REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL Second Report on the Application of Council Regulation (EC) No 723/2009 of 25 June 2009 on the Community legal framework for a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC)
Date: 2018-07-06
Institutions: Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, European Commission
Subjects: EU Member State, EU office or agency, application of EU law, associated country, consortium, operation of the Institutions, research body, research programme, scientific cooperation, third country

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 6.7.2018 COM(2018) 523 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL Second Report on the Application of Council Regulation (EC) No 723/2009 of 25 June 2009 on the Community legal framework for a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC)  
 
 
REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND 
THE COUNCIL 

Second Report on the Application of Council Regulation (EC) No 723/2009 of 25 June 
2009 on the Community legal framework for a European Research Infrastructure 
Consortium (ERIC) 

1. 

INTRODUCTION 

Council  Regulation  (EC)  No  723/2009  on  the  Community  legal  framework  for  a 
European Research Infrastructure Consortium1 (hereinafter referred to as “the ERIC 
Regulation”)  was  adopted  in  2009  in  order  to  facilitate  the  establishment  and  the 
operation  of  large  European  research  infrastructures  among  several  Member  States 
and associated countries by providing a new legal instrument, the European Research 
Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC).  
The ERIC Regulation was amended in December 20132 to allow better reflection of 
the contributions of associated countries in the ERIC by putting those countries at an 
equivalent level as Member States in the governing bodies of the ERIC in terms of 
voting rights in the light of the possible hosting of ERICs in associated countries. 

The  first  report  on  the  application  of  the  ERIC  Regulation  was  adopted  by  the 
Commission  on  14  July  20143  and  in  accordance  with  Article  19  of  the  ERIC 
Regulation submitted to Council and the European Parliament. It was also submitted 
to the Committee of Regions and the European Economic and Social Committee. 

In its conclusions of 5 December 2014, Council "WELCOMES the progress reported 
by the Commission in its first Report on the implementation of the ERIC Regulation, 
and  INVITES  the  Commission  to  present  the  next  ERIC  implementation  Report  by 
2017.  

INVITES  the  Commission  and  Member  States  to  take  appropriate  measures  to 
facilitate the use of the ERIC instrument and to stimulate investments in ERICs and 
other  ESFRI  Roadmap 
in-kind 
contributions." 

for  example  as  concerns 

Infrastructures, 

The second report on the application of the ERIC Regulation has been drawn up by 
the Commission pursuant to this invitation from Council.  

2. 

BACKGROUND 

The ERIC Regulation addresses one of the major difficulties that was identified for 
the  establishment  of  new  European  Research  Infrastructures,  apart  from  scarcity  of 
resources  and the complexity of technical and organisational  issues,  i.e. the lack of 
an  adequate  legal  framework  agreed  by  all  countries  allowing  the  creation  of 
appropriate partnership with partners from different countries.  

1 
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OJ L 206, 8.8.2009, p. 1. 
OJ L 326, 6.12.2013, p.1. 
COM(2014) 460 final 

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The  ERIC  Regulation  facilitates  the  quicker  establishment  of  European  Research 
Infrastructures  by  saving  time  in  avoiding  the  repetition  of  negotiations,  project  by 
project,  to  analyse  and  discuss  the  best  legal  form  for  such  international  research 
organisations,  with  related  advantages  and  disadvantages  and  the  time  saved  in 
avoiding discussions in each national parliament related to the approval of a needed 
international agreement in case the ERIC Regulation would not have existed. 

to  enable 

The  ERIC  Regulation  also  responds  to  the  European  political  ambition  of  creating 
the  European  Research  Area 
tackling  current  challenges  (e.g. 
internationalisation  of  research;  achievement  of  critical  mass;  development  of 
distributed facilities; development of reference models). It contributes to building an 
EU identity around flagship scientific facilities leading to the increase of the positive 
image  of  the  European  Union  at  international  level  by  providing  the  international 
counterparts with a single legal entity of which they could become member or with 
which cooperation and possible partnerships could be agreed.  

The ERIC legal structure is used to establish and operate different types of research 
infrastructures, either single-sited or distributed. Distributed research infrastructures 
may range between research infrastructures having facilities located in different sites, 
operated by a single legal entity, and research infrastructures set up as a central hub 
coordinating  the  operation  of  distributed  facilities  which  may  retain  their  legal 
personality.  Almost  all  of  the  ERICs  that  have  been  established  until  now  operate 
distributed research infrastructures. 

3. 

LEGAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ERIC  

The ERIC Regulation provides a common legal framework based on Article 187 of 
the  Treaty  on  the  Functioning  of  the  European  Union  (TFEU)  complementing 
national  and  intergovernmental  legal  and  regulatory  schemes  for  establishing 
transnational Research Infrastructures.  

According to the ERIC Regulation, an ERIC is a legal entity with legal personality 
and full legal capacity recognised in all Member States. It requires membership of at 
least three states: one Member State and two other countries that are either Member 
States  or  associated  countries.  Its  members  may  be  Member  States,  associated 
countries,  third  countries  other  than  associated  countries  and  intergovernmental 
organisations.  They  jointly  contribute  to  the  achievement  of  the  objectives  of  an 
ERIC,  primarily  the  establishment  and  operation  of  a  research  infrastructure  of 
European importance. Member States, associated countries, third countries other than 
associated  countries  and  intergovernmental  organisations  may  also  be  observers 
without voting rights. 

The ERIC internal governance structure is flexible, allowing the members to define, 
in  the  Statutes,  their  rights  and  obligations,  the  bodies  and  their  competences  and 
other internal arrangements. The ERIC Regulation provides for Member States and 
associated countries to hold jointly the majority of voting rights in the assembly of 
members.The  liability  of  the  members  for  the  debts  of  an  ERIC  may  be  limited  to 
their respective contributions; flexibility will however  be allowed in the Statutes to 
provide  for different  liability  regimes  going  above  that  limit.  The applicable law  is 
Union  law,  the  law  of  the  State  of  the  statutory  seat  or  of  the  State  of  operation 
regarding certain administrative, safety and technical matters. The Statutes and their 
implementing rules must comply with such applicable law.  

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An  ERIC  is  considered as  an  international  body  or  organisation in  the sense  of  the 
Directives on value-added tax, on excise duties and may thus benefit from exemption 
of  VAT  and  Excise  Duties.  Being  also  considered  an  international  organisation 
within the meaning of the Directive on public procurement, an ERIC may adopt its 
own procurement rules. 

An  ERIC  is  set  up  by  an  Implementing  Decision  of  the  Commission  acting  on  the 
basis of implementing powers conferred by the Council. The Commission acts upon 
an  application  submitted  by  those  Member  States,  countries  and  intergovernmental 
organisations wishing to become founding members of the ERIC. The procedure for 
the  adoption  of  a  Commission  decision  includes  an  assessment  by  independent 
experts,  in  particular  in  the  field  of  the  intended  activities  of  the  ERIC.  The 
Commission also seeks the opinion of the management committee provided for under 
Article  20  of  the  ERIC  Regulation  (ERIC  Committee)  which  is  composed  of 
representatives of the Member States and associated countries. 

4. 

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ERIC REGULATION 

At  the  time  of  writing  of  the  first  report  on  the  application  of  the  the  ERIC 
Regulation,  seven  ERICs  were  established.  These  are  SHARE-ERIC  (Survey  of 
Health, Aging and  Retirement in  Europe)4 hosted first by the Netherlands and  then 
by  Germany,  CLARIN-ERIC  (Common  Language  Resources  and  Technology 
Infrastructure)5  and  EATRIS-ERIC  ((European  Advanced  Translational  Research 
Infrastructure  in  Medicine)6  both  hosted  by  the  Netherlands,  ESS-ERIC  (European 
Social  Survey)7  hosted  by  the  United  Kingdom,  BBMRI-ERIC  (Biobanking  and 
Biomolecular  Resources  Research  Infrastructure)8  hosted  by  Austria,  ECRIN-ERIC 
(European  Clinical  Research  Infrastructure  Network)9  and  Euro-Argo  ERIC10  both 
hosted by France. 

Since  then,  twelve  additional  ERICs  have  been  established.  These  are  CERIC-
ERIC11  (Central  European  Research  Infrastructure  Consortium)  hosted  by  Italy, 
DARIAH-ERIC12  (Digital  Research  Infrastructure  for  the  Arts  and  Humanities) 
hosted  by  France,  JIV-  ERIC13  (Joint  Institute  for  Very  Long  Baseline 
Interferometry), hosted by the Netherlands, the European Spallation Source ERIC14, 
hosted by Sweden, ICOS-ERIC15 (Integrated Carbon Observation System) hosted by 
Finland,  EMSO-ERIC16  (European  Multidisciplinary  Seafloor  and  Water  Column 
Observatory),  hosted  by  Italy,  LifeWatch  ERIC17  (e-Science  and  Technology 
European Infrastructure for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research) hosted by Spain, 

4 
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15 
16 
17 

OJ L 71, 18.3.2011, p. 20. 
OJ L 64, 3.3.2012, p. 13. 
OJ L 298, 8.11.2013, p. 38. 
OJ L 320, 30.11.2013, p. 44. 
OJ L 320, 30.11.2013, p. 63. 
OJ L 324, 5.12.2013, p. 8. 
OJ L 136, 9.5.2014, p.35. 
OJ L 184, 25.6.2014, p. 49. 
OJ L 239, 12.8.2014, p. 64. 
OJ L 363, 18.12.2014, p.156. 
OJ L 225, 28.8.2015, p. 16. 
OJ L 303, 20.11.2015, p. 19. 
OJ L 268, 1.10.2016, p. 113.   
OJ L 76, 22.3.2017, p. 35 

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CESSDA  ERIC18  (Consortium  of  European  Social  Science  Data  Archives)  and 
ECCSEL  ERIC19  (European  Carbon  Dioxide  Capture  and  Storage  Laboratory  both 
hosted by Norway, INSTRUCT-ERIC (Integrated Structural Biology) hosted by the 
United Kingdom20, EMBRC-ERIC21  (European Marine Biological Resource Centre) 
hosted by France and EU-OPENSCREEN ERIC22 (European Infrastructure of Open 
Screening Platforms for Chemical Biology) hosted by Germany. 

Save  for  CERIC-ERIC  and  JIV-ERIC,  two  European  Research  Infrastructures  that 
never  applied  to  be  included  in  the  European  Strategy  Forum  on  Research 
Infrastructures  (ESFRI)  Roadmap,  all  other  ERICs  are  included  in  the  ESFRI 
Roadmap. It should  be noted that two ERICs (SHARE-ERIC and ESS-ERIC)  have 
been  established  for  the  design,  development  and  implementation  of  European 
surveys.  Sixteen  other  ERICs  have  been  established  for  the  development  and 
implementation  of  distributed  research  infrastructures  in  the  area  of  biological  and 
medical  sciences,  physics,  energy  sciences,  environmental  sciences  and  social 
sciences and humanities. The European Spallation Source ERIC is the first ERIC that 
has  been  established  in  the  physical  sciences  area  and  that  is  responsible  for  the 
construction and subsequent operation of the world's most powerful neutron source. 
ECCSEL ERIC is the first ERIC that has been established in the energy domain. 

Even  though  the  ERIC  Regulation  is  directly  applicable  in  Member  States  and 
requires  no  transposition,  it  has  been  necessary  for  Member  States  to  adopt 
appropriate  administrative  measures  and  procedures  for  hosting  or  becoming  a 
member  of  an  ERIC  and  for  providing  the  VAT  and  Excise  Duties  exemption  in 
accordance with the ERIC Regulation. Also the ERIC as a new type of legal entity 
has to be assimilated in the national regulatory and administrative systems and many 
practical questions have to be addressed both by the Commission services as well as 
the  Member  States  before  ERICs  can  become  fully  operational.  These  questions 
relate  to  for  example  to  which  national  registers  (for  instance  the  chambers  of 
commerce  or  a  register  for  associations)  the  ERICs  should  be  assimilated  which  in 
turn  has  an  effect  on  the  status  of  ERIC  staff.  In  addition,  if  there  is  no  (national) 
registration  is  foreseen,  practical  operational  questions  arise  for  example  as  how 
bank accounts and notarial acts could be implemented. Another example within the 
Commission administrative systems is that there is no special category for the ERIC 
as a legal entity and this raises questions as concerns their public or private character 
and their financial capacity as these ERICs are all recently established. 

As  regards  associated  countries  and  other  third  countries  to  which  the  ERIC 
Regulation is not applicable, these countries need to submit a declaration recognising 
the legal personality and the privileges of an ERIC for possibly hosting (in the case 
of  associated  countries)  or  becoming  a  member  of  a  specific  ERIC.  Significant 
progress  was  achieved  for  the  EEA  countries  when  the  ERIC  Regulation  was 

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OJ L 149, 13.6.2017, p. 85 
OJ L 149, 13.6.2017, p. 91 
OJ L 173, 6.7.2017, p. 47 
OJ L 51, 23.2.2018, p. 17 
OJ L 82, 26.3.2018, p. 8 

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incoprorated  in  the  EEA  by  a  Joint  Committee  Decision  in  March  201523.  In 
particular this allowed for two ERICs to be hosted by Norway24. 

The administrative and procedural measures taken by the authorities of the Member 
States and associated countries, the information exchanged at the regular meetings of 
the  ERIC  Committee  and  the  clarifications  provided  by  the  various  Commission 
to  questions  raised  by  Member  States  and  associated  countries 
services 
representatives  have  contributed 
the 
implementation  of  the  ERIC  Regulation  as  can  be  illustrated  by  the  susbtantial 
increase of established ERICs in the last three years.  

facilitation  of 

significantly 

the 

to 

in  which  ERICs,  ministry 

Moreover,  the  six  meetings  of  the  informal  ERIC  network  initiated  by  the 
Commission 
representatives  and  Commission 
representatives discuss best practices and common challenges did also facilitate the 
work  of  the  ERIC  operators,  ministries  and  Commission  services.  The  ERIC 
Network  is  now  transformed  into  the  ERIC  Forum  with  a  more  institutional  set-up 
led by the ERICs which is another step in empowering them to identify and develop 
collective responses to common challenges and to foster their visibility, impact and 
sustainability.  

Notwithstanding these positive developments, a number of open standing issues that 
were reported in the first Implementation Report are still hampering the deployment 
of  the  full  potential  of  the  ERIC  Regulation.  These  issues  will  be  addressed  in  the 
following paragraphs.  

5. 

CHALLENGES FOR THE IMPLEMENTION OF THE ERIC REGULATION 

The  ERIC  Regulation  is  being  implemented  at  a  time  when  restrictive  budgetary 
measures  are  taken  by  Member  States  and  associated  countries  in  order  to  reduce  
public  deficits.  The  pooling  of  resources  on  a  long-term  basis  necessary  for 
establishment  and  operation  of  a  proper  European  Research  Infrastructure  is 
therefore  a  big  challenge  and  becomes  even  more  complicated  because  of  the 
different time frames for budgetary decision procedures of individual Member States 
and  associated  countries  involved.  This  leads  to  a  rather  long  preparation  time  to 
achieve 
for  establishing  European  Research 
Infrastructures and raises questions about their long term sustainability. This issue is 
not specific to the ERIC but relates to all European Research Infrastructures25. Better 
synchronisation,  more 
transparency  and  alignment  between  Member  States, 
associated  countries  and  other  third  countries  involved  in  the  prepration  for  the 
implementation  of  a  European  Research  Infrastructure  would  help  greatly  to  speed 
up  the  implementation  process  and  could  also  improve  their  sustainability  when 
entering into the operational phase when these Research Infrastructures start offering 
their services. 

funding  basis 

the  minimum 

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24 

25 

Decision of the EEA Joint Committee No 72/2015 of 20 March 2015 amending Protocol 31 to the EEA 
Agreement, on cooperation in specific fields outside the four freedoms (OJ L 129, 19.5.2016, p. 85). 
These are CESSDA – Consortium of European Social Science Data Archives and ECCSEL – European 
Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage Laboratory Infrastructure 
See  for  example  the  2017  Commission  Staff  Working  Document  "Sustainable  European  Research 
Infrastructures  –  A  call  for  action",  https://ec.europa.eu/research/infrastructures/pdf/ri_policy_swd-
infrastructures_2017.pdf 

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The  involvement  of  ministry  and  funding  agencies  representatives  from  the  very 
beginning  in  the  preparation  for  the  establishment  of  ERICs  could  help  avoiding 
unnecessary  delays  at  later  stages  of  the  preparation  phase  when  siting,  financial 
contributions and commitments from the partners would need to be secured before a 
formal  ERIC  application  can  be  made.  While  the  ERIC  Regulation  does  not  have 
time  limits  in  the  application  process,  such  delays  could  negatively  impact  on  the 
sustainability  as  budget  procedures  in  the  different  future  members  could  add  even 
more complexity in setting up the ERIC at a point of time that potential members can 
support. 

In  addition,  the  cross-cutting  character  of  many  European  Research  Infrastructures 
leads  in  several  instances  to  a  more  complex  decision  making  process  within  the 
future  members  as  several  ministries  and  funding  agencies  have  to  be  involved  for 
example  in  the  areas  of  health,  research  and  innovation,  marine,  environment  and 
energy matters. 

The  VAT  and  Excise  Duties  Directives  and  Procurement  Directive  provisions  that 
are referred to in the ERIC Regulation requires de facto that within Member States, 
associated countries and other third countries involved,  several  ministries  including 
the  ones  for  finance  and  foreign  affairs  have  to  be  included  in  the  preparation  and 
approval  of  the  ERIC  application.  It  appears  from  the  experience  gained  with  the 
establishment of the nineteen ERICs that Member States and associated countries are 
becoming more aware of this complexity and have adopted internal decision making 
procedures to organise and speed up the internal approval process. 

Finally,  in  the  reporting period  the United  Kingdom notified on 29 March 2017 its 
intention to leave the Union, pursuant to Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union. 
Which implies that the Treaties will cease to apply to the United Kingdom from the 
date of entry into force of the withdrawal agreement or, failing that, two years after 
the  notification,  unless  the  European  Council,  in  agreement  with  the  United 
Kingdom, decides to extend that period.  

As  a  consequence,  and  without  prejudice  to  any  provisions  of  the  withdrawal 
agreement, Commission Implementing Decisions setting up ERICs only apply until 
the  United  Kingdom  ceases  to  be  a  Member  State.  Since  the  notification  by  the 
United  Kingdom,  corresponding  wording  has  been  introduced  in  the  pre-amble  of 
Commission  Implementing  Decisions  setting  up  ERICs  in  which  the  United 
Kingdom is a member or a host26. 

6. 

ROLE OF THE COMMISSION SERVICES 

The Commission services continue to facilitate the process of implementation of the 
ERIC Regulation by organising and chairing the ERIC Committee meetings that take 
place  three  to  four  times  a  year.  Apart  from  providing  opinions  on  formal  ERIC 
applications  in  compliance  with  the  ERIC  Regulation,  these  meetings  serve  to 
provide and exchange of information on ongoing ERIC applications as well as on the 
internal  measures  Member  States  and  associated  countries  have  put  in  place  with 
respect  to  the  decision  making  for  ERIC  membership.  In  addition,  Member  States 
and associated countries are informed about timelines for the setting up of individual 
ERICs,  the  scale  of  funding  to  be  expected,  services  and  other  activities  to  be 
developed  and  the  opportunities  for  participation.  Finally,  the  ERIC  Committee 

26 

See for example OJ L 173, 6.7.2017, p. 47 second and third recital 

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started  in  2017  to  receive  presentations  from  established  ERICs  on  their 
achievements in science and technology development and the impact they had for the 
scientific  user  communities  and  for  policy  makers.  They  also  present  the  way  they 
have  overcome  the  challenges  to  the  operation  of  the  ERIC  under  the  national 
administrative systems in which they operate.  

The revised “ERIC Practical Guidelines” have been published in 2015 on the basis of 
the  experiences  and  lessons  learned  since  2009  when  the  ERIC  Regulation  was 
adopted.  These  guidelines  will  be  updated  in  2018  in  order  to  reflect  recent 
developments. 

The  Commission  services  continued  to  provide  clarifications  to  a  wide  range  of 
questions  from  Member  States,  existing  and  future  ERIC  operators  and  other 
stakeholders  concerning  the  provisions  of  the  ERIC  Regulation  such  as  the  legal 
character  of  the  ERIC,  liability  of  the  members,  exemption  of  VAT  and  excise 
duties,  creation  of  spin-offs,  applicable  law  in  particular  for  distributed  research 
infrastructures  with  nodes  and  personnel  in  various  countries,  the  liquidation  of  an 
ERIC and the role of the national court in that process.  

The  Commission  services  provided  in  2013  templates  necessary  for  the  declaration 
of  recognition  of  an  ERIC  by  third  countries  and  intergovernmental  organisations 
that clarified and simplified the process for those countries to host (only for associate 
countries)  or  to  become  member  of  an  ERIC.  Until  now,  two  countries  -Israel  and 
Serbia-  have  provided  such  a  declaration  of  recognition  necessary  to  become  a 
member of an ERIC. 

The  Commission  services  continue  to  play  an  active  role  during  the  preparation  of 
ERIC  applications  by  participating  in  some  of  the  board  meetings  and  other 
preparatory  meetings  of  Member  States  and  associated  countries  clarifying  and 
identifying  possible  solutions  and  compromises  for  points  that  were  raised  in 
discussions  between  the  future  partners.  These  points  can  for  example  concern  the 
governance structure of the ERIC, the policies with respect to intellectual property or 
human  resources  and  other  subjects  that  come  up  during  the  finalisation  of  the 
provisions of the Statutes fo the ERIC. 

After  the  establishment  of  an  ERIC,  the  Commission  services  have  a  more  limited 
role  in  the  ERIC  activities  which  are  governed  and  steered  by  the  ERIC  members 
within  the  boundary  conditions  of  the  ERIC  Regulation,  the  Statutes  and 
Implementing  Rules.  The  Commission  services  may  only  act  if  informed  or 
requested  by  the  members  of  an  ERIC  of  issues  that  could  seriously  jeopardise  the 
achievement of the task  of the ERIC or on the basis of the annual reporting by the 
ERIC to the Commission that is provided for in the ERIC Regulation.  

7. 

INITIAL CONCLUSIONS 

The  ERIC  Regulation  has  proven  that  it  indeed  filled  the  gap  between  traditional 
treaty  based  international  organisations  and  national  legal  entities  for  establishing 
European Research Infrastructures.  

Due  to  many  commonalities  in  the  provisions  of  the  Statutes  of  the  ERICs 
concerning  for  example  accession,  decision  making  and  the  handling  of  questions 
such  as  liability,  the  ERIC  Regulation  has  facilitated  greatly  the  opportunities  for 
Member  States,  associated  countries  and  third  countries  to  consider  cooperation  or 
joining these European Research Infrastructures.  

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The procedure for application for the ERIC status and ease of use has improved but 
could  be  further  optimised  as  Member  States,  the  scientific  community  and  the 
Commission  services  continue  to  go  through  a  learning  process  for  understanding 
better the practical implications of using this relatively new legal instrument.  

However, a number of recurrent issues and policy questions should be addressed if 
the  ERIC  legal  instrument  is  truly  to  be  a  succesful  instrument  in  support  of 
European Research and these are described in the next chapter.   

8. 

RECURRENT ISSUES AND NEXT STEPS 

As  a  result  of  the  experience  gained  in  the  application  process  for  establishing  an 
ERIC and the increasing number of ERICs established, several recurrent issues will 
have to be addressed by Member States and Commission services. They relate to the 
practices in the Commission and Member States for example on how to register an 
ERIC in the national legal administrative systems, or in other registers which would 
enable  an  ERIC  to  be  recognised  by  the  Commission  services  for  being  able  to  be 
properly recognised when participating as beneficiary or coordinator of grants and in 
Member States to open bank accounts and to apply for reimbursement for VAT and 
excise  duties.  Similarly,  as  an  ERIC  is  a  public-public  partnership,  the  status  of 
personnel that it employs needs to be clarified in the national administrative systems 
as  this  will  impact  on  salary  scales,  income  tax  issues  and  personnel  costs  for  the 
ERIC.  

in-kind 
Another  recurrent  question  concerns  possible  VAT  exemption  for 
contributions  to  the  ERIC  as  in  many  cases  members  of  an  ERIC  prefer  to  partly 
contribute in-kind to the ERIC instead of providing cash-contributions. The question 
of  the  VAT  exemption  for  ERICs  has  been  discussed  at  various  occasions  by  the 
Value  Added Tax Committee which resulted in Guidelines that  were adopted at its 
101st meeting on 20 October 201427. The Guidelines provide that goods or services 
acquired by representing entities28 shall not benefit from VAT exemption not even if 
the goods or services are acquired with a view to be delivered to the ERIC as an in-
kind contribution. At the same time, the Competitiveness Council in its conclusions 
of the 5 December 2014 meeting "invited the Commission and Member States to take 
appropriate  measures  to  facilitate  the  use  of  the  ERIC  instrument  and  to  stimulate 
investments  in  ERICs  and  other  ESFRI  Roadmap  Infrastructures,  for  example  as 
concerns in-kind contributions".  

The question of the VAT exemption granted to members of an ERIC is again on the 
agenda of the VAT Committee29 for its meeting in April 2018 for further clarification 
and guidance.  

The question of economic-versus non-economic activities remains also to be further 
clarified  as  there  are  increasing  demands  for  ‘innovative’  and  ‘socio-economic’ 
impacts of the activities of the research infrastructures justifying the investments to 
be made by the members.  

The  socio-economic  impact  should  also  be  addressed  in  the  context  of  how  ERICs 
can contribute to the implementation of smart specialisation strategies and contribute 

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29 

Working Paper No 828 Final 
A "representing entity" may represent a Member of an ERIC as regards the exercise of specific rights 
and the discharge of specified obligations in accordance with Article 9(4) ERIC Regulation 
Working Paper No 946 

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to  the  socio-economic  development  of  regions  and  thereby  also  be  eligible  for 
possible support from European Regional Development Funds (ERDF).  

ERICs  play  an  important  role  in  the  defragmentation  of  European  research  by 
creating  in  a  harmonised  and  structural  way  European  Research  Infrastructures 
which  develop  and  offer  services  throughout  the  Union.  This  increases  the 
transparency  concerning  the  collection  of  data,  access  to  data  and  instruments  and 
maintenance of data and services for users. This is not only meant to better support 
scientific communities but it can also lead to evidence-based policy making in areas 
such as health, energy, environment and social and cultural innovation policy.  

ERIC statutory seats are now located in 10 countries and in the near future it can be 
expected that more Member States and associated countries will host an ERIC. Due 
consideration  should  be  given  by  Member  States  and  associated  countries  when 
preparing  for  the  implementation  of  new  ERICs  to  make  an  effort  for  achieving  in 
the longer term a more balanced representation as concerns the geographical location 
of the Statutory Seats throughout the European Union. 

Research Infrastructures can play an important role in international cooperation, e.g. 
with  the  African  Union,  Latin  America  and  the  Carribean  countries,  Australia, 
Russia, US, Canada and with the United Nations driven collaborations by providing 
data,  services  and  access.  The  Commission  is  promoting  actively  ERICs  and  other 
European  Research  Infrastructures  in  bilateral  cooperation  mechanisms  such  as  the 
EU-Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC). 

The  ERIC  as  a  model  for  a  new  legal  instrument  that  could  help  in  particular  the 
creation of international distributed research infrastructures was also discussed in the 
context  of  the  OECD  (Organisation  of  Economic  Cooperation  and  Development) 
GSF (Global Science Forum). However, the GSF decided not to pursue the proposal 
of the Commission to explore the use the ERIC as a possible model because it was 
considered to be too complicated.  

As international research infrastructure consortia could be another important element 
supporting  the  United  Nations  Sustainable  Development  Goals,  the  Commission 
intends,  where  appropriate,  in  the  context  of  international  fora  invite  members  of 
these fora to further explore the possibilities of creating a dedicated legal instrument 
for  establishing  such  research  consortia  which  could,  like  the  ERIC  did  in  the 
European  Union,  fill  the  gap  between  the  treaty  based  organisations  and  national 
organisations. 

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