FAQ Highlights
| FAQ - Call 1/2009 |
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Topics D) EXPENSES IN ADJACENT NUTS III AREAS
A.1) I cannot work on the Excel spreadsheet of the financial plan.
The file is protected and requires a password.
C.2) Is the Lead Partner of the project responsible for coordination?
D) EXPENSES IN ADJACENT NUTS III AREAS D.4) How does the 20% limit apply to the cost in adjacent NUTS III areas? D.5) When does the principle of the location of the activities apply?
E.1) Is Vat an eligible expenditure?
F.1) Does the co-financing letter of private partners have to be signed by the Lead Partner? G.1) Are non-profit organisations operating in cultural tourism development and the associations of municipal authorities and public bodies admissible beneficiaries for priority axes 1 and 2? H.1) Is there a minimum number of subjects envisaged in the partnership?
H.4) Is a partner who has an office in the areas involved in the
programme (Palermo) but whose administrative office is located out of
them (Milan) considered eligible? I.1) How many programme’s specific objectives can a project refer to?
L.1) Who performs the first level control?
A.1) I cannot work on the Excel spreadsheet of the financial plan. The file is protected and requires a password.
B.1) Does the status of research organization have to be documented by specific ATECO classification, or is it sufficient to provide documented proof of significant experience in the curriculum of the organization? Research organizations and/or research institutes may be public subjects or private subjects in accordance with Article 30 of Regulation (EC) 800/08.
No. The Lead Partner must be a public territorial body (local, provincial, regional and central authorities) or a non-territorial body (universities, regional consortia or partnerships, central governmental institutes, etc.) acknowledged as such by the relevant Italian or Maltese legislation. C.2) Is the Lead Partner of the project responsible for coordination? Yes, the Lead Partner is responsible for coordinating the beneficiaries of the project and is responsible for the project with the Management Authority and the Certification Authority, cf. paragraph 2.3.4 of the Programme Manual. C.3) Does the Lead Partner also have to manage the financial flow of the repayments for the Maltese partners? Yes, in the case in question – Maltese Lead Partner – the Lead Partner will reimburse the project ERDF for all the partners, including the Italian partners. Subsequently, the Managing Authority will reimburse the National Public Contribution (NPC) directly to its Italian beneficiaries. D.1) As for the 20% limit of the cost, if the Lead Partner is in the adjacent NUTS III zone and the activity is located in the cross-border NUTS III zone, does the 20% limit still apply to the Lead Partner? The 20% limit can be passed if the Lead Partner intends to draw on the principle of the location of the activity in accordance with paragraph 2.3.6 of the OP implementation manual. However, a suitable reconstruction of the intended costs to be made in the adjacent NUTS III zone must be drawn up when presenting the project. In the assessment phase the Steering Committee reserves the right to reject the justification of these costs. D.2) The budget of the Lead Partner must be equal to a share of 30% - 45% of the budget presented with the application for funding, as specified in the eligibility requirements on page 42 of the manual. If the Lead Partner is from an adjacent NUTS III zone or cannot provide evidence of the location of their activities in a cross-border NUTS III zone, does the 20% limit make the project proposal inadmissible? For the budget of a Lead Partner coming from adjacent areas of the programme there is a departure to this percentage, which should be reduced up to a maximum of 20% of the available project ERDF resources (see application guide – section 1 point 5). This limit can be exceeded, and in any case up to 45%, only in the cases in which the applicant intends to have recourse to the rule of the location of activities in paragraph 2.3.6. D.3) Which principle applies to all the management, administrative, staff and preparation costs for a Lead Partner in an adjacent NUTS III zone, who presents a project the activities of which are localized only in a cross-border NUTS III zone? The principle of 20% of the project ERDF is applied to the management, administration, personnel and preparation costs born by the Lead Partner located in a NUTS III adjacent zone (case 4 par. 2.3.6 of the Application manual) as it is impossible to “reconstruct” the cost of this activity in a cross-border area so it cannot be localize. D.4) How does the 20% limit apply to the cost in adjacent NUTS III areas?
The 20% is calculated on the ERDF share of the project budget. This limit includes: D.5) When does the principle of the location of the activities apply?
The principle of the location of the activities applies in case a partner does not spend funds in his own area. In this case, the cost of an activity must be reconstructed so the cost respects or fails to respect the limit of the 20% envisaged for expenses in adjacent areas. D.6) In the case of research organizations or University departments located in adjacent areas, how are the costs for researchers’ fees calculated if the research concerns phenomena located in cross-border areas? As investigations are not clearly referable to a precise geographic localization and, as a result, they are not included among the clearly localizable activities, the localization of a research activity, properly justified by the lead partner, will be verified on a case by case basis during the examination of the project proposal. If the activity does not appear to be clearly localizable from the inspection, expenses exceeding the 20% limit will be considered inadmissible.
In accordance with Presidential Decree 196 – 03/10/2008, VAT is an eligible expenditure as long as it cannot be recovered. The co-financing letter has to be signed by the project Lead Partner for Italian partners only. F.2) For Italian private partners, the national co-financing share is entirely covered by the revolving fund. Which documentation certifying this must be provided? Italian partners will have to specify the coverage of the NC in the co-financing statement by quoting the sentence contained in the last paragraph of the Guidelines for Applicants, ‘Documents to be filled in’. G.1) Are non-profit organisations operating in cultural tourism development and the associations of municipal authorities and public bodies admissible beneficiaries for priority axes 1 and 2? Yes, but only as partners, and in any case in accordance with the provisions of paragraphs 2.3.1, 2.3.2 and 2.3.7 G.2) Can additional financial resources be obtained from private bodies, and the expenses relevant to the same be entered in accounts? Without prejudice to the fact that additional financial resources can only and exclusively be provided by project partners, private parties can guarantee these resources which will be entered in accounts as part of project implementation. The 1st level control services will ratify the expenses for the budget corresponding to the approved ERDF + NC. H.1) Is there a minimum number of subjects envisaged in the partnership?
Yes. In accordance with paragraph 2.3.3 of the manual, the partnership of ordinary projects must have at least three partners from Italy and Malta. Yes, there are no limits for presenting project proposals as a partner or Lead Partner. In the latter case, the Lead Partner beneficiaries should avoid applying for two projects in the same axis of programme reference. H.3) Is it necessary to involve SMEs in the establishment of partnerships for the submission of a project proposal referring to objective 1.1 and can they participate as individual companies or only as associations of several economic subjects? It is not necessary to involve SMEs in the establishment of partnerships for the submission of a project proposal referring to objective 1.1. However, they can participate both as individual companies and as associations, as long as they are referable to one of the subjects mentioned on page 16 of the OP Implementation Manual.
H.4) Is a partner who has an office in the areas involved in the programme (Palermo) but whose administrative office is located out of them (Milan) considered eligible?
One only, subject to exclusion of the project.
In Italy, the Control Unit (CU) of the Regional Programming Department will assign a controller to each project approved for the Italia-Malta 2007-2013 OP. This controller will be selected from those previously acknowledged in the relevant “long-list of auditors for the Italia-Malta 2007-2013 OP”, and will audit the costs for the part of the operation of each single Italian beneficiary participating in the same. The Lead Partner, in accordance with article 20, letter d) of Regulation 1080/2006, checks the expenses, which have already been ratified by the controller, for each single partner participating in the project. Then, the Lead Partner collects all the expenses and the relevant ratification statements and send one single “reimbursement request” to the programme Managing Authority. L.3) Is the funding of approved projects paid on the basis of states of progress or are sums paid in advance? Yes, 20% of the approved budget is paid in advance. The MA shall proceed to reimburse expenses sustained by each partner and Lead Partner upon presentation of a reimbursement request, in accordance with the conditions described at the par. 4.2.1 of the Manual. The transfer of further intermediate payments, equal to 20% and up to 80% of the budget of each individual partner shall also be guaranteed. Subsequently, the Managing Authority pays the balance of the operations closed by the Lead Partner.
L.4) Is only the Lead Partner responsible for verifying expenses or does each partner check their own? |