The legal implications of a grant agreement

Abstract

This thesis is aimed towards better explaining what are the legal obligations that persons wishing to benefit from Funding programmes would have to adhere to. These legal obligations are usually laid down in an agreement signed between the entity managing that funding programme and the beneficiary. The beneficiary is hence bound to observe the said agreement to avoid the risk of having the funds allocated to the project being retrieved due to the occurrence of an irregularity. Hence this thesis will question whether it is advantageous to seek financing from the said funding programmes to reach ones objectives. In order to draw such a conclusion the thesis will give a thorough analysis of three funding programmes The three funding programmes selected to be analysed form part of the so called Structural Funds. Since they are among of the largest Funding Programmes in terms of money allocation, amounting to more than one third of the European Budget, they tend to carry with them heftier obligations. In fact the Structural Funds are governed by a series of Regulations which provide for a number of conditions and criteria which are then reproduced in the grant agreement. Therefore the Thesis would define amongst others the durability clause, eligible expenditure, provisions governing revenue generating projects, aid schemes and their implications as laid down in the national Operational Programmes and Council Regulation 1083/2006 of 11 July 2006 laying down general provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund and the Cohesion Fund and Commission Regulation 1828 / 2006 setting out rules for the implementation of the said funds. To be able to access these funds it is imperative for one to know what these aim to achieve and the decision making process behind them. These Structural Funds have also brought with them a new method of how to go about project management, and identified new ways of decision making. The thesis will also briefly go into these new concepts which on one hand enhance the decision making and implementation system of such projects, while on the other hand emphasise the need of having entities, organisations and enterprises with enough capacity to carry them out and sustain them. The thesis therefore targets all those interested parties being public entities, non governmental organisations, private individuals and private enterprises which are interested in trying to get their project ideas to be partly financed by the European Union under these funding programmes. The information herein stated is meant to guide these target groups and to also make them aware of the legal implications of a grant agreement specifically those which originate from the legal obligations therein specified.