Information, consultation and participation of representatives of undertakings - VP/2018/006

Deadline: Jun 1, 2018  
CALL EXPIRED

1. INTRODUCTION – BACKGROUND

1.1. Programme/Legal base

The legal basis of this call for proposal is the Commission Decision C(2017)56361 of 14 August 2017 on the adoption of the 2018 annual work programme for grants and procurement for DG EMPL prerogatives and specific competencies, serving as a financing decision.

1.2. Policy and economic background

EU law on employee involvement at transnational level includes recast Directive 2009/38/EC 2 on European works councils, Directives 2001/86/EC3 and 2003/72/EC4 on employee involvement in the European Company and the European Cooperative Society, respectively, and Article 16 of Directive 2005/56/EC5 on cross-border mergers of limited liability companies.

EU law on employee involvement at national level includes Directive 2002/14/EC6 establishing a general framework for informing and consulting employees, directive 98/59/EC7 on collective redundancies and Directive 2001/23/EC8 on transfer of undertakings.

Employee involvement is also fostered through the development of transnational company agreements9 between multinational companies and workers' representatives.

This call is published in the context of the European Pillar of Social Rights, proclaimed by the Council, Parliament and Commission in November 2017, as published at the website of the Directorate General for Employment: http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=89&langId=en&newsId=9001&furtherNews=yes, and in particular its Principle 8(b) “Workers or their representatives have the right to be informed and consulted in good time on matters relevant to them, in particular on the transfer, restructuring and merger of undertakings and on collective redundancies.”

1.3. Main Purposes

The main purpose of this Call is to fund operations aimed at developing employee involvement in undertakings - meaning any mechanism, including information, consultation and 

participation, through which employees' representatives may exercise an influence on decisions to be taken within the company - in particular by raising awareness and contributing to the application of EU law and policies in this area. Transnational actions shall be promoted involving representatives from several Member States, and in particular representatives of the new Member States as well as of the Candidate Countries in the field of employee involvement. Also, the joint participation of employers and workers is supported.

 

2. OBJECTIVE(S) – PRIORITIES – EXPECTED RESULTS

2.1. Objectives - Priorities

The appropriations of this Call for Proposals finance measures enabling the social partners and the social actors at company level to familiarize themselves with EU law and policies in the area of employee involvement as well as to exercise their rights and their duties to this regard. They cover in particular funding of measures aimed at strengthening transnational co-operation between workers' and employers' representatives in respect of employee involvement.

These appropriations may also be used to fund short training actions as well as actions involving representatives of social partners in the candidate countries10 in the field of employee involvement.

Measures and actions should be inclusive for vulnerable employees. In order to achieve inclusion of persons with disabilities accessibility should be ensured, for example of information, meetings, consultations, etc.

Priority objectives:

For the financial year 2018 the following objectives may be supported under this Call for Proposals:

1. a)  to promote actions designed to prepare the setting up of transnational information, consultation and participation bodies and mechanisms arising from the application of EU law on employee involvement;

2. b)  topromotetheexchangeofinformationandgoodpracticeaimedatcreatingfavourable conditions for the setting up of transnational information, consultation and participation bodies and mechanisms arising from the application of EU law on employee involvement;

3. c)  to promote action aiming at familiarizing the social partners and actors at company level with the content of EU law and transnational company agreements and to enable them to exercise their rights and their duties in this regard;

4. d)  to develop expertise across Member States, promoting cooperation between relevant authorities and stakeholders and fostering relations with the Union Institutions so as to support the implementation and improve the effectiveness of EU law on employee involvement.

5. e)  to promote initiatives to strengthen transnational cooperation between workers' and employers' representatives in respect of information, consultation, and participation of employees within companies operating in more than one Member State;

6. to promote transnational actions involving representatives of the new Member States and of Candidate Countries in the field of employees involvement;
7. to promote action aiming to familiarize the actors represented at company level with transnational company agreements and to strengthen their cooperation within the European Union;
8. to promote operations fostering the development of employee involvement in undertakings (also, when necessary, taking into account possible specific needs of employees with disabilities) as well as to follow up on the findings of the "Fitness check" on EU acts in the area of Information and Consultation of Workers;
9. to promote innovative actions relating to employee involvement, with the view of supporting the anticipation of change and the prevention and resolution of disputes in the context of corporate restructuring, mergers, take-overs and relocation in Union scale undertakings and groups of undertakings;
10. to strengthen cooperation between the social partners for the development of employee involvement in the design of solutions addressing the consequences of the economic crisis, such as collective redundancies.

 

2.2 Type of actions

The types of activities which may be funded under this call for proposals include but are not limited to:

 

 

• Conferences, seminars, short training actions, manuals and exchange of information and of good practices involving workers' and/or employers' representatives;
• Analysis papers on quantitative and qualitative aspects and results on subjects related to workers' and employers' representation and social dialogue at undertaking level in a transnational cooperation context and enhanced collaboration and pro-activity of stakeholders in the anticipation of change and restructuring activities;
• Websites, publications, newsletters and other means for the dissemination of information.

 

2.3 Information on the action for which the grant is requested

When drafting the project proposal, applicants are invited to pay particular attention to the following elements:

• The proposal should provide a clear explanation of the rationale and problem definition/analysis underpinning the proposed action, as well as the specific contribution of the action to the objectives of the call for proposals and its expected impact.

• In case of recurrent related applications by the same applicant, the added value of the new project as compared to previous ones should be clearly explained.

• The choice of partners involved and countries covered should be duly explained and justified as regards their relevance towards the specific objectives of the action.

• Cost estimates should be reasonable, justified and comply with the principle of sound financial management, in particular regarding economy and efficiency. It should be noted that the cost-effectiveness of actions will be evaluated on the basis of the proposed budget. The Commission reserves the right to make corrections and/or remove non-eligible

 

expenditure from the proposed budget, but it will not make adjustments in order to improve cost-effectiveness of proposals.

• Projects shall provide a full project cycle, including preparatory, dissemination, implementation, follow-up and reporting activities.

2.4. Expected results

The expected results of this call for proposals are improved possibilities for the social partners to exercise their rights and duties as regards employee involvement; strengthened cooperation among social partners and other actors in respect to Union law on employee involvement; a follow up on the findings of the "Fitness check"11 on EU acts in the area of Information and Consultation of Workers, actions related to EU Directive on European Works Councils, and an increased number of social partners and other actors familiarised with transnational company agreements.

 

3. TIMETABLE

a) Publication of the call

March 2018

b) Deadline for questions and requests for clarification

22 May 2018

 

c) Deadline for submitting proposals

1 June 2018

Swim, Courier and Post : 24:00 Brussels' time (CET)

Hand deliveries 16:00 Brussels' time (CET)

 

d) Evaluation period (indicative)

Mid-June – August 2018

 

e) Information to applicants (indicative)

October/November 201812

 

f) Signature of the Grant Agreement (indicative)

November/December 201813

g) Starting date of the action (indicative)

January 2019

 

 

3.1. Starting date and duration of the projects

The actual starting date of the action will either be the first day following the date when the last of the two parties signs the Grant Agreement or a date agreed upon between the parties.

Applicants should note that if their project is selected, they may receive the Grant Agreement after the start date of the action that they have indicatively set in the application form. It is therefore advisable to number the months in the work programme instead of indicating the name of the months, for ease of reference.

Any expenditure incurred before the signature of the Grant Agreement will be at the applicant’s risk. No expenditure can be incurred before the deadline for submission of the application.

The indicative duration of the project should be up to 24 months.

 

4. AVAILABLE BUDGET

The total budget earmarked for the EU co-financing of projects under this call is estimated at EUR 7 106 000.

On an indicative basis, the EU grant requested should not be less than EUR 108.000. The Commission reserves the right not to distribute all the funds available.

The Commission reserves the right to increase the amount of the funds and distribute them to proposals admitted in the reserve list, if available.

4.1. Co-financing rate

Under this call for proposals, the EU grant may not exceed 90% of the total eligible costs of the action. The applicants must guarantee their co-financing of the remaining amount covered by the applicants' own resources or from sources other than the European Union budget14.

 

5. ADMISSIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

• Applications must be sent no later than the deadline for submission referred to in section 3(b);

• Applications (application form including budget and description of the action including work plan) must be submitted using the electronic submission system available at https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/swim, and by sending a signed, printed version of the application form and the other aforementioned documents by post or courier service (see section 12).

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

Applicants are encouraged to submit their project proposal in English, French or German in order to facilitate the treatment of the proposals and speed up the evaluation process. It should be noted, however, that proposals in all official languages of the EU will be accepted. In this 

case, applications should be accompanied by an executive summary in English, French or German (checklist point 3).

 

6. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA
6.1. Eligibility of the applicants (lead and co-applicants) and affiliated entities15

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, British beneficiaries 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.7.2.1(a) (for mono-beneficiary) and Article II.17.3.1(a) (multi-beneficiary) of the Grant Agreement.

a) Place of establishment

• Lead applicants must be properly constituted and registered legal persons having their registered office in one of the EU Member States;

• Co-applicants must be properly constituted and registered legal persons having their registered office in one of the EU Member States or Candidate Countries.

b) Type of entities
To be eligible, lead applicant and co-applicant(s) must be:

Legal entities. In derogation from this requirement and pursuant to Article 131 of the Financial Regulation, the organisations of social partners without legal personality under the applicable national law are also eligible provided that the conditions of the Financial

Regulation related thereto are met16.
• representative of workers or employers such as:

1. for workers: applicants may be works councils or similar bodies ensuring the general representation of workers; regional, national, European, sectoral or multi-sectoral trade unions;

2. for employers: applicants may be the management of undertakings, organisations representing employers at regional, national, European, sectoral or multi-sectoral level. In case of commercial undertakings, the objective of the project must be non-commercial in nature.

 

- As an exception, lead applicants and co-applicants may also be technical bodies such as non-profit training or research bodies and commercial companies only if the aim of the project is non-commercial.

The above quoted technical bodies and commercial undertakings will be considered eligible as lead applicants only where they are expressly mandated by one or more eligible organisations representing workers or employers and when a mandatory letter of endoresement is included (see section 14, checklist point 20).

International organisations may participate as co-applicants17. c) Affiliated entities

Legal 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 and which satisfy the eligibility criteria, may take part in the action as affiliated entities, and may declare eligible costs.

For that purpose, applicants shall identify such affiliated entities in the application form.

d) Consortia18

In the case of proposals not submitted by a European-level19 workers' or employers' organisation, the action must involve co-applicants, affiliated entities or associate organisations20 from more than one Member State or Candidate Country.

In order to strengthen co-operation between workers' and employers' representatives in respect of information, consultation and participation within undertakings operating in more than one Member State, projects involving only one information and consultation body should be submitted as a joint projects from representatives of workers and employers.

Where particular circumstances do not allow submitting such a joint project, the reasons must be specified in the application.

For consortia, if the lead applicant is not considered to be eligible, the application will be rejected. If a co-applicant or affiliated entity is considered not to be eligible, this organisation will be removed from the consortium and the eligibility of the modified consortium will be re- evaluated. If the modified consortium is still eligible, the application will be evaluated on that basis. In addition, the costs that are allocated to a non-eligible co-applicant or affiliated entity

17 In derogation from the requirement under 6.1a), international organisations with their registered headquarters outside the EU Member States are also eligible as co-applicants.

18 Letters of mandate, authorising the lead applicant to submit the proposal and to sign any Grant Agreement on their behalf must be submitted from each co-applicant. Letters of commitment must be submitted from each co-applicant, affiliated entity; certifying that they are willing to participate in the project with a brief description of their role and indicating any financial contribution where applicable (see section 14, checklist points 5 and 6. Letters of commitment are also required from any associate organisations (participation on a no-cost basis and no financial contribution).

19 For the purposes of this Call, "European-level organisation" means a legal entity, having its registered office based in one of the Member States of the European Union and ensuring the general representation at European level, of Member States workers' or employers' national associations and promoting their common interests at European level according to their own by laws.

 

See section 2 of the Financial Guidelines for definitions. -9-

will be removed from the budget. If the application is accepted, the work plan will have to be adapted as appropriate.

6.2. Eligible activities

a) GeographicalLocation

To be eligible, actions must be fully carried out in the EU Member States or the Candidate Countries.

b) Types of activities

The grant will finance besides others the activities indicated in section 2.2.

c) Core activities

The following activities are considered to be core activities and may not be subcontracted:

6.3. Ineligible activities

• The project management of the action and, in the case of a multi-beneficiary Grant Agreement, the role of coordinator as laid down in Article II.2.3 of the Grant Agreement.

 

Financial support to third parties as defined in point 3 of the Financial Guidelines is not eligible under this call.

The following types of activities are not eligible for EU funding:

The budget heading is intended to finance specific transnational cooperation projects. Therefore grants are not intended to finance the normal operation or meetings of bodies representing management or labour (the social partners); they are intended only to cover additional expenditure linked directly to projects.

 

7. EXCLUSION CRITERIA

7.1. Exclusion

Applicants (lead and co-applicants) must sign a declaration on their honour certifying that they are not in one of the situations referred to in article 106(1) and 107.1(b) and (c) of the Financial Regulation concerning exclusion and rejection from the procedure respectively, using the relevant form attached to the application form available at SWIM https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/swim/external/displayWelcome.do.

The same exclusion criteria apply to any affiliated entities which must, therefore, be included in the above-mentioned declaration(s).

7.2. Rejection from the call for proposals

The Commission shall not award a grant to an applicant who: - 10 -

a. is in an exclusion situation;

b. has misrepresented the information required as a condition for participating in the procedure or has failed to supply this information;

c. was previously involved in the preparation of calls for proposals documents where this entails a distortion of competition that cannot be remedied otherwise.

Administrative and financial penalties may be imposed on applicants, or affiliated entities where applicable, who are guilty of misrepresentation.

 

8. SELECTION CRITERIA

The applicant (lead and co-applicant) must have the financial and operational capacity to complete the activity for which funding is requested. Only organisations with the necessary financial and operational capacity may be considered for a grant.

8.1. Financial capacity

Applicants (lead and co-applicant(s)) must have access to solid and adequate funding to maintain their activities for the period of the action and to help finance it as necessary.

The ratio between the total assets in the applicant’s (lead and co-applicant(s)) balance sheet and the total budget of the project or the part of the project budget for which that organisation is responsible according to the budget in the application would be considered strong if it is equal or greater than 0.70.

The verification of financial capacity will not apply to public bodies or international organisations.

The applicant's (lead and co-applicant) financial capacity will be assessed on the basis of the following supporting documents to be submitted with the application:

• Declaration on honour (including financial capacity to carry out the activity) (see section 14, checklist point 4);

• Annual balance sheets and profit and loss accounts for the last financial year available (see section 14, checklist point 17);

• Summary balance sheet and profit and loss accounts using the template provided in SWIM (see section 12) and signed by the legal representative (see section 14, checklist point 18).

• For grants of EUR 750 000 or more, an audit report produced by an approved external auditor certifying the accounts for the last financial year available (see section 14, checklist point 19).

In addition, the Commission will take into account any other relevant information on the financial capacity provided by the applicant and in particular the information provided in section F.2 of the SWIM application form.

If the applicant or lead applicant is considered not to have a strong financial capacity, the application as a whole will be rejected.

 

If a co-applicant or several co-applicants are considered not to have a strong (solid and adequate) financial capacity, the Commission may propose various proportional measures depending on the level of weaknesses identified, which may be to:
1. reject the whole application;

2. remove the co-applicant from the consortium and re-evaluate the proposal without this co- applicant;
3. propose a Grant Agreement without pre-financing;
4. propose a Grant Agreement with a pre-financing paid in several instalments;

5. propose a Grant Agreement with pre-financing payment(s) covered by (a) financial guarantee(s);
6. propose a Grant Agreement with joint financial liability of 2 or more applicants/co- applicants;

7. propose a Grant Agreement with a mix of the measures 4, 5 and 6.

8.2. Operational capacity

Applicant's (lead and co-applicant(s)) must have the professional competencies as well as appropriate skills and qualifications necessary to complete the proposed action. In particular, lead and co-applicant(s) must have the ability to implement the project to be proved in the form of:

• Demonstrable experience of having carried out projects or activities relating to the subject of the present call in the last three years;

• The necessary operational resources (technical, management) to carry out the action. The operational capacity of the applicant (lead and co-applicant) to complete the proposed

  action must be confirmed by the submission of the following documents:

• A list of the main projects or activities relating to the subject of the call carried out in the last three years (see section 14, checklist point 17);

• The CVs of the proposed project co-ordinator and the persons who will perform the main tasks, showing all their relevant professional experience (see section 14, checklist point 15);

• Declaration on honour signed by the legal representative (including operational capacity to carry out the activity) (see section 14, checklist point 4);

• an organisational chart showing the structure of the applicant organisation(s) with all members of staff involved in the project, their positions and employment status; (see section 14, checklist point 21);

If the lead applicant is considered not to have the required operational capacity, the application as a whole will be rejected. If a co-applicant is considered not to have the required operational capacity, this co-applicant will be removed from the consortium and the application will be evaluated without this co-applicant21. In addition, the costs that are allocated to the non- selected co-applicant will be removed from the budget. If the application is accepted, the work programme will have to be adapted as appropriate.

This includes a re-evaluation of the eligibility of the modified consortium.

 

 

9. AWARD CRITERIA

The proposals which fulfil the eligibility and selection criteria will be assessed according to the following award criteria:

1. The extent to which the action meets the priority objectives of this Call for proposals (Max. 10 points)

2. The extent to which the project concerns innovative measures or new subjects in relation to information, consultation and participation of representatives of undertakings and which adds value to the existing situation (Max.10 points)

3. The extent to which the project promotes the joint participation of employers and workers (Max. 10 points)

4. The extent to which the action has a genuine transnational dimension including the extent to which workers' and/or employers' representatives from new Member States or Candidate Countries are actively involved in the project (Max.10 points)

5. The cost-effectiveness of the action including the budgetary aspects (Max. 10 points)

6. The clarity, efficiency and feasibility of the work organisation including a clear description of the allocation of human resources in relation to the individual tasks or activities (Max. 10 points)

Applications will be ranked according to the total score awarded. Taking into account the available budget, the proposals with the highest total scores will be recommended for award, on condition that:

• the total score reaches at least 60% of the maximum possible mark;

the score for criteria i and iv is at least 50% of the maximum possible mark for that criterion.
 

10. LEGAL COMMITMENTS

In the event of a grant awarded by the Commission, a Grant Agreement, drawn up in euro and detailing the conditions and level of funding, will be sent to the beneficiary, or to the coordinator in the case of multi-beneficiary Grant Agreements.

The 2 copies of the original agreement must be signed by the beneficiary, or the coordinator in the case of multi-beneficiary Grant Agreements, and returned to the Commission immediately. The Commission will sign it last.

The Grant Agreement may include corrections and deletion of ineligible costs or activities made by the Commission – therefore the applicant should carefully read the whole agreement and the budget and work programme sections in particular, before signing and returning the copies to the Commission.

A model Grant Agreement is published on the Europa website under the relevant call: http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=629&langId=en. There is no alternative to these models in the context of this call. In specific cases, international agreements conditions may apply.

Please note that the award of a grant does not establish an entitlement for subsequent years.

 

 

11. FINANCIAL PROVISIONS

Details on financial provisions are laid out in the Financial Guidelines for Applicants and the model Grant Agreement, both published on the Europa website under the relevant call: http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=629&langId=en.

 

12. PROCEDURE FOR THE SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS

The procedure to submit proposals electronically is explained in point 14 of the "Financial Guidelines for Applicants". Before starting, please read carefully the SWIM user manual:

http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/calls/pdf/swim_manual_en.pdf

Once the application form is filled in, applicants must submit it both electronically and in hard copy, before the deadline set in section 3 above.

The SWIM electronic application form is available until midnight on the day of the submission deadline. Since the applicants must first submit the form electronically, and then print, sign and send it by post service or hand delivery by the submission deadline, it is the applicant's responsibility to ensure that the appropriate postal or courier services are locally available on the day of the deadline.

The hard copy of the proposal must be duly signed and sent in 2 copies (one marked “original” and one marked “copy”), including all documents listed in section 14, by the deadline (the postmark or the express courier receipt date serving as proof) to the following address:

 

European Commission
(NOT TO BE OPENED BY CENTRAL MAIL SERVICES) Call for proposals VP/2018/006
J-27 – 00/120
B-1049 Bruxelles - BELGIUM

 

The hard copy of the proposal may either be sent by:

- registered post, (evidence : postmark).
- express courier service, (evidence : deposit slip of express courier service).
- hand delivery. (evidence : proof of receipt, signed and dated by the official in the central mail department who takes delivery.

Evidence of posting or express courier deposit slip should be kept as it could be requested by the European Commission in cases of doubt regarding the date of submission.

Hand-delivered proposals must be received by the European Commission before 4 p.m. on the date of the deadline for submission as indicated in section 3 at the following address:

European Commission
Service central de réception du courrier
(NOT TO BE OPENED BY CENTRAL MAIL SERVICES) Call for proposals VP/2018/006 – DG EMPL.B.2 Avenue du Bourget, 1
B-1140 Evere

At that time the European Commission's Mail Service will provide a signed proof of receipt which should be conserved as proof of delivery.

If an applicant submits more than one proposal, each proposal must be submitted separately.

Additional documents sent by post, by fax or by electronic mail after the deadlines mentioned above will not be considered for evaluation unless requested by the European Commission (see section 13).

The applicant's attention is also drawn to the fact that incomplete or unsigned forms, hand- written forms and those sent by fax or e-mail will not be taken into consideration.

 

13. COMMUNICATION

The information contained in the present call document together with the Financial Guidelines for Applicants provides all the information required to submit an application. Please read it carefully before doing so, paying particular attention to the priorities of the present call.

Contacts between the Commission and potential applicants can only take place in certain circumstances and under the following conditions only:

Before the final date for submission of proposals

Any requests for additional information must be made by e-mail only to the coordinates stated below.

All enquiries must be made by e-mail only to: empl-vp-2018-006@ec.europa.eu
For any technical problems please contact: empl-swim-support@ec.europa.eu

 

The Commission has no obligation to provide clarifications to questions received after the deadline for questions and clarifications set in Section 3.

Replies will be given no later than 5 days before the deadline for submission of proposals. To ensure equal treatment of applicants, the Commission will not give a prior opinion on the eligibility of applicants, or affiliated entity (ies), an action or specific activities.

No individual replies to questions will be sent but all questions together with the answers and other important notices will be published (FAQ in EN) at regular intervals on the Europa website under the relevant call: http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=629&langId=en.

At the request of the applicant, the Commission may provide additional information solely for the purpose of clarifying the nature of the call.

The Commission may, on its own initiative, inform interested parties of any error, inaccuracy, omission or clerical error in the text of the call for proposals on the mentioned Europa website. It is therefore advisable to consult the above mentioned website regularly in order to be informed of the questions and answers published.

It is therefore advisable to consult this website regularly in order to be informed of updates and of the questions and answers published. It is the applicant's responsibility to check for updates and modifications regularly during the submission period.

All enquiries must be made by e-mail only to: empl-vp-2018-006@ec.europa.eu
For any technical problems please contact: empl-swim-support@ec.europa.eu

 

After the deadline for submission of proposals

No modification to the proposal is allowed once the deadline for submission has elapsed. If clarification is requested or if obvious clerical errors in the proposal need to be corrected, the Commission may contact the applicant by email provided the terms of the proposal are not modified as a result.

It is the applicant's responsibility to provide a valid e-mail address and contact details and to check this e-mail address regularly. In case of any change of contact details, please send an e- mail with the application VP reference and the new contact details to EMPL-VP-2018- 006@ec.europa.eu.

In the case of consortia, all communication regarding an application will be done with the lead applicant only, unless there are specific reasons to do otherwise.

Applicants will be informed in writing about the results of the selection process. Unsuccessful applicants will be informed of the reasons for rejection. No information regarding the award procedure will be disclosed until the notification letters have been sent to the beneficiaries.

 

14. INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE PRESENTATION OF THE APPLICATION AND REQUIRED DOCUMENTS

14.1. Instructions for the presentation of the application

The application comprises an application form including the budget, a description of the action and work plan plus a series of other required documents (see section 14.2).

The description of the action and workplan must be written using a free format document. All the information related to the description of the action and the workplan must be presented in one single document. The budget must be presented using the application form in SWIM and a separate budget explanation must also be provided.

The description of the action detailed work plan (see checklist point 12) should not repeat information that is already provided in the SWIM application form22.

Proposals should take account of the instructions in section 2.3 above in the description of the action, the workplan and foresee all the corresponding expenditure in the budget estimate.

In case of subcontracting any tasks comprising part of the action (see the Financial Guidelines), the description of the action must provide details on the tasks to be subcontracted and the reasons for doing so and these tasks must be clearly identified in the budget. Core activities as defined in section 6.2 c) of the call cannot be subcontracted.

14.2. Required documents

The table below includes the documents that should be provided. Except for Legal entity form, VAT Certificate and Financial identification form which can be submitted only for successful applications, please note that all other documents are necessary either for the admissibility (see section 5) or for the analysis of the eligibility (see section 6) or selection criteria (see section 8).

 

The corresponding section in the SWIM form can therefore be kept rather succinct. - 16 -

The table also indicates where originals are required. We recommend that applicants use the table as a checklist in order to verify compliance with all requirements.

While some information must be supplied using the templates available in the SWIM, other documents may need to be completed and/or attached electronically, usually either administrative documents or free format text descriptions. The SWIM application indicates in each section where SWIM templates should be used as well as which and where free format documents can be uploaded electronically.

At the submission of the application, copies of the signed originals will be accepted for most of the documents to be submitted by the co-applicants. However, the lead applicant shall keep the original signed versions for its records, because originals may have to be submitted for certain documents at a later stage. If the lead applicant fails to submit these original documents within the deadline given by the Commission, the proposal will be rejected for lack of administrative compliance.

Regarding the compilation of the application file, it is recommended to:

1. 1)  follow the order of documents as listed in the checklist (and attach a ticked checklist as below to the proposal);

2. 2)  print the documents double-sided;

3. 3)  use 2-hole folders (do not bind or glue; stapling is acceptable).

Public link:   Only for registered users