The European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) is a specific legal form that facilitates the establishment and operation of Research Infrastructures with European interest.

The Statutes rule the governance of MIRRI, according to the regulatory requirements of the ERIC and of the legal framework of Portugal, the Statutory Seat of the RI.

The Statutes will be submitted to the EC during Spring 2021 for final approval and constitution of the MIRRI-ERIC legal entity.

MIRRI is engaged to provide as much as open and free access as financially possible, especially for Member and Observer countries. However, for sustainability reasons, free-open access will not always be implemented, in which case user fees may apply, especially for users from countries that are not contributing Members or for those following a market-driven mode of access. MIRRI-ERIC will seek funding mechanisms to reduce the cost of access for users, for example through research collaborations or transnational access supported by EU-funded projects.

For the provision of services, MIRRI relies on the commitments that the partners acquire by signing the MIRRI-ERIC Partner Charter, including the targeted accession into their catalogues of new valuable resources, the provision of TNA or the participation in clusters of expertise, following appropriate quality standards.

Microbial resources, technological services and courses can be provided on-site or remote and will follow the “European Charter for Access to Research Infrastructures”, which includes 3 modes of access: Excellence-driven, Market-driven and Technical need-driven. For the last two modes of access, a contract will be established between the User and MIRRI-ERIC, which will define the obligations and responsibilities of each party, confidentiality, and Intellectual Property management where necessary. These types of access will contribute to strengthening the innovation chain and the user has to cover the cost of the service or enter into a collaborative agreement with MIRRI, where both parties benefit from the collaboration.

The excellence-driven mode of access will be provided through open calls, where users need to fill in an application that will be evaluated based on scientific merit, type of institution (profit/non-profit) and membership (MIRRI-ERIC Member countries). Free or partially-free access will be provided to the best rated proposals.

Virtual tools, i.e. advanced data analysis, expert clusters forum, consultancy, webinars and tutorials, will require registration (registered CWE users). Depending on the type of institution (profit/non-profit), the membership status and the range of services requested, different pricing modalities will be offered to the users, with advantageous conditions to institutions from MIRRI-ERIC countries and non-profit organizations.

Scientific events organized by MIRRI-ERIC will also be subjected to fees, and discount rates will be available for users from MIRRI-ERIC countries, non-profit organizations and registered CWE users.

The Partner Charter defines criteria for the participation of microbial domain biological resource centres (mBRCs), institutions or individuals providing resources, services, training and expertise or participating in joint projects in MIRRI. Access to the document is provided here.

Adhering to the Partner Charter MIRRI Partners agree to comply with the following policies, that can be downloaded here:

• MIRRI-ERIC Data Management Policy
• MIRRI-ERIC Policy for compliance with the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Nagoya Protocol
• MIRRI-ERIC Policy on biorisk assessment and biosecurity measures
• MIRRI-ERIC Accession Policy
• MIRRI-ERIC Policy on Intellectual Property Rights