Dear Core Group members and invited experts,

All invited for a reimbursed participation in the London COST event Friday July 21st ,

As you may be new to COST Actions, it is important that you are aware of the rules for reimbursement for participation in COST events. The rules will be followed very strictly, and if you do not follow them, it can lead to you making costs that cannot be reimbursed.

The COST reimbursement rules you can find in section 4.1/page 25 of the vademecum: http://www.cost.eu/download/COSTVademecum

Main items to consider are:

  • For hotel costs are reimbursed as a flatrate of 120 per night, maximum of 2 nights (event duration+1), depending also on flight details. Also for meals there are flatrates used.
  • For flights the rule is that you choose the cheapest option, and my recent experience with COST is that they actually check this, and do not reimburse full costs for flights for e.g. 400 euro if decent options for 200 euro are also available, or if you fly not from your home country and this leads to increased costs (store the ‘normal’ options for reference!).
  • Also high costs due to late reservation can lead to limited reimbursement. (so the advice is to book timely!)
  • Taxi costs are very much restricted, public transport is expected outside of limited flatrate for local transport (25 euro).
  • You can only be reimbursed if you sign the presence list.

You will receive a formal invitation through the COST system, and for this you will need to have a COST profile, in https://e-services.cost.eu/ (if you do not have it, you will receive an invitation email, or you can make it already). You will have to accept the invitation to claim a reimbursement. This invitation will in this case have some delay, as our Grant Agreement is not yet signed, but will probably be sent out in the next week. (You can consider your invitation confirmed with this email)

In COST you always have to pay your trip first, and eligible costs can afterwards be claimed until one month after the event. Also for this you will receive a notification.