Munich

Over a fifth of the expenses claimed by researchers funded under the European Commission's Fifth Framework Programme of Research (FP5) should not have been paid, according to the European Court of Auditors.

The court studied 28 representative projects from the €13.7-billion (US$16.3-billion), five-year programme, which ended in early 2003. Its report, published on 20 April, found a 21% error margin in the payouts.

Typical cases include the purchase of scientific equipment that was not covered by the terms of the grant, although the auditors say that the mistakes are due to mismanagement rather than fraud. More careful screening of the expenses could have avoided the problem, the court says.

The commission worked closely with the court during the audit, which began more than a year before FP5 ended. Realizing the problem, it inserted a requirement for external auditing of grantees' eligible costs into its follow-up Sixth Framework Programme.

But this extra rule is a burden for scientists, concedes commission spokesman Fabio Fabbi. “The commission is criticized for loopholes that allow excessive spending, but also for being overly bureaucratic,” he says, “We have to strike a balance.” The FP5 rules were already “an unnecessary complication for participants”, according to the auditors.