2001R1557 — EN — 30.07.2002 — 001.001 — 1
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►B COMMISSIONREGULATION(EC)No1557/2001
of30July2001
laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 814/2000 on infor-
mationmeasuresrelatingtothecommonagricultural policy
(OJ L 205, 31.7.2001, p. 25)
Amended by:
Official Journal
No page date
►M1Commission Regulation (EC) No 1366/2002 of 26 July 2002 L 198 29 27.7.2002
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COMMISSIONREGULATION(EC)No1557/2001
of30July2001
laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regula-
tion (EC) No 814/2000 on information measures relating to the
commonagricultural 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 agriculturalpolicy(
1), and in particular Article 9 thereof,
Whereas:
(1)In view of experience gained during the 2000 and 2001
marketing years, Commission Regulation (EC) No 1390/2000 of29 June 2000 laying down detailed rules for the application ofCouncil Regulation (EC) No 814/2000 on information measuresrelating to the common agricultural policy(
2) should be amended
in order to make some clarifications, improve the arrangements
for the receipt and processing of applications and provide for
greater flexibility in financing arrangements to allow up to 75 %financing of certain measures of exceptional interest. In view ofthe extent of these necessary amendments, and to achieve trans-parency for all the interested parties, Regulation (EC) No 1390/
2000 should be redrafted.
(2)Regulation (EC) No 814/2000 defines the type and content of
information measures relating to the common agricultural policy.
(3)A call for proposals is the most efficient and most transparentway of ensuring that the grants provided for in Regulation (EC)No 814/2000 receive the widest publicity and that the bestmeasures are selected.
(4)The eligibility criteria for applicants, the exclusion criteria andthe general selection criteria for the measures referred to inArticle 3(2) of Regulation (EC) No 814/2000 should be laid
down in detail.
(5)Amongst the recipients of the financing foreseen under Regula-
tion (EC) No 814/2000, there are organisations without a well-
defined legal status. In order to protect the financial interests of
the Community, when an advance on the grant is to be paid, itis, therefore, necessary for a bank guarantee of an equivalentamount to be provided.
(6)In order to make the financial resources available to the largestnumber possible, a financing rate of more than 50 % must be anexception.
(7)Notifying the Committee for the European AgriculturalGuidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF), established by CouncilRegulation (EC) No 1258/1999 of 17 May 1999 on the financingof the common agricultural policy(
3), of measures financed
under this Regulation will facilitate the coordination of measures
implemented by the Member States and those supported by the
Community.
(8)Taking into account the time limits necessary for the call for
proposals to be published, it is advisable to foresee the entry
into force of the Regulation with immediate effect.
(9)The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordancewith the opinion of the EAGGF Committee,2001R1557 — EN — 30.07.2002 — 001.001 — 2
(1) OJ L 100, 20.4.2000, p. 7.
(2) OJ L 158, 30.6.2000, p. 17.
(3) OJ L 160, 26.6.1999, p. 103.
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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 inthe form of work programmes and specific measures referred to inArticle 2(1)(a) and (b) of Regulation (EC) No 814/2000.
Article 2
Callforproposals
The Commission shall publish in the Official Journal of the European
Communities by►
M131 October ◄eachyear a call for proposals
specifying inter alia the priority topics and measures and the deadlines
for the submission of applications and for the commencement, imple-
mentation and conclusion of the measures concerned.
Article 3
Eligibility criteria forapplicants
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 private; in the case of organisations or associations bringing
together other organisations or associations, these last bodies mustalso be private;
(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 Statefor at least two years.
3. Where the agreement referred to in Article 9 provides for the
payment of an advance on the grant, the applicant shall provide abank guarantee of an equivalent amount.
This guarantee shall not be required where the applicant is a public
body.
Article 4
Reasonsforexcludingapplicants
Applicants will be excluded in the following cases:
(a) if they are in a state of bankruptcy, liquidation, cessation or suspen-
sion of activities, judicial winding-up, composition or similaraction, or if are the subject of such proceedings;
(b) if they have been convicted by a final judgment for an offence
relating to professional good character;
(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 informationgiven in point 3(c) and (d) of Annex I.
Article 5
Ineligiblemeasures
Apart from the measures listed in Article 2(3) of Regulation (EC) No
814/2000, the following shall not be eligible:
(a) profit-making measures;2001R1557 — EN — 30.07.2002 — 001.001 — 3
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(b) general assemblies or statutory meetings.
Article 6
Reasons for excluding measures and conditions governing the
admissibilityofmeasures
1. Work programmes shall be excluded where they involve an appli-
cation for a grant of less than EUR 25000 or more than EUR 500000.
2. Specific measures shall be excluded where they involve an appli-
cation for a grant of less than EUR 5 000 or more than EUR 100000.
3. Work programmes and specific measures shall be excluded where
the preparation thereof, implementation and follow-up are carried out
outside the period laid down in the call for proposals under which
they have been submitted.
4. Not more than one work programme or three specific measures
may be received from eachapplicant in one marketing year.
5. If the call for proposals for the marketing year in question
provides for a second date for the submission of applications, an appli-cant whose work programme has been rejected may submit a maximumof three grant applications, each for a specific measure, in compliance
with the ceiling laid down in paragraph 2 of this Article.
6. Grant applications shall be admissible only where they are made
in accordance withAnnex I.
Article 7
Selection criteria formeasures
1. The Commission shall select the applications to receive Commu-
nity financing on the basis of the quality of the project and 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 european dimension and value-added;
(c) their lasting multiplier effect at european, national and regional
level;
(d) their contribution to the development of lasting multinational, inter-
regional or inter-sectoral 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 set out in Annex II.
Article 8
Rateoffinancialassistance
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 cost for a specific measure or for one or more
measures contained in a programme provided that they are of excep-tional interest on the basis of the selection criteria and that theyprovide for subsistence expenses per participant and per day of lessthan 60 % of the maximum amount laid down in the scales made avail-able to applicants by the Commission.2001R1557 — EN — 30.07.2002 — 001.001 — 4
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Preference shall be given to measures implemented in rural areas.
Article 9
Agreement
The applications selected shall be the subject of an agreement between
the Commission and the beneficiaries covering the rights and obliga-tions resulting from the Commission decision to award a grant.
Article 10
Annualnatureofgrants
Grants shall be awarded on a strictly annual basis and shall imply no
right in subsequent years, even where the measure concerned forms
part of a multiannual strategy.
Article 11
Publicity
A list of the beneficiaries and activities financed under this Regulation
and the amounts and rates of financial support shall be published each
year in the Official Journal of the European Communities .
Article 12
Notification oftheEAGGFCommittee
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 13
Evaluation
Beneficiaries shall provide everything required for the evaluation of the
measures financed as provided for in Article 7 of Regulation (EC) No814/2000 and shall in particular, complete the questionnaires andevaluation forms attached to the application forms supplied by the
Commission.
The Commission shall carry out the evaluation four years at the latest
after the entry into force of this Regulation.
Article 14
Repeal
Regulation (EC) No 1390/2000 is hereby repealed.
Article 15
Entryintoforce
This Regulation shall enter into force the day 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.2001R1557 — EN — 30.07.2002 — 001.001 — 5
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ANNEX I
SUBMISSIONANDCONTENTOFGRANTAPPLICATIONS
1. Grant applications must be:
(a) submitted within the time limit laid down;
(b) fully and correctly completed, and typewritten;
(c) submitted in five copies(1), all signed and dated by the person respon-
sible for the measure, using the original grant application forms
available from the Commission as indicated in the call for proposals;
where all or part of the measure is to be implemented outside the
Community, an additional copy must be supplied;
(d) sent by registered post withacknowledgement of receipt;
(e) completed in one of the official languages of the Community; a brief
summary of the project in one or more other Community languagesmay be attached.
2. The forward budget must:
(a) be presented by measure (including for work programmes);
(b) be drawn up using the original documents provided on the web site or
from the Commission services indicated in the call for proposals;
(c) be balanced, expressed in euro, and free of errors;
(d) be sufficiently detailed to permit identification, monitoring and checking
of the proposed measures;
(e) indicate the calculations and specifications used in drawing it up;
(f) include on the revenue side:
— the direct contribution from the applicant,
— details of contributions from any other providers of funds,
— all revenue generated by the project including, where appropriate, the
fees required of participants,
— the requested Commission grant, where appropriate broken down into
the different applications submitted to the Commission;
(g) be dated and signed both on the revenue side and on the expenditure
side.
3. The following must be attached to the application:
(a) the applicant's articles of association, organisation chart, rules of proce-
dure and most recent general report;
(b) any document proving that the applicant does not fall within the scope of
Article 4(a), (b), (c) or (d) of this Regulation;
(c) balance sheets or annual accounts for the last two financial years;
(d) any document proving the financial, technical and professional capacity
of the applicant and, in particular, details of the academic and vocational
qualifications and experience of those responsible for the measure, the
average annual staff complement, the plant and technical equipment
available and a description of the measures implemented over the last
two years;
(e) the detailed programme of each measure specifying, inter alia , the parti-
cular subjects to be dealt with, the structure of the event or publication,
and, where possible, the names, qualifications and vocational experience
of those participants whose travel and subsistence expenses are to be
covered and of the contributors and the subjects the latter are to deal
with;
(f) all documents of use in appraising the content of the measure.
Where subcontractors are used, the same information must be supplied to
prove the financial, technical and vocational capacity of the subcontractor(s)
concerned.2001R1557 — EN — 30.07.2002 — 001.001 — 6
(1) Applications may be sent on electronic media but must be accompanied by a paper
copy signed and dated by the person responsible for the measure.
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ANNEX II
SELECTIONCRITERIA
1. For the criteria referred to in Article 7(2):
(a) the relevance and general interest of the measure are to be appraised, in
particular, in the light of:
— the extent to which the content of the measure is in line with the
objectives laid down in Article 1 of Regulation (EC) No 814/2000
and covers the priority topics set out in the call for proposals,
— the relevance of the information requirements identified by the appli-
cant,
— the extent to which the planned budgetary and human resources are
adapted to the measures proposed by the applicant,
— the suitability of the measures proposed by the applicant for the
public targeted;
(b) the European dimension and value-added are to be appraised, in parti-
cular, in the light of:
— the number of countries covered by the measure,
— the number of regions covered by the measure,— the number of sectors covered by the measure,— the number of organisations involved in drawing up and imple-
menting the measure,
— the degree of effective and balanced cooperation between the various
partners in the planning and implementation of the measures and in
their financial contributions,
— the representativeness of the organisations concerned (in terms of the
size of their membership and their areas of activity),
— the expertise of the contributors and people involved in implementing
the measures with regard to the topics covered;
(c) the lasting multiplier effect at european, national and regional level is to
be appraised, in particular, in the light of:
— the number of beneficiaries of the measure,
— the representativeness of the beneficiaries and the type of benefici-
aries involved,
— the dissemination policy chosen, i.e.:
— the communication tools proposed (publications, reports, data-
bases, directories, follow-up seminars, technical notes, etc.),
— the media used (paper, electronic, audio-visual),— the information channels used (press, direct mail, direct distribu-
tion, etc.),
— the follow-up given to the measure or its multiannual nature;
(d) the contribution to the development of lasting multinational, inter-
regional or inter-sectoral cooperation is to be appraised, in particular, in
the light of:
— the exchanges carried out,
— the joint use made of experiences,— the partnerships set up,— the networks created,— the establishment of a joint information/dissemination policy;
(e) the evaluation of the measures is to be appraised, in particular, in the
light of:
—t heex anteevaluation carried out,
—t heex postevaluation carried out,
— the criteria laid down for carrying out the evaluation,— the techniques used (surveys, questionnaires, statistics, etc).
2. For the criteria referred to in Article 7(3):
(a) whether the budget submitted is reasonable is to be appraised, in parti-
cular, in the light of:
— the total amount,
— the costs given for each item, with reference to the best market
conditions and the rates and scales laid down by the Commission,
— the balance between the various items,— the total cost per direct beneficiary of the measure;2001R1557 — EN — 30.07.2002 — 001.001 — 7
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(b) the contribution requested is to be appraised, in particular, in the light of:
— the total amount,
— that contribution as a proportion of total revenue;
(c) the ability of the applicant to mobilise other sources of financing is to be
appraised, in particular, in the light of:
— the applicant's own resources as a proportion of total revenue,
— committed public (national, regional or local) or private financing as
a proportion of total revenue,
— the size of the contribution required of the participants.2001R1557 — EN — 30.07.2002 — 001.001 — 8
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ANNEX III
ELIGIBLECOSTS
1. To be eligible, costs must:
(a) arise directly from the measure;
(b) be essential for the implementation of the measure and reflect the best
terms available on the market.
2. Costs must relate to:
(a) preparation of the measures concerned (design, research, coordination,
publicity, ex anteevaluation, etc.);
(b) implementation of the measures (production costs, speakers' fees, hire of
facilities and equipment, interpretation, printing of documents, participa-
tion in events, travel expenses, etc.);
(c) follow-up activities (press reviews, distribution of reports, ex postevalua-
tion, etc.).
3. The following are eligible:
(a) personnel costs (unit cost per working day), on presentation of pay slips
for the period concerned or invoices where outside personnel are used;
(b) travel expenses as follows:
— booking fees and the cost of second-class travel by train using the
shortest route, on presentation of the ticket,
— the cost of air travel for return journeys of more than 800 km, in
economy class, using the lowest available promotional fare (APEX,
PEX, Excursion, etc.), on presentation of the ticket and boarding
cards(1),
— the cost of inter-city journeys by coach, using the shortest route, on
presentation of the ticket or invoice,
— the cost of coach or car hire, provided that it is included in the
forward budget and duly justified, on presentation of the invoice,
— the cost of travel in a private car, based on second-class rail or coach
travel, using the shortest route, supplements excluded; such costs are
eligible on presentation of a declaration signed by the user specifying
the dates of departure and return and the point of departure and the
destination and an attestation from a rail or coachcompany indicating
the cost of such a journey(2); expenditure incurred by the user of a
private car on petrol, parking, road tolls and meals is not eligible,
— the cost of urban transport (bus, underground, tram) and taxi fares are
not eligible;
(c) accommodation and subsistence expenses, on the following conditions:
— up to a maximum amount per person per day (available from the
Commission); this amount covers the cost of accommodation and of
group meals taken in connection withimplementation of th e measure,
on presentation of the invoices,
— up to a maximum amount per person per meal (available from the
Commission); where provision is made for some or all meals not to
be taken together,
— joint hotel bills are eligible only where they indicate the number of
rooms, the names of the persons concerned and the number of nights;
restaurant bills must specify the number of diners and a list of diners
must be attached;
(d) the cost of interpretation and translation, on the same conditions as
personnel costs, up to maximum amounts (available from the Commis-
sion);
(e) the fees of experts or speakers, up to a maximum amount (available from
the Commission), on presentation of an invoice and proof of payment,
provided that the persons concerned are not national, Community or
international civil servants or members or employees of the organisation
receiving the grant or an associated or affiliated organisation;2001R1557 — EN — 30.07.2002 — 001.001 — 9
(1) Where another class is used, expenses are eligible only on presentation of an attestation
by the transport company indicating the cost of second-class travel, in which case theeligible expenditure will be limited to that amount.
(
2) By derogation, where there is no public transport link and for a return journey of up to
300 kilometres, the eligible cost shall be EUR 0,25 per kilometre.
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(f) the hire of conference halls and equipment, on presentation of the
invoice;
(g) subcontracting, but only in those cases stipulated in the agreement; where
the contract is for an amount of more than EUR 10000, the beneficiary
must obtain three tenders, provide the Commission with proof that the
subcontractor selected represents the best value and justify that choice
where the tender selected is not the cheapest; the subcontractor is subject
to the same rules as the beneficiary;
(h) the cost of publication and distribution and the cost of audio-visual
productions, other than personnel costs, on presentation of the invoices;
(i) other costs arising from the requirements of the grant agreement (audits,
specific evaluations of the measure, reports, translations, securities, etc.),
on presentation of the invoices;
(j) a contingency reserve of a maximum of 5 % of the direct eligible costs;
(k) a fixed amount of up to 7 % of the total direct eligible costs, including
the contingency reserve, to cover the cost of consumables, supplies and
other costs (including telephone, fax, couriers, Internet, photocopies and
all office supplies), provided that the beneficiary is in receipt of no other
operating costs grant from the European Commission.
4. The following are not eligible:
(a) contributions in kind;
(b) non-specified or one-off expenditure, except in the particular cases
referred to in this Regulation;
(c) indirect costs (rent, electricity, water, gas, insurance, taxes, etc.);
(d) invested capital costs, contingency reserves, interest on debts owed,
exchange rate losses, gifts and expenditure on luxuries.
5. The dates taken into account for the eligibility of costs are the dates when the
costs are generated and not the dates when the accounting documents are
drawn up.
No expenditure generated before the date on which the measure commences
as specified in the grant agreement may be taken into consideration.
6. All invoices must be made out in due and proper form in accordance withth e
legislation or rules of the country concerned and must specify the amount
and percentage of VAT. Poor-quality copies will not be taken into considera-
tion.
7. No unjustified cost will be taken into account.
8. Costs must have actually been incurred, be recorded in the beneficiary's
accounts or tax documents and be identifiable and verifiable.
9. Where eligible costs are directly covered by another provider of funds, this
must be specified in the forward budget and in the final accounts under
‘Other contributions’ and fulfil the conditions laid down in paragraphs 6, 7
and 8.2001R1557 — EN — 30.07.2002 — 001.001 — 10