The blog about the most common issues faced by applicants and funding recipients.
I cover, among other things, adverse assessments of funding applications, formal protests, project controls, financial corrections, repayment of funding, project modifications, liability of management board members for repayment of funding, and project-related disputes with funding institutions.
Failure to receive the next instalment does not necessarily mean that the funding recipient has lost its entitlement to funding. It is necessary to determine whether the funding institution has temporarily suspended payment, reduced the amount claimed in the payment application or refused to make the payment, and the legal basis for its action.
Termination of a funding agreement usually entails an obligation to repay funding already received. The starting point is therefore to determine why the funding institution terminated the agreement and the legal basis on which it claims repayment.
Failure to achieve indicators in an R&D project does not necessarily mean repayment of funding. What matters above all is the reason for the failure, how the project was implemented and the stage the project has reached.
Expenditure included in the application for funding and already paid may still be considered ineligible. This may result in a reduction of the payment or repayment of funds already disbursed.
The risk of repayment of funding may arise already during project implementation, even though it only becomes apparent during a project control, audit or request for explanations.
A project already settled by NCBR or PARP may still be subject to an audit by Poland’s National Revenue Administration (KAS) or a control by the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau (CBA). Subsequent scrutiny may concern not only project documentation, but also how public funds were actually used.
Dr Anna Kulińska is an attorney-at-law specialising in State aid law, administrative law, EU law, and the legal aspects of public funding. She advises businesses and organisations implementing projects financed from EU funds and national support programmes, in particular on project modifications, project controls, audits, and administrative proceedings concerning repayment of funding.
