Community assistance under this Regulation shall be implemented through the following measures:
Strategy Papers and revisions thereof as appropriate;
Annual Action Programmes;
Special Measures;
Ad hoc Measures.
1.Strategy Papers shall set out the Community's strategy for Community assistance under this Regulation, the Community's priorities, the international situation and the activities of the main partners. They shall be consistent with the overall purpose, objectives, scope, and principles of this Regulation.
2.Strategy Papers shall set out the priority areas selected for financing by the Community, the specific objectives, the expected results and the performance indicators. They shall also give the indicative financial allocation, both overall and per priority area; this may be given in the form of a range, where appropriate.
3.Strategy Papers, and any revisions or extensions thereof, shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 17(2). They shall cover no more than the period of validity of this Regulation. Strategy Papers shall be reviewed at mid-term, or ad hoc if necessary.
4.The Commission and Member States shall exchange information and consult each other, as well as other donors and actors including representatives of civil society, at an early stage of the programming process in order to promote complementarity among their cooperation activities.
1.Notwithstanding Article 7, the Commission shall adopt Annual Action Programmes based on the Strategy Papers and Revisions referred to in Article 5.
2.Annual Action Programmes shall specify the objectives pursued, the fields of intervention, the expected results, the management procedures and the total amount of financing planned. They shall take into account lessons learned from past implementation of Community assistance. They shall contain a description of the operations to be financed, an indication of the amounts allocated for each operation and an indicative implementation timetable. Objectives shall be measurable and have time-bound benchmarks.
3.Annual Action Programmes, and any revisions or extensions thereof, shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 17(2). In cases where amendments to Annual Action Programmes do not exceed 20 % of the global amount allocated to them, such amendments shall be adopted by the Commission. It shall inform the Committee referred to in Article 17(1) thereof.
4.In case an Annual Action Programme has not yet been adopted, the Commission may exceptionally, on the basis of the Strategy Papers referred to in Article 5, adopt measures not provided for in an Annual Action Programme under the same rules and procedures as for Annual Action Programmes.
1.Notwithstanding Article 5, in the event of unforeseen and duly justified needs or exceptional circumstances, the Commission may adopt Special Measures not covered in the Strategy Papers.
2.Special Measures shall specify the objectives pursued, the areas of activity, the expected results, the management procedures and the total amount of financing. They shall contain a description of the operations to be financed, an indication of the amounts allocated for each operation and the indicative timetable for their implementation. They shall include a definition of the type of performance indicators that will have to be monitored when implementing the special measures.
3.Where the cost of such measures is equal to or exceeds EUR 3 000 000, the Commission shall adopt them in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 17(2).
4.For Special Measures costing below EUR 3 000 000, the Commission shall send the measures to the European Parliament and the Member States for information within 10 working days of adopting its decision.
1.Community financing under this Regulation may cover expenditure associated with the preparation, follow-up, monitoring, audit and evaluation activities directly necessary for the implementation of this Regulation and the achievement of its objectives, such as studies, meetings, information, awareness-raising, training and publication activities, including training and educational measures for partners from civil society, expenditure associated with computer networks for the exchange of information, and any other administrative or technical assistance expenditure necessary for the management of the programme. It may also cover expenditure, where appropriate, for actions to highlight the Community character of the assistance measures, and for activities to explain the objectives and results of assistance measures to the general public in the countries concerned.
2.Community financing shall also cover expenditure at Commission delegations on the administrative support needed to manage operations financed under this Regulation.
3.The Commission shall adopt Support Measures not covered by Strategy Papers as referred to in Article 5 in accordance with Article 7(3) and (4).
1.Notwithstanding Article 5, the Commission may allocate small grants on an ad hoc basis to human rights defenders responding to urgent protection needs.
2.The Commission shall regularly inform the European Parliament and the Member States of the ad hoc measures carried out.
1.Without prejudice to Article 14, the following bodies and actors operating on an independent and accountable basis shall be eligible for funding under this Regulation for the purposes of implementing the assistance measures referred to in Articles 6, 7 and 9:
(a)civil society organisations, including non-governmental non-profit organisations and independent political foundations, community based organisations, and private sector non-profit agencies, institutions and organisations, and networks thereof at local, national, regional and international level;
(b)public sector non-profit agencies, institutions and organisations and networks at local, national, regional, and international level;
(c)national, regional and international parliamentary bodies, when this is necessary to achieve the objectives of this instrument and unless the proposed measure can be financed under a related Community external assistance instrument;
(d)international and regional inter-governmental organisations;
(e)natural persons when this is necessary to achieve the objectives of this Regulation.
2.Other bodies or actors not listed in paragraph 1 can be financed, exceptionally and in duly justified cases, provided this is necessary to achieve the objectives of this Regulation.
1.The assistance measures financed under this Regulation shall be implemented in accordance with Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 of 25 June 2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities(1) and any revision thereof on a centralised basis or by joint management with international organisations in accordance with Article 53(1) of that Regulation.
2.In the event of co-financing and in other duly justified cases, the Commission may, in accordance with Article 54 of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002, decide to entrust tasks of public authority, and in particular budget implementation tasks, to bodies referred to in Article 54(2)(c) of that Regulation.
1.Budget commitments shall be made on the basis of decisions taken by the Commission in accordance with Articles 6, 7, 8 and 9.
2.Community financing may take one of the following legal forms, inter alia:
(a)grant agreements, grant decisions or contribution agreements;
(b)agreements pursuant to Article 54 of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002;
(c)procurement contracts;
(d)employment contracts.
1.Community financing may take the following forms:
(a)projects and programmes;
(b)grants to finance projects submitted by international and regional inter-governmental organisations as referred to in Article 10(1)(d);
(c)small grants to human rights defenders as referred to in Article 2(1)(b)(ii) to finance urgent protection measures under Article 9(1);
(d)grants to support operating costs of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights;
(e)grants to support operating costs of the European Inter-University Centre for Human Rights and Democratisation (EIUC), in particular for the European Master's Degree Programme in Human Rights and Democratisation and the EU-UN Fellowship Programme, fully accessible to nationals of third countries, as well as other education, training and research activities promoting human rights and democratisation;
(f)contributions to international funds, such as those managed by international or regional organisations;
(g)human and material resources for effective implementation of European Union Election Observation Missions;
(h)public contracts as defined in Article 88 of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002.
2.Measures financed under this Regulation are eligible for cofinancing from the following, in particular from:
(a)Member States and their local authorities, and in particular their public and parastatal agencies;
(b)other donor countries, and in particular their public and parastatal agencies;
(c)international and regional inter-governmental organisations;
(d)companies, firms, other private organisations and business, trade unions, trade union federations, and other non-state actors.
3.In the case of parallel co-financing, the project or programme is to be split into a number of clearly identifiable components, which are each financed by different partners providing co-financing in such a way that the end-use of the financing can always be identified. In the case of joint co-financing, the total cost of the project or programme is to be shared between the partners providing the co-financing and resources are pooled in such a way that it is not possible to identify the source of funding for any given activity undertaken as part of the project or programme.
4.In the case of joint co-financing, the Commission may receive and manage funds on behalf of the bodies referred to in paragraph 2 (a), (b), and (c), for the purpose of implementing joint measures. Such funds shall be dealt with as assigned revenue in accordance with Article 18 of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002.
5.In the event of co-financing and in other duly justified cases, the Commission may entrust tasks of public authority, and in particular budget implementation tasks, to bodies referred to in Article 54(2)(c) of Regulation (EC) No 1605/2002.
[F16. Union assistance shall not in principle be used for paying taxes, duties or charges in beneficiary countries.]
Textual Amendments
1.Participation in the award of procurement or grant contracts financed under this Regulation shall be open to all natural persons who are nationals of or legal persons who are established in a Member State of the Community, in an accession or official candidate country as recognised by the European Community or in a Member State of the European Economic Area.
Participation in the award of procurement or grant contracts financed under this Regulation shall be open to all natural persons who are nationals of or legal persons who are established in a developing country, as specified by the Development Assistance Committee of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD/DAC), in addition to natural or legal persons eligible by virtue of this Regulation. The Commission shall publish and update the list of developing countries established by the OECD/DAC in accordance with regular reviews of this list and inform the Council thereof.
2.Participation in the award of procurement or grant contracts financed under this Regulation shall also be open to all natural persons who are nationals of or legal persons who are established in any country other than those referred to in paragraph 1, where reciprocal access to their external assistance has been established. Reciprocal access shall be granted whenever a country grants eligibility on equal terms to the Member States and to the recipient country concerned.
Reciprocal access shall be established by means of a specific decision concerning a given country or a given regional group of countries. Such a decision shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 17(2) and shall be in force for a minimum period of one year.
3.Participation in the award of grants and public contracts financed under this Regulation shall be open to international organisations.
4.The provisions of paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 are without prejudice to the participation of categories of eligible organisations by nature or by localization in regard to the objectives of the action to carry out.
5.Experts may be of any nationality. This is without prejudice to the qualitative and financial requirements set out in the Community's procurement rules.
6.If measures financed under this Regulation are implemented on a centralised basis and indirectly by delegation to specialised Community bodies, international or national public sector bodies, or bodies governed by private law with a public service mission in accordance with Article 54(2)(c) of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002, participation in the public procurement and grant award procedures of the managing entity shall be open to natural persons who are nationals of the countries having access to Community contracts and grants in accordance with the principles set out in paragraph 1 of this Article, and of any other country eligible under the rules and procedures of the managing entity, and to legal persons which are established in those countries.
7.Whenever Community assistance covers an operation implemented through an international organisation, participation in the appropriate contractual procedures shall be open to all natural persons and legal persons who are eligible pursuant to this Article, as well as to all natural persons and legal persons who are eligible pursuant to the rules of that organisation, care being taken to ensure that equal treatment is afforded to all donors. The same rules shall apply in respect of supplies, materials and experts.
8.Whenever Community funding covers an operation co-financed with a third country, subject to reciprocity, or with a regional organisation, or with a Member State, participation in the appropriate contractual procedures shall be open to all natural persons and legal persons who are eligible pursuant to this Article as well as to all natural persons and legal persons who are eligible under the rules of such third country, regional organisation or Member State. The same rules shall apply in respect of supplies, materials and experts.
9.All supplies and materials purchased under a contract financed under this Regulation must originate from the Community or from an eligible country as defined in paragraphs 1 and 2. The term ‘origin’ for the purpose of this Regulation is defined in the relevant Community legislation on rules of origin for customs purposes.
10.The Commission may, in duly substantiated cases, authorise the participation of natural and legal persons either from countries having traditional economic, trade or geographical links with neighbouring countries, or from other third countries, and the purchase and use of supplies and materials of different origin.
11.Derogations may be justified on the basis of the unavailability of products and services in the markets of the countries concerned, for reasons of extreme urgency, or if the eligibility rules would make the realisation of a project, a programme or an action impossible or exceedingly difficult.
12.Tenderers who have been awarded contracts shall respect internationally agreed core labour standards, such as the International Labour Organization's core labour standards, conventions on freedom of association and collective bargaining, elimination of forced and compulsory labour, elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation, and the abolition of child labour.
1.Any agreement or contract resulting from the implementation of this Regulation shall contain provisions ensuring the protection of the Community's financial interests, in particular with respect to fraud, corruption and any other irregularities in accordance with Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95 of 18 December 1995 on the protection of the European Communities financial interests(2), Council Regulation (Euratom, EC) No 2185/96 of 11 November 1996 concerning on-the-spot checks and inspections carried out by the Commission in order to protect the European Communities' financial interests against fraud and other irregularities(3), and Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1073/1999 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 May 1999 concerning investigations conducted by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF)(4).
2.Agreements and contracts shall expressly entitle the Commission and the Court of Auditors to have the power of audit, on the basis of documents and on-the-spot, over all contractors and subcontractors who have received Community funds. They shall also expressly authorise the Commission to carry out on-the-spot checks and inspections, as provided for in Regulation (Euratom, EC) No 2185/96.
1.The Commission shall regularly monitor and review its programmes, and evaluate the effectiveness, coherence and consistency of programming, where appropriate by means of independent external evaluations, in order to ascertain whether the objectives have been met and to enable it to formulate recommendations with a view to improving future operations. Proposals by the European Parliament or the Council for independent external evaluations shall be taken into due account.
2.The Commission shall send its evaluation reports to the Committee referred to in Article 17(1) and to the European Parliament for information. Member States may request discussion of specific evaluations in the Committee referred to in Article 17(1). The results shall feed back into programme design and resource allocation.
3.The Commission shall associate all stakeholders as appropriate in the evaluation phase of Community assistance provided under this Regulation. Joint evaluations with Member States, international organisations or other bodies shall be encouraged.