Programme eligibility rules

The hierarchy of rules on eligibility of expenditure applicable to Interreg projects is as follows, and apply to all partners of the project, independently of partner country:

1. EU rules on eligibility as set out in the CPR, ERDF Regulation and Interreg Regulation;
2. Programme eligibility rules as set out in this document;
3. National (including institutional) eligibility rules. Such rules only apply for matters not covered by eligibility rules set in the abovementioned EU and programme rules.

This hierarchy of rules only applies to eligibility rules of expenditure.

All applicable EU and national rules, apart from eligibility of expenditure, are on a higher hierarchical level than rules set by the Interreg Aurora Programme and must therefore be followed (e.g. procurement law). In such cases, the partner has to follow the stricter applicable rule. National procurement rules must be observed for all purchases and full documentation of the procurement is mandatory for expenditure to be regarded as eligible.

The programme will use both real costs and simplified cost options (SCOs). Regarding real costs, all beneficiaries must maintain separate accounting records or use separate accounting codes for all transactions relating to the project. The SCOs are reported based on pre-defined calculation methods and are not expected to match with accounting records. Costs covered by a SCO cannot be reported under any other cost category as real costs as this would be double financing.

All costs must follow the principles of sound financial management and must be free from partiality and conflict of interest. A conflict of interest can arise when a decision is compromised for reasons involving family, emotional life, political or national affinity, or where any economic interest or any other interest is shared with another person.

All costs must be:

• project related, clearly connected to project activities traceable in the approved application form.
• directly supporting the achievement of results and outputs of the project
• incurred, entered into the project accounts and paid by the project partner during the project period.

Value added tax (VAT) is according to the EU-regulations eligible in projects with a budget up to EUR 5 000 000 (including VAT).