# Decision No 862/2010/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 September 2010 on the participation of the Union in a Joint Baltic Sea Research and Development Programme (BONUS) undertaken by several Member States (Text with EEA relevance), Division 2.2.3: The Implementation Modalities

Extent: E+W+S+N.I.

The Implementation Modalities shall include all aspects of securing the successful implementation of the Strategic Research Agenda. They shall, where appropriate, follow the rules of the Seventh Framework Programme. They shall consist, inter alia, of the following elements:
(a) adopting measures (drafting documents, establishing procedures, hiring and training staff) required by the Financial Regulation for indirect centralised management;
(b) obtaining formal commitments from Participating States amounting to at least EUR 48,75 million, out of which a maximum of 25 % may be in the form of an in-kind infrastructure contribution;
(c) providing a realistic and evidence-based estimate of the value of the in-kind infrastructure contribution of Participating States;
(d) compiling an exhaustive list of all infrastructures, including contacts for their owners, operators or other responsible authorities, and publishing it and updating it whenever necessary;
(e) ensuring that common implementation modalities are agreed and in place for the grant agreements with BONUS beneficiaries to be concluded centrally by BONUS EEIG, including common and agreed rules for participation, model grant agreement, guidelines for applicants, participants and independent evaluators, and modalities for the audit of beneficiaries, including the possibility for the Commission and the Court of Auditors to carry out such audits;
(f) developing an appropriate governance structure for the management of BONUS in all phases of the project lifecycle;
(g) ensuring that adequate funding is provided to strengthen BONUS EEIG in terms of human resources and multidisciplinary expertise in order to enable it to support the strategic aspects, as well as the efficient implementation of BONUS;
(h) developing a financing structure for funding BONUS projects;
(i) developing a communication and dissemination strategy which as far as possible ensures that the results and data follow the standards of the European Marine Observation and Data Network.
With regard to in-kind infrastructure contributions, a specific approach and rules shall be developed during the strategic phase whereby the Participating States commit themselves to providing to BONUS beneficiaries access to and use of infrastructure (notably research ships) free of charge. Costs for the use of such infrastructure shall not be eligible project costs. In this regard, BONUS EEIG shall conclude relevant agreements with the Participating States or the infrastructure owners, which shall:
(a) define the methodology for evaluating in-kind infrastructure contributions;
(b) ensure that BONUS EEIG, the Commission and the Court of Auditors can audit the access to and use of the infrastructure and costs arising from it;
(c) stipulate that the contracting parties shall report annually on the costs incurred in providing the access to or use of the infrastructure to BONUS beneficiaries.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eudn/2010/862/annex/I/division/2/division/2.2/division/2.2.3 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/eu-decision-2010-862/annex-I/division-2/division-2.2/division-2.2.3
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.