Commission Regulation (EC) No 1390/2000
of 29 June 2000
laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 814/2000 on information measures relating to the common agricultural policy
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 814/2000 of 17 April 2000 on information measures relating to the common agricultural policy(1), and in particular Article 9 thereof,
Whereas:
(1) Regulation (EC) No 814/2000 defines the type and content of information measures relating to the common agricultural policy. Measures to implement that Regulation should be laid down, in the light, in particular, of past experience.
(2) A call for proposals is the most efficient and most transparent way of ensuring that the grants provided for in Regulation (EC) No 814/2000 receive the widest publicity and that the best measures are selected.
(3) The eligibility criteria for applicants, the grounds for exclusion, and also the general selection criteria for the measures referred to in Article 3(2) of Regulation (EC) No 814/2000 should be laid down in detail.
(4) The recipients of the financing under Regulation (EC) No 814/2000 include organisations without any well-defined legal status; for the purpose of protecting the Community's financial interests, therefore, provision of a guarantee of an equivalent amount should be demanded whenever payment of an advance on the grant is approved.
(5) In order to make the financial resources available to the largest number possible, a financing rate of more than 50 % must be an exception.
(6) Notifying the Committee for the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF), established by Council Regulation (EC) No 1258/1999 of 17 May 1999 on the financing of the common agricultural policy(2), of measures financed under this Regulation will facilitate the coordination of measures implemented by the Member States and those supported by the Community.
(7) As far as the year 2000 is concerned, the time limits attaching to any call for proposals necessitate a derogation from the provisions governing such call, albeit without disturbing the application of the other provisions of this Regulation, in order to permit applications to be selected according to their date of presentation.
(8) The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the EAGGF Committee,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1
Scope
This Regulation lays down detailed rules for the application of the information measures relating to the common agricultural policy, in the form of work programmes and specific measures, referred to in Article 2(1)(a) and (b) of Regulation (EC) No 814/2000.
Article 2
Call for proposals
The Commission shall publish in the Official Journal of the European Communities by 31 July each year a call for proposals, specifying, inter alia, the priority topics and measures, the indicative allocation of the budget appropriations available and the deadlines for the submission of applications and the commencement of the measures concerned.
Article 3
Eligibility criteria for applicants
1. The organisations and associations referred to in Article 2(1)(a) of Regulation (EC) No 814/2000 must meet the following conditions:
(a) be non-governmental;
(b) be non-profit-making;
(c) have been established in a Member State for at least two years.
2. The parties referred to in Article 2(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 814/2000 must be legal persons legally constituted in a Member State for 'at least two years, with the exception of the public authorities of Member States, or universities or the media, provided that they fulfil the condition laid down in paragraph 1(c) of this Article.
3. Where the agreement referred to in Article 10 provides for the payment of an advance on the grant, the applicant shall provide a bank guarantee of an equivalent amount.
This guarantee shall not be required where the applicant is a public body.
Article 4
Reasons for excluding applicants
Applicants shall be excluded in the following cases:
(a) if they are in a state of bankruptcy, liquidation, cessation or suspension of activities, judicial winding-up, composition or similar arrangement, or if they are the subject of such proceedings;
(b) if they have received a sentence, passed by final judgment, for an offence against professional ethics;
(c) if they are guilty of serious professional misconduct;
(d) if they are in breach of the rules regarding the payment of social security contributions, taxes or dues;
(e) if they do not have the financial, technical or professional capacity required to implement the measure in the light of the information given in Annex I(3)(c) and (d).
Article 5
Ineligible measures
Besides the measures set out in Article 2(3) of Regulation (EC) No 814/2000, the following shall not be eligible:
(a) profit-making measures;
(b) general assemblies or statutory meetings.
Article 6
Conditions governing the admissibility of applications
Grant applications shall be admissible only where they are drawn up in accordance with Annex I.
Article 7
Reasons for excluding measures
1. Work programmes shall be excluded where they:
(a) commence before the date specified in the call for proposals;
(b) end after 30 April of the year following that of the financial contribution;
(c) involve an application for a grant of less than EUR 25000 or more than EUR 500000
2. Specific measures shall be rejected where they:
(a) commence less than three months after submission of the grant application to the Commission;
(b) end after 30 April of the year following that of the financial contribution;
(c) involve an application for a grant of less than EUR 5000 or more than EUR 100000.
Article 8
Selection criteria for measures
1. The Commission shall select the applications to receive Community financing on the basis of the quality of the project and its cost-effectiveness, as laid down in Article 3(2) of Regulation (EC) No 814/2000.
2. The quality of projects shall be appraised, inter alia, on the basis of:
(a) their relevance and general interest;
(b) their Community dimension and added value;
(c) their lasting multiplier effect at Community, national and regional level;
(d) their contribution to the development of lasting multinational, interregional or intersectoral cooperation;
(e) the means contemplated for evaluating the measures.
3. Cost-effectiveness shall be appraised, inter alia, on the basis of:
(a) whether the budget submitted is reasonable;
(b) the contribution requested from the Commission;
(c) the ability of the applicant to mobilise other sources of financing.
4. The selection criteria shall be as further set out in Annex II.
Article 9
Rate of financial assistance
1. The maximum rate of Community financing for the measures selected shall be 50 % of the eligible cost as defined in Annex III.
2. The maximum rate of Community financing may be increased to 75 % of the eligible costs for a specific measure or for one or more measures contained in a programme, on condition that they are of exceptional interest in terms of the selection criteria, and that they entail:
(a) costs of interpretation or translation into at least four of the official languages of the Community or of the applicant countries representing more than 20 % of the eligible costs, subject, in the case of interpretation, to there being at least five participants per language;
(b) subsistence expenses per participant and per day of less than 60 % of the maximum amount laid down in the scales made available to applicants by the Commission.
Preference shall be given to measures implemented in rural areas.
Article 10
Agreement
The applications selected shall be the subject of an agreement between the Commission and the beneficiaries covering the rights and obligations resulting from the Commission decision to award a grant.
Article 11
Annual nature of grants
Grants shall be awarded on a strictly annual basis and shall confer no right in subsequent years, even where the measure concerned forms part of a multiannual strategy.
Article 12
Publicity
A list of the beneficiaries and activities financed under this Regulation, together with the amount and the rate of financial support, shall be published each year in the Official Journal of the European Communities.
Article 13
Notification of the EAGGF Committee
The EAGGF Committee shall be notified of:
(a) the content of the call for proposals before its publication;
(b) the work programmes received;
(c) the measures selected to receive a grant;
(d) activities implemented on the Commission's initiative.
Article 14
Evaluation
Beneficiaries shall provide everything required for the evaluation of financed measures pursuant to Article 7 of Regulation (EC) No 814/2000, and shall in particular complete the questionnaires and evaluation forms enclosed by the Commission with the application forms.
The Commission shall carry out the evaluation four years at the latest after the entry into force of this Regulation.
Article 15
Transitional measures
1. For 2000 and notwithstanding Article 2, persons wishing to receive a Community grant Article 2(1)(a) or (b) of Regulation (EC) No 814/2000 must submit a grant application to the Commission in accordance with this Regulation. The applications must be sent to the Commission at least three months before the commencement of the measures concerned, and in any event no later than 30 September 2000.
2. The EAGGF Committee shall be notified of the measures selected for receipt of grants under paragraph 1.
Article 16
Entry into force
This Regulation shall enter into force on the seventh day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
Done at Brussels, 29 June 2000.