Access to alternative dispute resolution mechanisms for consumers - CHAFEA/2018/CP/ADR-JA

Deadline: Dec 4, 2018  
CALL EXPIRED

1. INTRODUCTION – BACKGROUND

This call for proposals implements the European consumer programme1 and more specifically action 2.1.3 of the 2018 Work Programme2: "Grants for joint actions with Member States to support access to alternative dispute resolution mechanisms for consumers".

Ensuring access to simple, efficient and low-cost ways of resolving domestic and cross- border issues, notably via alternative dispute resolution (ADR), is a crucial element of the European Consumer Policy. Directive 2013/11/EU (Directive on consumer ADR)3 has established the legal framework, including harmonised high quality requirements that ADR entities must meet to be certified by the Member States. The Regulation (EU) No 524/2013 (Regulation on Consumer ODR)4 has provided an additional facility (European Online Dispute Resolution Platform) for the consumer disputes related to the online purchases. The multiannual Consumer programme and the ADR Directive give the Commission mandate to support the ADR entities and their networks.

The Consumers, Health, Agriculture and Food Executive Agency (hereafter Chafea) is entrusted by the European Commission with the implementation of parts of the Consumer programme and will be in charge of this Call for proposals.

 

2. OBJECTIVE(S) – THEME(S) – PRIORITIES – ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES

The aim of this call for proposals is to increase the effectiveness of consumer ADR by co-financing measures to be undertaken by registered ADR entities in relation to one or more of the following priorities:

a) access: promotional, communication and outreach activities and creation of online interfaces adapted for a broad range of consumers, including vulnerable consumers;

b) functioning and effectiveness: increasing operational capacity and expertise of ADR entities and their networks, such as streamlining of the case handling, reducing backlog of cases, improving staff efficiency and expertise, establishing performance monitoring, and the exchange of current best practices and experience in the Member States.

c) networks: joint activities of ADR networks at the national, regional, sectorial or European levels to enhance the quality of consumer ADR.

Within these objectives, the following activities are eligible:

1. Development, customisation, use or maintenance of IT tools or web services;

2. Training activities;
3. Promotion, communication, awareness raising and outreach activities;

4. Analytical activities, including data collection, surveys, research activities, knowledge base;

5. Actions aiming at the creation and improvement of networks;

6. Mutual learning including study visits and workshops and development of working methods which may be transferable to other ADR entities.

The deadline for submission is 30/11/2018, 17:00:00 (Brussels local time)

 

3. TIMETABLE

Stages

a) Publication of the call

28/08/2018

b) Deadline for submitting applications

4/12/2018

c) Evaluation period

December 2018

d) Information to applicants

January 2019

e) Signature of grant agreement

Spring 2019

 

4. BUDGET AVAILABLE AND THE GRANT AMOUNTS

The total amount earmarked for co-financing the actions is EUR 1 000 000.

The maximum co-financing rate for each action is 50% of the eligible costs, within the following ceilings;

- For each selected mono-beneficiary proposal the maximum grant cannot exceed 20 000 EUR

- For each selected proposal submitted by a consortium of at least two entities the maximum grant cannot exceed 60 000 EUR.

Chafea reserves the right not to distribute all the funds available.

 

 

5. ADMISSIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
Applications must be submitted via the online submission system before 4/12/2018 at

17:00:00 Brussels local time.

Failure to comply with these requirements will lead to the rejection of the application. Applications must be drafted in one of the EU official languages*.

The maximum duration of the action is 12 months. Applications for projects scheduled to run for longer than 12 months will be rejected as inadmissible.

*As the working language of Chafea is English, the applicants are requested, as a matter of courtesy, to accompany the proposal with an English translation to expedite the evaluation process.

 

6. ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS

Applicants must be, on the date of the submission of the proposal, an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) entity notified to the European Commission pursuant to Article 20(2) of Directive 2013/11/EU on consumer ADR and registered electronically with the Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) platform pursuant to Article 5(6) of Regulation (EU) No 524/2013 on consumer ODR.

Applicants are advised to verify their status by consulting the public list of ADR entities registered on the ODR platform, and to contact their national competent authorities in case they are not listed in the platform or their details are incorrect:

https://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr/main/?event=main.adr.show2

Applicants with legal personality, whether public or non-public organisations, are eligible.

Entities which do not have legal personality under the applicable national law are eligible, provided that their representatives have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on behalf of the entity and offer guarantees for the protection of the Union's financial interests equivalent to those offered by legal persons.

Natural persons are not eligible except self-employed persons or equivalent (i.e. sole traders) where the company does not possess legal personality separate from that of the natural person.

The application shall state the legal status of the applicant.
Only applications from entities established and operating in the following countries are

eligible:

•   EU Member States

•   Countries of the European Free Trade Association participating in the European Economic Area

•  For British applicants: Please be aware that eligibility criteria must be complied with for the entire duration of the grant. If the United Kingdom withdraws from the EU during the grant period without concluding an agreement with the EU ensuring in particular that British applicants continue to be eligible, you will cease to receive EU funding (while continuing, where possible, to participate) or be required to leave the project on the basis of Article 34.3(b) of the grant agreement.

In case of a multi-beneficiary grant - Consortium composition: each of the entities within the consortium has to be eligible as per point 6 of present Call. Entities can originate from the same or different eligible countries.

The consortia shall designate a co-ordinator for the multi-beneficiary action. This co- ordinator will act as a contact point for Chafea and will have the responsibility of receiving the payments and coordinating the reporting exercise.

Affiliated entities

Affiliated entities are entities having a legal or capital link with applicants, which is neither limited to the action nor established for the sole purpose of its implementation.

Affiliated entities may be able to declare costs to be taken into account for the calculation of the grant amount, if the applicant identifies such entities while applying for the grant, and provides supporting documents attesting the link.

Affiliated entities have also to fulfil the above-mentioned eligibility and exclusion criteria of the present call. Applicants shall identify affiliated entities in the application form.

Sole beneficiary

Several legal entities forming together one legal entity which may, or may not, have been specifically established for carrying out the action (e.g. groupings, joint ventures) are eligible as a 'sole beneficiary'. Legal entities forming the 'sole beneficiary' must fulfil the eligibility, exclusion and selection criteria and the appropriate supporting documents must be provided.

 

7. EXCLUSION CRITERIA

Chafea shall exclude an applicant from participating in the award in case the applicant is in any of the situations listed in article 136 of the Financial Regulation5 (see Declaration of honour6 sample listing the aforementioned situations in the Annex to this Call).

The exclusion criteria also apply to affiliated entities and sole beneficiaries.

 

7.1. Remedial measures

If an applicant declares one of the situations of exclusion listed above, it should indicate the measures it has taken to remedy the exclusion situation, thus demonstrating its reliability. This may include e.g. technical, organisational and personnel measures to prevent further occurrence, compensation of damage or payment of fines. The relevant documentary evidence which illustrates the remedial measures taken must be provided in annex to the declaration.

7.2. Supporting documents

Applicants must provide a Declaration on their honour certifying that they and their affiliated entities, if any, are not in one of the situations listed in article 136 of the Financial Regulation. Declaration of honour template (listing all the situation of exclusions) needs to be filled in and signed.

 

8. SELECTION CRITERIA

8.1. Financial capacity

Applicants must have stable and sufficient sources of funding to carry out the proposed Action throughout the period for which the grant is awarded.

The applicants' financial capacity will be also confirmed on the basis of the above- mentioned declaration on honour.8

8.2. Operational capacity9
Applicants must have the professional competencies and qualifications required to

complete the proposed action.

The applicant's operational capacity will also be confirmed on the basis of the above- mentioned declaration on honour.
 

Consistency

The proposals shall identify the applicants’ needs and the results to be achieved by the proposed action:

•   Is the link between the needs, the action and the result logical and well described? Are the results realistic?

•   How well do the results contribute to the objectives and priorities as described in Section 2 of this call?

Points 1-5

Minimum threshold 3

 

Coherence and effectiveness

The proposals shall describe how the actions will be implemented:

 Is the timeline, allocation of resources and deliverables (including the project

management) well described, aligned with the work plan, and realistic?

 Is the budget cost-effective and in proportion with the expected result

Points 1-5

Minimum threshold 3

 

* Proposals which do not meet the minimum thresholds for each award criteria will not be considered further.

Proposals will be ranked based on the total score obtained.
Funding will be awarded in this ranking order, within the limits of the available budget.

All applicants, whether successful or not, will be informed of the results of the evaluation.

 

10. GRANT AGREEMENT

Applicant(s) whose proposal is selected for funding may be invited to adapt their proposal in line with the recommendations of the evaluation. Chafea reserves the right to recommend decreasing the requested grant amount or the requested co-financing rate.

Applicants will then be invited to sign the grant agreement, drawn up in euro and detailing the conditions and level of funding. The applicant will also receive the information on the procedure to formalise the agreement of the parties.

The model grant agreement is attached to this Call and available on the Chafea website and Participants Portal. Please read it carefully. The agreement will only be signed in English.

 

11. PROCESSING OF PERSONAL DATA

The reply to any call for proposals involves the recording and processing of personal data (such as name, address and CV). Such data will be processed pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Community institutions and bodies and on the free movement of such data. Unless indicated otherwise, the questions and any personal data requested that are required to evaluate the application in accordance with the call for proposal will be processed solely for that purpose by CHAFEA.

Personal data may be registered in the Early Detection and Exclusion System by the Commission, should the beneficiary be in one of the situations mentioned in Article 136(1) and 141 FR.

For more information see the Privacy Statement on: https://ec.europa.eu/info/data-protection-public-procurement-procedures_en.

 

12. PROCEDURE FOR THE SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS

Proposals must be submitted via the Participant Portal and before the call deadline.

No modification to the application is allowed once the deadline for submission has elapsed. However, if there is a need to clarify certain aspects or for the correction of clerical mistakes, Chafea may contact the applicant for this purpose during the evaluation process.

Applicants will be informed in writing about the results of the selection process.

Before submitting a proposal:

(1) Find the call:

https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/opportunities

(2) Create an account to submit a proposal:

https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/cas/eim/external/register.cgi

(3) Register all partners via the beneficiary registry:

http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/organisations/register.html

Information on how to access the online application tool will be available in call section of the CHAFEA website:

http://ec.europa.eu/chafea/consumers/consumers_calls.html

In submitting a proposal, the applicant accepts the procedures and conditions as described in this call and in the documents to which it refers.

 Contacts
For problems with the online submission tools please contact the IT helpdesk set-up for

this purpose via the participant portal web-site.
For non-IT related questions please contact the Chafea helpdesk at:

CHAFEA-CP-CALLS@ec.europa.eu.

Reference must be clearly made to this specific call. Once the electronic exchange system has allocated an ID to a proposal, the applicant must use this number in all subsequent correspondence.

After the deadline for submission modifications to the application are impossible.

 Annexes:

•   Financial provisions and sample of the Declaration of Honour

•   Guide for applicants

•   Mono-beneficiary Model Grant agreement

•   Multi-beneficiary Model Grant Agreement

•   Application form – Part B – Description of Action and Estimated Budget

•   Declaration of Honour

Public link:   Only for registered users