A standard legal framework governing all pan-European research facilities should make it easier for nations to develop large shared projects, European Union (EU) research ministers said after reaching agreement on the scheme on 29 May.

The framework, proposed last year by the European Commission, means that countries will no longer have to debate afresh — under a hotchpotch of national and EU laws — the structure and governance of each European Research Infrastructure (ERI), as collaborations are called. Future ERIs — such as the European Spallation Source, a neutron-science facility (see Nature 459, 626; 2009) — will be granted the status of an international organization, and exempted from VAT (value added tax) and excise duty.

"It will bring down barriers to investments in science and research," said Czech education minister Miroslava Kopicová, who chaired the Competitiveness Council meeting in Brussels.