Exclusion criteria (also known as irremediable criteria) are requirements in grant calls that primarily serve to protect against the misuse of grants. Failure to meet them results in the automatic rejection of the grant application without any possibility of correction.

Unlike correctable criteria, where the grant provider may request missing details or corrections, exclusion criteria bring an immediate end to the project evaluation.

Exclusion criteria are part of the eligibility and formal compliance check conducted in the first phase of grant application reviews. This stage precedes the technical assessment of the project.

Examples of exclusion criteria

Exclusion criteria apply not only to the applicant, but also to all linked enterprises, which the grant provider evaluates as a single entity. Although they vary by specific call, they typically include:

• confirmation that the applicant is not an undertaking in difficulty and is not undergoing insolvency proceedings,
• confirmation that there is no conflict of interest, e.g. involving politically exposed persons,
• information on the beneficial owner of the applicant, specifically fulfilling the condition that the beneficial owner does not reside in tax havens.