REGULATIONS FOR THE USE OF SINGLE PIECES OF EQUIPMENT
OR ENTIRE FACILITIES

Art. 1

The purpose of these Regulations is to define the procedures and modalities for accessing and utilizing the equipment and facilities available at COMT and/or at the Departmental facilities that form an integral part of the Centre. The hitherto defined Regulations also serve the purpose to define the modes of utilization of the equipment that the Centre may access thanks to specific agreements reached with other public or private research institutions. More globally, the present Regulations aim to optimize the exploitation of said instrumental resources by individual researchers of the University of Parma, by members of the Centres/Laboratories adhering to the Regional High-Technology Network of Emilia-Romagna, and by researchers operating at public or private institutions that may have commissioned to COMT the pursuing of specific research activities.

Art. 2

These Regulations apply to the equipment and facilities listed in the Instruments and Facilities section of the COMT website (www.comt.unipr.it).

Art. 3

The COMT personnel responsible for managing, overseeing and operating the equipment/facilities, shall ensure implementation and compliance with these Regulations.

Direct access to Facilities and Equipments requires that the users are in possess of a proper insurance that fully covers their liability in case of accidents.

Art. 4

Each piece of instrument/facility to which these Regulations apply is identified by a code printed on a tag which is affixed to the discrete piece of equipment, or to the entrance door of the facility. An identification sheet is available for each piece of equipment/facility. This contains the following items:

1. a thorough description of the equipment/facility and its operation procedures and modalities;
2. indication of the position of the instruments within the facility;
3. detailed instructions for use of the single instruments or the facility as a whole;
4. a booking sheet;
5. the name of the Reference person for the equipment/facility.

The identification sheet is regularly filled out and updated by the COMT personnel responsible for the equipment/facility.

Art. 5

Considering the entire set of equipment and facilities, i.e. not limited to a single piece of equipment or facility, COMT guarantees the accessibility to internal and external users ^[1] of its instrumental assets for a minimum number of 10 non-consecutive business days per month. The actual number of business days assured for each piece of equipment/facility to users not affiliated with COMT, or not bound to it by specific agreements, is determined by the designated Reference person for each piece of equipment/facility and is notified upon request to the indicated users.

Direct use, in other words direct access with no prior request, to the equipment/facilities is granted exclusively to researchers affiliated with COMT ^[2] , provided that they are duly qualified as defined by the Reference persons of the equipment/facilities. These individuals are prioritized for the use of the equipment/facilities which are made available to them in three different scenarios:

1. for the conduction of research contracts supported by specific funds provided by funding institutions;
2. for the pursuing of properly recognized and asserted technical-scientific cooperation agreements with public and private institutions;
3. through services rendered to third parties for a fee. Internal and external users may access the equipment only in the presence of the COMT’s personnel or, if in possession of documentation proving that they have already been trained and/or are competent in the use of the equipment, by specific authorization issued by the Reference person of the equipment/facility. In that case, authorization to directly access the equipment or facility is granted only after the Reference person, or his/her delegated substitute, have verified the operators’ actual skills and abilities.

Researchers affiliated with COMT shall be able to access the equipment/facilities, in full compliance with these Regulations, for institutional research purposes, for applied research activities, for services rendered to third parties within the framework of agreements signed by COMT, for the providing of services directly commissioned to the Centre, or by members of the Departments of the University of Parma associated with the Centre. As mentioned in Art. 4, Letter “D”, in order to ensure unrestricted access and proper use of the equipment subjected to these Regulations, and to prevent any interference in the activities carried out by the researchers affiliated with the Centre, a booking sheet is provided for each piece of equipment/facility. These sheets are part of a logbook in which the following information must be provided by the end user:

1. name and affiliation;
2. scope of use (i.e. institutional research, scientific cooperation governed by a contract, or service rendered to third parties);
3. booking date and time.

The designated Reference person and/or COMT personnel authorized to use the equipment are responsible for the filling out this sheet.

Art. 6

The Reference person of each piece of equipment guarantees that the instrumentation is kept in conditions of proper operation and arranges the scheduling of routine and extraordinary maintenance (see Art. 3). The Reference person is also responsible for suggesting ways of procuring financial coverage for these maintenance services by either accessing funds that the Centre may have specifically allocated to such purpose or, where allowed and/or deemed reasonable, by requesting that the costs are shared by the affiliated members of the COMT that actually make regular use of the equipment.

Art. 7

The fees for the use of each piece of equipment/facility shall be charged to the end-users according to the Rates defined in the Instruments and Facilities section of the COMT website (www.comt.unipr.it). These rates may vary depending upon the affiliation of the client (internal vs. external user), must be regularly updated and, in any event, reviewed every year also on the basis of the actual use of the individual pieces of equipment and facility.

Application of the user’s Rates, i.e. the fee defined in advance and requested to be paid for using a piece of equipment/facility, is normally proposed by the Reference person of the equipment/facility. This means that the COMT personnel may decide, at its own discretion, to allow the equipment/facility to be used free of charge (for example within the scope of a scientific cooperation or industrial agreement). The researchers affiliated with COMT and their direct associates shall be able to consistently access the equipment and facilities free of charge, but not independently of proper arrangements with the Reference person, as stated in Art. 5 of these Regulations. Internal users belonging to the University of Parma and/or to the Regional High-Technology Network of Emilia-Romagna (or their associates), may access the equipment for a reduced fee, up to 50% lower than that charged to external operators. This without prejudice to special agreements, scientific collaborations formalized by means of allocated funding, or agreements through which additional funds may be accessed for the management of the equipment and facilities.

It is understood that in all other cases not listed above, the costs of all consumables and accessories that may be necessary for the use of the equipment, or that may be specifically requested by the customer, shall be charged to the user. This with the exception for material accessible by means of prior agreements entered into with members of COMT.

Art. 8

The present Regulations have been approved by the directing bodies of the University of Parma, and are available for consultation on the COMT website (www.comt.unipr.it). For additional explanations, please refer to the Centre’s Director, or directly contact the single Reference person indicated for the equipment/facilities enlisted on the aforementioned website.