Consortium Agreement for iCUPE project Project title

210 Pages·2017·8.45 MB·English

iCUPE Consortium Agreement
Consortium Agreement
for
iCUPE project
Project title:
Integrative and Comprehensive Understanding on Polar
Environments (iCUPE)
A project of
THE EUROPEAN NETWORK FOR OBSERVING
OUR CHANGING PLANET
(ERA-PLANET)
Grant Agreement n. 689443
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iCUPE Consortium Agreement
iCUPE is a project funded under ERA-Net Cofund Actions.
iCUPE ultimate goal is to answers to ”European network for observing our changing planet”
(ERAPLANET) thematic strand 4 (Polar areas and natural resources). By combining integrated in-
situ and satellite EO with a modelling platform, iCUPE will: 1) synthesize data from comprehensive
long-term measurements, intensive campaigns and satellites, collected during the project or
provided by on-going international initiatives 2) relate the observed parameters to impacts, and 3)
deliver novel data products, metrics and indicators to the stakeholders concerning the environmental
status, availability and extraction of natural resources in the polar areas. These data, metrics and
indicators will be targeted to identified stakeholders. They will be useful for policy development
and for improving and clearly communicating our multidisciplinary understanding of status of the
polar environment and pollution dynamics in the future. The knowledge generated is relevant to the
general population, policy makers and scientists.
The iCUPE concept is served by a methodology comprised of 7 Work packages described in the
iCUPE Consortium Plan. The latter is attached as Attachment 4 to this Consortium Agreement.
This Project Consortium Agreement is based on the ERA-PLANET Consortium Agreement that
remains the main term of reference for any dispute.
In the case of provisions not covered in this Consortium Agreement, the relevant provisions of
the ERA-PLANET Consortium Agreement shall be considered.
In case the terms of this Consortium Agreement are in conflict with the terms of the ERA-
PLANET Consortium Agreement, the terms and conditions of the latter shall prevail.
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iCUPE Consortium Agreement
Table of Contents
Section 1: Definitions .................................................................................................................................... 8
1.1 Definitions ............................................................................................................................................... 8
1.2 Additional Definitions ............................................................................................................................. 8
Section 2: Purpose ....................................................................................................................................... 10
Section 3: Entry into force, duration and termination ............................................................................ 11
3.1 Entry into force ...................................................................................................................................... 11
3.2 Duration and termination ....................................................................................................................... 11
3.3 Survival of rights and obligations .......................................................................................................... 11
Section 4: Responsibilities of Parties ......................................................................................................... 12
4.1 General principles .................................................................................................................................. 12
4.2 Termination ........................................................................................................................................... 12
4.3 Breach .................................................................................................................................................... 13
4.4 Involvement of third parties .................................................................................................................. 13
Section 5: Liability towards each other .................................................................................................... 14
5.1 No warranties ......................................................................................................................................... 14
5.2 Limitations of contractual liability ........................................................................................................ 14
5.3 Damage caused to third parties .............................................................................................................. 14
5.4 Force Majeure ........................................................................................................................................ 14
Section 6: Governance structure ............................................................................................................... 15
6.1 General structure ................................................................................................................................... 15
6.2 General operational procedures for Project Consortium Bodies ........................................................... 15
6.2.1 Representation in meetings ............................................................................................................. 15
6.2.2 Preparation and organisation of meetings....................................................................................... 15
6.2.3 Voting rules and quorum ................................................................................................................ 16
6.2.4 Veto rights ...................................................................................................................................... 17
6.2.5 Minutes of meetings ....................................................................................................................... 17
6.3 Specific operational procedures for the Project Consortium Bodies ..................................................... 18
6.3.1 Project General Assembly .............................................................................................................. 18
6.3.2 Project Executive Board ................................................................................................................. 18
6.3.3 Project Coordinator......................................................................................................................... 19
6.3.4 Project Management Support Team ............................................................................................... 20
Supports the Project coordinator during the different phases of the project and care the relationship with
the Parties. ............................................................................................................................................... 20
6.3.5 Trans-national Project Work Package Leaders and Task Leaders.................................................. 20
6.4 External Advisory Boards ..................................................................................................................... 21
6.4.1 Advisory Boards ............................................................................................................................. 21
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6.4.1.1 Policy Advisory Board ................................................................................................................ 21
The Policy Advisory Board will care the interaction among the policy makers and the stakeholders
(private or public). ................................................................................................................................... 21
6.4.1.2 Scientific Advisory Board ........................................................................................................... 21
The Scientific Advisory Board will care the scientific interaction with the stakeholders (private or
public). ..................................................................................................................................................... 21
6.4.1.3 Stakeholder Network ................................................................................................................... 21
The stakeholder network is composed by the project stakeholders that are the main targets of the project
outcomes. ................................................................................................................................................. 21
6.4.2 Preparation and organisation of meetings....................................................................................... 21
Section 7: Financial provisions .................................................................................................................. 23
7.1 General Principles ................................................................................................................................. 23
7.1.1 Overview ........................................................................................................................................ 23
7.1.2 Distribution of the EU Funding ...................................................................................................... 23
7.1.3 Justifying costs towards the European Commission ...................................................................... 23
7.1.4 Financial consequences of the termination of the participation of a Party ..................................... 23
7.2 Payments................................................................................................................................................ 23
7.3 Withholding of payments ...................................................................................................................... 24
7.4 Budgeting .............................................................................................................................................. 24
7.4.1 Budget Share of the Parties in the Project ...................................................................................... 25
7.4.2 Payment Payment to Parties ........................................................................................................... 25
7.5 Insufficient financial contribution of the European Commission .......................................................... 25
7.6 Return of excess payments; receipts ...................................................................................................... 26
Section 8: Results ......................................................................................................................................... 27
8.1 Ownership of Results ............................................................................................................................ 27
8.1 Ownership of Results ............................................................................................................................ 27
8.2 Dissemination of own Results ............................................................................................................... 27
8.3 Dissemination of another Party’s unpublished Results or Background ................................................ 28
8.4 Use of names, logos or trademarks ........................................................................................................ 28
Section 9: Access Rights ............................................................................................................................. 29
9.1 General Principles ................................................................................................................................. 29
9.2 Access Rights for implementation ......................................................................................................... 30
9.3 Access Rights for Exploitation .............................................................................................................. 30
9.4 Access Rights for Parties entering or leaving the consortium ............................................................... 30
Section 10: Non-disclosure of information and confidentiality .............................................................. 31
10.1 Scope ................................................................................................................................................... 31
10.2. Approach ............................................................................................................................................ 31
10.3 Range ................................................................................................................................................... 31
10.4 Exception ............................................................................................................................................. 31

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10.5 Handling .............................................................................................................................................. 32
10.6 Unauthorised disclosure ...................................................................................................................... 32
10.7 Disclosing Confidential Information in order to comply with applicable laws or regulations ............ 32
Section 11: Data Management ................................................................................................................... 33
Section 12: Miscellaneous ........................................................................................................................... 34
12.1 Attachments, inconsistencies and severability .................................................................................... 34
12.2 No representation, partnership or agency ............................................................................................ 34
12.3 Notices and other communication ....................................................................................................... 34
12.4 Assignment and amendments .............................................................................................................. 35
12.5 Mandatory national law ....................................................................................................................... 35
12.6 Language ............................................................................................................................................. 35
12.7 Applicable law ..................................................................................................................................... 35
12.8 Settlement of disputes .......................................................................................................................... 35
Section 13: Signatures ................................................................................................................................. 36
Attachment 2: Accession document .......................................................................................................... 51
Attachment 3: Background included ........................................................................................................ 52
Attachment 4: iCUPE Consortium Plan .................................................................................................. 53

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iCUPE Consortium Agreement

This Consortium Agreement is based upon Regulation (EU) No 1290/2013 of the European
Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2013 laying down the rules for the participation and
dissemination in “Horizon 2020 – the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (2014-
2020)” (hereinafter referred to as “the Rules”), and the ERA-PLANET Consortium Agreement
(amended version of November 28th 2016, approved by ERA-PLANET partners), and the Grant
Agreement N. 689443 for ERA-PLANET and its annexes including its amendments. This
Consortium Agreement is made on 1th September 2017 hereinafter referred to as the Effective Date.
This Consortium Agreement is entered into between:
The Project Coordinator:
37 (Coordinator) Fysiikan laitos, ilmakehätieteen laitos, Helsingin yliopisto (UHEL) -
Finland
and the following other Parties:
1. Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) - Italy
2. Aarhus Universitet (AU) - Denmark
5. Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) -
Germany
7. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) - France
11. Estonian University of Life Sciences (EULS) - Estonia
14. Finnish Meteorological Insitute (FMI) - Finland
17. Helmholtz Zentrum Potsdam GFZ Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum (GFZ) - Germany
18. Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht Zentrum für Material- und Küstenforschung GmbH
(HZG) - Germany
25. N.C.S.R. Demokritos, Institute of Nuclear Technology and Radiation Protection (NCSR)
- Greece
27. Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI) - Switzerland
30. Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS) - Germany
36. Stockholms universitet (SU) - Sweden
hereinafter, jointly or individually, referred to as ”Parties” or ”Party” relating to the Project entitled
“Integrative and Comprehensive Understanding on Polar Environments”, in short “iCUPE”
hereinafter referred to as “Project”
WHEREAS:
The Parties, having considerable experience in the field concerned, have submitted a proposal for
the Project within the ERA-PLANET Joint Call as part of ERA-PLANET Cofund Actions under
Horizon 2020 (2014-2020). The proposal was retained for funding by independent experts as a
contribution to the ERA-PLANET thematic strand 4 (Polar areas and natural resources).

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iCUPE Consortium Agreement

The Parties wish to specify or supplement binding commitments among themselves in addition to
the provisions of the ERA-PLANET Grant Agreement N. 689443 and its annexes including its
amendments (hereinafter “Grant Agreement”) and the ERA-PLANET Consortium Agreement.

NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS HEREBY AGREED AS FOLLOWS:

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iCUPE Consortium Agreement

Section 1: Definitions
1.1 Definitions
Words beginning with a capital letter shall have the meaning defined either herein or in the Horizon
2020 Rules for Participation or in the Grant Agreement including its Annexes.
1.2 Additional Definitions
Co-fund: means the Parties’ direct contribution which can be in-kind and/or in cash.
Consortium Body of iCUPE is a body that is part of the organisational structure of this
Consortium.
Consortium Budget of iCUPE means the global budget for implementation and execution of the
Project as detailed in Section 7 of this Consortium Agreement.
EU-Top-Up is the financial contribution of the European Commission to the Trans-national
Projects funded according to the ERA-PLANET Consortium Budget, as defined in the Grant
Agreement and its annexes and amendments.
In-kind funding or In-kind contribution means a contribution of a Party that may involve
external funding and/or internal resources of the Party. This contribution can include professional
services or expertise (provided as costs of permanent and/or non-permanent research staff),
provision of (or access to) equipment, special materials and facilities. The extent to which in-kind
contribution is deemed eligible to the project is linked first of all to the provisions set by the
European Commission in the ERA-PLANET Grant Agreement, but also by the National and/or
institutional obligations of a Party.
Project Consortium means all of the Parties participating in the Project which are signatories to
this Consortium Agreement.
Project Consortium Plan is the Description of the Project and the related agreed budget as result
of the approved funded project. Updates to the Project Consortium Plan shall be proposed to the
ERA-PLANET Executive Board, which shall express his decision by accepting or rejecting the
changes. The Description of the Project (i.e. the initial project proposal, Part B, Technical Annex
Sections 1-3), at its start, is given as Attachment 4 to this Consortium Agreement; the agreed budget
is given in Section 7 of this Consortium Agreement.
Project Coordinator is the Party in charge of the overall coordination of iCUPE. The appointed
Coordinator is Tuukka Petäjä – Helsingin yliopisto, established in Helsinki, Finland (Party n° 26).
Project Task Leader (PTL) means the Party that has been allocated responsibility by the Project
Consortium to coordinate a specific task.
Project Work Package Leader (PWPL) means the Party that has been allocated responsibility by
the Project Consortium to coordinate a Work Package composed of one or several tasks.
Needed means:
For the implementation of the Project:

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Access Rights are needed if, without the grant of such Access Rights, carrying out the tasks
assigned to the recipient Party would be impossible, significantly delayed, or require
significant additional financial or human resources.
For exploitation of own Results:
Access Rights are needed if, without the grant of such Access Rights, the Exploitation of own
Results would be technically or legally impossible.

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iCUPE Consortium Agreement

Section 2: Purpose
This Consortium Agreement refers only to the Project iCUPE.
The purpose of this Consortium Agreement is to specify with respect to the Project the relationship
among the Parties, in particular concerning the organisation of the work between the Parties, the
management of the Project and the rights and obligations of the Parties concerning inter alia
liability, Access Rights and dispute resolution, Financial Provisions and implementation of the
Project.

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