Clear glossary of the terms that come up most in grants
Official calls use technical vocabulary that repeats from one grant to the next. Knowing these terms saves reading time and helps you understand what each listing actually requires.
1. Terms about the procedure
Governing rules are the framework document that sets the general rules, and can underpin several successive calls. The call is the act that opens a specific deadline for a year or period. The processing body handles the file; the awarding body decides.
Competitive procedure means applications are compared and scored against each other; direct award means it's granted without a competition, for example through named subsidies set out in a budget or by a specific rule.
2. Terms about money and limits
The call's total budget is not the same as the maximum amount per beneficiary: the first is shared among all approved applications, the second is the ceiling each one can receive. De minimis is the limit of public aid a company can receive within a set period without needing special European Union authorization.
The aid intensity is the percentage of the expense the subsidy covers. The eligible expense is what the rules accept to fund, within a specific eligible period; outside those dates, the expense normally isn't accepted.
3. Terms about deadlines and procedures
Correcting means fixing a defect in the application within the deadline stated in the request. Administrative silence is the legal effect of not receiving a reply in time, and that effect (favorable or unfavorable) varies by call.
The administrative or reconsideration appeal allows you to challenge a decision. The activity report and the justifying account are the documents used to prove, after the award, that the money was spent as approved.
Checklist
- I can tell governing rules and call apart
- I can tell competitive and direct award apart
- I understand the difference between total budget and maximum individual amount
- I know what an eligible period is
- I recognize what a correction request means and its deadline