNIIKANTIE 21, ESPOO 02150, Finland,
and the following other beneficiaries, if they sign their ‘accession form’ (see Annex 3 and Article 40):
2. FRAUNHOFER GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FORDERUNG DER ANGEWANDTEN
FORSCHUNG EV (FHG), PIC 999984059, established in HANSASTRASSE 27C, MUNCHEN
80686, Germany,
3. OPEN GEOSPATIAL CONSORTIUM EUROPE (OGC), PIC 899555206, established in
TECHNOLOGIELAAN 3, LEUVEN 3001, Belgium,
4. CONSEIL DES ARCHITECTES D'EUROPE (ACE), PIC 924742517, established in RUE
PAUL EMILE JANSON 29, BRUXELLES 1050, Belgium,
5. MAJANDUS JA KOMMUNIKATSIOONIMINISTEERIUM (MKM), PIC 963638450,
established in SUUR-AMEERIKA 1, TALLINN 10122, Estonia,
6. FREIE UND HANSESTADT HAMBURG (HAM), PIC 998928602, established in
RATHAUSMARKT 1, HAMBURG 20095, Germany,
7. AYUNTAMIENTO DE MALGRAT DE MAR (AMM), PIC 890717827, established in
CARRER DEL CARME 30, MALGRAT DE MAR 08380, Spain,
8. SIRMA AI EAD (ONTO), PIC 900925331, established in 135 TSARIGRADSKO SHOSE BLVD,
SOFIA 1784, Bulgaria,
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9. SOLIBRI OY (SOL), PIC 888132001, established in TAMMASAARENKATU 5, HELSINKI
00180, Finland,
10. FUTURE INSIGHT GROUP BV (FUI), PIC 928328025, established in
ZWARTEWATERALLEE 44, ZWOLLE 8031 DX, Netherlands,
11. AETHER ENGINEERING S.A.S. TRA PROFESSIONISTI DI CHRISTOVASILIS
IOANNIS (AE), PIC 923674935, established in VIA MASACCIO 252, FIRENZE 50136, Italy,
12. INSTITUT MINES-TELECOM (IMT), PIC 999849326, established in 19 PLACE
MARGUERITE PEREY, PALAISEAU 91120, France,
13. INSTITUT DE TECNOLOGIA DE LA CONSTRUCCION DE CATALUNYA (ITeC), PIC
945306517, established in Calle Wellington 19, Barcelona 08018, Spain,
14. FUNDACIO PRIVADA UNIVERSITAT I TECNOLOGIA (FUNITEC), PIC 997191235,
established in CALLE SANT JOAN DE LA SALLE 42, BARCELONA 08022, Spain,
15. STIFTELSEN HOGSKOLAN I JONKOPING (JU), PIC 997539271, established in
GJUTERIGATAN 5, JONKOPING 551 11, Sweden,
16. CLOUDPERMIT OY (CP), PIC 887892120, established in HAMEENKATU 13, TAMPERE
33100, Finland,
17. TEGEL PROJEKT GMBH (TEGEL), PIC 934242503, established in URBAN TECH
REPUBLIC GEBAUDE V FLUGHAFEN TEGEL 1, BERLIN 13405, Germany,
Unless otherwise specified, references to ‘beneficiary’ or ‘beneficiaries’ include the coordinator and
affiliated entities (if any).
If only one beneficiary signs the grant agreement (‘mono-beneficiary grant’), all provisions referring
to the ‘coordinator’ or the ‘beneficiaries’ will be considered — mutatis mutandis — as referring to
the beneficiary.
The parties referred to above have agreed to enter into the Agreement.
By signing the Agreement and the accession forms, the beneficiaries accept the grant and agree to
implement the action under their own responsibility and in accordance with the Agreement, with all
the obligations and terms and conditions it sets out.
The Agreement is composed of:
Preamble
Terms and Conditions (including Data Sheet)
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Annex 1 Description of the action1
Annex 2 Estimated budget for the action
Annex 2a Additional information on unit costs and contributions (if applicable)
Annex 3 Accession forms (if applicable)2
Annex 3a Declaration on joint and several liability of affiliated entities (if applicable)3
Annex 4 Model for the financial statements
Annex 5 Specific rules (if applicable)
1 Template published on Portal Reference Documents.
2 Template published on Portal Reference Documents.
3 Template published on Portal Reference Documents.
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TERMS AND CONDITIONS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
GRANT AGREEMENT.................................................................................................................................................... 1
PREAMBLE........................................................................................................................................................................1
TERMS AND CONDITIONS...........................................................................................................................................4
DATASHEET...................................................................................................................................................................... 9
CHAPTER 1 GENERAL..............................................................................................................................................14
ARTICLE 1 — SUBJECT OF THE AGREEMENT ..................................................................................... 14
ARTICLE 2 — DEFINITIONS........................................................................................................................14
CHAPTER 2 ACTION................................................................................................................................................. 15
ARTICLE 3 — ACTION................................................................................................................................. 15
ARTICLE 4 — DURATION AND STARTING DATE...................................................................................15
CHAPTER 3 GRANT...................................................................................................................................................15
ARTICLE 5 — GRANT...................................................................................................................................15
5.1 Form of grant......................................................................................................................................15
5.2 Maximum grant amount..................................................................................................................... 16
5.3 Funding rate........................................................................................................................................16
5.4 Estimated budget, budget categories and forms of funding.............................................................. 16
5.5 Budget flexibility................................................................................................................................16
ARTICLE 6 — ELIGIBLE AND INELIGIBLE COSTS AND CONTRIBUTIONS......................................17
6.1 General eligibility conditions............................................................................................................. 17
6.2 Specific eligibility conditions for each budget category................................................................... 18
6.3 Ineligible costs and contributions...................................................................................................... 22
6.4 Consequences of non-compliance...................................................................................................... 23
CHAPTER 4 GRANT IMPLEMENTATION............................................................................................................ 24
SECTION 1 CONSORTIUM: BENEFICIARIES, AFFILIATED ENTITIES AND OTHER
PARTICIPANTS........................................................................................................................................ 24
ARTICLE 7 — BENEFICIARIES................................................................................................................... 24
ARTICLE 8 — AFFILIATED ENTITIES....................................................................................................... 26
ARTICLE 9 — OTHER PARTICIPANTS INVOLVED IN THE ACTION................................................... 26
9.1 Associated partners.............................................................................................................................26
9.2 Third parties giving in-kind contributions to the action.................................................................... 27
9.3 Subcontractors.....................................................................................................................................27
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9.4 Recipients of financial support to third parties..................................................................................27
ARTICLE 10 — PARTICIPANTS WITH SPECIAL STATUS....................................................................... 28
10.1 Non-EU participants......................................................................................................................... 28
10.2 Participants which are international organisations...........................................................................28
10.3 Pillar-assessed participants............................................................................................................... 28
SECTION 2 RULES FOR CARRYING OUT THE ACTION...........................................................................31
ARTICLE 11 — PROPER IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ACTION............................................................ 31
11.1 Obligation to properly implement the action................................................................................... 31
11.2 Consequences of non-compliance.................................................................................................... 31
ARTICLE 12 — CONFLICT OF INTERESTS.............................................................................................. 31
12.1 Conflict of interests.......................................................................................................................... 31
12.2 Consequences of non-compliance.................................................................................................... 31
ARTICLE 13 — CONFIDENTIALITY AND SECURITY............................................................................ 31
13.1 Sensitive information........................................................................................................................32
13.2 Classified information...................................................................................................................... 32
13.3 Consequences of non-compliance.................................................................................................... 33
ARTICLE 14 — ETHICS AND VALUES...................................................................................................... 33
14.1 Ethics.................................................................................................................................................33
14.2 Values................................................................................................................................................ 33
14.3 Consequences of non-compliance.................................................................................................... 33
ARTICLE 15 — DATA PROTECTION.......................................................................................................... 33
15.1 Data processing by the granting authority....................................................................................... 33
15.2 Data processing by the beneficiaries............................................................................................... 34
15.3 Consequences of non-compliance.................................................................................................... 34
ARTICLE 16 — INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS (IPR) — BACKGROUND AND RESULTS —
ACCESS RIGHTS AND RIGHTS OF USE................................................................................ 34
16.1 Background and access rights to background..................................................................................34
16.2 Ownership of results.........................................................................................................................35
16.3 Rights of use of the granting authority on materials, documents and information received for
policy, information, communication, dissemination and publicity purposes...................................35
16.4 Specific rules on IPR, results and background................................................................................ 36
16.5 Consequences of non-compliance.................................................................................................... 36
ARTICLE 17 — COMMUNICATION, DISSEMINATION AND VISIBILITY............................................ 36
17.1 Communication — Dissemination — Promoting the action........................................................... 36
17.2 Visibility — European flag and funding statement......................................................................... 36
17.3 Quality of information — Disclaimer..............................................................................................37
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17.4 Specific communication, dissemination and visibility rules............................................................37
17.5 Consequences of non-compliance.................................................................................................... 37
ARTICLE 18 — SPECIFIC RULES FOR CARRYING OUT THE ACTION............................................... 37
18.1 Specific rules for carrying out the action........................................................................................ 38
18.2 Consequences of non-compliance.................................................................................................... 38
SECTION 3 GRANT ADMINISTRATION......................................................................................................... 38
ARTICLE 19 — GENERAL INFORMATION OBLIGATIONS.................................................................... 38
19.1 Information requests......................................................................................................................... 38
19.2 Participant Register data updates..................................................................................................... 38
19.3 Information about events and circumstances which impact the action............................................38
19.4 Consequences of non-compliance.................................................................................................... 38
ARTICLE 20 — RECORD-KEEPING............................................................................................................ 39
20.1 Keeping records and supporting documents.................................................................................... 39
20.2 Consequences of non-compliance.................................................................................................... 40
ARTICLE 21 — REPORTING........................................................................................................................ 40
21.1 Continuous reporting........................................................................................................................ 40
21.2 Periodic reporting: Technical reports and financial statements....................................................... 40
21.3 Currency for financial statements and conversion into euros..........................................................41
21.4 Reporting language...........................................................................................................................41
21.5 Consequences of non-compliance.................................................................................................... 42
ARTICLE 22 — PAYMENTS AND RECOVERIES — CALCULATION OF AMOUNTS DUE................. 42
22.1 Payments and payment arrangements.............................................................................................. 42
22.2 Recoveries.........................................................................................................................................42
22.3 Amounts due.....................................................................................................................................42
22.4 Enforced recovery.............................................................................................................................48
22.5 Consequences of non-compliance.................................................................................................... 49
ARTICLE 23 — GUARANTEES....................................................................................................................50
ARTICLE 24 — CERTIFICATES................................................................................................................... 50
24.1 Operational verification report (OVR).............................................................................................50
24.2 Certificate on the financial statements (CFS).................................................................................. 50
24.3 Certificate on the compliance of usual cost accounting practices (CoMUC).................................. 50
24.4 Systems and process audit (SPA).....................................................................................................50
24.5 Consequences of non-compliance.................................................................................................... 51
ARTICLE 25 — CHECKS, REVIEWS, AUDITS AND INVESTIGATIONS — EXTENSION OF
FINDINGS..................................................................................................................................... 51
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25.1 Granting authority checks, reviews and audits................................................................................ 51
25.2 European Commission checks, reviews and audits in grants of other granting authorities..............53
25.3 Access to records for assessing simplified forms of funding.......................................................... 53
25.4 OLAF, EPPO and ECA audits and investigations........................................................................... 53
25.5 Consequences of checks, reviews, audits and investigations — Extension of results of reviews,
audits or investigations.................................................................................................................... 53
25.6 Consequences of non-compliance.................................................................................................... 55
ARTICLE 26 — IMPACT EVALUATIONS................................................................................................... 55
26.1 Impact evaluation............................................................................................................................. 55
26.2 Consequences of non-compliance.................................................................................................... 55
CHAPTER 5 CONSEQUENCES OF NON-COMPLIANCE.................................................................................. 55
SECTION 1 REJECTIONS AND GRANT REDUCTION.................................................................................55
ARTICLE 27 — REJECTION OF COSTS AND CONTRIBUTIONS...........................................................55
27.1 Conditions......................................................................................................................................... 55
27.2 Procedure.......................................................................................................................................... 56
27.3 Effects............................................................................................................................................... 56
ARTICLE 28 — GRANT REDUCTION........................................................................................................ 56
28.1 Conditions......................................................................................................................................... 56
28.2 Procedure.......................................................................................................................................... 56
28.3 Effects............................................................................................................................................... 57
SECTION 2 SUSPENSION AND TERMINATION............................................................................................57
ARTICLE 29 — PAYMENT DEADLINE SUSPENSION............................................................................. 57
29.1 Conditions......................................................................................................................................... 57
29.2 Procedure.......................................................................................................................................... 57
ARTICLE 30 — PAYMENT SUSPENSION...................................................................................................57
30.1 Conditions......................................................................................................................................... 57
30.2 Procedure.......................................................................................................................................... 58
ARTICLE 31 — GRANT AGREEMENT SUSPENSION..............................................................................58
31.1 Consortium-requested GA suspension............................................................................................. 58
31.2 EU-initiated GA suspension.............................................................................................................59
ARTICLE 32 — GRANT AGREEMENT OR BENEFICIARY TERMINATION......................................... 60
32.1 Consortium-requested GA termination............................................................................................ 60
32.2 Consortium-requested beneficiary termination................................................................................ 61
32.3 EU-initiated GA or beneficiary termination.................................................................................... 62
SECTION 3 OTHER CONSEQUENCES: DAMAGES AND ADMINISTRATIVE SANCTIONS............... 66
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ARTICLE 33 — DAMAGES...........................................................................................................................66
33.1 Liability of the granting authority....................................................................................................66
33.2 Liability of the beneficiaries............................................................................................................ 66
ARTICLE 34 — ADMINISTRATIVE SANCTIONS AND OTHER MEASURES....................................... 66
SECTION 4 FORCE MAJEURE.......................................................................................................................... 66
ARTICLE 35 — FORCE MAJEURE.............................................................................................................. 66
CHAPTER 6 FINAL PROVISIONS...........................................................................................................................67
ARTICLE 36 — COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE PARTIES...............................................................67
36.1 Forms and means of communication — Electronic management................................................... 67
36.2 Date of communication.................................................................................................................... 67
36.3 Addresses for communication.......................................................................................................... 68
ARTICLE 37 — INTERPRETATION OF THE AGREEMENT.....................................................................68
ARTICLE 38 — CALCULATION OF PERIODS AND DEADLINES..........................................................68
ARTICLE 39 — AMENDMENTS.................................................................................................................. 68
39.1 Conditions......................................................................................................................................... 68
39.2 Procedure.......................................................................................................................................... 68
ARTICLE 40 — ACCESSION AND ADDITION OF NEW BENEFICIARIES........................................... 69
40.1 Accession of the beneficiaries mentioned in the Preamble............................................................. 69
40.2 Addition of new beneficiaries.......................................................................................................... 69
ARTICLE 41 — TRANSFER OF THE AGREEMENT................................................................................. 69
ARTICLE 42 — ASSIGNMENTS OF CLAIMS FOR PAYMENT AGAINST THE GRANTING
AUTHORITY.................................................................................................................................70
ARTICLE 43 — APPLICABLE LAW AND SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTES.............................................. 70
43.1 Applicable law..................................................................................................................................70
43.2 Dispute settlement............................................................................................................................ 70
ARTICLE 44 — ENTRY INTO FORCE.........................................................................................................71
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DATA SHEET
1. General data
Project summary:
Project summary
ACCORD's objective is to digitalise permitting and compliance processes using BIM and other data sources to improve the productivity
and quality of design and construction processes, support the design of climate-neutral buildings and advance a sustainable built
environment in line with the EU Green Deal and new European Bauhaus initiative. These digitized processes must be human-centred,
transparent and cost-effective for the permit applicants and authorities. Another objective is to develop and integrate technical solutions
for automating compliance checking of buildings in their design, construction and renovation/demolition lifecycle phases. All this will
be based on open and neutral data exchange standards. ACCORD will develop a semantic framework for European digital building
permitting processes, regulations, data and tools. This framework will drive rule formalization and integration of existing compliance
tools as microservices. Solutions and tools are to be developed, providing consistency, interoperability and reliability with national
regulatory frameworks, processes and standards. The solutions are implemented and demonstrated across construction projects in various
EU regulatory contexts: UK, Finland, Estonia, Germany and Spain. ACCORD supports work programme KSOs, expected outcomes
and impacts by 1) developing open APIs allowing local authorities to choose their digital services without a lock-in, 2) automating
the checking of environmental regulations (CO2 emissions, LCA and circular economy) by developing machine-readable rules, thus
steering the digital and green transition, and involving relevant stakeholders through co-creation, and 3) creating information guidelines
for structured data models to increase the value of buildings and reduce their operating costs and 4) providing the open ACCORD
framework based on microservices allowing businesses to connect and develop solutions resulting in a scalable, durable and flexible
permitting ecosystem.
Keywords:
– Computer sciences, information science and bioinformatics
– Construction engineering, Municipal and structural engineering
Project number: 101056973
Project name: Automated Compliance Checks for Construction, Renovation or Demolition Works
Project acronym: ACCORD
Call: HORIZON-CL4-2021-TWIN-TRANSITION-01
Topic: HORIZON-CL4-2021-TWIN-TRANSITION-01-10
Type of action: HORIZON Innovation Actions
Granting authority: European Health and Digital Executive Agency
Grant managed through EU Funding & Tenders Portal: Yes (eGrants)
Project starting date: fixed date: 1 September 2022
Project end date: 31 August 2025
Project duration: 36 months
Consortium agreement: Yes
2. Participants
List of participants:
Total
Short eligible Max grant
N° Role Legal name Ctry PIC costs
name amount
(BEN
and AE)
1 COO VTT TEKNOLOGIAN TUTKIMUSKESKUS VTT OY FI 932760440 631 875.00 631 875.00
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Total
Short eligible Max grant
N° Role Legal name Ctry PIC costs
name amount
(BEN
and AE)
2 BEN FHG FRAUNHOFER GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FORDERUNG DE 999984059 456 843.75 456 843.07
DER ANGEWANDTEN FORSCHUNG EV
2.1 AE UNIKO UNIVERSITAET KOBLENZ-LANDAU DE 999856407 185 625.00 185 625.00
3 BEN OGC OPEN GEOSPATIAL CONSORTIUM EUROPE BE 899555206 356 036.25 356 036.00
4 BEN ACE CONSEIL DES ARCHITECTES D'EUROPE BE 924742517 112 500.00 112 500.00
5 BEN MKM MAJANDUS JA KOMMUNIKATSIOONIMINISTEERIUM EE 963638450 48 750.00 48 750.00
6 BEN HAM FREIE UND HANSESTADT HAMBURG DE 998928602 123 325.00 123 325.00
7 BEN AMM AYUNTAMIENTO DE MALGRAT DE MAR ES 890717827 49 130.00 49 130.00
8 BEN ONTO SIRMA AI EAD BG 900925331 285 937.50 200 156.00
9 BEN SOL SOLIBRI OY FI 888132001 473 750.00 331 625.00
10 BEN FUI FUTURE INSIGHT GROUP BV NL 928328025 568 750.00 398 125.00
11 BEN AE AETHER ENGINEERING S.A.S. TRA PROFESSIONISTI IT 923674935 72 884.18 51 018.93
DI CHRISTOVASILIS IOANNIS
12 BEN IMT INSTITUT MINES-TELECOM FR 999849326 141 320.00 141 320.00
13 BEN ITeC INSTITUT DE TECNOLOGIA DE LA CONSTRUCCION ES 945306517 50 000.00 50 000.00
DE CATALUNYA
14 BEN FUNITEC FUNDACIO PRIVADA UNIVERSITAT I TECNOLOGIA ES 997191235 151 250.00 151 250.00
15 BEN JU STIFTELSEN HOGSKOLAN I JONKOPING SE 997539271 191 750.00 191 750.00
16 BEN CP CLOUDPERMIT OY FI 887892120 242 968.75 170 078.00
17 BEN TEGEL TEGEL PROJEKT GMBH DE 934242503 176 250.00 176 250.00
18 AP CU CARDIFF UNIVERSITY UK 999979694 0.00 0.00
19 AP BCU BIRMINGHAM CITY UNIVERSITY UK 998955374 0.00 0.00
20 AP BSI BUILDINGSMART INTERNATIONAL LIMITED UK 993336067 0.00 0.00
Total 4 318 945.43 3 825 657.00
Coordinator:
– TEKNOLOGIAN TUTKIMUSKESKUS VTT OY (VTT)
3. Grant
Maximum grant amount, total estimated eligible costs and contributions and funding rate:
Total eligible costs Funding rate Maximum grant amount Maximum grant amount
(BEN and AE) (%) (Annex 2) (award decision)
4 318 945.43 100, 70 3 825 657.00 3 825 657.00
Grant form: Budget-based
Grant mode: Action grant
Budget categories/activity types:
- A. Personnel costs
- A.1 Employees, A.2 Natural persons under direct contract, A.3 Seconded persons
- A.4 SME owners and natural person beneficiaries
- B. Subcontracting costs
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- C. Purchase costs
- C.1 Travel and subsistence
- C.2 Equipment
- C.3 Other goods, works and services
- D. Other cost categories
- D.2 Internally invoiced goods and services
- E. Indirect costs
Cost eligibility options:
- In-kind contributions eligible costs
- Parental leave
- Project-based supplementary payments
- Average personnel costs (unit cost according to usual cost accounting practices)
- Limitation for subcontracting
- Travel and subsistence:
- Travel: Actual costs
- Accommodation: Actual costs
- Subsistence: Actual costs
- Equipment: depreciation only
- Indirect cost flat-rate: 25% of the eligible direct costs (categories A-D, except volunteers costs, subcontracting
costs, financial support to third parties and exempted specific cost categories, if any)
- VAT: Yes
- Other ineligible costs
Budget flexibility: Yes (no flexibility cap)
4. Reporting, payments and recoveries
4.1 Continuous reporting (art 21)
Deliverables: see Funding & Tenders Portal Continuous Reporting tool
4.2 Periodic reporting and payments
Reporting and payment schedule (art 21, 22):
Reporting Payments
Deadline
Reporting periods Type Deadline Type
(time to pay)
RP No Month from Month to
30 days from entry
into force/10 days
Initial prefinancing before starting
date – whichever
is the latest
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Reporting Payments
Deadline
Reporting periods Type Deadline Type
(time to pay)
RP No Month from Month to
1 1 18 Periodic report 60 days after end Interim payment 90 days from
of reporting period receiving
periodic report
2 19 36 Periodic report 60 days after end Final payment 90 days from
of reporting period receiving
periodic report
Prefinancing payments and guarantees:
Prefinancing payment
Type Amount
Prefinancing 1 (initial) 3 060 525.60
Reporting and payment modalities (art 21, 22):
Mutual Insurance Mechanism (MIM): Yes
MIM contribution: 5% of the maximum grant amount (191 282.85), retained from the initial prefinancing
Restrictions on distribution of initial prefinancing: The prefinancing may be distributed only if the minimum number of
beneficiaries set out in the call condititions (if any) have acceded to the Agreement and only to beneficiaries that have
acceded.
Interim payment ceiling (if any): 90% of the maximum grant amount
Exception for revenues: Yes
No-profit rule: Yes
Late payment interest: ECB + 3.5%
Bank account for payments:
FI0750000121503659
Conversion into euros: Double conversion
Reporting language: Language of the Agreement
4.3 Certificates (art 24):
Certificates on the financial statements (CFS):
Conditions:
Schedule: only at final payment, if threshold is reached
Standard threshold (beneficiary-level):
- financial statement: requested EU contribution to costs ≥ EUR 430 000.00
Special threshold for beneficiaries with a systems and process audit(see Article 24): financial statement: requested
EU contribution to costs ≥ EUR 725 000.00
4.4 Recoveries (art 22)
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First-line liability for recoveries:
Beneficiary termination: Beneficiary concerned
Final payment: Each beneficiary for their own debt
After final payment: Beneficiary concerned
Joint and several liability for enforced recoveries (in case of non-payment):
Individual financial responsibility: Each beneficiary is liable only for its own debts (and those of its affiliated entities,
if any)
5. Consequences of non-compliance, applicable law & dispute settlement forum
Suspension and termination:
Additional suspension grounds (art 31)
Additional termination grounds (art 32)
Applicable law (art 43):
Standard applicable law regime: EU law + law of Belgium
Dispute settlement forum (art 43):
Standard dispute settlement forum:
EU beneficiaries: EU General Court + EU Court of Justice (on appeal)
Non-EU beneficiaries: Courts of Brussels, Belgium (unless an international agreement provides for the
enforceability of EU court judgements)
6. Other
Specific rules (Annex 5): Yes
Standard time-limits after project end:
Confidentiality (for X years after final payment): 5
Record-keeping (for X years after final payment): 5 (or 3 for grants of not more than EUR 60 000)
Reviews (up to X years after final payment): 2
Audits (up to X years after final payment): 2
Extension of findings from other grants to this grant (no later than X years after final payment): 2
Impact evaluation (up to X years after final payment): 5 (or 3 for grants of not more than EUR 60 000)
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CHAPTER 1 GENERAL
ARTICLE 1 — SUBJECT OF THE AGREEMENT
This Agreement sets out the rights and obligations and terms and conditions applicable to the grant
awarded for the implementation of the action set out in Chapter 2.
ARTICLE 2 — DEFINITIONS
For the purpose of this Agreement, the following definitions apply:
Actions — The project which is being funded in the context of this Agreement.
Grant — The grant awarded in the context of this Agreement.
EU grants — Grants awarded by EU institutions, bodies, offices or agencies (including EU executive
agencies, EU regulatory agencies, EDA, joint undertakings, etc.).
Participants — Entities participating in the action as beneficiaries, affiliated entities, associated
partners, third parties giving in-kind contributions, subcontractors or recipients of
financial support to third parties.
Beneficiaries (BEN) — The signatories of this Agreement (either directly or through an accession
form).
Affiliated entities (AE) — Entities affiliated to a beneficiary within the meaning of Article 187 of
EU Financial Regulation 2018/10464 which participate in the action with similar rights
and obligations as the beneficiaries (obligation to implement action tasks and right to
charge costs and claim contributions).
Associated partners (AP) — Entities which participate in the action, but without the right to charge
costs or claim contributions.
Purchases — Contracts for goods, works or services needed to carry out the action (e.g. equipment,
consumables and supplies) but which are not part of the action tasks (see Annex 1).
Subcontracting — Contracts for goods, works or services that are part of the action tasks (see Annex 1).
In-kind contributions — In-kind contributions within the meaning of Article 2(36) of EU Financial
4 For the definition, see Article 187 Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 of the European Parliament and of the Council
of 18 July 2018 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union, amending Regulations (EU)
No 1296/2013, (EU) No 1301/2013, (EU) No 1303/2013, (EU) No 1304/2013, (EU) No 1309/2013, (EU) No 1316/2013,
(EU) No 223/2014, (EU) No 283/2014, and Decision No 541/2014/EU and repealing Regulation (EU, Euratom)
No 966/2012 (‘EU Financial Regulation’) (OJ L 193, 30.7.2018, p. 1): “affiliated entities [are]:
(a) entities that form a sole beneficiary [(i.e. where an entity is formed of several entities that satisfy the criteria for
being awarded a grant, including where the entity is specifically established for the purpose of implementing an
action to be financed by a grant)];
(b) entities that satisfy the eligibility criteria and that do not fall within one of the situations referred to in Article 136(1)
and 141(1) and that have a link with the beneficiary, in particular a legal or capital link, which is neither limited to
the action nor established for the sole purpose of its implementation”.
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Regulation 2018/1046, i.e. non-financial resources made available free of charge by
third parties.
Fraud — Fraud within the meaning of Article 3 of EU Directive 2017/13715 and Article 1 of the
Convention on the protection of the European Communities’ financial interests, drawn
up by the Council Act of 26 July 19956, as well as any other wrongful or criminal
deception intended to result in financial or personal gain.
Irregularities — Any type of breach (regulatory or contractual) which could impact the EU
financial interests, including irregularities within the meaning of Article 1(2) of EU
Regulation 2988/957.
Grave professional misconduct — Any type of unacceptable or improper behaviour in exercising one’s
profession, especially by employees, including grave professional misconduct within
the meaning of Article 136(1)(c) of EU Financial Regulation 2018/1046.
Applicable EU, international and national law — Any legal acts or other (binding or non-binding)
rules and guidance in the area concerned.
Portal — EU Funding & Tenders Portal; electronic portal and exchange system managed by the
European Commission and used by itself and other EU institutions, bodies, offices
or agencies for the management of their funding programmes (grants, procurements,
prizes, etc.).
CHAPTER 2 ACTION
ARTICLE 3 — ACTION
The grant is awarded for the action 101056973 — ACCORD (‘action’), as described in Annex 1.
ARTICLE 4 — DURATION AND STARTING DATE
The duration and the starting date of the action are set out in the Data Sheet (see Point 1).
CHAPTER 3 GRANT
ARTICLE 5 — GRANT
5.1 Form of grant
The grant is an action grant8 which takes the form of a budget-based mixed actual cost grant (i.e. a
5 Directive (EU) 2017/1371 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 July 2017 on the fight against fraud to
the Union’s financial interests by means of criminal law (OJ L 198, 28.7.2017, p. 29).
6 OJ C 316, 27.11.1995, p. 48.
7 Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95 of 18 December 1995 on the protection of the European Communities
financial interests (OJ L 312, 23.12.1995, p. 1).
8 For the definition, see Article 180(2)(a) EU Financial Regulation 2018/1046: ‘action grant’ means an EU grant to
finance “an action intended to help achieve a Union policy objective”.
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grant based on actual costs incurred, but which may also include other forms of funding, such as unit
costs or contributions, flat-rate costs or contributions, lump sum costs or contributions or financing
not linked to costs).
5.2 Maximum grant amount
The maximum grant amount is set out in the Data Sheet (see Point 3) and in the estimated budget
(Annex 2).
5.3 Funding rate
The funding rate for costs is 100% of the eligible costs for beneficiaries that are non-profit legal
entities9 and 70% of the eligible costs for beneficiaries that are profit legal entities.
Contributions are not subject to any funding rate.
5.4 Estimated budget, budget categories and forms of funding
The estimated budget for the action is set out in Annex 2.
It contains the estimated eligible costs and contributions for the action, broken down by participant
and budget category.
Annex 2 also shows the types of costs and contributions (forms of funding)10 to be used for each
budget category.
If unit costs or contributions are used, the details on the calculation will be explained in Annex 2a.
5.5 Budget flexibility
The budget breakdown may be adjusted — without an amendment (see Article 39) — by transfers
(between participants and budget categories), as long as this does not imply any substantive or
important change to the description of the action in Annex 1.
However:
- changes to the budget category for volunteers (if used) always require an amendment
- changes to budget categories with lump sums costs or contributions (if used; including
financing not linked to costs) always require an amendment
- changes to budget categories with higher funding rates or budget ceilings (if used) always
require an amendment
- addition of amounts for subcontracts not provided for in Annex 1 either require an amendment
or simplified approval in accordance with Article 6.2
9 For the definition, see Article XX of the Horizon Europe Framework Programme and Rules for Participation Regulation
(EU) XXX: ‘non-profit legal entity’ means a legal entity which by its legal form is non-profit-making or which has a
legal or statutory obligation not to distribute profits to its shareholders or individual members.
10 See Article 125 EU Financial Regulation 2018/1046.
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- other changes require an amendment or simplified approval, if specifically provided for in
Article 6.2
- flexibility caps: not applicable.
ARTICLE 6 — ELIGIBLE AND INELIGIBLE COSTS AND CONTRIBUTIONS
In order to be eligible, costs and contributions must meet the eligibility conditions set out in this
Article.
6.1 General eligibility conditions
The general eligibility conditions are the following:
(a) for actual costs:
(i) they must be actually incurred by the beneficiary
(ii) they must be incurred in the period set out in Article 4 (with the exception of costs relating
to the submission of the final periodic report, which may be incurred afterwards; see
Article 21)
(iii) they must be declared under one of the budget categories set out in Article 6.2 and
Annex 2
(iv) they must be incurred in connection with the action as described in Annex 1 and necessary
for its implementation
(v) they must be identifiable and verifiable, in particular recorded in the beneficiary’s
accounts in accordance with the accounting standards applicable in the country where
the beneficiary is established and with the beneficiary’s usual cost accounting practices
(vi) they must comply with the applicable national law on taxes, labour and social security
and
(vii) they must be reasonable, justified and must comply with the principle of sound financial
management, in particular regarding economy and efficiency
(b) for unit costs or contributions (if any):
(i) they must be declared under one of the budget categories set out in Article 6.2 and
Annex 2
(ii) the units must:
- be actually used or produced by the beneficiary in the period set out in Article 4
(with the exception of units relating to the submission of the final periodic report,
which may be used or produced afterwards; see Article 21)
- be necessary for the implementation of the action and
(iii) the number of units must be identifiable and verifiable, in particular supported by records
and documentation (see Article 20)
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(c) for flat-rate costs or contributions (if any):
(i) they must be declared under one of the budget categories set out in Article 6.2 and
Annex 2
(ii) the costs or contributions to which the flat-rate is applied must:
- be eligible
- relate to the period set out in Article 4 (with the exception of costs or contributions
relating to the submission of the final periodic report, which may be incurred
afterwards; see Article 21)
(d) for lump sum costs or contributions (if any):
(i) they must be declared under one of the budget categories set out in Article 6.2 and
Annex 2
(ii) the work must be properly implemented by the beneficiary in accordance with Annex 1
(iii) the deliverables/outputs must be achieved in the period set out in Article 4 (with the
exception of deliverables/outputs relating to the submission of the final periodic report,
which may be achieved afterwards; see Article 21)
(e) for unit, flat-rate or lump sum costs or contributions according to usual cost accounting
practices (if any):
(i) they must fulfil the general eligibility conditions for the type of cost concerned
(ii) the cost accounting practices must be applied in a consistent manner, based on objective
criteria, regardless of the source of funding
(f) for financing not linked to costs (if any): the results must be achieved or the conditions must
be fulfilled as described in Annex 1.
In addition, for direct cost categories (e.g. personnel, travel & subsistence, subcontracting and other
direct costs) only costs that are directly linked to the action implementation and can therefore be
attributed to it directly are eligible. They must not include any indirect costs (i.e. costs that are only
indirectly linked to the action, e.g. via cost drivers).
In-kind contributions provided by third parties free of charge may be declared as eligible direct costs
by the beneficiaries which use them (under the same conditions as if they were their own, provided
that they concern only direct costs and that the third parties and their in-kind contributions are set
out in Annex 1 (or approved ex post in the periodic report, if their use does not entail changes to the
Agreement which would call into question the decision awarding the grant or breach the principle of
equal treatment of applicants; ‘simplified approval procedure’).
6.2 Specific eligibility conditions for each budget category
For each budget category, the specific eligibility conditions are as follows:
Direct costs
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A. Personnel costs
A.1 Costs for employees (or equivalent) are eligible as personnel costs if they fulfil the general
eligibility conditions and are related to personnel working for the beneficiary under an employment
contract (or equivalent appointing act) and assigned to the action.
They must be limited to salaries (including net payments during parental leave), social security
contributions, taxes and other costs linked to the remuneration, if they arise from national law or the
employment contract (or equivalent appointing act) and be calculated on the basis of the costs actually
incurred, in accordance with the following method:
{daily rate for the person
multiplied by
number of day-equivalents worked on the action (rounded up or down to the nearest half-day)}.
The daily rate must be calculated as:
{annual personnel costs for the person
divided by
215}.
The number of day-equivalents declared for a person must be identifiable and verifiable (see
Article 20).
The actual time spent on parental leave by a person assigned to the action may be deducted from the
215 days indicated in the above formula.
The total number of day-equivalents declared in EU grants, for a person for a year, cannot be higher
than 215, minus time spent on parental leave (if any).
For personnel which receives supplementary payments for work in projects (project-based
remuneration), the personnel costs must be calculated at a rate which:
- corresponds to the actual remuneration costs paid by the beneficiary for the time worked by
the person in the action over the reporting period
- does not exceed the remuneration costs paid by the beneficiary for work in similar projects
funded by national schemes (‘national projects reference’)
- is defined based on objective criteria allowing to determine the amount to which the person
is entitled
and
- reflects the usual practice of the beneficiary to pay consistently bonuses or supplementary
payments for work in projects funded by national schemes.
The national projects reference is the remuneration defined in national law, collective labour
agreement or written internal rules of the beneficiary applicable to work in projects funded by national
schemes.
If there is no such national law, collective labour agreement or written internal rules or if the project-
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based remuneration is not based on objective criteria, the national project reference will be the average
remuneration of the person in the last full calendar year covered by the reporting period, excluding
remuneration paid for work in EU actions.
If the beneficiary uses average personnel costs (unit cost according to usual cost accounting practices),
the personnel costs must fulfil the general eligibility conditions for such unit costs and the daily rate
must be calculated:
- using the actual personnel costs recorded in the beneficiary’s accounts and excluding any
costs which are ineligible or already included in other budget categories; the actual personnel
costs may be adjusted on the basis of budgeted or estimated elements, if they are relevant
for calculating the personnel costs, reasonable and correspond to objective and verifiable
information
and
- according to usual cost accounting practices which are applied in a consistent manner, based
on objective criteria, regardless of the source of funding.
A.2 and A.3 Costs for natural persons working under a direct contract other than an employment
contract and costs for seconded persons by a third party against payment are also eligible as
personnel costs, if they are assigned to the action, fulfil the general eligibility conditions and:
(a) work under conditions similar to those of an employee (in particular regarding the way the
work is organised, the tasks that are performed and the premises where they are performed) and
(b) the result of the work belongs to the beneficiary (unless agreed otherwise).
They must be calculated on the basis of a rate which corresponds to the costs actually incurred for
the direct contract or secondment and must not be significantly different from those for personnel
performing similar tasks under an employment contract with the beneficiary.
A.4 The work of SME owners for the action (i.e. owners of beneficiaries that are small and medium-
sized enterprises11 not receiving a salary) or natural person beneficiaries (i.e. beneficiaries that are
natural persons not receiving a salary) may be declared as personnel costs, if they fulfil the general
eligibility conditions and are calculated as unit costs in accordance with the method set out in Annex
2a.
B. Subcontracting costs
Subcontracting costs for the action (including related duties, taxes and charges, such as non-
deductible or non-refundable value added tax (VAT)) are eligible, if they are calculated on the basis
11 For the definition, see Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC: micro, small or medium-sized enterprise (SME)
are enterprises
- engaged in an economic activity, irrespective of their legal form (including, in particular, self- employed persons
and family businesses engaged in craft or other activities, and partnerships or associations regularly engaged
in an economic activity) and
- employing fewer than 250 persons (expressed in ‘annual working units’ as defined in Article 5 of the
Recommendation) and which have an annual turnover not exceeding EUR 50 million, and/or an annual balance
sheet total not exceeding EUR 43 million.
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of the costs actually incurred, fulfil the general eligibility conditions and are awarded using the
beneficiary’s usual purchasing practices — provided these ensure subcontracts with best value for
money (or if appropriate the lowest price) and that there is no conflict of interests (see Article 12).
Beneficiaries that are ‘contracting authorities/entities’ within the meaning of the EU Directives on
public procurement must also comply with the applicable national law on public procurement.
Subcontracting may cover only a limited part of the action.
The tasks to be subcontracted and the estimated cost for each subcontract must be set out in Annex 1
and the total estimated costs of subcontracting per beneficiary must be set out in Annex 2 (or may
be approved ex post in the periodic report, if the use of subcontracting does not entail changes to the
Agreement which would call into question the decision awarding the grant or breach the principle of
equal treatment of applicants; ‘simplified approval procedure’).
C. Purchase costs
Purchase costs for the action (including related duties, taxes and charges, such as non-deductible or
non-refundable value added tax (VAT)) are eligible if they fulfil the general eligibility conditions and
are bought using the beneficiary’s usual purchasing practices — provided these ensure purchases with
best value for money (or if appropriate the lowest price) and that there is no conflict of interests (see
Article 12).
Beneficiaries that are ‘contracting authorities/entities’ within the meaning of the EU Directives on
public procurement must also comply with the applicable national law on public procurement.
C.1 Travel and subsistence
Purchases for travel, accommodation and subsistence must be calculated as follows:
- travel: on the basis of the costs actually incurred and in line with the beneficiary’s usual
practices on travel
- accommodation: on the basis of the costs actually incurred and in line with the beneficiary’s
usual practices on travel
- subsistence: on the basis of the costs actually incurred and in line with the beneficiary’s usual
practices on travel .
C.2 Equipment
Purchases of equipment, infrastructure or other assets used for the action must be declared as
depreciation costs, calculated on the basis of the costs actually incurred and written off in accordance
with international accounting standards and the beneficiary’s usual accounting practices.
Only the portion of the costs that corresponds to the rate of actual use for the action during the action
duration can be taken into account.
Costs for renting or leasing equipment, infrastructure or other assets are also eligible, if they do not
exceed the depreciation costs of similar equipment, infrastructure or assets and do not include any
financing fees.
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C.3 Other goods, works and services
Purchases of other goods, works and services must be calculated on the basis of the costs actually
incurred.
Such goods, works and services include, for instance, consumables and supplies, promotion,
dissemination, protection of results, translations, publications, certificates and financial guarantees,
if required under the Agreement.
D. Other cost categories
D.2 Internally invoiced goods and services
Costs for internally invoiced goods and services directly used for the action may be declared as unit
cost according to usual cost accounting practices, if and as declared eligible in the call conditions, if
they fulfil the general eligibility conditions for such unit costs and the amount per unit is calculated:
- using the actual costs for the good or service recorded in the beneficiary’s accounts, attributed
either by direct measurement or on the basis of cost drivers, and excluding any cost which
are ineligible or already included in other budget categories; the actual costs may be adjusted
on the basis of budgeted or estimated elements, if they are relevant for calculating the costs,
reasonable and correspond to objective and verifiable information
and
- according to usual cost accounting practices which are applied in a consistent manner, based
on objective criteria, regardless of the source of funding.
‘Internally invoiced goods and services’ means goods or services which are provided within the
beneficiary’s organisation directly for the action and which the beneficiary values on the basis of its
usual cost accounting practices.
This cost will not be taken into account for the indirect cost flat-rate.
Indirect costs
E. Indirect costs
Indirect costs will be reimbursed at the flat-rate of 25% of the eligible direct costs (categories A-D,
except volunteers costs, subcontracting costs, financial support to third parties and exempted specific
cost categories, if any).
Contributions
Not applicable
6.3 Ineligible costs and contributions
The following costs or contributions are ineligible:
(a) costs or contributions that do not comply with the conditions set out above (Article 6.1 and
6.2), in particular:
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(i) costs related to return on capital and dividends paid by a beneficiary
(ii) debt and debt service charges
(iii) provisions for future losses or debts
(iv) interest owed
(v) currency exchange losses
(vi) bank costs charged by the beneficiary’s bank for transfers from the granting authority
(vii) excessive or reckless expenditure
(viii) deductible or refundable VAT (including VAT paid by public bodies acting as public
authority)
(ix) costs incurred or contributions for activities implemented during grant agreement
suspension (see Article 31)
(x) in-kind contributions by third parties: not applicable
(b) costs or contributions declared under other EU grants (or grants awarded by an EU Member
State, non-EU country or other body implementing the EU budget), except for the following
cases:
(i) Synergy actions: not applicable
(ii) if the action grant is combined with an operating grant12 running during the same period
and the beneficiary can demonstrate that the operating grant does not cover any (direct
or indirect) costs of the action grant
(c) costs or contributions for staff of a national (or regional/local) administration, for activities that
are part of the administration’s normal activities (i.e. not undertaken only because of the grant)
(d) costs or contributions (especially travel and subsistence) for staff or representatives of EU
institutions, bodies or agencies
(e) other :
(i) country restrictions for eligible costs: not applicable
(ii) costs or contributions declared specifically ineligible in the call conditions.
6.4 Consequences of non-compliance
If a beneficiary declares costs or contributions that are ineligible, they will be rejected (see Article 27).
This may also lead to other measures described in Chapter 5.
12 For the definition, see Article 180(2)(b) of EU Financial Regulation 2018/1046: ‘operating grant’ means an EU grant
to finance “the functioning of a body which has an objective forming part of and supporting an EU policy”.
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CHAPTER 4 GRANT IMPLEMENTATION
SECTION 1 CONSORTIUM: BENEFICIARIES, AFFILIATED ENTITIES AND OTHER
PARTICIPANTS
ARTICLE 7 — BENEFICIARIES
The beneficiaries, as signatories of the Agreement, are fully responsible towards the granting authority
for implementing it and for complying with all its obligations.
They must implement the Agreement to their best abilities, in good faith and in accordance with all
the obligations and terms and conditions it sets out.
They must have the appropriate resources to implement the action and implement the action under
their own responsibility and in accordance with Article 11. If they rely on affiliated entities or other
participants (see Articles 8 and 9), they retain sole responsibility towards the granting authority and
the other beneficiaries.
They are jointly responsible for the technical implementation of the action. If one of the beneficiaries
fails to implement their part of the action, the other beneficiaries must ensure that this part is
implemented by someone else (without being entitled to an increase of the maximum grant amount
and subject to an amendment; see Article 39). The financial responsibility of each beneficiary in case
of recoveries is governed by Article 22.
The beneficiaries (and their action) must remain eligible under the EU programme funding the grant
for the entire duration of the action. Costs and contributions will be eligible only as long as the
beneficiary and the action are eligible.
The internal roles and responsibilities of the beneficiaries are divided as follows:
(a) Each beneficiary must:
(i) keep information stored in the Portal Participant Register up to date (see Article 19)
(ii) inform the granting authority (and the other beneficiaries) immediately of any events or
circumstances likely to affect significantly or delay the implementation of the action (see
Article 19)
(iii) submit to the coordinator in good time:
- the prefinancing guarantees (if required; see Article 23)
- the financial statements and certificates on the financial statements (CFS) (if
required; see Articles 21 and 24.2 and Data Sheet, Point 4.3)
- the contribution to the deliverables and technical reports (see Article 21)
- any other documents or information required by the granting authority under the
Agreement
(iv) submit via the Portal data and information related to the participation of their affiliated
entities.
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(b) The coordinator must:
(i) monitor that the action is implemented properly (see Article 11)
(ii) act as the intermediary for all communications between the consortium and the granting
authority, unless the Agreement or granting authority specifies otherwise, and in
particular:
- submit the prefinancing guarantees to the granting authority (if any)
- request and review any documents or information required and verify their quality
and completeness before passing them on to the granting authority
- submit the deliverables and reports to the granting authority
- inform the granting authority about the payments made to the other beneficiaries
(report on the distribution of payments; if required, see Articles 22 and 32)
(iii) distribute the payments received from the granting authority to the other beneficiaries
without unjustified delay (see Article 22).
The coordinator may not delegate or subcontract the above-mentioned tasks to any other beneficiary
or third party (including affiliated entities).
However, coordinators which are public bodies may delegate the tasks set out in Point (b)(ii) last
indent and (iii) above to entities with ‘authorisation to administer’ which they have created or which
are controlled by or affiliated to them. In this case, the coordinator retains sole responsibility for the
payments and for compliance with the obligations under the Agreement.
Moreover, coordinators which are ‘sole beneficiaries’13 (or similar, such as European research
infrastructure consortia (ERICs)) may delegate the tasks set out in Point (b)(i) to (iii) above to one of
their members. The coordinator retains sole responsibility for compliance with the obligations under
the Agreement.
The beneficiaries must have internal arrangements regarding their operation and co-ordination, to
ensure that the action is implemented properly.
If required by the granting authority (see Data Sheet, Point 1), these arrangements must be set out in
a written consortium agreement between the beneficiaries, covering for instance:
- the internal organisation of the consortium
- the management of access to the Portal
- different distribution keys for the payments and financial responsibilities in case of recoveries
(if any)
- additional rules on rights and obligations related to background and results (see Article 16)
13 For the definition, see Article 187(2) EU Financial Regulation 2018/1046: “Where several entities satisfy the criteria
for being awarded a grant and together form one entity, that entity may be treated as the sole beneficiary, including
where it is specifically established for the purpose of implementing the action financed by the grant.”
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- settlement of internal disputes
- liability, indemnification and confidentiality arrangements between the beneficiaries.
The internal arrangements must not contain any provision contrary to this Agreement.
ARTICLE 8 — AFFILIATED ENTITIES
The following entities which are linked to a beneficiary will participate in the action as ‘affiliated
entities’:
- UNIVERSITAET KOBLENZ-LANDAU (UNIKO), PIC 999856407, linked to
FRAUNHOFER GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FORDERUNG DER ANGEWANDTEN
FORSCHUNG EV (FHG)
Affiliated entities can charge costs and contributions to the action under the same conditions as the
beneficiaries and must implement the action tasks attributed to them in Annex 1 in accordance with
Article 11.
Their costs and contributions will be included in Annex 2 and will be taken into account for the
calculation of the grant.
The beneficiaries must ensure that all their obligations under this Agreement also apply to their
affiliated entities.
The beneficiaries must ensure that the bodies mentioned in Article 25 (e.g. granting authority, OLAF,
Court of Auditors (ECA), etc.) can exercise their rights also towards the affiliated entities.
Breaches by affiliated entities will be handled in the same manner as breaches by beneficiaries.
Recovery of undue amounts will be handled through the beneficiaries.
If the granting authority requires joint and several liability of affiliated entities (see Data Sheet,
Point 4.4), they must sign the declaration set out in Annex 3a and may be held liable in case of enforced
recoveries against their beneficiaries (see Article 22.2 and 22.4).
ARTICLE 9 — OTHER PARTICIPANTS INVOLVED IN THE ACTION
9.1 Associated partners
The following entities which cooperate with a beneficiary will participate in the action as ‘associated
partners’:
- CARDIFF UNIVERSITY (CU), PIC 999979694
- BIRMINGHAM CITY UNIVERSITY (BCU), PIC 998955374
- BUILDINGSMART INTERNATIONAL LIMITED (BSI), PIC 993336067
Associated partners must implement the action tasks attributed to them in Annex 1 in accordance with
Article 11. They may not charge costs or contributions to the action and the costs for their tasks are
not eligible.
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The tasks must be set out in Annex 1.
The beneficiaries must ensure that their contractual obligations under Articles 11 (proper
implementation), 12 (conflict of interests), 13 (confidentiality and security), 14 (ethics), 17.2
(visibility), 18 (specific rules for carrying out action), 19 (information) and 20 (record-keeping) also
apply to the associated partners.
The beneficiaries must ensure that the bodies mentioned in Article 25 (e.g. granting authority, OLAF,
Court of Auditors (ECA), etc.) can exercise their rights also towards the associated partners.
9.2 Third parties giving in-kind contributions to the action
Other third parties may give in-kind contributions to the action (i.e. personnel, equipment, other goods,
works and services, etc. which are free-of-charge) if necessary for the implementation.
Third parties giving in-kind contributions do not implement any action tasks. They may not charge
costs or contributions to the action, but the costs for the in-kind contributions are eligible and may be
charged by the beneficiaries which use them, under the conditions set out in Article 6. The costs will
be included in Annex 2 as part of the beneficiaries’ costs.
The third parties and their in-kind contributions should be set out in Annex 1.
The beneficiaries must ensure that the bodies mentioned in Article 25 (e.g. granting authority, OLAF,
Court of Auditors (ECA), etc.) can exercise their rights also towards the third parties giving in-kind
contributions.
9.3 Subcontractors
Subcontractors may participate in the action, if necessary for the implementation.
Subcontractors must implement their action tasks in accordance with Article 11. The costs for the
subcontracted tasks (invoiced price from the subcontractor) are eligible and may be charged by the
beneficiaries, under the conditions set out in Article 6. The costs will be included in Annex 2 as part
of the beneficiaries’ costs.
The beneficiaries must ensure that their contractual obligations under Articles 11 (proper
implementation), 12 (conflict of interest), 13 (confidentiality and security), 14 (ethics), 17.2
(visibility), 18 (specific rules for carrying out action), 19 (information) and 20 (record-keeping) also
apply to the subcontractors.
The beneficiaries must ensure that the bodies mentioned in Article 25 (e.g. granting authority, OLAF,
Court of Auditors (ECA), etc.) can exercise their rights also towards the subcontractors.
9.4 Recipients of financial support to third parties
If the action includes providing financial support to third parties (e.g. grants, prizes or similar forms of
support), the beneficiaries must ensure that their contractual obligations under Articles 12 (conflict of
interest), 13 (confidentiality and security), 14 (ethics), 17.2 (visibility), 18 (specific rules for carrying
out action), 19 (information) and 20 (record-keeping)also apply to the third parties receiving the
support (recipients).
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The beneficiaries must also ensure that the bodies mentioned in Article 25 (e.g. granting authority,
OLAF, Court of Auditors (ECA), etc.) can exercise their rights also towards the recipients.
ARTICLE 10 — PARTICIPANTS WITH SPECIAL STATUS
10.1 Non-EU participants
Participants which are established in a non-EU country (if any) undertake to comply with their
obligations under the Agreement and:
- to respect general principles (including fundamental rights, values and ethical principles,
environmental and labour standards, rules on classified information, intellectual property
rights, visibility of funding and protection of personal data)
- for the submission of certificates under Article 24: to use qualified external auditors which
are independent and comply with comparable standards as those set out in EU Directive
2006/43/EC14
- for the controls under Article 25: to allow for checks, reviews, audits and investigations
(including on-the-spot checks, visits and inspections) by the bodies mentioned in that Article
(e.g. granting authority, OLAF, Court of Auditors (ECA), etc.).
Special rules on dispute settlement apply (see Data Sheet, Point 5).
10.2 Participants which are international organisations
Participants which are international organisations (IOs; if any) undertake to comply with their
obligations under the Agreement and:
- to respect general principles (including fundamental rights, values and ethical principles,
environmental and labour standards, rules on classified information, intellectual property
rights, visibility of funding and protection of personal data)
- for the submission of certificates under Article 24: to use either independent public officers or
external auditors which comply with comparable standards as those set out in EU Directive
2006/43/EC
- for the controls under Article 25: to allow for the checks, reviews, audits and investigations
by the bodies mentioned in that Article, taking into account the specific agreements concluded
by them and the EU (if any).
For such participants, nothing in the Agreement will be interpreted as a waiver of their privileges or
immunities, as accorded by their constituent documents or international law.
Special rules on applicable law and dispute settlement apply (see Article 43 and Data Sheet, Point 5).
10.3 Pillar-assessed participants
14 Directive 2006/43/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 May 2006 on statutory audits of annual
accounts and consolidated accounts or similar national regulations (OJ L 157, 9.6.2006, p. 87).
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Pillar-assessed participants (if any) may rely on their own systems, rules and procedures, in so far as
they have been positively assessed and do not call into question the decision awarding the grant or
breach the principle of equal treatment of applicants or beneficiaries.
‘Pillar-assessment’ means a review by the European Commission on the systems, rules and procedures
which participants use for managing EU grants (in particular internal control system, accounting
system, external audits, financing of third parties, rules on recovery and exclusion, information on
recipients and protection of personal data; see Article 154 EU Financial Regulation 2018/1046).
Participants with a positive pillar assessment may rely on their own systems, rules and procedures,
in particular for:
- record-keeping (Article 20): may be done in accordance with internal standards, rules and
procedures
- currency conversion for financial statements (Article 21): may be done in accordance with
usual accounting practices
- guarantees (Article 23): for public law bodies, prefinancing guarantees are not needed
- certificates (Article 24):
- certificates on the financial statements (CFS): may be provided by their regular internal
or external auditors and in accordance with their internal financial regulations and
procedures
- certificates on usual accounting practices (CoMUC): are not needed if those practices
are covered by an ex-ante assessment
and use the following specific rules, for:
- recoveries (Article 22): in case of financial support to third parties, there will be no recovery if
the participant has done everything possible to retrieve the undue amounts from the third party
receiving the support (including legal proceedings) and non-recovery is not due to an error or
negligence on its part
- checks, reviews, audits and investigations by the EU (Article 25): will be conducted taking
into account the rules and procedures specifically agreed between them and the framework
agreement (if any)
- impact evaluation (Article 26): will be conducted in accordance with the participant’s internal
rules and procedures and the framework agreement (if any)
- grant agreement suspension (Article 31): certain costs incurred during grant suspension are
eligible (notably, minimum costs necessary for a possible resumption of the action and costs
relating to contracts which were entered into before the pre-information letter was received and
which could not reasonably be suspended, reallocated or terminated on legal grounds)
- grant agreement termination (Article 32): the final grant amount and final payment will be
calculated taking into account also costs relating to contracts due for execution only after
termination takes effect, if the contract was entered into before the pre-information letter was
received and could not reasonably be terminated on legal grounds
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- liability for damages (Article 33.2): the granting authority must be compensated for damage
it sustains as a result of the implementation of the action or because the action was not
implemented in full compliance with the Agreement only if the damage is due to an
infringement of the participant’s internal rules and procedures or due to a violation of third
parties’ rights by the participant or one of its employees or individual for whom the employees
are responsible.
Participants whose pillar assessment covers procurement and granting procedures may also do
purchases, subcontracting and financial support to third parties (Article 6.2) in accordance with their
internal rules and procedures for purchases, subcontracting and financial support.
Participants whose pillar assessment covers data protection rules may rely on their internal standards,
rules and procedures for data protection (Article 15).
The participants may however not rely on provisions which would breach the principle of equal
treatment of applicants or beneficiaries or call into question the decision awarding the grant, such as
in particular:
- eligibility (Article 6)
- consortium roles and set-up (Articles 7-9)
- security and ethics (Articles 13, 14)
- IPR (including background and results, access rights and rights of use), communication,
dissemination and visibility (Articles 16 and 17)
- information obligation (Article 19)
- payment, reporting and amendments (Articles 21, 22 and 39)
- rejections, reductions, suspensions and terminations (Articles 27, 28, 29-32)
If the pillar assessment was subject to remedial measures, reliance on the internal systems, rules and
procedures is subject to compliance with those remedial measures.
Participants whose assessment has not yet been updated to cover (the new rules on) data protection
may rely on their internal systems, rules and procedures, provided that they ensure that personal data is:
- processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner in relation to the data subject
- collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes and not further processed in a manner
that is incompatible with those purposes
- adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary in relation to the purposes for which they
are processed
- accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date
- kept in a form which permits identification of data subjects for no longer than is necessary for
the purposes for which the data is processed and
- processed in a manner that ensures appropriate security of the personal data.
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Participants must inform the coordinator without delay of any changes to the systems, rules and
procedures that were part of the pillar assessment. The coordinator must immediately inform the
granting authority.
Pillar-assessed participants that have also concluded a framework agreement with the EU, may
moreover — under the same conditions as those above (i.e. not call into question the decision awarding
the grant or breach the principle of equal treatment of applicants or beneficiaries) — rely on the
provisions set out in that framework agreement.
SECTION 2 RULES FOR CARRYING OUT THE ACTION
ARTICLE 11 — PROPER IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ACTION
11.1 Obligation to properly implement the action
The beneficiaries must implement the action as described in Annex 1 and in compliance with the
provisions of the Agreement, the call conditions and all legal obligations under applicable EU,
international and national law.
11.2 Consequences of non-compliance
If a beneficiary breaches any of its obligations under this Article, the grant may be reduced (see
Article 28).
Such breaches may also lead to other measures described in Chapter 5.
ARTICLE 12 — CONFLICT OF INTERESTS
12.1 Conflict of interests
The beneficiaries must take all measures to prevent any situation where the impartial and objective
implementation of the Agreement could be compromised for reasons involving family, emotional life,
political or national affinity, economic interest or any other direct or indirect interest (‘conflict of
interests’).
They must formally notify the granting authority without delay of any situation constituting or likely
to lead to a conflict of interests and immediately take all the necessary steps to rectify this situation.
The granting authority may verify that the measures taken are appropriate and may require additional
measures to be taken by a specified deadline.
12.2 Consequences of non-compliance
If a beneficiary breaches any of its obligations under this Article, the grant may be reduced (see
Article 28) and the grant or the beneficiary may be terminated (see Article 32).
Such breaches may also lead to other measures described in Chapter 5.
ARTICLE 13 — CONFIDENTIALITY AND SECURITY
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13.1 Sensitive information
The parties must keep confidential any data, documents or other material (in any form) that is identified
as sensitive in writing (‘sensitive information’) — during the implementation of the action and for at
least until the time-limit set out in the Data Sheet (see Point 6).
If a beneficiary requests, the granting authority may agree to keep such information confidential for
a longer period.
Unless otherwise agreed between the parties, they may use sensitive information only to implement
the Agreement.
The beneficiaries may disclose sensitive information to their personnel or other participants involved
in the action only if they:
(a) need to know it in order to implement the Agreement and
(b) are bound by an obligation of confidentiality.
The granting authority may disclose sensitive information to its staff and to other EU institutions and
bodies.
It may moreover disclose sensitive information to third parties, if:
(a) this is necessary to implement the Agreement or safeguard the EU financial interests and
(b) the recipients of the information are bound by an obligation of confidentiality.
The confidentiality obligations no longer apply if:
(a) the disclosing party agrees to release the other party
(b) the information becomes publicly available, without breaching any confidentiality obligation
(c) the disclosure of the sensitive information is required by EU, international or national law.
Specific confidentiality rules (if any) are set out in Annex 5.
13.2 Classified information
The parties must handle classified information in accordance with the applicable EU, international or
national law on classified information (in particular, Decision 2015/44415 and its implementing rules).
Deliverables which contain classified information must be submitted according to special procedures
agreed with the granting authority.
Action tasks involving classified information may be subcontracted only after explicit approval (in
writing) from the granting authority.
15 Commission Decision 2015/444/EC, Euratom of 13 March 2015 on the security rules for protecting EU classified
information (OJ L 72, 17.3.2015, p. 53).
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Classified information may not be disclosed to any third party (including participants involved in the
action implementation) without prior explicit written approval from the granting authority.
Specific security rules (if any) are set out in Annex 5.
13.3 Consequences of non-compliance
If a beneficiary breaches any of its obligations under this Article, the grant may be reduced (see
Article 28).
Such breaches may also lead to other measures described in Chapter 5.
ARTICLE 14 — ETHICS AND VALUES
14.1 Ethics
The action must be carried out in line with the highest ethical standards and the applicable EU,
international and national law on ethical principles.
Specific ethics rules (if any) are set out in Annex 5.
14.2 Values
The beneficiaries must commit to and ensure the respect of basic EU values (such as respect for
human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and human rights, including the rights
of minorities).
Specific rules on values (if any) are set out in Annex 5.
14.3 Consequences of non-compliance
If a beneficiary breaches any of its obligations under this Article, the grant may be reduced (see
Article 28).
Such breaches may also lead to other measures described in Chapter 5.
ARTICLE 15 — DATA PROTECTION
15.1 Data processing by the granting authority
Any personal data under the Agreement will be processed under the responsibility of the data
controller of the granting authority in accordance with and for the purposes set out in the Portal Privacy
Statement.
For grants where the granting authority is the European Commission, an EU regulatory or executive
agency, joint undertaking or other EU body, the processing will be subject to Regulation 2018/172516.
16 Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of
natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies
and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 and Decision No 1247/2002/EC
(OJ L 295, 21.11.2018, p. 39).
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15.2 Data processing by the beneficiaries
The beneficiaries must process personal data under the Agreement in compliance with the applicable
EU, international and national law on data protection (in particular, Regulation 2016/67917).
They must ensure that personal data is:
- processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner in relation to the data subjects
- collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes and not further processed in a manner
that is incompatible with those purposes
- adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary in relation to the purposes for which they
are processed
- accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date
- kept in a form which permits identification of data subjects for no longer than is necessary for
the purposes for which the data is processed and
- processed in a manner that ensures appropriate security of the data.
The beneficiaries may grant their personnel access to personal data only if it is strictly necessary
for implementing, managing and monitoring the Agreement. The beneficiaries must ensure that the
personnel is under a confidentiality obligation.
The beneficiaries must inform the persons whose data are transferred to the granting authority and
provide them with the Portal Privacy Statement.
15.3 Consequences of non-compliance
If a beneficiary breaches any of its obligations under this Article, the grant may be reduced (see
Article 28).
Such breaches may also lead to other measures described in Chapter 5.
ARTICLE 16 — INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS (IPR) — BACKGROUND AND
RESULTS —ACCESS RIGHTS AND RIGHTS OF USE
16.1 Background and access rights to background
The beneficiaries must give each other and the other participants access to the background identified
as needed for implementing the action, subject to any specific rules in Annex 5.
‘Background’ means any data, know-how or information — whatever its form or nature (tangible or
intangible), including any rights such as intellectual property rights — that is:
(a) held by the beneficiaries before they acceded to the Agreement and
17 Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural
persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive
95/46/EC (‘GDPR’) (OJ L 119, 4.5.2016, p. 1).
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(b) needed to implement the action or exploit the results.
If background is subject to rights of a third party, the beneficiary concerned must ensure that it is able
to comply with its obligations under the Agreement.
16.2 Ownership of results
The granting authority does not obtain ownership of the results produced under the action.
‘Results’ means any tangible or intangible effect of the action, such as data, know-how or information,
whatever its form or nature, whether or not it can be protected, as well as any rights attached to it,
including intellectual property rights.
16.3 Rights of use of the granting authority on materials, documents and information
received for policy, information, communication, dissemination and publicity purposes
The granting authority has the right to use non-sensitive information relating to the action and
materials and documents received from the beneficiaries (notably summaries for publication,
deliverables, as well as any other material, such as pictures or audio-visual material, in paper or
electronic form) for policy, information, communication, dissemination and publicity purposes —
during the action or afterwards.
The right to use the beneficiaries’ materials, documents and information is granted in the form of a
royalty-free, non-exclusive and irrevocable licence, which includes the following rights:
(a) use for its own purposes (in particular, making them available to persons working for the
granting authority or any other EU service (including institutions, bodies, offices, agencies,
etc.) or EU Member State institution or body; copying or reproducing them in whole or in part,
in unlimited numbers; and communication through press information services)
(b) distribution to the public (in particular, publication as hard copies and in electronic or digital
format, publication on the internet, as a downloadable or non-downloadable file, broadcasting
by any channel, public display or presentation, communicating through press information
services, or inclusion in widely accessible databases or indexes)
(c) editing or redrafting (including shortening, summarising, inserting other elements (e.g.
meta-data, legends, other graphic, visual, audio or text elements), extracting parts (e.g. audio
or video files), dividing into parts, use in a compilation)
(d) translation
(e) storage in paper, electronic or other form
(f) archiving, in line with applicable document-management rules
(g) the right to authorise third parties to act on its behalf or sub-license to third parties the modes
of use set out in Points (b), (c), (d) and (f), if needed for the information, communication and
publicity activity of the granting authority
(h) processing, analysing, aggregating the materials, documents and information received and
producing derivative works.
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The rights of use are granted for the whole duration of the industrial or intellectual property rights
concerned.
If materials or documents are subject to moral rights or third party rights (including intellectual
property rights or rights of natural persons on their image and voice), the beneficiaries must ensure
that they comply with their obligations under this Agreement (in particular, by obtaining the necessary
licences and authorisations from the rights holders concerned).
Where applicable, the granting authority will insert the following information:
“© – [year] – [name of the copyright owner]. All rights reserved. Licensed to the [name of granting authority]
under conditions.”
16.4 Specific rules on IPR, results and background
Specific rules regarding intellectual property rights, results and background (if any) are set out in
Annex 5.
16.5 Consequences of non-compliance
If a beneficiary breaches any of its obligations under this Article, the grant may be reduced (see
Article 28).
Such a breach may also lead to other measures described in Chapter 5.
ARTICLE 17 — COMMUNICATION, DISSEMINATION AND VISIBILITY
17.1 Communication — Dissemination — Promoting the action
Unless otherwise agreed with the granting authority, the beneficiaries must promote the action and its
results by providing targeted information to multiple audiences (including the media and the public),
in accordance with Annex 1 and in a strategic, coherent and effective manner.
Before engaging in a communication or dissemination activity expected to have a major media impact,
the beneficiaries must inform the granting authority.
17.2 Visibility — European flag and funding statement
Unless otherwise agreed with the granting authority, communication activities of the beneficiaries
related to the action (including media relations, conferences, seminars, information material, such as
brochures, leaflets, posters, presentations, etc., in electronic form, via traditional or social media, etc.),
dissemination activities and any infrastructure, equipment, vehicles, supplies or major result funded
by the grant must acknowledge EU support and display the European flag (emblem) and funding
statement (translated into local languages, where appropriate):
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The emblem must remain distinct and separate and cannot be modified by adding other visual
marks, brands or text.
Apart from the emblem, no other visual identity or logo may be used to highlight the EU support.
When displayed in association with other logos (e.g. of beneficiaries or sponsors), the emblem must
be displayed at least as prominently and visibly as the other logos.
For the purposes of their obligations under this Article, the beneficiaries may use the emblem without
first obtaining approval from the granting authority. This does not, however, give them the right to
exclusive use. Moreover, they may not appropriate the emblem or any similar trademark or logo, either
by registration or by any other means.
17.3 Quality of information — Disclaimer
Any communication or dissemination activity related to the action must use factually accurate
information.
Moreover, it must indicate the following disclaimer (translated into local languages where
appropriate):
“Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only
and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or [name of the granting authority]. Neither
the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.”
17.4 Specific communication, dissemination and visibility rules
Specific communication, dissemination and visibility rules (if any) are set out in Annex 5.
17.5 Consequences of non-compliance
If a beneficiary breaches any of its obligations under this Article, the grant may be reduced (see
Article 28).
Such breaches may also lead to other measures described in Chapter 5.
ARTICLE 18 — SPECIFIC RULES FOR CARRYING OUT THE ACTION
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18.1 Specific rules for carrying out the action
Specific rules for implementing the action (if any) are set out in Annex 5.
18.2 Consequences of non-compliance
If a beneficiary breaches any of its obligations under this Article, the grant may be reduced (see
Article 28).
Such a breach may also lead to other measures described in Chapter 5.
SECTION 3 GRANT ADMINISTRATION
ARTICLE 19 — GENERAL INFORMATION OBLIGATIONS
19.1 Information requests
The beneficiaries must provide — during the action or afterwards and in accordance with Article 7 —
any information requested in order to verify eligibility of the costs or contributions declared, proper
implementation of the action and compliance with the other obligations under the Agreement.
The information provided must be accurate, precise and complete and in the format requested,
including electronic format.
19.2 Participant Register data updates
The beneficiaries must keep — at all times, during the action or afterwards — their information stored
in the Portal Participant Register up to date, in particular, their name, address, legal representatives,
legal form and organisation type.
19.3 Information about events and circumstances which impact the action
The beneficiaries must immediately inform the granting authority (and the other beneficiaries) of any
of the following:
(a) events which are likely to affect or delay the implementation of the action or affect the EU’s
financial interests, in particular:
(i) changes in their legal, financial, technical, organisational or ownership situation
(including changes linked to one of the exclusion grounds listed in the declaration of
honour signed before grant signature)
(ii) linked action information: not applicable
(b) circumstances affecting:
(i) the decision to award the grant or
(ii) compliance with requirements under the Agreement.
19.4 Consequences of non-compliance
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If a beneficiary breaches any of its obligations under this Article, the grant may be reduced (see
Article 28).
Such breaches may also lead to other measures described in Chapter 5.
ARTICLE 20 — RECORD-KEEPING
20.1 Keeping records and supporting documents
The beneficiaries must — at least until the time-limit set out in the Data Sheet (see Point 6) — keep
records and other supporting documents to prove the proper implementation of the action in line with
the accepted standards in the respective field (if any).
In addition, the beneficiaries must — for the same period — keep the following to justify the amounts
declared:
(a) for actual costs: adequate records and supporting documents to prove the costs declared (such
as contracts, subcontracts, invoices and accounting records); in addition, the beneficiaries’
usual accounting and internal control procedures must enable direct reconciliation between
the amounts declared, the amounts recorded in their accounts and the amounts stated in the
supporting documents
(b) for flat-rate costs and contributions (if any): adequate records and supporting documents to
prove the eligibility of the costs or contributions to which the flat-rate is applied
(c) for the following simplified costs and contributions: the beneficiaries do not need to keep
specific records on the actual costs incurred, but must keep:
(i) for unit costs and contributions (if any): adequate records and supporting documents to
prove the number of units declared
(ii) for lump sum costs and contributions (if any): adequate records and supporting
documents to prove proper implementation of the work as described in Annex 1
(iii) for financing not linked to costs (if any): adequate records and supporting documents
to prove the achievement of the results or the fulfilment of the conditions as described
in Annex 1
(d) for unit, flat-rate and lump sum costs and contributions according to usual cost accounting
practices (if any): the beneficiaries must keep any adequate records and supporting documents
to prove that their cost accounting practices have been applied in a consistent manner, based on
objective criteria, regardless of the source of funding, and that they comply with the eligibility
conditions set out in Articles 6.1 and 6.2.
Moreover, the following is needed for specific budget categories:
(e) for personnel costs: time worked for the beneficiary under the action must be supported
by declarations signed monthly by the person and their supervisor, unless another reliable
time-record system is in place; the granting authority may accept alternative evidence
supporting the time worked for the action declared, if it considers that it offers an adequate
level of assurance
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(f) additional record-keeping rules: not applicable
The records and supporting documents must be made available upon request (see Article 19) or in the
context of checks, reviews, audits or investigations (see Article 25).
If there are on-going checks, reviews, audits, investigations, litigation or other pursuits of claims under
the Agreement (including the extension of findings; see Article 25), the beneficiaries must keep these
records and other supporting documentation until the end of these procedures.
The beneficiaries must keep the original documents. Digital and digitalised documents are considered
originals if they are authorised by the applicable national law. The granting authority may accept
non-original documents if they offer a comparable level of assurance.
20.2 Consequences of non-compliance
If a beneficiary breaches any of its obligations under this Article, costs or contributions insufficiently
substantiated will be ineligible (see Article 6) and will be rejected (see Article 27), and the grant may
be reduced (see Article 28).
Such breaches may also lead to other measures described in Chapter 5.
ARTICLE 21 — REPORTING
21.1 Continuous reporting
The beneficiaries must continuously report on the progress of the action (e.g. deliverables,
milestones, outputs/outcomes, critical risks, indicators, etc; if any), in the Portal Continuous
Reporting tool and in accordance with the timing and conditions it sets out (as agreed with the granting
authority).
Standardised deliverables (e.g. progress reports not linked to payments, reports on cumulative
expenditure, special reports, etc; if any) must be submitted using the templates published on the Portal.
21.2 Periodic reporting: Technical reports and financial statements
In addition, the beneficiaries must provide reports to request payments, in accordance with the
schedule and modalities set out in the Data Sheet (see Point 4.2):
- for additional prefinancings (if any): an additional prefinancing report
- for interim payments (if any) and the final payment: a periodic report.
The prefinancing and periodic reports include a technical and financial part.
The technical part includes an overview of the action implementation. It must be prepared using the
template available in the Portal Periodic Reporting tool.
The financial part of the additional prefinancing report includes a statement on the use of the previous
prefinancing payment.
The financial part of the periodic report includes:
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- the financial statements (individual and consolidated; for all beneficiaries/affiliated entities)
- the explanation on the use of resources (or detailed cost reporting table, if required)
- the certificates on the financial statements (CFS) (if required; see Article 24.2 and Data Sheet,
Point 4.3).
The financial statements must detail the eligible costs and contributions for each budget category
and, for the final payment, also the revenues for the action (see Articles 6 and 22).
All eligible costs and contributions incurred should be declared, even if they exceed the amounts
indicated in the estimated budget (see Annex 2). Amounts that are not declared in the individual
financial statements will not be taken into account by the granting authority.
By signing the financial statements (directly in the Portal Periodic Reporting tool), the beneficiaries
confirm that:
- the information provided is complete, reliable and true
- the costs and contributions declared are eligible (see Article 6)
- the costs and contributions can be substantiated by adequate records and supporting documents
(see Article 20) that will be produced upon request (see Article 19) or in the context of checks,
reviews, audits and investigations (see Article 25)
- for the final periodic report: all the revenues have been declared (if required; see Article 22).
Beneficiaries will have to submit also the financial statements of their affiliated entities (if any). In case
of recoveries (see Article 22), beneficiaries will be held responsible also for the financial statements
of their affiliated entities.
21.3 Currency for financial statements and conversion into euros
The financial statements must be drafted in euro.
Beneficiaries with general accounts established in a currency other than the euro must convert the
costs recorded in their accounts into euro, at the average of the daily exchange rates published in the C
series of the Official Journal of the European Union (ECB website), calculated over the corresponding
reporting period.
If no daily euro exchange rate is published in the Official Journal for the currency in question, they
must be converted at the average of the monthly accounting exchange rates published on the European
Commission website (InforEuro), calculated over the corresponding reporting period.
Beneficiaries with general accounts in euro must convert costs incurred in another currency into euro
according to their usual accounting practices.
21.4 Reporting language
The reporting must be in the language of the Agreement, unless otherwise agreed with the granting
authority (see Data Sheet, Point 4.2).
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21.5 Consequences of non-compliance
If a report submitted does not comply with this Article, the granting authority may suspend the
payment deadline (see Article 29) and apply other measures described in Chapter 5.
If the coordinator breaches its reporting obligations, the granting authority may terminate the grant or
the coordinator’s participation (see Article 32) or apply other measures described in Chapter 5.
ARTICLE 22 — PAYMENTS AND RECOVERIES — CALCULATION OF AMOUNTS
DUE
22.1 Payments and payment arrangements
Payments will be made in accordance with the schedule and modalities set out in the Data Sheet (see
Point 4.2).
They will be made in euro to the bank account indicated by the coordinator (see Data Sheet, Point 4.2)
and must be distributed without unjustified delay (restrictions may apply to distribution of the initial
prefinancing payment; see Data Sheet, Point 4.2).
Payments to this bank account will discharge the granting authority from its payment obligation.
The cost of payment transfers will be borne as follows:
- the granting authority bears the cost of transfers charged by its bank
- the beneficiary bears the cost of transfers charged by its bank
- the party causing a repetition of a transfer bears all costs of the repeated transfer.
Payments by the granting authority will be considered to have been carried out on the date when they
are debited to its account.
22.2 Recoveries
Recoveries will be made, if — at beneficiary termination, final payment or afterwards — it turns out
that the granting authority has paid too much and needs to recover the amounts undue.
Each beneficiary’s financial responsibility in case of recovery is in principle limited to their own debt
and undue amounts of their affiliated entities.
In case of enforced recoveries (see Article 22.4), affiliated entities will be held liable for repaying
debts of their beneficiaries, if required by the granting authority (see Data Sheet, Point 4.4).
22.3 Amounts due
22.3.1 Prefinancing payments
The aim of the prefinancing is to provide the beneficiaries with a float.
It remains the property of the EU until the final payment.
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For initial prefinancings (if any), the amount due, schedule and modalities are set out in the
Data Sheet (see Point 4.2).
For additional prefinancings (if any), the amount due, schedule and modalities are also set out in
the Data Sheet (see Point 4.2). However, if the statement on the use of the previous prefinancing
payment shows that less than 70% was used, the amount set out in the Data Sheet will be reduced by
the difference between the 70% threshold and the amount used.
The contribution to the Mutual Insurance Mechanism will be retained from the prefinancing payments
(at the rate and in accordance with the modalities set out in the Data Sheet, see Point 4.2) and
transferred to the Mechanism.
Prefinancing payments (or parts of them) may be offset (without the beneficiaries’ consent) against
amounts owed by a beneficiary to the granting authority — up to the amount due to that beneficiary.
For grants where the granting authority is the European Commission or an EU executive agency,
offsetting may also be done against amounts owed to other Commission services or executive
agencies.
Payments will not be made if the payment deadline or payments are suspended (see Articles 29 and
30).
22.3.2 Amount due at beneficiary termination — Recovery
In case of beneficiary termination, the granting authority will determine the provisional amount due
for the beneficiary concerned. Payments (if any) will be made with the next interim or final payment.
The amount due will be calculated in the following step:
Step 1 — Calculation of the total accepted EU contribution
Step 1 — Calculation of the total accepted EU contribution
The granting authority will first calculate the ‘accepted EU contribution’ for the beneficiary for all
reporting periods, by calculating the ‘maximum EU contribution to costs’ (applying the funding rate
to the accepted costs of the beneficiary), taking into account requests for a lower contribution to costs
and CFS threshold cappings (if any; see Article 24.5) and adding the contributions (accepted unit,
flat-rate or lump sum contributions and financing not linked to costs, if any).
After that, the granting authority will take into account grant reductions (if any). The resulting amount
is the ‘total accepted EU contribution’ for the beneficiary.
The balance is then calculated by deducting the payments received (if any; see report on the
distribution of payments in Article 32), from the total accepted EU contribution:
{total accepted EU contribution for the beneficiary
minus
{prefinancing and interim payments received (if any)}}.
If the balance is positive, the amount will be included in the next interim or final payment to the
consortium.
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If the balance is negative, it will be recovered in accordance with the following procedure:
The granting authority will send a pre-information letter to the beneficiary concerned:
- formally notifying the intention to recover, the amount due, the amount to be recovered and
the reasons why and
- requesting observations within 30 days of receiving notification.
If no observations are submitted (or the granting authority decides to pursue recovery despite the
observations it has received), it will confirm the amount to be recovered and ask this amount to be
paid to the coordinator (confirmation letter).
If payment is not made to the coordinator by the date specified in the confirmation letter, the granting
authority may call on the Mutual Insurance Mechanism to intervene, if continuation of the action is
guaranteed and the conditions set out in the rules governing the Mechanism are met.
In this case, it will send a beneficiary recovery letter, together with a debit note with the terms and
date for payment.
The debit note for the beneficiary will include the amount calculated for the affiliated entities which
also had to end their participation (if any).
If payment is not made by the date specified in the debit note, the granting authority will enforce
recovery in accordance with Article 22.4.
The amounts will later on also be taken into account for the next interim or final payment.
22.3.3 Interim payments
Interim payments reimburse the eligible costs and contributions claimed for the implementation of
the action during the reporting periods (if any).
Interim payments (if any) will be made in accordance with the schedule and modalities set out the
Data Sheet (see Point 4.2).
Payment is subject to the approval of the periodic report. Its approval does not imply recognition of
compliance, authenticity, completeness or correctness of its content.
The interim payment will be calculated by the granting authority in the following steps:
Step 1 — Calculation of the total accepted EU contribution
Step 2 — Limit to the interim payment ceiling
Step 1 — Calculation of the total accepted EU contribution
The granting authority will calculate the ‘accepted EU contribution’ for the action for the reporting
period, by first calculating the ‘maximum EU contribution to costs’ (applying the funding rate to the
accepted costs of each beneficiary), taking into account requests for a lower contribution to costs, and
CFS threshold cappings (if any; see Article 24.5) and adding the contributions (accepted unit, flat-rate
or lump sum contributions and financing not linked to costs, if any).
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After that, the granting authority will take into account grant reductions from beneficiary termination
(if any). The resulting amount is the ‘total accepted EU contribution’.
Step 2 — Limit to the interim payment ceiling
The resulting amount is then capped to ensure that the total amount of prefinancing and interim
payments (if any) does not exceed the interim payment ceiling set out in the Data Sheet (see Point 4.2).
Interim payments (or parts of them) may be offset (without the beneficiaries’ consent) against amounts
owed by a beneficiary to the granting authority — up to the amount due to that beneficiary.
For grants where the granting authority is the European Commission or an EU executive agency,
offsetting may also be done against amounts owed to other Commission services or executive
agencies.
Payments will not be made if the payment deadline or payments are suspended (see Articles 29 and
30).
22.3.4 Final payment — Final grant amount — Revenues and Profit — Recovery
The final payment (payment of the balance) reimburses the remaining part of the eligible costs and
contributions claimed for the implementation of the action (if any).
The final payment will be made in accordance with the schedule and modalities set out in the
Data Sheet (see Point 4.2).
Payment is subject to the approval of the final periodic report. Its approval does not imply recognition
of compliance, authenticity, completeness or correctness of its content.
The final grant amount for the action will be calculated in the following steps:
Step 1 — Calculation of the total accepted EU contribution
Step 2 — Limit to the maximum grant amount
Step 3 — Reduction due to the no-profit rule
Step 1 — Calculation of the total accepted EU contribution
The granting authority will first calculate the ‘accepted EU contribution’ for the action for all reporting
periods, by calculating the ‘maximum EU contribution to costs’ (applying the funding rate to the total
accepted costs of each beneficiary), taking into account requests for a lower contribution to costs, CFS
threshold cappings (if any; see Article 24.5) and adding the contributions (accepted unit, flat-rate or
lump sum contributions and financing not linked to costs, if any).
After that, the granting authority will take into account grant reductions (if any). The resulting amount
is the ‘total accepted EU contribution’.
Step 2 — Limit to the maximum grant amount
If the resulting amount is higher than the maximum grant amount set out in Article 5.2, it will be
limited to the latter.
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Step 3 — Reduction due to the no-profit rule
If the no-profit rule is provided for in the Data Sheet (see Point 4.2), the grant must not produce a
profit (i.e. surplus of the amount obtained following Step 2 plus the action’s revenues, over the eligible
costs and contributions approved by the granting authority).
‘Revenue’ is all income generated by the action, during its duration (see Article 4), for beneficiaries
that are profit legal entities (— with the exception of income generated by the exploitation of results,
which are not considered as revenues).
If there is a profit, it will be deducted in proportion to the final rate of reimbursement of the eligible
costs approved by the granting authority (as compared to the amount calculated following Steps 1 and
2 minus the contributions).
The balance (final payment) is then calculated by deducting the total amount of prefinancing and
interim payments already made (if any), from the final grant amount:
{final grant amount
minus
{prefinancing and interim payments made (if any)}}.
If the balance is positive, it will be paid to the coordinator.
The amount retained for the Mutual Insurance Mechanism (see above) will be released and paid to
the coordinator (in accordance with the rules governing the Mechanism).
The final payment (or part of it) may be offset (without the beneficiaries’ consent) against amounts
owed by a beneficiary to the granting authority — up to the amount due to that beneficiary.
For grants where the granting authority is the European Commission or an EU executive agency,
offsetting may also be done against amounts owed to other Commission services or executive
agencies.
Payments will not be made if the payment deadline or payments are suspended (see Articles 29 and
30).
If — despite the release of the Mutual Insurance Mechanism contribution — the balance is negative,
it will be recovered in accordance with the following procedure:
The granting authority will send a pre-information letter to the coordinator:
- formally notifying the intention to recover, the final grant amount, the amount to be recovered
and the reasons why
- requesting a report on the distribution of payments to the beneficiaries within 30 days of
receiving notification and
- requesting observations within 30 days of receiving notification.
If no observations are submitted (or the granting authority decides to pursue recovery despite the
observations it has received) and the coordinator has submitted the report on the distribution of
payments, it will calculate the share of the debt per beneficiary, by:
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(a) identifying the beneficiaries for which the amount calculated as follows is negative:
{{{total accepted EU contribution for the beneficiary
divided by
total accepted EU contribution for the action}
multiplied by
final grant amount for the action},
minus
{prefinancing and interim payments received by the beneficiary (if any)} }
and
(b) dividing the debt:
{{amount calculated according to point (a) for the beneficiary concerned
divided by
the sum of the amounts calculated according to point (a) for all the beneficiaries identified according to
point (a)}
multiplied by
the amount to be recovered}.
and confirm the amount to be recovered from each beneficiary concerned (confirmation letter),
together with debit notes with the terms and date for payment.
The debit notes for beneficiaries will include the amounts calculated for their affiliated entities (if any).
If the coordinator has not submitted the report on the distribution of payments, the granting authority
will recover the full amount from the coordinator (confirmation letter and debit note with the terms
and date for payment).
If payment is not made by the date specified in the debit note, the granting authority will enforce
recovery in accordance with Article 22.4.
22.3.5 Audit implementation after final payment — Revised final grant amount — Recovery
If — after the final payment (in particular, after checks, reviews, audits or investigations; see
Article 25) — the granting authority rejects costs or contributions (see Article 27) or reduces the grant
(see Article 28), it will calculate the revised final grant amount for the beneficiary concerned.
The beneficiary revised final grant amount will be calculated in the following step:
Step 1 — Calculation of the revised total accepted EU contribution
Step 1 — Calculation of the revised total accepted EU contribution
The granting authority will first calculate the ‘revised accepted EU contribution’ for the beneficiary,
by calculating the ‘revised accepted costs’ and ‘revised accepted contributions’.
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After that, it will take into account grant reductions (if any). The resulting ‘revised total accepted EU
contribution’ is the beneficiary revised final grant amount.
If the revised final grant amount is lower than the beneficiary’s final grant amount (i.e. its share in the
final grant amount for the action), it will be recovered in accordance with the following procedure:
The beneficiary final grant amount (i.e. share in the final grant amount for the action) is calculated
as follows:
{{total accepted EU contribution for the beneficiary
divided by
total accepted EU contribution for the action}
multiplied by
final grant amount for the action}.
The granting authority will send a pre-information letter to the beneficiary concerned:
- formally notifying the intention to recover, the amount to be recovered and the reasons why and
- requesting observations within 30 days of receiving notification.
If no observations are submitted (or the granting authority decides to pursue recovery despite the
observations it has received), it will confirm the amount to be recovered (confirmation letter),
together with a debit note with the terms and the date for payment.
Recoveries against affiliated entities (if any) will be handled through their beneficiaries.
If payment is not made by the date specified in the debit note, the granting authority will enforce
recovery in accordance with Article 22.4.
22.4 Enforced recovery
If payment is not made by the date specified in the debit note, the amount due will be recovered:
(a) by offsetting the amount — without the coordinator or beneficiary’s consent — against any
amounts owed to the coordinator or beneficiary by the granting authority.
In exceptional circumstances, to safeguard the EU financial interests, the amount may be offset
before the payment date specified in the debit note.
For grants where the granting authority is the European Commission or an EU executive
agency, debts may also be offset against amounts owed by other Commission services or
executive agencies.
(b) financial guarantee(s): not applicable
(c) joint and several liability of beneficiaries: not applicable
(d) by holding affiliated entities jointly and severally liable (if any, see Data Sheet, Point 4.4)
(e) by taking legal action (see Article 43) or, provided that the granting authority is the European
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Commission or an EU executive agency, by adopting an enforceable decision under Article 299
of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU) and Article 100(2) of EU Financial
Regulation 2018/1046.
If the Mutual Insurance Mechanism was called on by the granting authority to intervene, recovery will
be continued in the name of the Mutual Insurance Mechanism. If two debit notes were sent, the second
one (in the name of the Mutual Insurance Mechanism) will be considered to replace the first one (in
the name of the granting authority). Where the MIM intervened, offsetting, enforceable decisions or
any other of the above-mentioned forms of enforced recovery may be used mutatis mutandis.
The amount to be recovered will be increased by late-payment interest at the rate set out in
Article 22.5, from the day following the payment date in the debit note, up to and including the date
the full payment is received.
Partial payments will be first credited against expenses, charges and late-payment interest and then
against the principal.
Bank charges incurred in the recovery process will be borne by the beneficiary, unless
Directive 2015/236618 applies.
For grants where the granting authority is an EU executive agency, enforced recovery by offsetting or
enforceable decision will be done by the services of the European Commission (see also Article 43).
22.5 Consequences of non-compliance
22.5.1 If the granting authority does not pay within the payment deadlines (see above), the
beneficiaries are entitled to late-payment interest at the rate applied by the European Central Bank
(ECB) for its main refinancing operations in euros (‘reference rate’), plus the rate specified in the
Data Sheet (Point 4.2). The reference rate is the rate in force on the first day of the month in which the
payment deadline expires, as published in the C series of the Official Journal of the European Union.
If the late-payment interest is lower than or equal to EUR 200, it will be paid to the coordinator only
on request submitted within two months of receiving the late payment.
Late-payment interest is not due if all beneficiaries are EU Member States (including regional and
local government authorities or other public bodies acting on behalf of a Member State for the purpose
of this Agreement).
If payments or the payment deadline are suspended (see Articles 29 and 30), payment will not be
considered as late.
Late-payment interest covers the period running from the day following the due date for payment (see
above), up to and including the date of payment.
Late-payment interest is not considered for the purposes of calculating the final grant amount.
22.5.2 If the coordinator breaches any of its obligations under this Article, the grant may be reduced
(see Article 29) and the grant or the coordinator may be terminated (see Article 32).
18 Directive (EU) 2015/2366 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2015 on payment
services in the internal market, amending Directives 2002/65/EC, 2009/110/EC and 2013/36/EU and Regulation (EU)
No 1093/2010, and repealing Directive 2007/64/EC (OJ L 337, 23.12.2015, p. 35).
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Such breaches may also lead to other measures described in Chapter 5.
ARTICLE 23 — GUARANTEES
Not applicable
ARTICLE 24 — CERTIFICATES
24.1 Operational verification report (OVR)
Not applicable
24.2 Certificate on the financial statements (CFS)
If required by the granting authority (see Data Sheet, Point 4.3), the beneficiaries must provide
certificates on their financial statements (CFS), in accordance with the schedule, threshold and
conditions set out in the Data Sheet.
The coordinator must submit them as part of the periodic report (see Article 21).
The certificates must be drawn up using the template published on the Portal, cover the costs declared
on the basis of actual costs and costs according to usual cost accounting practices (if any), and fulfil
the following conditions:
(a) be provided by a qualified approved external auditor which is independent and complies with
Directive 2006/43/EC19 (or for public bodies: by a competent independent public officer)
(b) the verification must be carried out according to the highest professional standards to ensure
that the financial statements comply with the provisions under the Agreement and that the costs
declared are eligible.
The certificates will not affect the granting authority's right to carry out its own checks, reviews or
audits, nor preclude the European Court of Auditors (ECA), the European Public Prosecutor’s Office
(EPPO) or the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) from using their prerogatives for audits and
investigations under the Agreement (see Article 25).
If the costs (or a part of them) were already audited by the granting authority, these costs do not need
to be covered by the certificate and will not be counted for calculating the threshold (if any).
24.3 Certificate on the compliance of usual cost accounting practices (CoMUC)
Not applicable
24.4 Systems and process audit (SPA)
Beneficiaries which:
19 Directive 2006/43/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 May 2006 on statutory audits of annual
accounts and consolidated accounts or similar national regulations (OJ L 157, 9.6.2006, p. 87).
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- use unit, flat rate or lump sum costs or contributions according to documented (i.e. formally
approved and in writing) usual costs accounting practices (if any) or
- have formalised documentation on the systems and processes for calculating their costs
and contributions (i.e. formally approved and in writing), have participated in at least 150
actions under Horizon 2020 or the Euratom Research and Training Programme (2014-2018 or
2019-2020) and participate in at least 3 ongoing actions under Horizon Europe or the Euratom
Research and Training Programme (2021-2025 or 2026-2027)
may apply to the granting authority for a systems and process audit (SPA).
This audit will be carried out as follows:
Step 1 – Application by the beneficiary.
Step 2 – If the application is accepted, the granting authority will carry out the systems and process
audit, complemented by an audit of transactions (on a sample of the beneficiary’s Horizon
Europe or the Euratom Research and Training Programme financial statements).
Step 3 – The audit result will take the form of a risk assessment classification for the beneficiary:
low, medium or high.
Low-risk beneficiaries will benefit from less (or less in-depth) ex-post audits (see Article 25) and a
higher threshold for submitting certificates on the financial statements (CFS; see Articles 21 and 24.2
and Data Sheet, Point 4.3).
24.5 Consequences of non-compliance
If a beneficiary does not submit a certificate on the financial statements (CFS) or the certificate is
rejected, the accepted EU contribution to costs will be capped to reflect the CFS threshold.
If a beneficiary breaches any of its other obligations under this Article, the granting authority may
apply the measures described in Chapter 5.
ARTICLE 25 — CHECKS, REVIEWS, AUDITS AND INVESTIGATIONS — EXTENSION
OF FINDINGS
25.1 Granting authority checks, reviews and audits
25.1.1 Internal checks
The granting authority may — during the action or afterwards — check the proper implementation of
the action and compliance with the obligations under the Agreement, including assessing costs and
contributions, deliverables and reports.
25.1.2 Project reviews
The granting authority may carry out reviews on the proper implementation of the action and
compliance with the obligations under the Agreement (general project reviews or specific issues
reviews).
Such project reviews may be started during the implementation of the action and until the time-limit
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set out in the Data Sheet (see Point 6). They will be formally notified to the coordinator or beneficiary
concerned and will be considered to start on the date of the notification.
If needed, the granting authority may be assisted by independent, outside experts. If it uses outside
experts, the coordinator or beneficiary concerned will be informed and have the right to object on
grounds of commercial confidentiality or conflict of interest.
The coordinator or beneficiary concerned must cooperate diligently and provide — within the deadline
requested — any information and data in addition to deliverables and reports already submitted
(including information on the use of resources). The granting authority may request beneficiaries
to provide such information to it directly. Sensitive information and documents will be treated in
accordance with Article 13.
The coordinator or beneficiary concerned may be requested to participate in meetings, including with
the outside experts.
For on-the-spot visits, the beneficiary concerned must allow access to sites and premises (including
to the outside experts) and must ensure that information requested is readily available.
Information provided must be accurate, precise and complete and in the format requested, including
electronic format.
On the basis of the review findings, a project review report will be drawn up.
The granting authority will formally notify the project review report to the coordinator or beneficiary
concerned, which has 30 days from receiving notification to make observations.
Project reviews (including project review reports) will be in the language of the Agreement.
25.1.3 Audits
The granting authority may carry out audits on the proper implementation of the action and compliance
with the obligations under the Agreement.
Such audits may be started during the implementation of the action and until the time-limit set out in
the Data Sheet (see Point 6). They will be formally notified to the beneficiary concerned and will be
considered to start on the date of the notification.
The granting authority may use its own audit service, delegate audits to a centralised service or use
external audit firms. If it uses an external firm, the beneficiary concerned will be informed and have
the right to object on grounds of commercial confidentiality or conflict of interest.
The beneficiary concerned must cooperate diligently and provide — within the deadline requested —
any information (including complete accounts, individual salary statements or other personal data)
to verify compliance with the Agreement. Sensitive information and documents will be treated in
accordance with Article 13.
For on-the-spot visits, the beneficiary concerned must allow access to sites and premises (including
for the external audit firm) and must ensure that information requested is readily available.
Information provided must be accurate, precise and complete and in the format requested, including
electronic format.
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On the basis of the audit findings, a draft audit report will be drawn up.
The auditors will formally notify the draft audit report to the beneficiary concerned, which has 30 days
from receiving notification to make observations (contradictory audit procedure).
The final audit report will take into account observations by the beneficiary concerned and will be
formally notified to them.
Audits (including audit reports) will be in the language of the Agreement.
25.2 European Commission checks, reviews and audits in grants of other granting
authorities
Where the granting authority is not the European Commission, the latter has the same rights of checks,
reviews and audits as the granting authority.
25.3 Access to records for assessing simplified forms of funding
The beneficiaries must give the European Commission access to their statutory records for the periodic
assessment of simplified forms of funding which are used in EU programmes.
25.4 OLAF, EPPO and ECA audits and investigations
The following bodies may also carry out checks, reviews, audits and investigations — during the
action or afterwards:
- the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) under Regulations No 883/201320 and No 2185/9621
- the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) under Regulation 2017/1939
- the European Court of Auditors (ECA) under Article 287 of the Treaty on the Functioning of
the EU (TFEU) and Article 257 of EU Financial Regulation 2018/1046.
If requested by these bodies, the beneficiary concerned must provide full, accurate and complete
information in the format requested (including complete accounts, individual salary statements or
other personal data, including in electronic format) and allow access to sites and premises for
on-the-spot visits or inspections — as provided for under these Regulations.
To this end, the beneficiary concerned must keep all relevant information relating to the action, at
least until the time-limit set out in the Data Sheet (Point 6) and, in any case, until any ongoing checks,
reviews, audits, investigations, litigation or other pursuits of claims have been concluded.
25.5 Consequences of checks, reviews, audits and investigations — Extension of results of
reviews, audits or investigations
20 Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 883/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 September 2013
concerning investigations conducted by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and repealing Regulation (EC)
No 1073/1999 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Council Regulation (Euratom) No 1074/1999 (OJ
L 248, 18/09/2013, p. 1).
21 Council Regulation (Euratom, EC) No 2185/1996 of 11 November 1996 concerning on-the-spot checks and inspections
carried out by the Commission in order to protect the European Communities' financial interests against fraud and other
irregularities (OJ L 292, 15/11/1996, p. 2).
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25.5.1 Consequences of checks, reviews, audits and investigations in this grant
Findings in checks, reviews, audits or investigations carried out in the context of this grant may lead to
rejections (see Article 27), grant reduction (see Article 28) or other measures described in Chapter 5.
Rejections or grant reductions after the final payment will lead to a revised final grant amount (see
Article 22).
Findings in checks, reviews, audits or investigations during the action implementation may lead to a
request for amendment (see Article 39), to change the description of the action set out in Annex 1.
Checks, reviews, audits or investigations that find systemic or recurrent errors, irregularities, fraud
or breach of obligations in any EU grant may also lead to consequences in other EU grants awarded
under similar conditions (‘extension to other grants’).
Moreover, findings arising from an OLAF or EPPO investigation may lead to criminal prosecution
under national law.
25.5.2 Extension from other grants
Results of checks, reviews, audits or investigations in other grants may be extended to this grant, if:
(a) the beneficiary concerned is found, in other EU grants awarded under similar conditions, to
have committed systemic or recurrent errors, irregularities, fraud or breach of obligations that
have a material impact on this grant and
(b) those findings are formally notified to the beneficiary concerned — together with the list of
grants affected by the findings — within the time-limit for audits set out in the Data Sheet (see
Point 6).
The granting authority will formally notify the beneficiary concerned of the intention to extend the
findings and the list of grants affected.
If the extension concerns rejections of costs or contributions: the notification will include:
(a) an invitation to submit observations on the list of grants affected by the findings
(b) the request to submit revised financial statements for all grants affected
(c) the correction rate for extrapolation, established on the basis of the systemic or recurrent errors,
to calculate the amounts to be rejected, if the beneficiary concerned:
(i) considers that the submission of revised financial statements is not possible or practicable
or
(ii) does not submit revised financial statements.
If the extension concerns grant reductions: the notification will include:
(a) an invitation to submit observations on the list of grants affected by the findings and
(b) the correction rate for extrapolation, established on the basis of the systemic or recurrent
errors and the principle of proportionality.
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The beneficiary concerned has 60 days from receiving notification to submit observations, revised
financial statements or to propose a duly substantiated alternative correction method/rate.
On the basis of this, the granting authority will analyse the impact and decide on the implementation
(i.e. start rejection or grant reduction procedures, either on the basis of the revised financial statements
or the announced/alternative method/rate or a mix of those; see Articles 27 and 28).
25.6 Consequences of non-compliance
If a beneficiary breaches any of its obligations under this Article, costs or contributions insufficiently
substantiated will be ineligible (see Article 6) and will be rejected (see Article 27), and the grant may
be reduced (see Article 28).
Such breaches may also lead to other measures described in Chapter 5.
ARTICLE 26 — IMPACT EVALUATIONS
26.1 Impact evaluation
The granting authority may carry out impact evaluations of the action, measured against the objectives
and indicators of the EU programme funding the grant.
Such evaluations may be started during implementation of the action and until the time-limit set out
in the Data Sheet (see Point 6). They will be formally notified to the coordinator or beneficiaries and
will be considered to start on the date of the notification.
If needed, the granting authority may be assisted by independent outside experts.
The coordinator or beneficiaries must provide any information relevant to evaluate the impact of the
action, including information in electronic format.
26.2 Consequences of non-compliance
If a beneficiary breaches any of its obligations under this Article, the granting authority may apply
the measures described in Chapter 5.
CHAPTER 5 CONSEQUENCES OF NON-COMPLIANCE
SECTION 1 REJECTIONS AND GRANT REDUCTION
ARTICLE 27 — REJECTION OF COSTS AND CONTRIBUTIONS
27.1 Conditions
The granting authority will — at beneficiary termination, interim payment, final payment or
afterwards — reject any costs or contributions which are ineligible (see Article 6), in particular
following checks, reviews, audits or investigations (see Article 25).
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The rejection may also be based on the extension of findings from other grants to this grant (see
Article 25).
Ineligible costs or contributions will be rejected.
27.2 Procedure
If the rejection does not lead to a recovery, the granting authority will formally notify the coordinator
or beneficiary concerned of the rejection, the amounts and the reasons why. The coordinator or
beneficiary concerned may — within 30 days of receiving notification — submit observations if it
disagrees with the rejection (payment review procedure).
If the rejection leads to a recovery, the granting authority will follow the contradictory procedure with
pre-information letter set out in Article 22.
27.3 Effects
If the granting authority rejects costs or contributions, it will deduct them from the costs or
contributions declared and then calculate the amount due (and, if needed, make a recovery; see
Article 22).
ARTICLE 28 — GRANT REDUCTION
28.1 Conditions
The granting authority may — at beneficiary termination, final payment or afterwards — reduce the
grant for a beneficiary, if:
(a) the beneficiary (or a person having powers of representation, decision-making or control, or
person essential for the award/implementation of the grant) has committed:
(i) substantial errors, irregularities or fraud or
(ii) serious breach of obligations under this Agreement or during its award (including
improper implementation of the action, non-compliance with the call conditions,
submission of false information, failure to provide required information, breach of ethics
or security rules (if applicable), etc.), or
(b) the beneficiary (or a person having powers of representation, decision-making or control, or
person essential for the award/implementation of the grant) has committed — in other EU grants
awarded to it under similar conditions — systemic or recurrent errors, irregularities, fraud or
serious breach of obligations that have a material impact on this grant (see Article 25).
The amount of the reduction will be calculated for each beneficiary concerned and proportionate to the
seriousness and the duration of the errors, irregularities or fraud or breach of obligations, by applying
an individual reduction rate to their accepted EU contribution.
28.2 Procedure
If the grant reduction does not lead to a recovery, the granting authority will formally notify the
coordinator or beneficiary concerned of the reduction, the amount to be reduced and the reasons why.
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The coordinator or beneficiary concerned may — within 30 days of receiving notification — submit
observations if it disagrees with the reduction (payment review procedure).
If the grant reduction leads to a recovery, the granting authority will follow the contradictory procedure
with pre-information letter set out in Article 22.
28.3 Effects
If the granting authority reduces the grant, it will deduct the reduction and then calculate the amount
due (and, if needed, make a recovery; see Article 22).
SECTION 2 SUSPENSION AND TERMINATION
ARTICLE 29 — PAYMENT DEADLINE SUSPENSION
29.1 Conditions
The granting authority may — at any moment — suspend the payment deadline if a payment cannot
be processed because:
(a) the required report (see Article 21) has not been submitted or is not complete or additional
information is needed
(b) there are doubts about the amount to be paid (e.g. ongoing audit extension procedure, queries
about eligibility, need for a grant reduction, etc.) and additional checks, reviews, audits or
investigations are necessary, or
(c) there are other issues affecting the EU financial interests.
29.2 Procedure
The granting authority will formally notify the coordinator of the suspension and the reasons why.
The suspension will take effect the day the notification is sent.
If the conditions for suspending the payment deadline are no longer met, the suspension will be lifted
— and the remaining time to pay (see Data Sheet, Point 4.2) will resume.
If the suspension exceeds two months, the coordinator may request the granting authority to confirm
if the suspension will continue.
If the payment deadline has been suspended due to the non-compliance of the report and the revised
report is not submitted (or was submitted but is also rejected), the granting authority may also terminate
the grant or the participation of the coordinator (see Article 32).
ARTICLE 30 — PAYMENT SUSPENSION
30.1 Conditions
The granting authority may — at any moment — suspend payments, in whole or in part for one or
more beneficiaries, if:
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(a) a beneficiary (or a person having powers of representation, decision-making or control, or
person essential for the award/implementation of the grant) has committed or is suspected of
having committed:
(i) substantial errors, irregularities or fraud or
(ii) serious breach of obligations under this Agreement or during its award (including
improper implementation of the action, non-compliance with the call conditions,
submission of false information, failure to provide required information, breach of ethics
or security rules (if applicable), etc.), or
(b) a beneficiary (or a person having powers of representation, decision-making or control, or
person essential for the award/implementation of the grant) has committed — in other EU grants
awarded to it under similar conditions — systemic or recurrent errors, irregularities, fraud or
serious breach of obligations that have a material impact on this grant.
If payments are suspended for one or more beneficiaries, the granting authority will make partial
payment(s) for the part(s) not suspended. If suspension concerns the final payment, the payment (or
recovery) of the remaining amount after suspension is lifted will be considered to be the payment that
closes the action.
30.2 Procedure
Before suspending payments, the granting authority will send a pre-information letter to the
beneficiary concerned:
- formally notifying the intention to suspend payments and the reasons why and
- requesting observations within 30 days of receiving notification.
If the granting authority does not receive observations or decides to pursue the procedure despite the
observations it has received, it will confirm the suspension (confirmation letter). Otherwise, it will
formally notify that the procedure is discontinued.
At the end of the suspension procedure, the granting authority will also inform the coordinator.
The suspension will take effect the day after the confirmation notification is sent.
If the conditions for resuming payments are met, the suspension will be lifted. The granting authority
will formally notify the beneficiary concerned (and the coordinator) and set the suspension end date.
During the suspension, no prefinancing will be paid to the beneficiaries concerned. For interim
payments, the periodic reports for all reporting periods except the last one (see Article 21) must
not contain any financial statements from the beneficiary concerned (or its affiliated entities). The
coordinator must include them in the next periodic report after the suspension is lifted or — if
suspension is not lifted before the end of the action — in the last periodic report.
ARTICLE 31 — GRANT AGREEMENT SUSPENSION
31.1 Consortium-requested GA suspension
31.1.1 Conditions and procedure
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The beneficiaries may request the suspension of the grant or any part of it, if exceptional circumstances
— in particular force majeure (see Article 35) — make implementation impossible or excessively
difficult.
The coordinator must submit a request for amendment (see Article 39), with:
- the reasons why
- the date the suspension takes effect; this date may be before the date of the submission of the
amendment request and
- the expected date of resumption.
The suspension will take effect on the day specified in the amendment.
Once circumstances allow for implementation to resume, the coordinator must immediately request
another amendment of the Agreement to set the suspension end date, the resumption date (one day
after suspension end date), extend the duration and make other changes necessary to adapt the action
to the new situation (see Article 39) — unless the grant has been terminated (see Article 32). The
suspension will be lifted with effect from the suspension end date set out in the amendment. This date
may be before the date of the submission of the amendment request.
During the suspension, no prefinancing will be paid. Costs incurred or contributions for activities
implemented during grant suspension are not eligible (see Article 6.3).
31.2 EU-initiated GA suspension
31.2.1 Conditions
The granting authority may suspend the grant or any part of it, if:
(a) a beneficiary (or a person having powers of representation, decision-making or control, or
person essential for the award/implementation of the grant) has committed or is suspected of
having committed:
(i) substantial errors, irregularities or fraud or
(ii) serious breach of obligations under this Agreement or during its award (including
improper implementation of the action, non-compliance with the call conditions,
submission of false information, failure to provide required information, breach of ethics
or security rules (if applicable), etc.), or
(b) a beneficiary (or a person having powers of representation, decision-making or control, or
person essential for the award/implementation of the grant) has committed — in other EU grants
awarded to it under similar conditions — systemic or recurrent errors, irregularities, fraud or
serious breach of obligations that have a material impact on this grant
(c) other:
(i) linked action issues: not applicable
(ii) the action has lost its scientific or technological relevance, for EIC Accelerator actions:
the action has lost its economic relevance, for challenge-based EIC Pathfinder actions
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and Horizon Europe Missions: the action has lost its relevance as part of the Portfolio
for which it has been initially selected
31.2.2 Procedure
Before suspending the grant, the granting authority will send a pre-information letter to the
coordinator:
- formally notifying the intention to suspend the grant and the reasons why and
- requesting observations within 30 days of receiving notification.
If the granting authority does not receive observations or decides to pursue the procedure despite the
observations it has received, it will confirm the suspension (confirmation letter). Otherwise, it will
formally notify that the procedure is discontinued.
The suspension will take effect the day after the confirmation notification is sent (or on a later date
specified in the notification).
Once the conditions for resuming implementation of the action are met, the granting authority will
formally notify the coordinator a lifting of suspension letter, in which it will set the suspension
end date and invite the coordinator to request an amendment of the Agreement to set the resumption
date (one day after suspension end date), extend the duration and make other changes necessary to
adapt the action to the new situation (see Article 39) — unless the grant has been terminated (see
Article 32). The suspension will be lifted with effect from the suspension end date set out in the lifting
of suspension letter. This date may be before the date on which the letter is sent.
During the suspension, no prefinancing will be paid. Costs incurred or contributions for activities
implemented during suspension are not eligible (see Article 6.3).
The beneficiaries may not claim damages due to suspension by the granting authority (see Article 33).
Grant suspension does not affect the granting authority’s right to terminate the grant or a beneficiary
(see Article 32) or reduce the grant (see Article 28).
ARTICLE 32 — GRANT AGREEMENT OR BENEFICIARY TERMINATION
32.1 Consortium-requested GA termination
32.1.1 Conditions and procedure
The beneficiaries may request the termination of the grant.
The coordinator must submit a request for amendment (see Article 39), with:
- the reasons why
- the date the consortium ends work on the action (‘end of work date’) and
- the date the termination takes effect (‘termination date’); this date must be after the date of the
submission of the amendment request.
The termination will take effect on the termination date specified in the amendment.
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If no reasons are given or if the granting authority considers the reasons do not justify termination,
it may consider the grant terminated improperly.
32.1.2 Effects
The coordinator must — within 60 days from when termination takes effect — submit a periodic
report (for the open reporting period until termination).
The granting authority will calculate the final grant amount and final payment on the basis of the report
submitted and taking into account the costs incurred and contributions for activities implemented
before the end of work date (see Article 22). Costs relating to contracts due for execution only after
the end of work are not eligible.
If the granting authority does not receive the report within the deadline, only costs and contributions
which are included in an approved periodic report will be taken into account (no costs/contributions
if no periodic report was ever approved).
Improper termination may lead to a grant reduction (see Article 28).
After termination, the beneficiaries’ obligations (in particular Articles 13 (confidentiality and
security), 16 (IPR), 17 (communication, dissemination and visibility), 21 (reporting), 25 (checks,
reviews, audits and investigations), 26 (impact evaluation), 27 (rejections), 28 (grant reduction) and
42 (assignment of claims)) continue to apply.
32.2 Consortium-requested beneficiary termination
32.2.1 Conditions and procedure
The coordinator may request the termination of the participation of one or more beneficiaries, on
request of the beneficiary concerned or on behalf of the other beneficiaries.
The coordinator must submit a request for amendment (see Article 39), with:
- the reasons why
- the opinion of the beneficiary concerned (or proof that this opinion has been requested in
writing)
- the date the beneficiary ends work on the action (‘end of work date’)
- the date the termination takes effect (‘termination date’); this date must be after the date of the
submission of the amendment request.
If the termination concerns the coordinator and is done without its agreement, the amendment request
must be submitted by another beneficiary (acting on behalf of the consortium).
The termination will take effect on the termination date specified in the amendment.
If no information is given or if the granting authority considers that the reasons do not justify
termination, it may consider the beneficiary to have been terminated improperly.
32.2.2 Effects
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The coordinator must — within 60 days from when termination takes effect — submit:
(i) a report on the distribution of payments to the beneficiary concerned
(ii) a termination report from the beneficiary concerned, for the open reporting period until
termination, containing an overview of the progress of the work, the financial statement,
the explanation on the use of resources, and, if applicable, the certificate on the financial
statement (CFS; see Articles 21 and 24.2 and Data Sheet, Point 4.3)
(iii) a second request for amendment (see Article 39) with other amendments needed (e.g.
reallocation of the tasks and the estimated budget of the terminated beneficiary; addition of
a new beneficiary to replace the terminated beneficiary; change of coordinator, etc.).
The granting authority will calculate the amount due to the beneficiary on the basis of the report
submitted and taking into account the costs incurred and contributions for activities implemented
before the end of work date (see Article 22). Costs relating to contracts due for execution only after
the end of work are not eligible.
The information in the termination report must also be included in the periodic report for the next
reporting period (see Article 21).
If the granting authority does not receive the termination report within the deadline, only costs and
contributions which are included in an approved periodic report will be taken into account (no costs/
contributions if no periodic report was ever approved).
If the granting authority does not receive the report on the distribution of payments within the deadline,
it will consider that:
- the coordinator did not distribute any payment to the beneficiary concerned and that
- the beneficiary concerned must not repay any amount to the coordinator.
If the second request for amendment is accepted by the granting authority, the Agreement is amended
to introduce the necessary changes (see Article 39).
If the second request for amendment is rejected by the granting authority (because it calls into question
the decision awarding the grant or breaches the principle of equal treatment of applicants), the grant
may be terminated (see Article 32).
Improper termination may lead to a reduction of the grant (see Article 31) or grant termination (see
Article 32).
After termination, the concerned beneficiary’s obligations (in particular Articles 13 (confidentiality
and security), 16 (IPR), 17 (communication, dissemination and visibility), 21 (reporting), 25 (checks,
reviews, audits and investigations), 26 (impact evaluation), 27 (rejections), 28 (grant reduction) and
42 (assignment of claims)) continue to apply.
32.3 EU-initiated GA or beneficiary termination
32.3.1 Conditions
The granting authority may terminate the grant or the participation of one or more beneficiaries, if:
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(a) one or more beneficiaries do not accede to the Agreement (see Article 40)
(b) a change to the action or the legal, financial, technical, organisational or ownership situation
of a beneficiary is likely to substantially affect the implementation of the action or calls into
question the decision to award the grant (including changes linked to one of the exclusion
grounds listed in the declaration of honour)
(c) following termination of one or more beneficiaries, the necessary changes to the Agreement
(and their impact on the action) would call into question the decision awarding the grant or
breach the principle of equal treatment of applicants
(d) implementation of the action has become impossible or the changes necessary for its
continuation would call into question the decision awarding the grant or breach the principle
of equal treatment of applicants
(e) a beneficiary (or person with unlimited liability for its debts) is subject to bankruptcy
proceedings or similar (including insolvency, winding-up, administration by a liquidator or
court, arrangement with creditors, suspension of business activities, etc.)
(f) a beneficiary (or person with unlimited liability for its debts) is in breach of social security
or tax obligations
(g) a beneficiary (or person having powers of representation, decision-making or control, or person
essential for the award/implementation of the grant) has been found guilty of grave professional
misconduct
(h) a beneficiary (or person having powers of representation, decision-making or control, or person
essential for the award/implementation of the grant) has committed fraud, corruption, or is
involved in a criminal organisation, money laundering, terrorism-related crimes (including
terrorism financing), child labour or human trafficking
(i) a beneficiary (or person having powers of representation, decision-making or control, or person
essential for the award/implementation of the grant) was created under a different jurisdiction
with the intent to circumvent fiscal, social or other legal obligations in the country of origin
(or created another entity with this purpose)
(j) a beneficiary (or person having powers of representation, decision-making or control, or person
essential for the award/implementation of the grant) has committed:
(i) substantial errors, irregularities or fraud or
(ii) serious breach of obligations under this Agreement or during its award (including
improper implementation of the action, non-compliance with the call conditions,
submission of false information, failure to provide required information, breach of ethics
or security rules (if applicable), etc.)
(k) a beneficiary (or person having powers of representation, decision-making or control, or person
essential for the award/implementation of the grant) has committed — in other EU grants
awarded to it under similar conditions — systemic or recurrent errors, irregularities, fraud or
serious breach of obligations that have a material impact on this grant (extension of findings
from other grants to this grant; see Article 25)
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(l) despite a specific request by the granting authority, a beneficiary does not request — through
the coordinator — an amendment to the Agreement to end the participation of one of its
affiliated entities or associated partners that is in one of the situations under points (d), (f), (e),
(g), (h), (i) or (j) and to reallocate its tasks, or
(m) other:
(i) linked action issues: not applicable
(ii) the action has lost its scientific or technological relevance, for EIC Accelerator actions:
the action has lost its economic relevance, for challenge-based EIC Pathfinder actions
and Horizon Europe Missions: the action has lost its relevance as part of the Portfolio
for which it has been initially selected
32.3.2 Procedure
Before terminating the grant or participation of one or more beneficiaries, the granting authority will
send a pre-information letter to the coordinator or beneficiary concerned:
- formally notifying the intention to terminate and the reasons why and
- requesting observations within 30 days of receiving notification.
If the granting authority does not receive observations or decides to pursue the procedure despite
the observations it has received, it will confirm the termination and the date it will take effect
(confirmation letter). Otherwise, it will formally notify that the procedure is discontinued.
For beneficiary terminations, the granting authority will — at the end of the procedure — also inform
the coordinator.
The termination will take effect the day after the confirmation notification is sent (or on a later date
specified in the notification; ‘termination date’).
32.3.3 Effects
(a) for GA termination:
The coordinator must — within 60 days from when termination takes effect — submit a
periodic report (for the last open reporting period until termination).
The granting authority will calculate the final grant amount and final payment on the basis of
the report submitted and taking into account the costs incurred and contributions for activities
implemented before termination takes effect (see Article 22). Costs relating to contracts due
for execution only after termination are not eligible.
If the grant is terminated for breach of the obligation to submit reports, the coordinator may
not submit any report after termination.
If the granting authority does not receive the report within the deadline, only costs and
contributions which are included in an approved periodic report will be taken into account (no
costs/contributions if no periodic report was ever approved).
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Termination does not affect the granting authority’s right to reduce the grant (see Article 28)
or to impose administrative sanctions (see Article 34).
The beneficiaries may not claim damages due to termination by the granting authority (see
Article 33).
After termination, the beneficiaries’ obligations (in particular Articles 13 (confidentiality
and security), 16 (IPR), 17 (communication, dissemination and visibility), 21 (reporting), 25
(checks, reviews, audits and investigations), 26 (impact evaluation), 27 (rejections), 28 (grant
reduction) and 42 (assignment of claims)) continue to apply.
(b) for beneficiary termination:
The coordinator must — within 60 days from when termination takes effect — submit:
(i) a report on the distribution of payments to the beneficiary concerned
(ii) a termination report from the beneficiary concerned, for the open reporting period
until termination, containing an overview of the progress of the work, the financial
statement, the explanation on the use of resources, and, if applicable, the certificate
on the financial statement (CFS; see Articles 21 and 24.2 and Data Sheet, Point 4.3)
(iii) a request for amendment (see Article 39) with any amendments needed (e.g.
reallocation of the tasks and the estimated budget of the terminated beneficiary;
addition of a new beneficiary to replace the terminated beneficiary; change of
coordinator, etc.).
The granting authority will calculate the amount due to the beneficiary on the basis of the
report submitted and taking into account the costs incurred and contributions for activities
implemented before termination takes effect (see Article 22). Costs relating to contracts due
for execution only after termination are not eligible.
The information in the termination report must also be included in the periodic report for the
next reporting period (see Article 21).
If the granting authority does not receive the termination report within the deadline, only costs
and contributions included in an approved periodic report will be taken into account (no costs/
contributions if no periodic report was ever approved).
If the granting authority does not receive the report on the distribution of payments within the
deadline, it will consider that:
- the coordinator did not distribute any payment to the beneficiary concerned and that
- the beneficiary concerned must not repay any amount to the coordinator.
If the request for amendment is accepted by the granting authority, the Agreement is amended
to introduce the necessary changes (see Article 39).
If the request for amendment is rejected by the granting authority (because it calls into question
the decision awarding the grant or breaches the principle of equal treatment of applicants), the
grant may be terminated (see Article 32).
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After termination, the concerned beneficiary’s obligations (in particular Articles 13
(confidentiality and security), 16 (IPR), 17 (communication, dissemination and visibility),
21 (reporting), 25 (checks, reviews, audits and investigations), 26 (impact evaluation), 27
(rejections), 28 (grant reduction) and 42 (assignment of claims)) continue to apply.
SECTION 3 OTHER CONSEQUENCES: DAMAGES AND ADMINISTRATIVE
SANCTIONS
ARTICLE 33 — DAMAGES
33.1 Liability of the granting authority
The granting authority cannot be held liable for any damage caused to the beneficiaries or to third
parties as a consequence of the implementation of the Agreement, including for gross negligence.
The granting authority cannot be held liable for any damage caused by any of the beneficiaries or
other participants involved in the action, as a consequence of the implementation of the Agreement.
33.2 Liability of the beneficiaries
The beneficiaries must compensate the granting authority for any damage it sustains as a result of the
implementation of the action or because the action was not implemented in full compliance with the
Agreement, provided that it was caused by gross negligence or wilful act.
The liability does not extend to indirect or consequential losses or similar damage (such as loss of
profit, loss of revenue or loss of contracts), provided such damage was not caused by wilful act or
by a breach of confidentiality.
ARTICLE 34 — ADMINISTRATIVE SANCTIONS AND OTHER MEASURES
Nothing in this Agreement may be construed as preventing the adoption of administrative sanctions
(i.e. exclusion from EU award procedures and/or financial penalties) or other public law measures,
in addition or as an alternative to the contractual measures provided under this Agreement (see,
for instance, Articles 135 to 145 EU Financial Regulation 2018/1046 and Articles 4 and 7 of
Regulation 2988/9522).
SECTION 4 FORCE MAJEURE
ARTICLE 35 — FORCE MAJEURE
A party prevented by force majeure from fulfilling its obligations under the Agreement cannot be
considered in breach of them.
‘Force majeure’ means any situation or event that:
- prevents either party from fulfilling their obligations under the Agreement,
22 Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95 of 18 December 1995 on the protection of the European Communities
financial interests (OJ L 312, 23.12.1995, p. 1).
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- was unforeseeable, exceptional situation and beyond the parties’ control,
- was not due to error or negligence on their part (or on the part of other participants involved
in the action), and
- proves to be inevitable in spite of exercising all due diligence.
Any situation constituting force majeure must be formally notified to the other party without delay,
stating the nature, likely duration and foreseeable effects.
The parties must immediately take all the necessary steps to limit any damage due to force majeure
and do their best to resume implementation of the action as soon as possible.
CHAPTER 6 FINAL PROVISIONS
ARTICLE 36 — COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE PARTIES
36.1 Forms and means of communication — Electronic management
EU grants are managed fully electronically through the EU Funding & Tenders Portal (‘Portal’).
All communications must be made electronically through the Portal, in accordance with the Portal
Terms and Conditions and using the forms and templates provided there (except if explicitly instructed
otherwise by the granting authority).
Communications must be made in writing and clearly identify the grant agreement (project number
and acronym).
Communications must be made by persons authorised according to the Portal Terms and Conditions.
For naming the authorised persons, each beneficiary must have designated — before the signature of
this Agreement — a ‘legal entity appointed representative (LEAR)’. The role and tasks of the LEAR
are stipulated in their appointment letter (see Portal Terms and Conditions).
If the electronic exchange system is temporarily unavailable, instructions will be given on the Portal.
36.2 Date of communication
The sending date for communications made through the Portal will be the date and time of sending,
as indicated by the time logs.
The receiving date for communications made through the Portal will be the date and time the
communication is accessed, as indicated by the time logs. Formal notifications that have not been
accessed within 10 days after sending, will be considered to have been accessed (see Portal Terms
and Conditions).
If a communication is exceptionally made on paper (by e-mail or postal service), general principles
apply (i.e. date of sending/receipt). Formal notifications by registered post with proof of delivery will
be considered to have been received either on the delivery date registered by the postal service or the
deadline for collection at the post office.
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If the electronic exchange system is temporarily unavailable, the sending party cannot be considered
in breach of its obligation to send a communication within a specified deadline.
36.3 Addresses for communication
The Portal can be accessed via the Europa website.
The address for paper communications to the granting authority (if exceptionally allowed) is the
official mailing address indicated on its website.
For beneficiaries, it is the legal address specified in the Portal Participant Register.
ARTICLE 37 — INTERPRETATION OF THE AGREEMENT
The provisions in the Data Sheet take precedence over the rest of the Terms and Conditions of the
Agreement.
Annex 5 takes precedence over the Terms and Conditions; the Terms and Conditions take precedence
over the Annexes other than Annex 5.
Annex 2 takes precedence over Annex 1.
ARTICLE 38 — CALCULATION OF PERIODS AND DEADLINES
In accordance with Regulation No 1182/7123, periods expressed in days, months or years are calculated
from the moment the triggering event occurs.
The day during which that event occurs is not considered as falling within the period.
‘Days’ means calendar days, not working days.
ARTICLE 39 — AMENDMENTS
39.1 Conditions
The Agreement may be amended, unless the amendment entails changes to the Agreement which
would call into question the decision awarding the grant or breach the principle of equal treatment
of applicants.
Amendments may be requested by any of the parties.
39.2 Procedure
The party requesting an amendment must submit a request for amendment signed directly in the Portal
Amendment tool.
The coordinator submits and receives requests for amendment on behalf of the beneficiaries (see
Annex 3). If a change of coordinator is requested without its agreement, the submission must be done
by another beneficiary (acting on behalf of the other beneficiaries).
23 Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 1182/71 of the Council of 3 June 1971 determining the rules applicable to periods, dates
and time-limits (OJ L 124, 8/6/1971, p. 1).
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The request for amendment must include:
- the reasons why
- the appropriate supporting documents and
- for a change of coordinator without its agreement: the opinion of the coordinator (or proof that
this opinion has been requested in writing).
The granting authority may request additional information.
If the party receiving the request agrees, it must sign the amendment in the tool within 45 days of
receiving notification (or any additional information the granting authority has requested). If it does
not agree, it must formally notify its disagreement within the same deadline. The deadline may be
extended, if necessary for the assessment of the request. If no notification is received within the
deadline, the request is considered to have been rejected.
An amendment enters into force on the day of the signature of the receiving party.
An amendment takes effect on the date of entry into force or other date specified in the amendment.
ARTICLE 40 — ACCESSION AND ADDITION OF NEW BENEFICIARIES
40.1 Accession of the beneficiaries mentioned in the Preamble
The beneficiaries which are not coordinator must accede to the grant by signing the accession form
(see Annex 3) directly in the Portal Grant Preparation tool, within 30 days after the entry into force
of the Agreement (see Article 44).
They will assume the rights and obligations under the Agreement with effect from the date of its entry
into force (see Article 44).
If a beneficiary does not accede to the grant within the above deadline, the coordinator must — within
30 days — request an amendment (see Article 39) to terminate the beneficiary and make any changes
necessary to ensure proper implementation of the action. This does not affect the granting authority’s
right to terminate the grant (see Article 32).
40.2 Addition of new beneficiaries
In justified cases, the beneficiaries may request the addition of a new beneficiary.
For this purpose, the coordinator must submit a request for amendment in accordance with Article 39.
It must include an accession form (see Annex 3) signed by the new beneficiary directly in the Portal
Amendment tool.
New beneficiaries will assume the rights and obligations under the Agreement with effect from the
date of their accession specified in the accession form (see Annex 3).
Additions are also possible in mono-beneficiary grants.
ARTICLE 41 — TRANSFER OF THE AGREEMENT
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In justified cases, the beneficiary of a mono-beneficiary grant may request the transfer of the grant to
a new beneficiary, provided that this would not call into question the decision awarding the grant or
breach the principle of equal treatment of applicants.
The beneficiary must submit a request for amendment (see Article 39), with
- the reasons why
- the accession form (see Annex 3) signed by the new beneficiary directly in the Portal
Amendment tool and
- additional supporting documents (if required by the granting authority).
The new beneficiary will assume the rights and obligations under the Agreement with effect from the
date of accession specified in the accession form (see Annex 3).
ARTICLE 42 — ASSIGNMENTS OF CLAIMS FOR PAYMENT AGAINST THE
GRANTING AUTHORITY
The beneficiaries may not assign any of their claims for payment against the granting authority to
any third party, except if expressly approved in writing by the granting authority on the basis of a
reasoned, written request by the coordinator (on behalf of the beneficiary concerned).
If the granting authority has not accepted the assignment or if the terms of it are not observed, the
assignment will have no effect on it.
In no circumstances will an assignment release the beneficiaries from their obligations towards the
granting authority.
ARTICLE 43 — APPLICABLE LAW AND SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTES
43.1 Applicable law
The Agreement is governed by the applicable EU law, supplemented if necessary by the law of
Belgium.
Special rules may apply for beneficiaries which are international organisations (if any; see Data Sheet,
Point 5).
43.2 Dispute settlement
If a dispute concerns the interpretation, application or validity of the Agreement, the parties must bring
action before the EU General Court — or, on appeal, the EU Court of Justice — under Article 272
of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU).
For non-EU beneficiaries (if any), such disputes must be brought before the courts of Brussels,
Belgium — unless an international agreement provides for the enforceability of EU court judgements.
For beneficiaries with arbitration as special dispute settlement forum (if any; see Data Sheet, Point 5),
the dispute will — in the absence of an amicable settlement — be settled in accordance with the Rules
for Arbitration published on the Portal.
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If a dispute concerns administrative sanctions, offsetting or an enforceable decision under Article 299
TFEU (see Articles 22 and 34), the beneficiaries must bring action before the General Court — or, on
appeal, the Court of Justice — under Article 263 TFEU.
For grants where the granting authority is an EU executive agency (see Preamble), actions against
offsetting and enforceable decisions must be brought against the European Commission (not against
the granting authority; see also Article 22).
ARTICLE 44 — ENTRY INTO FORCE
The Agreement will enter into force on the day of signature by the granting authority or the
coordinator, depending on which is later.
SIGNATURES
For the coordinator For the granting authority
[--TGSMark#signature-932760440_75_210--] [--TGSMark#signature-service_75_210--]
Edgar BOHNER with ECAS id nbohneed signed in the Participant Signed by Achilleas STALIOS with ECAS id staliac as an authorised
Portal on 13/05/2022 at 14:19:19 (transaction id SigId-57739-RtxdF representative on 13-05-2022 16:59:55 (transaction id SigId-59797-
mffJrFzkXOPV6ObhyadZQi3zJXJpZWsdAfQBzyW5uJ0KgOtx1zfw67hr hk9BlJQtYmJznj0xBXbC535sbMtld5NFyXSkOuDtBszVBu90odRIWV6
g7gzawmziY2OYBWXfLzTgqUigxC-yntOf97TTHqKVldA5iP0lm-Weqlj 6WqlCTQonRhVtrwwoYc0X8x9haqe2Bd-yntOf97TTHqKVldA5iP0lm-
ueH8cNXiFNeprCWwHBpedjGPfzifW8zxMADtzvUzWOCvif6mzSjtlZ GzjK13JAPnWzf3RTBzLVeC8mAtzRR7jO4Bdvsapg9TNDTVW72ylyGl
OqjPTr8vr04iL3sDLznzVm9chvHXC). Timestamp by third party at AcIhuMGBII9f2cWwzvFiZWqbxr4UP32Z4)
2022.05.13 15:19:25 CEST 2022.05.13 16:59:59 CEST
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ANNEX 1
Horizon Europe (HORIZON)
Description of the action (DoA)
Part A
Part B
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DESCRIPTION OF THE ACTION (PART A)
COVER PAGE
Part A of the Description of the Action (DoA) must be completed directly on the Portal Grant Preparation screens.
PROJECT
Grant Preparation (General Information screen) — Enter the info.
Project number: 101056973
Project name: Automated Compliance Checks for Construction, Renovation or Demolition
Works
Project acronym: ACCORD
Call: HORIZON-CL4-2021-TWIN-TRANSITION-01
Topic: HORIZON-CL4-2021-TWIN-TRANSITION-01-10
Type of action: HORIZON-IA
Service: HADEA/B/03
Project starting date: fixed date: 1 September 2022
Project duration: 36 months
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Project summary ......................................................................................................................................................3
List of participants .................................................................................................................................................. 3
List of work packages .............................................................................................................................................5
Staff effort ............................................................................................................................................................. 14
List of deliverables ................................................................................................................................................16
List of milestones (outputs/outcomes) .................................................................................................................. 24
List of critical risks ............................................................................................................................................... 25
Project reviews ...................................................................................................................................................... 27
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PROJECT SUMMARY
Project summary
Grant Preparation (General Information screen) — Provide an overall description of your project (including context and overall
objectives, planned activities and main achievements, and expected results and impacts (on target groups, change procedures,
capacities, innovation etc)). This summary should give readers a clear idea of what your project is about.
Use the project summary from your proposal.
ACCORD's objective is to digitalise permitting and compliance processes using BIM and other data sources to improve
the productivity and quality of design and construction processes, support the design of climate-neutral buildings and
advance a sustainable built environment in line with the EU Green Deal and new European Bauhaus initiative. These
digitized processes must be human-centred, transparent and cost-effective for the permit applicants and authorities.
Another objective is to develop and integrate technical solutions for automating compliance checking of buildings in
their design, construction and renovation/demolition lifecycle phases. All this will be based on open and neutral data
exchange standards.
ACCORD will develop a semantic framework for European digital building permitting processes, regulations, data
and tools. This framework will drive rule formalization and integration of existing compliance tools as microservices.
Solutions and tools are to be developed, providing consistency, interoperability and reliability with national regulatory
frameworks, processes and standards. The solutions are implemented and demonstrated across construction projects in
various EU regulatory contexts: UK, Finland, Estonia, Germany and Spain.
ACCORD supports work programme KSOs, expected outcomes and impacts by 1) developing open APIs allowing local
authorities to choose their digital services without a lock-in, 2) automating the checking of environmental regulations
(CO2 emissions, LCA and circular economy) by developing machine-readable rules, thus steering the digital and green
transition, and involving relevant stakeholders through co-creation, and 3) creating information guidelines for structured
data models to increase the value of buildings and reduce their operating costs and 4) providing the open ACCORD
framework based on microservices allowing businesses to connect and develop solutions resulting in a scalable, durable
and flexible permitting ecosystem.
LIST OF PARTICIPANTS
PARTICIPANTS
Grant Preparation (Beneficiaries screen) — Enter the info.
Number Role Short name Legal name Country PIC
1 COO VTT TEKNOLOGIAN TUTKIMUSKESKUS VTT OY FI 932760440
2 BEN FHG FRAUNHOFER GESELLSCHAFT ZUR DE 999984059
FORDERUNG DER ANGEWANDTEN
FORSCHUNG EV
2.1 AE UNIKO UNIVERSITAET KOBLENZ-LANDAU DE 999856407
3 BEN OGC OPEN GEOSPATIAL CONSORTIUM EUROPE BE 899555206
4 BEN ACE CONSEIL DES ARCHITECTES D'EUROPE BE 924742517
5 BEN MKM MAJANDUS JA EE 963638450
KOMMUNIKATSIOONIMINISTEERIUM
6 BEN HAM FREIE UND HANSESTADT HAMBURG DE 998928602
7 BEN AMM AYUNTAMIENTO DE MALGRAT DE MAR ES 890717827
8 BEN ONTO SIRMA AI EAD BG 900925331
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PARTICIPANTS
Grant Preparation (Beneficiaries screen) — Enter the info.
Number Role Short name Legal name Country PIC
9 BEN SOL SOLIBRI OY FI 888132001
10 BEN FUI FUTURE INSIGHT GROUP BV NL 928328025
11 BEN AE AETHER ENGINEERING S.A.S. TRA IT 923674935
PROFESSIONISTI DI CHRISTOVASILIS
IOANNIS
12 BEN IMT INSTITUT MINES-TELECOM FR 999849326
13 BEN ITeC INSTITUT DE TECNOLOGIA DE LA ES 945306517
CONSTRUCCION DE CATALUNYA
14 BEN FUNITEC FUNDACIO PRIVADA UNIVERSITAT I ES 997191235
TECNOLOGIA
15 BEN JU STIFTELSEN HOGSKOLAN I JONKOPING SE 997539271
16 BEN CP CLOUDPERMIT OY FI 887892120
17 BEN TEGEL TEGEL PROJEKT GMBH DE 934242503
18 AP CU CARDIFF UNIVERSITY UK 999979694
19 AP BCU BIRMINGHAM CITY UNIVERSITY UK 998955374
20 AP BSI BUILDINGSMART INTERNATIONAL LIMITED UK 993336067
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LIST OF WORK PACKAGES
Work packages
Grant Preparation (Work Packages screen) — Enter the info.
Work Work Package name Lead Beneficiary Effort Start End Deliverable No(s)
Package No (Person- Month Month
Months)
WP1 Requirements for digitalising permitting and 18 - CU 24.50 1 10 D1.2, D1.1
compliance processes
WP2 Semantisation of regulation and open format for 19 - BCU 64.00 1 28 D2.2, D2.1, D2.3, D2.4
machine-readable rules
WP3 Transforming permit and compliance processes 20 - BSI 49.00 9 34 D3.2, D3.3, D3.1
WP4 Solutions development 2 - FHG 161.25 1 33 D4.4, D4.3, D4.2, D4.1
WP5 Prototype solutions demonstrations 1 - VTT 81.00 4 33 D5.1
WP6 Dissemination, communication, exploitation and 3 - OGC 42.50 1 36 D6.1, D6.3, D6.2
standardisation
WP7 Project management 1 - VTT 37.25 1 36 D7.1, D7.3, D7.6, D7.4, D7.5,
D7.2
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Work package WP1 – Requirements for digitalising permitting and compliance processes
Work Package Number WP1 Lead Beneficiary 18. CU
Work Package Name Requirements for digitalising permitting and compliance processes
Start Month 1 End Month 10
Objectives
This WP will analyse the complex landscape of build environment compliance checking and permitting across Europe
to ascertain the requirements for the future digitalisation of this complex interdisciplinary field. The WP will employ a
hybrid top-down (covering the consortium member states) and a bottom-up (with a specific focus on the demonstration
countries) approach to tackle the following objectives: (1) Conduct a landscape review and analysis of current adoption
of the concept of digitalisation of building permitting and compliance check-ing: (a) academic projects and methods,
(b) relevant software tools and technologies, and (c) national adoption efforts in the field. (2) Conduct an EU wide
survey into the attitudes of stakeholders to the prospective digitalisation of this domain. (3) Ascertain the current laws,
regulations and guidance that currently drive building permitting across EU consortium member states. (4) Investigate
and formally model the existing building permitting and compliance checking processes in the demonstration countries.
(5) Perform a preselection of regulations/requirements to focus the future development of prototype implementation
within the demonstration projects. (6) To develop and formally document the ACCORD semantic framework and user
requirements specification.
Description
T1.1 Landscape Review of Built Environment Compliance and Permitting (CU, all partners) [M1-M8]: This task will
answer WP objectives 1, 2 and 3. To meet these objectives, an EU-wide landscape review of the current adoption of
digitised compliance/permitting processes will be conducted, focusing on academic projects, existing software tools,
relevant efforts towards national adoption and existing EU projects/efforts. Furthermore, an EU wide construction
industry survey will be conducted; the goal of this survey will be to sample the “state of the industry” with regards to
attitudes, knowledge, and experiences of digitised building permitting and compliance processes and the regulations,
laws and guidance documents currently involved, along with encountered barriers and enablers to digitalisation. This task
will also establish contact with and understand the work of any relevant standardisation bodies (such as buildingSMART,
OGC) and any national networks in the area. Finally, the data collected will be analysed to identify research gaps and
potential barriers and enablers to adopt digitised compliance and permitting processes in the built environment. (D1.1)
T1.2 Identification of Building Permitting Processes and Regulations (VTT, FHG, CU, BCU, MKM, HAM, AMM,
FUI, ITeC, FUNITEC, TEGEL) [M3-M8]: This task will answer WP objectives 4 and 5. To do this, this task will first
analyse existing construction permitting and compliance processes in the demonstration countries. This will identify;
(a) the actors/stakeholders involved, (b) the activities and (c) the regulations involved. Following this identification, a
process mapping exercise will be conducted formally documenting the processes and actors within each demonstration
country. Finally, this task will perform the selection of the laws/regulations/guidance documents within each country
demonstration that will be targeted for digitalisation. (D1.1)
T1.3 ACCORD Framework and User Requirements Specification (FHG, VTT, CU, UNIKO, ONTO, FU-NITEC, ACE,
BCU, BSI, OGC, MKM, HAM, AMM, SOL, FUI, ITeC, CP, TEGEL) [M1-M10]: This task will define the ACCORD
semantic framework along with its user requirements specification (WP objective 6). This will include the identification
of relevant standards for the storing, processing, analysis and retrieval of administrative and regulatory information
related to construction, renovation and demolition works. A user-focused requirement specification is to be developed
in an interdisciplinary fashion, drawing on the previous tasks of this WP and validated by the project advisory board.
The specification will be supported by model-ling activities, including the product of UML use case and sequence
diagrams. The task will also produce a specification of the project’s demonstration deployments, including eliciting any
demonstration-specific requirements. (D1.2)
Work package WP2 – Semantisation of regulation and open format for machine-readable
rules
Work Package Number WP2 Lead Beneficiary 19. BCU
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Work Package Name Semantisation of regulation and open format for machine-readable rules
Start Month 1 End Month 28
Objectives
The WP will develop a set/suite of semantic models, Artificial Intelligence models and a rule formalisation tool
that involve the development of an ontology of laws, regulations, and administrative processes involved in the
design, construction, and operation of buildings and further defines a semantic platform-neutral open format for rule
representation facilitated by a rule formalisation tool. This will draw on the outcomes of WP 1, while its own outcomes
will feed into WPs 3, 4 and 5 to support the development of digital tools and well-defined alignment and interoperability
guidelines with existing construction/software standards.
Description
T2.1 Technical Review of Existing Standards (IMT, CU, BCU, FHG, ONTO, SOL, FUI, FUNITEC, JU) [M1-M12]:
Review of existing ontologies, standards and data models in the domain and how they can be re-used for the purpose
of the automatic compliance check. Includes analysis of potential alignments between existing ontologies/data models
and of representation gaps that T2.2/T2.3 may need to fill. (D2.1)
T2.2 Development of the Building Compliance Ontology (BCU, VTT, CU, FHG, ONTO, SOL, FUI, IMT, FUNITEC,
JU) [M8-M16]: Drawing on literature, expert interviews, T2.1 and WP1, develop a conceptual ontological model
of building compliance requirements, including laws, regulations, processes, and documentation. This Building
Compliance Ontology (BCO) is open-ended, and not tied to specific regional or legal systems. It is aligned and
compatible with established standard ontologies for representing both generic concepts (time, processes, files/document
metadata) and the building domain specifically (building topology, construction projects). Specific laws, regulations,
processes, and documentation will be implementations of this generic model. (D2.2)
T2.3 Machine-executable Regulations (CU, BCU, FHG, ONTO, SOL, FUI, IMT, FUNITEC, JU) [M4-M16]: This task
will analyse existing methodologies of producing machine-executable laws and regulations. This will draw from past
experience from both academic literature and existing software systems. The analysis will include both built environment
examples and those from other domains. Based on this analysis, this task will define the ACCORD methodology
for making laws and regulations (defined semantically in T2.2) machine-executable. This will focus on selecting and
adapting existing approaches and integrating them with the semantics defined in T2.2, as opposed to developing new
technologies. A ruleset database providing semantic rules for compliance checking of the demonstrations will be further
generated from this task with the facilitation of T2.5, aiming to provide a proof of concept and input set of rules to WP4
and WP5 in their checking processes. (D2.2)
T2.4 Artificial Intelligence for Natural Language Processing of Building Codes (BCU, FGH, ONTO, IMT, JU) [M6-
M24]: This task will develop a suite of AI models and other algorithms for the extraction, generation/formulation and
semantisation of rules from text. Deep learning Natural Language Processing (NLP) will be applied to the corpora of
building codes and regulations for extracting rule entities/axioms in the UK. More algorithms will be developed to embed
the NLP output, following an expert-led semi-automatic approach to the rule format defined in T2.3 and semantised
from the defined and reused ontologies and data models from T2.2 and T.2.1. Algorithms to semantise existing digitised/
automated rules will be developed here as well. (D2.3)
T2.5 Design and Implementation of Rule Formalisation Tool (FUNITEC, ONTO, JU, BCU, CU, IMT, FHG, SOL, FUI)
[M13-M24]: This task will design and implement a rule formalisation tool using and connect-ing parts implemented in
other tasks of this WP and utilities to assist rule creators in the process of formalisation of regulations and information
requirements into a processable rule form. The first release of the tool will make use of the outputs of T2.1, T2.2 and
T2.3, and the second release will be aided with NLP processing from T2.4. The task will also define the methodology
for how to formalise text into machine-interpretable rule form. (D2.3)
T2.6 Technical Guidelines (JU, BCU, FHG, ONTO, FUNITEC) [M17-M28]: Developing documentation for the
artefacts developed within the WP, including BCO ontology documentation (textual description and visualizations),
documentation of the developed rule formalisation tool to (automatically) generate the aforementioned documentation
from the artefacts, example instantiations of the ontology and rules for various real-world scenarios, and user-/consumer-
facing getting-started and guideline documents. (D2.4)
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Work package WP3 – Transforming permit and compliance processes
Work Package Number WP3 Lead Beneficiary 20. BSI
Work Package Name Transforming permit and compliance processes
Start Month 9 End Month 34
Objectives
This WP will model digital permitting and compliance processes based on AS-IS processes modelled in WP1 and provide
recommendations for a digital transformation of permit and compliance processes on EU and national levels while using
developed tools and solutions. This objective will be reached based on previous WP outcomes (1) analysis and formal
model of existing building permitting processes across the consortium’s EU countries including different stakeholders
(WP1), (2) semantic framework (WP2), (3) developed tools and solutions for digital compliance checking of buildings
and infrastructure (WP4); (4) outcomes of prototype implementation and validation in demonstration projects (WP5).
Description
T3.1 TO-BE Digital Permitting and Compliance Processes (VTT, BCU, BSI, FHG, OGC, MKM, HAM, AMM, ONTO,
SOL, FUI, FUNITEC, CP, TEGEL) [M14-M34]: Based on D1.1 and D1.2, ACCORD semantic framework and User
Requirements Specification and analysis on lessons learned from the country demonstrations (in WP5), model and
formalise a future (to-be) digital permitting and compliance process that incorporates data, tools (such as the rule
formalisation tool developed in WP2) and stakeholders (meeting ACCORD’s objective 1). Relevant stakeholders
(architects, authorities, etc.) will be engaged in the modelling. (D3.1)
T3.2 Information Reliability Measures (BSI, BCU, FHG, OGC, MKM, HAM, AMM, ONTO, SOL, FUI, FUNITEC, CP,
TEGEL) [M9-M24]: Compliance checks need to produce reliable outcomes. False-positive outcomes from rule checks
are unacceptable since they could lead to a legally compromised position. The rules from WP2 and WP4 assume valid
data input. For example, a rule that checks the height of a step in a stair assumes all stairs are provided in an identifiable
way. Data that represents a staircase but has no semantic annotation of being a stair might not be recognized by the rule
interpreter. Information reliability and correct semantic labelling of data is a prerequisite for reliable permit checking.
This task will identify semantic annotations that need to be in place and provide suggestions on setting up reliability
measurements by municipalities and governments. (D3.2)
T3.3 Transformation Pathways towards Digital Permitting Processes in Demo Countries (BSI, VTT, CU, FHG, FUI,
FUNITEC, ACE, MKM, SOL, HAM, AMM, TEGEL) [M10-M34]: Provide improvement proposals and pathways on
how to advance with digitalisation in permitting and compliance processes in the demonstration countries (T3.1 supports
this task) by engaging relevant stakeholders (such as architects, authorities and civil building permit applicants) in
facilitated co-creative open innovation development. Address possibilities for securing stored data using authentication
technologies. Provide recommendations from the impact assessment and recommendations to standardisation or
regulations, which will contribute to the call objectives and agenda of the Built4People partnership. (D3.1)
T3.4 Information Guidelines and Education Package (FUI, VTT, FHG, FUNITEC, BCU, ONTO, OGC, MKM, TEGEL)
[M12-M34]: Based on the industry partner experiences from the demonstrations, a very concrete starter package will be
put together, with which a country can start BIM-based permit checking success-fully. The task will create information
guidelines for all relevant stakeholders on how to prepare BIM and pro-vide other data (such as GIS) and interpret
the results from the automated compliance checking (in BCF format). The task will create e-learning material based
on defined learning outcomes for teaching professionals. Components of such a starter pack may include: 1) Minimal
BIM requirements, 2) Standardized set of IDS checks to check data quality, 2) Purchase conditions for BIM designs, 4)
Guide how to get your standardized object values from a library like bSDD, 5) List of most easy and relevant permit
checks to start with and the necessary BIM requirements, 6) Guide how to use the Digital Twin as a mechanism to get
requirements from (OGC), 7) A practical guide with examples how to translate legislation to a machine-readable format
and 8) Exchanging check results using BCF. (D3.3)
Work package WP4 – Solutions development
Work Package Number WP4 Lead Beneficiary 2. FHG
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Work Package Name Solutions development
Start Month 1 End Month 33
Objectives
This WP will develop innovative technological solutions for automating building permitting and compliance processes
across Europe. The WP will implement the ACCORD semantic framework that will integrate and provide access to
building compliance and permitting services allowing for the storing processing, analysis and retrieval of administrative
and regulatory information related to construction, renovation and demolition works. The ACCORD Building
Compliance Checking Microservices will integrate infrastructure-, platform- and cloud applications as a service and
ensure consistency to varying regulatory frameworks, compliance checking processes, use cases, stakeholder and data
ownership situations or data sovereignty and integrity aspects. Solutions will guarantee interoperability and integration
with other relevant tools, databases and processes, including existing stand-alone or open-source software and cloud
service solutions. The solutions will be demonstrated in the use cases of demonstrator projects across EU countries
(WP5).
Description
T4.1 Technical Requirements Elicitation and Analysis (UNIKO, all WP4 partners) [M1-M18]: Develop the Technical
Requirements Elicitation and Analysis in accordance with the ACCORD semantic framework and the User Requirements
Specification developed in T1.3. This task will define the technical, functional model identifying further actors and
functional scenarios, deriving use cases, their relationships, user interaction, error handling or environmental conditions
(i.e. interfaces), and non-functional requirements (quality aspects). An Analysis model (understood by developers) will
be developed based on the User Requirements Specification (T1.3) and the Technical Requirements Elicitation defining
the dynamic- and the object model and the architectural styles. (D4.1)
T4.2 Cloud Architecture Model (UNIKO, CU, FHG, OGC, HAM, ONTO, SOL, FUI, AE, FUNITEC, CP) [M3-
M18]: Design an integrated Cloud Computing Architectural Model for the storing, processing, analysis and retrieval
of administrative and regulatory information related to construction, renovation and demolition works in accordance
with the ACCORD semantic framework building upon the User Requirements Specification (T1.3) and the Technical
Requirements Elicitation and Analysis (T4.1). This will include Design Goals, Subsystem decomposition, Concurrency,
Hard- and Software-Mapping, Implementation technology, Persistent data management, Global resource handling,
Microservice architecture and -control, Interface design, Boundary conditions. The task will also define the ACCORD
Service-Setups integrating cloud-based ACCORD-, consortium partner's and existing (micro-)services according to the
specific needs of EU demonstrator projects. (D4.1)
T4.3 Implementation of ACCORD Building Compliance Checking Components, Microservices and APIs (FUI, CU,
BCU, BSI, FHG, OGC, ONTO, SOL, IMT, FUNITEC, JU) [M8-M31]: Implement the ACCORD Building Compliance
Checking Components, Microservices and its Application Programming Interfaces for the compliance checking of digital
building models forming part of the ACCORD semantic framework and based on the Cloud Architecture Model designed
in T4.2. The ACCORD Building Compliance Checking Components will comprise Hybrid Data Storage and Querying
(for BIM-, GIS-, semantic models related to buildings and sites), Data Input Processing, Result Processing, Reporting,
Visualisation and Feedback, Data Dictionary (bsDD and domain/country-specific) and Geoinformation Database.
Component development will reuse open-source- and existing solutions of consortium partners and build upon results
of recent research and innovation projects on the EU level. These components will serve for designing infrastructure-,
platform- and cloud applications as a service (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS) and Application Programming Interfaces including the
IaaS REST APIs, the PaaS APIs and the SaaS APIs. Finally, a plan for continuous Integration and -Deployment of novel
solutions as well as on Quality-, Configuration-, Build- and Release Management will be developed. (D4.2)
T4.4 Implementation of Consortium Microservice APIs and integrations in ACCORD Service-Setups (CU, FHG, OGC,
IMT, FUNITEC, JU, ONTO, SOL, FUI, AE, CP) [M10-M31]: This task will develop microservice applications and
Application Programming Interfaces for the permitting and compliance checking of buildings by individual ACCORD
consortium partners (FHG’s GENERIS, ONTO, SOL, FUI, AE, CP) related to the demonstration deployments. The task
will integrate consortium partner's infrastructure-, platform- and cloud applications as a service (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS) with
APIs for novel ACCORD Microservices (implemented in T4.3) and existing stand-alone, open-source software or cloud
service solutions according to the previously defined ACCORD Service-Setups for demonstration projects (T4.2). (D4.2)
T4.5 Integration, Testing and Validation (SOL, CU, FHG, OGC, HAM, ONTO, FUI, IMT, AE, FUNITEC, JU, CP)
[M11-M32]: Integrate and assure the quality of Components, Microservices and APIs developed in this WP that form
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part of the ACCORD semantic framework. Interactive testing and validation of prototypes developed in T4.3-4.4
upon ACCORD Service-Setups for demonstration projects making use of sample datasets including processes, key use
cases, service- and interface interoperability. Microservice Orchestration and management of software and microservice
solutions by consortium partners and novel ACCORD Microservices will take place in this task according to previously
designed ACCORD Service-Setups (T4.2) for further use in demonstration projects across EU countries (WP5). Provide
recommendations for Technical Guidelines (T4.6). (D4.3)
T4.6 Technical Guidelines (FHG, CU, BSI, UNIKO, OGC, HAM, ONTO, AE, FUNITEC, ONTO, SOL, CP) [M17-
M33]: Develop the Technical Documentation for solutions developed forming part of the ACCORD framework including
the ACCORD Building Compliance Checking Components, -Microservices and -APIs. (D4.4)
Work package WP5 – Prototype solutions demonstrations
Work Package Number WP5 Lead Beneficiary 1. VTT
Work Package Name Prototype solutions demonstrations
Start Month 4 End Month 33
Objectives
This WP will demonstrate digital permitting and compliance checking processes implemented in construction projects
across Europe (Finland/Estonia, Germany, UK and Spain). The demonstrations (demo) will serve to validate the semantic
model and the rule formalisation tool (developed in WP2) and the use of the developed solutions (WP4) and assist in
evaluating the new process (developed in WP3) against current permitting and compliance processes (T1.2). This WP
supports WP1 in describing the current country-specific permitting processes and identifying current challenges and
opportunities for digital permitting.
Description
All demonstrations follow these steps 1) identify regulations to be converted machine-executable (input for WP1, WP2,
WP4), 2) describe the permitting and compliance process related to the regulation (input for WP1-WP4), 3) define
requirements for digital building (BIM and other data) models to be checked in the project development, design and
construction phase (input for WP4), 4) configure, apply and validate solutions for automated compliance checking
(developed in WP4) to specific requirements for demonstration projects and regulations as part of overall BIM-based
permitting process (input for WP3), 5) provide recommendations for developing permitting processes in Europe (input
for WP3) and 6) support technical guidelines (input for WP2 and WP4). Demonstrations will be done with real
project data in cooperation with stakeholders of selected construction projects (including owner, designer and building
authorities). The use cases of each demonstration are described below T5.1-T5.4.
T5.1 Automated BIM-based Building Permit and Environmental Compliance – Finland & Estonia Demo (VTT, SOL, CP,
MKM, FUI) [M4-M34]: Conduct an automated compliance check with selected rules related, e.g. to accessibility, areas
(room & gross area), size of windows in relation to room area and exit routes, and start the automation of environmental
compliance checking (carbon footprint and circular economy) in BIM-based building permitting processes in Finland
and Estonia. The two collaborating country demonstrations are applying different software services, using the same
standards, increasing replicability of approaches. The country demonstrations will be evaluated by the Finnish Ministry
of Environment (Advisory Board member) and the Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications (MKM).
(D5.1)
T5.2 Automated Checking for Land Use Permitting, Green Building Certification and Architectural Design Compliance
of Industrialized Timber Housing (FHG, OGC, HAM, ONTO, TEGEL) [M4-M33]: Auto-mate checking for land
use permitting, lifecycle assessment (LCA) for Green Building Certification and architectural design compliance of
industrialized timber housing in the Federal State of Berlin. TEGEL will provide owner and construction requirements,
digital models and information on processes and regulations for all use cases arising from the adaptive reuse and new
planning of buildings on the area of the former Airport Berlin Tegel. Selected regulations and requirements for land use
permitting, Green Building Certification (according to the DGNB) and the architectural design of industrialized timber
housing will be converted to be machine-readable. HAM and OGC will support the use case “Land Use Permitting”. FHG
will develop APIs for the LCA web software GENERIS and elaborate the use case “Architectural design compliance for
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industrialized timber housing”. Implement and validate ACCORD Building Compliance Checking Microservices with
ON-TO, providing interoperability with German process and data standards (XPlanung and XBau). (D5.1)
T5.3 Automatic Checking of Structural Integrity of Steel Modular House Components – UK Demo (BCU, AE) [M4-
M33]: Automate the compliance checking of structural components in steel modular houses. The demonstration case
will draw on the combination of BIM-based inputs and Finite Element Analysis (FEA). High-level compliance processes
will be provided as inputs to WP1-4, while the analysis execution will be done on open source FEA software and the
reporting on a web-based front end. (D5.1)
T5.4 Automated Checking of Compliance with Urban Regulations - Spain Demo (FUNITEC, ITeC, ON-TO, SOL, OGC,
AMM) [M4-M33]: Automate checking of compliance with urban regulations in a municipality in Spain. The permitting
process will be applicable to both public and private buildings during the design and construction phases, using BIM
and GIS as input data. Various use cases will be considered in the development of several building renovations and new
construction projects that have been planned by the Malgrat de Mar City Council, which is the entity responsible for
granting the permits. (D5.1)
Work package WP6 – Dissemination, communication, exploitation and standardisation
Work Package Number WP6 Lead Beneficiary 3. OGC
Work Package Name Dissemination, communication, exploitation and standardisation
Start Month 1 End Month 36
Objectives
This WP will bundle the dissemination, communication, exploitation and standardization activities to maximize the
promotion of the project and its progress/results. WP6 will reach the identified project target groups and the general
public to support optimal conditions and solutions for exploiting and replicating the project outcomes. Doing so, WP6
ensures technology transfer to key user groups and software manufacturers. Furthermore, WP6 collaborates closely with
standardisation bodies to ensure sustainable project results beyond the project's lifetime.
Description
T6.1 Dissemination, Communication and Project Identity (OGC, all partners) [M1-M36]: An exhaustive plan for
dissemination, exploitation and communication is built upon the drafted version of the proposal (sections 2.2.1 and
2.2.2). The plan is a collaborative effort of this task (T6.1) and T6.2 (Innovation Management, Exploitation, Business
Development). OGC is the main responsible for the deliverable and coordinates the communication planning, and the
exploitation officer (CP) will coordinate the exploitation planning in synchronization with the work in T6.2. The plan
identifies the target audience, the communication tools and distribution channels to reach them and the key messages
to transmit, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for the distribution channels to constantly monitor the dissemination
and communication activities. A mid-term evaluation of the strategy is issued to assess its effectiveness. Through this,
the plan is regularly updated to fine-tune its objectives and actions by considering the project results and outputs. All
project partners review and comment to ensure that all target groups are successfully met. The work is reported at the
end of the project in D6.2. Development of a visual identity and its presence in all communication tools to reinforce
brand awareness by providing a unique, strong and consistent image of the project: logo, colours, typefaces, templates,
brochures and roll-up posters (ACE). The project will set up a website as essential communication and dissemination
channel for the project’s results and involve and enlarge the stakeholders’ community (OGC). The project will create
its own social media accounts on Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube. The impact of the social media channels will be
reviewed annually. A periodic eNewsletter (issued every six months, accessible via the website) will provide information
on project progress and results and links to press and news releases, articles and interviews (VTT) and sent out via e-
mail to registered stakeholders compliant with GDPR. (D6.1)
T6.2 Innovation Management, Exploitation, Business Development (CP, all partners) [M1-M36]: Business Cases
Analysis: Exploring market systems for the ACCORD services within the context of the identified business cases,
following a combined PESTEL and SWOT analysis type. It is focused on identifying the political, legal, economic,
social, technological and environmental factors that can act as barriers and enablers of those technologies (as explored in
the demonstrations in WP5). The analysis provides an important cornerstone for innovation management and technology
transfer. Exploitation and Business Plans: In the overall context of the project-specific innovation management process,
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building upon a common understanding of business models, entrepreneurship, and the outcomes of the demonstrative
case studies, a comprehensive exploitation strategy and business planning process will be developed. Exploitation
possibilities, and the management and protection of intellectual property (IP), will be explored in terms of exploitation
by individual partners and the consortium as a whole. The elaboration of the exploitation plan will be an iterative
and continuous process, aligned with the dissemination and communication activities, in close collaboration with the
industry partners. Innovation Management: This subtask will develop the measures for the sustained transfer of all
solutions developed in ACCORD towards a product portfolio. This includes analysing existing software solutions,
required extensions to integrate ACCORD results, and adaptations to address requirements specific to national settings.
T6.2 will be planned in D6.1 and work reported in D6.2.
T6.3 Community Building, Standardisation & Integration (OGC, BSI, FHG, ONTO, SOL, FUI, AE, ITeC, CP) [M1-
M36]: Community Building: This task addresses the important integration of the geospatial and BIM approaches with
respect to data modelling, semantics, and interface design. To ensure maximal uptake in standardisation activities
and community building, this task will be executed in close collaboration with the OGC/bSI Integrated Digital Built
Environment Subcommittee, and ideas will be exchanged with other projects funded under the same call in a working
group that will be set up by the EU BIM Task Group. Standardisation: The task will develop and execute an integration
path that outlines key milestones towards increased interoperability between the geospatial and built environment
domains, specifically through the coordination of standards. It will further ensure that ACCORD developments are
coordinated with ongoing activities within the standardization bodies bSI and OGC. Integration: The integration part of
this task will develop best practices that describe how geospatial and BIM models can be used jointly to reduce integration
costs and improve build quality along with the entire design, build, finance, maintain the lifecycle of buildings. All best
practices will be published through communication channels of OGC and bSI to ensure maximum uptake within both
communities. All activities and results of both parts of this task will be planned in D6.1 and work documented in D6.2.
T6.4 Training Material and Up-skilling (ACE, all partners) [M24-36]: All training activities will be aligned with D6.1
and reported in D6.2 at the end of the project. The information guidelines (D3.3) will be used alongside other results
material to prepare e-Learning material. The material will be developed in English and will most likely be translated
by training providers or authorities from a specific country who would like to use it. E-learning material can be used
by the partners and their respective countries as part of the exploitation efforts. This training material will also be
made available to the wider public through the EU PROF/TRAC open access online training material repository and
offered to ACE member associations who are acknowledged, national-level training providers. Three different material
packages are planned to up-skill various stakeholders: 1) One for software/ tools/service developers; content: General
technical specifications, ACCORD methodology for the development of machine-readable building codes and automated
compliance checking, 2) One for professionals of the permitting process; content: Guidelines, process flow, data flow,
information requirements, a roadmap for adaptation, and 3) Implementation of ACCORD methodology. Three webinars
will be held and recorded to be openly accessible via the project’s YouTube channel linked to the project website and
the EU BuildUp Portal. (D6.3)
Work package WP7 – Project management
Work Package Number WP7 Lead Beneficiary 1. VTT
Work Package Name Project management
Start Month 1 End Month 36
Objectives
This WP ensures the overall management, administration, coordination, execution and progress of the project and that
results are achieved in accordance with the Grant Agreement (GA) and expectations of the call.
Description
The Project Coordinator, VTT, is responsible for the overall coordination and management of the project and the
communication with the EC, within the consortium, and external bodies. The project management includes all
administrative, financial, and contractual issues and ensures the project's compliance with the GA. The coordinator
represents the project beneficiaries towards the EC.
T7.1 Financial and Administrative Management (VTT, all partners) [M1-M36]: VTT will manage the allocation and
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distribution of EC financial contributions to the beneficiaries and keep records of the payments. VTT will advise partners
to meet the EC administrative and financial requirements to follow Horizon Europe rules and provisions. VTT will
manage the GA with the EC and the Consortium Agreement (CA) with the Consorti-um. VTT will prepare any eventual
amendments and revisions of these Agreements when necessary. (D7.1)
T7.2 Coordination (VTT, all partners) [M1-M36]: Operational coordination at the consortium level: the overall day-
to-day coordination of the project, monitoring and supervision of activities concerning deliverables, milestones and
periodic reports, arranging for shared virtual workspaces and internal working procedures. Consortium and WP meetings
will be arranged in a timely manner, and review meetings with EC representatives will be held as agreed with the EC
Project Officer in the GA. The coordinator will define the management structure and procedures with all partners. A
detailed description of each Consortium body, their duties and responsibilities will be included in the CA, binding all
Consortium members. Resolution mechanisms for any emerging conflicts will be described in the CA. The management
structure is composed of a General Assembly (GenA, representing all partners) and a Management Committee (MC)
composed of WP leaders and coordinators. The GenA is the main decision-making body, while the MC supervises
the tasks and progress in different activities. An External Advisory Board (AB) will support requirements elicitation,
solution verification and country demonstration. The Project Quality Management Plan (PQMP) is developed to ensure i)
management of project-related documentation, ii) monitoring and quality control of project deliverables and milestones,
iii) risk contingency management. (D7.1)
T7.3 Ethics Management (VTT, all partners) [M1-M36]: The project will follow the ethics appraisal procedure in Horizon
Europe to ensure that the provisions on ethics regulation and rules are respected. VTT will act as an ethics mentor
monitoring the ethics issues involved in the project and how they are handled. The ethics plan details the forthcoming
actions and responsibilities to ensure that ethics requirements are satisfied. The ethics plan will include a schedule to
obtain and deliver all documents related to ethics requirements identified in Part A. (D7.2)
T7.4 Data Management (VTT), all partners) [M1-M36]: The consortium will prepare a Project Data Management Plan
(PDMP; D7.2), including a description of methodology and standards to be followed, what data sets are exploitable or
made accessible for verification and re-use. The PDMP will be a dynamic tool that is updated regularly throughout the
project duration. (D7.2)
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STAFF EFFORT
Staff effort per participant
Grant Preparation (Work packages - Effort screen) — Enter the info.
Participant WP1 WP2 WP3 WP4 WP5 WP6 WP7 Total Person-Months
1 - VTT 4.75 6.00 10.00 2.00 16.00 38.75
2 - FHG 4.75 3.00 2.00 14.00 8.00 2.00 2.00 35.75
2.1 - UNIKO 0.25 13.00 1.00 0.75 15.00
3 - OGC 0.25 1.00 7.00 2.00 10.00 2.00 22.25
4 - ACE 0.25 1.00 8.00 0.75 10.00
5 - MKM 0.75 2.00 2.00 0.50 0.75 6.00
6 - HAM 0.50 2.00 3.00 3.00 2.00 0.50 0.75 11.75
7 - AMM 0.50 1.00 3.00 0.50 0.75 5.75
8 - ONTO 0.25 7.00 1.00 25.00 5.00 0.50 0.75 39.50
9 - SOL 0.25 8.00 3.00 18.50 8.00 0.50 0.75 39.00
10 - FUI 0.25 4.00 5.00 20.00 7.00 0.50 0.75 37.50
11 - AE 0.25 4.00 3.00 0.50 0.75 8.50
12 - IMT 0.25 6.00 7.00 2.00 0.75 16.00
13 - ITeC 1.00 4.00 0.50 0.75 6.25
14 - FUNITEC 0.50 10.00 2.00 8.00 8.00 2.00 0.75 31.25
15 - JU 0.25 5.00 7.00 2.00 0.75 15.00
16 - CP 0.25 3.00 11.00 3.00 2.50 0.75 20.50
17 - TEGEL 0.25 7.00 7.00 1.00 0.75 16.00
18 - CU 7.50 5.00 4.00 17.50 2.00 2.00 38.00
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Staff effort per participant
Grant Preparation (Work packages - Effort screen) — Enter the info.
Participant WP1 WP2 WP3 WP4 WP5 WP6 WP7 Total Person-Months
19 - BCU 1.25 14.00 1.00 2.00 8.00 2.00 2.00 30.25
20 - BSI 0.25 7.00 4.25 1.00 2.00 2.00 16.50
Total Person-Months 24.50 64.00 49.00 161.25 81.00 42.50 37.25 459.50
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LIST OF DELIVERABLES
Deliverables
Grant Preparation (Deliverables screen) — Enter the info.
The labels used mean:
Public — fully open ( automatically posted online)
Sensitive — limited under the conditions of the Grant Agreement
EU classified —RESTREINT-UE/EU-RESTRICTED, CONFIDENTIEL-UE/EU-CONFIDENTIAL, SECRET-UE/EU-SECRET under Decision 2015/444
Deliverable Deliverable Name Work Lead Beneficiary Type Dissemination Level Due Date
No Package (month)
No
D1.1 Landscape Review Report WP1 18 - CU R — Document, report PU - Public 8
D1.2 ACCORD Framework and User WP1 2 - FHG R — Document, report PU - Public 10
Requirements Specification
D2.1 Technical Report: Existing Models WP2 12 - IMT R — Document, report PU - Public 12
D2.2 BCO Ontology and Rules Format WP2 19 - BCU R — Document, report PU - Public 16
D2.3 Rules Toolset WP2 14 - FUNITEC OTHER PU - Public 24
D2.4 ACCORD Semantics Documentation WP2 15 - JU R — Document, report PU - Public 28
D3.1 Transformation Pathways Report WP3 20 - BSI R — Document, report PU - Public 34
D3.2 Information Reliability Measures Paper WP3 20 - BSI R — Document, report PU - Public 24
D3.3 Information Guidelines and Education WP3 10 - FUI DEC —Websites, patent PU - Public 34
Package filings, videos, etc
D4.1 Technical Requirements Elicitation, WP4 2 - FHG R — Document, report PU - Public 18
Analysis and Cloud Architecture Model
D4.2 ACCORD Building Compliance Checking WP4 10 - FUI R — Document, report PU - Public 31
Components, Microservices and APIs
D4.3 Quality Assurance and Validation Report WP4 9 - SOL R — Document, report PU - Public 32
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Deliverables
Grant Preparation (Deliverables screen) — Enter the info.
The labels used mean:
Public — fully open ( automatically posted online)
Sensitive — limited under the conditions of the Grant Agreement
EU classified —RESTREINT-UE/EU-RESTRICTED, CONFIDENTIEL-UE/EU-CONFIDENTIAL, SECRET-UE/EU-SECRET under Decision 2015/444
Deliverable Deliverable Name Work Lead Beneficiary Type Dissemination Level Due Date
No Package (month)
No
D4.4 ACCORD Solutions Documentation WP4 2 - FHG R — Document, report PU - Public 33
D5.1 Best Practices of Modern Digital Building WP5 1 - VTT R — Document, report PU - Public 33
Permitting Processes in Europe
D6.1 Dissemination, Exploitation, WP6 3 - OGC R — Document, report PU - Public 6
Standardization, Integration and
Communication Plan
D6.2 Dissemination, Exploitation, WP6 3 - OGC R — Document, report PU - Public 36
Standardization, Integration and
Communication Report
D6.3 Training and Up-Skilling Report WP6 4 - ACE R — Document, report PU - Public 36
D7.1 Project Management Plan (PMP) WP7 1 - VTT R — Document, report SEN - Sensitive 2
D7.2 Project Data Management Plan PDMP WP7 1 - VTT R — Document, report SEN - Sensitive 6
D7.3 Short Interim Management Report I WP7 1 - VTT R — Document, report SEN - Sensitive 6
D7.4 Short Interim Management Report II WP7 1 - VTT R — Document, report SEN - Sensitive 12
D7.5 Short Interim Management Report III WP7 1 - VTT R — Document, report SEN - Sensitive 24
D7.6 Short Interim Management Report IV WP7 1 - VTT R — Document, report SEN - Sensitive 30
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Deliverable – Landscape Review Report
Deliverable Number D1.1 Lead Beneficiary 18. CU
Deliverable Name Landscape Review Report
Type R — Document, report Dissemination Level PU - Public
Due Date (month) 8 Work Package No WP1
Description
The landscape review of built environment compliance and permitting, industry survey results, research gaps, potential
barriers and enablers. (CU) The state-level process maps of the current compliance/permitting, the laws, regulations,
guidance documents and stakeholders. (VTT)
Deliverable – ACCORD Framework and User Requirements Specification
Deliverable Number D1.2 Lead Beneficiary 2. FHG
Deliverable Name ACCORD Framework and User Requirements Specification
Type R — Document, report Dissemination Level PU - Public
Due Date (month) 10 Work Package No WP1
Description
The ACCORD semantic framework and associated User Requirements Specification, including supporting modelling.
Additionally, this report will document specifications for each of the project’s demonstration deployments.
Deliverable – Technical Report: Existing Models
Deliverable Number D2.1 Lead Beneficiary 12. IMT
Deliverable Name Technical Report: Existing Models
Type R — Document, report Dissemination Level PU - Public
Due Date (month) 12 Work Package No WP2
Description
The result of T2.1, describing existing ontologies, standards, and data models in the building data domain relevant to
compliance checking, including their overlaps and knowledge gaps.
Deliverable – BCO Ontology and Rules Format
Deliverable Number D2.2 Lead Beneficiary 19. BCU
Deliverable Name BCO Ontology and Rules Format
Type R — Document, report Dissemination Level PU - Public
Due Date (month) 16 Work Package No WP2
Description
The Building Compliance Ontology describing concepts and relations required to support automated rule checking in
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permitting/compliance checking processes and the ruleset database (CU). A technology-neutral format describing rules
in building codes in an unambiguous way using terms defined in D2.1 and other public ontologies, such as bSDD.
Deliverable – Rules Toolset
Deliverable Number D2.3 Lead Beneficiary 14. FUNITEC
Deliverable Name Rules Toolset
Type OTHER Dissemination Level PU - Public
Due Date (month) 24 Work Package No WP2
Description
A deep learning NLP model trained with building codes and regulations in English and a tool for assisting domain
experts in the process of rule formalization.
Deliverable – ACCORD Semantics Documentation
Deliverable Number D2.4 Lead Beneficiary 15. JU
Deliverable Name ACCORD Semantics Documentation
Type R — Document, report Dissemination Level PU - Public
Due Date (month) 28 Work Package No WP2
Description
Documentation package(s) and associated technical documentation for D2.2 and D2.3.
Deliverable – Transformation Pathways Report
Deliverable Number D3.1 Lead Beneficiary 20. BSI
Deliverable Name Transformation Pathways Report
Type R — Document, report Dissemination Level PU - Public
Due Date (month) 34 Work Package No WP3
Description
Improvement proposals and guidelines about how to set up an environment for automated permit checking in a country or
municipality. (BSI) The lessons learned from the country demonstrations (WP5) and digital permitting and compliance
processes. (VTT)
Deliverable – Information Reliability Measures Paper
Deliverable Number D3.2 Lead Beneficiary 20. BSI
Deliverable Name Information Reliability Measures Paper
Type R — Document, report Dissemination Level PU - Public
Due Date (month) 24 Work Package No WP3
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Description
A paper intended to be published at a conference or journal, identifying reliability risks and semantic requirements for
digital permit checking.
Deliverable – Information Guidelines and Education Package
Deliverable Number D3.3 Lead Beneficiary 10. FUI
Deliverable Name Information Guidelines and Education Package
Type DEC —Websites, patent Dissemination Level PU - Public
filings, videos, etc
Due Date (month) 34 Work Package No WP3
Description
E-learning material with a practical approach to help all stakeholders in different regions to set up digital permit checking
in their organization.
Deliverable – Technical Requirements Elicitation, Analysis and Cloud Architecture Model
Deliverable Number D4.1 Lead Beneficiary 2. FHG
Deliverable Name Technical Requirements Elicitation, Analysis and Cloud Architecture Model
Type R — Document, report Dissemination Level PU - Public
Due Date (month) 18 Work Package No WP4
Description
Documentation of the Technical Requirement Elicitation and Analysis and the Cloud Architecture Model for solutions
to be developed in this WP.
Deliverable – ACCORD Building Compliance Checking Components, Microservices and APIs
Deliverable Number D4.2 Lead Beneficiary 10. FUI
Deliverable Name ACCORD Building Compliance Checking Components, Microservices and APIs
Type R — Document, report Dissemination Level PU - Public
Due Date (month) 31 Work Package No WP4
Description
Open-source codes for ACCORD Building Compliance Checking Components, Microservice and APIs and a report
providing results of microservice implementation and integrations in ACCORD Service-Setups.
Deliverable – Quality Assurance and Validation Report
Deliverable Number D4.3 Lead Beneficiary 9. SOL
Deliverable Name Quality Assurance and Validation Report
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Type R — Document, report Dissemination Level PU - Public
Due Date (month) 32 Work Package No WP4
Description
A report documenting the quality assurance and validation of solutions developed in this WP.
Deliverable – ACCORD Solutions Documentation
Deliverable Number D4.4 Lead Beneficiary 2. FHG
Deliverable Name ACCORD Solutions Documentation
Type R — Document, report Dissemination Level PU - Public
Due Date (month) 33 Work Package No WP4
Description
Technical documentation of solutions developed, including the ACCORD Building Compliance Checking Components,
Microservices and APIs.
Deliverable – Best Practices of Modern Digital Building Permitting Processes in Europe
Deliverable Number D5.1 Lead Beneficiary 1. VTT
Deliverable Name Best Practices of Modern Digital Building Permitting Processes in Europe
Type R — Document, report Dissemination Level PU - Public
Due Date (month) 33 Work Package No WP5
Description
Best practices of modern digital building permitting and compliance processes in the demonstration countries: Finland,
Estonia, Germany, the UK and Spain.
Deliverable – Dissemination, Exploitation, Standardization, Integration and Communication
Plan
Deliverable Number D6.1 Lead Beneficiary 3. OGC
Deliverable Name Dissemination, Exploitation, Standardization, Integration and Communication Plan
Type R — Document, report Dissemination Level PU - Public
Due Date (month) 6 Work Package No WP6
Description
Plan on the dissemination, exploitation, standardization, integration and communication activities with all
communication material (website, templates, brochures etc.).
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Deliverable – Dissemination, Exploitation, Standardization, Integration and Communication
Report
Deliverable Number D6.2 Lead Beneficiary 3. OGC
Deliverable Name Dissemination, Exploitation, Standardization, Integration and Communication Report
Type R — Document, report Dissemination Level PU - Public
Due Date (month) 36 Work Package No WP6
Description
Report the dissemination, exploitation, standardization, integration and communication activities.
Deliverable – Training and Up-Skilling Report
Deliverable Number D6.3 Lead Beneficiary 4. ACE
Deliverable Name Training and Up-Skilling Report
Type R — Document, report Dissemination Level PU - Public
Due Date (month) 36 Work Package No WP6
Description
Training material and up-skilling activities.
Deliverable – Project Management Plan (PMP)
Deliverable Number D7.1 Lead Beneficiary 1. VTT
Deliverable Name Project Management Plan (PMP)
Type R — Document, report Dissemination Level SEN - Sensitive
Due Date (month) 2 Work Package No WP7
Description
Internal procedures for communication, progress monitoring, quality assurance and risk management.
Deliverable – Project Data Management Plan PDMP
Deliverable Number D7.2 Lead Beneficiary 1. VTT
Deliverable Name Project Data Management Plan PDMP
Type R — Document, report Dissemination Level SEN - Sensitive
Due Date (month) 6 Work Package No WP7
Description
First version of PDMP, including the ethics plan, at M6. PDMP will be updated by each periodic report.
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Deliverable – Short Interim Management Report I
Deliverable Number D7.3 Lead Beneficiary 1. VTT
Deliverable Name Short Interim Management Report I
Type R — Document, report Dissemination Level SEN - Sensitive
Due Date (month) 6 Work Package No WP7
Description
A short (max 8-10 pages) interim management report.
Deliverable – Short Interim Management Report II
Deliverable Number D7.4 Lead Beneficiary 1. VTT
Deliverable Name Short Interim Management Report II
Type R — Document, report Dissemination Level SEN - Sensitive
Due Date (month) 12 Work Package No WP7
Description
A short (max 8-10 pages) interim management report.
Deliverable – Short Interim Management Report III
Deliverable Number D7.5 Lead Beneficiary 1. VTT
Deliverable Name Short Interim Management Report III
Type R — Document, report Dissemination Level SEN - Sensitive
Due Date (month) 24 Work Package No WP7
Description
A short (max 8-10 pages) interim management report.
Deliverable – Short Interim Management Report IV
Deliverable Number D7.6 Lead Beneficiary 1. VTT
Deliverable Name Short Interim Management Report IV
Type R — Document, report Dissemination Level SEN - Sensitive
Due Date (month) 30 Work Package No WP7
Description
A short (max 8-10 pages) interim management report.
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LIST OF MILESTONES
Milestones
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Milestone Milestone Name Work Package No Lead Beneficiary Means of Verification Due Date
No (month)
1 User requirements WP2, WP4 1-VTT User requirements are defined. 7
2 Artificial intelligence WP2 14-FUNITEC AI models and other algorithms are developed 19
supporting the rule formalisation tool.
3 Education material WP2, WP3, WP4 4-ACE Results and materials are ready to develop the e- 25
learning material and webinars.
4 Testing: phase 1 WP5, WP4 2-FHG Solutions are tested (phase 1), and they conform 15
to user requirements.
5 Testing: phase 2 WP5, WP4 2-FHG Solutions are tested (phase 2), and the 21
demonstration partners know how the solutions
work.
6 Testing: phase 3 WP2, WP5, WP4 2-FHG Solutions are tested (phase 3) and ready to be used 27
in the demonstrations (WP5).
7 Demo plans WP5 1-VTT Demonstration countries’ demo plans are ready, 6
and regulations to be made machine-readable are
identified.
8 Enriched BIM WP5 1-VTT Demos’ BIMs are enriched, and regulations are 14
turned into machine-readable rules.
9 Machine-readable regulations WP5 1-VTT Integration of the rules into the processing 25
environment to demonstrate the tools in M27.
10 Project kicked-off WP4, WP7 1-VTT Kick-off meeting minutes shared, website 4
existing, the management structure of the project
decided, including the members of the general
assembly, executive board and technical board.
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Milestones
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Milestone Milestone Name Work Package No Lead Beneficiary Means of Verification Due Date
No (month)
11 Education package structure WP3, WP5 10-FUI The structure of the education package has been 22
approved by the Executive Board.
12 Market exploration WP6, WP4 16-CP Business cases have been identified (through 17
PESTEL and SWOT analysis) and the process for
building an exploitation strategy has been started.
LIST OF CRITICAL RISKS
Critical risks & risk management strategy
Grant Preparation (Critical Risks screen) — Enter the info.
Risk Description Work Package Proposed Mitigation Measures
number No(s)
1 Unclear roles and responsibilities between WP2, WP3, WP5, Defined in Consortium Agreement (CA), Grant Agreement; effective communication.
participants. WP6, WP4, WP1,
WP7
2 A weak commitment of participants to the project WP3, WP2, WP5, At the beginning of each task, a detailed plan will be prepared and agreed upon, with clear
plan and deadlines. Potential for serious delays as WP6, WP4, WP1, responsibilities allocated to all participants. Progress of ongoing tasks will be monitored, and
lack of progress in one or more tasks may cause WP7 issues managed via monthly reports from TLs. Evolving deliverables will be followed to
delays for linked or subsequent tasks, and hence for identify possible problems. The quality of project outputs is ensured by the Quality Manager
the project as a whole. in accordance with the Project Quality Management Plan PQMP (D7.1).
3 Partner leaving the consortium. WP2, WP3, WP5, In the unlikely event that a partner departs for financial reasons, other consortium members
WP6, WP4, WP1, can assume incomplete tasks initially assigned to the partner departing. If necessary, a new
WP7 consortium partner can be identified using the networks of remaining consortium partners.
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Critical risks & risk management strategy
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Risk Description Work Package Proposed Mitigation Measures
number No(s)
4 Risks related to project partners operational WP2, WP3, WP5, Effective communication; participants’ obligation to inform Coordinator and Consortium;
environment (bankruptcy, force majeure etc.) WP6, WP4, WP1, amendments to the Description of Action; suspension of the project; termination of the
WP7 project.
5 Developed solutions and standards are not in line WP2, WP3, WP5, By giving experienced industry partners an important role in developing and testing the
with the user needs, which means that they will not WP6, WP4, WP1, solutions and standards to be developed with the needs of the demonstration users from WP5
be used in practice. WP7 right from the start, we ensure that we meet the needs from practice as much as possible.
6 Not finding suitable demonstration projects. WP5 Each country demo involves a municipality or a building owner with several (at least three)
forthcoming projects starting in 2022. These projects are now identified, and the final project
selection will be made by M6 (demo plan milestone). Project owners are identified as critical
for ACCORD. They are thus involved in ACCORD as either project partners (Estonia:
MKM, Germany: TEGEL, Spain: AMM) or members of the advisory board (UK: Hadley
Group, Finland: City of Järven-pää).
7 Environmental regulations are not finalized before WP2, WP5 Communication with authorities about environmental regulation takes place early in the
the project starts, and they may prove difficult or ACCORD project to know the status of the regulation. If environmental regulations are
impossible to check using BIM. not available or they prove impossible to check, ACCORD will focus on other building
permitting topics, such as accessibility. Lessons learned from demos will give an insight into
how regulations should be presented in the future.
8 The implementation of the building permitting WP4 The implementation status will be carefully and regularly monitored at least monthly by the
system’s components is not progressing in time. WP4 leader and the coordinator to ensure timely progress. Three milestones are set to follow
the progress and align with the demonstration projects.
9 Applying artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, WP2, WP5 The WP2 leader will follow the progress and inform WP5 leaders if AI technologies are not
like natural language processing, proves available. In that case, the rule formalisation tool is not applying AI, but rule formalisation
impractical. is done manually but using data dictionaries and a rule language.
10 T6.4 Training Material and Up-skilling do not WP6 Progress is followed, and a milestone (MS3) is set for WPs 2-4 to make sure they deliver
receive ACCORD results and materials in time. the necessary results and materials that will be used for the e-learning material and training
webinars.
11 Lack of commitment in the demonstrator at the WP5 All external advisory board members will sign a Non-Disclosure Commitment for External
external advisory board Advisory Board, which is Attachment 5 in ACCORD’s Consortium Agreement. We will
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Critical risks & risk management strategy
Grant Preparation (Critical Risks screen) — Enter the info.
Risk Description Work Package Proposed Mitigation Measures
number No(s)
involve the external advisory board (EAB) in the planning of the demonstration projects from
the beginning, M4. Most of the EAB members have been informed during project preparation
about the demonstrations, and the Finnish demonstration project is done in close cooperation
with The City of Järvenpää, a building permit officer who is part of the EAB.
12 Microservices are not ready for demonstration WP5, WP4 We have agreed with FUI that their modular platform can be used to fill the gaps in
purposes. microservices and ensure smooth and effective demonstrations.
PROJECT REVIEWS
Project Reviews
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Review Timing Location Comments
No (month)
RV1 18 Either Brussels or the premises of a project To assess the project and recommend re-orientations (if needed)
beneficiary
RV2 36 Brussels To properly assess the action's implementation
27
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ANNEX 1
Horizon Europe (HORIZON)
Description of the action (DoA)
Part A
Part B
Version 1.8
4 April 2022
101056973 — ACCORD — Part B — Page 1 of 43
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AUTOMATED COMPLIANCE CHECKS FOR CONSTRUCTION, RENOVATION OR DEMOLITION WORKS
ACCORD
TABLE OF HISTORY OF CHANGES
VERSION (date) CHANGES
Annex 1 Part A
1.0 (3.1.2022) • Added VTT researchers
• Added WP descriptions (WP1 and WP2)
• Added staff efforts
Annex 1 Part B
• Changed the footer to include project information.
• Removed the list of participants.
1.0 (3.1.2022) • Removed Table 3.1a (list of work packages).
• Removed WP1 and WP2 from 3.1b (work packages descriptions).
• Removed table 3.1f (summary of staff effort).
Created section 4 ‘ethics self-assessment’ and copied into this section the ethics self-assessment
from the proposal Part A.
Annex 1 Part A
• Added WP descriptions (WP3-WP7)
• Changed the responsibilities from UNIKO to FRA (T4.1, T4.2 and D4.1), because UNIKO is the
affiliated entity of FRA.
• The type of D4.2 was changed from OTHER to R.
1.1 (4.1.2022) • Removed letter Q from the title of D7.1. Now the title is Project Management Plan (PMP), but
previously Project Management Plan (PQMP).
• Changed the dissemination level of D7.1 from PU to SEN.
• Changed the type of D7.2 from DPM to R, because the drop-down list did not have DMP as a
type.
• Added lead beneficiaries to milestones.
• Added risks.
Annex 1 Part B
• Removed the rest of the WPs from 3.1b (work packages descriptions).
• Removed Table 3.1c: List of Deliverables (D).
1.1 (4.1.2022) • Removed Table 3.1d: List of milestones.
• Removed Table 3.1e: Critical risks for implementation.
• Changed the title of 3.1.2 to Subcontracting and purchase costs, because critical risks were
moved to the portal.
Annex 1 Part A
• Added three milestones to the EC portal: 1) MS10 Project kicked off. Means of verification:
Kick-off meeting minutes shared, website existing, the management structure of the project
decided, including the members of the general assembly, executive board and technical board. 2)
MS11 Education package structure. Means of verification: The structure of the education
package has been approved by the Executive Board. 3) MS12 Market exploration. Means of
1.2 (21.1.2022) verification: Business cases have been identified (through PESTEL and SWOT analysis) and the
process for building an exploitation strategy has been started.
• Added four short interim management reports (max 8-10 pages) as deliverables (D7.3-D7.6), as
suggested by the project officer’s technical comments.
• Added the suggested risk “Lack of commitment in the demonstrator at the external advisory
board” to the EC portal. As a mitigation measure, we wrote “All external advisory board
members will sign a Non-Disclosure Commitment for External Advisory Board, which is
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Attachment 5 in ACCORD’s Consortium Agreement. We will involve the external advisory
board (EAB) in the planning of the demonstration projects from the beginning, M4. Most of the
EAB members have been informed during project preparation about the demonstrations, and the
Finnish demonstration project is done in close cooperation with The City of Järvenpää, a
building permit officer who is part of the EAB.”
1.2 (21.1.2022) Annex 1 Part B
• Changed the word advisory board (AB) to external advisory board (EAB).
Annex 1 Part A
• Added a risk “Microservices are not ready for demonstration purposes”. As a mitigation
measure, we wrote “We have agreed with FUI that their modular platform can be used to fill the
gaps in microservices and ensure smooth and effective demonstrations.”
1.3 (25.1.2022) • Changed the PIC of JU to 997539271 (STIFTELSEN HOGSKOLAN I JONKOPING)
• Changed the PIC of SOL to 101056973 (Solibri).
• Changed the PIC of CP to 887892120. The official name of CP was also changed from Evolta to
Cloudpermit.
• Updated the related WPs of MS4-MS6.
Annex 1 Part B
• Under section 1.1.1 Objectives and relationship to the work programme, changed the sentence
“ACCORD will build on the DigiPLACE project’s reference architecture framework.” to
“ACCORD will analyse the DigiPLACE Architecture guidelines (D5.2) at the beginning of T4.1
to understand the best possible usage of the framework.”
• Added to section 3.2.3 Complementarity and contribution of partners that the affiliated entity
“UNIKO is involved in T1.3, T4.1, T4.2, T4.6, and writing D4.1.”, following the GAP comment
H.
• The following sentence was added after Table 3.1g: ‘Subcontracting costs’ items “The purchase
costs for the action and subcontracting will meet the conditions laid down in Articles 6.2. In
particular, the best value for money (or if appropriate the lowest price) principle will be
respected and no conflict of interests will be ensured.”
1.3 (25.1.2022) • Added “, of which UNIKO is an affiliated entity,” to section 3.2.1 Consortium. So, now the
sentence is the following “The 21 partners, of which UNIKO is an affiliated entity, have a wide
spectrum of expertise and operational capacity in complementary fields related to the proposal
topic on digital tools and automated methods for designing, building and authorising
construction works, which will ascertain the high quality of the project outcomes and impact.”
• Added sentences to ensure that the objectives are verifiable. Therefore, we added the following
sentence to the success criteria of objective 1 “The meeting minutes from EAB will be used for
verification of these success criteria.” Two words (used and verified) were added to the success
criteria of objective 2. We added the following sentence to the success criteria of objective 3
“The verification will be based on the milestones in WP4 (MS4-MS6).” The word implemented
and the sentence “(verified in demonstration projects of WP5).” was added to the success criteria
of objective 4. Finally, we added the following sentence to the success criteria of objective 5
“The list of dissemination activities will serve as the verification of these criteria.”.
• Updated the GANNT with the new milestones (MS10-MS12) and changes with links to WPs.
Annex 1 Part A
Fraunhofer’s previous short name (FRA) changed to FHG. Therefore, WP descriptions were
updated (from FRA to FHG).
1.4 (3.2.2022) Annex 1 Part B
Budget category changes in Table 3.1h (partner 13 FUI). We made a change inside the “purchase
costs” category: We moved the “equipment” cost (140k€) to “other goods, works and services”.
Table 3.1h partner numbering corrected to match the EC portal.
Annex 1 Part A
FHG’s budget was reduced by 0,68 € to match the maximum grant amount annex 2 and after
evaluation.
1.5 (9.3.2022) Tegel’s status in the portal is now a non-profit company. Therefore, we changed their EU
contribution in annex 2 (added 52 875€).
Annex 1 Part B
Updated the GANNT with the short interim reports (D7.3-D7.6) and FRA to FHG.
Annex 1 Part A
The UK partners were changed to Associated Partners. Therefore, their EC budget was removed.
1.6 (24.3.2022) The UK partners will fund their work through national UKRI funding.
Annex 1 Part B
The UK partners (CU and BSI) subcontracting costs were removed from table 3.1g:
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‘Subcontracting costs’ items.
In section 3.21 Consortium, it was added that UK partners (CU, BCU and BSI) are Associated
Partners.
Changed a sentence in section 3.2.3 Complementarity and contribution of partners “The consortia
include partners from the UK, which are Associated Partners.”
Annex 1 Part A
VTT bank number was linked again. There was a technical problem in the portal, which has now
been corrected.
supporting document which establishes the legal link between the beneficiary (FHG) and its
1.7 (30.3.2022) affiliated (UNIKO)
Annex 1 Part B
Changed the partner number of FHG from 5 to 2 in table 3.1h “ Purchase costs”.
Added to Table 3.1g – “Subcontracting costs” that both tasks are linked to WP5, T5.1.
Table 3.1g is now following the template.
Annex 1 Part A
The supporting document which establishes the legal link between the beneficiary (FHG) and its
affiliated (UNIKO) was submitted through formal notification.
1.8 (4.4.2022) The beneficiary AE completed their self-assessment for 2020 and 2021.
Annex 1 Part B
Table 3.1h is now following the template (detailed justifications were also added) and the
partner numbers were updated.
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Table of Contents
1. EXCELLENCE ............................................................................................................................................................ 6
OBJECTIVES AND AMBITION .................................................................................................................................... 6
1.1.1 Objectives and relationship to the work programme ........................................................................................... 6
1.1.2 Progress beyond the state-of-the-art................................................................................................................... 9
1.1.3 R&I maturity (TRL levels) ................................................................................................................................ 12
METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................................................................... 12
1.2.1 Overall methodology........................................................................................................................................ 12
1.2.2 Related national or international research and innovation activities ................................................................. 17
1.2.3 Inter-disciplinary approach including social sciences and humanities .............................................................. 18
1.2.4 Gender-dimension ........................................................................................................................................... 18
1.2.5 Open science practices..................................................................................................................................... 19
1.2.6 Data management and management of other research outputs .......................................................................... 19
IMPACT..................................................................................................................................................................... 20
PROJECT’S PATHWAYS TOWARDS IMPACT .............................................................................................................. 20
2.1.1 Unique contribution ......................................................................................................................................... 20
2.1.2 Potential barriers ............................................................................................................................................ 24
2.1.3 Scale and significance of the project’s contribution to the expected outcomes and impacts ................................ 25
MEASURES TO MAXIMISE IMPACT - DISSEMINATION, EXPLOITATION AND COMMUNICATION ..................................... 25
2.2.1 Dissemination and communication activities .................................................................................................... 25
2.2.2 Business cases and exploitation strategies of ACCORD partners ...................................................................... 27
2.2.3 Management and protection of intellectual property ......................................................................................... 28
SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................................................ 30
QUALITY AND EFFICIENCY OF THE IMPLEMENTATION ............................................................................ 32
WORK PLAN AND RESOURCES................................................................................................................................ 32
3.1.1 Overall structure of the work plan .................................................................................................................... 32
3.1.2 Subcontracting and purchase costs................................................................................................................... 34
CAPACITY OF PARTICIPANTS AND CONSORTIUM AS A WHOLE .................................................................................. 37
3.2.1 Consortium...................................................................................................................................................... 37
3.2.2 Access to critical infrastructure........................................................................................................................ 38
3.2.3 Complementarity and contribution of partners ................................................................................................. 39
ETHICS SELF-ASSESSMENT ................................................................................................................................. 42
ETHICAL DIMENSION OF THE OBJECTIVES, METHODOLOGY AND LIKELY IMPACT ...................................................... 42
4.1.1 Humans and personal data............................................................................................................................... 42
4.1.2 Artificial Intelligence ....................................................................................................................................... 42
4.1.3 Safety and Security .......................................................................................................................................... 43
4.1.4 Research in non-EU Countries ......................................................................................................................... 43
COMPLIANCE WITH ETHICAL PRINCIPLES AND RELEVANT LEGISLATIONS ................................................................. 43
4.2.1 Humans and personal data............................................................................................................................... 43
4.2.2 Artificial Intelligence ....................................................................................................................................... 43
4.2.3 Safety and Security .......................................................................................................................................... 43
4.2.4 Research in non-EU Countries ......................................................................................................................... 43
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1. EXCELLENCE
Objectives and ambition
The architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) sector has a lot of potentials to improve quality, productivity
and sustainability. For example, the mean cost of design errors in construction projects in 2011 was 6,85%, and
indirect costs were 7,36% relative to the contract value.1 These costs could potentially be reduced and construction
quality improved by smarter design and construction processes supported by digital solutions. Cost-effective and
user-friendly solutions to manage and analyse data created in the sector could support decision making for designing
and constructing a sustainable built environment. For instance, data can be analysed to create sustainable designs that
produce less carbon dioxide emissions and have less impact on climate change2.
Building codes (or building regulations), standards and requirements are essential in designing and constructing
buildings and infrastructure. They help to ensure that our buildings and infrastructure are of high quality. Currently,
however, there is a substantial administrative burden of extensive regulation and requirements, necessitating
extensive documentation with multiple formats, such as documents, drawings, calculation sheets and, more recently,
models and simulations. As part of the official compliance process, automatically checking whether the future
building or infrastructure complies with the codes, standards and requirements, especially related to the environment
– CO2 emissions, LCA and circular economy – would reduce construction costs, improve built quality, and increase
energy efficiency and reduce negative environmental effects of buildings and infrastructure, thus enabling the twin
transition of green and digital. However, the adoption of automation in permitting processes is still low around
Europe3 due to the following limitations that ACCORD will address:
a) Current building permitting and compliance processes vary between countries complicating the
development of replicable digital solutions for different markets. For example, planning and building permits
can be separated, some handling can be done electronically, and plan approval may be approved by either
building authorities or inspectors4.
b) There is a lack of agreed standards for representing regulation, requirement and guidance documents that
govern building permitting and compliance processes and, by extension, the rules embedded within them. In
addition, the work in this area is not grounded in formal semantics, which would help computers understand
the regulation, requirement, and guidance documents.
c) Existing software tools, meeting only a part of the needs related to building permitting and compliance, lack
integration and alignment with wider compliance processes and data providers/consumers. Also, the cost
of modelling tools prevents some stakeholders, such as small architecture offices, from using them.
d) There is a lack of data to drive digital permitting and checking. Existing building data sets (primarily IFC
models) generally lack the richness of information required for digital permitting or compliance checking.
Furthermore, other data sources, such as product data sets, lack semantic formalism and the adoption of
open APIs to enable their exploitation by checking processes.
The vision of ACCORD is that permitting and compliance processes for buildings and infrastructure support the
design and construction of a sustainable built environment. These processes are user-friendly for the permit
applicant and cost-effective, and less labour intensive for the authorities approving the permits. ACCORD foresees
that these processes should be achieved, where possible, through the integration of existing industry tools supported
by a set of shared software components. ACCORD adopts a semantic approach and treats all individual tools as
microservices that support the permitting process, thus avoiding the need for new centralised systems that are
expensive to create and maintain.
1.1.1 Objectives and relationship to the work programme
The overall objective of ACCORD is to digitalise permitting and compliance processes to improve the
productivity and quality of design and construction processes and support the design and construction of a
sustainable built environment. These processes should be human-centred, user-friendly, transparent, cost-effective
and support the design and construction of sustainable buildings and infrastructure that are carbon neutral and
designed for circularity. Another objective is to develop and integrate tools and solutions – for automated compliance
checking for the design, construction and renovation/demolition of buildings and infrastructure – based on open and
1 Lopez, R. & Love, P. (2012), Design Error Costs in Construction Projects. J. Constr. Eng. Manage., 138(5), 585–593.
2 Ahmed, N. et al. (2020), Impact of sustainable design in the construction sector on climate change, Ain Shams Eng. J., 12(2), 1375-1383.
3 Beach, T.H. et al. (2020), “Towards the adoption of automated regulatory compliance checking in the built environment”, Autom. in Constr., 118(June).
4
Pedro, J., Meijer, F & Visscher, H. (2011), Comparison of building permit procedures in European Union countries. COBRA 2011 – Proc. of RICS
Construction and Property Conf., 356-375.
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neutral data exchange standards. The specific technical objectives will follow:
Objective 1: Specify and develop a semantic framework for European Digital Building Permitting processes,
regulations, rules, data and tools. This framework will leverage and align with existing semantics efforts and current
open standards and neutral data formats within the built environment, especially focusing on the work of
BuildingSMART and Open Geospatial Consortium and also build on previous development in BIM (Building
Information Models) processes and construction-related data. (WP1)
Success criteria: The specification of the semantic framework is developed and validated by users and the external
advisory board (finalised in T1.3). The meeting minutes from EAB will be used for verification of these success
criteria.
Objective 2: Formalise, using semantics, permitting and compliance process that incorporates data, software tools
and stakeholders. This process will be based on existing international standards, such as the W3C recommendations
and results of community efforts, such as the W3C Linked Building Data community group, and at a high enough
level of abstraction to be applicable to different EU countries, but with the ability to maintain flexibility to allow
portability and adaption to the specificities of individual member states. The process development starts in WP1, and
the process is formalised in WP3 after lessons learned in country demonstrations WP5.
Success criteria: A rule formalisation tool (T2.5) is used in the platform-neutral open format for describing machine-
readable format on a variety of building codes across Europe (verified in demonstration projects of WP5).
Objective 3: Integrate existing state-of-the-art tools and solutions in this area and develop new ones that are able to
handle a wide variety of data described according to different specifications and standards (IFC, bSDD, BCF) and
rule languages (such as RASE, SWRL, N3-logic and SHACL) (WP1, WP2 and WP4). These tools and solutions will
utilise the developed semantic framework to implement the ACCORD vision of digital permitting and automatic
compliance checking processes for buildings and infrastructure.
Success criteria: All the components of the semantic framework (defined in WP1) will have software developed and
tested (WP4) and demonstrated (WP5). Furthermore, the integration of components using ACCORD APIs will be
tested and validated (WP4). The verification will be based on the milestones in WP4 (MS4-MS6).
Objective 4: By utilising the semantic framework (WP1), demonstrate the automated permitting and compliance
processes for construction, renovation and demolition work, taking place in a set of demonstration projects in various
EU regulatory contexts: Finland, Estonia, Germany, UK and Spain (WP5).
Success criteria: Digital models from various construction projects are successfully implemented by the semantic
framework across Europe in the UK, Estonia, Finland, Germany and Spain (verified in demonstration projects of
WP5).
Objective 5: Foster wide impact and replication potential of semantic-enabled digital building permitting and
compliance checking solutions at the European and international levels through a combination of targeted
dissemination, focused business exploitation pathways, and participation in relevant international community efforts,
such as BuildingSMART and W3C Linked Building Data Community Group (WP3 and WP6).
Success criteria: BuildingSMART and W3C LBD publicly recognise and advertise semantic framework and the
developed APIs, which improve construction sector interoperability, allowing for digital building permitting and
compliance. ACCORD industry partners have successfully implemented the developed APIs as part of their software
portfolios (WP5). The list of dissemination activities will serve as the verification of these criteria.
The work programme has set the scope and requirements (here shortly cited) of the topic HORIZON-CL4-
2021-TWIN-TRANSITION-01-10, and ACCORD addresses all of them in the following ways:
“Develop, connect and align new technologies and digital tools for construction, including improved and automated
methods of designing, building and authorising construction works”: ACCORD will develop a semantic framework
that consists of building compliance and information services - integrated using open APIs (WP4) - and a rule
formalisation tool (WP2) to ease the creation of machine-readable rules from text-based regulation. The ACCORD
services will improve and automate the design, building and authorizing of construction works.
"Information … imported into digital models during early design phases can … streamline the application and
granting of digital administrative permits… facilitate informed decision making including compliance checks …
throughout the life cycle of the built asset”: ACCORD takes early design data, such as BIM and geographic
information system (GIS), as a starting point to streamline the permitting process, and integrate them, following
earlier suggestions by related projects (reported in section 1.2.1). ACCORD will report the information requirements
for digital permitting and compliance processes (WP3, T3.4).
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“Develop and demonstrate novel ways of digitalising permitting and compliance processes for construction works”:
ACCORD will develop digital permitting and compliance processes (WP3) which are semantically driven. The
application of semantics in compliance is novel but has already seen success in existing tools, such as data dictionaries
by BuildingSmart and Open Geospatial Consortium and rule languages. The adoption of semantics will allow for the
dynamic integration of existing industry tools and the flexibility to allow portability and adaptation of the approach
to the specificities of Member States. The processes will be demonstrated in five countries around Europe (UK,
Germany, Spain, Finland and Estonia). ACCORD will provide advice on how to digitalise permitting processes in
countries with various maturity levels (Related to objectives 4 and 5).
“Demonstrate new tools and solutions for the storing, processing, analysis and retrieval of administrative and
regulatory information related to construction works... use of neutral data formats, addressing rule interpretation
and machine-readable information, and supporting analysis and exploitation of relevant digitalised acts, regulations,
requirements and standards”: ACCORD will demonstrate new tools and solutions (a rule formalisation tool and
open APIs) for storing (a ruleset database will be developed in WP2), processing (cloud-based permitting
management services showing the current status of the process), analysing (integration of microservices for various
analysis, such as health & safety, accessibility, LCA and carbon footprint) and retrieving (neutral formats, such as
BCF) of administrative and regulatory information of construction works, which ACCORD transforms to machine-
readable rules. Demonstrations will take place in five European countries (WP5).
“New solutions are interoperable and integrated with other relevant tools, databases and processes… Proposals
should ensure that spatial information, where relevant, aligns with the aims of the INSPIRE Directive”: ACCORD
solutions will build on open BIM (IFC, ISO16739, 2013) and ISO 19650 standard5 to ensure integration and
interoperability. The solutions will use BIM, GIS, public registries (e.g. building registries, land-use plan of
Germany’s city digital twin) and lifecycle analysis data (FHG’s GENERIS). Reporting will use the BCF standard
from BuildingSmart. BIM requirements will be expressed, when appropriate, with the upcoming BuildingSmart’s
Information Delivery Specification (IDS). The tools (developed in WP2 and WP4) will conform to geospatial
encoding rules published by OGC, such as INSPIRE Planned Land Use (PLU) data model and German standard
XPlanung.
“…new solutions developed can handle a wide variety of relevant data…”: ACCORD software solutions (developed
in WP4) will be able to handle IFC, GIS and RDF data as well as environmental data (e.g. CO2 emissions and lifecycle
analysis) and be able to connect to various databases using APIs (developed in WP4). ACCORD will define interface
resource models based on the OGC Open API suite of standards for geospatial data. These data sets allow direct,
service-based access to development plans and other geospatial data in a standardized, efficient manner.
“…proposals should make use of disruptive technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, algorithm based checks,
Human Aided Design and Compliance”; ACCORD will leverage emerging Artificial Intelligence techniques, such
as semantic deep learning Natural Language Processing (NLP), to decrease the manual work of rule interpretation
from building codes (WP2). Algorithm-based compliance checks are deployed in WP4, but the checks will also
include Human Aided Design of Rules (T2.4) applying the rule formalisation tool (T2.5).
“Address potential barriers to the use of digital building permits and compliance checks including knowledge gaps,
technology deployment, standards, and the regulatory and policy context.”: ACCORD will address barriers, such as
knowledge gaps, technology deployment, standards, and the regulatory and policy context (a survey and process
modelling in WP1), for digital building permitting and compliance processes in country-specific demonstrations
(WP5) and stakeholder interviews (WP3).
“Take into account the relevant actors involved in applying for, receiving and using permits and the related
compliance…, taking into consideration questions of accessibility, inclusivity including gender issues, and user
acceptance”: Each country-specific demonstration has been designed taking into account inclusivity, thus including
in the demonstration all the stakeholders involved in applying for, receiving and using permits and the related
compliance: designer and/or engineer, the construction project owner, the municipality representing the authority
handling the permit application. ACCORD will address the gender-dimension by analysing the different effects of
the planned tools and solutions on women and men (following gender impact analysis method), with various cultural,
socioeconomic backgrounds and ages (following the intersectionality method) when possible at the beginning of the
project in T1.1. This ensures that both genders’ needs, values and motivations are met to allow user acceptance and
accessibility. ACCORD will involve both males and females in tool development, which will incorporate co-creation
5
An international standard for managing information over the whole lifecycle of a built asset using building information modelling (BIM)
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and participatory research involving users from various phases in the value chain, such as designers (architects and
other specialists), engineers (general contractors), building/infrastructure owners and permitting authorities.
ACCORD research team and tools testing group will include both genders (see detailed explanations in sections 1.2.3
and 1.2.4).
“Take into account the international contexts and developments in construction-related data including BIM and GIS
but also the capacities and opportunities presented in different parts of Europe. Proposals should therefore build on
previous research, such as the outputs of the DigiPLACE project”: ACCORD will analyse the DigiPLACE
Architecture guidelines (DigiPLACE D5.2) at the beginning of T4.1 to understand the best possible usage of the
framework. Accord includes university and industry experts in BIM and GIS developments and has the international
standardization organizations, BuildingSmart and OGC as partners. Practices and standards developed in this project
will be provided to these organizations for further development and standardization. T6.3 Innovation Management,
Exploitation, Business Development will develop and execute an integration path that outlines key milestones
towards increased interoperability between the geospatial and built environment domains, specifically through
coordination of standards.
“Address the potential for upskilling and re-skilling of the construction value chain as a result of the innovation”:
ACCORD will produce e-learning material for upskilling and re-skilling designers and authorities (guidelines,
information requirements, process flow, roadmap for adaptation) and software developers (general technical
specifications, ACCORD methodology for the development of machine-readable building codes and automated
compliance checking). E-learning material (D3.3) will be presented in three webinars and distributed through
YouTube, EU’s BuildUp portal and by partner universities and associations (ACE, OGC, BSI) to ensure interest in
and uptake of digital building permitting processes (D6.3).
“Contribute to an EU-wide framework for the digitalisation and automation of machine readable permits and
compliance checks …”: ACCORD will work in close cooperation with national and international projects and
standardisation associations (buildingSMART and Open Geospatial Consortium are partners). ACCORD will build
collaboration with similar projects funded under this call in T6.4 (Community Building, Standardisation &
Integration) to ensure maximal uptake in standardisation activities and community building, in close collaboration
with the OGC/BSI Integrated Digital Built Environment Subcommittee. Furthermore, ideas will be exchanged with
the other projects in a working group that will be set up by the EU BIM Task Group.
“Develop technical guidelines and semantic models applicable to different EU countries”: ACCORD will produce
technical guidelines (D2.4 and D3.3) and specify a semantic representation of concepts (D2.4) typically appearing in
building codes (e.g., wheelchair turning circles and escape routes).
“…provide contributions to relevant standards and seek to ensure synergies with the Horizon Europe ‘Built4People’
co-programmed Partnership”: ACCORD will provide recommendations to standardisation bodies to standardise
processes and data formats in the following domains: development plans conforming to geospatial encoding rules
published by OGC, such as INSPIRE Planned Land Use (PLU) data model or German standard XPlanung. These
standardised data models (UML based) and data formats (GML encoded) can be transformed into a BIM model to
conform to building smart encoding rules (IFC format). The corresponding transformation rules will be developed
as IFC types with entities representing spatial regulation in urban development plans. This work will be carried out
in coordination with OGC and building standardisation organisations (WP3). In addition, ACCORD will contribute
to the Built4People co-programmed partnership objectives A and B and their expected outcomes O2 (increased
economic activity), O3 (decreased carbon footprint) and O4 (increased resilience) by automating the building
permitting and checking of environmental regulations, thus allowing the design to focus on sustainable solutions,
such as carbon neutrality and circularity (WP4).
1.1.2 Progress beyond the state-of-the-art
The increasing maturity of information modelling and other supporting digital technologies in the built environment
is now paving the way to adopting digital processes, automation, and other innovative technologies in construction
permitting and compliance checking. The key enabling technology is increasing BIM adoption within the
construction sector and the interoperability provided by the underpinning IFC standards and emergence of industry-
wide interoperable semantic models.
In the EU, thirteen countries’ have already started work by adopting partially digitised approaches, while a further
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five have taken the significant step of implementing partially/fully utilising BIM in their permitting processes6. This
adoption has recorded several benefits, such as streamlined, shorter and more straightforward processes, increased
public access to information, increased transparency, and improved communication between authorities and permit
applicants7. However, despite this promising adoption across the EU Member States, ACCORD has identified a
significant risk of the proliferation of divergent technological developments, leading to increased integration costs
and duplication of effort. Thus, ACCORD proposes a key innovation over current efforts; a semantic framework of
microservices, with tools and solutions for digital permitting and automated compliance checking of buildings and
infrastructure. This innovative solution will allow for the dynamic integration of existing industry tools and services
and the flexibility to allow portability and adaptation of the approach to the specificities of Member States.
Additionally, the adoption of microservices to support the permitting process will avoid the need for new centralised
systems that are expensive to create and maintain.
ACCORD views that a semantic framework of microservices can provide BIM-based compliance checking and
building permitting. However, achieving this goal necessitates research and development efforts across four key
areas: (1) Built Environment Semantic Modelling, (2) Digitisation of Construction Regulations, Requirements and
Guidance, (3) BIM-based Building Permitting and (4) Automated Code Checking. The development in these keys
areas will be underpinned by developments in BIM and built environment semantic modelling.
Semantic Modelling of the Built Environment: The past decades have seen an uptake in research on semantic web-
based BIM technologies for building construction and operations purposes. The Industry Foundation Classes (IFC)
standard was established in the 1990s by the buildingSMART industry group; it has since been broadly adopted and
is supported in leading tools such as Revit and ArchiCAD. IFC has been translated into the Web Ontology
Language (OWL) for use with semantic web tooling. These ontologies have been included as part of the IFC standard
since version 2x3, released in late 2015.
Following on from the IFC development, other semantic representations of the built environment have emerged,
among them the Building Topology Ontology (BOT)8 , which is a lightweight variant of IFC providing a spatial
model describing the topology of building spaces, their enclosing building elements, and the intersections between
them. Unlike IFC, BOT does not include a large number of domain-specific classes and properties (e.g., specific
types of objects or systems), but rather only a few high-level abstractions (e.g., rooms and storeys). This minimalistic
approach enables its reuse and extension by more specific domain ontologies. Beyond this, there are a plethora of
other relevant ontologies, including BRICK9 and Real Estate Core10. Currently, examples of building permitting and
compliance checking based on semantics are limited, primarily found as part of isolated academic examples11,12,13.
ACCORD will move beyond this state of the art by specifying and developing formalised semantic models covering
the following key aspects; (a) building permitting processes and the tools that drive them, (b) construction
regulation/requirement/guidance structure, (c) specification of rules embedded within construction regulations.
ACCORD will also suggest necessary enhancements to existing built environment data standards to support
additional required data items. Furthermore, ACCORD will adopt the project solutions in the country demonstrations.
Digitisation of Construction Regulations, Requirements and Guidance: The common practice in the architecture,
construction, and engineering (AEC) sector is to develop building codes/regulations by a local or national authority.
Building codes can address, e.g., safety and accessibility issues, among others. However, currently, these documents
are primarily published solely as human-readable documents, not as machine-readable documents. There are some
examples of cases where these rules are exposed as partially machine-readable, using HTML14. However, currently,
we lack in-use examples of formally structured construction regulations. Several academic efforts have attempted to
6
Digitalisation in the Construction Sector, 2021, European Commission, available:
https://ec.europa.eu/docsroom/documents/45547/attachments/1/translations/en/renditions/pdf.
7
World Bank Group. (2020), Doing Business 2020 - Comparing Business Regulation in 190 Economies.
8
BOT Ontology, available: https://w3c-lbd-cg.github.io/bot/
9
BRICK Ontology, available: https://brickschema.org/
10
Real Estate Core, available: https://www.realestatecore.io/
11
Soliman-Junior, J., Formoso, C. T. and Tzortzopoulos, P. (2019) A semantic-based framework for automated rule checking in healthcare construction
projects. Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering. 47(2): 202-214
12
Xin, X. and Hubo, C. (2020) Semantic approach to compliance checking of underground utilities, Automation in Construction, 109.
13
Beach, T.H., Rezgui, Y., Li, H. Kasim, T. (2015) A rule-based semantic approach for automated regulatory compliance in the construction sector, Expert
Systems with Applications, 42(12):5219-5231.
14
Scottish Government - https://www.gov.scot/policies/building-standards/monitoring-improving-building-regulations/
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achieve this in the UK15 , the USA16 and France17. However, only limited work has been done on specifying this
semantically6. The application of Natural Language Processing (NLP) is still in the early phases of investigation18 ,
and it has only been used in isolation on selected clauses.
ACCORD will advance state of the art in this area by comparing the various methodologies of digitising construction
regulations requirements and standards to develop a set of formalised unifying semantics for regulatory documents
and their embedded rules. ACCORD will investigate how NLP can be used as part of a hybrid approach, in
combination with the classic manual approach, to enable its application across construction regulation sets. ACCORD
will implement a hybrid approach in the country demonstrations utilizing manual and NLP based digitization of
regulations and requirements.
BIM-based Building Permitting: There have only been a few examples of BIM adoption as part of building
permitting processes. Building permitting still relies on either paper or digital drawings and other documents that
humans can only understand and analyse. Finland implemented the world’s first BIM-based (IFC-model) building
permit in Järvenpää on the 27th of May 2021. A city landscape examination of the building and its location in the
surroundings were made in Kunta3d service19, developed by Sova3D (external advisory board member). The
compliance review was carried out in the Solibri software. The permit was processed in the Lupapiste.fi, a cloud-
based service developed by Cloudpermit (CP). Currently, in Finland, 64% of municipalities utilise a cloud-based
building permitting system. The XBau and XPlanung data exchange formats are used in Germany, and Estonia has
adopted a cloud-based permitting system. Outside Europe, BIM-based permitting has been implemented in Florida20
and South Korea21.
However, all these efforts are focused only on the national level. Thus, they implicitly embed the permitting and
compliance processes of these countries' permitting and compliance processes, limiting their scalability and usability
at the European level. ACCORD will advance state of the art in this area by developing a permitting process driven
by a semantic framework. This will enable the creation of a formally specified process that is generic enough to be
scaled to the European level but flexible enough to allow the specific nature of each nation’s permitting processes to
be handled. This flexibility will be shown through the adoption of the process in multiple country demonstrations.
Automated Code Checking: The Automated Code Compliance (ACC) checking processes in the construction
industry rely on BIM and a machine-readable/interpretable representation of the regulations, norms, and
requirements. Currently, several commercial tools offer the automation of elements of the code checking process, for
example, Solibri, Autodesk, Glider and Xinaps. However, these tools all focus on a specific aspect and do not support
compliance checking across the entirety of construction codes and regulations. Several academic efforts have also
produced prototypes in this area, for example, in the UK8, New Zealand22 and France23. However, none of these has
ever reached a commercial level of maturity. One of the few examples of automated code checking in operation is
the Singapore E-Plan check system24. However, its use has now been interrupted. A primary limitation of these
applications is that they rely on a centralised system, implementing code checking from scratch instead of using
available technologies. However, some effort has been made to integrate automated code checking with GIS data25.
ACCORD will advance state of the art by demonstrating semantically driven automated code compliance checking
that can utilise the existing services in member states, taking a distributed approach instead of a centralised approach.
In addition, ACCORD will perform checks in environmental norms, circular economy, lifecycle assessment, and
design integrity for steel modular house products. Thus, enabling the twin (green and digital) transition of
15
Beach, T.H., Rezgui, Y., Li, H. Kasim, T. (2015) A rule-based semantic approach for automated regulatory compliance in the construction sector, Expert
Systems with Applications, 42(12):5219-5231.
16
Nawari O. N. Generalized Adaptive Framework for Computerizing the Building Design Review Process
17
Bus, Nicolas, et al. (2019) "Towards French smart building code: compliance checking based on semantic rules." arXiv preprint arXiv:1910.00334.
18
Zhang, J., ASCE, S.M. and El-Gohary N. M. (2016) Extending Building Information Models Semiautomatically Using Semantic Natural Language
Processing Techniques Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering.
19
Kunta3D, a Collaborative City Publishing tool, available: https://www.sova3d.fi/i/s3d-collabcity/. Accessed 11.8.2021.
20 Messaoudi M., Nawari N.O. (2021) Virtual Permitting Framework for Off-site Construction Case Study: A Case Study of the State of Florida. In:
Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Computing in Civil and Building Engineering..
21 Kim, I., Choi, J., Teo, E. A. L., & Sun, H. (2020). Development of K-BIM e-Submission prototypical system for the openBIM-based building permit
framework. Journal of Civil Engineering and Management, 26(8), 744-756.
22 Amor, R. and Dimyadi, J. (2021) The promise of automated compliance checking, Developments in the Built Environment, 5.
23 Bus, Nicolas, et al. (2019) "Towards French smart building code: compliance checking based on semantic rules." arXiv preprint arXiv:1910.00334.
24 Liebich, T. & Wix, J. & Qi, Z. (2004). Speeding-up the submission process: The Singapore e-plan checking project offers automatic plan checking based on
IFC. International Conference on Construction Information Technology (INCITE 2004). 245-252.
25 İlal, Mustafa Emre (2020). A method for GIS and BIM integration to support automated zoning code compliance checking.
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Europe. This will be conducted by a selection of differing regulations across country demonstrations.
1.1.3 R&I maturity (TRL levels)
ACCORD will adapt and integrate existing state-of-the-art tools and solutions for permitting and compliance
checking and develop new ones that are able to handle a wide variety of data according to different specifications
and standards (objective 3, WP2 and WP4). ACCORD will demonstrate automated permitting and compliance
processes for construction, renovation and demolition work, taking place in a set of demonstrator projects in various
EU regulatory contexts: Finland, Estonia, Germany, UK and Spain (objective 4, WP5).
To guarantee the semantically driven automated code compliance checking, all rule and data dictionaries as well as
semantic microservice orchestration will be represented as an RDF model and stored in a semantic database. ONTO's
GraphDB is a W3C standards compliant RDF graph database and one of the few triple stores that can perform
semantic inferencing at scale, allowing users to derive new semantic facts from existing facts. It can ingest diverse
data, providing flexibility for schema changes and mappings. In ACCORD, the GraphDB connectivity capabilities
will be extended to work with IFC model data by enabling Hybrid Data Storage and Querying (TRL 7).
Semantization of Data Dictionaries will apply a reconciliation service (provided by ONTO) that maps tabular data
(strings) to entities (things) and match entities between domain-specific dictionaries (TRL 5). During ACCORD, the
service will be improved by adding multilingual support and increasing entity matching scores (TRL 7).
The Finnish demonstration project will apply building permitting management service (provided by CP), which is
currently pdf-based and has data orchestration based on solution APIs. CP’s goal is to provide a data platform for
automated building permitting. During ACCORD, the data orchestration service for compliance checking of
environmental regulations will be widened, and interoperability for environmental data and geospatial data,
including the technical data platform, will be developed based on defined IFC model data content (properties).
(TRL 7) The Finnish demonstration project will also apply Solibri Office (provided by SOL) compliance checking
service, which has tested technology for checking BIM models (TRL 5). The service will be developed towards an
online service and integrated into CP’s service by implementing the APIs defined in ACCORD (TRL 7).
The Estonia demonstration project will apply BIM Works, an online BIM handling service (provided by FUI), a
microservice-based BIM storage that provides analysing, checking and integration solutions using open standards,
already integrated within the Estonian e-Construction platform (TRL 5). This service will connect to new open
standards, services and API’s developed in ACCORD and will be a standardised service (TRL 7).
The German demonstration project will apply land use permitting microservices based on OGC’s features for API
design that allow pre-checks of building designs while being interoperable with German process and data standards
(XPlanung and XBau) (TRL 7) and apply the IFC interface of Generis, a web-based LCA software. ACCORD will
develop and integrate a standard API to it. The Spanish demonstration project will apply SOL’s compliance checking
service and a software tool (TRL 7) - further developed by FUNITEC with ONTO - directly compatible with the
ACCORD rule format and interoperable with the rule formalisation tool. ONTO’s Manual Annotation Tool
(MANT) will be integrated into the rule formalisation tool (TRL 7) developed in WP2 and demonstrated in T5.3.
MANT supports manual annotation of the processed regulations using NLP and improves the quality of the results.
The UK demonstration project will apply AE’s Structural BIM Viewer, which is a specialist tool for an open-
source structural workflow. A new App (front-end) will be developed to communicate with existing compliance
checking tools (back-end) by AE (TRL 7).
Methodology
1.2.1 Overall methodology
Figure 1 illustrates ACCORD’s overall methodology that follows the design science research to create functional,
useful knowledge for practitioners to apply in daily practices26. The design science process consists of two phases:
1) designing and building artefacts and 2) evaluating those artefacts27. During the first phase, the artefacts are
designed and built for a specific purpose. ACCORD will define the purpose through user requirements elicitation
(WP1). In ACCORD, the artefacts will be a rule formalisation tool (WP2) and the integration of various data sources
and software (WP4) for the cost-effective transformation of regulation to machine-readable rules. The rule
26
Van Aken, J.E. and Romme, G. (2009), “Reinventing the future: Adding design science to the repertoire of organization and management studies”,
Organisation Management Journal, Vol. 6 No. 1, pp. 5–12.
27
Voordijk, H. and Adriaanse, A. (2016), “Engaged scholarship in construction management research: the adoption of information and communications
technology in construction projects”, Construction Management and Economics, Vol. 34 No. 7/8, pp. 536–551.
101056973 — ACCORD — Part B — Page 12 of 43
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formalisation tool will leverage emerging Artificial Intelligence techniques such as semantic deep learning Natural
Language Processing to decrease the manual efforts of rule interpretation from building codes. ACCORD maintains
trust in AI by having a human ultimately oversight the technology and developing keeping a human-in-the-loop.
Humans will be able to monitor the behaviour of the AI application and can identify inconsistencies and take
corrective action. AI techniques are used to support human decision making. A more detailed explanation of the
ethical dimension is provided in the application form Part A. Agile and iterative development is applied in tool/service
development and integration. During the second phase of design science, ACCORD will assess the functioning of
the artefacts in four demonstrations in five countries (WP5), report lessons learned and create e-learning materials
(WP3).
ACCORD starts (WP1) by identifying the needs and barriers to using digital permits and compliance checks for
buildings and infrastructure, using a survey to which participants can answer anonymously. It will be organised by a
UK partner (CU). All partners participate in WP1, but only to the extent they provide knowledge from their country
and create a common understanding of the knowledge gaps, technology deployment, standards, and the regulatory
and policy context. The needs and barriers of digital permitting will be addressed by building the basis for sustainable
digital transformation, consisting of three layers. The first layer is a semantic framework that will be created to
support European digital built environment permitting processes, documents, rules, data and tools. The second layer
consists of formalised permitting and compliance processes, which incorporate data, tools and stakeholders. The
third layer describes the microservices (software tools at TRL7) that automatically perform compliance checks,
calculations, simulations and analyses. Microservices are created by further developing and integrating existing tools
and by developing the rule formalisation tool. The basis for the sustainable digital transformation of permitting and
compliance processes will be demonstrated and validated in real-life projects in five countries around Europe
(Finland, Estonia, Germany, UK and Spain). The real-life demonstrations provide the basis for suggestions for the
EU-wide digital transformation of permitting and compliance processes (WP3). Also, business cases and business
models emerging from open BIM and automation will be further developed and described in more detail (WP6).
Figure 1. ACCORD’s overall methodology
The main short-term impact of ACCORD is the empirically validated proof-of-concept of transparent, cost-effective
and user-friendly permitting and compliance process that is enabled by digital tools. The process improves build
quality and enables the long-term impact of a healthy, safe and sustainable built environment by reducing errors
through the automation of the building permitting and checking of environmental regulations, thus allowing the
design to focus on sustainable solutions, such as carbon-neutral buildings and infrastructure and design for circularity.
ACCORD follows the principle of ‘do no harm’ and does not involve potentially harmful substances, processes,
technologies, organisms or materials in a manner that raises significant concerns about individual security or safety
or the protection of public health or negative effects on the environment. ACCORD software tools will necessitate
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energy use, but as the EU has noted, digitalisation measures leading to greater electrification of sectors is also required
for a climate-neutral economy.28
ACCORD methodology is based on the concept that the users – permit applicants and authorities – would
communicate through a cloud-based interface, hiding the complexity needed to deliver the solution (Figure 2). Digital
data (e.g. BIM) would flow seamlessly through the permitting and compliance process. Compliance checks, energy
assessment calculations and visualisations, LCA simulations or analyses would be autonomously performed by
microservices, which are individual cloud-based solutions. This will be supported by value-adding functionalities,
such as orchestration of microservices, BIM storage and querying integrated to data dictionaries and a rule
formalisation tool, as well as a repository of machine-readable rules (in the Common Data Environment CDE).
The semantic framework envisages semantically integrated regulations, digital data, and tools, which allow the
development of the current – often manual - permitting and compliance processes for buildings and infrastructure
towards digital and automatic, which necessitates interoperability, use of open standards and machine-readable
regulations.
In technical terms, the semantic framework necessitates converting a set of natural language rules and regulations
into a machine-readable form. To do it, it is necessary to extract all resources and their relationships in a semantic
model that the machine-processable rules can work against.
Figure 2. Transparent & resource-efficient digital permitting and compliance process for buildings and infrastructure
A building permitting engine loads all required building and geospatial information for each building request, extracts
the necessary data according to the semantic model and applies the machine-readable set of rules and regulations
against that data. The data is provided partly by the requesting party, partly by online services made available by
governmental authorities and other legal bodies involved. In sum, the semantic framework automates compliance
checking (reduces errors) and
communication of the checking results with
the applicants, reduces authorities’ workload
and transforms authoring to concentrate on
demanding issues and exceptions requiring
human evaluation; also, allowing the design
to focus on sustainable solutions, such as
carbon-neutrality and circularity. Thus, better
public service is provided to citizens.
The semantic framework, allowing open
innovation, will enable the development of a
new generation of semantically aware digital
permitting and automated compliance
tools that can scale digital permitting and Figure 3. Information flows in a digital building permitting and compliance process
28
EC (2021), Technical guidance on the application of ‘do no significant harm’ under the Recovery and Resilience Facility Regulation, (2021/C 58/01).
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compliance processes from national, isolated efforts to a whole-European scale. The information flows - from the
building authority’s regulations to automatically checked compliance - are presented in Figure 3.
Demonstration projects
ACCORD will demonstrate BIM-based building permitting and compliance checking processes with various
regulations/building codes/norms implemented in construction projects across Europe (Finland/Estonia, Germany,
UK and Spain). The demonstrations will be based on the semantic framework (developed in WP2) and microservices
(developed in WP4). The demonstrations cover the whole building lifecycle (Figure).
Each demonstration
will follow similar
steps, but different
country-specific
regulations will be
Figure 4. The demonstrations in the building lifecycle automatically checked:
1) identify regulations
to be converted machine-readable and support the transition to machine-readable (input for WP1, WP2, WP4), 2)
describe the permitting and compliance process related to the regulation (input for WP1-WP4), 3) define requirements
for digital (BIM and other data) models to be checked in the project development, design and construction phase
(input for WP3), 4) configure, apply and validate solutions for automated compliance checking (developed in WP4)
to specific requirements for demonstration projects and regulations as part of overall BIM-based permitting process
(input for WP3), 5) provide recommendations for developing permitting processes in Europe (input for WP3) and 6)
support the creation of technical guidelines (input for WP2 and WP4). Demonstrations will be done with real project
data in cooperation with stakeholders of selected construction projects (including owner, designer and building
authority handling the permit application). Thus, ACCORD will involve human participants by interviewing them
(WP5) and involving them in process modelling (WP3). Several possible demonstration projects have been identified
with the stakeholders, and the final selection of demonstration projects will take place by M6 at the beginning of
WP1, in T1.2.
Each demonstration will compare the current country-specific permitting process (modelled in WP1) with the new
suggested BIM-based permitting process with automated checking of the selected regulations (modelled in WP3).
The following KPIs will be measured during the demonstrations when possible: a) time to get from final design to
permit, b) a number of conversion/exports/scans to different file formats, c) person-hours to verify the submitted
documentation and d) time and number of persons needed for the final physical inspection. Also, the key persons
applying for (architect, engineer), receiving and using permits and the related compliance (local building permitting
authority) will be asked for user feedback related to the tools and the process.
Automated BIM-based building permit and environmental compliance – Finland & Estonia
The target of the collaborative demonstration between Finland and Estonia is to demonstrate an automated
compliance check with selected rules related, e.g. to accessibility, areas (room & gross area), size of windows in
relation to room area and exit routes, and start the automation of environmental compliance checking (carbon
footprint and circular economy) in BIM-based building permitting processes in Finland and Estonia. The two
collaborating country demonstrations are applying different software services, using the same standards, increasing
replicability of approaches. Both approaches will be tested with real project data in cooperation with stakeholders of
the selected construction projects (including owner, designer and/or general contractor and building authorities).
VTT leads the Finnish-Estonian demonstration. In the Finnish demonstration project, CP provides a permitting
management system, and SOL provides Solibri Checker (the building compliance service). In the Estonian
demonstration project, FUI provides BIM.Works (the building compliance service), the Estonian Ministry (MKM)
provides the Building Registry (permitting management service), and the local government office is responsible for
handling the building permit. Both projects include the designer providing the BIM and the general contractor. The
Finnish Ministry of Environment (external advisory board member) and Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs and
Communications (partner MKM) will be collaborating on defining the environmental norms. The City of Järvenpää
(part of external advisory board), acting as the local building authority, provides a real-life project for demonstration
purposes in Finland. Riigi Kinnisvara, or Tallinn city municipality, provides the building project in Estonia. The
demonstration projects’ BIM will be enriched with IFC propertysets. After the demonstration, standard BIM data
exchange requirements will be specified in the following formats: use case, MVD and IFC. Finally, the demonstration
will support Technical Guidelines (WP4) and recommendations for developing the current permitting and compliance
processes (WP3).
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Success criteria: 1) 25% of the environmental code is translated into the ACCORD rule format 2) the outcome of
the automated check is in line with the traditional procedure. 3) 5 Finnish and Estonian building authorities express
interest in implementing BIM-based permitting according to the process defined in ACCORD.
Automated Checking for Land Use Permitting, Green Building Certification and Architectural Design
Compliance of Industrialized Timber Housing - Germany
The goal of the demonstration (led by FHG) is to automate compliance checking for three uses cases arising for the
adaptive reuse and new planning of buildings in the area of the former Airport Berlin Tegel: (1) Land use permitting,
(2) Green building certification and (3) Architectural design compliance of industrialised timber housing. TEGEL
will provide owner and construction requirements, digital models, data and information on processes and regulations
for the use cases, which will use ACCORD’s building compliance checking microservices (WP4). The demonstration
partners will collaborate in monitoring processes, validating developed solutions, defining information requirements,
providing recommendations for future permitting and compliance checking processes, and standardising processes
and data formats.
Use cases 1 and 2 apply for the “Urban Tech Republic”: the adaptive reuse of buildings in the ownership of TEGEL.
HAM will support use case 1 by transforming land-use plans into the standardised German data format XPlanGML
and by translating those and other regulations into appropriate data formats conforming to geospatial encoding rules
published by OGC. HAM will also implement APIs designed by OGC for selected pre-checks of building designs
against land use requirements and support the orchestration of individual microservices. The Senate Department for
Urban Development and Housing, Berlin, will support the validated solutions as a responsible building permitting
authority. Use case 2 concerns the adaptive reuse of former terminal buildings and the German Sustainable Building
Council’s (DGNB e.V.) certification requirements to be made machine-executable. FHG will develop interfaces to
the web software GENERIS® for BIM-based Lifecycle Assessment, using enriched BIM models. Use case 3 applies
for the “Schumacher Quarter” dedicated to constructing timber housing on a large scale. TEGEL is in charge of
providing possible investors with the requirements for tendering, construction and concept approval of the quarter’s
sites. Relevant regulations to made machine-executable will be selected, including built-up area, timber construction
system and -elements to be used, environmental criteria and requirements for timber construction approval. The
company LiWood is dedicated to prefabricated, modular timber construction and provides digital models and sample
data sets. FHG will elaborate the use case based on its ample experience in BIM for timber construction.
Success criteria: 1) Selected regulations and requirements from land use plans and building codes for land use
permitting, for Green Building Certification and for the architectural design of industrialized timber housing
converted to be machine-readable; 2) Validated implementation of building permitting and compliance checking
solutions and interoperability with German process and data standards (XPlanung and XBau).
Automatic Checking of Structural Integrity of Steel Modular House Components – UK
The target of the demonstration, led by BCU, is to automate the compliance checking of design integrity of structural
components for steel modular houses: EC 3 (The European standard for structural design, a replacement for BS5950).
The relevant harmonised standard for cold-formed steel is BS EN 1090-1. The project will be selected for the relevant
local council, potentially Walsall Council in the West Midlands, the authority handling the building permit. Hadley
Group is the designer providing BIM.
The demonstration will draw on the combination of BIM-based inputs and Finite Element Analysis (FEA). High-
level compliance processes will be provided as inputs to WP1-4, while the analysis execution will be done on open
source FEA software and the reporting on a web-based front end. A new App (front-end) will be developed to
communicate with existing compliance checking tools (back-end) by ACCORD partner AE, an engineering practice
specialising in custom software solutions for the structural engineering domain. AE’s Structural BIM Viewer will be
used as a specialist tool for an open-source structural workflow.
Success criteria: 1) Identified structural integrity codes for this typology to be machine-readable. 2) Compliance
check of identified codes is reported together with the relevant compliance information accessible from the system.
Automated Checking of Compliance with Urban Regulations - Spain
The goal of the demonstration, led by FUNITEC, is to automate the checking of compliance with urban regulations,
including dangerous materials and coastal law, for major works licenses in a municipality in Spain. The permitting
process will be applicable in both public and private buildings in the design and construction stages of the building’s
lifecycle, using BIM and cadastre data as the main input data sources. Various use cases will be considered in the
development of several building renovations and new construction projects that have been planned by the Malgrat
de Mar City Council, which is the entity responsible for granting the permits: Project 1: Design and construction of
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a new theatre, Project 2: Renovation of a cultural centre, and Project 3: Expansion of the production plant of the
company AGC (Formerly Boehringer Ingelheim).
The automation of regulatory compliance checking will include the minimum plot, buildability, maximum
occupancy, minimum facade, regulatory height, minimum separations and occupancy of auxiliary buildings. ITeC is
experienced in the application and checking of building codes and will provide state / regional government’s
environmental regulations. Malgrat city hall (AMM) represents the local city authority handling the construction
permits. The architect or owner will provide a simplified BIM. In the compliance checking, Solibri and the ACCORD
building compliance checking microservices (WP4) will be used.
Success criteria: 1) 75% of the urban regulations are translated into an ACCORD rule format and 2) the outcome of
the automated check is in line with the traditional procedure.
1.2.2 Related national or international research and innovation activities
Table 1 lists the research and innovation (R&I) activities and projects that are most relevant to ACCORD. Please,
see partners’ other research and innovation projects and activities in part A.
Table 1. A list of research and innovation actions that are most relevant to ACCORD
R&I activities and their description Relevance for ACCORD and its partners
DigiPLACE – EU project that developed a ACE was a partner in DigiPLACE, and VTT and CU were
reference architecture framework providing linked third parties. The design principles for ACCORD
common guidelines for buildings and deploying solutions will be interoperability, common data environment
interoperability in construction. (CDE), open standards and data, data security and privacy.
Built4People (B4P) - Horizon Europe co- Synergies are created by ACCORD partners participating in
programmed partnership targeting definition of the B4P partnership; VTT is in the ECTP steering committee
R&D&I priorities for the Built Environment co- and coordinating the Digital Built Environment committee
created between public and private stakeholders. and in the executive board of the committees for
The European Construction, Technology Platform infrastructure, energy-efficient buildings and active ageing.
(ECTP) – a member organisation promoting and Also, ECTP will be in the ACCORD’s external advisory
influencing the future of the Built Environment. board.
New European Bauhaus (NEB) – EC’s initiative to ACCORD project aims to create easy to access solutions for
generate environmental (respect nature, an efficient and transparent permitting process. Consortium
sustainable buildings), economic (e.g., partner ACE is an official partner of the NEB initiative and
affordability) and cultural (e.g., socially just, the founder of the NEB Collective.
beautiful, accessibility) goals for Europe.
European Network for Digital Building Permits ACCORD follows the network’s development. MKM’s Jaan
(EUnet4DBP) - defines a common strategy for the Saar and FUI’s Rick Klooster are partners of the network.
digitization of the building permitting process in
Europe.
BuildingSMART data dictionary (bSDD) - A The semantic framework and the rule formalisation tool will
service that hosts classifications and their allow interoperating with the bSDD allows standardized
properties, values allowed, units and translations. workflow for guaranteed data quality and consistency.
Building Digital Twin association - developed an The association’s standard framework will be used to align
open and ethical techno-economic ecosystem to ACCORD’s semantic framework with building digital twins.
advance the implementation of building digital VTT is a partner in SPHERE, the founding project
twins. consortium.
Finnish development of municipalities’ digital The project will support ACCORD’s efforts in digitalising
building permit processes (2021-2023) and Land processes in Finland. The goal is to create the capacity of
Use and Building Act reform 2023 - BIM is used municipal systems to manage IFC models and automatically
to apply for building permits, design & as-built transfer data from the IFC model to the municipal register
BIM models are stored to the national register in an and the 3D city model. The project supports ACCORD Task
open standard format. 5.1.
XBau and XPlanung - open XML based data XBau and XPlanung ensure standardized communication
exchange formats for electronic data transmission between building owners, architects and authorities in the
in building supervision procedures German demonstration project (T5.2).
Estonian Building Registry - includes a nationwide Developments in the project will be built on top of and
3D Digital Twin and BIM-based permit checking improve this service in the Estonian demonstration project
service. (T5.1).
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CBIM – European Training Network for cloud- ACCORD will build on CBIM’s results on semantic
based BIM. enrichment for BIM and linked data models (presented by
Prof. Sacks at the Eastman Symposium 2021).
GAIA-X - A secure federated system that meets the GAIA-X develops the foundations for an open data
highest standards of digital sovereignty while infrastructure, which is also ACCORD’s long-term goal.
promoting innovation. An open digital ecosystem Executive Vice President Erja Turunen at VTT was elected
that offers openness, transparency and connects board member to the first board of the European Association
several organizations in Europe. for DATA and Cloud AISBL (GAIA-X).
DCOM – UK Digital Compliance Research CU leads this research network that has constructed a UK-
Network focused on driving forward the adoption based roadmap to adopt digital building control. ACCORD
of automated compliance checking in the UK will follow the network’s current development of a variety
construction sector. of proof-of-concept software prototypes.
1.2.3 Inter-disciplinary approach including social sciences and humanities
The development of the complex landscape of build environment compliance checking and permitting across Europe
necessitates an inter-disciplinary approach. For this reason, the ACCORD consortium has been compiled of
researchers representing different scientific fields, not only engineering but also social sciences, such as
communication, pedagogy and sociology and societal sciences. Thus, the consortium possesses expertise in and will
apply different social science research methodologies, such as a survey (in WP1), facilitated co-creation in workshops
(WP3) and ethnographic research (observation and in-depth interviews in WP5) in ACCORD research activities.
WP1 will bring all ACCORD researchers together at the beginning of the project to collaboratively study and analyse
the requirements for digitalizing building permitting and compliance processes. All partners from eleven European
countries are committed to spreading the European wide survey and providing the needed information from their
country: information on academic projects and methods, relevant software tools and technologies, the current laws,
regulations, guidance and national digital permitting adoption efforts in the field.
ACCORD will work with demonstration countries’ local authorities to test innovative BIM-based building permitting
and compliance processes supported by digital tools. The application of social science research methodologies to
local cases in various countries enables ACCORD to provide insights on barriers and enablers to digitalising building
permitting and compliance processes. For example, insights could be discovered to enhance the acceptance of tools
and solutions developed in ACCORD. In particular, the monetary and non-monetary motivations to digitalization,
environmental and economic effects of digitalization, and ways to encourage permitting stakeholders (applicants and
authorities) for data-driven workflows.
1.2.4 Gender-dimension
ACCORD will follow the gender policy of the European Union and a Responsible Research and Innovation inclusive
approach and take all measures to promote equal opportunities between men and women and promote functional and
cultural diversity, especially in the implementation of the action. Gender perspectives will be considered throughout
all project plans, in which women and men are equally integrated. Gender issues will be considered in long- and
short-term project and planning goals, as well as in the personnel perspectives of the involved partners. The language
and images used in the project will be appropriate for all stakeholders and gender-sensitive. ACCORD is in every
way committed to fair principles: open, just, equal, humane, and tolerant.
ACCORD acknowledges that gender and socioeconomic background, e.g., less financial resources available or less
knowledge on using technical tools, may affect the willingness of using new ICT tools. Thus, gender but also
socioeconomic background needs to be considered while designing and implementing new ICT tools. ACCORD will
address the gender-dimension by incorporating gender knowledge into the ACCORD’s engineering innovation
processes, following the recommendations set by Schiebinger et al. 29 For example, ACCORD will analyse the
different effects of the planned tools on women and men (following gender impact analysis method), with various
cultural, socioeconomic backgrounds and ages (following the intersectionality method) at the beginning of the project
(WP1) to ensure that genders’ needs, values and motivations are met to allow user acceptance and accessibility.30
ACCORD will involve both males and females in the tool development, which will incorporate co-creation and
participatory research involving users from various phases in the value chain, such as designers (architects and other
29 Schiebinger, L., Klinge, I., Sánchez de Madariaga, I., Paik, H. Y., Schraudner, M. and Stefanick, M. (eds.) (2011–2020), ‘Methods of sex and gender
analysis’, Gendered Innovations in Science, Health & Medicine, Engineering, and Environment
30 European Commission (2020). ‘Gendered Innovations 2: How inclusive analysis contributes to research and innovation’, Policy Review. Luxembourg:
Publications Office of the European Union, 2020.
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special designers), engineers (general contractors), building/infrastructure owners and permitting authorities.
ACCORD will follow the five practical steps for incorporating gender analysis into the participatory research, also
recommended by Schiebinger et al. First, the area of work the users wish to address is identified. ACCORD will
conduct literature reviews and send out a questionnaire (carried out in WP1). Second, the potential target groups are
identified. During the project planning, ACCORD has identified target groups (permit applicants,
building/infrastructure owners and authorities providing permits). Still, potential women and men from these target
groups will be sought (in WP4).
The third step in the participatory research is to seek user input. ACCORD will engage potential tools users in the
problem definition, requirements elicitation (user needs) and solution development and testing. The ACCORD
research team will urge to involve users with varying gender, age and socioeconomic statuses to gather information
about how the developed tool might affect users’ work. The fourth step is to observe users. For instance, it is planned
that a woman and a man representing the authority in each demonstration country will be observed at work for
understanding their work processes related to planning and permitting of buildings/infrastructure and how gender
might affect the use of the tool (carried out in WP5). It will also be important to understand authorities’ interactions
with the permit applicants. The fifth, final step is to evaluate and possibly redesign in cooperation with the users. This
step will be carried out in WP3. ACCORD researchers will also try to capture tacit knowledge by observing these
users using the developed tools (carried out in WP5). This may allow the researchers to identify potential challenges
in tool usage.
1.2.5 Open science practices
The project coordinator, VTT, is strongly committed to promote open science by signing the national Open science
declaration and creating and committing to its own open science principles. The principles will be followed in
ACCORD and stated in the data management plan (D7.2 Project Data Management Plan PDMP). Researchers will
carry out and document research in a careful and considered manner. Researchers will publish results and
interpretations of their research openly and transparently and respect the confidentiality of data or findings when
legitimately required.
All the scientific publications produced are published primarily according to open access principles. The publications
will be opened in external services, and the Gold model will be promoted. The ACCORD consortium will also open
a zenodo.org (open-access repository, operated by CERN) community to create one open-source location for all
publications, data and metadata. The publications will also be openly available in research organisations’ own
repositories (through self-archiving, following the Green Open Access). Information on all publications will be
available on the ACCORD’s web pages. ACCORD research organisations will strive to retain copyright to
publications to enhance their reuse. The Creative Commons license CC BY 4.0 is recommended. The Open Research
Europe publishing platform is utilised when applicable.
A collaborative way to work is a core element in the ACCORD research processes and promoted within the
consortium partners, following the targets and tasks of the project. Project-specific dissemination practices will be
detailed in the Grant Agreement and Consortium Agreement signed by all beneficiaries. ACCORD will engage with
society for wider dissemination of results and creating more value by providing wider perspectives and input for the
project’s execution. In practice, society engagement will involve relevant stakeholders (such as architects, authorities,
and civil building permit applicants) in co-creative open innovation development in WP3 to create improvement
proposals and pathways to develop digital permitting and compliance processes.
1.2.6 Data management and management of other research outputs
ACCORD results, such as the semantic framework, ontology, methodologies, the software architecture model and
standardized APIs, will be made available according to the FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable and re-usable)
principles, applying appropriate channels.
Types of data generated
In the country demonstrations, ACCORD will apply and generate various data formats, such as BCF, IFC and RDF.
The research infrastructure to be developed in ACCORD is described in section 1.1.3 R&I maturity (TRL levels).
Other supporting infrastructures are described in Application form Part A: partners’ research infrastructure section.
ACCORD will produce also interview and workshop data. Here the personal data is related to the participants' names
and email addresses. Compliance with ethical principles and relevant legislation is explained in part A of this
application. ACCORD will carefully examine all options of re-using pre-existing open research data, open-source
software, algorithms and workflows during the project.
Findability
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In addition to generic metadata elements, discipline compliant metadata elements will also be used to describe the
data to aid data discovery and potential re-use, if needed. Persistent identifiers (either DOI or URN) provided by the
data repository will be generated and used in linking to datasets.
Accessibility
Published and FAIR-compliant data will be archived in an open data repository. When applicable, the focus of the
data sharing will be on data underlying prospective scientific publications ensuring the validation of results presented
in publications. A certified repository service Zenodo (operated by CERN) will be used to enhance the long-term
accessibility of the data. In collaboration with project partners, the coordinator will take all the appropriate measures
to make relevant data openly available and usable for third parties for study, teaching and research purposes. Privacy
of data subjects will be secured by fully complying with the General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU)
2016/679 of the European Parliament and the Council). The project consortium has appropriate technical and
organizational measures to carry out data protection during the project. VTT has an appointed Data Protection Officer
(Seppo Viinikainen). If, after project closure, permission to re-use the data is required, it will be granted, providing
there are no IPR or confidentiality issues involved or any direct overlap of research questions with the primary
research. If data re-use would require permission, it will be provided by contacting the Coordinator. The project
consortium will decide justification for possible case-specific embargo for published data. An embargo will be sought
primarily in connection with any potential commercial exploitation or patent application based on project results.
Interoperability
Variables and value names will be constructed and provided following general data processing conventions common
to the research subject. Examples of vocabulary information to be managed within the project will be, e.g. units of
observation, list of variables with the name and label to each variable. After project closure, metadata of opened
datasets will be made available via FAIR-compliant repository Zenodo for research and re-use as described above.
The formats used for the datasets are anticipated to be: csv, xlsx, IFC, BCF and RDF.
Reusability
Potential re-utilization will be enabled and the quality of the data ensured by careful documentation of data collection
methods and the contents of the datasets. After the project completion, ownership of datasets belongs to the partner/s
generating them, co-shared by the group of consortium members in accordance with the Consortium Agreement.
Creative Commons license CC-BY-SA or CC-BY will be used for any opened datasets unless there are compelling
reasons to select a more restricted type of CC-license. Licenses will, by default, include a disclaimer of liability for
the re-use of opened data. The opened data will be deposited in a repository that guarantees data integrity on the bit
level. No continuous data curation policy to guarantee full long-term digital preservation of datasets is planned.
Allocation of resources
Cost allocation is based on the resources needed to make research data quality-controlled, FAIR-compliant and as
open as possible. During the project, consortium partners will be responsible for managing datasets securely in their
possession. To manage the lifecycle of datasets collected, processed, or created throughout the project duration, D7.2
Project Data Management Plan PDMP will be generated. It will include a description of methodology and standards
to be followed, and which data sets will be made accessible for verification and re-use after project closure. DMP
will be a dynamic tool that is updated regularly throughout the project duration. Sufficient resourcing is ensured
through a nominated Data Manager and dedicated data management task (T7.4 Data Management).
IMPACT
Project’s pathways towards impact
2.1.1 Unique contribution
The work programme’s call has specified four expected outcomes (medium-term effects, here shortly cited), and
ACCORD will contribute to each of them in the following ways:
Outcome 1: “Efficiency and productivity gains in design and construction processes.”
ACCORD’s contribution: ACCORD’s main result is a semantic building permitting framework based on
microservices that integrate many manual steps in design and construction into a semi-automated workflow
environment. The use of the framework is expected to increase the efficiency and productivity of the design and
construction processes by 50% by halving the time needed for obtaining permit decisions, which varies from country
to country. For example, obtaining the permit takes 5 to 15 weeks, depending on the size of the project in Norway,
which is the most advanced country in digital permitting, according to the World Bank. The use of the ACCORD’s
framework leads to efficient, user-friendly, and transparent building permitting processes with a quick turn-around
time.
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The semantic building permitting framework consists of various software components (marked in orange colour and
a number 1-4 in Figure) that will be developed during the ACCORD project by developing new and integrating
already existing technologies, solutions and commercial services. These components are ACCORD project results:
1) A rule formalisation tool (D2.3) allows for a standardized rule representation. The tool is based on Semantic
Web Technologies, and assists rule creators (building permitting authorities) in formalising regulations and
information requirements into a processable rule form. This tool applies existing Data Dictionaries (by
BuildingSmart and Open Geospatial Consortium), a Rule Language and a Building Compliance Ontology,
BCO (D2.2), which is a method for describing concepts, like wheelchair turning circle, escape route length
or corridor width, in a standardized way including name, description, example IFC files. Also, other
ontologies will be used to represent the building codes unambiguously. The tool includes an AI module (A
deep learning NLP model trained with building codes and regulations in English, D2.3) that pre-processes
text analysis of existing regulations for domain experts who accept/adjust rules with the rule formalisation
tool.
2) A Ruleset Database (D2.2) allowing for the storage and retrieval of rules stored in a semantic format for
applications of various stakeholders when using building permitting and compliance checking services.
3) Building Compliance Checking Microservices (D4.2) enable applicants to check compliance in early
design phases to identify possible errors and issues with authorities. This will transform the permitting
process towards a more proactive and supportive guidance process without requiring extensive work of
authorities.
4) Open Standardized Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) (D4.2) for the building compliance and
other information services to allow integrated dataflows between building permitting, building compliance
and other information services.
Figure 5. ACCORD’s semantic building permitting framework and its main components
KPIs: 1) The building permitting framework is successfully applied in the five countries’ demonstrations (WP5). 2)
15 European countries’ public authorities have started demanding data-driven building permit processes that collect
the needed information in building and land registries and 3D city models, and up-to-date city plans.
The target groups for the building permitting framework are local building permitting authorities as customers and
users of cloud-based permitting and compliance checking services. Building permit applicants (architects, engineers,
general contracts) are also users of permitting services. European building authorities (10 per country) are users of
the rule formalisation tool (incl. manual interaction and reporting points to avoid black-box decisions) and its related
rule database.
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Outcome 2: “Fewer errors in planning, design and construction processes.”
ACCORD’s contribution: The use of the ACCORD building permitting framework reduces the errors during the
planning, design, and construction processes by preventing the violations in the selected building codes and
regulations and making the permit decision more transparent, as the results of all rules and validation aspects are
consistently provided. Errors are also reduced because the standardized and complete data models (D3.3) preserve
all details throughout the workflows, and data is easily accessed through cloud-based services integrated through
Web APIs. ACCORD also reduces errors by re-skilling stakeholders by producing e-learning materials (D6.3) for
different target groups: 1) software developers will be provided with general technical specifications, ACCORD
methodology for the development of machine-readable building codes and automated compliance checking and
machine-readable rules of environmental, circular economy, lifecycle assessment and architectural design
compliance of wooden modular buildings, and design integrity for steel modular house products and 2) permitting
process stakeholders will be provided with guidelines, process and data flows, information requirements, and a
roadmap for adaptation (D3.3).
KPIs: 1) The construction projects’ data models (BIM) are detailed enough to be checked against the machine-
executable rules in the demonstrations. 2) 10 European countries’ public authorities have set public requirements for
BIM content of a permitting process, which will conclude in a more systematic modelling work and better quality of
BIMs, also supporting BIM utilization in business processes as the quality of the data can be trusted. 3) 405
professionals are upskilled on BIM requirements regarding BIM-based building permitting process through the
webinars.
The target group: Software service providers of building permitting and compliance checks can apply the semantic
framework’s software architecture and the open APIs developed in ACCORD (WP4).
Outcome 3: “Automated, faster, more accurate and efficient permitting and compliance for construction works…”
ACCORD’s contribution: ACCORD will automate the building permitting and compliance of construction works
of regulatory, health, safety, and performance by creating machine-readable rules of country-specific building codes
and regulations (WP2) and automating the compliance checking of those rules (WP4). Automated building permitting
allows code compliance and model quality inspection, speeds up the process, reduces paper use, allows electronic
record-keeping and reveals errors that might be missed in the manual approval process. The automated building
permitting processes will be demonstrated in five countries (WP5), lessons learned from the demonstrations will be
reported as information guidelines. Also, an education package (D3.3) and e-learning material are produced to
maximise the exploitation of results in Europe (D6.3) and be up-scaled through the European Social Fund Plus
(ESF+).
KPIs: 1) The regulations to be made machine-readable are identified and made into rules, and the compliance
checking is successfully automated in the demonstrations. 2) The local authorities in the demonstration projects have
expressed their interest in semantically structured 3D digital city plans as an important part of compliance checking,
which will be done against city plan requirements. This remarkably supports the data management of the whole built
environment and the quality of registry data. 3) Automation often necessitates standardisation. Thus, one success
criterion is that the public demand and standardisation activities for BIM and machine-readable information of the
built environment are increased, leading to better integration and harmonisation in Europe.
The target group: Local building permitting authorities will have digital building permitting processes.
Outcome 4: “Improved build quality and resource efficiency in construction, in line with …New European Bauhaus.”
ACCORD’s contribution: ACCORD will improve build quality in various ways. For example, ACCORD will
describe how geospatial and BIM models can be used jointly to reduce integration costs and improve build quality
along with the entire design, build, finance, and maintain the lifecycle of buildings (D6.2). This will allow designers
to visually see how the forthcoming building fits and affects its environment. ACCORD will also automate the
checking of accessibility, exit routes, urban regulations and structural integrity of modular steel houses, thus
improving build quality (D5.1). The automated checking gives the ability for pre-checking – allowing design teams
to check their work informally during the process allowing for better quality building design. ACCORD’s building
permitting solutions will enhance the quality of service and coordination with private and public entities and improve
customer service. ACCORD improves resource efficiency in construction through authorities’ lower cost for
validation, as the building permitting process is partly automated by the ACCORD system. The New European
Bauhaus (NEB) initiative connects green and digital transformations, which is the goal of ACCORD as well.
ACCORD will automate the compliance checking of environmental norms and regulations related to carbon
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footprint, circular economy and lifecycle assessment, thus supporting sustainability, which is also one of the aims of
the NEB. These are demonstrated in three countries in the Finnish/Estonian and the German demonstrations (D5.1).
KPIs: 1) The regulations related to the environment are identified, 2) converted to machine-executable rules and 3)
successfully demonstrated in the Finnish, Estonian and German demonstrations, leading to automatic checking of
environmental regulations.
The target group: Building permitting and compliance service providers will apply the digital rules.
ACCORD will also produce scientific publications on various topics, such as a state-of-the-art adoption of digitised
compliance/permitting processes in Europe and barriers and enablers to adoption.
KPIs: 17 open-access publications are written during ACCORD.
The target group: Publications are mainly targeted at the scientific community in the fields of engineering.
The work programme's call has set a number of expected impacts (long-term effects, here shortly cited), and
ACCORD will contribute to each of them in the following ways:
Impact 1: “Global leadership in clean and climate-neutral industrial value chains, circular economy and climate-
neutral digital systems …, through innovative production … and their digitisation, new business models, … enabling
the switch to decarbonisation …”
ACCORD’s contribution: ACCORD helps Europe be a global leader in the clean and climate-neutral construction
value chain by designing (WP2, WP4) and demonstrating (WP5) a digital building permitting framework that is
climate-neutral and green. ACCORD enhances the circular economy and decarbonisation by turning the available
environmental norms and regulations into machine-readable rules and demonstrating their automatic compliance
checking as part of a building permitting process (WP5). The regulations are related to the circular economy and
carbon footprint in Finland and Estonia and lifecycle assessment in Germany. ACCORD promotes prefabrication, an
innovative production process by automating the architectural design compliance of industrialised timber housing
and Green Building Certification and automating the design integrity for steel modular house products (WP5).
ACCORD will identify suitable business models in T6.3 Innovation Management, Exploitation, Business
Development.
Impact 2: “Accelerate the twin green and digital transition of the manufacturing and construction sectors.”
ACCORD’s contribution: ACCORD will accelerate
the twin transition of green and digital to enable the
EU’s economy to transform towards sustainability by
designing a climate-neutral building permitting system
and automating the checking of environmental
regulations. Figure 6 illustrates the specific places to
which ACCORD plans to contribute green and digital
transition.
Impact 3: “Create a new green, flexible and digital way
to build ... This will lead to sustainable … value chains,
enabled by digitisation, AI, data sharing, ... help reduce
CO2 emissions... ensure better and more efficient use of
construction-generated data to sustain
Figure 6. ACCORD’s contribution in the twin green and digital
transition
competitiveness and greening of the sector.”
ACCORD’s contribution: ACCORD will create a new building permitting framework that helps the greening of
the construction sector by automating the checking of environmental regulations, thus supporting the creation of
sustainable, climate-neutral buildings, in line with the aims of the EU Green Deal.
Impact 4: “Make jobs in manufacturing & construction safer, more attractive + offer upskilling opportunities.”
ACCORD’s contribution: ACCORD will make jobs in the construction safer by supporting prefabrication (work is
done in factories where safety issues are in better control) through the automation of architectural design compliance
of prefabricated (i.e., industrialised) timber housing and Green Building Certification and design integrity for steel
modular house products. ACCORD will offer upskilling opportunities by creating information guidelines, an
education package (D3.3) and e-learning material to maximise the exploitation of results in Europe (D6.3).
Impact 5: “Set out a credible pathway to contributing to climate neutral, circular and digitalised …industries.”
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ACCORD’s contribution: ACCORD will strive for climate neutrality and digital transition in the construction
sector by producing machine-readable rules of environmental (carbon footprint, circular economy and lifecycle
assessment) norms. Automation enables the design to focus on carbon-neutrality and circularity mitigating climate
change.
Impact 6: “Increase productivity, innovation capacity, resilience, sustainability and global competitiveness of
European … industries.”
ACCORD’s contribution: ACCORD will increase the productivity, innovation capacity and
flexibility of the construction sector to adapt to sudden changes and needs caused by climate change
and unforeseen crises by developing the building permitting framework leading to shorter
permitting time and databases of high-quality building models and machine-readable rules,
including the automated checking of environmental regulations, aligning with the United Nations
Sustainable Development Goal 9: Build resilient infrastructure, promote sustainable industrialization and foster
innovation.
Impact 7: “Contribute to a substantial reduction of waste and CO2 emissions…”
ACCORD’s contribution: ACCORD will translate regulations related to CO2 emissions and circular economy into
machine-readable rules that can be automatically checked by building compliance services. This supports the
reduction of waste and CO2 emissions during the decision making of the design phase.
The work programme has specified that the proposal should support three Key Strategic Orientations KSOs outlined
in the Strategic Plan, and which are here shortly cited:
Specified KSO A “Promoting an open strategic autonomy by leading the development of key digital… value chains
to accelerate … the digital and green transitions through human-centred technologies and innovations.”
Specified KSO C “Making Europe the first digitally led circular, climate-neutral and sustainable economy through
the transformation of its mobility, energy, construction and production systems.”
Specified KSO D “Creating a more resilient, inclusive and democratic European society, … empowering all citizens
to act in the green and digital transitions.”
ACCORD will contribute to the KSOs in the following way: ACCORD will create open APIs that allow local
authorities to choose the digital services they want to use without fearing a lock-in to the service (allowing strategic
autonomy). In addition, ACCORD will automate the checking of environmental regulations by developing machine-
interpretable rules of regulations related to CO2 emissions and circular economy (sustainability), thus steering the
digital and green transition and involving relevant stakeholders through co-creation (empowering citizens).
ACCORD will create information guidelines for structured data models, increasing the value of buildings and
reducing their operating costs, thus helping Europe implement digitalisation. ACCORD will also develop open,
shared and distributed modelling pipelines that transform natural language into machine-processable information.
This information contributes to the foundation of fair (democratic), comparable decisions based on rule-based data
processing.
ACCORD will not carry out activities that do significant harm to any of the six environmental objectives of the EU
Taxonomy Regulation.
2.1.2 Potential barriers
ACCORD partners foresee four specific potential barriers that may affect the desired outcomes and impacts. The first
barrier is a slow cultural change to move to BIM-based automatic permitting and checking, which may be too large
in some areas. ACCORD will mitigate this barrier by actively engaging relevant stakeholders through a
comprehensive dissemination, exploitation and communication plan (D6.2) that includes various channels for
different stakeholders. Also, ACCORD will produce e-learning materials (D6.6) for different target groups: 1)
software developers will be provided with general technical specifications, ACCORD methodology for the
development of machine-readable building codes and automated compliance checking and machine-readable rules
of environmental, circular economy, lifecycle assessment, and design integrity for steel modular house products and
2) permitting process stakeholders will be provided with guidelines, process and data flows, information
requirements, and a roadmap for adaptation (D3.3).
The second barrier could be that the building regulations are very localized and ambiguous, leading to extra efforts
in implementation and adaptation. ACCORD will work intensively and collaboratively with the authorities to identify
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regulations that can be made machine-readable. ACCORD’s demonstrations will produce lessons learned that will
give an insight into how regulations should be presented in the future to allow BIM-based building permitting and
compliance checks. The third possible barrier is that the lifecycle costs of digitalization are considered too large and
ambiguous in relation to the benefits. ACCORD will work closely with building permitting authorities to find the
right balance with digitalization costs and benefits. The fourth barrier might be that it is hard to transfer the learnings
gathered in the project to a wider audience. The risk is mitigated by implementing comprehensive dissemination,
communication and exploitation plan (D6.1).
2.1.3 Scale and significance of the project’s contribution to the expected outcomes and impacts
ACCORD’s main result, the building permitting framework, including its software components – Rule formalisation
tool, Ruleset database, APIs, building permitting and compliance checking services – could be beneficial for several
stakeholder groups:
Thousands of local building permitting authorities in Europe and worldwide as users of the cloud-based
permitting service and selectors of compliance checking services
Building permit applicants as users of the cloud-based permitting service: architects, engineers, general contracts.
Architects are covered by including consortium partner Architects’ Council of Europe (ACE), representing all
600.000 European architects and has multiple channels of reaching them.
European building authorities (10 per country) as users of the rule formalisation tool (incl. manual interaction
and reporting points to avoid black-box decisions) and its related rule database
Software service providers of building permitting and compliance checks
ACCORD’s scientific publications are mainly targeted to the scientific community in the fields of engineering.
Measures to maximise impact - Dissemination, exploitation and communication
2.2.1 Dissemination and communication activities
This section 2.2.1 and the following 2.2.2 form the initial plan for dissemination, exploitation and communication.
D6.1 (Dissemination, Exploitation, Standardization, Integration and Communication Plan) will update this plan,
maximise project impact and ensure effective dissemination, communication and exploitation activities. These
activities foster targeted promotion of project results towards key target groups via tailored action, assuring key
stakeholders' committed participation and interest in the project. Table 2 introduces the target groups and
objectives/key messages of dissemination and communication activities. Table 3 presents ACCORD’s dissemination
and communication channels. The exploitation activities are presented in the following section 2.2.2 Business cases
and exploitation strategies of ACCORD partners.
Communication activities promote the project and its impact widely on all stakeholders throughout the project's
lifespan. ACCORD will reach out to society to show the benefits of the project for citizens. A visual identity will be
created to raise interest, clarify the main messages and increase awareness of the project and its outcomes. An e-
newsletter is delivered every six months. Also, one project roll-up poster and two digital brochures or infographics
will be created with updated information on the project achievements. The brochures will be translated into the
national languages of all partners. The partners will represent the project in various events, conferences and fairs
nationally and EU-wide, such as the EUSEW, EU Utility Week and other EU initiatives. The communication
activities also include the Search Engine optimised (SEO) project website, which will be considered a lively tool
with continuously updated contents (e.g. press releases, e-Newsletters, articles and interviews, posts of project-related
news from external sources and e-training material).
Table 2. Target groups and objectives of dissemination and communication activities.
Result disseminated Objective / key messages
Target group: Market/industrial stakeholders, such as designers, software developers, authorities
ACCORD results, such as software tools and solutions (rule Generate interest towards ACCORD’s results, project progress,
formalisation tool, ruleset database, APIs, building events and relevant news, upskilling, offer E-learning material.
permitting and compliance services), market and replication
potential
Target group: Scientific community, EU projects and networks
ACCORD results regarding the semantic framework, state- Contribute to scientific literature in the fields of BIM-based
of-the-art, developed/integrated building permitting and permitting and compliance and AI
compliance services
Target group: Policymakers at national, EU and international levels
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Economic and environmental performance compared to the Removal of barriers to the uptake and spread of digitalised
current building permitting and compliance processes building permitting and compliance checks and compliance of
protocols with relevant standards
Target group: Standardisation bodies
Technical characteristics/ specifications of the ACCORD Ensure compliance of processes and ICT tools with current
building permitting system standards, and/or feed the development of new and adapted
standards, ensure synergies with the Horizon Europe
‘Built4People’ co-programmed Partnership
Target group: Civil society, NGOs, public, media
Benefits and impact of the digital building permitting and Raise awareness of the benefits and potential impact of digital
compliance processes building permitting and compliance processes
Table 3. ACCORD dissemination and communication channels.
Channel Type of audience KPI Frequency/No
Number of website Once per
Project and partners’ websites
visitors; 1000 sessions month/36
Every six
Newsletters The general public, all identified Mailing list goal: 150
months/6
target groups
Project poster and brochures 2000 viewers Altogether 3
Social media channels 150 followers, 2000
>75 posts
(LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook) visitors
Citizen outreach events and the Civil society, NGOs, public,
2 events
public discussion media
Conference participation as
7 participations
presenters
The scientific community
Scientific publications 5 open access publications
(engineering fields), EU projects
Webinars (upskilling) 450 viewers 3
and networks, Market/industrial
YouTube channel and TV
stakeholders 2 broadcasts, 500 views
broadcast
Horizon Results Platform 200 readers, all public deliverables
Events participation and the
EU projects, networks, other ECTP events, built4People partnership,
working group set up by the EU
(sister) projects funded in the call WGBC, collaboration with sister projects
BIM Task Group
EU projects and networks,
Horizon Europe project events 3 events 3
policymakers
Policy recommendations Local-level policymakers (EU and 300 readers 3
Contacts/meetings international levels) 5 local & 1 EU-level >5
E-Learning materials through EU
PROF/TRAC repository, EU Market/industrial stakeholders, 500 viewers 3 packages
BuildUp Portal & Youtube such as designers, software
Stakeholder workshops developers, authorities Goal: 100 participants 3
ACE Newsletter 3 Articles
OGC/bSI Integrated Digital Built Active participation in the Subcommittee and
Standardisation bodies (such as
Environment Subcommittee and BSI Regulatory Room: Common Guidelines
BuildingSMART and Open
BuildingSMART International to Introduce BIM to Building Process and
Geospatial Consortium)
Regulatory Room automate regulatory control and permit.
The EU/National/Regional communication levels and the responsibilities/roles will be attributed to each partner. It
is expected to gather all the information on the already existing channels and platforms at the European level. In each
involved country, one partner will be responsible for disseminating at the national level, including national
newsletters/alerts around events. ACCORD will produce guidelines for implementing communication and
dissemination actions (messages to convey, internal reporting rules, tracking of distribution of disseminations) as
part of D6.1.
ACCORD will produce e-Learning material in English, possibly to be translated by training providers or authorities
from a specific country who would like to use it. E-learning material can be used by the partners and their respective
countries as part of the exploitation efforts. This training material will also be made available to the wider public
through the EU PROF/TRAC open access online training material repository, the BuildUp Portal and offered to ACE
member associations who are acknowledged, national training providers. Three different material packages are
planned to up-skill various stakeholders: 1) One for software/ tools/service developers; content: General technical
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specifications, ACCORD methodology for the development of machine-readable building codes and automated
compliance checking, 2) One for professionals of the permitting process; content: Guidelines, process flow, data
flow, information requirements, a roadmap for adaptation, and 3) Implementation of ACCORD methodology in the
demonstrations. Three upskilling webinars will be held and recorded to be openly accessible via the project’s
YouTube channel linked to the project website and the EU BuildUp Portal (D6.3).
ACCORD will build collaboration with similar projects funded under this call in T6.4 (Community Building,
Standardisation & Integration) that ensures maximal uptake in standardisation activities and community building, in
close collaboration with the OGC/bSI Integrated Digital Built Environment Subcommittee, and ideas will be
exchanged with other projects funded under the same call in a working group that will be set up by the EU BIM Task
Group.
2.2.2 Business cases and exploitation strategies of ACCORD partners
Human-centred software components developed and integrated into ACCORD provide business cases for the
software industry operating in the real estate and construction sector and ACCORD’s partners (FHG, SOL, CP, FUI,
ONTO, AE and ITeC) operating in software service production. The results provide good EU-wide market
opportunities since Europe has a building regulatory system encompassing the building regulations and the building
control system in every European country, for which the proposed ACCORD building permitting framework can be
utilized. Each industry partner has IPR to their own results, and they will commercialize and decide their distribution
channels individually. The legal owners of software components used in ACCORD are CP, SOL, FUI, ONTO, AE
and FHG. Services developed together will follow the IPR rules described in the following section 2.2.3 Management
and protection of intellectual property.
A European-wide uptake of building permitting and compliance services would improve the current building control
processes significantly. These services create new opportunities to unify and streamline operations. They improve
customer service and reduce the need for local customer service. The ACCORD cloud-based framework supports
citizens and city officials in the building permit process. The targeted market of these services is worldwide, but, e.g.,
in Europe, 2,5 million building permits are issued yearly, and most of the issuing takes place without a digital building
permitting system. The estimated market size only in Europe is several hundred million euros. For example, only in
Finland, 38 000 new building permits are issued yearly, and the permit approval costs in Helsinki are 680€+6,2€/m².
The open APIs (developed in WP4) support KSO A (open strategic autonomy) and lay a standardized framework for
any compliance service, but also to ACCORD’s partners (SOL, FUI, ONTO, AE and ITeC), to be used as a part of a
building permitting system. Any Building Permitting Service will be able to use the API with any Compliance
Service. For SOL and FUI, this creates an opportunity to provide their services easily without the need to create
custom API implementations. The standardized rule formats and APIs create a new blueprint by which a building
permitting system can be built. This establishes a new market. The upcoming requirements to reduce the
environmental footprint of the built environment will be met more easily when the plans can be checked automatically
and consistently. The machine-readable format of building codes will provide an example and method to represent
the owners’ requirements and targets for a construction project in a formal way. This provides opportunities to
develop private requirement management and compliance checking tools and services.
FHG will exploit Generis®, which will be further developed in ACCORD. The integration of (semi-)automatic
lifecycle assessment allows to drastically reduce the effort and costs for LCA-based assessment of buildings and
infrastructure. As generis® aims to provide such an approach, its development options and business case potentials
in the context of the Green New Deal and the Renovation Wave and the EU Taxonomy are potentially covering
millions of assessed units. However, as this also depends on legislative framework developments, the innovation
targeted in ACCORD does not solely allow to access this potential but provides a key step in mainstreaming LCA.
The adoption of a semantic framework offers tangible advantages, including (a) the dynamic integration of existing
industry tools, (b) the ability to maintain flexibility to allow portability and adaption to the specificities of differing
processes and regulations across individual member states and (c) integration with existing semantic methodologies
now gaining traction in the construction sector (e.g., BsDD, IFCOwl). ACCORD industrial partners will adopt (WP4)
and demonstrate (WP5) the framework, indicating their commitments. The ACCORD semantic approach provides
for increased integration, portability and maintainability, which are part of ACCORD’s strategy towards full-scale
off-site construction manufacturing in the EU. The strategy also includes supporting manufacturing (industrialised
construction) by automating the compliance checking for land use permitting, environmental (Lifecycle Assessment,
LCA, Green Building Certification) and building compliance for industrialised timber housing and the design
integrity of structural components for steel modular houses.
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All other partners are also committed to the exploitation of results with the following exploitation strategies.
Universities (training and academic) and RTOs (close to market developments, technology transfer): CU, BCU, JU,
FUNITEC, UNIKO, FHG and VTT will use the knowledge gained, along with the joined papers, to increase their
reputation and participation in the automated checking research agenda across Europe. This will result in participation
in future funded research projects in this or related areas. The universities will improve the teaching on the BIM and
code checking area and develop e-learning courses based on T2.6 Technical Guidelines and align work in the
respective countries with the latest technological developments in Europe.
FUI, VTT, FHG, ONTO, OGC, MKM and FUNITEC will develop e-learning material for the software users based
on T2.6 and T4.6 Technical Guidelines, and VTT, FHG and IMT support software developers in their countries.
ONTO will leverage the experience with IFC data and relations with AEC companies gained to grow its business in
the AEC sector and productize the developed Hybrid Storage and Querying capabilities as part of GraphDB.
The standardisation bodies, BSI and OGC, will enhance their suite of standards to describe, access and process
building data. The current standards shall be further aligned with other BSI and OGC standards to improve the
integration of building information with other data, such as spatial-temporal data, which will make these
organisations’ standards more attractive to a wider audience. OGC will further exploit enhancements to semantic
interoperability concepts as part of its OGC Definition Server, which is of overarching interest by multiple domains
that use OGC technology. BSI, on the other hand, will further exploit ACCORD results in relation to
BuildingSMART data dictionary.
Estonian Ministry (MKM) has its own Building Registry (permitting management service) which is integrated with
the FUI’s BIM.Works (the building compliance service). The ACCORD results related to machine-readable
environmental rules and their automatic checking in BIM.Works will be integrated into the Building Registry.
Hamburg (HAM) and Berlin (TEGEL) have signed an administrative agreement for cooperation in the area of
digitization of planning and building in the public administration. The goal is to develop specialized procedures
software to speed up the planning procedure and the building permitting process. The software development will
follow the principle of “one for all” and European digital sovereignty. The results of the ACCORD project will be
exploited within the scope of this cooperation. Malgrat City (AMM) is aiming towards digital building permitting
and will use ACCORD results in their decision making concerning future digitalization efforts for permitting.
External advisory board members (presented in section 3.2.1 Consortium) representing ministries, universities,
software companies and non-profit associations will integrate the project results into their work and business
processes as relevant.
2.2.3 Management and protection of intellectual property
The general strategy for the management and protection of intellectual property (IP) outlined in this section has been
agreed upon by all consortium partners. It will be further detailed in the consortium agreement (CA) to be signed
before the beginning of the project. To ensure these principles and terms are followed, a dedicated task is planned
(T6.2 Innovation Management, Exploitation, Business Development) to avoid disputes and facilitate
commercialization strategies and technology transfer. Also, Dissemination, Exploitation, Standardization, Integration
and Communication Report will be compiled (D6.2). The report will document all items of IP related to the work of
the project (background, achieved results and licenses) and business case analysis. An IPR/exploitation officer will
be nominated among the partners to supervise and guide the project’s actions towards effective exploitation of project
results. JU has volunteered to take this role, but the final decision will be made during the CA negotiations. Invention
potential and patent landscape will be continuously followed under the guidance of the IPR/exploitation officer as
part of the innovation management. The exploitation of results and IPR management will be discussed at the
consortium, T6.2 meetings and in dedicated internal workshops following the methodology from the ECs innovation
radar.
A detailed procedure for dissemination will be stated in the CA, and dissemination activities will respect the
following: A) Planned publications will be distributed to all partners within an agreed period prior to publication, B)
A partner may object to the planned publication within an agreed period if the protection of its results or background
would be adversely affected of if it can show that its legitimate interests in relation to the results or background would
be significantly harmed and C) Any objection has to include a precise request for necessary modifications.
The following ownership and protection principles for IP will be further established in the CA in the spirit of
Horizon Europe: 1) Results shall be the property of the partner carrying out the work leading to the results. 2) Where
several partners have jointly carried out work generating the results and where their respective share of the work is
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indivisible, they shall have joint ownership of such results. The partners concerned shall agree in writing the
allocation, terms of exercising ownership and protection of the joint results. 3) Where a partner transfers ownership
of results, it shall take steps to get the approval of other partners and to transfer to the assignee obligations regarding
the results (e.g. granting of access rights and dissemination). 4) Where results are capable of industrial or commercial
application, its owner shall provide for its adequate and effective protection, in conformity with relevant legal
provisions, and having due regard to the legitimate interests of the partners concerned.
Access rights for implementation: Partners shall enjoy access rights to the results and to the background identified in
the CA for the project if those are needed to carry out their own work in the project. For implementing the project,
access rights to both results and background shall be granted on a royalty-free basis.
Access rights for exploitation: Partners shall enjoy access rights to the results and the identified background if those
results or backgrounds are needed to exploit their own results. In that case, access rights to results and background for
exploitation shall be granted on fair and reasonable conditions. Access rights will be granted upon written request.
The requesting partner must show that the access right is needed. The granting of access rights may be
made conditional on the acceptance of specific conditions to be specified in the CA.
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Summary
KEY ELEMENT OF THE IMPACT SECTION
SPECIFIC NEEDS EXPECTED RESULTS D & E & C MEASURES
Current building permitting and Building permitting framework Project poster and brochure
compliance processes vary between
Building permitting and compliance Project website (press releases, articles, interviews, posts)
countries, complicating the
checking software services Newsletters
development of replicable digital
A rule formalisation tool for the Stakeholder workshops
solutions for different markets. Contacts/meetings of partners
building authority to develop
There is a lack of agreed standards machine-readable rules to be used by Active interaction on social media accounts: LinkedIn profiles, Twitter,
for representing regulation, Youtube, Facebook
compliance checking services.
requirement and guidance documents
Methodology from legal text to Participating in conferences as speakers
governing building permitting and Conference paper presentations
semantic framework
compliance processes and the rules
Standardized APIs with Scientific journal publications
embedded within them. Previous
data/information (BIM, GIS, …) Participation in ECTP events and events promoting the Built4People
work is not grounded in formal
models partnership.
semantics to help computers
understand the regulation, Five demonstrations of building Exchanging information with the World Green Building Council
requirement, and guidance permitting and compliance processes (WGBC) offices
documents. where specific regulations are Further research activities after ACCORD
Existing building permitting and
automatically checked. E-learning materials
compliance software tools lack Findings of applying various Policy recommendations
integration and alignment with wider technologies, like Artificial Attendance in other Horizon Europe project events
compliance processes and data Intelligence on Building Codes to Open-source licencing the rule formalisation tool
providers/consumers. extract candidates that potentially can Standardisation activities
be analyzed automatically
A lack of data to drive digital Participation in BuildingSMART International Regulatory Room
permitting and checking. Existing Scientific publications; e.g., state-of- Close collaboration with the OGC/bSI Integrated Digital Built
building data sets lack the richness of the-art of the current adoption of Environment Subcommittee
information required for digital digitised compliance/permitting Ideas exchange with other projects funded under the same call in a
permitting or compliance checking. processes in Europe and working group that will be set up by the EU BIM Task Group
Other data sources, such as product barriers/enablers to adoption, the use
data sets, lack semantic formalism of NLP in extraction rule entities
and the adoption of open APIs to
enable their exploitation by checking
processes.
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TARGET GROUPS OUTCOMES IMPACTS
Building permits applicants in Europe Increased efficiency and productivity of the Europe is moving towards a global leader in clean and
but also worldwide: architects, general construction process by shortening the time for climate-neutral (twin green and digital) construction
contractors, private persons. obtaining permit decisions value chain by the uptake of the digital building
Building authorities and local building Increased efficiency of the design process and permitting framework, which is climate-neutral and
improved build quality and safety through fewer errors green.
permitting authorities in Europe and The framework allows the automatic compliance
worldwide. and violations in building codes and a more reliable
permitting process checking of environmental regulations (carbon
Software companies worldwide Improved resource efficiency in construction through footprint, circular economy and lifecycle assessment).
offering solutions/services to building lower cost for validation (authorities) This will enable circularity, energy and carbon
permitting and compliance processes. Improved sustainability of the building project through neutrality, and reduction of waste and thus help to
ACCORD industrial (SME) partners: validated 3D model that can be used throughout the mitigate climate change in the long term.
ONTO, SOL, AE, CP, FUI. lifecycle Improved urban planning (reduced errors through
Improved maintenance and recycling through building permitting and compliance checks
Scientific community (fields of automation) and accelerated permit processes by 50%.
engineering). enhanced BIMs in line with the new European
BAUHAUS initiative 30% increased demand and standardisation activities
Automatic compliance checking of the machine- for BIM and machine-readable information of the built
readable rules, enabling faster, more accurate and more environment, leading to better integration and
efficient permitting and compliance for construction harmonisation in Europe.
works 10% increase in the value of buildings and reduced
Reduced subjectiveness in interpreting the regulations operating costs through structured data models, which
and norms (authorities) is in line with the United Nations sustainable
Driving up the demand and standardisation of BIM and development goal 9 (build resilient infrastructure,
machine-readable information of the built promote sustainable industrialization and foster
environment, leading to better integration and innovation).
harmonisation in Europe The machine-readable format of building codes will
New opportunities for upskilling professionals provide an example and method to represent the
New business opportunities and models based on the owners’ requirements and targets for a construction
demonstrated services (software developers) project in a formal way. This provides business
opportunities to develop private requirement
management and compliance checking tools and
services.
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QUALITY AND EFFICIENCY OF THE IMPLEMENTATION
Work plan and resources
3.1.1 Overall structure of the work plan
The ACCORD work plan is structured around demonstrations in five countries and seven work packages (Figure 7).
Adequate resources are planned, especially for WP 2, WP4 and WP5, to ensure ACCORD fulfils the proposal request
for developing and demonstrating novel ways for digitalising permitting and compliance processes for construction
works, including requests for interoperability and integration with relevant tools, databases and processes.
Figure 7. Work packages and their relationships
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Table 3.1g: ‘Subcontracting costs’ items
The purchase costs for the action and subcontracting will meet the conditions laid down in Articles 6.2. In
particular, the best value for money (or if appropriate the lowest price) principle will be respected and no conflict of
interests will be ensured.
1/VTT
Cost (€) Description of tasks and justification
The Finnish demonstration project’s BIM model enrichment. Expertise in Finnish
Subcontracting 70 000 BIM requirements and the Finnish environmental norms and regulations. Both
tasks are linked to WP5, T5.1.
Table 3.1h: ‘Purchase costs’ items
1/VTT
Cost (€) Justification
Consortium General Assembly meeting once a year with 6
persons, each travel about 1 500 € (12 000 €), conferences
Travel and subsistence 25 350
(9 000 €), international and national workshops and their
catering (4 350 €)
Equipment
Meeting arrangement costs (10000 €), 3 open access articles
(2000 € x 3 = 6 000 €) and journals (5000 €), financial audit
Other goods, works and services 32 000
(3500 €), translation, proof reading and printing costs (5500
€), transcription (2000 €)
Remaining purchase costs (<15%
51 150
of pers. costs)
Total 108 500
4/ACE
Cost (€) Justification
Consortium General Assembly meeting once a year, 1-2
Travel and subsistence 9 000
persons attending, each travel about 1 500 € (9 000 €)
Equipment
Other goods, works and services
Remaining purchase costs (<15%
9 000
of pers. costs)
Total 18 000
5/MKM
Cost (€) Justification
Consortium General Assembly meeting once a year, 1-2
Travel and subsistence 11 400 persons attending, each travel about 1 500 € (9 000 €),
workshops (2 400 €)
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Equipment Associated with document Ref. Ares(2022)3656727 - 13/05/2022
Other goods, works and services
Remaining purchase costs (<15%
3 600
of pers. costs)
Total 15 000
6/HAM
Cost (€) Justification
Consortium General Assembly meeting once a year, 1-2
Travel and subsistence 9 000
persons attending, each travel about 1 500 € (9 000 €)
Equipment
Other goods, works and services
Remaining purchase costs (<15%
6 000
of pers. costs)
Total 15 000
7/AMM
Cost (€) Justification
Consortium General Assembly meeting once a year, 1-2
Travel and subsistence 14 804 persons attending, each travel about 1 500 € (9 000 €),
workshops (5 804 €)
Equipment
Other goods, works and services
Remaining purchase costs (<15%
3196
of pers. costs)
Total 18 000
8/ONTO
Cost (€) Justification
Travel and subsistence
Cost for the development and test environments (36 x 600 €
Equipment 24 337
= 21 600 €), equipment depreciation (2 737 €)
Other goods, works and services
Remaining purchase costs (<15%
26 662
of pers. costs)
Total 51 000
10/FUI
Cost (€) Justification
Travel and subsistence
101056973 — ACCORD — Part B — Page 35 of 43
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Other goods, works and services 110 000 Hosting & maintenance of FUI’s Clearly.BIM OUP (Open
Urban Platform) service for the demonstration projects. The
service necessitates a separate cloud infrastructure for the
technical implementation and testing (5000€/month). The
service consists of three sub-services: 1) a 3D digital twin
service 1500 €/month, 2) openBIM service 1500 €/month
and 3) hosting services for the ecosystem 2000 €/month.
Remaining purchase costs (<15% 45 000
of pers. costs)
Total 155 000
11/AE
Cost (€) Justification
Travel and subsistence Consortium General Assembly meeting once a year, 1-2
9 000
persons attending, each travel about 1 500 € (9 000 €)
Equipment
Other goods, works and services
Remaining purchase costs (<15% 6 000
of pers. costs)
Total 15 000
12/IMT
Cost (€) Justification
Travel and subsistence Consortium General Assembly meeting once a year, 1-2
9 000
persons attending, each travel about 1 500 € (9 000 €)
Equipment
Other goods, works and services
Remaining purchase costs (<15% 11 000
of pers. costs)
Total 20 000
13/ITeC
Cost (€) Justification
Travel and subsistence Consortium General Assembly meeting once a year, 1-2
11 250 persons attending, each travel about 1 500 € (9 000 €),
workshops (2 250 €)
Equipment
Other goods, works and services
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Remaining purchase costs (<15% 3750 Associated with document Ref. Ares(2022)3656727 - 13/05/2022
of pers. costs)
Total 15 000
14/FUNITEC
Cost (€) Justification
Travel and subsistence Consortium General Assembly meeting once a year, 1-2
9 000
persons attending, each travel about 1 500 € (9 000 €)
Equipment
Other goods, works and services
Remaining purchase costs (<15% 12 000
of pers. costs)
Total 21 000
15/JU
Cost (€) Justification
Travel and subsistence Consortium General Assembly meeting once a year, 1-2
9 000
persons attending, each travel about 1 500 € (9 000 €)
Equipment
Other goods, works and services 16 000 Cloud services for hosting development and prototyping
environments, does not include cost of deployment
environments/hardware, (10 000 €), 3 open-access articles
2000 € each (6 000 €)
Remaining purchase costs (<15% 9 000
of pers. costs)
Total 34 000
Capacity of participants and consortium as a whole
3.2.1 Consortium
ACCORD is an innovation action project connecting research, public and industrial partners from 11 European
countries: Finland, Germany, United Kingdom, Belgium, Spain, Estonia, Netherlands, Sweden, France, Bulgaria and
Italy. The 21 partners, of which UNIKO is an affiliated entity and UK partners (CU, BCU and BSI) as Associated
Partners, have a wide spectrum of expertise and operational capacity in complementary fields related to the proposal
topic on digital tools and automated methods for designing, building and authorising construction works, which will
ascertain the high quality of the project outcomes and impact. Additionally, the consortium includes partners
experienced in user engagement, business model development, and communication, exploitation, and dissemination
activities. The ACCORD partners are experienced organisations in R&D and have participated in several national
and international projects in the fields.
101056973 — ACCORD — Part B — Page 37 of 43
VTT (Coordinator) has a long-standing experience in participatingAssociated withprogrammes
in research document Ref. Ares(2022)3656727 - 13/05/2022
funded by the European
Commission (533 projects in the H2020 programme, 121 of which as a coordinator), cooperating with leading
research institutes, universities and consultancy firms in most European nations. Also, most ACCORD partners can
show a consolidated experience of participation in EU-funded projects under several research programmes on the
topic. See the list of previous actions and funded projects of the participants in Application form (Part A) and Section
1.2.2 Linked activities. VTT, with its 2500 employees, has the necessary infrastructure, experience, and skills needed
to guide the project. VTT has a professional EU team of 15 full-time professionals that support project managers of
EU funded projects in all financial and administrative aspects at the proposal stage and during the whole lifespan of
the project. VTT's Legal Affairs will act as strong support for the management of the Project.
Project coordinator Rita Lavikka is a Senior Scientist who has
published several academic articles on digitalizing the construction
sector and has industrial experience facilitating digital
transformation in the sector. She is working in the EU-funded
BIM4EEB and EXCESS projects, focusing on digital tool
development and energy efficiency, especially positive-energy
buildings.
The ACCORD consortium represents research institutes,
universities, associations and SMEs, playing a long-term and
active role in automating permitting and compliance processes.
The ACCORD consortium offers important qualities, such as an
international reputation for scientific excellence and consolidated
managerial competencies with the expertise and facilities required
to manage a project of this size and complexity and mobilise and
link the multidisciplinary knowledge and other complementary
qualities for achieving the project objectives.
The ACCORD consortium’s external advisory board (EAB)
includes associations at EU, national and local levels, which are
active in the construction ecosystem, businesses active in the
construction industry and universities outside the EU. The EAB
consists of the European Construction Technology Platform ECTP
(Dr Alain Zarli), Indian Institute of Science IISc (Dr Vishal Singh),
Finnish Ministry of Environment (Mr Pekka Virkamäki), City of
Järvenpää (Mr Jouni Vastamäki), Gravicon (Tomi Henttinen), Sova3D (Petri Kokko), Hadley Group (Mr Paul Nicol),
Green Building Council Finland (Mr Lauri Tähtinen), Building Digital Twin Association (Mr Eduard Loscos), The
University of Auckland (prof. Robert Amor) and LiWooD Management AG (Stefan Stenzel). Their Letters of Interest
are provided as an appendix to the proposal.
3.2.2 Access to critical infrastructure
ACCORD has secured access to critical infrastructure by involving the relevant stakeholders (designers/engineers,
project owners, authorities) either as project partners or AB members or supporters (Letters of Intent). ACCORD’s
critical infrastructure refers to BIMs and other digital data, host servers and cloud infrastructure needed in the
demonstrations (demo). Software component and service developers will provide most of the software development
infrastructure (see part A, infrastructure or equipment), and funding has been reserved for the most expensive
infrastructure. See Table 3.1h: ‘Purchase costs’ items exceeding 15% of the personnel costs: travel, equipment,
goods, services.
All demonstration projects will rely on semantic data storage to manage compliance checking rules, data dictionaries
and semantic micro-service descriptions. For this purpose, ONTO will provide ACCORD GraphDB development
licenses free of charge for the project's duration. GraphDB will be hosted on dedicated infrastructure to ensure the
technical implementation and reliability of the storage service.
In the Finnish demo project, SOL’s Solibri Office will be used for checking BIM models against Building Codes.
CP’s Cloudpermit will be used as a building permitting system. The current Estonian BIM-based checking service is
developed on top of FUI’s open BIM.works service. FUI’s BIM.Works development environment will be applied in
the Estonian demo project to connect and test the new standards and services developed in ACCORD. Access to the
Estonian Building Registry (including nationwide 3D Digital Twin) will be provided by MKM.
101056973 — ACCORD — Part B — Page 38 of 43
Associated with compliance
FHG’s web software GENERIS® will be used for BIM-based environmental document Ref. checking
Ares(2022)3656727 - 13/05/2022
in the German
demo projects. Also, UNIKO’s faculty research cloud infrastructure will be used for resource-intensive computations
in the projects. ACCORD will apply ONTO’s reconciliation service to map tabular data to entities and match entities
between domain-specific dictionaries. The Spanish demo project will apply SOL’s Solibri Checker, and FUNITEC
will develop a software tool directly compatible with the rules format after applying the rule formalisation tool.
ACCORD will integrate ONTO’s Manual Annotation Tool (MANT) into a rule formalisation tool. MANT provides
the ability to manually annotate the processed with NLP regulations and improve the quality of the results. The UK
demo project will apply AE’s Structural BIM Viewer, a specialist tool for an open-source structural workflow.
3.2.3 Complementarity and contribution of partners
ACCORD consortium covers the actors involved in building permitting and compliance: SMEs, ministries and cities’
local authorities, research organisations, and associations/foundations representing construction professionals and
standardisation. The consortia include partners from the UK, which are Associated Partners. Table 4 presents
ACCORD partners’ differentiating knowledge and key roles.
Table 4. Partners’ differentiating/complementing knowledge, key roles and person month (PM) resourcing (operational capacity)
Partner’s differentiating/complementing knowledge Contribution and PM resources in ACCORD
Industrial/commercial involvement (SMEs)
Future Insight (FUI) is a young SME developing a smart FUI will expand the Estonian BIM-based
online solution to improve collaboration within the spatial checking service with environmental regulations
development process. By combining the newest open and testing and connects with the new services,
technologies (WFM, GIS, 3D Digital Twin & BIM standards and API’s (WP2, 4PM; WP4, 20PM;
technologies) with extensive guidance, these solutions are WP5, 7PM), allowing the replication of the
successfully implemented at large organisations. For example, Estonian service to other governments. FUI
the guidance assisted the City of Rotterdam with setting up writes a guideline for other countries on the
their 3D Digital Twin. FUI has developed an automated online successful implementation of BIM-based permit
BIM-based checking service for Estonia. checks, based on the demonstration experiences
in WP3 (5PM).
Aether Engineering (AE) is an engineering company AE is the Industry Partner in the UK demo, T5.3
specialising in custom software solutions for structural of WP5 automatic checking of the structural
engineering. AE has expertise in working with IFC-to-FEA integrity of steel modular house components. A
processes for structural analysis. AE has provided consulting front-end will be developed to AE’s open-source
services for this topic to a range of clients, for corporations Structural BIM Viewer (WP4, 4PM) and used in
such as EDF to SME practices. the structural workflow (WP5, 3PM).
Solibri (SOL) has analysed building models for over 20 years. SOL contributes to developing the standard rule
Solibri’s technology is used by architects, engineers, concepts, representation and API specifications
construction companies, and building owners to find problems (WP2, 8PM), implements a checking service with
early so that they can be fixed before construction. Solibri is an API that can be invoked by permitting service,
also used in early phases to analyse the plans and see the big accesses additional information from information
picture. services (WP4, 18,5PM) and provides the
checking results to the permitting service (WP5,
8PM).
Ontotext (ONTO) has worked on semantic technologies for 21 ONTO will work on the semantic representation
years and has a lot of industry experience. ONTO has created of regulations in WP2 (7 PM) and construction
a new Knowledge Graph (KG) solutions group focusing on data in WP5 (5 PM), KG building, storage of
industrial data (manufacturing, construction, infrastructure semantic KG data, hybrid storage, inference and
transport, logistics and product classification). semantic services (WP4, 25PM).
Cloudpermit (CP) offers advanced and agile e-permitting CP will lead T6.2 Innovation Management,
software solutions for local government building departments. Exploitation, Business Development. (2,5PM)
User-friendly solutions involve all parties in building permit CP provides a more automatic data flow, review
processes. Cloudpermit features include: submit, track, and process, and its follow up during permitting
pay for permits, schedule building inspections, conduct and process management in the Finnish demo project
complete on-site mobile building inspections, review, (WP5, 3PM). CP designs and implements the API
approve, and issue permits and automatic interactive maps between the building permitting and compliance
with GIS integration and reporting tools and easy-to-configure services (WP4, 11PM).
software.
Ministries and cities’ local authorities
101056973 — ACCORD — Part B — Page 39 of 43
Malgrat City (AMM) has a powerful Geographic Information Associated
AMM is with document Ref.
representing theAres(2022)3656727 - 13/05/2022
local city authority
System. Related to the management of the geographic handling and granting the construction permits in
cadastral information, the municipality uses the SIGCA the Spanish demonstration. AMM will provide
software used by the National Cadastral Office linked to the access to the three real-life projects (WP5, 3PM)
Finance Ministry. and participates in defining future digital
permitting processes (WP3, 1 PM).
The Coordination Office (HAM) for Semantic Standardisation HAM will provide recommendations to
in Planning and Building for Public Service is responsible for standardisation bodies for standardisation of
the maintenance and further development of two national processes and data formats in the following
standards for planning and building: XPlanung and XBau. domains: development plans conform to
HAM is established upon an administrative agreement between geospatial encoding rules publishes by OGC such
the German federal and state governments and thus a national as INSPIRE Planned Land Use (PLU) data model
institution, located at the Agency for Geoinformation and or German standard XPlanung (WP3, 3PM). The
Surveying in Hamburg, with a local team working on the corresponding transformation rules have to be
infrastructure for XPlanung-data in Hamburg but also for the developed (WP2, 2PM) as IFC types with entities
adjacent states. The national and local teams work together representing spatial regulation in development
regarding XPlanung: the further development of the data plans on the urban planning level. Appropriate
model and facilitating XPlanung geo-data more efficiently for development should be coordinated with OGC
planning and building authorities. and building standardisation organisations (WP5,
2PM).
The Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs and MKM will be expanding the existing BIM-based
Communications (MKM) manages and develops the Building checking service by implementing and testing the
Registry, the building permitting system used by all Estonian environmental regulation checks developed by
municipalities. The permit process is digital, but mainly based ACCORD (WP5, 2PM). The Estonian system
on “digital paper”. MKM is currently redesigning Building needs to be compatible with the new services,
Registry services to take advantage of the modern micro- standards and API’s developed in the project to
service IT architecture of a new e-construction platform: pave the way for easy adoption and fast
integrating IFC models into the permitting process to provide implementation of BIM-based checks in other
easy 3D design visualization and automated compliance European countries (WP3, 2PM).
checks.
The State of Berlin has commissioned the state-owned Tegel TEGEL is an implementation partner and
Projekt GmbH (TEGEL) with the development and provides the German demo with construction
management of Berlin TXL – The Urban Tech Republic requirements, digital models, data and
(UTR) and of Schumacher Quartier: Tasks include revising the information on processes and regulations for use
master plan; brand development; planning for building cases arising from the adaptive reuse and new
construction, as well as for technical, energy, and traffic planning (WP5, 7PM). TEGEL defines future
infrastructure; sales preparation; and the communication. digital building permitting processes (WP3,
7PM)
Research organisations
VTT is an RTO focusing on Carbon neutral solutions, VTT acts as the coordinator and project manager
Sustainable products and materials, and Digital technologies. (WP7, 14PM), leader of demo WP5 (10PM),
VTT has a wide multi-technological knowledge base to participation in requirements engineering (WP1,
strengthen Finnish and European industrial competitiveness. 4,75PM), process development (WP3, 6PM), and
VTT has expertise in digital tool development, process communication and dissemination (WP6, 2PM).
modelling, and facilitation of digital transformation in the
AEC sector.
Cardiff University (CU) is a higher education institution with CU leads WP1 (7,5PM) along with various
expertise in automated compliance checking. CU is leading the technical tasks throughout the project. CU will
initiatives towards the automation of the UK building contribute its technical expertise to the
regulations, on a technical level in the development of tools specification of the rule language to be used in the
and technologies, but also in a managerial sense through its project (WP2, 5PM). CU will contribute to the
leadership of the D-COM (Digital Compliance) network. CU development of many of the system components
has expertise in the use and development of BIM technologies (WP4, 17,5PM).
and is a participant in BuildingSmart (UK and international)
activities.
101056973 — ACCORD — Part B — Page 40 of 43
Birmingham City University (BCU) has expertise in ontology Associated
BCU with document
helps developRef.the
Ares(2022)3656727 - 13/05/2022
formal semantic
development, knowledge-based engineering, off-site framework (WP2, 14PM) – defines, classifies
manufacturing, services API design and implementation, NLP and relates the regulations and administrative
and AI for using ontology in information retrieval and processes in the building's lifecycle – and the
automatic ontology engineering from the text. platform-neutral open format for describing
machine-readable rules. BCU leads the UK demo
(WP5, 8PM).
Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft für angewandte Forschung e.V. FHG will develop APIs for the GENERIS and
(FHG) is the world’s leading applied research organization, leads solutions development and (WP4, 14PM)
playing a central role in the technological innovation process. the German demo (T5.2, 8PM). FHG contributes
FHG has expertise in BIM requirements development, BIM to requirements elicitation (WP1, 4,75PM),
modelling tools, semantic web technologies, linked data, semantisation of regulations (WP2, 3PM) and
ontology engineering and digitizing systems and services transforming permit processes (WP3, 2PM).
throughout the building lifecycle.
The Institute for Software Technology IST at the University of UNIKO will perform scientific methods to
Koblenz (UNIKO, Affiliated Entity to the Fraunhofer- capture the technical requirements for solutions
Gesellschaft) conceives and implements software development and lead the task to specify and
development concepts, methods, and tools. The research group design the cloud architecture model and the
for Software Engineering, led by Prof. Jürjens, works in the components to be developed, support the quality
field of software tool building targeted at the certification of assurance of developed solutions and technical
smart data services’ security requirements in the Industrial guidelines (WP4, 13PM). UNIKO is involved in
Data Space. T1.3, T4.1, T4.2, T4.6, and writing D4.1.
University of Jönköping (JU) has ontology engineering JU participates in ontology engineering (WP2,
expertise in the real estate management and operations 5PM) and interfaces and/or reference
domain: modelling and constructing semantic digital twin implementations development (WP4, 7PM). JU
solutions. This expertise will contribute to the real-world provides expertise in Swedish planning
applicability of the delivered systems and APIs. processes, and builds cooperation to the W3C
Linked Building Data Community Group.
University of Ramon Llull (FUNITEC) is experienced in FUNITEC will participate in ontology
ontology engineering and data integration solutions using engineering work (WP2, 10,25PM) and the
Semantic Web technologies applied to building data modelling development of data connectors for semantic
in energy efficiency and certifications. tools and their corresponding implementation
(WP4, 8). FUNITEC leads the Spanish demo
(WP5, 8PM).
Institut Mines-Télécom (IMT) is a French public institution IMT participates in ontology engineering work
dedicated to higher education, research and innovation in (WP2, 6PM) and semantic web-based software
engineering and digital technologies. IMT has expertise in development (WP4, 7PM).
knowledge representation, reasoning and Semantic Web. IMT
is a contributor to well-known ontologies such as W3C&OGC
SOSA/SSN, BOT, ETSI SAREF.
Associations and foundations representing design, engineering and other construction professionals &
standardisation
ACE is the representative organisation for the architectural ACE represents the interests of architects in the
profession, consisting of 43 Member Organisations (600.000 development processes (WP3, 1PM). ACE leads
architects), which are the regulatory and professional several dissemination and communication
representative bodies in all European Union (EU) member activities (WP6, 8PM), leading to a better
states, and accession Countries, Switzerland and Norway. understanding of technical, environmental, and
cultural values and promoting the highest
standards of education and practice in
architecture.
BuildingSMART International (BSI) is a worldwide not-for- BSI will lead WP3 (7PM) on transforming permit
profit organisation creating and adopting open, international and compliance processes, focusing on semantic
standards and solutions for infrastructure and buildings. BSI annotations and setting up reliability
provides access to bSDD. measurements. BSI ensures that solutions are
compliant with various other standards. (WP4,
4,25PM)
101056973 — ACCORD — Part B — Page 41 of 43
The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) consists of more Associated
OGC willwith document
lead WP6 Ref. Ares(2022)3656727
(10PM) and support- 13/05/2022
the
than 530 businesses, government agencies, research development of interoperable solutions focusing
organizations, and universities driven to make geospatial on standardized Web APIs, cross-platform and
(location) information and services FAIR - Findable, community interoperability, and cloud-to-cloud
Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable. OGC’s drives for communication and security management. OGC
publicly available geospatial standards and offers a global provides evaluation and assessment of envisioned
forum of experts and communities that use location to connect solutions and guides architecture solutions and
people with technology and improve decision-making at all system design decisions. (WP4, 8PM)
levels.
ITeC is a private non-profit foundation supporting ITeC will provide BIM standards, methodologies
construction innovation by generating and transferring and tools (BIM libraries and BIM cloud software)
knowledge to the market through services, tools, software, and to check urban compliance in the UK
training. ITeC has expertise in standards, processes and digital demonstration (T5.3, 4PM).
models, sustainable construction and databases.
Ethics self-assessment
Ethical dimension of the objectives, methodology and likely impact
4.1.1 Humans and personal data
The ACCORD project foresees the involvement of approximately 150 human volunteers for participating in a
survey conducted in work package 1 (Requirements for digitalising permitting and compliance processes) in T1.1
(Landscape Review of Built Environment Compliance and Permitting) and in interviews (WP5) and process
modelling workshops organised as part of T1.2 (Identification of Regulations and Processes) and WP3. Personal
data is related to the participants' name and email address. The survey respondents can answer anonymously.
The ACCORD project also plans to involve approximately 50 human volunteers in process modelling sessions in
work package 3 (Transforming permit and compliance processes) in T3.1 (TO-BE Digital Permitting and
Compliance Processes). The participants can, if they will, participate online and remain anonymous (without
camera). ACCORD does not foresee any negative impact of humans participating in these research activities. On
the contrary, the idea is to allow people to provide their views and requirements for further developing building
permitting processes. All subjects are adults able to give informed consents, and their participation will be on a
voluntary basis depending on their acceptance of the informed consent modules.
4.1.2 Artificial Intelligence
ACCORD will leverage emerging Artificial Intelligence techniques such as semantic deep learning Natural
Language Processing to decrease the manual efforts of rule interpretation from building codes. ACCORD will
report findings and apply various AI technologies on Building Codes to extract candidates that potentially can be
analyzed automatically. ACCORD will develop a set/suite of semantic models, Artificial Intelligence models and a
rule formalisation tool that involve the development of an ontology of laws, regulations, and administrative
processes involved in the design, construction, and operation of buildings and further defines a semantic open
format for rule representation facilitated from a rule formalization tool. ACCORD will develop a suite of AI
models and other algorithms for the extraction, generation/formulation and semantisation of rules from text.
Deep learning Natural Language Processing (NLP) will be applied to the corpora of building codes and regulations
for extracting rule entities/axioms in the UK. More algorithms will be developed to embed the NLP output,
following an expert-led semi-automatic approach to the rule defined in the ontologies and data models. Algorithms
to semantise existing digitised/automated rules will be developed as well.
The AI used is not designed to create unanticipated goals that can control the system or allow to provide reasoning
that is not aligned with expected system outputs. ACCORD maintains trust in AI, by having human ultimate
oversight over the technology and we develop always keeping a human-in-the-loop. Human operators will be able
to monitor the behaviour of the AI application and can identify inconsistencies and take corrective action. The AI
techniques are used to support human decision making. The work anticipated is not biased against any particular
groups within the society and is aligned with public morals and ethics. It does not screen people for any reason
where they can be discriminated or stigmatised and only focus on digitalising permitting and compliance processes
based on existing laws defined for the country of each participating partner.
101056973 — ACCORD — Part B — Page 42 of 43
4.1.3 Safety and Security Associated with document Ref. Ares(2022)3656727 - 13/05/2022
ACCORD does not raise considerable risks to the health and safety of researchers and participants and does not
involve the use of potentially harmful substances, processes, technologies, organisms or materials in a manner that
raises significant concerns about individual security or safety or the protection of public health or negatively affect
the environment.
4.1.4 Research in non-EU Countries
The survey of ACCORD (T1.1) will be carried by the UK, a non-EU country. Data is not planned to be transferred
between the UK and other EU countries. Thus, the foreseen activities to be implemented in non-EU countries do
not raise any particular Ethics concern per se: no controversial research methods or technologies are involved, no
risks of discrimination or stigmatisation for people involved in such activities.
Compliance with ethical principles and relevant legislations
4.2.1 Humans and personal data
ACCORD will follow the ethics appraisal procedure in Horizon Europe. The aim is to ensure that the provisions on
ethics regulation and rules are respected. T7.3 Ethics Management is dedicated to ethics issues. As the task leader,
VTT will act as an ethics mentor monitoring the ethics issues involved in the project and how they are handled. The
ethics plan (part of D7.2) details the forthcoming actions and responsibilities to ensure that ethics requirements are
satisfied. The ethics plan will include a schedule to obtain and deliver all documents related to ethics requirements
identified in Part A.
Informed consent will be prepared in languages understandable by the volunteers (participating in the survey,
interviews and process modelling sessions). It will include information about the ACCORD activities, the
objectives and the anticipated outcome. Information on data processing methods, data privacy protection, handling
of personal data and other rights of the participant will also be informed. The participants will be informed of their
right to participate, decline, or withdraw from the project. Regarding the data processing, all personal details and
identification obtained from the ACCORD activities are handled according to the legislative requirements and EU
GDPR principles and will be kept confidential in any public documents that may be produced using the data.
The access to the personal data of the volunteers is limited to the dedicated partners’ employees who need to know
for research purposes. If there is a processor processing personal data on behalf of any controller, said controller is
responsible for entering into a data processing agreement with said processor and providing legally required
information to the data subjects. All partners that are involved in processing volunteers’ data are accountable for
compliance with the applicable legislative requirements. The data management plan D7.2 of ACCORD includes
personal data protection protocols.
4.2.2 Artificial Intelligence
ACCORD will perform AI Ethics self-assessment following the “Assessment List for Trustworthy Artificial
Intelligence (ALTAI)” suggested from EU and follow closely updates on the approval of the Artificial Intelligence
Act currently pending adoption by the EU legislator. ACCORD will also follow the EC High-Level Group on AI’s
“Ethics guidelines for trustworthy AI” to guide the design of the rule formalisation tool, developed in ACCORD,
deploying Artificial Intelligence (natural language processing) towards ethically sustainable solutions. Special
attention will be paid to the guidelines recommendations for human agency and oversight. Ethics is a central
viewpoint in evaluation activities. This supports identifying unforeseen ethical concerns and reacting to them to
prevent potential harm.
4.2.3 Safety and Security
All researchers will follow appropriate occupational health and safety in ACCORD. VTT (Coordinator) complies
with National and European legislation on Protection of Environment and Occupational Safety. The partners have
their own Occupational Health and safety procedures that comply with their national legislation.
4.2.4 Research in non-EU Countries
The survey carried out by the UK will increase the relevance and impact of ACCORD and its results while they are
not meant to take advantage of different legislation, standards or local resources. The UK partners will ensure
standards for research participants and local staff similar to those of the EU counterparts.
101056973 — ACCORD — Part B — Page 43 of 43
Grant Agreement number: 101056973 — ACCORD — HORIZON-CL4-2021-TWIN-TRANSITION-01
HE Ref.
Associated with document MGAAres(2022)3656727
— Multi & Mono:-v1.0
13/05/2022
ANNEX 2
ESTIMATED BUDGET FOR THE ACTION
Estimated eligible1 costs (per budget category) Estimated EU contribution2
Direct costs Indirect costs EU contribution to eligible costs
Maximum
B. Subcontracting D. Other cost Total costs Maximum EU Requested EU
A. Personnel costs C. Purchase costs E. Indirect costs 3 4
Funding rate % grant amount6
costs categories contribution5 contribution
A.1 Employees (or equivalent) A.4 SME owners B. Subcontracting C.1 Travel and C.2 Equipment C.3 Other goods, D.2 Internally E. Indirect costs
and natural person subsistence works and services invoiced goods and
A.2 Natural persons under direct contract beneficiaries services
A.3 Seconded persons
Unit costs (usual Unit costs (usual
Forms of funding Actual costs accounting Unit costs7 Actual costs Actual costs Actual costs Actual costs accounting Flat-rate costs8
practices) practices)
e = 0,25 * (a1 + a2
a1 a2 a3 b c1 c2 c3 d2 f=a+b+c+d+e U g = f * U% h m
+ a3 + c1 + c2 + c3)
1 - VTT 0.00 341 000.00 0.00 70 000.00 76 500.00 0.00 32 000.00 0.00 112 375.00 631 875.00 100 631 875.00 631 875.00 631 875.00
2 - FHG 0.00 318 175.00 0.00 0.00 18 000.00 6 500.00 22 800.00 0.00 91 368.75 456 843.75 100 456 843.75 456 843.07 456 843.07
2.1 - UNIKO 133 500.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 10 000.00 0.00 5 000.00 0.00 37 125.00 185 625.00 100 185 625.00 185 625.00 185 625.00
3 - OGC 263 329.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 18 000.00 0.00 3 500.00 0.00 71 207.25 356 036.25 100 356 036.25 356 036.00 356 036.00
4 - ACE 72 000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 18 000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 22 500.00 112 500.00 100 112 500.00 112 500.00 112 500.00
5 - MKM 24 000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 15 000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 9 750.00 48 750.00 100 48 750.00 48 750.00 48 750.00
6 - HAM 83 660.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 15 000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 24 665.00 123 325.00 100 123 325.00 123 325.00 123 325.00
7 - AMM 21 304.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 18 000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 9 826.00 49 130.00 100 49 130.00 49 130.00 49 130.00
8 - ONTO 177 750.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 15 000.00 28 000.00 8 000.00 0.00 57 187.50 285 937.50 70 200 156.25 200 156.00 200 156.00
9 - SOL 351 000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 18 000.00 0.00 10 000.00 0.00 94 750.00 473 750.00 70 331 625.00 331 625.00 331 625.00
10 - FUI 300 000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 15 000.00 0.00 140 000.00 0.00 113 750.00 568 750.00 70 398 125.00 398 125.00 398 125.00
11 - AE 0.00 0.00 43 307.34 0.00 15 000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 14 576.84 72 884.18 70 51 018.93 51 018.93 51 018.93
12 - IMT 93 056.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 18 000.00 2 000.00 0.00 0.00 28 264.00 141 320.00 100 141 320.00 141 320.00 141 320.00
13 - ITeC 25 000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 15 000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 10 000.00 50 000.00 100 50 000.00 50 000.00 50 000.00
14 - FUNITEC 100 000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 15 000.00 0.00 6 000.00 0.00 30 250.00 151 250.00 100 151 250.00 151 250.00 151 250.00
15 - JU 119 400.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 18 000.00 0.00 16 000.00 0.00 38 350.00 191 750.00 100 191 750.00 191 750.00 191 750.00
16 - CP 176 375.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 18 000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 48 593.75 242 968.75 70 170 078.13 170 078.00 170 078.00
17 - TEGEL 128 000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 10 000.00 2 500.00 500.00 0.00 35 250.00 176 250.00 100 176 250.00 176 250.00 176 250.00
18 - CU
19 - BCU
20 - BSI
Σ consortium 2 068 374.00 659 175.00 43 307.34 70 000.00 345 500.00 39 000.00 243 800.00 0.00 849 789.09 4 318 945.43 3 825 658.31 3 825 657.00 3 825 657.00
1 See Article 6 for the eligibility conditions. All amounts must be expressed in EUR (see Article 21 for the conversion rules).
2 The consortium remains free to decide on a different internal distribution of the EU funding (via the consortium agreement; see Article 7).
3 Indirect costs already covered by an operating grant (received under any EU funding programme) are ineligible (see Article 6.3). Therefore, a beneficiary/affiliated entity that receives an operating grant during the action duration cannot declare indirect costs for the year(s)/reporting period(s) covered by the operating grant, unless they can
demonstrate that the operating grant does not cover any costs of the action. This requires specific accounting tools. Please immediately contact us via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal for details.
4 See Data Sheet for the funding rate(s).
5 This is the theoretical amount of the EU contribution to costs, if the reimbursement rate is applied to all the budgeted costs. This theoretical amount is then capped by the 'maximum grant amount'.
6 The 'maximum grant amount' is the maximum grant amount decided by the EU. It normally corresponds to the requested grant, but may be lower.
7 See Annex 2a 'Additional information on the estimated budget' for the details (units, cost per unit).
8 See Data Sheet for the flat-rate.
Page 1 of 1
Associated with document Ref. Ares(2022)3656727 - 13/05/2022
ANNEX 2a
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON UNIT COSTS AND CONTRIBUTIONS
SME owners/natural person beneficiaries without salary (Decision C(2020) 71151)
Type: unit costs
Units: days spent working on the action (rounded up or down to the nearest half-day)
Amount per unit (daily rate): calculated according to the following formula:
{EUR 5 080 / 18 days = 282,22}
multiplied by
{country-specific correction coefficient of the country where the beneficiary is established}
The country-specific correction coefficients used are those set out in the Horizon Europe Work Programme
(section Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions) in force at the time of the call (see Portal Reference Documents).
HE and Euratom Research Infrastructure actions2
Type: unit costs
Units3: see (for each access provider and installation) the unit cost table in Annex 2b
Amount per unit*: see (for each access provider and installation) the unit cost table in Annex 2b
* Amount calculated as follows:
For trans-national access:
average annual total trans-national access costs to the installation (over past two years4)
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
average annual total quantity of trans-national access to the installation (over past two years5)
For virtual access:
total virtual access costs to the installation (over the last year 6)
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
total quantity of virtual access to the installation (over the last year7)
Euratom staff mobility costs8
Monthly living allowance
Type: unit costs
1
Commission Decision of 20 October 2020 authorising the use of unit costs for the personnel costs of the owners of small and medium-
sized enterprises and beneficiaries that are natural persons not receiving a salary for the work carried out by themselves under an
action or work programme (C(2020)7715).
2
Decision of 19 April 2021 authorising the use of unit costs for the costs of providing trans-national and virtual access in Research
Infrastructure actions under the Horizon Europe Programme (2021-2027) and the Research and Training Programme of the European
Atomic Energy Community (2021-2025).
3
Unit of access (e.g. beam hours, weeks of access, sample analysis) fixed by the access provider in proposal.
4
In exceptional and duly justified cases, the granting authority may agree to a different reference period.
5
In exceptional and duly justified cases, the granting authority may agree to a different reference period.
6
In exceptional and duly justified cases, the granting authority may agree to a different reference period.
7
In exceptional and duly justified cases, the granting authority may agree to a different reference period.
8
Decision of 15 March 2021 authorising the use of unit costs for mobility in co-fund actions under the Research and Training
Programme of the European Atomic Energy Community (2021-2025).
1
Associated with document Ref. Ares(2022)3656727 - 13/05/2022
Units: months spent by the seconded staff member(s) on research and training in fission and fusion activities
(person-month)
Amount per unit*: see (for each beneficiary/affiliated entity and secondment) the unit cost table in Annex 2b
* Amount calculated as follows from 1 January 2021:
{EUR 4 300 multiplied by
country-specific correction coefficient** of the country where the staff member is seconded}9
**Country-specific correction coefficients as from 1 January 202110
EU-Member States11
Country / Place Coefficient (%)
Bulgaria 59,1
Czech Rep. 85,2
Denmark 131,3
Germany 101,9
Bonn 95,8
Karlsruhe 98
Munich 113,9
Estonia 82,3
Ireland 129
Greece 81,4
Spain 94,2
France 120,5
Croatia 75,8
Italy 95
Varese 90,7
Cyprus 78,2
Latvia 77,5
Lithuania 76,6
Hungary 71,9
Malta 94,7
Netherlands 113,9
Austria 107,9
Poland 70,9
Portugal 91,1
Romania 66,6
Slovenia 86,1
9
Unit costs for living allowances are calculated by using a method of calculation similar to that applied for the secondment to the
European Commission of seconded national experts (SNEs).
10
For the financial statements, the amount must be adjusted according to the actual place of secondment.
The revised coefficients were adopted in the Decision authorising the use of unit costs for the Fusion Programme co-fund action under
the Research and training Programme of the European Atomic Energy Community 2021-2025. They are based on the 2020 Annual
update of the remuneration and pensions of the officials and other servants of the European Union and the correction coefficients
applied thereto (OJ C 428, 11.12.2020) to ensure purchasing power parity. The revised coefficient are applied as from 1 January 2021
through an amendment to the grant agreement.
11
No correction coefficient shall be applicable in Belgium and Luxembourg.
2
Associated with document Ref. Ares(2022)3656727 - 13/05/2022
Slovakia 80,6
Finland 118,4
Sweden 124,3
Third countries
Country/place Coefficient (%)
China 82,2
India 72,3
Japan 111,8
Russia 92,7
South Korea 92,3
Switzerland 129.2
Ukraine 82.3
United Kingdom 97.6
United States 101,4 (New-York)
90,5 (Washington)
Mobility allowance
Type: Unit costs
Units: months spent by the seconded staff member(s) on research and training in fission and fusion activities
(person-month)
Amount per unit: EUR 600 per person-month; see (for each beneficiary/affiliated entity and secondment) the unit
cost table in Annex 2b
Family allowance
Type: unit costs
Units: months spent by the seconded staff member(s) on research and training in fission and fusion activities
(person-month)
Amount per unit: EUR 660 per person-month; see (for each beneficiary/affiliated entity and secondment) the
unit cost table in Annex 2b
Education allowance
Type: Unit costs
Units: months spent by the seconded staff member(s) on research and training in fission and fusion activities
(person-month)
Amount per unit*: see (for each beneficiary/affiliated entity and secondment) the unit cost table in Annex 2b
*Amount calculated as follows from 1 January 2021:
{EUR 283.82 x number of dependent children12}
12
For the estimated budget (Annex 2): an average should be used. ( For the financial statements, the number of children (and months)
must be adjusted according to the actual family status at the moment the secondment starts.)
3
Grant Agreement number: 101056973 — ACCORD — HORIZON-CL4-2021-TWIN-TRANSITION-01
Associated with document Ref. Ares(2022)3656727 - 13/05/2022
ANNEX 3
ACCESSION FORM FOR BENEFICIARIES
FRAUNHOFER GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FORDERUNG DER ANGEWANDTEN
FORSCHUNG EV (FHG), PIC 999984059, established in HANSASTRASSE 27C, MUNCHEN
80686, Germany,
hereby agrees
to become beneficiary
in Agreement No 101056973 — ACCORD (‘the Agreement’)
between TEKNOLOGIAN TUTKIMUSKESKUS VTT OY (VTT) and the European Health and
Digital Executive Agency (HADEA) (‘EU executive agency’ or ‘granting authority’), under the
powers delegated by the European Commission (‘European Commission’),
and mandates
the coordinator to submit and sign in its name and on its behalf any amendments to the Agreement,
in accordance with Article 39.
By signing this accession form, the beneficiary accepts the grant and agrees to implement it in
accordance with the Agreement, with all the obligations and terms and conditions it sets out.
SIGNATURE
For the beneficiary
[--TGSMark#signature-999984059_75_210--]
1
Grant Agreement number: 101056973 — ACCORD — HORIZON-CL4-2021-TWIN-TRANSITION-01
Associated with document Ref. Ares(2022)3656727 - 13/05/2022
ANNEX 3
ACCESSION FORM FOR BENEFICIARIES
OPEN GEOSPATIAL CONSORTIUM EUROPE (OGC), PIC 899555206, established in
TECHNOLOGIELAAN 3, LEUVEN 3001, Belgium,
hereby agrees
to become beneficiary
in Agreement No 101056973 — ACCORD (‘the Agreement’)
between TEKNOLOGIAN TUTKIMUSKESKUS VTT OY (VTT) and the European Health and
Digital Executive Agency (HADEA) (‘EU executive agency’ or ‘granting authority’), under the
powers delegated by the European Commission (‘European Commission’),
and mandates
the coordinator to submit and sign in its name and on its behalf any amendments to the Agreement,
in accordance with Article 39.
By signing this accession form, the beneficiary accepts the grant and agrees to implement it in
accordance with the Agreement, with all the obligations and terms and conditions it sets out.
SIGNATURE
For the beneficiary
[--TGSMark#signature-899555206_75_210--]
Francis Balser with ECAS id n0078j1g signed in the Participant Portal
on 16/05/2022 at 20:25:33 (transaction id SigId-77079-nZrT8UuLgDyf
6ef0agxR0tZ1kVu514PVRDBaRF3tnpiOsO051D7OSMaWzqX4KFMoKx
Y84Y86xpuoDbLdV11R6e-yntOf97TTHqKVldA5iP0lm-efRYQxeSBpVe4
nB8vTk0D2EmnzwHizWXDpre2O0aqb8mqOahq1YnAUkNWXUqCjIrR
1Eutf5fpGztDy5FWdSdHgW). Timestamp by third party at
2022.05.16 21:25:38 CEST
2
Grant Agreement number: 101056973 — ACCORD — HORIZON-CL4-2021-TWIN-TRANSITION-01
Associated with document Ref. Ares(2022)3656727 - 13/05/2022
ANNEX 3
ACCESSION FORM FOR BENEFICIARIES
CONSEIL DES ARCHITECTES D'EUROPE (ACE), PIC 924742517, established in RUE PAUL
EMILE JANSON 29, BRUXELLES 1050, Belgium,
hereby agrees
to become beneficiary
in Agreement No 101056973 — ACCORD (‘the Agreement’)
between TEKNOLOGIAN TUTKIMUSKESKUS VTT OY (VTT) and the European Health and
Digital Executive Agency (HADEA) (‘EU executive agency’ or ‘granting authority’), under the
powers delegated by the European Commission (‘European Commission’),
and mandates
the coordinator to submit and sign in its name and on its behalf any amendments to the Agreement,
in accordance with Article 39.
By signing this accession form, the beneficiary accepts the grant and agrees to implement it in
accordance with the Agreement, with all the obligations and terms and conditions it sets out.
SIGNATURE
For the beneficiary
[--TGSMark#signature-924742517_75_210--]
Ian PRITCHARD with ECAS id npritcin signed in the Participant
Portal on 16/05/2022 at 07:48:08 (transaction id SigId-65131-V8D7
QgsBFF2BkfSbKDxKoETlBq5uRdEtIhwGCnqTiDE1923kCqwzMXGM
czLFVgfo57RzGJiI9vt85DJnKQiPlGW-yntOf97TTHqKVldA5iP0lm-18t
yQ0Y02S0bCxtZkHivOzzHgsXx0IyPTvJaJE9kPJcPC6YN0zXuCEXVRzg
8KEzfm0etyTsUYKZRgxLIzhx8MWlm). Timestamp by third party at
2022.05.16 08:48:28 CEST
3
Grant Agreement number: 101056973 — ACCORD — HORIZON-CL4-2021-TWIN-TRANSITION-01
Associated with document Ref. Ares(2022)3656727 - 13/05/2022
ANNEX 3
ACCESSION FORM FOR BENEFICIARIES
MAJANDUS JA KOMMUNIKATSIOONIMINISTEERIUM (MKM), PIC 963638450,
established in SUUR-AMEERIKA 1, TALLINN 10122, Estonia,
hereby agrees
to become beneficiary
in Agreement No 101056973 — ACCORD (‘the Agreement’)
between TEKNOLOGIAN TUTKIMUSKESKUS VTT OY (VTT) and the European Health and
Digital Executive Agency (HADEA) (‘EU executive agency’ or ‘granting authority’), under the
powers delegated by the European Commission (‘European Commission’),
and mandates
the coordinator to submit and sign in its name and on its behalf any amendments to the Agreement,
in accordance with Article 39.
By signing this accession form, the beneficiary accepts the grant and agrees to implement it in
accordance with the Agreement, with all the obligations and terms and conditions it sets out.
SIGNATURE
For the beneficiary
[--TGSMark#signature-963638450_75_210--]
Jaan Saar with ECAS id n002b8cf signed in the Participant Portal
on 20/05/2022 at 14:57:46 (transaction id SigId-26138-dZwYkilIuvr
pQKLr1MrkpSDMKOtzNslycZgm8SYL5e2DnYjAKyIlN8yXdG5xqzHR
mSIrnemZtzktiqY7uYfKHGm-rS0vSrmBGYCauwjXQJdVBy-b92LGdT
BoEGel9Z4hcKjtChqyGLaNmeeSoqjItPWmyscaznDgocKK1caYLHX
YI2vylCzcLRBGu5UnzrN4EREnFW). Timestamp by third party at
2022.05.20 15:57:53 CEST
4
Grant Agreement number: 101056973 — ACCORD — HORIZON-CL4-2021-TWIN-TRANSITION-01
Associated with document Ref. Ares(2022)3656727 - 13/05/2022
ANNEX 3
ACCESSION FORM FOR BENEFICIARIES
FREIE UND HANSESTADT HAMBURG (HAM), PIC 998928602, established in
RATHAUSMARKT 1, HAMBURG 20095, Germany,
hereby agrees
to become beneficiary
in Agreement No 101056973 — ACCORD (‘the Agreement’)
between TEKNOLOGIAN TUTKIMUSKESKUS VTT OY (VTT) and the European Health and
Digital Executive Agency (HADEA) (‘EU executive agency’ or ‘granting authority’), under the
powers delegated by the European Commission (‘European Commission’),
and mandates
the coordinator to submit and sign in its name and on its behalf any amendments to the Agreement,
in accordance with Article 39.
By signing this accession form, the beneficiary accepts the grant and agrees to implement it in
accordance with the Agreement, with all the obligations and terms and conditions it sets out.
SIGNATURE
For the beneficiary
[--TGSMark#signature-998928602_75_210--]
5
Grant Agreement number: 101056973 — ACCORD — HORIZON-CL4-2021-TWIN-TRANSITION-01
Associated with document Ref. Ares(2022)3656727 - 13/05/2022
ANNEX 3
ACCESSION FORM FOR BENEFICIARIES
AYUNTAMIENTO DE MALGRAT DE MAR (AMM), PIC 890717827, established in CARRER
DEL CARME 30, MALGRAT DE MAR 08380, Spain,
hereby agrees
to become beneficiary
in Agreement No 101056973 — ACCORD (‘the Agreement’)
between TEKNOLOGIAN TUTKIMUSKESKUS VTT OY (VTT) and the European Health and
Digital Executive Agency (HADEA) (‘EU executive agency’ or ‘granting authority’), under the
powers delegated by the European Commission (‘European Commission’),
and mandates
the coordinator to submit and sign in its name and on its behalf any amendments to the Agreement,
in accordance with Article 39.
By signing this accession form, the beneficiary accepts the grant and agrees to implement it in
accordance with the Agreement, with all the obligations and terms and conditions it sets out.
SIGNATURE
For the beneficiary
[--TGSMark#signature-890717827_75_210--]
Víctor Martínez with ECAS id n006ydyf signed in the Participant
Portal on 18/05/2022 at 16:19:10 (transaction id SigId-106364-3UM
MXcd17kdeuZpuRSHxJw4hV7fs81SJzfnjbYeSQDWsJCfdcUvvANXwCt
JOgTo5zjyCmekHDWKHuOk4RBipzG0-yntOf97TTHqKVldA5iP0lm-kE
eB3kNuQJMLMMjShZnxPx78J0tS9R2t0kV7eVNA16Os8155lzuJQk7lu
Ve00U4uFxBIFN8J8loMHQUOMiUV3i). Timestamp by third party at
2022.05.18 17:19:18 CEST
6
Grant Agreement number: 101056973 — ACCORD — HORIZON-CL4-2021-TWIN-TRANSITION-01
Associated with document Ref. Ares(2022)3656727 - 13/05/2022
ANNEX 3
ACCESSION FORM FOR BENEFICIARIES
SIRMA AI EAD (ONTO), PIC 900925331, established in 135 TSARIGRADSKO SHOSE BLVD,
SOFIA 1784, Bulgaria,
hereby agrees
to become beneficiary
in Agreement No 101056973 — ACCORD (‘the Agreement’)
between TEKNOLOGIAN TUTKIMUSKESKUS VTT OY (VTT) and the European Health and
Digital Executive Agency (HADEA) (‘EU executive agency’ or ‘granting authority’), under the
powers delegated by the European Commission (‘European Commission’),
and mandates
the coordinator to submit and sign in its name and on its behalf any amendments to the Agreement,
in accordance with Article 39.
By signing this accession form, the beneficiary accepts the grant and agrees to implement it in
accordance with the Agreement, with all the obligations and terms and conditions it sets out.
SIGNATURE
For the beneficiary
[--TGSMark#signature-900925331_75_210--]
Atanas KIRYAKOV with ECAS id nkiryaas signed in the Participant
Portal on 18/05/2022 at 08:59:08 (transaction id SigId-97172-qV8fI
1co09T0UOrZvfU5HVstPwVoRjtzSfGrDSYEE3IbB1MlSTJeFaWAw26
AIyipR7zeClXMkkVjljzGrfbLQcm-yntOf97TTHqKVldA5iP0lm-IimOvg
6K5XkdbfNmGKDbGXFKSflGmCa6v4gU4yBJExw0nj0ziZOvTHgPNH
RxzGIwrjXysmp1uYgzUa7kRzeDI9C). Timestamp by third party at
2022.05.18 09:59:16 CEST
7
Grant Agreement number: 101056973 — ACCORD — HORIZON-CL4-2021-TWIN-TRANSITION-01
Associated with document Ref. Ares(2022)3656727 - 13/05/2022
ANNEX 3
ACCESSION FORM FOR BENEFICIARIES
SOLIBRI OY (SOL), PIC 888132001, established in TAMMASAARENKATU 5, HELSINKI
00180, Finland,
hereby agrees
to become beneficiary
in Agreement No 101056973 — ACCORD (‘the Agreement’)
between TEKNOLOGIAN TUTKIMUSKESKUS VTT OY (VTT) and the European Health and
Digital Executive Agency (HADEA) (‘EU executive agency’ or ‘granting authority’), under the
powers delegated by the European Commission (‘European Commission’),
and mandates
the coordinator to submit and sign in its name and on its behalf any amendments to the Agreement,
in accordance with Article 39.
By signing this accession form, the beneficiary accepts the grant and agrees to implement it in
accordance with the Agreement, with all the obligations and terms and conditions it sets out.
SIGNATURE
For the beneficiary
[--TGSMark#signature-888132001_75_210--]
Heini Kautonen with ECAS id n008l7e3 signed in the Participant
Portal on 15/05/2022 at 15:21:40 (transaction id SigId-63037-gGHxh
WeAtIRDHuapakleY2qIDsa5ReVAqL6h8XJ2zMwOi8b64515VKAHoqB
GHLe0vL93yMfg1KMKKW2xr8VmoC-yntOf97TTHqKVldA5iP0lm-Nk0
agKuuh2K9ld95S4RDB6ZLhiO12rbX5d638BytCnaBUC6wJEUwULess
GzJ1Wg3eiZRQUzldK6TlEdn2O4BwB). Timestamp by third party at
2022.05.15 16:21:46 CEST
8
Grant Agreement number: 101056973 — ACCORD — HORIZON-CL4-2021-TWIN-TRANSITION-01
Associated with document Ref. Ares(2022)3656727 - 13/05/2022
ANNEX 3
ACCESSION FORM FOR BENEFICIARIES
FUTURE INSIGHT GROUP BV (FUI), PIC 928328025, established in ZWARTEWATERALLEE
44, ZWOLLE 8031 DX, Netherlands,
hereby agrees
to become beneficiary
in Agreement No 101056973 — ACCORD (‘the Agreement’)
between TEKNOLOGIAN TUTKIMUSKESKUS VTT OY (VTT) and the European Health and
Digital Executive Agency (HADEA) (‘EU executive agency’ or ‘granting authority’), under the
powers delegated by the European Commission (‘European Commission’),
and mandates
the coordinator to submit and sign in its name and on its behalf any amendments to the Agreement,
in accordance with Article 39.
By signing this accession form, the beneficiary accepts the grant and agrees to implement it in
accordance with the Agreement, with all the obligations and terms and conditions it sets out.
SIGNATURE
For the beneficiary
[--TGSMark#signature-928328025_75_210--]
9
Grant Agreement number: 101056973 — ACCORD — HORIZON-CL4-2021-TWIN-TRANSITION-01
Associated with document Ref. Ares(2022)3656727 - 13/05/2022
ANNEX 3
ACCESSION FORM FOR BENEFICIARIES
AETHER ENGINEERING S.A.S. TRA PROFESSIONISTI DI CHRISTOVASILIS IOANNIS
(AE), PIC 923674935, established in VIA MASACCIO 252, FIRENZE 50136, Italy,
hereby agrees
to become beneficiary
in Agreement No 101056973 — ACCORD (‘the Agreement’)
between TEKNOLOGIAN TUTKIMUSKESKUS VTT OY (VTT) and the European Health and
Digital Executive Agency (HADEA) (‘EU executive agency’ or ‘granting authority’), under the
powers delegated by the European Commission (‘European Commission’),
and mandates
the coordinator to submit and sign in its name and on its behalf any amendments to the Agreement,
in accordance with Article 39.
By signing this accession form, the beneficiary accepts the grant and agrees to implement it in
accordance with the Agreement, with all the obligations and terms and conditions it sets out.
SIGNATURE
For the beneficiary
[--TGSMark#signature-923674935_75_210--]
Ioannis CHRISTOVASILIS with ECAS id ncistoio signed in the
Participant Portal on 19/05/2022 at 10:34:07 (transaction id SigId-
5914-FxxVRWeIItpuCeCqJGgIbH3gIq1Qt9edzKSzOGtBSImQAdGckkFp
tedbKeaU3sjA5cS3vGC0JWkwhze8oBu6ZVG-
rS0vSrmBGYCauwjXQJdVBy-PA4wTpcPF99l0pSD3LcQIpYAcskJzfo1zPG
f6JzqqV14ykOEb9a4CncSc9K8O2HKMoCiV3gt65TMERI1SJcAqbm).
Timestamp by third party at
2022.05.19 11:34:14 CEST
10
Grant Agreement number: 101056973 — ACCORD — HORIZON-CL4-2021-TWIN-TRANSITION-01
Associated with document Ref. Ares(2022)3656727 - 13/05/2022
ANNEX 3
ACCESSION FORM FOR BENEFICIARIES
INSTITUT MINES-TELECOM (IMT), PIC 999849326, established in 19 PLACE MARGUERITE
PEREY, PALAISEAU 91120, France,
hereby agrees
to become beneficiary
in Agreement No 101056973 — ACCORD (‘the Agreement’)
between TEKNOLOGIAN TUTKIMUSKESKUS VTT OY (VTT) and the European Health and
Digital Executive Agency (HADEA) (‘EU executive agency’ or ‘granting authority’), under the
powers delegated by the European Commission (‘European Commission’),
and mandates
the coordinator to submit and sign in its name and on its behalf any amendments to the Agreement,
in accordance with Article 39.
By signing this accession form, the beneficiary accepts the grant and agrees to implement it in
accordance with the Agreement, with all the obligations and terms and conditions it sets out.
SIGNATURE
For the beneficiary
[--TGSMark#signature-999849326_75_210--]
11
Grant Agreement number: 101056973 — ACCORD — HORIZON-CL4-2021-TWIN-TRANSITION-01
Associated with document Ref. Ares(2022)3656727 - 13/05/2022
ANNEX 3
ACCESSION FORM FOR BENEFICIARIES
INSTITUT DE TECNOLOGIA DE LA CONSTRUCCION DE CATALUNYA (ITeC), PIC
945306517, established in Calle Wellington 19, Barcelona 08018, Spain,
hereby agrees
to become beneficiary
in Agreement No 101056973 — ACCORD (‘the Agreement’)
between TEKNOLOGIAN TUTKIMUSKESKUS VTT OY (VTT) and the European Health and
Digital Executive Agency (HADEA) (‘EU executive agency’ or ‘granting authority’), under the
powers delegated by the European Commission (‘European Commission’),
and mandates
the coordinator to submit and sign in its name and on its behalf any amendments to the Agreement,
in accordance with Article 39.
By signing this accession form, the beneficiary accepts the grant and agrees to implement it in
accordance with the Agreement, with all the obligations and terms and conditions it sets out.
SIGNATURE
For the beneficiary
[--TGSMark#signature-945306517_75_210--]
Francisco DIEGUEZ with ECAS id ndiegfra signed in the Participant
Portal on 17/05/2022 at 07:53:25 (transaction id SigId-80009-0sRzb
OGo7buYzWC7yFzMIXxGxzWP3eHBfkzHbtscb85qtqwxZRa704SgEg
cGVXu8p3FgcW7c4HE6y65shYhr95c-yntOf97TTHqKVldA5iP0lm-Wi2
fhWbtIVAkFRkWWNyQBawSr5mlifzt2P6iTjEUAyC5aW4rAczwJE7LqY
177TzWTQZjlY2eZCzKxPfzzP1qVTPG). Timestamp by third party at
2022.05.17 08:53:32 CEST
12
Grant Agreement number: 101056973 — ACCORD — HORIZON-CL4-2021-TWIN-TRANSITION-01
Associated with document Ref. Ares(2022)3656727 - 13/05/2022
ANNEX 3
ACCESSION FORM FOR BENEFICIARIES
FUNDACIO PRIVADA UNIVERSITAT I TECNOLOGIA (FUNITEC), PIC 997191235,
established in CALLE SANT JOAN DE LA SALLE 42, BARCELONA 08022, Spain,
hereby agrees
to become beneficiary
in Agreement No 101056973 — ACCORD (‘the Agreement’)
between TEKNOLOGIAN TUTKIMUSKESKUS VTT OY (VTT) and the European Health and
Digital Executive Agency (HADEA) (‘EU executive agency’ or ‘granting authority’), under the
powers delegated by the European Commission (‘European Commission’),
and mandates
the coordinator to submit and sign in its name and on its behalf any amendments to the Agreement,
in accordance with Article 39.
By signing this accession form, the beneficiary accepts the grant and agrees to implement it in
accordance with the Agreement, with all the obligations and terms and conditions it sets out.
SIGNATURE
For the beneficiary
[--TGSMark#signature-997191235_75_210--]
Jose Martin SANTOS FERNANDEZ with ECAS id nsjemart signed in the
Participant Portal on 14/05/2022 at 08:22:32 (transaction id SigId-
62349-7WZ39n6rMwzfw7w7MmqOSiTkQpVBvQka1sabVTxLWKu7o4b
vPvsSGAvudx7fQdOOOJLsWfXBq2tgznkaZLofU3-
yntOf97TTHqKVldA5iP0lm-Or9QRmG13D8BJrdhLwhRZjRN0V4LorNr4
porDxpFwq5WtzIasJj17w364TWtRd89HlW3pEN6qcfna996QuPHMG).
Timestamp by third party at
2022.05.14 10:23:12 CEST
13
Grant Agreement number: 101056973 — ACCORD — HORIZON-CL4-2021-TWIN-TRANSITION-01
Associated with document Ref. Ares(2022)3656727 - 13/05/2022
ANNEX 3
ACCESSION FORM FOR BENEFICIARIES
STIFTELSEN HOGSKOLAN I JONKOPING (JU), PIC 997539271, established in
GJUTERIGATAN 5, JONKOPING 551 11, Sweden,
hereby agrees
to become beneficiary
in Agreement No 101056973 — ACCORD (‘the Agreement’)
between TEKNOLOGIAN TUTKIMUSKESKUS VTT OY (VTT) and the European Health and
Digital Executive Agency (HADEA) (‘EU executive agency’ or ‘granting authority’), under the
powers delegated by the European Commission (‘European Commission’),
and mandates
the coordinator to submit and sign in its name and on its behalf any amendments to the Agreement,
in accordance with Article 39.
By signing this accession form, the beneficiary accepts the grant and agrees to implement it in
accordance with the Agreement, with all the obligations and terms and conditions it sets out.
SIGNATURE
For the beneficiary
[--TGSMark#signature-997539271_75_210--]
Salem SEIFEDDINE with ECAS id nseifsal signed in the Participant
Portal on 17/05/2022 at 10:50:41 (transaction id SigId-84007-GrCPs
BwWkRV63u70DU3yKBQ3cXiKmtMaQqoEV7GjxdItixl7kaLdJnSYxVf0
FTJa9NZr3ZsVcHd5JlV6aAwq1m-yntOf97TTHqKVldA5iP0lm-Bdkvvqr
ztsY1m4KdHhnCZ0u6boeWDlRBGw70IvYYBIE69bzbJw5cgMNW75P
5inzSKw9zcLyzvlEMgwB36NzUHvIW). Timestamp by third party at
2022.05.17 11:50:49 CEST
14
Grant Agreement number: 101056973 — ACCORD — HORIZON-CL4-2021-TWIN-TRANSITION-01
Associated with document Ref. Ares(2022)3656727 - 13/05/2022
ANNEX 3
ACCESSION FORM FOR BENEFICIARIES
CLOUDPERMIT OY (CP), PIC 887892120, established in HAMEENKATU 13, TAMPERE 33100,
Finland,
hereby agrees
to become beneficiary
in Agreement No 101056973 — ACCORD (‘the Agreement’)
between TEKNOLOGIAN TUTKIMUSKESKUS VTT OY (VTT) and the European Health and
Digital Executive Agency (HADEA) (‘EU executive agency’ or ‘granting authority’), under the
powers delegated by the European Commission (‘European Commission’),
and mandates
the coordinator to submit and sign in its name and on its behalf any amendments to the Agreement,
in accordance with Article 39.
By signing this accession form, the beneficiary accepts the grant and agrees to implement it in
accordance with the Agreement, with all the obligations and terms and conditions it sets out.
SIGNATURE
For the beneficiary
[--TGSMark#signature-887892120_75_210--]
15
Grant Agreement number: 101056973 — ACCORD — HORIZON-CL4-2021-TWIN-TRANSITION-01
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ANNEX 3
ACCESSION FORM FOR BENEFICIARIES
TEGEL PROJEKT GMBH (TEGEL), PIC 934242503, established in URBAN TECH REPUBLIC
GEBAUDE V FLUGHAFEN TEGEL 1, BERLIN 13405, Germany,
hereby agrees
to become beneficiary
in Agreement No 101056973 — ACCORD (‘the Agreement’)
between TEKNOLOGIAN TUTKIMUSKESKUS VTT OY (VTT) and the European Health and
Digital Executive Agency (HADEA) (‘EU executive agency’ or ‘granting authority’), under the
powers delegated by the European Commission (‘European Commission’),
and mandates
the coordinator to submit and sign in its name and on its behalf any amendments to the Agreement,
in accordance with Article 39.
By signing this accession form, the beneficiary accepts the grant and agrees to implement it in
accordance with the Agreement, with all the obligations and terms and conditions it sets out.
SIGNATURE
For the beneficiary
[--TGSMark#signature-934242503_75_210--]
Ulrike Nier with ECAS id n007lxbt signed in the Participant Portal
on 17/05/2022 at 16:46:49 (transaction id SigId-91308-YbzvOren3
r4tw6gjrzcE50SiE5LUMiAbaaHTjr4inIAaEE6aARs4TOQet8o0Ny6i
WhX4cadbezslk1WLxCd8OZ0-yntOf97TTHqKVldA5iP0lm-RUPTSIz
vfZXCQXNBpru2UQvKt6kvHdXokvPDKnxNYalRD8RppQ2yfRLBzp2
thDzdN0x1qDWtCEjKw2JvLA53Y3W). Timestamp by third party at
2022.05.17 17:46:54 CEST
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Associated with document Ref. Ares(2022)3656727 - 13/05/2022
ANNEX 4 HORIZON EUROPE MGA — MULTI + MONO
FINANCIAL STATEMENT FOR [PARTICIPANT NAME] FOR REPORTING PERIOD [NUMBER]
1 2
Eligible costs (per budget category) EU contribution Revenues
Direct costs Indirect costs EU contribution to eligible costs
Total requested EU Income generated by the
Total costs
Requested EU contribution action
A. Personnel costs B. Subcontracting costs C. Purchase costs D. Other cost categories 2 3 4
E. Indirect costs Funding rate % Maximum EU contribution contribution
[OPTION for HE ERC
[ D.3 Transnational [OPTION for Euratom
[ D.4 Virtual access to [OPTION for HE [OPTION for HE ERC Grants: D.8 ERC additional
C.3 Other goods, works and [ D.1 Financial support to D.2 Internally invoiced access to research Programme Cofund Actions:
A.1 Employees (or equivalent) A.4 SME owners and B. Subcontracting C.1 Travel and subsistence C.2 Equipment research infrastructure PCP/PPI: D.5 PCP/PPI Grants: D.7 ERC additional funding (subcontracting, E. Indirect costs
services third parties] goods and services infrastructure unit costs D.6 Euratom Cofund staff
natural person unit costs ] procurement costs] funding] FSTP and internally invoiced
] mobility costs]
beneficiaries goods and services)]
A.2 Natural persons under direct contract
A.3 Seconded persons
Unit costs (usual
5 Unit costs (usual 5 5 5 6
Forms of funding Actual costs accounting Unit costs Actual costs Actual costs Actual costs Actual costs [ Actual costs] [ Unit costs ] [ Unit costs ] [ Actual costs] [ Unit costs ] [ Actual costs] [ Actual costs] Flat-rate costs
accounting practices)
practices)
e=
0,25 * (a1 + a2 + a3 + b + c1 f=
a1 a2 a3 b c1 c2 c3 [ d1a] d2 [ d3] [ d4] [ d5] [ d6] [ d7] [ d8] U g = f*U% h m (i) n
+c2 + c3 + d1a + d2 + d3 + d4 [ + a+b+c+d+e
d5][+ d6] [ +d7] [+ d8] )
XX – [short name beneficiary/affiliated entity]
The beneficiary/affiliated entity hereby confirms that:
The information provided is complete, reliable and true.
The costs and contributions declared are eligible (see Article 6).
The costs and contributions can be substantiated by adequate records and supporting documentation that will be produced upon request or in the context of checks, reviews, audits and investigations (see Articles 19, 20 and 25).
For the last reporting period: that all the revenues have been declared (see Article 22).
i Please declare all eligible costs and contributions, even if they exceed the amounts indicated in the estimated budget (see Annex 2). Only amounts that were declared in your individual financial statements can be taken into account lateron, in order to replace costs/contributions that are
found to be ineligible.
1
See Article 6 for the eligibility conditions. All amounts must be expressed in EUR (see Article 21 for the conversion rules).
2
If you have also received an EU operating grant during this reporting period, you cannot claim indirect costs - unless you can demonstrate that the operating grant does not cover any costs of the action. This requires specific accounting tools. Please contact us immediately via the Funding &
Tenders Portal for details.
3
See Data Sheet for the reimbursement rate(s).
4
This is the theoretical amount of EU contribution to costs that the system calculates automatically (by multiplying the reimbursement rates by the costs declared). The amount you request (in the column 'requested EU contribution') may be less.
5
See Annex 2a 'Additional information on the estimated budget' for the details (units, cost per unit).
6
See Data Sheet for the flat-rate.
Associated with document Ref. Ares(2022)3656727 - 13/05/2022
ANNEX 5
SPECIFIC RULES
CONFIDENTIALITY AND SECURITY (— ARTICLE 13)
Sensitive information with security recommendation
Sensitive information with a security recommendation must comply with the additional
requirements imposed by the granting authority.
Before starting the action tasks concerned, the beneficiaries must have obtained all approvals
or other mandatory documents needed for implementing the task. The documents must be
kept on file and be submitted upon request by the coordinator to the granting authority. If they
are not in English, they must be submitted together with an English summary.
For requirements restricting disclosure or dissemination, the information must be handled in
accordance with the recommendation and may be disclosed or disseminated only after written
approval from the granting authority.
EU classified information
If EU classified information is used or generated by the action, it must be treated in
accordance with the security classification guide (SCG) and security aspect letter (SAL) set
out in Annex 1 and Decision 2015/4441 and its implementing rules — until it is declassified.
Deliverables which contain EU classified information must be submitted according to special
procedures agreed with the granting authority.
Action tasks involving EU classified information may be subcontracted only with prior
explicit written approval from the granting authority and only to entities established in an EU
Member State or in a non-EU country with a security of information agreement with the EU
(or an administrative arrangement with the Commission).
EU classified information may not be disclosed to any third party (including participants
involved in the action implementation) without prior explicit written approval from the
granting authority.
ETHICS (— ARTICLE 14)
Ethics and research integrity
The beneficiaries must carry out the action in compliance with:
- ethical principles (including the highest standards of research integrity)
1
Commission Decision 2015/444/EC, Euratom of 13 March 2015 on the security rules for protecting EU
classified information (OJ L 72, 17.3.2015, p. 53).
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and
- applicable EU, international and national law, including the EU Charter of
Fundamental Rights and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights
and Fundamental Freedoms and its Supplementary Protocols.
No funding can be granted, within or outside the EU, for activities that are prohibited in all
Member States. No funding can be granted in a Member State for an activity which is
forbidden in that Member State.
The beneficiaries must pay particular attention to the principle of proportionality, the right to
privacy, the right to the protection of personal data, the right to the physical and mental
integrity of persons, the right to non-discrimination, the need to ensure protection of the
environment and high levels of human health protection.
The beneficiaries must ensure that the activities under the action have an exclusive focus on
civil applications.
The beneficiaries must ensure that the activities under the action do not:
- aim at human cloning for reproductive purposes
- intend to modify the genetic heritage of human beings which could make such
modifications heritable (with the exception of research relating to cancer treatment of
the gonads, which may be financed)
- intend to create human embryos solely for the purpose of research or for the purpose
of stem cell procurement, including by means of somatic cell nuclear transfer, or
- lead to the destruction of human embryos (for example, for obtaining stem cells).
Activities involving research on human embryos or human embryonic stem cells may be
carried out only if:
- they are set out in Annex 1 or
- the coordinator has obtained explicit approval (in writing) from the granting authority.
In addition, the beneficiaries must respect the fundamental principle of research integrity —
2
as set out in the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity .
This implies compliance with the following principles:
- reliability in ensuring the quality of research reflected in the design, the methodology,
the analysis and the use of resources
- honesty in developing, undertaking, reviewing, reporting and communicating research
in a transparent, fair and unbiased way
2
European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity of ALLEA (All European Academies).
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- respect for colleagues, research participants, society, ecosystems, cultural heritage and
the environment
- accountability for the research from idea to publication, for its management and
organisation, for training, supervision and mentoring, and for its wider impacts
and means that beneficiaries must ensure that persons carrying out research tasks follow the
good research practices including ensuring, where possible, openness, reproducibility and
traceability and refrain from the research integrity violations described in the Code.
Activities raising ethical issues must comply with the additional requirements formulated by
the ethics panels (including after checks, reviews or audits; see Article 25).
Before starting an action task raising ethical issues, the beneficiaries must have obtained all
approvals or other mandatory documents needed for implementing the task, notably from any
(national or local) ethics committee or other bodies such as data protection authorities.
The documents must be kept on file and be submitted upon request by the coordinator to the
granting authority. If they are not in English, they must be submitted together with an English
summary, which shows that the documents cover the action tasks in question and includes the
conclusions of the committee or authority concerned (if any).
VALUES (— ARTICLE 14)
Gender mainstreaming
The beneficiaries must take all measures to promote equal opportunities between men and
women in the implementation of the action and, where applicable, in line with the gender
equality plan. They must aim, to the extent possible, for a gender balance at all levels of
personnel assigned to the action, including at supervisory and managerial level.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS (IPR) — BACKGROUND AND RESULTS —
ACCESS RIGHTS AND RIGHTS OF USE (— ARTICLE 16)
Definitions
Access rights — Rights to use results or background.
Dissemination — The public disclosure of the results by appropriate means, other than
resulting from protecting or exploiting the results, including by scientific
publications in any medium.
Exploit(ation) — The use of results in further research and innovation activities other than
those covered by the action concerned, including among other things,
commercial exploitation such as developing, creating, manufacturing and
marketing a product or process, creating and providing a service, or in
standardisation activities.
Fair and reasonable conditions — Appropriate conditions, including possible financial terms
or royalty-free conditions, taking into account the specific circumstances of
the request for access, for example the actual or potential value of the results
or background to which access is requested and/or the scope, duration or
other characteristics of the exploitation envisaged.
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FAIR principles — ‘findability’, ‘accessibility’, ‘interoperability’ and ‘reusability’.
Open access — Online access to research outputs provided free of charge to the end-user.
Open science — An approach to the scientific process based on open cooperative work, tools
and diffusing knowledge.
Research data management — The process within the research lifecycle that includes the
organisation, storage, preservation, security, quality assurance, allocation of
persistent identifiers (PIDs) and rules and procedures for sharing of data
including licensing.
Research outputs — Results to which access can be given in the form of scientific
publications, data or other engineered results and processes such as
software, algorithms, protocols, models, workflows and electronic
notebooks.
Scope of the obligations
For this section, references to ‘beneficiary’ or ‘beneficiaries’ do not include affiliated entities
(if any).
Agreement on background
The beneficiaries must identify in a written agreement the background as needed for
implementing the action or for exploiting its results.
Where the call conditions restrict control due to strategic interests reasons, background that is
subject to control or other restrictions by a country (or entity from a country) which is not one
of the eligible countries or target countries set out in the call conditions and that impact the
exploitation of the results (i.e. would make the exploitation of the results subject to control or
restrictions) must not be used and must be explicitly excluded from it in the agreement on
background — unless otherwise agreed with the granting authority.
Ownership of results
Results are owned by the beneficiaries that generate them.
However, two or more beneficiaries own results jointly if:
- they have jointly generated them and
- it is not possible to:
- establish the respective contribution of each beneficiary, or
- separate them for the purpose of applying for, obtaining or maintaining their
protection.
The joint owners must agree — in writing — on the allocation and terms of exercise of their
joint ownership (‘joint ownership agreement’), to ensure compliance with their obligations
under this Agreement.
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Unless otherwise agreed in the joint ownership agreement or consortium agreement, each
joint owner may grant non-exclusive licences to third parties to exploit the jointly-owned
results (without any right to sub-license), if the other joint owners are given:
- at least 45 days advance notice and
- fair and reasonable compensation.
The joint owners may agree — in writing — to apply another regime than joint ownership.
If third parties (including employees and other personnel) may claim rights to the results, the
beneficiary concerned must ensure that those rights can be exercised in a manner compatible
with its obligations under the Agreement.
The beneficiaries must indicate the owner(s) of the results (results ownership list) in the final
periodic report.
Protection of results
Beneficiaries which have received funding under the grant must adequately protect their
results — for an appropriate period and with appropriate territorial coverage — if protection
is possible and justified, taking into account all relevant considerations, including the
prospects for commercial exploitation, the legitimate interests of the other beneficiaries and
any other legitimate interests.
Exploitation of results
Beneficiaries which have received funding under the grant must — up to four years after the
end of the action (see Data Sheet, Point 1) — use their best efforts to exploit their results
directly or to have them exploited indirectly by another entity, in particular through transfer or
licensing.
If, despite a beneficiary’s best efforts, the results are not exploited within one year after the
end of the action, the beneficiaries must (unless otherwise agreed in writing with the granting
authority) use the Horizon Results Platform to find interested parties to exploit the results.
If results are incorporated in a standard, the beneficiaries must (unless otherwise agreed with
the granting authority or unless it is impossible) ask the standardisation body to include the
funding statement (see Article 17) in (information related to) the standard.
Additional exploitation obligations
Where the call conditions impose additional exploitation obligations (including obligations
linked to the restriction of participation or control due to strategic assets, interests, autonomy
or security reasons), the beneficiaries must comply with them — up to four years after the end
of the action (see Data Sheet, Point 1).
Where the call conditions impose additional exploitation obligations in case of a public
emergency, the beneficiaries must (if requested by the granting authority) grant for a limited
period of time specified in the request, non-exclusive licences — under fair and reasonable
conditions — to their results to legal entities that need the results to address the public
emergency and commit to rapidly and broadly exploit the resulting products and services at
fair and reasonable conditions. This provision applies up to four years after the end of the
action (see Data Sheet, Point 1).
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Additional information obligation relating to standards
Where the call conditions impose additional information obligations relating to possible
standardisation, the beneficiaries must — up to four years after the end of the action (see Data
Sheet, Point 1) — inform the granting authority, if the results could reasonably be expected to
contribute to European or international standards.
Transfer and licensing of results
Transfer of ownership
The beneficiaries may transfer ownership of their results, provided this does not affect
compliance with their obligations under the Agreement.
The beneficiaries must ensure that their obligations under the Agreement regarding their
results are passed on to the new owner and that this new owner has the obligation to pass
them on in any subsequent transfer.
Moreover, they must inform the other beneficiaries with access rights of the transfer at least
45 days in advance (or less if agreed in writing), unless agreed otherwise in writing for
specifically identified third parties including affiliated entities or unless impossible under the
applicable law. This notification must include sufficient information on the new owner to
enable the beneficiaries concerned to assess the effects on their access rights. The
beneficiaries may object within 30 days of receiving notification (or less if agreed in writing),
if they can show that the transfer would adversely affect their access rights. In this case, the
transfer may not take place until agreement has been reached between the beneficiaries
concerned.
Granting licences
The beneficiaries may grant licences to their results (or otherwise give the right to exploit
them), including on an exclusive basis, provided this does not affect compliance with their
obligations.
Exclusive licences for results may be granted only if all the other beneficiaries concerned
have waived their access rights.
Granting authority right to object to transfers or licensing — Horizon Europe actions
Where the call conditions in Horizon Europe actions provide for the right to object to transfers
or licensing, the granting authority may — up to four years after the end of the action (see
Data Sheet, Point 1) — object to a transfer of ownership or the exclusive licensing of results,
if:
- the beneficiaries which generated the results have received funding under the grant
- it is to a legal entity established in a non-EU country not associated with Horizon
Europe, and
- the granting authority considers that the transfer or licence is not in line with EU
interests.
Beneficiaries that intend to transfer ownership or grant an exclusive licence must formally
notify the granting authority before the intended transfer or licensing takes place and:
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- identify the specific results concerned
- describe in detail the new owner or licensee and the planned or potential
exploitation of the results, and
- include a reasoned assessment of the likely impact of the transfer or licence on EU
interests, in particular regarding competitiveness as well as consistency with
ethical principles and security considerations.
The granting authority may request additional information.
If the granting authority decides to object to a transfer or exclusive licence, it must formally
notify the beneficiary concerned within 60 days of receiving notification (or any additional
information it has requested).
No transfer or licensing may take place in the following cases:
- pending the granting authority decision, within the period set out above
- if the granting authority objects
- until the conditions are complied with, if the granting authority objection comes
with conditions.
A beneficiary may formally notify a request to waive the right to object regarding intended
transfers or grants to a specifically identified third party, if measures safeguarding EU
interests are in place. If the granting authority agrees, it will formally notify the beneficiary
concerned within 60 days of receiving notification (or any additional information requested).
Granting authority right to object to transfers or licensing — Euratom actions
Where the call conditions in Euratom actions provide for the right to object to transfers or
licensing, the granting authority may — up to four years after the end of the action (see Data
Sheet, Point 1) — object to a transfer of ownership or the exclusive or non-exclusive licensing
of results, if:
- the beneficiaries which generated the results have received funding under the grant
- it is to a legal entity established in a non-EU country not associated to the Euratom
Research and Training Programme 2021-2025 and
- the granting authority considers that the transfer or licence is not in line with the EU
interests.
Beneficiaries that intend to transfer ownership or grant a licence must formally notify the
granting authority before the intended transfer or licensing takes place and:
- identify the specific results concerned
- describe in detail the results, the new owner or licensee and the planned or
potential exploitation of the results, and
- include a reasoned assessment of the likely impact of the transfer or licence on EU
interests, in particular regarding competitiveness as well as consistency with
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Associated with document Ref. Ares(2022)3656727 - 13/05/2022
ethical principles and security considerations (including the defence interests of the
EU Member States under Article 24 of the Euratom Treaty).
The granting authority may request additional information.
If the granting authority decides to object to a transfer or licence, it will formally notify the
beneficiary concerned within 60 days of receiving notification (or any additional information
requested).
No transfer or licensing may take place in the following cases:
- pending the granting authority decision, within the period set out above
- if the granting authority objects
- until the conditions are complied with, if the granting authority objection comes
with conditions.
A beneficiary may formally notify a request to waive the right to object regarding intended
transfers or grants to a specifically identified third party, if measures safeguarding EU
interests are in place. If the granting authority agrees, it will formally notify the beneficiary
concerned within 60 days of receiving notification (or any additional information requested).
Limitations to transfers and licensing due to strategic assets, interests, autonomy or security
reasons of the EU and its Member States
Where the call conditions restrict participation or control due to strategic assets, interests,
autonomy or security reasons, the beneficiaries may not transfer ownership of their results or
grant licences to third parties which are established in countries which are not eligible
countries or target countries set out in the call conditions (or, if applicable, are controlled by
such countries or entities from such countries) — unless they have requested and received
prior approval by the granting authority.
The request must:
- identify the specific results concerned
- describe in detail the new owner and the planned or potential exploitation of the
results, and
- include a reasoned assessment of the likely impact of the transfer or license on the
strategic assets, interests, autonomy or security of the EU and its Member States.
The granting authority may request additional information.
Access rights to results and background
Exercise of access rights — Waiving of access rights — No sub-licensing
Requests to exercise access rights and the waiver of access rights must be in writing.
Unless agreed otherwise in writing with the beneficiary granting access, access rights do not
include the right to sub-license.
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If a beneficiary is no longer involved in the action, this does not affect its obligations to grant
access.
If a beneficiary defaults on its obligations, the beneficiaries may agree that that beneficiary no
longer has access rights.
Access rights for implementing the action
The beneficiaries must grant each other access — on a royalty-free basis — to background
needed to implement their own tasks under the action, unless the beneficiary that holds the
background has — before acceding to the Agreement —:
- informed the other beneficiaries that access to its background is subject to restrictions,
or
- agreed with the other beneficiaries that access would not be on a royalty-free basis.
The beneficiaries must grant each other access — on a royalty-free basis — to results needed
for implementing their own tasks under the action.
Access rights for exploiting the results
The beneficiaries must grant each other access — under fair and reasonable conditions — to
results needed for exploiting their results.
The beneficiaries must grant each other access — under fair and reasonable conditions — to
background needed for exploiting their results, unless the beneficiary that holds the
background has — before acceding to the Agreement — informed the other beneficiaries that
access to its background is subject to restrictions.
Requests for access must be made — unless agreed otherwise in writing — up to one year
after the end of the action (see Data Sheet, Point 1).
Access rights for entities under the same control
Unless agreed otherwise in writing by the beneficiaries, access to results and, subject to the
restrictions referred to above (if any), background must also be granted — under fair and
reasonable conditions — to entities that:
- are established in an EU Member State or Horizon Europe associated country
- are under the direct or indirect control of another beneficiary, or under the same direct
or indirect control as that beneficiary, or directly or indirectly controlling that
beneficiary and
- need the access to exploit the results of that beneficiary.
Unless agreed otherwise in writing, such requests for access must be made by the entity
directly to the beneficiary concerned.
Requests for access must be made — unless agreed otherwise in writing — up to one year
after the end of the action (see Data Sheet, Point 1).
Access rights for the granting authority, EU institutions, bodies, offices or agencies and
national authorities to results for policy purposes — Horizon Europe actions
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In Horizon Europe actions, the beneficiaries which have received funding under the grant
must grant access to their results — on a royalty-free basis — to the granting authority, EU
institutions, bodies, offices or agencies for developing, implementing and monitoring EU
policies or programmes. Such access rights do not extend to beneficiaries’ background.
Such access rights are limited to non-commercial and non-competitive use.
For actions under the cluster ‘Civil Security for Society’, such access rights also extend to
national authorities of EU Member States for developing, implementing and monitoring their
policies or programmes in this area. In this case, access is subject to a bilateral agreement to
define specific conditions ensuring that:
- the access rights will be used only for the intended purpose and
- appropriate confidentiality obligations are in place.
Moreover, the requesting national authority or EU institution, body, office or agency
(including the granting authority) must inform all other national authorities of such a request.
Access rights for the granting authority, Euratom institutions, funding bodies or the Joint
Undertaking Fusion for Energy — Euratom actions
In Euratom actions, the beneficiaries which have received funding under the grant must grant
access to their results — on a royalty-free basis — to the granting authority, Euratom
institutions, funding bodies or the Joint Undertaking Fusion for Energy for developing,
implementing and monitoring Euratom policies and programmes or for compliance with
obligations assumed through international cooperation with non-EU countries and
international organisations.
Such access rights include the right to authorise third parties to use the results in public
procurement and the right to sub-license and are limited to non-commercial and non-
competitive use.
Additional access rights
Where the call conditions impose additional access rights, the beneficiaries must comply with
them.
COMMUNICATION, DISSEMINATION, OPEN SCIENCE AND VISIBILITY (—
ARTICLE 17)
Dissemination
Dissemination of results
The beneficiaries must disseminate their results as soon as feasible, in a publicly available
format, subject to any restrictions due to the protection of intellectual property, security rules
or legitimate interests.
A beneficiary that intends to disseminate its results must give at least 15 days advance notice
to the other beneficiaries (unless agreed otherwise), together with sufficient information on
the results it will disseminate.
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Any other beneficiary may object within (unless agreed otherwise) 15 days of receiving
notification, if it can show that its legitimate interests in relation to the results or background
would be significantly harmed. In such cases, the results may not be disseminated unless
appropriate steps are taken to safeguard those interests.
Additional dissemination obligations
Where the call conditions impose additional dissemination obligations, the beneficiaries must
also comply with those.
Open Science
Open science: open access to scientific publications
The beneficiaries must ensure open access to peer-reviewed scientific publications relating to
their results. In particular, they must ensure that:
- at the latest at the time of publication, a machine-readable electronic copy of the
published version or the final peer-reviewed manuscript accepted for publication, is
deposited in a trusted repository for scientific publications
- immediate open access is provided to the deposited publication via the repository,
under the latest available version of the Creative Commons Attribution International
Public Licence (CC BY) or a licence with equivalent rights; for monographs and other
long-text formats, the licence may exclude commercial uses and derivative works (e.g.
CC BY-NC, CC BY-ND) and
- information is given via the repository about any research output or any other tools
and instruments needed to validate the conclusions of the scientific publication.
Beneficiaries (or authors) must retain sufficient intellectual property rights to comply with the
open access requirements.
Metadata of deposited publications must be open under a Creative Common Public Domain
Dedication (CC 0) or equivalent, in line with the FAIR principles (in particular machine-
actionable) and provide information at least about the following: publication (author(s), title,
date of publication, publication venue); Horizon Europe or Euratom funding; grant project
name, acronym and number; licensing terms; persistent identifiers for the publication, the
authors involved in the action and, if possible, for their organisations and the grant. Where
applicable, the metadata must include persistent identifiers for any research output or any
other tools and instruments needed to validate the conclusions of the publication.
Only publication fees in full open access venues for peer-reviewed scientific publications are
eligible for reimbursement.
Open science: research data management
The beneficiaries must manage the digital research data generated in the action (‘data’)
responsibly, in line with the FAIR principles and by taking all of the following actions:
- establish a data management plan (‘DMP’) (and regularly update it)
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- as soon as possible and within the deadlines set out in the DMP, deposit the data in a
trusted repository; if required in the call conditions, this repository must be federated
in the EOSC in compliance with EOSC requirements
- as soon as possible and within the deadlines set out in the DMP, ensure open access —
via the repository — to the deposited data, under the latest available version of the
Creative Commons Attribution International Public License (CC BY) or Creative
Commons Public Domain Dedication (CC 0) or a licence with equivalent rights,
following the principle ‘as open as possible as closed as necessary’, unless providing
open access would in particular:
- be against the beneficiary’s legitimate interests, including regarding
commercial exploitation, or
- be contrary to any other constraints, in particular the EU competitive interests
or the beneficiary’s obligations under this Agreement; if open access is not
provided (to some or all data), this must be justified in the DMP
- provide information via the repository about any research output or any other tools and
instruments needed to re-use or validate the data.
Metadata of deposited data must be open under a Creative Common Public Domain
Dedication (CC 0) or equivalent (to the extent legitimate interests or constraints are
safeguarded), in line with the FAIR principles (in particular machine-actionable) and provide
information at least about the following: datasets (description, date of deposit, author(s),
venue and embargo); Horizon Europe or Euratom funding; grant project name, acronym and
number; licensing terms; persistent identifiers for the dataset, the authors involved in the
action, and, if possible, for their organisations and the grant. Where applicable, the metadata
must include persistent identifiers for related publications and other research outputs.
Open science: additional practices
Where the call conditions impose additional obligations regarding open science practices, the
beneficiaries must also comply with those.
Where the call conditions impose additional obligations regarding the validation of scientific
publications, the beneficiaries must provide (digital or physical) access to data or other results
needed for validation of the conclusions of scientific publications, to the extent that their
legitimate interests or constraints are safeguarded (and unless they already provided the
(open) access at publication).
Where the call conditions impose additional open science obligations in case of a public
emergency, the beneficiaries must (if requested by the granting authority) immediately
deposit any research output in a repository and provide open access to it under a CC BY
licence, a Public Domain Dedication (CC 0) or equivalent. As an exception, if the access
would be against the beneficiaries’ legitimate interests, the beneficiaries must grant non-
exclusive licenses — under fair and reasonable conditions — to legal entities that need the
research output to address the public emergency and commit to rapidly and broadly exploit
the resulting products and services at fair and reasonable conditions. This provision applies up
to four years after the end of the action (see Data Sheet, Point 1).
Plan for the exploitation and dissemination of results including communication activities
12
Associated with document Ref. Ares(2022)3656727 - 13/05/2022
Unless excluded by the call conditions, the beneficiaries must provide and regularly update a
plan for the exploitation and dissemination of results including communication activities.
SPECIFIC RULES FOR CARRYING OUT THE ACTION (— ARTICLE 18)
Implementation in case of restrictions due to strategic assets, interests, autonomy or
security of the EU and its Member States
Where the call conditions restrict participation or control due to strategic assets, interests,
autonomy or security, the beneficiaries must ensure that none of the entities that participate as
affiliated entities, associated partners, subcontractors or recipients of financial support to third
parties are established in countries which are not eligible countries or target countries set out
in the call conditions (or, if applicable, are controlled by such countries or entities from such
countries) — unless otherwise agreed with the granting authority.
The beneficiaries must moreover ensure that any cooperation with entities established in
countries which are not eligible countries or target countries set out in the call conditions (or,
if applicable, are controlled by such countries or entities from such countries) does not affect
the strategic assets, interests, autonomy or security of the EU and its Member States.
Recruitment and working conditions for researchers
The beneficiaries must take all measures to implement the principles set out in the
Commission Recommendation on the European Charter for Researchers and the Code of
Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers3, in particular regarding:
- working conditions
- transparent recruitment processes based on merit, and
- career development.
The beneficiaries must ensure that researchers and all participants involved in the action are
aware of them.
3
Commission Recommendation 2005/251/EC of 11 March 2005 on the European Charter for Researchers
and on a Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers (OJ L 75, 22.3.2005, p. 67).
13
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Date: 2022.05.13 14:46:26 CEST
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