The Declaration of secrecy will be distributed in paper form at the beginning of the event for signing. If possible, please print and sign a copy of the declaration beforehand, and take it with you to the event. 

I, the undersigned, do hereby confirm that

1. in connection with my participation in the ERC Proposal Reading Day organised by the Research Council 
of Finland ERC National Contact Points and to aid the preparation of my own ERC proposal (hereafter 
referred to as “the Purpose”), I will be granted access to successful applications (hereafter referred to as 
“the Applications”) submitted to the European Research Council (ERC).

2. The Applications have been provided to me by the Research Council of Finland. The Applications are 
secret documents according to the Finnish Act on the Openness of Government Activities (621/1999).
According to the section 24 (Secret official documents) of the Act, “unless specifically provided otherwise, 
the following official documents shall be secret:
(20) documents containing information on a private business or professional secret, as well as documents 
containing other comparable private business information, if access would cause economic loss to the 
private business, provided that the information is not relevant to the safeguarding of the health of 
consumers or the conservation of the environment or for the promotion of the interests of those suffering 
from the pursuit of the business, and that it is not relevant to the duties of the business and the 
performance of those duties
(21) documents concerning the basic materials for a dissertation or other scientific study, technological or 
other development project, or the assessment of the same, unless it is obvious that access will not cause 
inconvenience to the completion of the dissertation, study or development project or their exploitation, its 
appropriate assessment or the person carrying out the research, nor to the person commissioning the 
study or development project
(32) documents containing information on the political convictions or the privately expressed views of a 
person, or information on a person’s lifestyle, participation in voluntary associations or leisure-time 
activities, family life or other comparable personal circumstances of the person; however, documents 
containing information on the activity of a person in political or other elected office, or his or her seeking 
such office, as well as the participation of a person in the establishment or registration of a political party, 
or the establishment of an electoral association are in the public domain.”
I declare that I will keep the information contained in the Applications secret. In particular, I will not 
disclose to anyone any secret information I have gained in connection with participation in the ERC 
Proposal Reading Day.
This obligation of secrecy includes that I will not make use of this information myself in contexts other 
than for the Purpose.
The obligation includes that I will not use secret information for personal benefit or the benefit of another, 
nor for the detriment of another.
My obligations apply without any time limitations.
I accept that a breach of the obligation of secrecy according to section 24 of the Finnish Act on the 
Openness of Government Activities makes me liable for the economic damages this would cause the 
person who has the right to confidentiality.
I accept that a breach of the document secrecy provision (section 22 of the Act) or the provision on
nondisclosure and prohibition of use (section 23) is punishable in accordance with the Criminal Code of 
Finland (39/1889), unless a more severe penalty has been provided in another act.

3. The information contained in the Applications to which I will gain access shall be used only for the 
Purpose and must not be copied or otherwise misused. I will not photograph or copy information from the 
Applications, and I will not take them out from the reading room. As soon as the Proposal Reading Day is 
over, I will return all materials to the organisers.

Place:
Date:
Name of Undersigned:
Signature: