Communication from the Commission on the implementation of Innovative Measures under Article 6 of the European Social Fund Regulation for the programming period 2000-2006
Date: 2001-01-12
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: European Social Fund, innovation, operational programme

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES

Brussels, 12.01.2001
COM(2000) 894 final

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION

on the implementation of Innovative Measures
under Article 6 of the European Social Fund Regulation
for the programming period 2000-2006

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I.

II.

III.

LEGAL CONTEXT ................................................................................................. 3

AIM ......................................................................................................................... 3

GENERAL PRINCIPLES ........................................................................................ 3

Innovation and experimentation ............................................................................................. 4

Support to the mainstream programmes ................................................................................. 4

Concentration ........................................................................................................................ 4

Complementarity.................................................................................................................... 4

Partnership ............................................................................................................................ 4

Continuous improvement........................................................................................................ 5

Transnational co-operation and networking........................................................................... 5

Equal opportunities................................................................................................................ 5

IV.

V.

THEMATIC FIELDS ............................................................................................... 5

ADAPTATION TO THE NEW ECONOMY WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF
SOCIAL DIALOGUE .............................................................................................. 6

Innovative approaches to anticipation of economic and social change. .................................. 7

Innovative approaches to the use of IS tools in the framework of social dialogue. .................. 7

New approaches to corporate social responsibility................................................................. 7

Innovative approaches to the modernisation of work organisation. ........................................ 7

Innovative approaches to promote Lifelong Learning............................................................. 7

VI.

LOCAL EMPLOYMENT STRATEGIES AND INNOVATION.............................. 8

Fostering the implementation of Local Action Plans for Employment and benchmarking

activities. .................................................................................................................. 8

Integration of the employment dimension in all local policies................................................. 9

Developing training standards for social entrepreneurs and innovators. ................................ 9

Development of financial instruments in support of the activities of the third system. ............. 9

Enhancing the quality of services and jobs. ............................................................................ 9

VII.

CAPITALISATION, DISSEMINATION, AND EVALUATION ............................. 9

VIII.

FINANCING, MANAGEMENT AND ANNUAL REPORTING ........................... 10

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I. LEGAL CONTEXT

1.

2.

3.

Article 1 of the European Social Fund Regulation1 provides that the Fund will
contribute to actions undertaken in pursuance of the European Employment Strategy
and the Annual Guidelines on Employment by supporting measures to prevent and
combat unemployment and developing human resources and social integration into
the labour market.

The European Social Fund (ESF) provides assistance through the operational
programmes (or single programming documents) under Objectives 1, 2 and 3 and
through the EQUAL Community initiative programme. A third form of support is
provided under Article 6 of the Regulation whereby, on its own initiative, the
Commission may finance Innovative Measures.

In pursuance of Article 22(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1260/19992, the Commission
has already produced Guidelines3 for the various types of Innovative Measures
concerned by Article 6. The ESF Committee adopted an Opinion on these Guidelines
on 22nd March 2000. In keeping with the code of conduct on the implementation of
the European Parliament was also consulted on these
the structural policies,
Guidelines and adopted a Resolution on 6th July 20004.

II. AIM

4.

The present Communication therefore sets out,
in greater detail, how the
Commission intends to exploit the possibilities offered by innovative measures under
Article 6 of the ESF during the programming period 2000-2006, building on the
Guidelines and taking into account the comments and suggestions made by both the
ESF Committee and the European Parliament.

III. GENERAL PRINCIPLES

5.

In accordance with Article 22(1) of Regulation No 1260/99, innovative measures
must be operated in a simple, transparent fashion, with sound financial management.
In addition, the operations will be based upon the following principles:

1

2

3

4

Regulation (EC) No 1784/1999 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 July 1999 on the
European Social Fund, OJ L 213 of 13.8.1999.
Council Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999 of 21 June 1999 laying down general provisions on the
structural funds, OJ L 161 of 26.6.1999.
Guidelines for the various types of innovative measures in the context of Article 22 of the General
Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999 – Innovative Measures under Article 6 of the ESF Regulation, reference
00220303.
European Parliament resolution on the draft Guidelines for the various types of innovative measures in
the context of Article 22 of the General Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999 – Innovative Measures under
Article 6 of the ESF Regulation.

3

Innovation and experimentation

6.

In the framework of the ESF, innovative measures seek to promote new approaches
and identify examples of good practice which may subsequently improve the
implementation of the operations supported by the Structural Funds. Thus the
transfer of experience from elsewhere e.g. another geographic area and/or another
industrial sector is also considered innovative. Therefore innovative measures
include the following types of innovation:

• process-oriented innovations which cover the development of new methods, tools

or approaches as well as the improvement of existing methods;

• goal-oriented innovations which centre around the formulation of new objectives
including approaches to identifying new and promising qualifications and the
opening up of new areas of employment in the labour market;

• context-oriented innovations which relate to political and institutional structures
and are concerned with system development in connection with the labour market.

Support to the mainstream programmes

7.

Innovative measures also support
the mainstream Structural Fund programmes.
Linkages with the monitoring committees and managing authorities will be fostered
so as to maximise the impact of innovative measures on mainstream operations.

Concentration

8.

The experience during the previous programming period suggests that innovative
measures should be concentrated on a defined number of thematic fields and projects
(e.g. using IT to improve communication within and between companies in the
framework of social dialogue, or exploring possibilities to foster wider partnerships
among local stakeholders in support of local job creation). This enables a transparent
and simple management, as well as focusing efforts on particular issues and
approaches.

Complementarity

9.

Innovative measures support activities that are complementary to those of the
mainstream programmes and the EQUAL Community Initiative. In addition, special
care will be taken to avoid overlaps with activities of an experimental nature that
could be financed through other budgetary lines. The establishment of synergies with
thematically related programmes will be sought (e.g. B5-5030 Preparatory actions
for a local commitment on employment, B3-4000 Industrial Relations and Social
Dialogue, etc.).

Partnership

10.

Priority will be given to proposals based on the principle of partnership under which
different actors (public authorities, private sector, social partners, third system, etc.)
can work together with common objectives. In principle, and depending on the theme
covered, proposals for projects could be submitted by social partner organisations,
private companies, non-profit organisations, national, regional and local authorities,
and education or training bodies located in the European Union.

4

Continuous improvement

11.

Innovative measures under Article 6 will build upon the lessons learnt from activities
supported within the previous programming period 1994-1999 (e.g. new sources of
jobs, local social capital, regional information society initiatives (RISI), etc.) and
from those undertaken in the context of other pilot programme such as "Third
System and Employment" or the territorial employment pacts.

Transnational co-operation and networking

12.

the previous programming round shows

The experience gained under
that
transnationality and the promotion of networking of actors working with others in
similar situations is a dimension which can bring significant added-value to project
operators. Within the framework of social dialogue, transnational projects provide
the opportunity to test innovative approaches in situ and to pilot the transferability of
innovation and special knowledge.

Equal opportunities

13.

Innovative measures apply the principle of equal opportunities for women and men
as part of the mainstreaming approach, as set out in Article 2.2(c) of the ESF
Regulation.

IV. THEMATIC FIELDS

14.

15.

One of the lessons learnt from the past programming period points to the merit of
regrouping activities within themes. Thus a thematic approach will be followed
during the period 2000-2006. However, it is difficult to foresee, at the beginning of a
programming period, what trends will emerge over such a long period and defining
themes too rigidly at the outset diminishes the possibility of identifying and testing
innovations. Whilst innovative measures must operate within themes complying with
the five policy fields of the ESF Regulation and the three horizontal issues that cut
across these fields (local employment
the social and labour market
dimension of the information society and equal opportunities for women and men)
the definition of thematic fields must remain sufficiently flexible to cope with new
areas of activity and innovation. Therefore only the thematic fields that will be
covered in the period 2001-2002 are defined here. New and/or modified themes will
be identified in the annual report (see section VIII. Financing, management and
annual reporting) in advance of subsequent calls for proposals.

initiatives,

Another lesson from the past programming period is that calls for proposals work
best if they have a well defined context and a clear purpose. This facilitates the
selection and capitalisation processes. The Local Social Capital and the Regional
Information Society Initiatives (RISI) are good examples of this focused approach.
Recent European Councils have set out an appropriate political context and
orientation for innovative measures, namely:

• The Lisbon European Council on 23 and 24 March 2000 set a new strategic goal
for the European Union to become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge
based economy in the world capable of sustainable economic growth with more
and better jobs and greater social cohesion. The attainment of this goal will enable

5

the Union to regain the conditions of full employment. In order to achieve this
the application of a decentralised approach in line with the
strategic goal,
principle of subsidiarity is required in which all different actors are mobilised and
involved, including the Member States, the regional and local levels as well as the
local actors to
social partners and the civil society. The contribution of
employment development has also been recognised in the Commission's
Communication "Acting Locally for Employment – A local dimension for the
European Employment Strategy5".

• The Commission will prepare a new Communication with proposals to develop a

more strategic approach for European support in this field.

• Further, the Santa Maria da Feira European Council on 19 and 20 June 2000
invited the social partners to play a more prominent
role in defining,
implementing and evaluating the employment guidelines which depend on them,
focusing particularly on modernising work organisation, lifelong learning and
increasing the employment rate, particularly for women.

16.

Thus the Commission will focus the calls for proposals for Innovative Measures
during the 2001-2002 period on the following themes:

• Adaptation to the new economy within the framework of Social Dialogue

• Local employment strategies and innovation.

17.

Within each of these themes the Commission requires the initiatives supported to
endeavour a balanced participation of women and men. Furthermore,
the
Commission will ensure that nobody is excluded from participation in these
initiatives because of a disability.

V. ADAPTATION TO THE NEW ECONOMY WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF
SOCIAL DIALOGUE

18.

Building on the experience of the programming period 1994–19996,
innovative
measures provide a testing ground to develop and disseminate diverse new forms of
work organisation, prepare the transition to a knowledge-based economy and society
in line with the Commission's Communication on "Strategies for jobs in the
Information Society"7, identify new approaches for emerging fields which ensures
adequate protection for all categories of workers, and update work practices that are
out of date.

5

6

7

COM(2000)196 of 7 April 2000.
Report on Innovative measures under Article 6 during the 1994-1999 period.
COM(2000)48 of 4 February 2000.

6

19.

It is intended therefore to give support to the following types of activities:

Innovative approaches to anticipation of economic and social change.

20.

Anticipation of industrial change can prepare and effectively target training to equip
(the scarce supply of) workers with the flexibility of skills required by the changing,
modern work environment. Priority will be given to innovative measures aimed at
strengthening employment and job qualifications by supporting anticipatory actions,
including dialogue.

Innovative approaches to the use of IS tools in the framework of social dialogue.

21.

Social dialogue, at all levels, needs to be modernised in response to changing needs –
new working practices, forms of contract, places of work, etc., – and communication,
using new channels and mechanisms, will play a major role. Priority will be given to
innovative measures aimed at using ICT tools in social dialogue, including training
for ICT literacy.

New approaches to corporate social responsibility

22.

The European Council in March 2000 made a special appeal to companies' corporate
sense of social responsibility (CSR) regarding best practices on lifelong learning,
work organisation, equal opportunities, social inclusion and sustainable development.
New approaches to CSR including awareness raising, extension to include small and
medium sized enterprises and exchanges of best practice will be supported.

Innovative approaches to the modernisation of work organisation.

23.

European firms need to adapt to the new conditions of global competition; exploiting
the competitive advantage associated with the shift
towards a knowledge-based
economy; promoting sustainable industrial development; making supply more
responsive to demand; reconciling family and working life. Priority will be given to
innovative measures aimed at new forms of work organisation pursuing these
objectives by helping firms to build new, long-term forms of competitive advantage
through exchanges of best practices on more effective development and deployment
of human knowledge and skills.

Innovative approaches to promote Lifelong Learning.

24.

The special Lisbon Summit highlighted the importance of lifelong learning: "Giving
higher priority to lifelong learning as a basic component of the European social
model,
including by encouraging agreements between the social partners on
innovation and lifelong learning". Priority will be given to innovative and
quantifiable approaches to lifelong learning.

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VI. LOCAL EMPLOYMENT STRATEGIES AND INNOVATION

25.

26.

27.

The European Employment Strategy is a framework suitable for territorial strategic
approaches to employment. The budgetary line on Preparatory actions for a local
commitment for employment (B5-503) has initiated pilot support for the feasibility
of creating local employment plans based on the Employment Guidelines. In
addition, EQUAL focuses on a strategic integrated approach based on territorial /
sectoral partnerships using 9 themes8 within the four pillars of the European
Employment Strategy. Territorial Employment Pacts have also been a testing ground
for strategic partnership approaches.

The activities undertaken under
the 1996/1997 call on "New Sources of
Employment" and the pilot programme "Third System and Employment" have
shown that the Third System is particularly effective at generating employment in
existing and new fields that respond to the changing (and unmet) needs of society
while enhancing the employability of the vulnerable and socially excluded. The
Third System adds value to the local development process and is able to combine
economic and social objectives. Innovative measures can contribute to a better
understanding of
the Third System and to enhance its
contribution to local employment.

the opportunities of

The consultation of
the Commission's Communication Acting Locally for
Employment has concluded that European support for local development and
employment initiatives should move from supporting individual initiatives towards a
more strategic form of support. A new Communication is scheduled for spring 2001
that will provide guidelines to help develop local and regional employment strategies
that can enhance the impact of the European Employment Strategy and the capacity
building of local players. Article 6 will be a key instrument to develop the tools that
will enable the mainstream in ESF programmes of the local dimension of the
European Employment Strategy and that lessons are drawn and disseminated.

28.

Within the support for local employment
following types of activities:

it

is intended to give priority to the

Fostering the implementation of Local Action Plans for Employment and benchmarking
activities.

29.

The 2001 draft employment guidelines provide a framework for local and regional
authorities to develop strategies for employment based on wide local partnerships.
Innovative measures will support the implementation of such strategies in close
partnership with both regional and national actors. Action research will be supported
so as to promote methods to benchmark the application of local employment
strategies entailing methodological work on indicators and benchmarks,
the
identification of good practices and mechanisms to ensure the exchange of practices
and experiences.

8

Communication establishing the guidelines for the Community initiative Equal, OJ C 127 of 5.5.2000.

8

Integration of the employment dimension in all local policies.

30.

Pilot actions seeking the integration of employment aspects in all local policies such
as waste management, culture, sports, education, childcare and other social services
and assessing their added value in terms of job creation will be supported.

Developing training standards for social entrepreneurs and innovators.

31.

New forms of entrepreneurship involving new forms of working and producing,
particularly linked to third system organisations, attempt to combine social and
economic goals and in doing so foster responses to new societal needs. Support will
be given to management and social skills required to help maximise the possibilities
of sustainability of civic entrepreneurship.

Development of financial instruments in support of the activities of the third system.

32.

Innovative measures will support the development of sustainable funding packages
for the Third System (avoiding a dependence on grants) that would combine
innovative financial
local solidarity savings,
vouchers, tax rebates.

instruments such as micro-credit,

Enhancing the quality of services and jobs.

33.

The development of methods for quality assurance, and certification of minimum
standards for levels of service provision and quality standards for working conditions
will be supported. Particular attention will be given to social and personal services,
including the third system.

VII. CAPITALISATION, DISSEMINATION, AND EVALUATION

34.

35.

innovative measures intrinsically includes a system of
The management of
capitalisation and dissemination of the results of projects and lessons learnt.
Successful innovation needs to be capitalised in order to achieve the maximum
impact on policy and, where appropriate, be incorporated across Objectives 1, 2 and
3 Structural Fund programmes and the National Action Plans for Employment. The
Local Social Capital and the Regional Information Society Initiatives (RISI) are good
examples of innovation feeding into the mainstream operations.

In order for the innovative measures to maximise the benefit of testing innovative
approaches in situ and piloting the transferability of
innovation and special
knowledge, there must be close co-operation between the Commission and national,
regional and local governments, as well as the social partners and third system
organisations. At Union level, the Commission will use existing Committees and
groups, such as the ESF Committee,
the Social
Dialogue committee or the European Work Organisation Network (EWON), to
disseminate and assess the implications for the European Employment Strategy and
other Community programmes of the activities launched.

the Employment Committee,

9

36.

To help identify and disseminate good innovative practices, the Commission will
support the following types of action in the process of creating an impact at Union
level:

• support the establishment of networks for co-operation and the exchange of
experience including presentation visits, seminars, studies and exchanges of staff;

• support studies and demonstration projects to publicise experience, as well as
conferences, seminars and websites in order to contribute to the dissemination of
innovation; support the clustering, networking and exchange of practices between
Article 6 projects;

• harness the potential offered by the new information technologies so that the ESF

innovative measures web pages become a European reference in this area.

37.

Innovative measures under Article 6 of the ESF will be subject to evaluation. Each
thematic field will be the subject of on-going and ex-post evaluation in order to
measure impact, innovation, effectiveness and transferability of the results obtained.

VIII. FINANCING, MANAGEMENT AND ANNUAL REPORTING

38.

39.

40.

41.

42.

The General Regulation sets out that innovative measures shall be implemented in a
simple, transparent fashion and in accordance with the principles of sound financial
management.

The European Social Fund (2000-2006) may finance innovative measures subject to
a ceiling of 0,40 % of the ESF annual funding9. The annual amount of credits for
ESF innovative measures for the 2000-2006 period is set according to the annual
allocation of budgetary credits. Activities funded include studies, pilot and
demonstration projects and exchanges of experience. Technical assistance measures
undertaken at the initiative of the Commission will be financed in accordance with
Article 23 of Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999.

The financial size of projects supported should be sufficiently large to generate
valuable experience. Each call will define a minimum and a maximum amount of
financial support (usually between 300.000 to 3 million Euro) as well as the
percentages of intervention of the ESF. Where the size of an individual project could
be excessively small, the possibility of financing proposals that would entail a group
of projects (with a single co-ordinating promoter) could be used.

The Commission will not provide grants supporting the full cost of projects.
Promoters will be required to make a contribution to the operation. ESF contribution
will cover neither ineligible costs, nor costs that would have been incurred if the
project had not taken place.

Project promoters must
responsibilities in the management of the projects will
demonstrate that they have the capacity to manage and account for public funding.

and financial
lie. They should also

show clearly where

administrative

9

Cf. Article 22(1) of (EC) Council Regulation 1260/99.

10

43.

44.

45.

46.

47.

In order to ensure the transparency of the support provided through innovative
measures, the Commission will use open calls for proposals, publicising these in the
Official Journal as well as on the Europa website. The eligibility of the potential
projects will be determined by the scope and theme of the published call for
proposals.

The promoter's guide accompanying each call for proposals will enable project
promoters to submit their grant applications in line with the criteria and requirements
set out in the Regulation (EC) n° 1784/1999.

After the decision to award a grant is taken, a contract (grant agreement) will be
concluded defining the rights and obligations of the parties, in conformity with the
Vademecum on grant management of the European Commission.

As a general rule projects will be managed directly by the services of the
Commission. However, in order to maximise the impact of Article 6 and where
deemed appropriate and efficient, the Commission will use global grants under
Article 27 of Regulation (EC) 1260/1999 as a form of financial support. The rules
and recommendations of the Vademecum on Grant management will be applicable to
the direct grants.

In order to disseminate as widely as possible the results from the innovative
measures, the services of the Commission will produce an annual report on the
implementation of innovative measures under Article 6. This report will be presented
to the ESF Committee and,
in accordance with the Code of Conduct, will be
forwarded to the European Parliament.

11