Guidelines for applicants is a document from the provider that sets out the conditions of the call in detail – the submission procedure, the way conditions are proven, expenditure eligibility, the requirements for attachments and the course of the proceedings. Together with methodological instructions, it forms a binding framework that is more detailed than the text of the call itself and that governs disputed questions. The key circumstance is the version: the guidelines are updated during the course of the call, and the wording in effect at the time of a given action applies to it. Applicants therefore make a mistake when they work from a document downloaded six months earlier. It is recommended to save the version the application was prepared under and to monitor published changes throughout the entire implementation of the project. In case of a discrepancy between the guidelines and the text of the call, it is worth asking the provider for a written explanation and keeping the answer on file.
See also: Implementation system for the Recovery and Resilience Plan, Call for proposals, Evaluation criteria.
