RESEARCH : RESEARCHERS STILL FACE TOO MUCH RED TAPE, SAYS ECA REPORT.

• Position: European Union Court of Auditors

The EU's external auditor has given generally good marks to the European Commission for its management of the Union's Seventh Research Framework Programme (FP7). However, says the EU Court of Auditors (ECA) in a special report, published on 7 June, researchers seeking EU funding are still faced with "unnecessary inconsistencies". The court concludes that while FP7 processes are geared to ensuring that funds are invested in quality research, there is less focus on efficiency. The auditor recommends that this could be considerably improved, particularly via the development of better grant management tools and by shortening processing times.

The audit examined the rules of participation, the Commission's processes and the establishment of two new instruments. Thea results, says the court, will be useful not only for the remainder of the period covered by FP7, but also for the operational establishment of the next framework programme, Horizon 2020.

Firstly, the report addresses the changes introduced by the Commission to FP7 that have simplified the rules for participation. Particularly, the Commission has rationalised the requirements and improved its guidance documents for beneficiaries in a satisfactory manner. In some cases, the Commission has been able to align FP7 provisions with beneficiaries' practices, but more needs to be done in the future. FP7 beneficiaries are faced with inconsistencies related to some aspects of the rules for participation. The establishment of the Research Clearing Committee is a step in the right direction to tackle these inconsistencies, says the court, but the mechanisms for identification of diverging practices are weak.

The Commission's management of FP7 processes is strong in three areas; process design, improvement activities and management information - but less so as regards tools and resources.aThe existing tools do not allow efficient implementation and there are indications that too many staff resources are used for...