MID-TERM EVALUATION OF THE PERICLES IV PROGRAMME
Date: 2023-05-02
Institutions: Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs, European Commission
Subjects: EU financing



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CALL FOR EVIDENCE 


FOR AN EVALUATION / FITNESS CHECK 






Title of the evaluation




Protecting the euro against counterfeiting – the Pericles IV programme midterm evaluation






Lead DG – responsible unit 




DG ECFIN, Unit C.5






Indicative timetable 


(planned start date and completion date)




Q1 2024 - Q4 2024






Additional information




Pericles IV programme






A. Political context, purpose and scope of the evaluation






Political context 






The Pericles IV programme (hereinafter 'the Programme') was established by Regulation (EU) No 2021/840 (hereinafter the 'Regulation') of the European Parliament and of the Council on 27 May 2020 for the period from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2027.  Its application was extended to the non-participating Member States by Council Regulation (EU) 2021/1696 of 21 September 2021.


The Programme is a multiannual programme to promote actions for the protection and safeguarding of the euro against counterfeiting. 


It is an exchange, assistance and training programme aiming at preventing and combating counterfeiting and related fraud and preserving the integrity of the euro banknotes, thus strengthening the trust of citizens and business in the genuineness of these banknotes and coins and therefore enhancing the trust in the Union’s economy, while securing the sustainability of public. 


The budget for the Programme's implementation is EUR 6 193 284 between 1 January 2021 and 31 December 2027.


The Programme actively encourages and entails an increase in transnational cooperation for the protection of the euro against counterfeiting both inside and outside the EU. Particular attention is paid to those Member States or third countries that have the highest rates of euro counterfeiting, as shown by the relevant reports issued by the competent authorities. 


Such cooperation contributes to a greater effectiveness of the protection of the euro through exchanging best practices, common standards, and joint specialised training. 


The Work Programmes including the strategic priorities are adopted on an annual basis and are annexed to the Financing Decision of the Programme.


The Programme supports and supplements the activities by the Member States for the protection of euro banknotes and coins against counterfeiting and related fraud and assists the competent national and European authorities in order to develop among themselves and the Commission a close and regular cooperation and an exchange of best practices, where appropriate including third countries and international organisations.


The actions in order to achieve the above mentioned objectives, as defined in Article 6 of the Regulation, are:


a.
                              Exchange and dissemination of information, through organising workshops, meetings and seminars, including trainings, targeted placements and staff exchanges of competent national authorities and other similar actions;


b.
                              Technical, scientific and operational assistance including relevant studies with a multidisciplinary and transnational dimension;


c.
                              Grants to finance the purchase of equipment to be used by specialised anti-counterfeiting authorities of third countries for protecting the euro against counterfeiting.


Projects financed under the Programme are implemented either directly by the Commission or in the form of grants awarded to national competent authorities in the EU (both in the euro area and non-euro area Member States). 


The co-financing rate for grants awarded under the Programme is 75% of the total eligible costs (and in exceptional cases up to 90%). These projects take place both inside and outside the EU.






Purpose and scope 






The rationale of the evaluation is embedded in Regulation (EU) No 2021/840. The legal basis requirement can be found in Article 13 of the Regulation. 


The Article states that: “an independent mid-term evaluation of the Pericles IV programme shall be carried out once there is sufficient information available about the implementation of the Pericles IV programme, but no later than four years after the start of the programme implementation”. 


The Commission shall communicate the conclusions of the evaluation accompanied by its observations, to the European Parliament, to the Council and to the ECB.


The mid-term evaluation of the Programme will cover the period 2021-2023 and will include to the extent that is possible actions that are implemented in the first half of 2024. The evaluation will be based on the standard evaluation criteria in the Better regulation guidelines. The evaluation will involve a thorough analysis and provide independent assessment of and insights into how the Programme has been performing, the achievements of the Programme’s objectives and the effectiveness and relevance of its actions in the referred period. 







B. Better regulation






Consultation strategy 






The evaluation is subject to the Commission’s Better Regulation rules. A detailed consultation strategy will be developed to gather evidence and input from all interested parties.


The Programme is targeted exclusively at a set of specific competent national authorities. The Evaluation’s consultation strategy will include desk research of existing identified sources of information and also a comprehensive targeted stakeholder consultation (e.g. participants in the actions, Member States' competent authorities being the beneficiaries and European Institutions and international partners). Given the exceptionally focussed nature of the Programme, it is envisaged that the great majority of stakeholders will be engaged through the targeted consultation process.






Why we are consulting? 






The aim of the consultations is to collect information, expertise and views from all interested parties in order to reach an evidence-based and measured judgment on how well the Programme has performed at mid-term.






Target audience






Stakeholders include (but are not limited to): 


·The bodies eligible for funding under the Programme: Competent National Authorities as defined in point (b) of Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 1338/2001, designated by the Member States(OJ C92/1, 18.3.2021).


·Programme participants who are mainly staff of agencies engaged in detecting and combatting counterfeiting. 


Programme stakeholders (including ECB, Europol and members of the Counterfeit Coins Experts Group and the Euro Counterfeiting Experts Group where the Pericles strategy is discussed on an annual basis).






Data collection and methodology 






An evaluation study will be carried out by an external contractor, aiming to assess the implementation of the Programme’s actions for the referred period. The Commission will base its evaluation to the study provided by the external contractor


The methods used to gather and analyse evidence/information, and for making the assessment, will follow the general principles and standards for consultation set by the Commission's Better Regulation Guidelines. 


Evidence will be gathered from multiple sources (such as interviews, annual Commission reports concerning the implementation and the results of the final evaluation of the Pericles 2020 programme). 


The bodies eligible for funding under the Programme are limited to Competent National Authorities, designated by the Member States and listed in the Official Journal. In addition, Programme participants are mainly staff of agencies engaged in detecting and combatting counterfeiting. 


This has enabled the Commission to undertake a comprehensive mapping exercise of all key stakeholders. It is envisaged that appropriate tools (e.g. survey questionnaires, individual interviews etc.) will be in place to enable the contractor to reach the great majority of the relevant Programme stakeholders (including members of the Euro Counterfeiting Experts Group where the Pericles strategy is discussed on an annual basis). 


This is practically possible as the actions implemented during the evaluation period are limited and as the stakeholders are representatives from national competent authorities on a specific policy area. To ensure a comprehensive spectrum of stakeholders, consultations will also include eligible Competent National Authorities that had not participated in Pericles actions.