New ‘Purchase Costs’ Category

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  • There is a new 'Purchase costs' category (Column C) in the budget table for projects based on actual costs in Horizon Europe. It includes the following types of costs, which used to be considered as part of the 'Other direct costs' category in Horizon 2020:
    • Travel and subsistence (C1) – T&S expenditure incurred in accordance with the beneficiary's policies and practices;
    • Equipment (C2) – normally only depreciation cost of equipment used on the project;
    • Other goods, works and services (C3) – cost of services/goods such as the audit certificate (CFS), necessary for the implementation of the project.
  • While no changes are expected to the eligibility conditions for these costs in Horizon Europe, they now need to be specifically stated under 'Purchase costs' and separated out from the 'Other cost categories' category (Column D).
  • In Horizon Europe, depending on the type of action, these categories can be as follows:
    • D.1 Financial support to third parties (Actual costs);
    • D.2 Internally invoiced goods and services (Unit costs based on usual accounting practices);
    • D.3 Transnational access to research infrastructures (Unit costs);
    • D.4 Virtual access to research infrastructures (Unit costs);
    • D.5 PCP/PPI procurement costs (Actual costs);
    • D.6 European Partnership Cofund additional coordination and networking costs (Unit costs);
    • D.7 European Cofund staff mobility costs (Unit costs);
    • D.8 ERC additional funding (Actual costs);
    • D.9 ERC additional funding - subcontracting and internal invoices (Actual costs);
    • D.10 EIC portfolio activities; and
    • D.11 EIC pre-transition activities.
  • The relevant costs will need to be declared in separate budget lines for all beneficiaries and third parties such as affiliated entities (formerly called linked third parties) and associated partners (formerly known as international partners).
  • The change applies to all projects based on actual costs, including the ERC frontier research grants.