Source: EURLEX
Language: en
Format: md

C 114/6 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 20.4.2000

## III

(Notices)

# COMMISSION

Call for proposals in the form of projects aimed at improving access of European Union goods and
cross-border services to the Japanese market

(2000/C 114/06)

1. Context: Since 1979, in the framework of the Exprom
Programme to Japan, the European Commission has been
encouraging European enterprises to penetrate the Japanese
market. To this end it has put in place and taken forward
various promotional activities to improve the access of EU
goods and cross-border services and to maximise business
opportunities there. The Exprom programme consists of
three main pillars, the executive training programme in
Japan, the EU gateway to Japan campaign and the ad hoc
projects scheme. The programme complements initiatives
taken nationally by Member States and reflects Japan’s
growing importance as an export market.

Within this framework, the ad hoc activities are designed to
reinforce and supplement the European Commission’s
gateway to Japan campaign and the executive training
programme by assisting EU industry to promote particular
products and sectors not presently assisted via the gateway
to Japan campaign. The sectors currently under promotion
in this campaign and thus excluded from this call for
proposals are material handling equipment, medical
equipment, construction materials, packaging machinery,
waste management technologies, food, drinks, information
technologies and outdoor life and entertainment equipment.

Applications are welcome in any other sector where the
applicant can demonstrate there is a potential growth for
European enterprises in the Japanese market. In this context
some sectors suggested for possible promotion include the
DIY and home decoration, the Japanese retail sector
(generally and/or opportunities on shop design/interiors
and fittings) and the promotion of sectors that have
benefited from substantial deregulation in recent years.

2. Subject of this call for proposals: The Commission will
consider to cofinance high quality proposals, organised at
pan-European level which fall within the following fields:

(i) actions to facilitate access to the Japanese market by
Community enterprises, notably SME’s;

(ii) special measures to identify and eliminate trade barriers
in accordance with the Community’s market access
strategy;

(iii) the collection of information and policy advice on
specific regulatory issues, in the field of trade,

investment and intellectual property rights in the
Japanese market which may affect Community
business interests;

(iv) conferences and seminars to promote trade and
investment relations between the European Union and
Japan and initiatives to enhance the visibility of the
European Union in Japan;

(v) high level business missions to address specific market
access issues in Japan

3. Budget: The budget available to cofinance these projects
will be initially in the order of EUR 500 000. Ideally, the
number of projects selected will be between four and six.
Commission participation in any given project is unlikely to
exceed EUR 250 000.

4. Commission participation in percentage terms: The
participation of the Commission will not exceed 35 % of
the total expenditure of the project. Contributions in kind
will not be considered as eligible expenditure.

5. Eligible costs: Rules outlined in the �Vade-mecum on grant
management for applicants and beneficiaries�will apply to
this call for proposals: This text will be attached to the
specifications sent to applicants. It can also be downloaded
from the Europa web site (www.europa.eu.int).

6. Eligibility of applicants: Eligible proposals must come
from non-profit making organisations, non-governemental organisations, community based organisations
and public or private institutes and operators.

7. Selection criteria: The following information is necessary
for an appraisal of whether the applicant has the minimum
economic and technical capability required to carry out the
project in question:

�Details of educational and professional qualifications of
the persons involved in the implementation of the
project;

�List of the principal projects managed in the past
demonstrating experience in relation to the subject of
the proposal;

20.4.2000 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 114/7

�financial and economic capacity enabling the applicant
to perform the tasks involved in this notice. One or
more of the following references may supply evidence
of these capacities:

�annual budget of last year in case of (semi-) public
organisations,

�bankers’ statements,

�audit certificate,

�balance sheets or extracts from balance sheets,

�statement of the overall turnover relating to the
subject of this call for proposals over the last
financial year;

�In addition, in order to be eligible for this scheme, any
proposal must:

(i) Fall within the regular activities of the beneficiary;

(ii) Contain a clear European dimension (in this regard
any project should benefit at least five Member
States);

(iii) Clearly state its objectives in measurable terms and
provide the means to assess, after the completion of

the project, to what extent these objectives have
been met.

8. Award criteria: Grants will be awarded according to the
following criteria:

(a) amount of grant requested;

(b) ex-ante cost-effectiveness estimation and comparison of
measurable outputs expected with the resources
requested;

(c) quality of the technical proposal (sound organisation,
management structure, working plan, etc.) and degree
of detail of the budget proposal;

(d) extent to which the proposal matches the objectives
outlined in point 2.

9. How to apply: To receive the detailed specifications and
the application form to submit a proposal, please contact,
before 15 May 2000:

Mr Richard Wright (Head of Unit)
ER/C/3
European Commission
Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat 200
CHAR 15/80
B-1049 Bruxelles
Fax (32-2) 299 10 33.

Call for proposals for preparatory actions to promote the European digital content on the global
networks

(2000/C 114/07)

(Text with EEA relevance)

1. Introduction

The general budget of the European Union for the financial
year 2000 contains a budget line B5-334 for the promotion of
the European digital content on the global networks. Global
networks (e.g. the Internet) are reshaping the way that firms
active in the digital content area conduct their daily business.
Experimentation with emerging business models and EU wide
partnerships are key to gobal competitiveness and market
access of European content providers. Therefore the
promotion of European digital content is an important aspect
of the Union’s policies to stimulate the Information Society.

The budget line B5-334 aims to support a number of
preparatory actions addressing basic market barriers that
hamper the emergence and use of EU digital products and
services on the global networks. To this end, the European
Commission invites proposals for actions in the following
areas and with the following goals:

�improving access to risk capital for Internet related SMEs
and start-ups,

�demonstrating exploitation of public sector information,

�facilitating linguistic and cultural customisation of digital
products and services.

2. Objectives, target groups and activities

Improving access to risk capital for Internet related SMEs and
start-ups

Aim of the actions is to explore and test the market on what
are the possibilities of bridging the gap between entrepreneurs
and investors. Actions should help start-ups and fast-growing
SMEs in the digital content and language industries throughout
Europe to find and present themselves to investors and help
investors to find suitable opportunities to invest in Europe. The
actions will consist of products or services that facilitate the
emergence of entrepreneur/investor networks and/or of organising training sessions/workshops that allow Internet related
start-ups and fast-growing SMEs in the digital content and
language sectors to turn innovative ideas into concrete
business-plans. The proposals for such actions should be built
around strong networks in both the digital content