- Stein Øberg Senior Adviser +47 22 03 72 28 so@forskningsradet.no
- Mariken Vinje Director (department) +47 22 03 72 15 mvi@forskningsradet.no
Revisions from 1 January:
New terminology and conditions in the Research Council contracts
From 1 January, revisions to some of the terminology and conditions of the Research Council contract documents will apply.
The most important changes are:
- Terminology relating to collaboration have been simplified. It is now possible to draw up more than one collaboration agreement per project.
- The procedures for completing agreements have been simplified.
- The general conditions of the contract have been clarified.
Simplified terminology relating to collaboration – more than one collaboration agreement possible
The revised contract introduces the word “partner” as a key term, defined as “institutions, companies and other activities (as well as any designated individuals) that the Research Council, in its contract with the Project Owner, has stipulated are under obligation to provide professional or financial resources for the implementation of the project.”
The term “partner” replaces the term “active partners”, which has been in use in recent years. The Research Council now reserves the right to stipulate requirements relating to collaboration between partners.
(Foto: Shutterstock)
Another new element is that Project Owners will now normally be able to draw up different collaboration agreements in connection with projects that have multiple partners. The partners are thus no longer required to sign one and the same agreement (i.e. the document that up to now has been designated the consortium agreement).
The terms “active partner”, “other partner”, “consortium agreement”, “consortium” and “collaborative project” have all been deleted from the list of key terms in the General Terms of Contract. However, this terminology remains in force for projects where contracts prior to 2010 are in effect.
Simplified procedure for completing contracts
From 2010, the Research Council will send two copies of a signed agreement document by mail to the Project Owner c/o the project administrator.
In addition, partners will no longer need to submit a separate, signed document confirming that they are familiar with their role in and the conditions that have been agreed upon for the project. These elements have instead been incorporated as requirements under the General Terms of Contract.
The contract will enter into force from the date on which the Research Council has received one copy of all contract documents from the Project Owner, including copies of the signed collaboration agreements with partners. No funding will be disbursed until all the correct documents have been received.
The deadline for return of contract documents for projects that do not involve partners is one month, and three months for projects that do involve partners.
Greater clarity in General Terms of Contract
The 2010 version of the document General Terms of Contract contains a number of revisions.
The most important of these include:
- Section 1 Key terms: A number of terms have been deleted and several others have been updated (“actual costs”, “actual income”, “partner”).
- Section 2 The project: Requirements relating to the impartiality of employees of the Project Owner have been adjusted and the roles of the participants in projects involving partners have been more clearly defined.
- Section 3 Disbursement, transfers and reservations: The requirement regarding a dedicated bank account for each project for Project Owners that are not public institutions has been eliminated. The Research Council’s rights regarding withdrawal of funding granted has been specified more clearly.
- Section 4 Accounting and verification: The responsibility of the Project Owner to incorporate the project’s actual income and costs as part of its formal accounts is specified. The definitions of the terms “actual costs” and “actual income” have been made broader to encompass access to and use of resources beyond purely monetary means.
- Section 5 Reports: Requirements relating to open access for scientific articles have been added.
- Section 9 Confidentiality: A paragraph in which the Project Owner consents to allow the Research Council to make research administrative data about the project available for research has been added.
- Section 10 Transfer: A new provision stipulating that consent for mortgage proceedings must be approved by the Research Council’s director of financial affairs has been added.
- Section 13 Duration and discharge of the contract: A paragraph has been added stipulating that the contract will enter into force from the date on which it has been signed by both parties and one copy of the finalised contract and any collaboration agreements have been received by the Research Council.
The revisions introduced in the 2010 contract documents will not have any impact on the contracts for existing projects, and no changes to these will be necessary.
The webpages concerning contracts on the Research Council’s website are currently being updated, and the revised contract documents will be made available in English, as well as both official versions of Norwegian, bokmål and nynorsk.
- Published:
- 12.01.2010
- Last updated:
- 28.01.2010
