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Second call for proposals for the community programme on the conservation, characterisation, collection and utilisation of genetic resources in agriculture established by Council Regulation (EC) No 870/2004 of 24 April 2004 (1)

Call identifier: AGRI GEN RES 2006

(2006/C 102/11)

1.   BACKGROUND

On 24 April 2004, the Council adopted Regulation (EC) No 870/2004 (1) on the conservation, characterisation, collection and utilisation of genetic resources in agriculture. The Regulation defines in Articles 5, 6 and 7 and Annex I the types of actions the Community may fund.

In accordance with Article 8(1) of that Regulation and after consultation of the Committee as laid down in Articles 8(1) and 15(2) of the Regulation, the Commission adopted, in December 2004, a work programme (2), setting out the objectives, the general provisions and the types of actions to be funded.

In accordance with Articles 9 and 15(2) of the Regulation, and after consultation of the Committee, the European Commission (referred to as ‘the Commission’) invites applications in the field of genetic resources in agriculture covering the actions concerned. The actions submitted under this call for proposals (referred to as ‘the Call’) could be funded from appropriations available in the 2006 budget.

2.   OBJECTIVES, SCOPE OF THE COMMUNITY PROGRAMME AND ELIGIBLE ACTIONS

2.1.   Objectives

The main objectives of the Community programme established under Council Regulation (EC) No 870/2004 are:

2.2.   Scope

As referred to in Article 2 and specified in Annex I of Council Regulation (EC) No 870/2004, the Community programme applies to plant, microbial and animal genetic resources which are or could be of use in agriculture and which currently occur within the territory of the Community.

2.3.   Actions

Under this Call, the Commission may finance three types of actions for the implementation of the Community programme:

The actions co-financed under the Community programme shall have a maximum duration of four years, as specified in Article 8(2) of Council Regulation (EC) No 870/2004.

3.   GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR SUBMITTING PROPOSALS

3.1.   How to prepare a proposal

Before applying, proposers should carefully read this Call, Council Regulation (EC) No 870/2004, the work programme, the guide for proposers, especially the rules for participation, and all other relevant documentation available on the Commission's web site:

http://europa.eu.int/comm/agriculture/envir/biodiv/genres/call_en.htm

Proposers shall comply with the rules for participation specified in the guide for proposers and the conditions of this Call.

Proposers must prepare and submit:

Proposals must be submitted in an official language of the European Union. However, it is strongly recommended to prepare and submit the proposal in English to facilitate the evaluation by an international group of independent experts.

3.2.   When and to whom to send proposals

To be eligible, proposals consisting of the paper copy and the CD ROM must be sent by the proposer to the Commission not later than 30 June 2006 for targeted, concerted actions and accompanying actions.

The proposals must be sent by registered mail with acknowledgement of receipt (the postmark on the envelope being taken as proof of the date of sending) to the following address:

Proposals will be rejected if they are sent after the due date as specified above, or if they are sent to other postal addresses than the one specified above. Submissions by e-mail or by fax are not permitted.

Proposals sent by the above-mentioned deadline but not received by the Commission within 15 calendar days after the deadline, i.e., by 15 July 2006, will not be considered eligible. Mail shall be considered to have been received on the date on which it is formally registered by the Commission. It is the responsibility of the proposers to ensure that the necessary precautions are taken to respect this deadline.

Without prejudice to the provisions of Article 178 of the Financial Regulation's Implementing Rules, proposals that are submitted on paper only (i.e., without the CD ROM) or are incomplete will not be accepted in the framework of the present call for proposals.

In the case of successive submissions of the same proposal, the Commission will examine the latest version received before the due date as specified above.

3.3.   Procedure and timetable followed by the Commission in dealing with the proposals

The following evaluation process is implemented as stated in the guide for proposers.

The Commission will first check the proposals against the eligibility criteria as indicated in the guide for proposers and in the guide for evaluators.

The eligibility criteria concern the correct and complete submission of the proposal (such as receipt of the proposal by the Commission on or before the deadline specified in the Call and completeness of the supporting documentation). Furthermore, proposers who are in one of the situations referred to in Articles 93 and 94 of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 (4) will be excluded.

The supporting documents that shall accompany the proposal, including the supporting documents related to compliance with Articles 93 and 94 of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002, are listed in Annex I to this Call.

Proposals for actions to be financed under the Community programme will be selected on the basis of independent expert assessment as referred to in Article 9(5) of Council Regulation (EC) No 870/2004.

The selection and award criteria that will be used for this assessment are provided in Annex II to this Call, in the guide for proposers and in the guide for evaluators.

It is expected to draw up the list of beneficiaries and the amounts of the grants awarded by the end of 2006.

If the requested grant is awarded, the beneficiary will be asked to sign a grant agreement with the Commission, denominated in euro and specifying the conditions and the level of financing.

The possible start-up date of the selected actions is early to mid-2007. The starting date of the action will be specified in the grant agreement.

If the requested grant is not awarded, the proposer will be informed in writing, giving the reasons for the rejection of the proposal.

4.   FINANCING

Eligible costs are defined in the guide for proposers and the grant agreement (Article 14 of the General Conditions). The Community contribution for targeted actions shall not exceed 50 % of the total eligible cost of the action. For concerted and accompanying actions, it shall not exceed 80 % of the total eligible cost of the action.

No prefinancing is provided for the actions being awarded a grant under this Call. Contributions in kind shall not constitute eligible costs.

Selecting a proposal does not commit the Commission to granting the full amount requested by the proposer. Under no circumstances will the grant exceed the amount requested

In the budget of 2006, EUR 3,82 million are foreseen for grants. An increase of up to EUR 2,0 million may be granted at a later stage by the budgetary authorities. The indicative share for the targeted, concerted actions and accompanying actions is:

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(1)OJ L 162, 30.4.2004, p. 18.

(2)  Commission Decision C(2004) 5355 of 28.12.2004.

(3)  Applications for actions should be submitted in PDF (‘portable document format’, version 3 or higher with embedded fonts) or RTF (‘rich text format’).

(4)OJ L 248, 16.9.2002, p. 1.

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ANNEX I

DOCUMENTS REQUIRED FOR SUBMISSION OF A PROPOSAL

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ANNEX II

1.   Selection criteria:

2.   Award criteria:

Eligible proposals will be evaluated in the light of the following criteria:

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