Acronyms

Legal Entity Appointed Representative

Every consortium member has to appoint a LEAR for their organisation, who is legally able to represent the organisation.

This task is often taken over by a person from the central administration of the facility. The LEAR is responsible for the accuracy of all facility-specific information. In the event of changes (e.g. to the name or legal status of the institution), the LEAR enters them into the Participant Register, which can be accessed via the personal area of the Funding & Tenders Portal. This data can be accessed by all Commission services wishing to contact the institution.

The LEAR also grants signing powers at the organisational level of an institution (but not at the project level). These powers concern legal representation (LSIGN) and the authority to send financial reports and payment requests (Financial Signatories, FSIGN). The LEAR sees all project participations of an institution, but not applications that are currently being prepared in the facility.

Only exactly one person can be LEAR in each facility. However, there can be an unlimited number of Account Administrators who support the LEAR in its tasks. This function is assigned by LEAR. In principle, designated persons of an institution can also have several functions.

Naming of the LEAR

The process of naming a LEAR begins automatically after a facility has been validated. However, it can also be initiated in parallel with validation. In this case, the person who has applied for the Participant Identification Code (PIC) must register a person as LEAR in the "My Organisation" section of the Funding & Tenders Portal. Further processes are then automatically initiated and documents are generated that have to be signed by hand:

• Order of the LEAR including description of the role and tasks of the LEAR (sample document)
• LEAR's acceptance of the Terms of Use of the Funding & Tenders Portal (sample document)

The documents must be signed, scanned and uploaded to the Funding & Tenders Portal by the legal representative of an entity and by the person designated as LEAR, together with the following documents:

• Copies of identity documents from the LEAR and the legal representation of an institution.
• Copy of a document explaining the powers of legal representation and confirming that the signatory performs this function.

The originals of the documents provided must be kept. In the case of an external audit, its submission may be requested. If an institution wants to use someone other than its LEAR, the process must be started again.

Activation of the LEAR account in the Funding & Tenders Portal and designation of a representative

As soon as the LEAR of an institution has been confirmed by the European Commission, the access data for the user-specific account of the LEAR in the Funding & Tenders Portal will be sent by e-mail or the password by post or SMS. Only after entering the activation code can the LEAR access the stored data.

In principle, each facility can only have one LEAR. But once designated, the LEAR can appoint an Account Administrator (AccAd). The latter has the same rights and obligations as the LEAR with the one exception that it cannot appoint any other account administrators.

Legal Signatory

a role that needs to be assigned o the EU platform as the person who has the legal right to sign documents on behalf of the consortium members' organisations. This can be the same as the LEAR and the FSIGN.