Article 109 The stakeholders group
1. The stakeholders group shall have a balanced representation of stakeholders from a geographic, thematic and gender perspective, including in particular African expertise. 2. In addition to the tasks set out in Article 22, the Stakeholders’ Group shall also perform the following tasks: (a) provide input on the scientific, strategic and the technological priorities to be addressed by the Global Health EDCTP3 Joint Undertaking as laid down in the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda or any other equivalent document taking account the progress and needs of the Global Health and adjacent sectors; (b) provide suggestions to enable concrete synergies to take place between the Global Health EDCTP3 Joint Undertaking and the adjacent sectors or any sector with which synergies will be deemed of added value; (c) provide input to the EDCTP Forum.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal This explanatory memorandum accompanies the proposal for a Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 establishing the Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe. This proposal complements the proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and Council establishing a framework of measures for strengthening Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem ( ‘ Chips Act ’ ) 1 by implementing most of the actions foreseen under the Chips for Europe Initiative , set up under the Chips Act proposal . The Chips Act proposal delivers on the political commitment by President von der Leyen, who announced in her 2021 State of the Union speech that t he aim is to jointly create a state-of-the-art European chip ecosystem, including production 2 . The Chips Act proposal’s underlying strategic vision for strengthening Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem is explained in its accompanying Communication. 3 To fulfil this vision, t he European Chips Strategy is articulated around five strategic objectives : · Europe should strengthen its research and technology leadership ; · Europe should build and reinforce its own capacity to innovate in the design, manufacturing , and packaging of advanced chips, and turn them into commercial products ; · Europe should put in place an adequate framework to increase substantially its production capacity by 2030 ; · Europ e should address the acute skills shortage, attract new talent , and support the emergence of a skilled workforce ; · Europe should develop an in-depth understanding of global semiconductor supply chains. The Chips Act proposal aims at reaching the strategic objective of increasing the resilience of Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem and increasing its global market share. It also aims at facilitating early adoption of new chips by European industry and increase its competitiveness. For this, it needs to attract investment in innovative production facilities, have a skilled workforce, but also be in the position to design and produce the most advanced chips that will define the markets of tomorrow, developing capabilities and having the possibility to test and prototype innovative designs through pilot lines in close collaboration with its industrial vertical sectors. These are necessary steps, but not sufficient unless Europe has the analytical capability of increasing the transparency of the value chain and is capable to benefit from increased capacity to serve the common interest of the single market in case of crisis. The objective is not to become self-sufficient, which is not an achievable target. The Union must strengthen its strengths and work with third countries in a supply chain where interdependencies will remain strong. In terms of delivering on these objectives, one of the goals of the proposed Chips Act is to set up the Chips for Europe Initiative (the ‘Initiative’), to support large-scale capacity building throughout investment into cross-border and openly accessible research, development and innovation infrastructure set up in the Union to enable the development of cutting-edge and next-generation semiconductor technologies that will reinforce the EU’s advanced design, systems integration, and chips production capabilities, including emphasis on start-ups and scale-ups. In particular, the Initiative will build a virtual design platform to reinforce Europe’s design capacity, which will be accessible on open, non-discriminatory, and transparent terms . The p latform will stimulate a wide cooperation of user communities with design houses, intellectual property ( IP ) and tool suppliers, designers , and research and technology organisations ( RTOs ) , and will int egrate existing and new design facilities with extended libraries and EDA 4 tools. The Initiative will support pilot lines that provide the means for third parties under open, transparent, and non-discriminatory terms to test, validate, and further develop their product designs. The development of new pilot lines will prepare for the next generation of production capabilities and their validation. Furthermore, the Initiative will set up advanced technology and engineering capacities for quantum chips, e.g. in the form of design libraries for quantum chips, pilot lines, and testing and experimentation facilities. The Initiative will support a network of competence centres across Europe that will provide expertise to stakeholders, including end-user small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), start-ups as well as vertical sectors, and improve their skills. Competence centres will facilitate open, transparent, and non-discriminatory access to and effective use of the design infrastructure and the pilot lines. They will become poles of attraction for innovation and for new, highly skilled talent, including via reskilling and upskilling of workers. The actions under the Initiative will be primarily implemented through the Chips Joint Undertaking , i.e. the amended and renamed current Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking 5 . This Joint Undertaking currently provides extensive support for industrially driven research, technology development, and innovation in the area of electronic components and systems, and related software and systems tech nologies. These activities will become part of the Initiative . This proposal aims to amend the legal provisions of the Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 establishing the Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe for equipping the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking for its new tasks related to the Initiative. This proposal also renames the Key Digital Technologies as the “Chips Joint Undertaking”. 
Revised version (Article 109 The stakeholders group):
1. The stakeholders group shall have a balanced representation of stakeholders from a geographic, thematic and gender perspective, including in particular African expertise.
Article 110 Eligibility for funding
1. In accordance with Article 17(2) of the Horizon Europe Regulation and by derogation from Article 23(1) thereof, funding from the Global Health EDCTP3 Joint Undertaking shall be restricted to legal entities established in Member States or associated countries or in the constituent states of the EDCTP Association. Exceptionally and if provided for in the work programme, entities established in other states may be eligible for funding from the Global Health EDCTP3 Joint Undertaking in specific call topics or in the event of a call addressing a public health emergency. 2. The Union shall seek to conclude agreements with third countries that allow the protection of the financial interest of the Union. Before their conclusion and in order to safeguard Union financial interests, where entities established in a third country without such an agreement participate with funding in an indirect action, the financial coordinator of the indirect action shall be established in a Member State or associated country, the amount of pre-financing shall be adequately adapted and liability provisions of the grant agreement shall take due account of the financial risks.
Article 111 Identified participants
The participation of entities identified by the Global Health EDCTP3 Joint Undertaking may be an eligibility criterion in the call for proposals. It shall be duly justified in the work programme which may also provide that such identified participants shall not be eligible for funding from the Global Health EDCTP3 Joint Undertaking under the selected indirect actions.
Article 112 Ethical principles
The clinical trials and implementation research conducted under the Global Health EDCTP3 Joint Undertaking shall be implemented in compliance with fundamental ethical principles, recognised international regulatory standards and good participatory practices.
Article 113 Collaboration with the European Medicines Agency and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control
The Global Health EDCTP3 Joint Undertaking shall ensure a close collaboration with the European Medicines Agency and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, as well as with relevant African agencies and organisations.
Article 114 Affordable access
Participants to indirect actions funded by the Global Health EDCTP3 Joint Undertaking shall ensure that the products and services that they develop based or partly based on the results of clinical studies undertaken as part of an indirect action are affordable, available and accessible to the public at fair and reasonable conditions. For that purpose, where relevant, the work programme shall specify additional exploitation obligations applicable to specific indirect actions.
Article 115 Additional objectives of the Innovative Health Joint Undertaking
1. In addition to the objectives set out in Articles 4 and 5, the Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking shall reach the following general objectives by 2030: (a) contribute towards the creation of a Union-wide health research and innovation ecosystem that facilitates translation of scientific knowledge into innovations, in particular by launching at least 30 large-scale cross-sectoral projects, focusing on health innovations; (b) foster the development of safe, effective, people-centred and cost-effective innovations that respond to strategic unmet public health needs, by exhibiting, in at least five examples, the feasibility of integrating health care products or services, with demonstrated suitability for uptake by health care systems. The related projects should address the prevention, diagnosis, treatment or management of diseases affecting the Union population, including contribution to Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan; (c) drive cross-sectoral health innovation for a globally competitive European health industry, and contribute to reaching the objectives of the new Industrial Strategy for Europe and the Pharmaceutical Strategy for Europe. 2. The Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking shall also have the following specific objectives: (a) contribute towards a better understanding of the determinants of health and priority disease areas; (b) integrate fragmented health research and innovation efforts bringing together health industry sectors and other stakeholders, focusing on unmet public health needs, to enable the development of tools, data, platforms, technologies and processes for improved prediction, prevention, interception, diagnosis, treatment and management of diseases, meeting the needs of end-users; (c) demonstrate the feasibility of people-centred integrated health care solutions; (d) exploit the full potential of digitalisation and data exchange in health care; (e) enable the development of new and improved methodologies and models for a comprehensive assessment of the added value of innovative and integrated health care solutions.
Article 116 Additional tasks of the Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking
In addition to the tasks set out in Article 5, the Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking shall carry out the following tasks: (a) foster close and long-term cooperation between the Union, other members, contributing partners, and other stakeholders involved in health care such as other relevant industries, health care authorities (such as regulatory bodies, health technology assessment bodies and payers), patient organisations, health care professionals and providers, as well as academia; (b) effectively support pre-competitive health research and innovation, especially actions that bring together entities of several health care industry sectors to work jointly on areas of unmet public health need; (c) ensure that all stakeholders have the possibility of proposing areas for future calls for proposals; (d) regularly review and make any necessary adjustments to the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda of the Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking in light of scientific developments occurring during its implementation or emerging public health needs; (e) publish information on the projects, including participating entities and the amount of the financial contribution of the Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking and committed in-kind contributions per participant; (f) organise regular communication, including at least one annual meeting with interest groups and with its stakeholders to ensure openness and transparency of the research and innovation activities of the Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking; (g) any other task necessary to achieve the objectives referred to in Article 115.
Article 117 Members
The members of the Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking shall be: (a) the Union, represented by the Commission; (b) the European Coordination Committee of the Radiological, Electromedical and healthcare IT Industry (COCIR) registered under Belgian law, the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations, including its subgroup Vaccines Europe, registered under Luxemburgish law, EuropaBio registered under Belgian law and MedTech Europe registered under Belgian law, upon notification of their respective decisions to accede to the Innovative Health Joint Undertaking by means of a letter of commitment, which shall not contain conditions regarding their accession other than those set out in this Regulation; (c) the associated members to be selected in accordance with Article 7.
Article 118 Union financial contribution
The Union financial contribution to the Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking, including EEA appropriations, to cover administrative costs and operational costs shall be up to EUR 1 200 000 000, including up to EUR 30 212 000 for administrative costs, and shall consist of the following: (a) up to EUR 1 000 000 000 provided that that amount is matched by the contribution of members other than the Union, or its constituent or affiliated entities; (b) up to EUR 200 000 000 provided that that amount is matched by the additional contributions from contributing partners, or from their constituent or affiliated entities.
Article 119 Contributions from members other than the Union
1. The members of the Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking other than the Union shall make or arrange for their constituent or affiliated entities to make a total contribution of at least EUR 1 000 000 000, including up to EUR 30 212 000 for administrative costs, over the period set out in Article 3. 2. In-kind contributions to additional activities shall not constitute more than 40 % of in-kind contributions of members other than the Union, at the level of the Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking. 3. Contributions provided by participants to indirect actions funded by the Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking shall amount to at least 45 % of an indirect action’s eligible costs and costs of its related additional activities. When justified, the work programme may exceptionally allow a lower proportion of contributions at the level of an individual indirect action and its related additional activities. 4. Costs incurred in indirect actions in third countries other than countries associated to Horizon Europe shall be justified and relevant to the objectives set out in Article 115. They shall not exceed 20 % of the in-kind contributions to operational costs provided by members other than the Union and by contributing partners at the level of the Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking. Costs in excess of 20 % of the in-kind contributions to operational costs at the level of the Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking shall not be considered as in-kind contributions to operational costs. 5. In duly justified cases, work programmes of the Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking may set out specific limits for in-kind contributions to operational costs incurred in third countries other than countries associated with Horizon Europe at an indirect action level. The decisions on such specific limits shall take into account in particular the objectives and the impact sought by the actions concerned and shall not result in an excess of the ceiling set out in paragraph 4 at the Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking level.
Article 120 Conditions related to additional activities
1. For the purpose of Article 11(1), point (b), additional activities shall be carried out in the Union or countries associated with Horizon Europe and may include: (a) activities contributing towards the achievement of objectives of indirect actions funded by the Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking; (b) activities contributing towards the dissemination, sustainability or exploitation of results of indirect actions funded by the Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking. 2. Where relevant, project proposals shall include a plan for their related additional activities. Costs associated to such project-specific additional activities must be incurred between the date of submission of the proposal and up to two years after the end date of the indirect action. 3. In order for the costs to be accounted for as in-kind contributions referred to in Article 11(1), point (b), the underlying additional activities shall be carried out within the Union or countries associated to Horizon Europe.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal This explanatory memorandum accompanies the proposal for a Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 establishing the Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe. This proposal complements the proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and Council establishing a framework of measures for strengthening Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem ( ‘ Chips Act ’ ) 1 by implementing most of the actions foreseen under the Chips for Europe Initiative , set up under the Chips Act proposal . The Chips Act proposal delivers on the political commitment by President von der Leyen, who announced in her 2021 State of the Union speech that t he aim is to jointly create a state-of-the-art European chip ecosystem, including production 2 . The Chips Act proposal’s underlying strategic vision for strengthening Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem is explained in its accompanying Communication. 3 To fulfil this vision, t he European Chips Strategy is articulated around five strategic objectives : · Europe should strengthen its research and technology leadership ; · Europe should build and reinforce its own capacity to innovate in the design, manufacturing , and packaging of advanced chips, and turn them into commercial products ; · Europe should put in place an adequate framework to increase substantially its production capacity by 2030 ; · Europ e should address the acute skills shortage, attract new talent , and support the emergence of a skilled workforce ; · Europe should develop an in-depth understanding of global semiconductor supply chains. The Chips Act proposal aims at reaching the strategic objective of increasing the resilience of Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem and increasing its global market share. It also aims at facilitating early adoption of new chips by European industry and increase its competitiveness. For this, it needs to attract investment in innovative production facilities, have a skilled workforce, but also be in the position to design and produce the most advanced chips that will define the markets of tomorrow, developing capabilities and having the possibility to test and prototype innovative designs through pilot lines in close collaboration with its industrial vertical sectors. These are necessary steps, but not sufficient unless Europe has the analytical capability of increasing the transparency of the value chain and is capable to benefit from increased capacity to serve the common interest of the single market in case of crisis. The objective is not to become self-sufficient, which is not an achievable target. The Union must strengthen its strengths and work with third countries in a supply chain where interdependencies will remain strong. In terms of delivering on these objectives, one of the goals of the proposed Chips Act is to set up the Chips for Europe Initiative (the ‘Initiative’), to support large-scale capacity building throughout investment into cross-border and openly accessible research, development and innovation infrastructure set up in the Union to enable the development of cutting-edge and next-generation semiconductor technologies that will reinforce the EU’s advanced design, systems integration, and chips production capabilities, including emphasis on start-ups and scale-ups. In particular, the Initiative will build a virtual design platform to reinforce Europe’s design capacity, which will be accessible on open, non-discriminatory, and transparent terms . The p latform will stimulate a wide cooperation of user communities with design houses, intellectual property ( IP ) and tool suppliers, designers , and research and technology organisations ( RTOs ) , and will int egrate existing and new design facilities with extended libraries and EDA 4 tools. The Initiative will support pilot lines that provide the means for third parties under open, transparent, and non-discriminatory terms to test, validate, and further develop their product designs. The development of new pilot lines will prepare for the next generation of production capabilities and their validation. Furthermore, the Initiative will set up advanced technology and engineering capacities for quantum chips, e.g. in the form of design libraries for quantum chips, pilot lines, and testing and experimentation facilities. The Initiative will support a network of competence centres across Europe that will provide expertise to stakeholders, including end-user small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), start-ups as well as vertical sectors, and improve their skills. Competence centres will facilitate open, transparent, and non-discriminatory access to and effective use of the design infrastructure and the pilot lines. They will become poles of attraction for innovation and for new, highly skilled talent, including via reskilling and upskilling of workers. The actions under the Initiative will be primarily implemented through the Chips Joint Undertaking , i.e. the amended and renamed current Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking 5 . This Joint Undertaking currently provides extensive support for industrially driven research, technology development, and innovation in the area of electronic components and systems, and related software and systems tech nologies. These activities will become part of the Initiative . This proposal aims to amend the legal provisions of the Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 establishing the Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe for equipping the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking for its new tasks related to the Initiative. This proposal also renames the Key Digital Technologies as the “Chips Joint Undertaking”. 
Revised version (Article 120 Conditions related to additional activities):
2. Where relevant, project proposals shall include a plan for their related additional activities. Costs associated to such project-specific additional activities must be incurred between the date of submission of the proposal and up to two years after the end date of the indirect action. 3. In order for the costs to be accounted for as in-kind contributions referred to in Article 11(1), point (b), the underlying additional activities shall be carried out within the Union or countries associated to Horizon Europe.
Article 121 Bodies of the Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking
The bodies of the Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking shall be: (a) the Governing Board; (b) the Executive Director; (c) the states’ representatives group; (d) the Science and Innovation Panel.
Article 122 Composition of the Governing Board
The Governing Board shall be composed of the following: (a) four representatives of the Commission on behalf of the Union; (b) one representative per member other than the Union.
Article 123 Functioning of the Governing Board
The members other than the Union shall collectively hold 50 % of the voting rights.
Article 124 The Science and Innovation Panel
1. The Science and Innovation Panel shall advise the Governing Board on matters relevant to the research and innovation activities of the Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking in accordance with Article 21. 2. The Science and Innovation Panel shall be composed of the following permanent panellists: (a) two representatives of the Commission on behalf of the Union; (b) four representatives of the members other than the Union; (c) two representatives of the states’ representatives group; (d) four representatives of the scientific community, appointed by the Governing Board following an open selection process in accordance with Article 21(4); (e) up to six other permanent panellists, appointed by the Governing Board following an open selection process in application of Article 21(4), ensuring in particular appropriate representation of stakeholders involved in health care, covering in particular the public sector, including regulatory bodies, patients and end-users in general. 3. The permanent panellists referred to in paragraph 2, points (a), (b) and (c), may invite ad hoc panellists where appropriate to discuss specific subjects. They may jointly invite a maximum of six ad hoc panellists for each meeting. Such ad hoc panellists shall be invited based on their scientific or technical expertise on the subjects to be discussed at given meetings or taking into account the need to create synergies with other research programmes. The permanent panellists referred to in paragraph 2, points (a), (b) and (c), shall invite ad hoc panellists consensually. They shall communicate their decisions to the Governing Board, the states’ representatives group and the other permanent panellists. 4. In addition to Article 21(7), the Science and Innovation Panel shall provide advice to the Governing Board, at its request or on its own initiative, on scientific and technological matters related to the Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking’s objectives, in particular about: (a) scientific priorities, including in the context of updating the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda; (b) the draft work programme, including the content of calls for proposals; (c) the planning of additional activities of members other than the Union referred to in Article 120; (d) the set-up of advisory groups focused on specific scientific priorities in accordance with Article 17(2), point (x), and following an open selection process for their members in accordance with Article 21(4); (e) creation of synergies with other Horizon Europe activities, including other European partnerships, as well as other Union funding programmes and national funding programmes. 5. In addition to Article 21(5), the Science and Innovation Panel shall elect its chair among the representatives provided in paragraph 2, point (d), of this Article.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal This explanatory memorandum accompanies the proposal for a Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 establishing the Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe. This proposal complements the proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and Council establishing a framework of measures for strengthening Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem ( ‘ Chips Act ’ ) 1 by implementing most of the actions foreseen under the Chips for Europe Initiative , set up under the Chips Act proposal . The Chips Act proposal delivers on the political commitment by President von der Leyen, who announced in her 2021 State of the Union speech that t he aim is to jointly create a state-of-the-art European chip ecosystem, including production 2 . The Chips Act proposal’s underlying strategic vision for strengthening Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem is explained in its accompanying Communication. 3 To fulfil this vision, t he European Chips Strategy is articulated around five strategic objectives : · Europe should strengthen its research and technology leadership ; · Europe should build and reinforce its own capacity to innovate in the design, manufacturing , and packaging of advanced chips, and turn them into commercial products ; · Europe should put in place an adequate framework to increase substantially its production capacity by 2030 ; · Europ e should address the acute skills shortage, attract new talent , and support the emergence of a skilled workforce ; · Europe should develop an in-depth understanding of global semiconductor supply chains. The Chips Act proposal aims at reaching the strategic objective of increasing the resilience of Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem and increasing its global market share. It also aims at facilitating early adoption of new chips by European industry and increase its competitiveness. For this, it needs to attract investment in innovative production facilities, have a skilled workforce, but also be in the position to design and produce the most advanced chips that will define the markets of tomorrow, developing capabilities and having the possibility to test and prototype innovative designs through pilot lines in close collaboration with its industrial vertical sectors. These are necessary steps, but not sufficient unless Europe has the analytical capability of increasing the transparency of the value chain and is capable to benefit from increased capacity to serve the common interest of the single market in case of crisis. The objective is not to become self-sufficient, which is not an achievable target. The Union must strengthen its strengths and work with third countries in a supply chain where interdependencies will remain strong. In terms of delivering on these objectives, one of the goals of the proposed Chips Act is to set up the Chips for Europe Initiative (the ‘Initiative’), to support large-scale capacity building throughout investment into cross-border and openly accessible research, development and innovation infrastructure set up in the Union to enable the development of cutting-edge and next-generation semiconductor technologies that will reinforce the EU’s advanced design, systems integration, and chips production capabilities, including emphasis on start-ups and scale-ups. In particular, the Initiative will build a virtual design platform to reinforce Europe’s design capacity, which will be accessible on open, non-discriminatory, and transparent terms . The p latform will stimulate a wide cooperation of user communities with design houses, intellectual property ( IP ) and tool suppliers, designers , and research and technology organisations ( RTOs ) , and will int egrate existing and new design facilities with extended libraries and EDA 4 tools. The Initiative will support pilot lines that provide the means for third parties under open, transparent, and non-discriminatory terms to test, validate, and further develop their product designs. The development of new pilot lines will prepare for the next generation of production capabilities and their validation. Furthermore, the Initiative will set up advanced technology and engineering capacities for quantum chips, e.g. in the form of design libraries for quantum chips, pilot lines, and testing and experimentation facilities. The Initiative will support a network of competence centres across Europe that will provide expertise to stakeholders, including end-user small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), start-ups as well as vertical sectors, and improve their skills. Competence centres will facilitate open, transparent, and non-discriminatory access to and effective use of the design infrastructure and the pilot lines. They will become poles of attraction for innovation and for new, highly skilled talent, including via reskilling and upskilling of workers. The actions under the Initiative will be primarily implemented through the Chips Joint Undertaking , i.e. the amended and renamed current Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking 5 . This Joint Undertaking currently provides extensive support for industrially driven research, technology development, and innovation in the area of electronic components and systems, and related software and systems tech nologies. These activities will become part of the Initiative . This proposal aims to amend the legal provisions of the Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 establishing the Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe for equipping the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking for its new tasks related to the Initiative. This proposal also renames the Key Digital Technologies as the “Chips Joint Undertaking”. 
Revised version (Article 124 The Science and Innovation Panel):
1. The Science and Innovation Panel shall advise the Governing Board on matters relevant to the research and innovation activities of the Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking in accordance with Article 21. Such ad hoc panellists shall be invited based on their scientific or technical expertise on the subjects to be discussed at given meetings or taking into account the need to create synergies with other research programmes. 5. In addition to Article 21(5), the Science and Innovation Panel shall elect its chair among the representatives provided in paragraph 2, point (d), of this Article.
Article 125 Conditions applicable to indirect actions
1. For the purpose of this Regulation, an unmet public health need shall be defined as a need currently not addressed by the health care systems for availability or accessibility reasons, for example where there is no satisfactory method of diagnosis, prevention or treatment for a given health condition or if people’s access to health care is limited because of cost, distance to health facilities or waiting times. People-centred care refers to an approach to care that consciously adopts individuals’, carers’, families’ and communities’ perspectives and considers them as participants as well as beneficiaries of health care systems that are organised around their needs and preferences rather than individual diseases. 2. Indirect actions funded by the Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking may include clinical studies where the targeted area or the intended use represents an unmet public health need, significantly affecting or threatening the Union’s population. 3. Participants to indirect actions funded by the Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking must ensure that the products and services that they develop based or partly based on the results of clinical studies undertaken as part of an indirect action are affordable, available and accessible to the public at fair and reasonable conditions. For that purpose, where relevant, the work programme shall specify additional exploitation obligations applicable to specific indirect actions. 4. Where provided for in the work programme and in addition to Article 5(2), point (a), legal entities identified by the Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking may be required to participate in specific indirect actions. Those entities shall not be eligible for funding from the Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking. 5. Any legal entities participating in specific indirect actions with the identified legal entities referred to in paragraph 4 shall not be eligible for funding where: (a) they are for-profit legal entities with an annual turnover of EUR 500 million or more; (b) they are under the direct or indirect control of a legal entity described in point (a), or under the same direct or indirect control as a legal entity described in point (a); (c) they are directly or indirectly controlling a legal entity referred to in point (a).
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal This explanatory memorandum accompanies the proposal for a Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 establishing the Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe. This proposal complements the proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and Council establishing a framework of measures for strengthening Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem ( ‘ Chips Act ’ ) 1 by implementing most of the actions foreseen under the Chips for Europe Initiative , set up under the Chips Act proposal . The Chips Act proposal delivers on the political commitment by President von der Leyen, who announced in her 2021 State of the Union speech that t he aim is to jointly create a state-of-the-art European chip ecosystem, including production 2 . The Chips Act proposal’s underlying strategic vision for strengthening Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem is explained in its accompanying Communication. 3 To fulfil this vision, t he European Chips Strategy is articulated around five strategic objectives : · Europe should strengthen its research and technology leadership ; · Europe should build and reinforce its own capacity to innovate in the design, manufacturing , and packaging of advanced chips, and turn them into commercial products ; · Europe should put in place an adequate framework to increase substantially its production capacity by 2030 ; · Europ e should address the acute skills shortage, attract new talent , and support the emergence of a skilled workforce ; · Europe should develop an in-depth understanding of global semiconductor supply chains. The Chips Act proposal aims at reaching the strategic objective of increasing the resilience of Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem and increasing its global market share. It also aims at facilitating early adoption of new chips by European industry and increase its competitiveness. For this, it needs to attract investment in innovative production facilities, have a skilled workforce, but also be in the position to design and produce the most advanced chips that will define the markets of tomorrow, developing capabilities and having the possibility to test and prototype innovative designs through pilot lines in close collaboration with its industrial vertical sectors. These are necessary steps, but not sufficient unless Europe has the analytical capability of increasing the transparency of the value chain and is capable to benefit from increased capacity to serve the common interest of the single market in case of crisis. The objective is not to become self-sufficient, which is not an achievable target. The Union must strengthen its strengths and work with third countries in a supply chain where interdependencies will remain strong. In terms of delivering on these objectives, one of the goals of the proposed Chips Act is to set up the Chips for Europe Initiative (the ‘Initiative’), to support large-scale capacity building throughout investment into cross-border and openly accessible research, development and innovation infrastructure set up in the Union to enable the development of cutting-edge and next-generation semiconductor technologies that will reinforce the EU’s advanced design, systems integration, and chips production capabilities, including emphasis on start-ups and scale-ups. In particular, the Initiative will build a virtual design platform to reinforce Europe’s design capacity, which will be accessible on open, non-discriminatory, and transparent terms . The p latform will stimulate a wide cooperation of user communities with design houses, intellectual property ( IP ) and tool suppliers, designers , and research and technology organisations ( RTOs ) , and will int egrate existing and new design facilities with extended libraries and EDA 4 tools. The Initiative will support pilot lines that provide the means for third parties under open, transparent, and non-discriminatory terms to test, validate, and further develop their product designs. The development of new pilot lines will prepare for the next generation of production capabilities and their validation. Furthermore, the Initiative will set up advanced technology and engineering capacities for quantum chips, e.g. in the form of design libraries for quantum chips, pilot lines, and testing and experimentation facilities. The Initiative will support a network of competence centres across Europe that will provide expertise to stakeholders, including end-user small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), start-ups as well as vertical sectors, and improve their skills. Competence centres will facilitate open, transparent, and non-discriminatory access to and effective use of the design infrastructure and the pilot lines. They will become poles of attraction for innovation and for new, highly skilled talent, including via reskilling and upskilling of workers. The actions under the Initiative will be primarily implemented through the Chips Joint Undertaking , i.e. the amended and renamed current Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking 5 . This Joint Undertaking currently provides extensive support for industrially driven research, technology development, and innovation in the area of electronic components and systems, and related software and systems tech nologies. These activities will become part of the Initiative . This proposal aims to amend the legal provisions of the Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 establishing the Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe for equipping the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking for its new tasks related to the Initiative. This proposal also renames the Key Digital Technologies as the “Chips Joint Undertaking”. 
Revised version (Article 125 Conditions applicable to indirect actions):
1. For the purpose of this Regulation, an unmet public health need shall be defined as a need currently not addressed by the health care systems for availability or accessibility reasons, for example where there is no satisfactory method of diagnosis, prevention or treatment for a given health condition or if people’s access to health care is limited because of cost, distance to health facilities or waiting times. People-centred care refers to an approach to care that consciously adopts individuals’, carers’, families’ and communities’ perspectives and considers them as participants as well as beneficiaries of health care systems that are organised around their needs and preferences rather than individual diseases. 2. Indirect actions funded by the Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking may include clinical studies where the targeted area or the intended use represents an unmet public health need, significantly affecting or threatening the Union’s population. 3. Participants to indirect actions funded by the Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking must ensure that the products and services that they develop based or partly based on the results of clinical studies undertaken as part of an indirect action are affordable, available and accessible to the public at fair and reasonable conditions. For that purpose, where relevant, the work programme shall specify additional exploitation obligations applicable to specific indirect actions. 4. Where provided for in the work programme and in addition to Article 5(2), point (a), legal entities identified by the Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking may be required to participate in specific indirect actions. Those entities shall not be eligible for funding from the Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking.
Article 126 Additional objectives of the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking
1. In addition to the objectives set out in Articles 4 and 5, the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking shall have the following general objectives: (a) reinforce the Union’s strategic autonomy in electronic components and systems to support future needs of vertical industries and the economy at large. The overall target is to contribute towards doubling the value of the design and production of electronic components and systems in Europe by 2030, in line with the weight of the Union in products and services; (b) establish Union scientific excellence and innovation leadership in emerging components and systems technologies, including in activities related to lower TRLs; and promote the active involvement of SMEs, which shall represent at least one third of the total number of participants in indirect actions and at least 20 % of public funding should go to them; (c) ensure that components and systems technologies address Europe’s societal and environmental challenges. The target is to align with the Union policy on energy efficiency and contribute towards the reduction of energy consumption by 32,5 % in 2030. 2. In addition to the objectives set out in paragraph 1, the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking shall have the following specific objectives: (a) support research and development for establishing design and production capabilities in Europe for strategic application areas; (b) launch a balanced portfolio of large and small projects supporting the fast transfer of technologies from the research to the industrial environment; (c) foster a dynamic Union-wide ecosystem based on digital value-chains with simplified access to newcomers; (d) support research and development for enhancing component technologies that guarantee security, trust and energy-efficiency for critical infrastructures and sectors in Europe; (e) foster mobilisation of national resources and ensure coordination of Union and national research and innovation programmes in the field of electronic components and systems; (f) establish coherence between the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda of the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking and Union policies so that electronics components and systems technologies contribute efficiently.
Article 127 Members
1. The members of the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking shall be: (a) the public authorities consisting of: (i) the Union, represented by the Commission; (ii) the following participating states: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden; (b) the private members consisting of the following industrial associations: the AENEAS Association registered under French law; the Inside Industry Association (INSIDE) registered under Dutch law; the EPoSS e.V. Association registered under German law. 2. Each participating state shall appoint its representatives in the bodies of the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking and shall designate the national entity or entities responsible for fulfilling its obligations with respect to the activities of the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal This explanatory memorandum accompanies the proposal for a Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 establishing the Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe. This proposal complements the proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and Council establishing a framework of measures for strengthening Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem ( ‘ Chips Act ’ ) 1 by implementing most of the actions foreseen under the Chips for Europe Initiative , set up under the Chips Act proposal . The Chips Act proposal delivers on the political commitment by President von der Leyen, who announced in her 2021 State of the Union speech that t he aim is to jointly create a state-of-the-art European chip ecosystem, including production 2 . The Chips Act proposal’s underlying strategic vision for strengthening Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem is explained in its accompanying Communication. 3 To fulfil this vision, t he European Chips Strategy is articulated around five strategic objectives : · Europe should strengthen its research and technology leadership ; · Europe should build and reinforce its own capacity to innovate in the design, manufacturing , and packaging of advanced chips, and turn them into commercial products ; · Europe should put in place an adequate framework to increase substantially its production capacity by 2030 ; · Europ e should address the acute skills shortage, attract new talent , and support the emergence of a skilled workforce ; · Europe should develop an in-depth understanding of global semiconductor supply chains. The Chips Act proposal aims at reaching the strategic objective of increasing the resilience of Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem and increasing its global market share. It also aims at facilitating early adoption of new chips by European industry and increase its competitiveness. For this, it needs to attract investment in innovative production facilities, have a skilled workforce, but also be in the position to design and produce the most advanced chips that will define the markets of tomorrow, developing capabilities and having the possibility to test and prototype innovative designs through pilot lines in close collaboration with its industrial vertical sectors. These are necessary steps, but not sufficient unless Europe has the analytical capability of increasing the transparency of the value chain and is capable to benefit from increased capacity to serve the common interest of the single market in case of crisis. The objective is not to become self-sufficient, which is not an achievable target. The Union must strengthen its strengths and work with third countries in a supply chain where interdependencies will remain strong. In terms of delivering on these objectives, one of the goals of the proposed Chips Act is to set up the Chips for Europe Initiative (the ‘Initiative’), to support large-scale capacity building throughout investment into cross-border and openly accessible research, development and innovation infrastructure set up in the Union to enable the development of cutting-edge and next-generation semiconductor technologies that will reinforce the EU’s advanced design, systems integration, and chips production capabilities, including emphasis on start-ups and scale-ups. In particular, the Initiative will build a virtual design platform to reinforce Europe’s design capacity, which will be accessible on open, non-discriminatory, and transparent terms . The p latform will stimulate a wide cooperation of user communities with design houses, intellectual property ( IP ) and tool suppliers, designers , and research and technology organisations ( RTOs ) , and will int egrate existing and new design facilities with extended libraries and EDA 4 tools. The Initiative will support pilot lines that provide the means for third parties under open, transparent, and non-discriminatory terms to test, validate, and further develop their product designs. The development of new pilot lines will prepare for the next generation of production capabilities and their validation. Furthermore, the Initiative will set up advanced technology and engineering capacities for quantum chips, e.g. in the form of design libraries for quantum chips, pilot lines, and testing and experimentation facilities. The Initiative will support a network of competence centres across Europe that will provide expertise to stakeholders, including end-user small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), start-ups as well as vertical sectors, and improve their skills. Competence centres will facilitate open, transparent, and non-discriminatory access to and effective use of the design infrastructure and the pilot lines. They will become poles of attraction for innovation and for new, highly skilled talent, including via reskilling and upskilling of workers. The actions under the Initiative will be primarily implemented through the Chips Joint Undertaking , i.e. the amended and renamed current Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking 5 . This Joint Undertaking currently provides extensive support for industrially driven research, technology development, and innovation in the area of electronic components and systems, and related software and systems tech nologies. These activities will become part of the Initiative . This proposal aims to amend the legal provisions of the Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 establishing the Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe for equipping the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking for its new tasks related to the Initiative. This proposal also renames the Key Digital Technologies as the “Chips Joint Undertaking”. 
Revised version (Article 127 Members):
2. Each participating state shall appoint its representatives in the bodies of the Chips Joint Undertaking and shall designate the national entity or entities responsible for fulfilling its obligations with respect to the activities of the Chips Joint Undertaking .
Article 128 Union financial contribution
The Union financial contribution to the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking, including EEA appropriations, to cover administrative costs and operational costs shall be up to EUR 1 800 000 000, including up to EUR 26 331 000 for administrative costs.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal This explanatory memorandum accompanies the proposal for a Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 establishing the Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe. This proposal complements the proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and Council establishing a framework of measures for strengthening Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem ( ‘ Chips Act ’ ) 1 by implementing most of the actions foreseen under the Chips for Europe Initiative , set up under the Chips Act proposal . The Chips Act proposal delivers on the political commitment by President von der Leyen, who announced in her 2021 State of the Union speech that t he aim is to jointly create a state-of-the-art European chip ecosystem, including production 2 . The Chips Act proposal’s underlying strategic vision for strengthening Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem is explained in its accompanying Communication. 3 To fulfil this vision, t he European Chips Strategy is articulated around five strategic objectives : · Europe should strengthen its research and technology leadership ; · Europe should build and reinforce its own capacity to innovate in the design, manufacturing , and packaging of advanced chips, and turn them into commercial products ; · Europe should put in place an adequate framework to increase substantially its production capacity by 2030 ; · Europ e should address the acute skills shortage, attract new talent , and support the emergence of a skilled workforce ; · Europe should develop an in-depth understanding of global semiconductor supply chains. The Chips Act proposal aims at reaching the strategic objective of increasing the resilience of Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem and increasing its global market share. It also aims at facilitating early adoption of new chips by European industry and increase its competitiveness. For this, it needs to attract investment in innovative production facilities, have a skilled workforce, but also be in the position to design and produce the most advanced chips that will define the markets of tomorrow, developing capabilities and having the possibility to test and prototype innovative designs through pilot lines in close collaboration with its industrial vertical sectors. These are necessary steps, but not sufficient unless Europe has the analytical capability of increasing the transparency of the value chain and is capable to benefit from increased capacity to serve the common interest of the single market in case of crisis. The objective is not to become self-sufficient, which is not an achievable target. The Union must strengthen its strengths and work with third countries in a supply chain where interdependencies will remain strong. In terms of delivering on these objectives, one of the goals of the proposed Chips Act is to set up the Chips for Europe Initiative (the ‘Initiative’), to support large-scale capacity building throughout investment into cross-border and openly accessible research, development and innovation infrastructure set up in the Union to enable the development of cutting-edge and next-generation semiconductor technologies that will reinforce the EU’s advanced design, systems integration, and chips production capabilities, including emphasis on start-ups and scale-ups. In particular, the Initiative will build a virtual design platform to reinforce Europe’s design capacity, which will be accessible on open, non-discriminatory, and transparent terms . The p latform will stimulate a wide cooperation of user communities with design houses, intellectual property ( IP ) and tool suppliers, designers , and research and technology organisations ( RTOs ) , and will int egrate existing and new design facilities with extended libraries and EDA 4 tools. The Initiative will support pilot lines that provide the means for third parties under open, transparent, and non-discriminatory terms to test, validate, and further develop their product designs. The development of new pilot lines will prepare for the next generation of production capabilities and their validation. Furthermore, the Initiative will set up advanced technology and engineering capacities for quantum chips, e.g. in the form of design libraries for quantum chips, pilot lines, and testing and experimentation facilities. The Initiative will support a network of competence centres across Europe that will provide expertise to stakeholders, including end-user small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), start-ups as well as vertical sectors, and improve their skills. Competence centres will facilitate open, transparent, and non-discriminatory access to and effective use of the design infrastructure and the pilot lines. They will become poles of attraction for innovation and for new, highly skilled talent, including via reskilling and upskilling of workers. The actions under the Initiative will be primarily implemented through the Chips Joint Undertaking , i.e. the amended and renamed current Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking 5 . This Joint Undertaking currently provides extensive support for industrially driven research, technology development, and innovation in the area of electronic components and systems, and related software and systems tech nologies. These activities will become part of the Initiative . This proposal aims to amend the legal provisions of the Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 establishing the Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe for equipping the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking for its new tasks related to the Initiative. This proposal also renames the Key Digital Technologies as the “Chips Joint Undertaking”. 
Revised version (Article 128 Union financial contribution):
1. The Union financial contribution to the Chips Joint Undertaking, including EEA appropriations, shall be up to EUR 4 175 000 000 , including up to EUR 62 287 000 for administrative costs distributed as follows: (a) up to EUR 2 725 000 000 from Horizon Europe; (b) up to EUR 1 450 000 000 from DEP. 2. The Union financial contribution referred to in paragraph 1, point (a), of this Article shall be used for the Chips Joint Undertaking to provide financial support for indirect actions as defined in Article 2, point (43), of the Horizon Europe Regulation, corresponding to the research and innovation activities of the Chips Joint Undertaking, including research and innovation activities related to operational objectives 1 to 4. 3. The Union financial contribution referred to in paragraph 1, point (b), shall be used for capacity-building activities of operational objectives 1 to 4. 4. The Union financial contribution referred to in paragraph 1, point (b), shall not exceed 50 % of the total costs of the capacity-building activities. 5. Access to capacities resulting from the implementation by the Chips Joint Undertaking of operational objectives 1 to 4 shall be open to a wide range of users across the Union and granted on a transparent and non-discriminatory basis directly proportional to the financial contribution by the Union to the total costs of those activities.
Article 129 Contributions from members other than the Union
1. Over the period set out in Article 3, the participating states of the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking shall make a total contribution that is commensurate to the amount of the Union contribution to operational costs referred to in Article 128. The participating states shall arrange among them their collective contributions and how they will deliver those. This shall not affect the ability of each participating state to define its national financial contribution in accordance with Article 12. By derogation from Article 28(4), point (a), the participating states shall not make a contribution to administrative costs. 2. Over the period set out in Article 3, the private members of the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking shall make or arrange for their constituent or affiliated entities to make contributions of at least EUR 2 511 164 000 to the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking. 3. In line with Article 28(4), the private members shall make or arrange for their constituent and affiliated entities to make a financial contribution of up to EUR 26 331 000 for administrative costs of the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking. 4. The contributions referred to in paragraph 1 shall consist of contributions laid down in Article 11(3). The contributions referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article shall consist of contributions laid down in Article 11(1), including at least 90 % of contributions laid down in Article 11(1), point (a).
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal This explanatory memorandum accompanies the proposal for a Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 establishing the Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe. This proposal complements the proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and Council establishing a framework of measures for strengthening Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem ( ‘ Chips Act ’ ) 1 by implementing most of the actions foreseen under the Chips for Europe Initiative , set up under the Chips Act proposal . The Chips Act proposal delivers on the political commitment by President von der Leyen, who announced in her 2021 State of the Union speech that t he aim is to jointly create a state-of-the-art European chip ecosystem, including production 2 . The Chips Act proposal’s underlying strategic vision for strengthening Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem is explained in its accompanying Communication. 3 To fulfil this vision, t he European Chips Strategy is articulated around five strategic objectives : · Europe should strengthen its research and technology leadership ; · Europe should build and reinforce its own capacity to innovate in the design, manufacturing , and packaging of advanced chips, and turn them into commercial products ; · Europe should put in place an adequate framework to increase substantially its production capacity by 2030 ; · Europ e should address the acute skills shortage, attract new talent , and support the emergence of a skilled workforce ; · Europe should develop an in-depth understanding of global semiconductor supply chains. The Chips Act proposal aims at reaching the strategic objective of increasing the resilience of Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem and increasing its global market share. It also aims at facilitating early adoption of new chips by European industry and increase its competitiveness. For this, it needs to attract investment in innovative production facilities, have a skilled workforce, but also be in the position to design and produce the most advanced chips that will define the markets of tomorrow, developing capabilities and having the possibility to test and prototype innovative designs through pilot lines in close collaboration with its industrial vertical sectors. These are necessary steps, but not sufficient unless Europe has the analytical capability of increasing the transparency of the value chain and is capable to benefit from increased capacity to serve the common interest of the single market in case of crisis. The objective is not to become self-sufficient, which is not an achievable target. The Union must strengthen its strengths and work with third countries in a supply chain where interdependencies will remain strong. In terms of delivering on these objectives, one of the goals of the proposed Chips Act is to set up the Chips for Europe Initiative (the ‘Initiative’), to support large-scale capacity building throughout investment into cross-border and openly accessible research, development and innovation infrastructure set up in the Union to enable the development of cutting-edge and next-generation semiconductor technologies that will reinforce the EU’s advanced design, systems integration, and chips production capabilities, including emphasis on start-ups and scale-ups. In particular, the Initiative will build a virtual design platform to reinforce Europe’s design capacity, which will be accessible on open, non-discriminatory, and transparent terms . The p latform will stimulate a wide cooperation of user communities with design houses, intellectual property ( IP ) and tool suppliers, designers , and research and technology organisations ( RTOs ) , and will int egrate existing and new design facilities with extended libraries and EDA 4 tools. The Initiative will support pilot lines that provide the means for third parties under open, transparent, and non-discriminatory terms to test, validate, and further develop their product designs. The development of new pilot lines will prepare for the next generation of production capabilities and their validation. Furthermore, the Initiative will set up advanced technology and engineering capacities for quantum chips, e.g. in the form of design libraries for quantum chips, pilot lines, and testing and experimentation facilities. The Initiative will support a network of competence centres across Europe that will provide expertise to stakeholders, including end-user small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), start-ups as well as vertical sectors, and improve their skills. Competence centres will facilitate open, transparent, and non-discriminatory access to and effective use of the design infrastructure and the pilot lines. They will become poles of attraction for innovation and for new, highly skilled talent, including via reskilling and upskilling of workers. The actions under the Initiative will be primarily implemented through the Chips Joint Undertaking , i.e. the amended and renamed current Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking 5 . This Joint Undertaking currently provides extensive support for industrially driven research, technology development, and innovation in the area of electronic components and systems, and related software and systems tech nologies. These activities will become part of the Initiative . This proposal aims to amend the legal provisions of the Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 establishing the Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe for equipping the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking for its new tasks related to the Initiative. This proposal also renames the Key Digital Technologies as the “Chips Joint Undertaking”. 
Revised version (Article 129 Contributions from members other than the Union):
1. Over the period set out in Article 3, the participating states of the Chips Joint Undertaking shall make a total contribution that is commensurate to the amount of the Union contribution to operational costs referred to in Article 128. The participating states shall arrange among them their collective contributions and how they will deliver those. This shall not affect the ability of each participating state to define its national financial contribution in accordance with Article 12. By derogation from Article 28(4), point (a), the participating states shall not make a contribution to administrative costs. 2. Over the period set out in Article 3, the private members of the Chips Joint Undertaking shall make or arrange for their constituent or affiliated entities to make contributions of at least EUR 2 511 164 000 to the Chips Joint Undertaking . 3. By way of derogation from Article 28(4), the private members shall make or arrange for their constituent and affiliated entities to make a financial contribution of up to EUR 26 331 000 for administrative costs of the Chips Joint Undertaking. The share of the total contribution on an annual basis for administrative costs of the Chips Joint Undertaking by the private members shall be 30 %. 5. The contributions referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article shall consist of contributions laid down in Article 11(1), including at least 90 % of contributions laid down in Article 11(1), point (a).
Article 130 Scope of additional activities
1. The Governing Board of the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking may approve where necessary the additional activities plan referred to in Article 11(1), point (b), following a proposal by the Private Members Board, taking into account the opinion of the Public Authorities Board. 2. For the purpose of Article 11(1), point (b), additional activities may include: (a) investment aiming to industrialise the Key Digital Technologies, ECSEL, ARTEMIS and ENIAC Joint Undertakings’ projects’ results; (b) pilots, demonstrators, applications, deployments, industrialisation, including relevant capital expenditure, including projects under the IPCEIs on microelectronics; (c) related research and development activities that are not publicly funded; (d) activities financed by loans of the European Investment Bank and not funded under a grant by the Union; (e) activities to develop the ecosystem supporting the cooperation of technology users and suppliers.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal This explanatory memorandum accompanies the proposal for a Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 establishing the Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe. This proposal complements the proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and Council establishing a framework of measures for strengthening Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem ( ‘ Chips Act ’ ) 1 by implementing most of the actions foreseen under the Chips for Europe Initiative , set up under the Chips Act proposal . The Chips Act proposal delivers on the political commitment by President von der Leyen, who announced in her 2021 State of the Union speech that t he aim is to jointly create a state-of-the-art European chip ecosystem, including production 2 . The Chips Act proposal’s underlying strategic vision for strengthening Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem is explained in its accompanying Communication. 3 To fulfil this vision, t he European Chips Strategy is articulated around five strategic objectives : · Europe should strengthen its research and technology leadership ; · Europe should build and reinforce its own capacity to innovate in the design, manufacturing , and packaging of advanced chips, and turn them into commercial products ; · Europe should put in place an adequate framework to increase substantially its production capacity by 2030 ; · Europ e should address the acute skills shortage, attract new talent , and support the emergence of a skilled workforce ; · Europe should develop an in-depth understanding of global semiconductor supply chains. The Chips Act proposal aims at reaching the strategic objective of increasing the resilience of Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem and increasing its global market share. It also aims at facilitating early adoption of new chips by European industry and increase its competitiveness. For this, it needs to attract investment in innovative production facilities, have a skilled workforce, but also be in the position to design and produce the most advanced chips that will define the markets of tomorrow, developing capabilities and having the possibility to test and prototype innovative designs through pilot lines in close collaboration with its industrial vertical sectors. These are necessary steps, but not sufficient unless Europe has the analytical capability of increasing the transparency of the value chain and is capable to benefit from increased capacity to serve the common interest of the single market in case of crisis. The objective is not to become self-sufficient, which is not an achievable target. The Union must strengthen its strengths and work with third countries in a supply chain where interdependencies will remain strong. In terms of delivering on these objectives, one of the goals of the proposed Chips Act is to set up the Chips for Europe Initiative (the ‘Initiative’), to support large-scale capacity building throughout investment into cross-border and openly accessible research, development and innovation infrastructure set up in the Union to enable the development of cutting-edge and next-generation semiconductor technologies that will reinforce the EU’s advanced design, systems integration, and chips production capabilities, including emphasis on start-ups and scale-ups. In particular, the Initiative will build a virtual design platform to reinforce Europe’s design capacity, which will be accessible on open, non-discriminatory, and transparent terms . The p latform will stimulate a wide cooperation of user communities with design houses, intellectual property ( IP ) and tool suppliers, designers , and research and technology organisations ( RTOs ) , and will int egrate existing and new design facilities with extended libraries and EDA 4 tools. The Initiative will support pilot lines that provide the means for third parties under open, transparent, and non-discriminatory terms to test, validate, and further develop their product designs. The development of new pilot lines will prepare for the next generation of production capabilities and their validation. Furthermore, the Initiative will set up advanced technology and engineering capacities for quantum chips, e.g. in the form of design libraries for quantum chips, pilot lines, and testing and experimentation facilities. The Initiative will support a network of competence centres across Europe that will provide expertise to stakeholders, including end-user small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), start-ups as well as vertical sectors, and improve their skills. Competence centres will facilitate open, transparent, and non-discriminatory access to and effective use of the design infrastructure and the pilot lines. They will become poles of attraction for innovation and for new, highly skilled talent, including via reskilling and upskilling of workers. The actions under the Initiative will be primarily implemented through the Chips Joint Undertaking , i.e. the amended and renamed current Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking 5 . This Joint Undertaking currently provides extensive support for industrially driven research, technology development, and innovation in the area of electronic components and systems, and related software and systems tech nologies. These activities will become part of the Initiative . This proposal aims to amend the legal provisions of the Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 establishing the Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe for equipping the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking for its new tasks related to the Initiative. This proposal also renames the Key Digital Technologies as the “Chips Joint Undertaking”. 
Revised version (Article 130 Scope of additional activities):
1. The Governing Board of the Chips Joint Undertaking may approve where necessary the additional activities plan referred to in Article 11(1), point (b), following a proposal by the Private Members Board, taking into account the opinion of the Public Authorities Board.
Article 131 Bodies of the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking
The bodies of the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking shall be: (a) the Governing Board; (b) the Executive Director; (c) the Public Authorities Board; (d) the Private Members Board.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal This explanatory memorandum accompanies the proposal for a Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 establishing the Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe. This proposal complements the proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and Council establishing a framework of measures for strengthening Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem ( ‘ Chips Act ’ ) 1 by implementing most of the actions foreseen under the Chips for Europe Initiative , set up under the Chips Act proposal . The Chips Act proposal delivers on the political commitment by President von der Leyen, who announced in her 2021 State of the Union speech that t he aim is to jointly create a state-of-the-art European chip ecosystem, including production 2 . The Chips Act proposal’s underlying strategic vision for strengthening Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem is explained in its accompanying Communication. 3 To fulfil this vision, t he European Chips Strategy is articulated around five strategic objectives : · Europe should strengthen its research and technology leadership ; · Europe should build and reinforce its own capacity to innovate in the design, manufacturing , and packaging of advanced chips, and turn them into commercial products ; · Europe should put in place an adequate framework to increase substantially its production capacity by 2030 ; · Europ e should address the acute skills shortage, attract new talent , and support the emergence of a skilled workforce ; · Europe should develop an in-depth understanding of global semiconductor supply chains. The Chips Act proposal aims at reaching the strategic objective of increasing the resilience of Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem and increasing its global market share. It also aims at facilitating early adoption of new chips by European industry and increase its competitiveness. For this, it needs to attract investment in innovative production facilities, have a skilled workforce, but also be in the position to design and produce the most advanced chips that will define the markets of tomorrow, developing capabilities and having the possibility to test and prototype innovative designs through pilot lines in close collaboration with its industrial vertical sectors. These are necessary steps, but not sufficient unless Europe has the analytical capability of increasing the transparency of the value chain and is capable to benefit from increased capacity to serve the common interest of the single market in case of crisis. The objective is not to become self-sufficient, which is not an achievable target. The Union must strengthen its strengths and work with third countries in a supply chain where interdependencies will remain strong. In terms of delivering on these objectives, one of the goals of the proposed Chips Act is to set up the Chips for Europe Initiative (the ‘Initiative’), to support large-scale capacity building throughout investment into cross-border and openly accessible research, development and innovation infrastructure set up in the Union to enable the development of cutting-edge and next-generation semiconductor technologies that will reinforce the EU’s advanced design, systems integration, and chips production capabilities, including emphasis on start-ups and scale-ups. In particular, the Initiative will build a virtual design platform to reinforce Europe’s design capacity, which will be accessible on open, non-discriminatory, and transparent terms . The p latform will stimulate a wide cooperation of user communities with design houses, intellectual property ( IP ) and tool suppliers, designers , and research and technology organisations ( RTOs ) , and will int egrate existing and new design facilities with extended libraries and EDA 4 tools. The Initiative will support pilot lines that provide the means for third parties under open, transparent, and non-discriminatory terms to test, validate, and further develop their product designs. The development of new pilot lines will prepare for the next generation of production capabilities and their validation. Furthermore, the Initiative will set up advanced technology and engineering capacities for quantum chips, e.g. in the form of design libraries for quantum chips, pilot lines, and testing and experimentation facilities. The Initiative will support a network of competence centres across Europe that will provide expertise to stakeholders, including end-user small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), start-ups as well as vertical sectors, and improve their skills. Competence centres will facilitate open, transparent, and non-discriminatory access to and effective use of the design infrastructure and the pilot lines. They will become poles of attraction for innovation and for new, highly skilled talent, including via reskilling and upskilling of workers. The actions under the Initiative will be primarily implemented through the Chips Joint Undertaking , i.e. the amended and renamed current Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking 5 . This Joint Undertaking currently provides extensive support for industrially driven research, technology development, and innovation in the area of electronic components and systems, and related software and systems tech nologies. These activities will become part of the Initiative . This proposal aims to amend the legal provisions of the Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 establishing the Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe for equipping the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking for its new tasks related to the Initiative. This proposal also renames the Key Digital Technologies as the “Chips Joint Undertaking”. 
Revised version (Article 131 Bodies of the Chips Joint Undertaking):
The bodies of the Chips Joint Undertaking shall be: (a) the Governing Board; (b) the Executive Director; (c) the Public Authorities Board; (d) the Private Members Board.
Article 132 Composition of the Governing Board
Each member of the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking shall appoint its representatives and a lead delegate who shall hold the voting rights of the member in the Governing Board.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal This explanatory memorandum accompanies the proposal for a Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 establishing the Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe. This proposal complements the proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and Council establishing a framework of measures for strengthening Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem ( ‘ Chips Act ’ ) 1 by implementing most of the actions foreseen under the Chips for Europe Initiative , set up under the Chips Act proposal . The Chips Act proposal delivers on the political commitment by President von der Leyen, who announced in her 2021 State of the Union speech that t he aim is to jointly create a state-of-the-art European chip ecosystem, including production 2 . The Chips Act proposal’s underlying strategic vision for strengthening Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem is explained in its accompanying Communication. 3 To fulfil this vision, t he European Chips Strategy is articulated around five strategic objectives : · Europe should strengthen its research and technology leadership ; · Europe should build and reinforce its own capacity to innovate in the design, manufacturing , and packaging of advanced chips, and turn them into commercial products ; · Europe should put in place an adequate framework to increase substantially its production capacity by 2030 ; · Europ e should address the acute skills shortage, attract new talent , and support the emergence of a skilled workforce ; · Europe should develop an in-depth understanding of global semiconductor supply chains. The Chips Act proposal aims at reaching the strategic objective of increasing the resilience of Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem and increasing its global market share. It also aims at facilitating early adoption of new chips by European industry and increase its competitiveness. For this, it needs to attract investment in innovative production facilities, have a skilled workforce, but also be in the position to design and produce the most advanced chips that will define the markets of tomorrow, developing capabilities and having the possibility to test and prototype innovative designs through pilot lines in close collaboration with its industrial vertical sectors. These are necessary steps, but not sufficient unless Europe has the analytical capability of increasing the transparency of the value chain and is capable to benefit from increased capacity to serve the common interest of the single market in case of crisis. The objective is not to become self-sufficient, which is not an achievable target. The Union must strengthen its strengths and work with third countries in a supply chain where interdependencies will remain strong. In terms of delivering on these objectives, one of the goals of the proposed Chips Act is to set up the Chips for Europe Initiative (the ‘Initiative’), to support large-scale capacity building throughout investment into cross-border and openly accessible research, development and innovation infrastructure set up in the Union to enable the development of cutting-edge and next-generation semiconductor technologies that will reinforce the EU’s advanced design, systems integration, and chips production capabilities, including emphasis on start-ups and scale-ups. In particular, the Initiative will build a virtual design platform to reinforce Europe’s design capacity, which will be accessible on open, non-discriminatory, and transparent terms . The p latform will stimulate a wide cooperation of user communities with design houses, intellectual property ( IP ) and tool suppliers, designers , and research and technology organisations ( RTOs ) , and will int egrate existing and new design facilities with extended libraries and EDA 4 tools. The Initiative will support pilot lines that provide the means for third parties under open, transparent, and non-discriminatory terms to test, validate, and further develop their product designs. The development of new pilot lines will prepare for the next generation of production capabilities and their validation. Furthermore, the Initiative will set up advanced technology and engineering capacities for quantum chips, e.g. in the form of design libraries for quantum chips, pilot lines, and testing and experimentation facilities. The Initiative will support a network of competence centres across Europe that will provide expertise to stakeholders, including end-user small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), start-ups as well as vertical sectors, and improve their skills. Competence centres will facilitate open, transparent, and non-discriminatory access to and effective use of the design infrastructure and the pilot lines. They will become poles of attraction for innovation and for new, highly skilled talent, including via reskilling and upskilling of workers. The actions under the Initiative will be primarily implemented through the Chips Joint Undertaking , i.e. the amended and renamed current Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking 5 . This Joint Undertaking currently provides extensive support for industrially driven research, technology development, and innovation in the area of electronic components and systems, and related software and systems tech nologies. These activities will become part of the Initiative . This proposal aims to amend the legal provisions of the Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 establishing the Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe for equipping the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking for its new tasks related to the Initiative. This proposal also renames the Key Digital Technologies as the “Chips Joint Undertaking”. 
Revised version (Article 132 Composition of the Governing Board):
Each member of the Chips Joint Undertaking shall appoint its representatives and a lead delegate who shall hold the voting rights of the member in the Governing Board.
Article 133 Functioning of the Governing Board
1. The voting rights in the Governing Board shall be distributed as follows: (a) one third for the Commission; (b) one third for the private members collectively; and (c) one third for the participating states collectively. 2. For the first two financial years following the establishment of the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking, the voting rights of the participating states shall be distributed as follows: (a) 1 % for each participating state; (b) the remaining percentage distributed annually among the participating states in proportion to their actual financial contributions to the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking or to its preceding initiative over the past two years. 3. For the subsequent financial years, the distribution of the voting rights of the participating states shall be established annually and in proportion to the funds they have committed to indirect actions over the past two financial years. 4. The voting rights of the private members shall be distributed equally amongst the industrial associations unless decided otherwise by the Private Members Board. 5. Voting rights for any new member of the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking that is not a Member State or an associated country shall be determined by the Governing Board before that member joins the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal This explanatory memorandum accompanies the proposal for a Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 establishing the Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe. This proposal complements the proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and Council establishing a framework of measures for strengthening Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem ( ‘ Chips Act ’ ) 1 by implementing most of the actions foreseen under the Chips for Europe Initiative , set up under the Chips Act proposal . The Chips Act proposal delivers on the political commitment by President von der Leyen, who announced in her 2021 State of the Union speech that t he aim is to jointly create a state-of-the-art European chip ecosystem, including production 2 . The Chips Act proposal’s underlying strategic vision for strengthening Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem is explained in its accompanying Communication. 3 To fulfil this vision, t he European Chips Strategy is articulated around five strategic objectives : · Europe should strengthen its research and technology leadership ; · Europe should build and reinforce its own capacity to innovate in the design, manufacturing , and packaging of advanced chips, and turn them into commercial products ; · Europe should put in place an adequate framework to increase substantially its production capacity by 2030 ; · Europ e should address the acute skills shortage, attract new talent , and support the emergence of a skilled workforce ; · Europe should develop an in-depth understanding of global semiconductor supply chains. The Chips Act proposal aims at reaching the strategic objective of increasing the resilience of Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem and increasing its global market share. It also aims at facilitating early adoption of new chips by European industry and increase its competitiveness. For this, it needs to attract investment in innovative production facilities, have a skilled workforce, but also be in the position to design and produce the most advanced chips that will define the markets of tomorrow, developing capabilities and having the possibility to test and prototype innovative designs through pilot lines in close collaboration with its industrial vertical sectors. These are necessary steps, but not sufficient unless Europe has the analytical capability of increasing the transparency of the value chain and is capable to benefit from increased capacity to serve the common interest of the single market in case of crisis. The objective is not to become self-sufficient, which is not an achievable target. The Union must strengthen its strengths and work with third countries in a supply chain where interdependencies will remain strong. In terms of delivering on these objectives, one of the goals of the proposed Chips Act is to set up the Chips for Europe Initiative (the ‘Initiative’), to support large-scale capacity building throughout investment into cross-border and openly accessible research, development and innovation infrastructure set up in the Union to enable the development of cutting-edge and next-generation semiconductor technologies that will reinforce the EU’s advanced design, systems integration, and chips production capabilities, including emphasis on start-ups and scale-ups. In particular, the Initiative will build a virtual design platform to reinforce Europe’s design capacity, which will be accessible on open, non-discriminatory, and transparent terms . The p latform will stimulate a wide cooperation of user communities with design houses, intellectual property ( IP ) and tool suppliers, designers , and research and technology organisations ( RTOs ) , and will int egrate existing and new design facilities with extended libraries and EDA 4 tools. The Initiative will support pilot lines that provide the means for third parties under open, transparent, and non-discriminatory terms to test, validate, and further develop their product designs. The development of new pilot lines will prepare for the next generation of production capabilities and their validation. Furthermore, the Initiative will set up advanced technology and engineering capacities for quantum chips, e.g. in the form of design libraries for quantum chips, pilot lines, and testing and experimentation facilities. The Initiative will support a network of competence centres across Europe that will provide expertise to stakeholders, including end-user small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), start-ups as well as vertical sectors, and improve their skills. Competence centres will facilitate open, transparent, and non-discriminatory access to and effective use of the design infrastructure and the pilot lines. They will become poles of attraction for innovation and for new, highly skilled talent, including via reskilling and upskilling of workers. The actions under the Initiative will be primarily implemented through the Chips Joint Undertaking , i.e. the amended and renamed current Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking 5 . This Joint Undertaking currently provides extensive support for industrially driven research, technology development, and innovation in the area of electronic components and systems, and related software and systems tech nologies. These activities will become part of the Initiative . This proposal aims to amend the legal provisions of the Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 establishing the Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe for equipping the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking for its new tasks related to the Initiative. This proposal also renames the Key Digital Technologies as the “Chips Joint Undertaking”. 
Revised version (Article 133 Functioning of the Governing Board):
2. For the first two financial years following the establishment of the Chips Joint Undertaking , the voting rights of the participating states shall be distributed as follows: (a) 1 % for each participating state; (b) the remaining percentage distributed annually among the participating states in proportion to their actual financial contributions to the Chips Joint Undertaking or to its preceding initiative over the past two years. 3. For the subsequent financial years, the distribution of the voting rights of the participating states shall be established annually and in proportion to the funds they have committed to indirect actions over the past two financial years. 3a. By way of derogation from paragraph 1, the Governing Board shall solely include the Commission and Member States when voting on the subsection on capacity-building activities of the specific part of the work programme dedicated to the implementation of the Chips for Europe Initiative. The Commission shall hold 50 % of the voting rights. For the subsection on research and innovation activities of the specific part of the work programme dedicated to the implementation of the Chips for Europe Initiative, the Commission and the Member States shall hold 45 % of the voting rights each and the private members 10 %. Paragraphs 2 and 3 shall apply mutatis mutandis to the voting rights of the Member States. All representatives of the Governing Board shall participate in the preparation of that specific part of the work programme. 4. The voting rights of the private members shall be distributed equally amongst the industrial associations unless decided otherwise by the Private Members Board. 5. Voting rights for any new member of the Chips Joint Undertaking that is not a Member State or an associated country shall be determined by the Governing Board before that member joins the Chips Joint Undertaking .
Article 134 Limitation to participation in specific actions
By derogation from Article 17(2), point (l), where the Commission so requests, following approval of the Public Authorities Board, participation in specific actions shall be limited in accordance with Article 22(5) of the Horizon Europe Regulation.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal This explanatory memorandum accompanies the proposal for a Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 establishing the Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe. This proposal complements the proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and Council establishing a framework of measures for strengthening Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem ( ‘ Chips Act ’ ) 1 by implementing most of the actions foreseen under the Chips for Europe Initiative , set up under the Chips Act proposal . The Chips Act proposal delivers on the political commitment by President von der Leyen, who announced in her 2021 State of the Union speech that t he aim is to jointly create a state-of-the-art European chip ecosystem, including production 2 . The Chips Act proposal’s underlying strategic vision for strengthening Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem is explained in its accompanying Communication. 3 To fulfil this vision, t he European Chips Strategy is articulated around five strategic objectives : · Europe should strengthen its research and technology leadership ; · Europe should build and reinforce its own capacity to innovate in the design, manufacturing , and packaging of advanced chips, and turn them into commercial products ; · Europe should put in place an adequate framework to increase substantially its production capacity by 2030 ; · Europ e should address the acute skills shortage, attract new talent , and support the emergence of a skilled workforce ; · Europe should develop an in-depth understanding of global semiconductor supply chains. The Chips Act proposal aims at reaching the strategic objective of increasing the resilience of Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem and increasing its global market share. It also aims at facilitating early adoption of new chips by European industry and increase its competitiveness. For this, it needs to attract investment in innovative production facilities, have a skilled workforce, but also be in the position to design and produce the most advanced chips that will define the markets of tomorrow, developing capabilities and having the possibility to test and prototype innovative designs through pilot lines in close collaboration with its industrial vertical sectors. These are necessary steps, but not sufficient unless Europe has the analytical capability of increasing the transparency of the value chain and is capable to benefit from increased capacity to serve the common interest of the single market in case of crisis. The objective is not to become self-sufficient, which is not an achievable target. The Union must strengthen its strengths and work with third countries in a supply chain where interdependencies will remain strong. In terms of delivering on these objectives, one of the goals of the proposed Chips Act is to set up the Chips for Europe Initiative (the ‘Initiative’), to support large-scale capacity building throughout investment into cross-border and openly accessible research, development and innovation infrastructure set up in the Union to enable the development of cutting-edge and next-generation semiconductor technologies that will reinforce the EU’s advanced design, systems integration, and chips production capabilities, including emphasis on start-ups and scale-ups. In particular, the Initiative will build a virtual design platform to reinforce Europe’s design capacity, which will be accessible on open, non-discriminatory, and transparent terms . The p latform will stimulate a wide cooperation of user communities with design houses, intellectual property ( IP ) and tool suppliers, designers , and research and technology organisations ( RTOs ) , and will int egrate existing and new design facilities with extended libraries and EDA 4 tools. The Initiative will support pilot lines that provide the means for third parties under open, transparent, and non-discriminatory terms to test, validate, and further develop their product designs. The development of new pilot lines will prepare for the next generation of production capabilities and their validation. Furthermore, the Initiative will set up advanced technology and engineering capacities for quantum chips, e.g. in the form of design libraries for quantum chips, pilot lines, and testing and experimentation facilities. The Initiative will support a network of competence centres across Europe that will provide expertise to stakeholders, including end-user small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), start-ups as well as vertical sectors, and improve their skills. Competence centres will facilitate open, transparent, and non-discriminatory access to and effective use of the design infrastructure and the pilot lines. They will become poles of attraction for innovation and for new, highly skilled talent, including via reskilling and upskilling of workers. The actions under the Initiative will be primarily implemented through the Chips Joint Undertaking , i.e. the amended and renamed current Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking 5 . This Joint Undertaking currently provides extensive support for industrially driven research, technology development, and innovation in the area of electronic components and systems, and related software and systems tech nologies. These activities will become part of the Initiative . This proposal aims to amend the legal provisions of the Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 establishing the Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe for equipping the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking for its new tasks related to the Initiative. This proposal also renames the Key Digital Technologies as the “Chips Joint Undertaking”. 
Revised version (Article 134 Limitations on and conditions for participation in specific actions):
1. For actions funded under Horizon Europe, by way of derogation from Article 17(2), point (l), of this Regulation, where the Commission so requests, following approval of the Public Authorities Board, participation in specific actions shall be limited in accordance with Article 22(5) of the Horizon Europe Regulation. 2. For actions funded under DEP, where the Commission so requests, following approval of the Public Authorities Board, participation in specific actions shall be limited in accordance with Article 12(6) and Article 18 of Regulation (EU) 2021/694. 3. The calls for proposals provided in the specific part of the work programme dedicated to the Chips for Europe Initiative shall be open to different legal forms of cooperation and to other participants. The selection of proposals for funding shall not be based on a specific legal form of cooperation. Actions may also be carried out by legal entities cooperating within a consortium structured in a form of an European chips infrastructure consortium (ECIC) established in accordance with Article 7 of Regulation (EU) 2023/1781. The specific part of the work programme dedicated to the Chips for Europe Initiative shall specify that, where an ECIC applies for funding for a specific action, the ECIC itself, and not individual entities forming the ECIC, shall be the applicant.
Article 135 Composition of the Public Authorities Board
The Public Authorities Board shall be composed of representatives of the public authorities of the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking. Each public authority shall appoint its representatives and a lead delegate who shall hold the voting rights in the Public Authorities Board.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal This explanatory memorandum accompanies the proposal for a Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 establishing the Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe. This proposal complements the proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and Council establishing a framework of measures for strengthening Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem ( ‘ Chips Act ’ ) 1 by implementing most of the actions foreseen under the Chips for Europe Initiative , set up under the Chips Act proposal . The Chips Act proposal delivers on the political commitment by President von der Leyen, who announced in her 2021 State of the Union speech that t he aim is to jointly create a state-of-the-art European chip ecosystem, including production 2 . The Chips Act proposal’s underlying strategic vision for strengthening Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem is explained in its accompanying Communication. 3 To fulfil this vision, t he European Chips Strategy is articulated around five strategic objectives : · Europe should strengthen its research and technology leadership ; · Europe should build and reinforce its own capacity to innovate in the design, manufacturing , and packaging of advanced chips, and turn them into commercial products ; · Europe should put in place an adequate framework to increase substantially its production capacity by 2030 ; · Europ e should address the acute skills shortage, attract new talent , and support the emergence of a skilled workforce ; · Europe should develop an in-depth understanding of global semiconductor supply chains. The Chips Act proposal aims at reaching the strategic objective of increasing the resilience of Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem and increasing its global market share. It also aims at facilitating early adoption of new chips by European industry and increase its competitiveness. For this, it needs to attract investment in innovative production facilities, have a skilled workforce, but also be in the position to design and produce the most advanced chips that will define the markets of tomorrow, developing capabilities and having the possibility to test and prototype innovative designs through pilot lines in close collaboration with its industrial vertical sectors. These are necessary steps, but not sufficient unless Europe has the analytical capability of increasing the transparency of the value chain and is capable to benefit from increased capacity to serve the common interest of the single market in case of crisis. The objective is not to become self-sufficient, which is not an achievable target. The Union must strengthen its strengths and work with third countries in a supply chain where interdependencies will remain strong. In terms of delivering on these objectives, one of the goals of the proposed Chips Act is to set up the Chips for Europe Initiative (the ‘Initiative’), to support large-scale capacity building throughout investment into cross-border and openly accessible research, development and innovation infrastructure set up in the Union to enable the development of cutting-edge and next-generation semiconductor technologies that will reinforce the EU’s advanced design, systems integration, and chips production capabilities, including emphasis on start-ups and scale-ups. In particular, the Initiative will build a virtual design platform to reinforce Europe’s design capacity, which will be accessible on open, non-discriminatory, and transparent terms . The p latform will stimulate a wide cooperation of user communities with design houses, intellectual property ( IP ) and tool suppliers, designers , and research and technology organisations ( RTOs ) , and will int egrate existing and new design facilities with extended libraries and EDA 4 tools. The Initiative will support pilot lines that provide the means for third parties under open, transparent, and non-discriminatory terms to test, validate, and further develop their product designs. The development of new pilot lines will prepare for the next generation of production capabilities and their validation. Furthermore, the Initiative will set up advanced technology and engineering capacities for quantum chips, e.g. in the form of design libraries for quantum chips, pilot lines, and testing and experimentation facilities. The Initiative will support a network of competence centres across Europe that will provide expertise to stakeholders, including end-user small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), start-ups as well as vertical sectors, and improve their skills. Competence centres will facilitate open, transparent, and non-discriminatory access to and effective use of the design infrastructure and the pilot lines. They will become poles of attraction for innovation and for new, highly skilled talent, including via reskilling and upskilling of workers. The actions under the Initiative will be primarily implemented through the Chips Joint Undertaking , i.e. the amended and renamed current Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking 5 . This Joint Undertaking currently provides extensive support for industrially driven research, technology development, and innovation in the area of electronic components and systems, and related software and systems tech nologies. These activities will become part of the Initiative . This proposal aims to amend the legal provisions of the Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 establishing the Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe for equipping the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking for its new tasks related to the Initiative. This proposal also renames the Key Digital Technologies as the “Chips Joint Undertaking”. 
Revised version (Article 135 Composition of the Public Authorities Board):
The Public Authorities Board shall be composed of representatives of the public authorities of the Chips Joint Undertaking . Each public authority shall appoint its representatives and a lead delegate who shall hold the voting rights in the Public Authorities Board.
Article 136 Functioning of the Public Authorities Board
1. The voting rights in the Public Authorities Board shall be assigned to the public authorities on an annual basis in proportion to their financial contribution to the activities of the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking for that year in accordance with Article 12, and with an upper limit for any given member of 50 % of the total voting rights in the Public Authorities Board. 2. For the purpose of Article 134, the Public Authorities Board shall solely include public authorities that are Member States. Paragraph 1 shall apply mutatis mutandis . 3. If fewer than three participating states have communicated to the Executive Director their financial contribution according to Article 12(3), the Commission shall hold 50 % of the voting rights and the remaining 50 % shall be distributed equally amongst the participating states until such time as more than three Key Digital Technologies participating states have communicated their contribution. 4. The public authorities shall make every effort to adopt decisions by consensus. Failing consensus, a vote shall be held. A decision shall be adopted by a majority of at least 75 % of the votes including the votes of the participating states who are absent, but excluding abstentions. 5. The Public Authorities Board shall elect its chairperson from among its members for a period of at least two years. 6. The chairperson may invite other persons to attend its meetings as observers, in particular representatives of regional authorities within the Union, representatives of SME associations and representatives of other bodies of the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking. 7. The Public Authorities Board shall hold its ordinary meetings at least twice a year. It may hold extraordinary meetings at the request of the Commission or of a majority of the representatives of the participating states, or at the request of the chairperson. The meetings of the Public Authorities Board shall be convened by its chairperson and shall normally take place at the seat of the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking. 8. The quorum of the Public Authorities Board shall be constituted by the Commission and at least three participating states’ lead delegates. 9. The Executive Director shall attend the meetings of the Public Authorities Board meetings, unless decided otherwise by the Public Authorities Board, but shall have no voting rights. 10. Upon invitation from the Public Authorities Board, any Member State or associated country that is not a member of the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking may participate in the Public Authorities Board meetings as an observer. Observers shall receive all relevant documents and may give advice on any decision taken by the Public Authorities Board. All such observers will be bound by the confidentiality rules applying to the Public Authorities Board members. 11. The Public Authorities Board may appoint working groups where necessary under the overall coordination of one or more public authorities. 12. The Public Authorities Board shall adopt its own rules of procedure. 13. Articles 11(8) and 28(6) shall also apply mutatis mutandis to the Public Authorities Board.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal This explanatory memorandum accompanies the proposal for a Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 establishing the Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe. This proposal complements the proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and Council establishing a framework of measures for strengthening Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem ( ‘ Chips Act ’ ) 1 by implementing most of the actions foreseen under the Chips for Europe Initiative , set up under the Chips Act proposal . The Chips Act proposal delivers on the political commitment by President von der Leyen, who announced in her 2021 State of the Union speech that t he aim is to jointly create a state-of-the-art European chip ecosystem, including production 2 . The Chips Act proposal’s underlying strategic vision for strengthening Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem is explained in its accompanying Communication. 3 To fulfil this vision, t he European Chips Strategy is articulated around five strategic objectives : · Europe should strengthen its research and technology leadership ; · Europe should build and reinforce its own capacity to innovate in the design, manufacturing , and packaging of advanced chips, and turn them into commercial products ; · Europe should put in place an adequate framework to increase substantially its production capacity by 2030 ; · Europ e should address the acute skills shortage, attract new talent , and support the emergence of a skilled workforce ; · Europe should develop an in-depth understanding of global semiconductor supply chains. The Chips Act proposal aims at reaching the strategic objective of increasing the resilience of Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem and increasing its global market share. It also aims at facilitating early adoption of new chips by European industry and increase its competitiveness. For this, it needs to attract investment in innovative production facilities, have a skilled workforce, but also be in the position to design and produce the most advanced chips that will define the markets of tomorrow, developing capabilities and having the possibility to test and prototype innovative designs through pilot lines in close collaboration with its industrial vertical sectors. These are necessary steps, but not sufficient unless Europe has the analytical capability of increasing the transparency of the value chain and is capable to benefit from increased capacity to serve the common interest of the single market in case of crisis. The objective is not to become self-sufficient, which is not an achievable target. The Union must strengthen its strengths and work with third countries in a supply chain where interdependencies will remain strong. In terms of delivering on these objectives, one of the goals of the proposed Chips Act is to set up the Chips for Europe Initiative (the ‘Initiative’), to support large-scale capacity building throughout investment into cross-border and openly accessible research, development and innovation infrastructure set up in the Union to enable the development of cutting-edge and next-generation semiconductor technologies that will reinforce the EU’s advanced design, systems integration, and chips production capabilities, including emphasis on start-ups and scale-ups. In particular, the Initiative will build a virtual design platform to reinforce Europe’s design capacity, which will be accessible on open, non-discriminatory, and transparent terms . The p latform will stimulate a wide cooperation of user communities with design houses, intellectual property ( IP ) and tool suppliers, designers , and research and technology organisations ( RTOs ) , and will int egrate existing and new design facilities with extended libraries and EDA 4 tools. The Initiative will support pilot lines that provide the means for third parties under open, transparent, and non-discriminatory terms to test, validate, and further develop their product designs. The development of new pilot lines will prepare for the next generation of production capabilities and their validation. Furthermore, the Initiative will set up advanced technology and engineering capacities for quantum chips, e.g. in the form of design libraries for quantum chips, pilot lines, and testing and experimentation facilities. The Initiative will support a network of competence centres across Europe that will provide expertise to stakeholders, including end-user small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), start-ups as well as vertical sectors, and improve their skills. Competence centres will facilitate open, transparent, and non-discriminatory access to and effective use of the design infrastructure and the pilot lines. They will become poles of attraction for innovation and for new, highly skilled talent, including via reskilling and upskilling of workers. The actions under the Initiative will be primarily implemented through the Chips Joint Undertaking , i.e. the amended and renamed current Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking 5 . This Joint Undertaking currently provides extensive support for industrially driven research, technology development, and innovation in the area of electronic components and systems, and related software and systems tech nologies. These activities will become part of the Initiative . This proposal aims to amend the legal provisions of the Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 establishing the Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe for equipping the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking for its new tasks related to the Initiative. This proposal also renames the Key Digital Technologies as the “Chips Joint Undertaking”. 
Revised version (Article 136 Functioning of the Public Authorities Board):
1. The voting rights in the Public Authorities Board shall be assigned to the public authorities on an annual basis in proportion to their financial contribution to the activities of the Chips Joint Undertaking for that year in accordance with Article 12, and with an upper limit for any given member of 50 % of the total voting rights in the Public Authorities Board. 2. For the purposes of Article 134(1) and (2), the Public Authorities Board shall include only the Member States. Paragraph 1 of this Article shall apply mutatis mutandis . 2a. For the purpose of Article 137, point (aa), and for the selection of proposals corresponding to the implementation of the Chips for Europe Initiative under Article 137, point (d), the Public Authorities Board shall include only the Commission and Member States. Paragraph 1 of this Article shall apply mutatis mutandis . 3. If fewer than three participating states have communicated to the Executive Director their financial contribution according to Article 12(3), the Commission shall hold 50 % of the voting rights and the remaining 50 % shall be distributed equally amongst the participating states until such time as more than three Key Digital Technologies participating states have communicated their contribution. 4. The public authorities shall make every effort to adopt decisions by consensus. Failing consensus, a vote shall be held. A decision shall be adopted by a majority of at least 75 % of the votes including the votes of the participating states who are absent, but excluding abstentions. 5. The Public Authorities Board shall elect its chairperson from among its members for a period of at least two years. 6. The chairperson may invite other persons to attend its meetings as observers, in particular representatives of regional authorities within the Union, representatives of SME associations and representatives of other bodies of the Chips Joint Undertaking . 7. The Public Authorities Board shall hold its ordinary meetings at least twice a year. It may hold extraordinary meetings at the request of the Commission or of a majority of the representatives of the participating states, or at the request of the chairperson. The meetings of the Public Authorities Board shall be convened by its chairperson and shall normally take place at the seat of the Chips Joint Undertaking . 8. The quorum of the Public Authorities Board shall be constituted by the Commission and at least three participating states’ lead delegates. 9. The Executive Director shall attend the meetings of the Public Authorities Board meetings, unless decided otherwise by the Public Authorities Board, but shall have no voting rights. 10. Upon invitation from the Public Authorities Board, any Member State or associated country that is not a member of the Chips Joint Undertaking may participate in the Public Authorities Board meetings as an observer. Observers shall receive all relevant documents and may give advice on any decision taken by the Public Authorities Board. All such observers will be bound by the confidentiality rules applying to the Public Authorities Board members. 11. The Public Authorities Board may appoint working groups where necessary under the overall coordination of one or more public authorities. 12. The Public Authorities Board shall adopt its own rules of procedure. 13. Articles 11(8) and 28(6) shall also apply mutatis mutandis to the Public Authorities Board.
Article 137 Tasks of the Public Authorities Board
The Public Authorities Board shall: (a) contribute to the drafting of the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda; (b) provide input to the draft work programme, in particular the calls for proposals, including the rules for evaluation, selection and monitoring of indirect actions; (c) approve the launch of calls for proposals, in accordance with the work programme; (d) select proposals in accordance with Articles 12(1) and 17(2), point (s); (e) provide an opinion on the draft additional activities plan referred to in Article 11(1), point (b).
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal This explanatory memorandum accompanies the proposal for a Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 establishing the Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe. This proposal complements the proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and Council establishing a framework of measures for strengthening Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem ( ‘ Chips Act ’ ) 1 by implementing most of the actions foreseen under the Chips for Europe Initiative , set up under the Chips Act proposal . The Chips Act proposal delivers on the political commitment by President von der Leyen, who announced in her 2021 State of the Union speech that t he aim is to jointly create a state-of-the-art European chip ecosystem, including production 2 . The Chips Act proposal’s underlying strategic vision for strengthening Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem is explained in its accompanying Communication. 3 To fulfil this vision, t he European Chips Strategy is articulated around five strategic objectives : · Europe should strengthen its research and technology leadership ; · Europe should build and reinforce its own capacity to innovate in the design, manufacturing , and packaging of advanced chips, and turn them into commercial products ; · Europe should put in place an adequate framework to increase substantially its production capacity by 2030 ; · Europ e should address the acute skills shortage, attract new talent , and support the emergence of a skilled workforce ; · Europe should develop an in-depth understanding of global semiconductor supply chains. The Chips Act proposal aims at reaching the strategic objective of increasing the resilience of Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem and increasing its global market share. It also aims at facilitating early adoption of new chips by European industry and increase its competitiveness. For this, it needs to attract investment in innovative production facilities, have a skilled workforce, but also be in the position to design and produce the most advanced chips that will define the markets of tomorrow, developing capabilities and having the possibility to test and prototype innovative designs through pilot lines in close collaboration with its industrial vertical sectors. These are necessary steps, but not sufficient unless Europe has the analytical capability of increasing the transparency of the value chain and is capable to benefit from increased capacity to serve the common interest of the single market in case of crisis. The objective is not to become self-sufficient, which is not an achievable target. The Union must strengthen its strengths and work with third countries in a supply chain where interdependencies will remain strong. In terms of delivering on these objectives, one of the goals of the proposed Chips Act is to set up the Chips for Europe Initiative (the ‘Initiative’), to support large-scale capacity building throughout investment into cross-border and openly accessible research, development and innovation infrastructure set up in the Union to enable the development of cutting-edge and next-generation semiconductor technologies that will reinforce the EU’s advanced design, systems integration, and chips production capabilities, including emphasis on start-ups and scale-ups. In particular, the Initiative will build a virtual design platform to reinforce Europe’s design capacity, which will be accessible on open, non-discriminatory, and transparent terms . The p latform will stimulate a wide cooperation of user communities with design houses, intellectual property ( IP ) and tool suppliers, designers , and research and technology organisations ( RTOs ) , and will int egrate existing and new design facilities with extended libraries and EDA 4 tools. The Initiative will support pilot lines that provide the means for third parties under open, transparent, and non-discriminatory terms to test, validate, and further develop their product designs. The development of new pilot lines will prepare for the next generation of production capabilities and their validation. Furthermore, the Initiative will set up advanced technology and engineering capacities for quantum chips, e.g. in the form of design libraries for quantum chips, pilot lines, and testing and experimentation facilities. The Initiative will support a network of competence centres across Europe that will provide expertise to stakeholders, including end-user small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), start-ups as well as vertical sectors, and improve their skills. Competence centres will facilitate open, transparent, and non-discriminatory access to and effective use of the design infrastructure and the pilot lines. They will become poles of attraction for innovation and for new, highly skilled talent, including via reskilling and upskilling of workers. The actions under the Initiative will be primarily implemented through the Chips Joint Undertaking , i.e. the amended and renamed current Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking 5 . This Joint Undertaking currently provides extensive support for industrially driven research, technology development, and innovation in the area of electronic components and systems, and related software and systems tech nologies. These activities will become part of the Initiative . This proposal aims to amend the legal provisions of the Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 establishing the Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe for equipping the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking for its new tasks related to the Initiative. This proposal also renames the Key Digital Technologies as the “Chips Joint Undertaking”. 
Revised version (Article 137 Tasks of the Public Authorities Board):
The Public Authorities Board shall: (a) contribute to the drafting of the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda; (aa) before each work programme is prepared and taking into account the advice of the private members and, where appropriate, the advice of the European Semiconductor Board established by Article 28 of Regulation (EU) 2023/1781 and input from other relevant stakeholders, outline two specific parts of the work programme, including the corresponding expenditure estimates, the first of which shall include a subsection on capacity-building activities for operational objectives 1 to 4 and a subsection on research and innovation activities related to operational objectives 1 to 4, including conditions for access to publicly funded infrastructure, and the second of which shall be dedicated to research and innovation activities not covered under the Chips for Europe Initiative; (b) provide input to the draft work programme, in particular the calls for proposals, including the rules for evaluation, selection and monitoring of indirect actions; (c) approve the launch of calls for proposals, in accordance with the work programme; (f) recommend, if necessary, that an ECIC take remedial action, such as an amendment to its statutes, where a Member State has brought the matter to the Public Authorities Board’s attention following a refusal by the ECIC to accept a new member without providing sufficient reasons for such a refusal on the basis of the fair and reasonable terms specified in its statutes.
Article 138 Composition of the Private Members Board
1. The Private Members Board shall be composed of representatives of the private members of the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking. 2. Each private member shall appoint its representatives and a lead delegate who shall hold the voting rights in the Private Members Board.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal This explanatory memorandum accompanies the proposal for a Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 establishing the Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe. This proposal complements the proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and Council establishing a framework of measures for strengthening Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem ( ‘ Chips Act ’ ) 1 by implementing most of the actions foreseen under the Chips for Europe Initiative , set up under the Chips Act proposal . The Chips Act proposal delivers on the political commitment by President von der Leyen, who announced in her 2021 State of the Union speech that t he aim is to jointly create a state-of-the-art European chip ecosystem, including production 2 . The Chips Act proposal’s underlying strategic vision for strengthening Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem is explained in its accompanying Communication. 3 To fulfil this vision, t he European Chips Strategy is articulated around five strategic objectives : · Europe should strengthen its research and technology leadership ; · Europe should build and reinforce its own capacity to innovate in the design, manufacturing , and packaging of advanced chips, and turn them into commercial products ; · Europe should put in place an adequate framework to increase substantially its production capacity by 2030 ; · Europ e should address the acute skills shortage, attract new talent , and support the emergence of a skilled workforce ; · Europe should develop an in-depth understanding of global semiconductor supply chains. The Chips Act proposal aims at reaching the strategic objective of increasing the resilience of Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem and increasing its global market share. It also aims at facilitating early adoption of new chips by European industry and increase its competitiveness. For this, it needs to attract investment in innovative production facilities, have a skilled workforce, but also be in the position to design and produce the most advanced chips that will define the markets of tomorrow, developing capabilities and having the possibility to test and prototype innovative designs through pilot lines in close collaboration with its industrial vertical sectors. These are necessary steps, but not sufficient unless Europe has the analytical capability of increasing the transparency of the value chain and is capable to benefit from increased capacity to serve the common interest of the single market in case of crisis. The objective is not to become self-sufficient, which is not an achievable target. The Union must strengthen its strengths and work with third countries in a supply chain where interdependencies will remain strong. In terms of delivering on these objectives, one of the goals of the proposed Chips Act is to set up the Chips for Europe Initiative (the ‘Initiative’), to support large-scale capacity building throughout investment into cross-border and openly accessible research, development and innovation infrastructure set up in the Union to enable the development of cutting-edge and next-generation semiconductor technologies that will reinforce the EU’s advanced design, systems integration, and chips production capabilities, including emphasis on start-ups and scale-ups. In particular, the Initiative will build a virtual design platform to reinforce Europe’s design capacity, which will be accessible on open, non-discriminatory, and transparent terms . The p latform will stimulate a wide cooperation of user communities with design houses, intellectual property ( IP ) and tool suppliers, designers , and research and technology organisations ( RTOs ) , and will int egrate existing and new design facilities with extended libraries and EDA 4 tools. The Initiative will support pilot lines that provide the means for third parties under open, transparent, and non-discriminatory terms to test, validate, and further develop their product designs. The development of new pilot lines will prepare for the next generation of production capabilities and their validation. Furthermore, the Initiative will set up advanced technology and engineering capacities for quantum chips, e.g. in the form of design libraries for quantum chips, pilot lines, and testing and experimentation facilities. The Initiative will support a network of competence centres across Europe that will provide expertise to stakeholders, including end-user small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), start-ups as well as vertical sectors, and improve their skills. Competence centres will facilitate open, transparent, and non-discriminatory access to and effective use of the design infrastructure and the pilot lines. They will become poles of attraction for innovation and for new, highly skilled talent, including via reskilling and upskilling of workers. The actions under the Initiative will be primarily implemented through the Chips Joint Undertaking , i.e. the amended and renamed current Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking 5 . This Joint Undertaking currently provides extensive support for industrially driven research, technology development, and innovation in the area of electronic components and systems, and related software and systems tech nologies. These activities will become part of the Initiative . This proposal aims to amend the legal provisions of the Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 establishing the Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe for equipping the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking for its new tasks related to the Initiative. This proposal also renames the Key Digital Technologies as the “Chips Joint Undertaking”. 
Revised version (Article 138 Composition of the Private Members Board):
1. The Private Members Board shall be composed of representatives of the private members of the Chips Joint Undertaking . 2. Each private member shall appoint its representatives and a lead delegate who shall hold the voting rights in the Private Members Board.
Article 139 Functioning of the Private Members Board
1. The Private Members Board shall meet at least twice a year. 2. The Private Members Board may appoint working groups where necessary under the overall coordination of one or more members. 3. The Private Members Board shall elect its chairperson from among its members. 4. The Private Members Board shall adopt its rules of procedure.
Article 140 Tasks of the Private Members Board
The Private Members Board shall: (a) draw up and regularly update the draft Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda for achieving the objectives of the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking set out in Articles 4 and 126 taking into account the input of the Public Authorities Board; (b) submit to the Executive Director the draft Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda within the deadlines set by the Governing Board; (c) organise an advisory Stakeholder Forum that is open to all public and private stakeholders having an interest in the field of key digital technologies to inform them about and collect feedback on the draft Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda for a given year; (d) where appropriate, and taking into account Article 130, draw up and submit for approval to the Governing Board the draft additional activities plan referred to in Article 11(1), point (b), taking into account the opinion of the Public Authorities Board.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal This explanatory memorandum accompanies the proposal for a Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 establishing the Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe. This proposal complements the proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and Council establishing a framework of measures for strengthening Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem ( ‘ Chips Act ’ ) 1 by implementing most of the actions foreseen under the Chips for Europe Initiative , set up under the Chips Act proposal . The Chips Act proposal delivers on the political commitment by President von der Leyen, who announced in her 2021 State of the Union speech that t he aim is to jointly create a state-of-the-art European chip ecosystem, including production 2 . The Chips Act proposal’s underlying strategic vision for strengthening Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem is explained in its accompanying Communication. 3 To fulfil this vision, t he European Chips Strategy is articulated around five strategic objectives : · Europe should strengthen its research and technology leadership ; · Europe should build and reinforce its own capacity to innovate in the design, manufacturing , and packaging of advanced chips, and turn them into commercial products ; · Europe should put in place an adequate framework to increase substantially its production capacity by 2030 ; · Europ e should address the acute skills shortage, attract new talent , and support the emergence of a skilled workforce ; · Europe should develop an in-depth understanding of global semiconductor supply chains. The Chips Act proposal aims at reaching the strategic objective of increasing the resilience of Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem and increasing its global market share. It also aims at facilitating early adoption of new chips by European industry and increase its competitiveness. For this, it needs to attract investment in innovative production facilities, have a skilled workforce, but also be in the position to design and produce the most advanced chips that will define the markets of tomorrow, developing capabilities and having the possibility to test and prototype innovative designs through pilot lines in close collaboration with its industrial vertical sectors. These are necessary steps, but not sufficient unless Europe has the analytical capability of increasing the transparency of the value chain and is capable to benefit from increased capacity to serve the common interest of the single market in case of crisis. The objective is not to become self-sufficient, which is not an achievable target. The Union must strengthen its strengths and work with third countries in a supply chain where interdependencies will remain strong. In terms of delivering on these objectives, one of the goals of the proposed Chips Act is to set up the Chips for Europe Initiative (the ‘Initiative’), to support large-scale capacity building throughout investment into cross-border and openly accessible research, development and innovation infrastructure set up in the Union to enable the development of cutting-edge and next-generation semiconductor technologies that will reinforce the EU’s advanced design, systems integration, and chips production capabilities, including emphasis on start-ups and scale-ups. In particular, the Initiative will build a virtual design platform to reinforce Europe’s design capacity, which will be accessible on open, non-discriminatory, and transparent terms . The p latform will stimulate a wide cooperation of user communities with design houses, intellectual property ( IP ) and tool suppliers, designers , and research and technology organisations ( RTOs ) , and will int egrate existing and new design facilities with extended libraries and EDA 4 tools. The Initiative will support pilot lines that provide the means for third parties under open, transparent, and non-discriminatory terms to test, validate, and further develop their product designs. The development of new pilot lines will prepare for the next generation of production capabilities and their validation. Furthermore, the Initiative will set up advanced technology and engineering capacities for quantum chips, e.g. in the form of design libraries for quantum chips, pilot lines, and testing and experimentation facilities. The Initiative will support a network of competence centres across Europe that will provide expertise to stakeholders, including end-user small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), start-ups as well as vertical sectors, and improve their skills. Competence centres will facilitate open, transparent, and non-discriminatory access to and effective use of the design infrastructure and the pilot lines. They will become poles of attraction for innovation and for new, highly skilled talent, including via reskilling and upskilling of workers. The actions under the Initiative will be primarily implemented through the Chips Joint Undertaking , i.e. the amended and renamed current Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking 5 . This Joint Undertaking currently provides extensive support for industrially driven research, technology development, and innovation in the area of electronic components and systems, and related software and systems tech nologies. These activities will become part of the Initiative . This proposal aims to amend the legal provisions of the Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 establishing the Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe for equipping the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking for its new tasks related to the Initiative. This proposal also renames the Key Digital Technologies as the “Chips Joint Undertaking”. 
Revised version (Article 140 Tasks of the Private Members Board):
The Private Members Board shall: (a) draw up and regularly update the draft Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda for achieving the objectives of the Chips Joint Undertaking set out in Articles 4 and 126 taking into account the input of the Public Authorities Board; (b) submit to the Executive Director the draft Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda within the deadlines set by the Governing Board; (c) organise an advisory Stakeholder Forum that is open to all public and private stakeholders having an interest in the field of key digital technologies to inform them about and collect feedback on the draft Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda for a given year; (d) where appropriate, and taking into account Article 130, draw up and submit for approval to the Governing Board the draft additional activities plan referred to in Article 11(1), point (b), taking into account the opinion of the Public Authorities Board.
Article 141 Funding rates
In accordance with Article 17(2) of the Horizon Europe Regulation and by way of derogation from Article 34 of that Regulation, the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking may apply different funding rates for the Union funding within an action depending on the type of participant, in particular SMEs and non-profit legal entities, and the type of action. The funding rates shall be indicated in the work programme.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal This explanatory memorandum accompanies the proposal for a Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 establishing the Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe. This proposal complements the proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and Council establishing a framework of measures for strengthening Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem ( ‘ Chips Act ’ ) 1 by implementing most of the actions foreseen under the Chips for Europe Initiative , set up under the Chips Act proposal . The Chips Act proposal delivers on the political commitment by President von der Leyen, who announced in her 2021 State of the Union speech that t he aim is to jointly create a state-of-the-art European chip ecosystem, including production 2 . The Chips Act proposal’s underlying strategic vision for strengthening Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem is explained in its accompanying Communication. 3 To fulfil this vision, t he European Chips Strategy is articulated around five strategic objectives : · Europe should strengthen its research and technology leadership ; · Europe should build and reinforce its own capacity to innovate in the design, manufacturing , and packaging of advanced chips, and turn them into commercial products ; · Europe should put in place an adequate framework to increase substantially its production capacity by 2030 ; · Europ e should address the acute skills shortage, attract new talent , and support the emergence of a skilled workforce ; · Europe should develop an in-depth understanding of global semiconductor supply chains. The Chips Act proposal aims at reaching the strategic objective of increasing the resilience of Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem and increasing its global market share. It also aims at facilitating early adoption of new chips by European industry and increase its competitiveness. For this, it needs to attract investment in innovative production facilities, have a skilled workforce, but also be in the position to design and produce the most advanced chips that will define the markets of tomorrow, developing capabilities and having the possibility to test and prototype innovative designs through pilot lines in close collaboration with its industrial vertical sectors. These are necessary steps, but not sufficient unless Europe has the analytical capability of increasing the transparency of the value chain and is capable to benefit from increased capacity to serve the common interest of the single market in case of crisis. The objective is not to become self-sufficient, which is not an achievable target. The Union must strengthen its strengths and work with third countries in a supply chain where interdependencies will remain strong. In terms of delivering on these objectives, one of the goals of the proposed Chips Act is to set up the Chips for Europe Initiative (the ‘Initiative’), to support large-scale capacity building throughout investment into cross-border and openly accessible research, development and innovation infrastructure set up in the Union to enable the development of cutting-edge and next-generation semiconductor technologies that will reinforce the EU’s advanced design, systems integration, and chips production capabilities, including emphasis on start-ups and scale-ups. In particular, the Initiative will build a virtual design platform to reinforce Europe’s design capacity, which will be accessible on open, non-discriminatory, and transparent terms . The p latform will stimulate a wide cooperation of user communities with design houses, intellectual property ( IP ) and tool suppliers, designers , and research and technology organisations ( RTOs ) , and will int egrate existing and new design facilities with extended libraries and EDA 4 tools. The Initiative will support pilot lines that provide the means for third parties under open, transparent, and non-discriminatory terms to test, validate, and further develop their product designs. The development of new pilot lines will prepare for the next generation of production capabilities and their validation. Furthermore, the Initiative will set up advanced technology and engineering capacities for quantum chips, e.g. in the form of design libraries for quantum chips, pilot lines, and testing and experimentation facilities. The Initiative will support a network of competence centres across Europe that will provide expertise to stakeholders, including end-user small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), start-ups as well as vertical sectors, and improve their skills. Competence centres will facilitate open, transparent, and non-discriminatory access to and effective use of the design infrastructure and the pilot lines. They will become poles of attraction for innovation and for new, highly skilled talent, including via reskilling and upskilling of workers. The actions under the Initiative will be primarily implemented through the Chips Joint Undertaking , i.e. the amended and renamed current Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking 5 . This Joint Undertaking currently provides extensive support for industrially driven research, technology development, and innovation in the area of electronic components and systems, and related software and systems tech nologies. These activities will become part of the Initiative . This proposal aims to amend the legal provisions of the Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 establishing the Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe for equipping the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking for its new tasks related to the Initiative. This proposal also renames the Key Digital Technologies as the “Chips Joint Undertaking”. 
Revised version (Article 141 Funding rates and rules for participation):
1. For indirect actions funded under Horizon Europe, in accordance with Article 17(2) of the Horizon Europe Regulation and by way of derogation from Article 34 of that Regulation, and for activities funded under DEP, the Chips Joint Undertaking may apply different funding rates for the Union funding within an action depending on the type of participant, in particular SMEs and non-profit legal entities, and the type of action. The funding rates shall be indicated in the work programme. 2. By way of derogation from paragraph 1 of this Article and Article 34 of the Horizon Europe Regulation, research and innovation actions up to TRL 4 shall be funded by the Union at 100 % of the total eligible costs. 3. By way of derogation from Article 22(2) of the Horizon Europe Regulation or Article 18 of Regulation (EU) 2021/694, a competence centre or a single legal entity composed of at least three independent legal entities established in at least three different participating states, including at least one Member State, shall be eligible to participate in calls for proposals funded by the Chips Joint Undertaking under Article 134(4) of this Regulation, provided that this derogation is duly justified in the description of relevant topics in the work programme.
Article 142 Additional objectives of the Single European Sky ATM Research 3 Joint Undertaking
1. In addition to the objectives set out in Articles 4 and 5, the Single European Sky ATM Research 3 Joint Undertaking shall have the following general objectives: (a) strengthen and integrate the Union’s research and innovation capacity in the ATM sector, making it more resilient and scalable to fluctuations in traffic while enabling the seamless operation of all aircraft; (b) strengthen, through innovation, the competitiveness of manned and unmanned air transport in the Union, and ATM services’ markets to support economic growth in the Union; (c) develop and accelerate the market uptake of innovative solutions to establish the Single European Sky airspace as the most efficient and environmentally friendly sky to fly in the world. 2. The Single European Sky ATM Research 3 Joint Undertaking shall also have the following specific objectives: (a) develop a research and innovation ecosystem covering the entire ATM and U-space airspace value chains allowing to build the Digital European Sky defined in the European ATM Master plan, enabling the collaboration and coordination needed between air navigation services providers and airspace users to ensure a single harmonised Union ATM system for both manned and unmanned operations; (b) develop and validate ATM solutions supporting high levels of automation; (c) develop and validate the technical architecture of the Digital European Sky; (d) support an accelerated market deployment of innovative solutions through demonstrators; (e) coordinate the prioritisation and planning for the Union’s ATM modernisation efforts, based on a consensus-led process among the ATM stakeholders; (f) facilitate the development of standards for the industrialisation of SESAR solutions. 3. For the purpose of the Single European Sky ATM Research 3 Joint Undertaking, the following definitions apply: (a) ‘U-space airspace’ means an unmanned airborne system (UAS) geographical zone designated by Member States, where UAS operations are only allowed to take place with the support of U-space services provided by a U-Space service provider; (b) ‘Digital European Sky’ refers to the vision of the European ATM Master Plan, seeking to transform Europe’s aviation infrastructure enabling it to handle the future growth and diversity of air traffic safely and efficiently, while minimising environmental impact; (c) ‘architecture of the Digital European Sky’ refers to the vision of the European ATM Master Plan, seeking to address the current inefficient airspace architecture in the medium to long term by combining airspace configuration and design with technologies to decouple service provision from local infrastructure and progressively increase the levels of collaboration and automation support; (d) ‘SESAR definition phase’ means the phase comprising the establishment and updating of the long-term vision of the SESAR project, of the related concept of operations enabling improvements at every stage of flight, of the required essential operational changes within the European ATM Network and of the required development and deployment priorities; (e) ‘SESAR deployment phase’ means the successive phases of industrialisation and implementation, during which the following activities are conducted: standardisation, production and certification of ground and airborne equipment and processes necessary to implement SESAR solutions (industrialisation); and procurement, installation and putting into service of equipment and systems based on SESAR solutions, including associated operational procedures (implementation).
Article 143 Additional tasks of the Single European Sky ATM Research 3 Joint Undertaking
In addition to the tasks set out in Article 5, the Single European Sky ATM Research 3 Joint Undertaking shall carry out the following tasks: (a) coordinate the tasks of the Single European Sky ATM Research definition phase, monitor the implementation of the SESAR project and amend, where necessary, the European ATM Master Plan; (b) implement the research and development aspects of the European ATM Master Plan, in particular by: (i) organising, coordinating and monitoring the work of the SESAR development phase in accordance with the European ATM Master Plan, including low TRLs (0 to 2) research and innovation activities; (ii) delivering SESAR solutions, which are deployable outputs of the SESAR development phase introducing new or improved standardised and interoperable operational procedures or technologies; (iii) ensuring the involvement of the civil and military stakeholders of the aviation sector, in particular air navigation service providers, airspace users, professional staff associations, airports, manufacturing industry and the relevant scientific institutions and scientific community; (c) facilitate an accelerated market uptake of SESAR solutions by: (i) organising and coordinating large-scale demonstrations activities; (ii) coordinating closely with EASA in order to enable timely development by EASA of regulatory measures that fall under Regulation (EU) 2018/1139 and the relevant implementing rules; (iii) supporting the related standardisation activities, in close cooperation with standardisation bodies and EASA, as well as with the entity established to coordinate the tasks of the SESAR deployment phase in line with Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 409/2013 ( 43 ) .
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal This explanatory memorandum accompanies the proposal for a Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 establishing the Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe. This proposal complements the proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and Council establishing a framework of measures for strengthening Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem ( ‘ Chips Act ’ ) 1 by implementing most of the actions foreseen under the Chips for Europe Initiative , set up under the Chips Act proposal . The Chips Act proposal delivers on the political commitment by President von der Leyen, who announced in her 2021 State of the Union speech that t he aim is to jointly create a state-of-the-art European chip ecosystem, including production 2 . The Chips Act proposal’s underlying strategic vision for strengthening Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem is explained in its accompanying Communication. 3 To fulfil this vision, t he European Chips Strategy is articulated around five strategic objectives : · Europe should strengthen its research and technology leadership ; · Europe should build and reinforce its own capacity to innovate in the design, manufacturing , and packaging of advanced chips, and turn them into commercial products ; · Europe should put in place an adequate framework to increase substantially its production capacity by 2030 ; · Europ e should address the acute skills shortage, attract new talent , and support the emergence of a skilled workforce ; · Europe should develop an in-depth understanding of global semiconductor supply chains. The Chips Act proposal aims at reaching the strategic objective of increasing the resilience of Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem and increasing its global market share. It also aims at facilitating early adoption of new chips by European industry and increase its competitiveness. For this, it needs to attract investment in innovative production facilities, have a skilled workforce, but also be in the position to design and produce the most advanced chips that will define the markets of tomorrow, developing capabilities and having the possibility to test and prototype innovative designs through pilot lines in close collaboration with its industrial vertical sectors. These are necessary steps, but not sufficient unless Europe has the analytical capability of increasing the transparency of the value chain and is capable to benefit from increased capacity to serve the common interest of the single market in case of crisis. The objective is not to become self-sufficient, which is not an achievable target. The Union must strengthen its strengths and work with third countries in a supply chain where interdependencies will remain strong. In terms of delivering on these objectives, one of the goals of the proposed Chips Act is to set up the Chips for Europe Initiative (the ‘Initiative’), to support large-scale capacity building throughout investment into cross-border and openly accessible research, development and innovation infrastructure set up in the Union to enable the development of cutting-edge and next-generation semiconductor technologies that will reinforce the EU’s advanced design, systems integration, and chips production capabilities, including emphasis on start-ups and scale-ups. In particular, the Initiative will build a virtual design platform to reinforce Europe’s design capacity, which will be accessible on open, non-discriminatory, and transparent terms . The p latform will stimulate a wide cooperation of user communities with design houses, intellectual property ( IP ) and tool suppliers, designers , and research and technology organisations ( RTOs ) , and will int egrate existing and new design facilities with extended libraries and EDA 4 tools. The Initiative will support pilot lines that provide the means for third parties under open, transparent, and non-discriminatory terms to test, validate, and further develop their product designs. The development of new pilot lines will prepare for the next generation of production capabilities and their validation. Furthermore, the Initiative will set up advanced technology and engineering capacities for quantum chips, e.g. in the form of design libraries for quantum chips, pilot lines, and testing and experimentation facilities. The Initiative will support a network of competence centres across Europe that will provide expertise to stakeholders, including end-user small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), start-ups as well as vertical sectors, and improve their skills. Competence centres will facilitate open, transparent, and non-discriminatory access to and effective use of the design infrastructure and the pilot lines. They will become poles of attraction for innovation and for new, highly skilled talent, including via reskilling and upskilling of workers. The actions under the Initiative will be primarily implemented through the Chips Joint Undertaking , i.e. the amended and renamed current Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking 5 . This Joint Undertaking currently provides extensive support for industrially driven research, technology development, and innovation in the area of electronic components and systems, and related software and systems tech nologies. These activities will become part of the Initiative . This proposal aims to amend the legal provisions of the Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 establishing the Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe for equipping the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking for its new tasks related to the Initiative. This proposal also renames the Key Digital Technologies as the “Chips Joint Undertaking”. 
Revised version (Article 143 Additional tasks of the Single European Sky ATM Research 3 Joint Undertaking):
In addition to the tasks set out in Article 5, the Single European Sky ATM Research 3 Joint Undertaking shall carry out the following tasks: (a) coordinate the tasks of the Single European Sky ATM Research definition phase, monitor the implementation of the SESAR project and amend, where necessary, the European ATM Master Plan;
Article 144 Members
1. The members of the Single European Sky ATM Research 3 Joint Undertaking shall be: (a) the Union, represented by the Commission; (b) the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation (Eurocontrol), represented by its Agency, upon notification of its decision to accede to the Single European Sky ATM Research 3 Joint Undertaking by means of a letter of commitment, which shall not contain conditions regarding its accession other than those set out in this Regulation; (c) the founding members listed in Annex III to this Regulation, upon notification of their decision to accede to the Single European Sky ATM Research 3 Joint Undertaking by means of a letter of commitment, which shall not contain conditions regarding its accession other than those set out in this Regulation; (d) the associated members to be selected in accordance with Article 7. 2. In addition to Article 7(1), the Governing Board may, during the first six months following the establishment of the Single European Sky ATM Research 3 Joint Undertaking, select associated members from a list drawn up after an open call for expression of interest launched by the Commission prior to its establishment. The conditions of Article 7(2) shall apply mutatis mutandis . 3. In selecting associated members, the Governing Board shall seek to ensure the proper representation of the entire ATM value chain and, where necessary, the selection of relevant players from outside the sector. Any public or private entity or body including those from third countries that have concluded at least one agreement with the Union in the field of air transport may be selected as associated members of the Single European Sky ATM Research 3 Joint Undertaking.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal This explanatory memorandum accompanies the proposal for a Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 establishing the Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe. This proposal complements the proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and Council establishing a framework of measures for strengthening Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem ( ‘ Chips Act ’ ) 1 by implementing most of the actions foreseen under the Chips for Europe Initiative , set up under the Chips Act proposal . The Chips Act proposal delivers on the political commitment by President von der Leyen, who announced in her 2021 State of the Union speech that t he aim is to jointly create a state-of-the-art European chip ecosystem, including production 2 . The Chips Act proposal’s underlying strategic vision for strengthening Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem is explained in its accompanying Communication. 3 To fulfil this vision, t he European Chips Strategy is articulated around five strategic objectives : · Europe should strengthen its research and technology leadership ; · Europe should build and reinforce its own capacity to innovate in the design, manufacturing , and packaging of advanced chips, and turn them into commercial products ; · Europe should put in place an adequate framework to increase substantially its production capacity by 2030 ; · Europ e should address the acute skills shortage, attract new talent , and support the emergence of a skilled workforce ; · Europe should develop an in-depth understanding of global semiconductor supply chains. The Chips Act proposal aims at reaching the strategic objective of increasing the resilience of Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem and increasing its global market share. It also aims at facilitating early adoption of new chips by European industry and increase its competitiveness. For this, it needs to attract investment in innovative production facilities, have a skilled workforce, but also be in the position to design and produce the most advanced chips that will define the markets of tomorrow, developing capabilities and having the possibility to test and prototype innovative designs through pilot lines in close collaboration with its industrial vertical sectors. These are necessary steps, but not sufficient unless Europe has the analytical capability of increasing the transparency of the value chain and is capable to benefit from increased capacity to serve the common interest of the single market in case of crisis. The objective is not to become self-sufficient, which is not an achievable target. The Union must strengthen its strengths and work with third countries in a supply chain where interdependencies will remain strong. In terms of delivering on these objectives, one of the goals of the proposed Chips Act is to set up the Chips for Europe Initiative (the ‘Initiative’), to support large-scale capacity building throughout investment into cross-border and openly accessible research, development and innovation infrastructure set up in the Union to enable the development of cutting-edge and next-generation semiconductor technologies that will reinforce the EU’s advanced design, systems integration, and chips production capabilities, including emphasis on start-ups and scale-ups. In particular, the Initiative will build a virtual design platform to reinforce Europe’s design capacity, which will be accessible on open, non-discriminatory, and transparent terms . The p latform will stimulate a wide cooperation of user communities with design houses, intellectual property ( IP ) and tool suppliers, designers , and research and technology organisations ( RTOs ) , and will int egrate existing and new design facilities with extended libraries and EDA 4 tools. The Initiative will support pilot lines that provide the means for third parties under open, transparent, and non-discriminatory terms to test, validate, and further develop their product designs. The development of new pilot lines will prepare for the next generation of production capabilities and their validation. Furthermore, the Initiative will set up advanced technology and engineering capacities for quantum chips, e.g. in the form of design libraries for quantum chips, pilot lines, and testing and experimentation facilities. The Initiative will support a network of competence centres across Europe that will provide expertise to stakeholders, including end-user small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), start-ups as well as vertical sectors, and improve their skills. Competence centres will facilitate open, transparent, and non-discriminatory access to and effective use of the design infrastructure and the pilot lines. They will become poles of attraction for innovation and for new, highly skilled talent, including via reskilling and upskilling of workers. The actions under the Initiative will be primarily implemented through the Chips Joint Undertaking , i.e. the amended and renamed current Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking 5 . This Joint Undertaking currently provides extensive support for industrially driven research, technology development, and innovation in the area of electronic components and systems, and related software and systems tech nologies. These activities will become part of the Initiative . This proposal aims to amend the legal provisions of the Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 establishing the Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe for equipping the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking for its new tasks related to the Initiative. This proposal also renames the Key Digital Technologies as the “Chips Joint Undertaking”. 
Revised version (Article 144 Members):
2. In addition to Article 7(1), the Governing Board may, during the first six months following the establishment of the Single European Sky ATM Research 3 Joint Undertaking, select associated members from a list drawn up after an open call for expression of interest launched by the Commission prior to its establishment. The conditions of Article 7(2) shall apply mutatis mutandis . 3. In selecting associated members, the Governing Board shall seek to ensure the proper representation of the entire ATM value chain and, where necessary, the selection of relevant players from outside the sector. Any public or private entity or body including those from third countries that have concluded at least one agreement with the Union in the field of air transport may be selected as associated members of the Single European Sky ATM Research 3 Joint Undertaking.
Article 145 Union financial contribution
The Union financial contribution to the Single European Sky ATM Research 3 Joint Undertaking, including EEA appropriations, to cover administrative costs and operational costs shall be up to EUR 600 000 000, including up to EUR 30 000 000 for administrative costs.
Article 146 Contributions from members other than the Union
1. The private members of the Single European Sky ATM Research 3 Joint Undertaking shall make or arrange for their constituent or affiliated entities to make a total contribution of at least EUR 500 000 000, including up to EUR 25 000 000 for administrative costs, over the period set out in Article 3. 2. Eurocontrol shall make a total contribution of up to EUR 500 000 000, including up to EUR 25 000 000 for administrative costs, over the period set out in Article 3. In addition to Article 11(4), the contribution shall also consist of in-kind contributions to additional activities.
Article 147 Scope of additional activities
For the purposes of Article 11(1), point (b), additional activities may include: (a) activities covering all the non-Union funded part of the Single European Sky ATM Research projects that contribute to the achievement of the agreed work programme of the Joint Undertaking; (b) industrialisation activities, including standardisation, certification and production, related to SESAR Solutions from the Single European Sky ATM Research 3 Joint Undertaking or the preceding initiative, the SESAR Joint Undertaking; (c) communication and outreach activities related to SESAR Solutions from the Single European Sky ATM Research 3 Joint Undertaking or the preceding initiative, the SESAR Joint Undertaking; (d) activities ensuring the global ATM harmonisation based on SESAR Solutions from the Single European Sky ATM Research 3 Joint Undertaking or the preceding initiative, the SESAR Joint Undertaking; (e) deployment or uptake of results from projects under the Single European Sky ATM Research 3 Joint Undertaking or the preceding initiative, the SESAR Joint Undertaking, which have not received any Union funding.
Article 148 Bodies of the Single European Sky ATM Research 3 Joint Undertaking
The bodies of the Single European Sky ATM Research 3 Joint Undertaking shall be: (a) the Governing Board; (b) the Executive Director; (c) the states’ representatives group; (d) the Scientific Advisory Body.
Article 149 Composition of the Governing Board
The Governing Board shall be composed as follows: (a) two representatives of the Commission on behalf of the Union; (b) one representative from each of the members other than the Union.
Article 150 Functioning of the Governing Board
1. By derogation to Article 16(4), the Governing Board shall be chaired by the Commission on behalf of the Union. 2. The Governing Board shall have the following permanent observers: (a) a representative of the European Defence Agency; (b) a representative of civil users of airspace, designated by their representative organisation at European level; (c) an air navigation service providers’ representative, designated by their representative organisation at European level; (d) an equipment manufacturers’ representative, designated by their representative organisation at European level; (e) an airports’ representative, designated by their representative organisation at European level; (f) a representative from the bodies representing staff in the ATM sector, designated by their representative organisation at European level; (g) a representative of the relevant scientific institutions or the relevant scientific community, designated by their representative organisation at European level: (h) a representative of the EASA; (i) a representative of the European standardisation organisation in aviation; (j) a representative of the unmanned aerial vehicle industry, designated by their representative organisation at European level. 3. The number of votes of the members of the Single European Sky ATM Research 3 Joint Undertaking shall be in proportion to their contribution to the budget of the joint undertaking. However, the Union and Eurocontrol shall each have at least 25 % of the total number of votes and the representative of the civil users of airspace referred to in paragraph 2, point (b), shall have at least 10 % of the total number of votes. 4. Decisions of the Governing Board shall be adopted by a simple majority of the votes cast. Where the votes are evenly divided, the Union shall have the deciding vote. 5. Decisions relating to the revision of the European ATM Master Plan shall require the positive votes of the Union and Eurocontrol. Such decisions shall take into account the opinions expressed by all permanent observers referred to in paragraph 2 and the states’ representatives group.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal This explanatory memorandum accompanies the proposal for a Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 establishing the Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe. This proposal complements the proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and Council establishing a framework of measures for strengthening Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem ( ‘ Chips Act ’ ) 1 by implementing most of the actions foreseen under the Chips for Europe Initiative , set up under the Chips Act proposal . The Chips Act proposal delivers on the political commitment by President von der Leyen, who announced in her 2021 State of the Union speech that t he aim is to jointly create a state-of-the-art European chip ecosystem, including production 2 . The Chips Act proposal’s underlying strategic vision for strengthening Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem is explained in its accompanying Communication. 3 To fulfil this vision, t he European Chips Strategy is articulated around five strategic objectives : · Europe should strengthen its research and technology leadership ; · Europe should build and reinforce its own capacity to innovate in the design, manufacturing , and packaging of advanced chips, and turn them into commercial products ; · Europe should put in place an adequate framework to increase substantially its production capacity by 2030 ; · Europ e should address the acute skills shortage, attract new talent , and support the emergence of a skilled workforce ; · Europe should develop an in-depth understanding of global semiconductor supply chains. The Chips Act proposal aims at reaching the strategic objective of increasing the resilience of Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem and increasing its global market share. It also aims at facilitating early adoption of new chips by European industry and increase its competitiveness. For this, it needs to attract investment in innovative production facilities, have a skilled workforce, but also be in the position to design and produce the most advanced chips that will define the markets of tomorrow, developing capabilities and having the possibility to test and prototype innovative designs through pilot lines in close collaboration with its industrial vertical sectors. These are necessary steps, but not sufficient unless Europe has the analytical capability of increasing the transparency of the value chain and is capable to benefit from increased capacity to serve the common interest of the single market in case of crisis. The objective is not to become self-sufficient, which is not an achievable target. The Union must strengthen its strengths and work with third countries in a supply chain where interdependencies will remain strong. In terms of delivering on these objectives, one of the goals of the proposed Chips Act is to set up the Chips for Europe Initiative (the ‘Initiative’), to support large-scale capacity building throughout investment into cross-border and openly accessible research, development and innovation infrastructure set up in the Union to enable the development of cutting-edge and next-generation semiconductor technologies that will reinforce the EU’s advanced design, systems integration, and chips production capabilities, including emphasis on start-ups and scale-ups. In particular, the Initiative will build a virtual design platform to reinforce Europe’s design capacity, which will be accessible on open, non-discriminatory, and transparent terms . The p latform will stimulate a wide cooperation of user communities with design houses, intellectual property ( IP ) and tool suppliers, designers , and research and technology organisations ( RTOs ) , and will int egrate existing and new design facilities with extended libraries and EDA 4 tools. The Initiative will support pilot lines that provide the means for third parties under open, transparent, and non-discriminatory terms to test, validate, and further develop their product designs. The development of new pilot lines will prepare for the next generation of production capabilities and their validation. Furthermore, the Initiative will set up advanced technology and engineering capacities for quantum chips, e.g. in the form of design libraries for quantum chips, pilot lines, and testing and experimentation facilities. The Initiative will support a network of competence centres across Europe that will provide expertise to stakeholders, including end-user small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), start-ups as well as vertical sectors, and improve their skills. Competence centres will facilitate open, transparent, and non-discriminatory access to and effective use of the design infrastructure and the pilot lines. They will become poles of attraction for innovation and for new, highly skilled talent, including via reskilling and upskilling of workers. The actions under the Initiative will be primarily implemented through the Chips Joint Undertaking , i.e. the amended and renamed current Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking 5 . This Joint Undertaking currently provides extensive support for industrially driven research, technology development, and innovation in the area of electronic components and systems, and related software and systems tech nologies. These activities will become part of the Initiative . This proposal aims to amend the legal provisions of the Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 establishing the Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe for equipping the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking for its new tasks related to the Initiative. This proposal also renames the Key Digital Technologies as the “Chips Joint Undertaking”. 
Revised version (Article 150 Functioning of the Governing Board):
1. By derogation to Article 16(4), the Governing Board shall be chaired by the Commission on behalf of the Union. 3. The number of votes of the members of the Single European Sky ATM Research 3 Joint Undertaking shall be in proportion to their contribution to the budget of the joint undertaking. However, the Union and Eurocontrol shall each have at least 25 % of the total number of votes and the representative of the civil users of airspace referred to in paragraph 2, point (b), shall have at least 10 % of the total number of votes. 4. Decisions of the Governing Board shall be adopted by a simple majority of the votes cast. Where the votes are evenly divided, the Union shall have the deciding vote. 5. Decisions relating to the revision of the European ATM Master Plan shall require the positive votes of the Union and Eurocontrol. Such decisions shall take into account the opinions expressed by all permanent observers referred to in paragraph 2 and the states’ representatives group.
Article 151 Additional tasks of the Governing Board
In addition to the tasks listed in Article 17, the Governing Board of the Single European Sky ATM Research 3 Joint Undertaking shall supervise the delivery of the research and development components identified in the European ATM Master Plan.
Article 152 Additional tasks of the Executive Director
In addition to the tasks listed in Article 19, the Executive Director of the Single European Sky ATM Research 3 Joint Undertaking shall carry out the following tasks: (a) direct the execution of the definition and development phases of the SESAR project within the guidelines established by the Governing Board; (b) submit to the Governing Board any proposal involving changes in the design of the development phase of the SESAR project.
Article 153 The states’ representatives group
In addition to Article 20, the Member States shall ensure that their respective representatives present a coordinated position that reflects their Member State’s views expressed in: (a) the Single Sky Committee, established by Article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 549/2004; (b) the Programme Committee under Article 14 of the Specific Programme implementing Horizon Europe.
Article 154 The Scientific Committee
1. The scientific advisory body of the Single European Sky ATM Research 3 Joint Undertaking referred to in Article 21(1), point (a), shall be the Scientific Committee. 2. The Scientific Committee shall have no more than 15 permanent members. 3. The chairman of the Scientific Committee shall be elected for a period of two years. 4. The Scientific Committee may advise on request of the Governing Board and other bodies of the Single European Sky ATM Research 3 Joint Undertaking, or on its own initiative, in particular on activities related to low TRLs (0 to 2). 5. The Scientific Committee shall collaborate with the relevant advisory bodies set up under Horizon Europe.
Article 155 Implementing acts to establish the position of the Union concerning the amendment of the European ATM Master Plan
1. The Commission shall adopt implementing acts with the view to establishing the position of the Union concerning the amendment of the European ATM Master Plan. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 5 of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 44 ) . 2. The Commission shall be assisted by the Single Sky Committee established by Regulation (EC) No 549/2004. The Single Sky Committee shall be a committee within the meaning of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011.
Article 156 Certification of new technologies
1. The EASA may be invited by applicants, participants or the Executive Director to advise on individual projects and demonstration activities on issues related to compliance with aviation safety, interoperability and environmental standards, to ensure that those lead to timely development of relevant standards, testing capacity and regulatory requirements for product development and deployment of new technologies. 2. Certification activities and services provided shall be subject to the provisions regarding fees and charges set out in Regulation (EU) 2018/1139.
Article 157 Agreement with Eurocontrol
As founding member of the Single European Sky ATM Research 3 Joint Undertaking, Eurocontrol’s role and contribution shall be set out in an administrative agreement between the two parties, the Single European Sky ATM Research 3 Joint Undertaking and Eurocontrol. That agreement shall describe Eurocontrol’s tasks, responsibilities and contribution to the activities of the Single European Sky ATM Research 3 Joint Undertaking as regards the following: (a) organising Eurocontrol’s research, development and validation activities in accordance with the work programme of the Single European Sky ATM Research 3 Joint Undertaking; (b) providing specialist support and advice to the Single European Sky ATM Research 3 Joint Undertaking on its request; (c) supporting and advising on the common developments for the future European ATM systems, in particular related to the future airspace architecture; (d) supporting the monitoring of the implementation of SESAR Solutions in line with the European ATM Master Plan; (e) engaging with Eurocontrol Member States to secure wide support for the Union’s policy objectives and results of research, validation and demonstration activities amongst pan-European network partners; (f) providing support to programme management; (g) contributing to the administrative costs of the Single European Sky ATM Research 3 Joint Undertaking and providing information technology, communications and logistics support to the Single European Sky ATM Research 3 Joint Undertaking.
Article 158 Back office arrangements
Article 13 shall not apply to the Single European Sky ATM Research 3 Joint Undertaking. The back office arrangement shall be provided by Eurocontrol.
Article 159 Additional objectives of the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking
1. In addition to the objectives set out in Articles 4 and 5, the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking shall have the following general objectives: (a) foster Europe’s technological leadership in future smart networks and services by reinforcing current industrial strengths and by extending the scope from 5G connectivity to the broader strategic value chain including cloud-based service provisioning as well as components and devices; (b) align strategic roadmaps of a wider range of industrial players, including not only the telecommunication industry, but also actors from the internet of Things, cloud, and components and devices; (c) advance European technological and scientific excellence to support European leadership to shape and master 6G systems by 2030; (d) strengthen the deployment of digital infrastructures and uptake of digital solutions in the European markets, in particular by ensuring a strategic coordination mechanism for the CEF2 Digital programme as well as synergies within CEF2, and with DEP and InvestEU as part of the scope and governance of the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking; (e) prepare the European smart networks and services supply industry for the longer term opportunities emerging from the development of vertical markets for 5G and later 6G infrastructures and services in Europe; (f) facilitate digital innovation, by 2030, meeting European market needs and public policy requirements, including the most demanding requirements of vertical industries, as well as societal requirements in fields including security, energy efficiency and electromagnetic fields; (g) support the alignment of future smart networks and services with Union policy objectives including European Green Deal, network and information security, ethics and privacy, as well as a human-centric and sustainable internet. 2. The Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking shall also have the following specific objectives: (a) facilitate the development of technologies able to meet advanced communication requirements while supporting European excellence in smart networks and services technologies and architectures and their evolution towards 6G, including strong European positions on standards, essential patents, and key requirements such as requirements for spectrum bands needed for future advanced smart network technologies; (b) accelerate the development of energy-efficient network technologies with the aim of significantly reducing the energy and resource consumption of the whole digital infrastructure by 2030 and decreasing the energy consumption of key verticals industries supported by smart networks and services technologies; (c) accelerate the development and widespread deployment of 5G by 2025 and later 6G infrastructure in Europe by, in particular, promoting the coordination and strategic support of 5G deployment for Connected and Automated Mobility along cross-border corridors, by using the CEF2 Digital programme and by promoting deployment under CEF2, DEP and InvestEU; (d) foster a sustainable and diverse supply and value chain in line with the 5G Cybersecurity toolbox; (e) strengthen the positioning of the Union’s industry in the global smart network and services value chain by creating a critical mass of public and private actors, in particular by increasing the contribution from software and internet of Things actors, leveraging national initiatives and supporting the emergence of new actors; (f) support alignment with ethical and security requirements, including them in the Strategic Research and Innovation Agendas and providing input to the Union’s legislative process as appropriate.
Article 160 Additional tasks of the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking
In addition to the tasks set out in Article 5, the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking shall carry out the following tasks: (a) contribute to the work programmes of other Union programmes, such as CEF2 Digital programme, DEP and InvestEU that are implementing activities in the area of smart networks and services; (b) coordinate Union trialling, piloting and deployment initiatives in the field of smart networks and services, such as pan-European 5G corridors for connected and automated mobility under CEF2 Digital programme, in liaison with the Commission and competent relevant funding bodies; (c) promote synergies among relevant Union-funded trials, pilots and deployment activities in the area of smart networks and services, such as those funded under CEF2 Digital programme, DEP and InvestEU, and ensure effective dissemination and leveraging of the knowledge and know-how gathered in the context of those activities; (d) develop and coordinate the strategic deployment agendas for pan-European 5G corridors for connected and automated mobility with the involvement of stakeholders. Those agendas shall provide strategic non-binding guidance covering the duration of CEF2 Digital programme by defining a common vision for the development of 5G-enabled ecosystems and the underpinning network and services requirements, and identifying deployment objectives and roadmaps as well as potential cooperation models.
Article 161 Members
The members of the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking shall be: (a) the Union, represented by the Commission; (b) the 6G-IA registered under Belgian law, upon notification of its decision to accede to the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking by means of a letter of commitment, which shall not contain conditions regarding its accession other than those set out in this Regulation.
Article 162 Union financial contribution
The Union financial contribution to the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking, including EEA appropriations, to cover administrative costs and operational costs shall be up to EUR 900 000 000, including up to EUR 18 519 000 for administrative costs.
Article 163 Contributions from members other than the Union
1. The members of the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking other than the Union shall make or arrange for their constituent or affiliated entities to make a total contribution of at least EUR 900 000 000 over the period set out in Article 3. 2. The members of the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking other than the Union shall make or arrange for their constituent or affiliated entities to make an annual financial contribution to the administrative costs of the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking of at least 20 % of the total administrative costs. They shall endeavour to increase their number of constituent or affiliated entities in order to increase their contribution to 50 % of the administrative costs of the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking over its lifetime, taking due account of constituent and affiliated entities that are SMEs.