The National Research, Development and Innovation Office has devoted special attention from the very beginning to researchers’ salaries in the Horizon 2020 framework programme. Financing competitive researcher salaries from H2020 projects is primarily a challenge for public research centres.

The previous round of consultations with the European Commission added valuable information to the explanations of the document, which serves as the financial guide for the framework programme, in terms of the eligibility of project-based and non-project-based wage costs, but based on feedbacks it was still difficult to create internal rules that are compatible with H2020 requirements.

In order to achieve the maximum possible room for manoeuvre in the recognition of project-based extra remunerations as eligible costs, the NRDI Office initiated another round of consultations with the European Commission’s Common Legal Support Service in April 2018 requesting them to test further models for internal rules.

The result of the consultations can be downloaded from the following link: EC interpretation 4

As a result of the bilateral dialogues, the following main approaches can be adopted to develop the H2020 compatible internal rules:

• Model 1
  • The internal rules regulate all project-based extra remunerations financed from the projects in the organisation’s portfolio.
    
  • They specify a bonus range for projects financed from national sources (including EU co-financed Operational Programmes) and fixed bonuses for projects financed from international sources.
    
  • The project bonus must be paid to the given researchers in all cases, unless prohibited by the financial rules of the funding programme.
• Model 2
  • The internal rules regulate only those project-based extra remunerations which are to be paid in the organisation’s specific project groups defined by to objective criteria.
    
  • The project group covered by the rules comprise both nationally and internationally funded projects.
    
  • Project-based extra remunerations are fixed amounts.
• Model 3
  • The internal rules regulate all project-based extra remunerations financed from the projects in the organisation’s portfolio.
    
  • The rules determine a minimum hourly wage for project-based extra remunerations which must be paid to the given researchers in all cases, unless prohibited by the financial rules of the funding programme.

For the detailed rules please read the published correspondence (EC interpretation 4) or contact a H2020 National Contact Point (NCP) responsible for legal and financial matters.