Cinema Networks 2019 Call EACEA/50/2018

Deadline: May 31, 2019  
CALL EXPIRED

These guidelines are based on Regulation No 1295/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11/12/2013 concerning the implementation of a programme of support for the European cultural and creative sector (CREATIVE EUROPE).[1]

The European Commission is responsible for the implementation of the Creative Europe Programme and for the decision to award European Union support.

The Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency hereafter "the Agency" manages the Culture and MEDIA Sub-programme on behalf and under the supervision of the European Commission.

General background information about the Creative Europe programme can be found on the following link: http://ec.europa.eu/creative-europe/

Part A covers the sections that are common to all MEDIA schemes.

 

2. OBJECTIVES– PRIORITIES

2.1         General Objective of the Programme

The general objectives of the Programme shall be:

1. to safeguard, develop and promote European cultural and linguistic diversity and to promote Europe's cultural heritage;

2. to strengthen the competitiveness of the European cultural and creative sectors, in particular of the audiovisual sector, with a view to promoting smart, sustainable and inclusive growth.

2.2         Specific objectives

The specific objectives of the Programme shall be:

1. to support the capacity of the European cultural and creative sectors to operate transnationally and internationally;

2. to promote the transnational circulation of cultural and creative works and transnational mobility of cultural and creative players, in particular artists, as well as to reach new and enlarged audiences and improve access to cultural and creative works in the Union and beyond, with a particular focus on children, young people, people with disabilities and under-represented groups;

3. to strengthen the financial capacity of SMEs and micro, small and medium-sized organisations in the cultural and creative sectors in a sustainable way, while endeavouring to ensure a balanced geographical coverage and sector representation;

4. to foster policy development, innovation, creativity, audience development and new business and management models through support for transnational policy cooperation.

2.3         Priorities of the MEDIA Sub-programme

1. The priorities in the field of reinforcing the European audiovisual sector's capacity to operate transnationally shall be the following:
   1. facilitating the acquisition and improvement of skills and competences of audiovisual professionals and the development of networks, including the use of digital technologies to ensure adaptation to market development, testing new approaches to audience development and testing new business models;
   2. increasing the capacity of audiovisual operators to develop European audiovisual works with a potential to circulate in the Union and beyond and to facilitate European and international co-production, including with television broadcasters;
   3. encouraging business-to-business exchanges by facilitating access to markets and business tools enabling audiovisual operators to increase the visibility of their projects on Union and international markets.

2. The priorities in the field of promoting transnational circulation shall be the following:

   1. supporting theatrical distribution through transnational marketing, branding, distribution and exhibition of audiovisual works;
   2. promoting transnational marketing, branding and distribution of audiovisual works on all other non-theatrical platforms;
   3. supporting audience development as a means of stimulating interest in, and improving access to, European audiovisual works, in particular through promotion, events, film literacy and festivals;
   4. promoting new distribution modes in order to allow the emergence of new business models.

2.4         Support measures of the MEDIA Sub-programme

In order to implement the priorities set out in section 2.3, the MEDIA Sub-programme shall provide support for:

1. the development of a comprehensive range of training measures promoting the acquisition and improvement of skills and competences by audiovisual professionals, knowledge-sharing and networking initiatives, including the integration of digital technologies;

2. the development of European audiovisual works, in particular films and television works such as fiction, documentaries and children's and animated films, as well as interactive works such as video games and multimedia with enhanced cross-border circulation potential;

3. activities aiming to support European audiovisual production companies, in particular independent production companies, with a view to facilitating European and international co-productions of audiovisual works including television works;

4. activities helping European and international co-production partners to come together and/or providing indirect support for audiovisual works co-produced by international co- production funds based in a country participating in the Programme;

5. facilitating access to professional audiovisual trade events and markets and the use of online business tools inside and outside the Union;

6. establishing systems of support for the distribution of non- national European films through theatrical distribution and on other platforms, as well as for international sales activities, in particular the subtitling, dubbing and audio description of audiovisual works;

7. facilitating the circulation of European films worldwide and of international films in the Union on all distribution platforms, via international cooperation projects in the audiovisual sector;

8. a European cinema operators' network screening a significant proportion of non-national European films;

9. initiatives presenting and promoting a diversity of European audiovisual works, including short films, such as festivals and other promotional events;

10. activities aimed at promoting film literacy and at increasing audiences' knowledge of, and interest in, European audiovisual works, including the audiovisual and cinematographic heritage, in particular among young audiences;

11. innovative actions testing new business models and tools in areas likely to be influenced by the introduction and use of digital technologies.

 

4. BUDGET AVAILABLE

See Part B for the allocation of the budget per action

The amount indicated for each action in Part B is subject to the availability of the funds after the adoption of the budget for 2019 by the budgetary authority.

The Agency reserves the right not to distribute all the funds available.

 

5. ADMISSIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

Applications shall comply with the following requirements:

• they must be received by the deadlines for submitting applications referred to in section 3 of each specific calls for proposals;
• they must be submitted in writing (see section 14 of Part A and B), using the online application form and electronic submission system available at https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/PPMT/ ;
• they must be drafted in one of the EU official languages, preferably in English or French.

The information included in the annexes cannot be provided under the form of downloadable documents through internet links.

The application form must be accompanied by a balanced budget and all the other documents referred to in Part B of the specific call and in the application form.

Failure to comply with those requirements will lead to the rejection of the application.

In order to submit an application, applicants and co-applicants must provide their Participant Identification Code (PIC) in the application form. The PIC can be obtained by registering the organisation in the Unique Registration Facility (URF) hosted in the Education, Audiovisual, Culture, Citizenship and Volunteering Participant Portal or the Funding and Tender Opportunities Portal. The Unique Registration Facility is a tool shared by other services of the European Commission. If an applicant or co-applicant already has a PIC that has been used for other programmes (for example the Research programmes), the same PIC is valid for the present call for proposals.

The Participant Portal allows applicants and co-applicant to upload or update the information related to their legal status and to attach the requested legal and financial documents (see section 14.2 for more information).

 

6. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

6.1         Eligible applicants

See Part B for specific criteria.

Applications from legal entities established in one of the following countries are eligible as long as all conditions referred to in Article 8 of the Regulation establishing the Creative Europe Programme are met:

• EU Member States and overseas countries and territories which are eligible to participate in the Programme pursuant to Article 58 of Council Decision 2001/822/EC;
• Acceding countries, candidate countries and potential candidates benefiting from a pre- accession strategy, in accordance with the general principles and general terms and conditions for the participation of those countries in Union programmes established in the respective Framework Agreements, Association Council Decisions or similar agreements;
• EFTA countries which are members of the EEA, in accordance with the provisions of the EEA Agreement;
• The Swiss Confederation, on the basis of a bilateral agreement to be concluded with that country;
• Countries covered by the European Neighbourhood Policy in accordance with the procedures established with those countries following the framework agreements providing for their participation in Union programmes.

The Programme shall also be open for bilateral or multilateral cooperation actions targeted at selected countries or regions on the basis of additional appropriations paid by, and specific arrangements to be agreed upon with, those countries or regions.

The Programme shall permit cooperation and joint actions with countries not participating in the Programme and with international organisations which are active in the cultural and creative sectors such as UNESCO, the Council of Europe, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development or the World Intellectual Property Organisation on the basis of joint contributions for the realisation of the Programme's objectives.

Proposals from applicants in non EU countries may be selected, provided that, on the date of the award decision, agreements have been signed setting out the arrangements for the participation of those countries in the programme established by the Regulation referred to above.

(Updated list of countries that fulfil the conditions referred to in Article 8 of the Regulation and that the Commission has started negotiations with can be found on the following link:

http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/creative-europe/library/eligibility-organisations-non-eu-countries_en

For applicants from the United Kingdom: 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 II.16.2.1(a) of the grant agreement or Article 16.2.1 (a) of the grant decision.

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.

 

7. EXCLUSION CRITERIA

7.1         Exclusion from participation

The authorising officer shall exclude an applicant from participating in call for proposals procedures where:

1. the applicant is bankrupt, subject to insolvency or winding-up procedures, where its assets are being administered by a liquidator or by a court, where it is in an arrangement with creditors, where its business activities are suspended, or where it is in any analogous situation arising from a similar procedure provided for under national laws or regulations;
2. it has been established by a final judgment or a final administrative decision that the applicant is in breach of its obligations relating to the payment of taxes or social security contributions in accordance with the law of the country in which it is established, with those of the country in which the authorising officer is located or those of the country of the performance of the contract;
3. it has been established by a final judgment or a final administrative decision that the applicant is guilty of grave professional misconduct by having violated applicable laws or regulations or ethical standards of the profession to which the applicant belongs, or by having engaged in any wrongful conduct which has an impact on its professional credibility where such conduct denotes wrongful intent or gross negligence, including, in particular, any of the following:
   1.         fraudulently or negligently misrepresenting information required for the verification of the absence of grounds for exclusion or the fulfilment of selection criteria or in the performance of a contract, a grant agreement or a grant decision;
   2.         entering into agreement with other applicants with the aim of distorting competition;
   3. violating intellectual property rights;
   4. attempting to influence the decision-making process of the Agency during the award procedure;
   5.         attempting to obtain confidential information that may confer upon it undue advantages in the award procedure;
4. it has been established by a final judgment that the applicant is guilty of any of the following:

1.      fraud, within the meaning of Article 1 of the Convention on the protection of the European Communities' financial interests, drawn up by the Council Act of 26 July 1995;
2. corruption, as defined in Article 3 of the Convention on the fight against corruption involving officials of the European Communities or officials of Member States of the European Union, drawn up by the Council Act of 26 May 1997, and in Article 2(1) of Council Framework Decision 2003/568/JHA, as well as corruption as defined in the law of the country where the contracting authority is located, the country in which the applicant is established or the country of the performance of the contract;
3. participation in a criminal organisation, as defined in Article 2 of Council Framework Decision 2008/841/JHA;
4. money laundering or terrorist financing, as defined in Article 1 of Directive 2005/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council;
5.        terrorist-related offences or offences linked to terrorist activities, as defined in Articles 1 and 3 of Council Framework Decision 2002/475/JHA, respectively, or inciting, aiding, abetting or attempting to commit such offences, as referred to in Article 4 of that Decision;
6. child labour or other forms of trafficking in human beings as defined in Article 2 of Directive 2011/36/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council;

1. the applicant has shown significant deficiencies in complying with main obligations in the performance of a contract, a grant agreement or a grant decision financed by the Union's budget, which has led to its early termination or to the application of liquidated damages or other contractual penalties, or which has been discovered following checks, audits or investigations by an authorising officer, OLAF or the Court of Auditors;
2. it has been established by a final judgment or final administrative decision that the applicant has committed an irregularity within the meaning of Article 1(2) of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95.
3. for the situations of grave professional misconduct, fraud, corruption, other criminal offences, significant deficiencies in the performance of the contract or irregularity, the applicant is subject to:

1. facts established in the context of audits or investigations carried out by the Court of Auditors, OLAF or internal audit, or any other check, audit or control performed under the responsibility of an authorising officer of an EU institution, of a European office or of an EU agency or body;
2. non-final administrative decisions which may include disciplinary measures taken by the competent supervisory body responsible for the verification of the application of standards of professional ethics;
3. decisions of the ECB, the EIB, the European Investment Fund or international organisations;
4. decisions of the Commission relating to the infringement of the Union's competition rules or of a national competent authority relating to the infringement of Union or national competition law.
5. decisions of exclusion by an authorising officer of an EU institution, of a European office or of an EU agency or body.

1. a person who is a member of the administrative, management or supervisory body of the applicant, or who has powers of representation, decision or control with regard to that applicant (this covers the company directors, members of the management or supervisory bodies, and cases where one person holds a majority of shares), is in one or more of the situations referred to in points (c) to (f) above.

(i)   a natural or legal person that assumes unlimited liability for the debts of that applicant is in one or more of the situations referred to in point (a) or (b) above.

If an applicant is in 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. They 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. This does not apply for the situations referred in point (d) of this section.

In the cases  provided in (c) to (f) above, in the absence of a final judgement or where applicable a final administrative decision, the Agency may exclude an applicant provisionally from participating in a call for proposals where their participation would constitute a serious and imminent threat to the Union's financial interests.

7.2         Rejection from the award procedure

The authorising officer shall not award a grant to an applicant who:

1. is in an exclusion situation established in accordance with the above section 7.1;
2. has misrepresented the information required as a condition for participating in the procedure or has failed to supply that information;
3. was previously involved in the preparation of a call for proposals where this entails a distortion of competition that cannot be remedied otherwise.

The same exclusion criteria apply to affiliated entities.

Rejection from this procedure and administrative sanctions (exclusion or financial penalty) may be imposed on applicants or affiliated entities where applicable, if any of the declarations or information provided as a condition for participating in this procedure prove to be false.

The applicants should be informed that the Agency may publish on its internet site the following information related to the exclusion and, where applicable, the financial penalty in the cases referred to in points (c), (d), (e) and (f) of the section 7.1[1]:

1. the name of the applicant concerned;
2. the exclusion situation;
3. the duration of the exclusion and/or the amount of the financial penalty.

In case of a preliminary classification in law (i.e. absence of a final judgement or a final administrative decision), the publication shall indicate that there is no final judgement or final administrative decision. In those cases, information about any appeals by the applicant, their status and their outcome, as well as any revised decision of the authorised officer, shall be published without delay. Where a financial penalty has been imposed, the publication shall also indicate whether that penalty has been paid.

The decision to publish the information is taken by the Agency either following the relevant final judgement, final administrative decision or preliminary classification in law, as the case may be. That decision shall take effect three months after its notification to the economic operator.

The information published shall be removed as soon as the exclusion has come to an end. In the case of a financial penalty, the publication shall be removed six months after payment of that penalty.

In accordance with Regulation (EC) No 45/2001, where personal data is concerned, the Agency shall inform the applicant of its rights under the applicable data protection rules and of the procedures available for exercising those rights.

7.3         Supporting documents

Applicants must sign a declaration on their honour certifying that they are not in one of the situations referred to in the above sections 7.1. and 7.2, filling in the relevant form attached to the application form accompanying the specific call for proposals. If applicable, the relevant documentary evidence which appropriately illustrates any remedial measures taken should be provided in annex to this declaration.

This obligation may be fulfilled in one of the following ways:

a) for mono beneficiary grants, the applicant signs a declaration in its name;

b) for multi beneficiaries grants, the coordinator of a consortium signs a declaration on behalf of all applicants

[1] This information shall not be published in any of the following circumstances:

        (a) where it is necessary to preserve the confidentiality of an investigation or of national judicial proceedings;

        (b) where publication would cause disproportionate damage to the applicant concerned or would otherwise be disproportionate on the basis of the proportionality criteria and to the amount of the financial penalty;

        (c) where a natural person is concerned, unless the publication of personal data is exceptionally justified, inter alia, by the seriousness of the conduct or its impact on the Union's financial interests. In such cases, the decision to publish the information shall duly take into consideration the right to privacy and other rights provided for in Regulation (EC) No 45/2001.

 

 

8. SELECTION CRITERIA

Applicants must submit a declaration on their honour, completed and signed, attesting to their financial and operational capacity to complete the proposed activities.

8.1.        Financial capacity

Applicants must have stable and sufficient sources of funding to maintain their activity throughout the period during which the action is being carried out or the year for which the grant is awarded and to participate in its funding. The applicants' financial capacity will be assessed on the basis of the following supporting documents that will be requested from selected applicants:

1. Low value grants (≤ EUR 60 000):

• a declaration on their honour.

1. Grants > EUR 60 000:

• a declaration on their honour and
• the profit and loss account as well as the balance sheet for the last financial year for which the accounts were closed;

1. Grants for an action ≥ EUR 750 000:

• the  information and supporting documents mentioned above in point b) above and 
• an audit report produced by an approved external auditor certifying the accounts for the last financial year available [the two last years for a Framework Partnership Agreement].          
  In the event of an application grouping several applicants (consortium), the above thresholds apply to each applicant.

On the basis of the documents submitted, if the Responsible Authorising Officer (hereinafter "RAO") considers that financial capacity is not satisfactory, he may:

• request further information;
• propose a grant agreement/decision without pre-financing;
• propose a grant agreement/decision with a pre-financing paid in instalments;
• propose a grant agreement/decision with a pre-financing covered by a bank guarantee (see section 11.4 below);
• propose a grant agreement/decision without pre-financing but an interim payment based on expenses already occurred;
• where applicable, require the joint and several financial liability of all the co-beneficiaries;
• reject the application.

8.2         Operational capacity

Applicants must have the professional competencies as well as appropriate qualifications necessary to complete the proposed action. In this respect, applicants have to submit a declaration on their honour.

For those applying for a grant above EUR 60.000 please refer to the specific calls of proposals (Part B) for the additional supporting documents to be provided.

 

9. AWARD CRITERIA

Eligible applications will be assessed on the basis of the following criteria:

 

Criteria

Relevance and European added-value

Network strategy to achieve the general objectives of the call for proposals including in terms of the definition of specific long term/short term specific objectives. This criterion will also assess the quality of the approach to monitor the achievement of those objectives including through the definition of key performance indicators.

Max. points 35

 

Quality of the content and activities

Potential efficiency and effectiveness of the activities to be implemented and the extent to which they are embedded in the strategy of the network including via a clear intervention logic.

Max. points  20

 

 

Communication and dissemination

Approach of the network to communicating, disseminating and sharing its activities, results, knowledge and best practices both between the members and outside of the network.

Max. points  40

 

Quality of the Network

Extent to which the governance, management and organisation of the network will ensure the effective implementation of its strategy and activities.

Max. points 5

 

9.1         Relevance and European added-value

The following will be assessed:

• the number and geographical balance of the cinemas belonging to the network (especially cinemas located in countries or regions with a low audio-visual production capacity)
• the network strategy to achieve the general objectives of the call for proposals
• the short/long term objectives of the network and the related key performance indicators
• the methodology for the allocation of the support to the cinemas
• the guidelines to the members and potential members of the network, including their compliance with the objectives of the current call
• the forecast impact of the action in terms of:

-....... Screening of non-national European films on the European market.

-....... New (young) audiences for European films

-....... Collaboration of cinemas with online platforms

• how the network can reinforce the competitiveness of European cinema theatres, taking into account the new models of communication and consumption of content.

The guidelines of the coordinator must detail the method of assessment which will be based upon precise and objective criteria such as:

• As a general rule the proportion of European non-national films screenings by single screen cinemas must be between 25-30% of the total screenings. Appropriate precise rules for multi-screen and other cinemas must be detailed in the applicant's guidelines.
• The capacity of the cinema to create an audience for non-national European films (the number of admissions achieved for non-national European films).
• Objective criteria to assess the activities for young audience

9.2         Quality of the content and activities

Activities to be implemented and how they meet the objective of the call, to be assessed on the following basis:

• Efficiency
• Effectiveness
• Intervention logic
• Monitoring of results

9.3         Communication and dissemination

The following will be assessed:

• The strategy developed by the network to disseminate and share results, best practices, audience building techniques and technological developments.
• methods of communication between the coordinating entity and its members and between members

9.4         Quality of the network

The extent to which the governance, management and organisation of the network will ensure the effective implementation of its strategy and activities will be evaluated.

The application must detail:

• the rules of governance of the coordinating entity, including the management structure and the role of the members within the network and within the entity
• the selection and award process to determine the level of funding for cinemas
• the strategy for the monitoring of the financial support to cinemas belonging to the network
• the procedure in place to ensure transparency, equality of treatment and absence of conflict of interest.

In order to ensure that the best proposal fully meets the objectives of the current call, respects the rule concerning third parties funding, and comply with the principles of economy, efficiency, effectiveness, principle, the Agency may impose some modifications (following the recommendations of the Evaluation Committee) to the Global Action Plan, the Annual Work Programme, the Guidelines to the beneficiaries and the forecast budget.

 

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