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1. In accordance with Annex III to the Sixth Framework Programme, and within the limits of the Community framework for State aid for research and development(8), the Community financial contribution may take the following forms:

(a) For networks of excellence, it shall take the form of a fixed grant for integration on the basis of the joint programme of activities. The amount of that grant shall be calculated taking into account the degree of integration, the number of researchers that all participants intend to integrate, the characteristics of the field of research concerned and the joint programme of activities. It shall be used to complement the resources deployed by the participants in order to carry out the joint programme of activities. This grant shall be paid out on the basis of results, following the ongoing execution of the joint programme of activities, and on condition that its expenses, which are to be certified by an external auditor, or in the case of public bodies, a competent public officer, are greater than the grant itself.

(b) For some actions to promote human resources and mobility and some specific support actions, except for the indirect actions covered by Article 9(2)(b), it may take the form of a lump-sum payment.

(c) For integrated projects and the other instruments, except for those covered by points (a) and (b) and indirect actions covered by Article 9(2)(b), it shall take the form of a grant to the budget, calculated as a percentage of the budget established by the participants to carry out the indirect action, adapted according to the type of activity and taking into account the cost model used by the participant concerned. The expenses needed to implement the indirect action shall be certified by an external auditor or, in the case of public bodies, a competent public officer.

2. Eligible expenses shall be defined in accordance with the first subparagraph of Article 12(2) and must meet the following conditions:

(a) they must be actual, economic and necessary for the implementation of the indirect action;

(b) they must be determined in accordance with the usual accounting principles of the individual participant;

(c) they must be recorded in the accounts of the participants or, in the case of the resources of third parties referred to in the third subparagraph of Article 8(2), in the corresponding financial documents of those third parties;

(d) they shall be exclusive of indirect taxes, duties and interest and may not give rise to profit. By way of derogation from the actual cost principle and with the agreement of the participants, the contract may lay down average rates of Community financial participation by type of expenditure or pre-set lump sums, as well as a value by activity which shall approximate to the expenses envisaged.

3. Costs for management of the consortium shall be reimbursed up to 100 % of the costs incurred and shall include the cost of audit certificates. In this case legal entities which participate in the indirect action on an additional cost basis may claim the full costs they have incurred for management, in so far as they can produce detailed evidence of them. The contracts shall lay down a maximum percentage of management costs in relation to the Community contribution. A share of no more than 7 % shall be reserved for management costs by the consortium.