Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/2106 of 28 September 2021 on supplementing Regulation (EU) 2021/241 of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the Recovery and Resilience Facility by setting out the common indicators and the detailed elements of the recovery and resilience scoreboard
Date: 2021-09-28
Institutions: Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs, European Commission
Subjects: EU aid, EU financial instrument, EU financing arrangements, coronavirus disease, economic and social cohesion, economic recovery, economic reform, epidemic, investment, structural adjustment




L_2021429EN.01008301.xml










1.12.2021   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


L 429/83








            COMMISSION DELEGATED REGULATION (EU) 2021/2106
of 28 September 2021
         
on supplementing Regulation (EU) 2021/241 of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the Recovery and Resilience Facility by setting out the common indicators and the detailed elements of the recovery and resilience scoreboard


THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,


Having regard to Regulation (EU) 2021/241 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 February 2021 establishing the Recovery and Resilience Facility (1), and in particular Articles 29(4), point (a) and 30(2) thereof,

Whereas:







(1)


The aim of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (‘the Facility’) is to provide effective and significant financial support to step up the implementation of sustainable reforms and related public investments in the Member States. The Facility is a dedicated instrument designed to tackle the adverse effects and consequences of the COVID-19 crisis in the Union.












(2)


Pursuant to Article 29 of Regulation (EU) 2021/241, the implementation of the Facility is to be monitored and evaluated through common indicators. These indicators are to be used for reporting on progress and for the purpose of monitoring and evaluation of the Facility towards the achievement of the general and specific objectives referred to in Article 4 of Regulation (EU) 2021/241. Member States are to report to the Commission on the common indicators.












(3)


Pursuant to Article 30 of Regulation (EU) 2021/241, the performance reporting system of the Facility is to take the shape of a recovery and resilience scoreboard (‘the Scoreboard’). The Scoreboard is to display the progress of the implementation of the recovery and resilience plans of the Member States in each of the six pillars of the scope of the Facility referred to in Article 3 of that Regulation, and in relation to the common indicators. The Scoreboard is to be made publicly available in the form of a website or internet portal and to be updated twice a year.












(4)


Articles 29 and 30 of Regulation (EU) 2021/241 are closely related, since the common indicators will form a significant part of the content of the Scoreboard, as provided by Article 30(3) of Regulation (EU) 2021/241. In order to ensure coherence between those provisions which should enter into force at the same time, to facilitate a comprehensive view of the reporting requirements for the Member States and to facilitate the application of that Regulation, it is necessary to include the provisions supplementing those Articles in a single Delegated Regulation.












(5)


The Scoreboard aims at transparently providing synthetic information on progress with the implementation of the Facility and the national recovery and resilience plans as approved by means of the respective Council implementing decisions. It is to serve as a basis for the Recovery and Resilience Dialogue with the European Parliament referred to in Article 26 of Regulation (EU) 2021/241.












(6)


Pursuant to Article 27 of Regulation (EU) 2021/241, Member States are to report twice a year in the context of the European Semester on the progress made in the achievement of their recovery and resilience plans and on the common indicators. In order for the Scoreboard to be updated with the latest available data and with the same timeline for all Member States, thereby ensuring equal treatment, such reporting should take place at the same time for all Member States, in alignment with the European Semester timeline.












(7)


The list of common indicators in the Annex is designed to cover all recovery and resilience plans, but the reporting by a Member State on a specific common indicator is only relevant to the extent that there are corresponding measures in its plan. The non-relevance of a common indicator to a recovery and resilience plan should be discussed between the Commission and the Member State concerned. Given that each common indicator is generally relevant for a large majority of Member States, it is expected that each Member State should report on most indicators.












(8)


The common indicators should be defined with a sufficient level of detail to ensure the data collected by Member States is comparable and can be aggregated for displaying the implementation of the Facility at Union level. If displayed at individual Member State level, common indicators should be presented in relative terms, relying as well on data from Eurostat, to avoid misleading comparisons between Member States due to the different size or nature of the recovery and resilience plans.












(9)


Pursuant to Article 28 of Regulation (EU) 2021/241, the Commission and the Member States concerned are to foster synergies and ensure effective coordination between the Facility and other Union programmes and instruments. Therefore the indicators included in the Scoreboard should be, as far as possible, coherent with those used for other Union funds.












(10)


Pursuant to Article 29 of Regulation (EU) 2021/241, the monitoring of implementation is to be targeted and proportionate to the activities carried out under the Facility. The performance reporting system of the Commission should therefore ensure that data for monitoring the implementation of the activities and results are collected efficiently, effectively and in a timely manner. To that end, proportionate reporting requirements should be imposed on recipients of Union funding.












(11)


The other elements of the Scoreboard should be compiled by the Commission through information collected during the process of monitoring the implementation of the recovery and resilience plans and of the Facility. This should ensure comparability of data.












(12)


Given that the Scoreboard should be operational by 31 December 2021 and in order to allow for the prompt application of the measures provided for in this Regulation, this Regulation should enter into force on the day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union,





HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:



Article 1

Content of the recovery and resilience scoreboard and list of common indicators

The scoreboard shall display the progress of the implementation of the recovery and resilience plans in each of the six pillars referred to in Article 3 of Regulation (EU) 2021/241, to be measured in particular by:






(a)


the fulfilment of milestones and targets, reflecting the implementation of the reforms and investments set out in the adopted Council implementing decisions, by listing the milestones and targets that have been satisfactorily fulfilled, counting their number, and displaying the percentage over the total number of milestones and targets set out in those Council implementing decisions. In this context it can also be reported on how the fulfilment of the milestones and targets contributes to the implementation of relevant country specific recommendations;










(b)


the expenditure financed by the Facility, also under each of the pillars referred to in Article 3 of Regulation (EU) 2021/241, incorporating social expenditures based on the methodology defined in the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/2105 (2), based on the break-down of the estimated expenditure provided in the approved recovery and resilience plans;










(c)


the status of each recovery and resilience plan;










(d)


the progress with the disbursement of the financial contributions and loans;










(e)


thematic analyses of measures included in recovery and resilience plans and examples illustrating the progress of the implementation under the six pillars;










(f)


common indicators, as set out in Annex, to be used for reporting on the progress and for the purpose of monitoring and evaluation of the Facility towards the achievement of the general and specific objectives.






Article 2

Reporting


1.   In order for the Scoreboard, including the common indicators, to be updated consistently and uniformly twice a year, all Member States shall report to the Commission twice a year in the context of the European Semester on the progress made in the achievement of their recovery and resilience plans, including the operational arrangements, and on the common indicators.


2.   The reporting on progress made in the achievement of their recovery and resilience plans shall take place each year, as a rule, by mid April and beginning of October, and no later than by 30 April and 15 October, respectively. The reporting period shall cover the full period of implementation of the plan, from 1 February 2020 onwards, where relevant.


3.   The reporting for the update of the common indicators shall take place each year by 28 February and 31 August. The reporting period shall cover the full period of implementation of the plan, from 1 February 2020 onwards, where relevant, until the respective cut-off dates of 31 December and 30 June each year.



Article 3
This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.




This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
Done at Brussels, 28 September 2021.


For the Commission


The President

Ursula VON DER LEYEN
            





(1)  
            OJ L 57, 18.2.2021, p. 17.

(2)  Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/2105 of 28 September 2021 supplementing Regulation (EU) 2021/241 of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the Recovery and Resilience Facility by defining a methodology for reporting social expenditure (see page 79 of this Official Journal).




ANNEX
List of common indicators
The common indicators will reflect the progress towards the objectives of the Facility under the reforms and investments included in the recovery and resilience plans. A measure can contribute to several of the common indicators. Should a Member State’s recovery and resilience plan contain no measure contributing to some of the below indicators, it shall discuss with the Commission to decide whether to report on the indicator as ‘non-applicable’.









Number


Common indicator related to RRF support


RRF pillars


Explanation


Unit




1


Savings in annual primary energy consumption


Pillar 1
Pillar 3


Total annual primary energy consumption reduction for supported entities due to support from measures under the Facility. The baseline shall refer to the annual primary energy consumption before the intervention, and the achieved value shall refer to the annual primary energy consumption for the year after the intervention. For buildings, interventions shall be sufficiently documented to be able to calculate these values, for example by using Energy Performance Certificates or other monitoring systems respecting the criteria as set in Article 10.6 of Directive 2010/31/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council (1) (the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive). For processes in enterprises, the annual primary energy consumption shall be documented based on energy audits in line with Article 8 of Directive 2012/27/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council (2) (the Energy Efficiency Directive) or other relevant technical specifications.
Public buildings shall be defined as buildings owned by public authorities and buildings owned by a non-profit organisation, provided that such bodies pursue objectives of general interest such as education, health, environment and transport. Examples include building for public administration, schools, hospitals, etc.


MWh/year




2


Additional operational capacity installed for renewable energy


Pillar 1
Pillar 3


Additional capacity installed for renewable energy due to the support from measures under the Facility, and which is operational (i.e. connected to the grid, if applicable, and fully ready to produce or already producing energy). Production capacity shall be defined as the ‘net maximum electrical capacity’ as defined by Eurostat (3).
Renewable energy shall be defined as ‘energy from renewable non-fossil sources namely wind, solar (thermal and photovoltaic) and geothermal energy, ambient energy, tide, wave and other ocean energy, hydropower, biomass, landfill gas, sewage treatment plant gas, and biogas’ (see Directive (EU) 2018/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council (4)). The indicator shall also capture electrolyser capacity for hydrogen production built up with support by measures under the Facility. The indicator shall be collected and reported separately between (i) capacity for renewable energy production; and (ii) electrolyser capacity for hydrogen production


MW




3


Alternative fuels infrastructure (refuelling/recharging points)


Pillar 1
Pillar 3


Number of refuelling/recharging points (new or upgraded) for clean vehicles supported by measures under the Facility.
A recharging point shall be defined as an interface that is capable of charging one electric vehicle at a time or exchanging a battery of one electric vehicle at a time. A refuelling point shall refer to a refuelling facility for the provision of alternative fuel through a fixed or a mobile installation.
Alternative fuel shall be defined to include fuels or power sources which serve, at least partly, as a substitute for fossil oil sources in the energy supply to transport and which have the potential to contribute to its decarbonisation and enhance the environmental performance of the transport sector and that are in line with Directive (EU) 2018/2001 (5).
The indicator shall be collected and reported separately between (i) recharging; and (ii) refuelling points. As part of the latter, (iii) hydrogen refuelling points shall be reported separately.


Refuelling/recharging points




4


Population benefiting from protection measures against floods, wildfires, and other climate related natural disasters


Pillar 1
Pillar 4


Population living in areas where protection infrastructure (including green infrastructure and nature-based solutions for adaptation to climate change) is built or significantly upgraded due to support by measures under the Facility in order to reduce vulnerability to flood, wildfire and other climate-related natural risks (storms, droughts, heatwaves). The indicator shall cover protection measures, which are clearly localised in high risk areas and which address directly the specific risks, as opposed to more general measures implemented at national or regional level. For floods, the indicator shall count the resident population at risk.


Persons




5


Additional dwellings with internet access provided via very high capacity networks


Pillar 2
Pillar 4


Total number of dwellings with access to very high capacity networks, as defined in the BEREC Guidelines on Very High Capacity Networks (BoR (20) 165 (6)) that only had access to slower connections or did not have internet access at all before the support by measures under the Facility. As such, it shall also consider 5G network coverage and upgrades to gigabit speed. The improved internet access must be a direct consequence of the support by measures under the Facility. The indicator shall measure dwellings with the possibility to access and not the actual take up.
A dwelling shall be defined as ‘a room or a suite of rooms in a permanent building or a structurally separated part of a building which (…) is designed for habitation by one private household all year around’ (7) (see Commission (Eurostat)).
The indicator does not count collective dwellings such as hospitals, old people’s homes, residential homes, prisons, military barracks, religious institutions, boarding houses, workers’ hostels, etc.


Dwellings




6


Enterprises supported to develop or adopt digital products, services and application processes


Pillar 2
Pillar 3


Number of enterprises supported to develop or adopt new or significantly upgraded services, products and processes based on digital technologies, due to support by measures under the Facility. This includes advanced digital technologies such as automation, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, block chain, cloud and edge infrastructures and data spaces, quantum and high performance computing. Significant upgrades shall cover only new functionalities. The information shall therefore be collected separately (i) for enterprises supported to develop digital technologies and solutions; and (ii) for enterprises supported to adopt digital solutions to transform their services, products or processes. It shall also be collected by size of enterprise.
An enterprise shall be counted once regardless of how many times it receives support to digitalise by measures under the Facility.
An enterprise and the disaggregation by size of enterprise shall be defined as per the definition adopted for indicator 9.


Enterprises




7


Users of new and upgraded public digital services, products and processes


Pillar 2
Pillar 5


Number of users of the digital public services, products and processes newly developed or significantly upgraded through support by measures under the Facility. Significant upgrades shall cover only new functionalities. The indicator shall have a baseline of 0 only if the digital service, product or process is new. Users refer to the clients of the public services and products newly developed or upgraded through support by measures under the Facility, and to the staff of the public institution using the digital processes newly developed or significantly upgraded through support by measures under the Facility. If individual users cannot be identified, counting the same client using an online service several times shall not be considered as double counting.


Users/year




8


Researchers working in supported research facilities


Pillar 3


Number of researchers using directly, in their line of activity, the public or private research facility or the equipment for which support by measures under the Facility is awarded. The indicator shall be measured in terms of annual full time equivalents (FTEs), calculated according to the methodology provided in the OECD Frascati Manual 2015.
The support must improve the research facility or the quality of research equipment. Replacements without quality increase shall be excluded, as is maintenance.
The R & D vacant positions shall not be counted, neither support staff for R & D (i.e. posts not directly involved in R & D activities).
Annual FTE of R & D personnel shall be defined as the ratio of working hours actually spent on R & D during a calendar year divided by the total number of hours conventionally worked in the same period by an individual or a group. By convention a person cannot perform more than one FTE on R & D on a biannual basis. The number of hours conventionally worked shall be determined on the basis of normative/statutory working hours. A full time person shall be identified with reference to their employment status, the type of contract (full time or part time) and their level of engagement in R & D (see OECD Frascati Manual 2015, Chapter 5.3).
The indicator shall be disaggregated by gender (8).


Annual Full Time Equivalent




9


Enterprises supported (of which small – including micro, medium, large)


Pillar 3


The indicator shall count all enterprises that receive monetary or in-kind support by measures under the Facility.
The enterprise shall be defined as the smallest combination of legal units that is an organisational unit producing goods and services, which benefits from a certain degree of autonomy in decision making, especially for the allocation of its current resources, carrying out one or more activities at one or more locations. An enterprise may be a sole legal unit. Legal units shall include legal persons whose existence is recognised by law independently of the individuals or institutions which may own them or are members of them, such as general partnerships, private limited partnerships, limited liability companies, incorporated companies etc. Legal units shall also include natural persons who are engaged in an economic activity in their own right, such as the owner and operator of a shop or a garage, a lawyer or a self-employed handicrafts-person (Commission (Eurostat), based on Council Regulation (EEC) No 696/93, Section III A of 15.3.1993).
The indicator shall be collected and reported by size of enterprise. For the purpose of this indicator, enterprises shall be defined as profit-oriented organisations that produce goods and services to satisfy market needs.
Classification of enterprises:
Small, including micro, enterprise (0-49 employees and self-employed and annual turnover -≤ EUR 10 million or balance sheet – ≤ EUR 10 million);
Medium enterprise (50-249 employees and self-employed and annual turnover >EUR 10 million – ≤ EUR 50 million or balance sheet > EUR 10 million -≤ EUR 43 million);
Large enterprises (> 250 employees and self-employed and turnover > EUR 50 million or balance sheet > EUR 43 million);
If either of the 2 thresholds (employees and self-employed and annual turnover/balance sheet) is exceeded the enterprises shall be categorised in the size category above;
(Commission (Eurostat) based on Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC (9), Annex, Articles 2-3);
The size of the enterprise supported shall be measured at the start of the support.


Enterprises




10


Number of participants in education or training


Pillar 2
Pillar 4
Pillar 6


The indicator shall take into account the number of participants to education (ISCED 0-6, adult learning) and training (off-the-job/in-the-job training, continuous vocational education and training, etc.) activities supported by measures under the Facility, including participants to digital skills trainings (10). It shall therefore be collected and reported on by (i) participants in education or training; and of those, (ii) participants in digital skills training. It shall also be disaggregated by gender (11) and age (12).
Participants shall be counted upon entering the education or training activity.


Persons




11


Number of people in employment or engaged in job searching activities


Pillar 3
Pillar 4


Unemployed (13) or inactive (14) persons who have received support by measures under the RRF, and who are in employment, including self-employment, or who were inactive when receiving that support and who are newly engaged in job searching activities, immediately after receiving that support.
The indicator shall be disaggregated by gender (15) and age (16).
‘Engaged in job searching’ shall be defined to include persons usually without work, available for work and actively seeking work, as per the definition of ‘Unemployed’.
Persons who have newly registered with the public employment services as jobseeker shall always be counted even if they are not immediately available for work.


Persons




12


Capacity of new or modernised health care facilities


Pillar 4
Pillar 5


The maximum annual number of persons that can be served by a new or modernised health care facility due to support by measures under the Facility at least once during a period of one year.
Modernisation shall not include energy renovation or maintenance and repairs. Healthcare facilities shall include hospitals, clinics, outpatient care centres, specialised care centres etc.


Persons/year




13


Classroom capacity of new or modernised childcare and education facilities


Pillar 4
Pillar 6


Classroom capacity in terms of the maximum number of places in the new or modernised early childhood education and care and education facilities (ISCED 0-6) due to support by measures under the Facility. Classroom capacity shall be calculated in accordance with national legislation, but it shall not include teachers, parents, auxiliary personnel or any other persons who may also use the facilities.
Early childhood education and care facilities such as crèches and pre-schools shall refer to those designed for children from birth to the start of primary education (ISCED 0). Education facilities shall include schools (ISCED 1-3, ISCED 4) and higher education (ISCED 5-6). The indicator shall cover childcare or education facilities that are newly built or modernised (for example, for increasing hygiene and safety standards), and modernisation shall not include energy renovation or maintenance and repairs.


Persons




14


Number of young people aged 15-29 years receiving support


Pillar 6


The number of participants aged 15-29 years old upon receiving monetary or in-kind support by measures under the Facility.
The indicator shall be disaggregated by gender (17).


Persons






(1)  Directive 2010/31/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 May 2010 on the energy performance of buildings (OJ L 153, 18.6.2010, p. 13) as amended by Diective (EU) 2018/844 (OJ L 156, 19.6.2018, p. 75).

(2)  Directive 2012/27/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 on energy efficiency, amending Directives 2009/125/EC and 2010/30/EU and repealing Directives 2004/8/EC and 2006/32/EC (OJ L 315, 14.11.2012, p. 1).

(3)  
            ‘the maximum active power that can be supplied, continuously, with all plant running, at the point of outlet (i.e. after taking the power supplies for the station auxiliaries and allowing for the losses in those transformers considered integral to the station’.

(4)  Directive (EU) 2018/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2018 on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources (OJ L 328, 21.12.2018, p. 82).

(5)  Specifically Article 29 of Directive (EU) 2018/2001 that sets out sustainability and greenhouse gas emissions saving criteria for biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels.

(6)  Article 2(2) of the European Electronic Communications Code (EECC) currently defines the term ‘very high capacity network’ as follows: ‘
            “Very high capacity network” means either an electronic communications network which consists wholly of optical fibre elements at least up to the distribution point at the serving location, or an electronic communications network which is capable of delivering, under usual peak-time conditions, similar network performance in terms of available downlink and uplink bandwidth, resilience, error-related parameters, and latency and its variation’.

(7)  https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Glossary:Dwelling

(8)  Men, women, non-binary. A number of Member States have legal provisions or practices recognising that individuals may not fall into either of these two categories or may not wish to be associated with one of them. For these Member States, these individuals shall be recorded as ‘non-binary’.

(9)  
            OJ L 124, 20.5.2003, p. 36.

(10)  In line with Annex VII of the RRF Regulation displaying the digital tagging under the Facility, digital skills training is to be understood within the meaning of intervention field 108 (Support for the development of digital skills), which states: ‘This refers to digital skills at all levels and includes: highly specialized education programmes to train digital specialists (that is technology focused programmes); training of teachers, development of digital content for education purposes and relevant organisational capabilities. This also includes measures and programmes aimed at improving basic digital skills.’
         

(11)  Men, women, non-binary. A number of Member States have legal provisions or practices recognising that individuals may not fall into either of these two categories or may not wish to be associated with one of them. For these Member States, these individuals shall be recorded as ‘non-binary’.

(12)  0-17, 18-29, 30-54, 55 and over.

(13)  Unemployed are persons usually without work, available for work and actively seeking work. Persons considered as registered unemployed according to national definitions are always included here even if they do not fulfil all three of these criteria. Source: §18 in Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, Labour market policy (LMP) statistics – Methodology 2018.

(14)  Inactive are persons currently not part of the labour force (in the sense that they are not employed or unemployed according to the definitions provided). Source: §20 in Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, Labour market policy statistics – Methodology 2018.

(15)  Men, women, non-binary. A number of Member States have legal provisions or practices recognising that individuals may not fall into either of these two categories or may not wish to be associated with one of them. For these Member States, these individuals shall be recorded as ‘non-binary’.

(16)  0-17, 18-29, 30-54, 55 and over.

(17)  Men, women, non-binary. A number of Member States have legal provisions or practices recognising that individuals may not fall into either of these two categories or may not wish to be associated with one of them. For these Member States, these individuals shall be recorded as ‘non-binary’.