Preparatory Action "Subtitling European cultural TV content across Europe" - CNECT 2017/3110435

Deadline: Sep 15, 2017  
CALL EXPIRED

INTRODUCTION – Background

This Call for proposals is published under Article 54(2)(b) of the Regulation (EU, Euratom) N°966/2012.

The aim of the Preparatory Action "Subtitling European Cultural TV content across Europe" is to try out innovative strategies to enhance the circulation of European content throughout Europe. It was in this context that the European Parliament adopted a budget of 1.5 million euro for this preparatory action.

The annual work programme was adopted under Commission Decision C(2017)2755 of 28.04.2017.

 

Objective(s) – Theme(s) – Priorities

The aim of the Preparatory Action "Subtitling European cultural TV content across Europe" is to try out innovative strategies for the provision of subtitled versions of European factual cultural programming to facilitate cross border on-line dissemination of cultural content. 

The objective is to test the added value of subtitling on the on-line circulation and outreach of European cultural programming in the European Union. Concretely, the preparatory action should support the provision of a minimum of 300 hours of diverse European factual subtitled cultural content online in a number of European territories via 1-3 projects; and to assess the impact of this provision. The results of the undertaken actions should be shared with stakeholders and policy makers, notably through the organisation of a public workshop. 

The Call for proposals aims to meet three specific objectives, namely:

1. Test new business models for European audiovisual media service providers and assess whether providing subtitled versions of European  TV programmes can help bridge the difficulties caused by linguistic fragmentation and increase audience numbers  both within and beyond the European Union;

2. Facilitate cross border online dissemination of cultural content which is often slowed down by linguistic borders;

3. Compare the audience reach of similar audiovisual content with and without subtitling and share the results publicly with EU stakeholders and public policy makers.      

Expected results:

- Strengthening the availability of and cross border audience for European factual cultural content via the online provision of a minimum of 300 hours of factual cultural content within certain territories of the European Union;

- Providing analysis to inform policy development on the impact of online provision of non-national subtitled factual content with a view to extending the audience of this factual cultural content in the European Union.

The action will be implemented by way of a call for proposals with a maximum aid intensity of 60% of the total eligible costs of the project(s).

 

Timetable

a) Publication of the call 

June 2017

b) Deadline for submitting applications

15/09/2017 – 12.00

c) Evaluation period

September/October 2017

d) Information to applicants

October 2017

e) Signature of grant agreement or notification of grant decision

October /November 2017

f) Starting date of the action

not later than January 2018 

Budget available

The total budget earmarked for the co-financing of projects is estimated at 1.5 M euros.

The maximum grant will be 1.5 M euros. 

The Commission expects to fund between 1 and 3 proposals.

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

 

Admissibility Requirements

Applications must be sent no later than the deadline for submitting applications referred to in section 3. 

Applications must be submitted in writing (see section 14), using the application form available at https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/newsroom/call-proposals/all.

Applications must be drafted in one the EU official languages.

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

 

Eligibility Criteria

 

Eligible applicants

Only applications from legal entities established in the EU Member States are eligible.

Natural persons are not eligible to apply for a grant.

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, may take part in the action as affiliated entities, and may declare eligible costs as specified in section 11.1. 

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

In order to assess the applicants' eligibility, the following supporting documents are requested:

private entity: extract from the official journal, copy of articles of association, extract of trade or association register, certificate of liability to VAT (if, as in certain countries, the trade register number and VAT number are identical, only one of these documents is required);

public entity: copy of the resolution or decision establishing the public company, or other official document establishing the public-law entity;

consortium: in addition to the supporting documents referring to their legal status,  consortium members will submit letters confirming their participation to the project,

entities without legal personality: documents providing evidence that their representative(s) have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf. 

By way of exception, an application may be submitted by one applicant, whether established specifically or not for the action, provided that:

it is formed of several legal entities complying with the eligibility, non-exclusion and selection criteria set out in this call for proposals, and implementing together the proposed action;

the application identifies the said entities.

For the purpose of declaring eligible costs as specified under section 11.1, the entities composing the applicant shall be treated as affiliated entities.

 

To be eligible, projects must be presented by applicants meeting the following criteria:

The proposal must be submitted by an applicant or a group of applicants (consortium) providing non-linear audiovisual media services within the meaning of the AVMS Directive 2010/13/EU, with a critical mass of audiovisual content;

The service should provide European factual content and contain a strong cultural added value; services focusing on cinema or TV fiction and animation are ineligible; as is light entertainment, sport news and current affairs;

The services should have been available for a minimum of two years;

The service should have a significant audience in the country of origin and be already available in territories to be targeted by the new linguistic offer (a baseline audience to be defined by the applicant);

 

Eligible activities

Types of activities eligible under this call for proposals.

Only those applications corresponding to the objectives described above will be considered as eligible. Types of activities eligible under this Call for Proposals include:

- costs of subtitling;

- evaluation and research cost;

- promotional cost (including an organisation of a contest to raise awareness about the project amongst the European audience and promote subtitled content available thanks to the preparatory action);

- costs associated with the launch, promotion and implementation of a public event disclosing the results of the action with policy makers and other stakeholders; 

- audit costs.

This call may not support any projects including pornographic or racist material or advocating violence.

 

Implementation period

The maximum period for implementation of the action (including the public conference with stakeholders where the results are to be presented to policy makers and stakeholders) is 30 months. The activities shall start not later than in January 2018 and shall be completed by 30th June 2020. 

Applications for projects scheduled to run for a longer period than that specified in this call for proposals will not be accepted.

 

Exclusion Criteria

 

Exclusion 

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

(a) 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;

(b) 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; 

(c) 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 Commission during the award procedure;
5. attempting to obtain confidential information that may confer upon it undue advantages in the award procedure;

(d) it has been established by a final judgment that the applicant is guilty of any of the following:

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;

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;

participation in a criminal organisation, as defined in Article 2 of Council Framework Decision 2008/841/JHA;

money laundering or terrorist financing, as defined in Article 1 of Directive 2005/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council;

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;

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;

(e) 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; 

(f) 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.

(g) 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: 

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; 

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; 

decisions of the ECB, the EIB, the European Investment Fund or international organisations; 

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.

decisions of exclusion by an authorising officer of an EU institution, of a European office or of an EU agency or body.

Remedial measures

If an applicant declares one of the situations of exclusion listed above (see section 7.4), 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. This does not apply for situations referred in point (d) of section 7.1.

Rejection from the call for proposals

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

is in an exclusion situation established in accordance with section 7.1;

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

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

The same exclusion criteria apply to affiliated entities. 

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

Supporting documents

Applicants and affiliated entities must provide a declaration on their honour certifying that they are not in one of the situations referred to in articles 106(1) and 107 FR, by filling in the relevant form attached to the application form accompanying the call for proposals and available at https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/newsroom/call-proposals/all.

 

This obligation may be fulfilled in the following way: each applicant in the consortium signs a declaration in its name and on behalf its affiliated entities.

 

Selection criteria

Financial capacity

Applicants must have stable and sufficient sources of funding to maintain their activity throughout the duration of the grant and to participate in its funding. The applicants' financial capacity will be assessed on the basis of the following supporting documents to be submitted with the application:

Low value grants (≤ EUR 60 000):

1. a declaration on their honour. 

Grants ≥ EUR 60 000:

1. a declaration on their honour and

EITHER

1. the profit and loss account as well as the balance sheet for the last financial year for which the accounts were closed;
2. for newly created entities: the business plan might replace the above documents;

OR

1. the table provided for in the application form, filled in with the relevant statutory accounting figures, in order to calculate the ratios as detailed in the form.

Grants for an action ≥ EUR 750 000 or operating grants ≥ EUR 100 000:

1. the  information and supporting documents mentioned above in point b) above and  
2. 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.

In the case of legal entities forming one applicant (the "sole applicant"), as specified in section 6.1, the above requirements apply to each one of those entities.

On the basis of the documents submitted, if the RAO considers that financial capacity is weak, s/he may:

• request further information;
• decide not to give  pre-financing;
• decide to give  pre-financing paid in instalments;
• decide to give  pre-financing covered by a bank guarantee (see section 11.4 below);
• where applicable, require the joint and several financial liability of all the co-beneficiaries.

If the RAO considered that the financial capacity is insufficient s/he will reject the application. 

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, and the following supporting documents:

 

curriculum vitae or description of the profile of the people primarily responsible for managing and implementing the operation (accompanied where appropriate, like in the field of research and education, by a list of relevant publications);

the organisation's activity reports; 

an exhaustive lists of previous projects and activities performed and connected to the policy field of a given call or to the actions to be carried out;

a description of the technical equipment, tools or facilities and patents at the disposal of the applicant;

an inventory of natural or economic resources involved in the project.

In the case of legal entities forming one applicant (the "sole" applicant), as specified in section 6.1, the above requirements apply to each one of those entities.

 

Award criteria

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

Award Criterion No 1: Quality of the activity content (60 points)

Number, quality, diversity, cultural dimension and editorial coherence of the audiovisual content covered by the action (20 points);

Number and complementary nature of the linguistic areas and territories covered by the action (15 points)

Suitability of the marketing strategy and local partnerships (20 points);

Degree of innovation of the action (5 points).

Award Criterion No 2: Management of the project (40 points)

Quality of the applicant existing service (10 points);

Quality of the project management plan, including quality of the personel involved and governance structure (10 points);

Quality of the proposed methodology for collecting, analysing and putting into perspective the results obtained (10 points);

Cost/benefit of the proposed action (10 points).

 

Applicants must reach a minimum threshold of 60% of the points available in order to receive funding. 

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 applicant, as well as the information on the procedure to formalise the agreement of the parties. 

The 2 copies of the original agreement must be signed first by the beneficiary on behalf of the consortium and returned to the Commission immediately. The Commission will sign it last. 

Financial provisions

11.1 Eligible costs 

Eligible costs shall meet all the following criteria:

they are incurred by the beneficiary.  

they are incurred during the duration of the action, with the exception of costs relating to final reports and audit certificates;

The period of eligibility of costs will start as specified in the grant agreement. 

If a beneficiary can demonstrate the need to start the action before the agreement is signed, the costs eligibility period may start before that signature. Under no circumstances can the eligibility period start before the date of submission of the grant application.

they are indicated in the estimated budget;

they are necessary for the implementation of the action which is the subject of the grant;

they are identifiable and verifiable, in particular being recorded in the accounting records of the beneficiary and determined according to the applicable accounting standards of the country where the beneficiary is established and according to the usual cost accounting practices of the beneficiary;

they comply with the requirements of applicable tax and social legislation;

they are reasonable, justified, and comply with the requirements of sound financial management, in particular regarding economy and efficiency.

The beneficiary's internal accounting and auditing procedures must permit direct reconciliation of the costs and revenue declared in respect of the action/project with the corresponding accounting statements and supporting documents.

The same criteria apply to costs incurred by the affiliated entities.

 

Eligible costs may be direct or indirect.

 

11.1.1. Eligible direct costs 

The eligible direct costs for the action are those costs which:

with due regard for the conditions of eligibility set out above, are identifiable as specific costs directly linked to the performance of the action and which can therefore be booked to it directly, such as : 

(a) the costs of personnel working under an employment contract with the beneficiary or an equivalent appointing act and assigned to the action, provided that these costs are in line with the beneficiary’s usual policy on remuneration.

Those costs include actual salaries plus social security contributions and other statutory costs included in the remuneration. They may also comprise additional remunerations, including payments on the basis of supplementary contracts regardless of the nature of those contracts, provided that they are paid in a consistent manner whenever the same kind of work or expertise is required, independently from the source of funding used;

The costs of natural persons working under a contract with the beneficiary other than an employment contract or who are seconded to the beneficiary by a third party against payment may also be included under such personnel costs, provided that the following conditions are fulfilled:

(i) the person works under conditions similar to those of an employee (in particular regarding the way the work is organised, the tasks that are performed and the premises where they are performed);

(ii) the result of the work belongs to the beneficiary (unless exceptionally agreed otherwise); and

 (iii) the costs are not significantly different from the costs of staff performing similar tasks under an employment contract with the beneficiary;

The recommended methods for calculation of direct personnel costs are provided in Appendix.

(b) costs of travel and related subsistence allowances, provided that these costs are in line with the beneficiary’s usual practices on travel;

(c) the depreciation costs of equipment or other assets (new or second-hand) as recorded in the beneficiary’s accounting statements, provided that the asset:

(i) is written off in accordance with the international accounting standards and the beneficiary’s usual accounting practices; and

(ii) has been purchased in accordance with the rules on implementation contracts laid down in the grant agreement, if the purchase occurred within the implementation period;

The costs of renting or leasing equipment or other assets are also eligible, provided that these costs do not exceed the depreciation costs of similar equipment or assets and are exclusive of any finance fee;

Only the portion of the equipment’s depreciation, rental or lease costs corresponding to the implementation period and the rate of actual use for the purposes of the action may be taken into account when determining the eligible costs. By way of exception, the full cost of purchase of equipment may be eligible under the Special Conditions, if this is justified by the nature of the action and the context of the use of the equipment or assets;

(d) costs of consumables and supplies, provided that they:

(i) are purchased in accordance with the rules on implementation contracts laid down in the grant agreement; and

(ii) are directly assigned to the action;

(e) costs arising directly from requirements imposed by the Agreement (dissemination of information, specific evaluation of the action, audits, translations, reproduction), including the costs of requested financial guarantees, provided that the corresponding services are purchased in accordance with the rules on implementation contracts laid down in the grant agreement;

(f) costs entailed by subcontracts, provided that specific conditions on subcontracting as laid down in the grant agreement are met;

(g) costs of financial support to third parties, provided that the conditions laid down in the grant agreement are met;

(h) duties, taxes and charges paid by the beneficiary, notably non-deductible value added tax (VAT), provided that they are included in eligible direct costs, and unless specified otherwise in the grant agreement.

(i) advertising and promotion costs, including: 

 

Publicity Material: design, layout and printing of publicity material, production of advertising spots, flyers, design and layout of press advertising,

Other costs have to be clearly identified and detailed for them to be eligible. 

 

Publicity Space: purchase of advertising spaces (TV, radio, internet, press as appropriate), distribution of publicity material (trailers, flyers, posters, mailing...) and other advertising costs. 

Other costs have to be clearly identified and detailed for them to be eligible. 

 

Promotion material and events: material such as press files,  press screenings; previews and receptions for launching the service in the territory, organisation of test screenings and market research;  Press Agency, Press officer, Publicist and PR fees, other promotion costs. 

Other costs have to be clearly identified and detailed for them to be eligible. 

 

(j) Subtitling Costs

 

These costs include the costs of the subtitling of the European factual audiovisual content to be provided by the service.

 

(k) Cost of evaluation activities 

 

These costs include the costs of evaluation activities to compare the audience reach of the audiovisual content with and without subtitling; and the costs of sharing the results of this research publically with EU stakeholders and public policy makers.

 

(l ) Other costs 

 

Audit Fees.

 

In the framework of the execution of an eventual financial support contract, the Commission requires the beneficiary to produce a statement of the final costs of the action. This document can be certified by an independent approved auditor, external to the company on the basis of justifying documents and the accountancy records of the beneficiary. The costs of this certification are the only costs eligible beyond the eligibility period. 

 

(m) Subcontracting costs

 

 

Any amount paid to an external party which is not part of the contractor’s consortium of the partnership and is carrying out a specific one-off task in connection with the action must be detailed under this sub-heading.  

 

Sub-contracting costs are only admissible if the staff of the member organisations of the partnership does not have the skills required.  Subcontracting costs must be substantiated by receipted invoices. In the event of sub-contracting exceeding EUR 60 000, the beneficiaries must clearly document the tendering procedure, submit a copy of the relevant documents together with the final report at the end of the action and retain the documentation in the event of an audit.

 

The sub-contracting costs required, the justification for sub-contracting and the procedure to be followed in identifying the relevant sub-contractor, should be clearly set out in the note accompanying the Estimated Budget. Sub-contracting costs should be limited to those specified in the original application. Any significant change will require the express prior agreement of the Commission.

 

(n) All other Costs

 

A space is provided in the form for the disclosure of other costs directly linked to the action which are not expressly provided for in the form and have to be clearly identified and detailed in the application form and in the financial report for them to be eligible. Moreover, those costs normally associated with the running of the company are not eligible under this heading. 

These “other costs” must not fall under costs listed under Section 10.5 - Ineligible costs

 

11.1.2. Eligible indirect costs (overheads) 

 

Indirect costs are costs that are not directly linked to the action implementation and therefore cannot be attributed directly to it. 

 

A flat-rate amount of 7% of the total eligible direct costs of the action, is eligible as indirect costs, representing the beneficiary's general administrative costs which can be regarded as chargeable to the action/project.

Indirect costs may not include costs entered under another budget heading.

Overhead costs encompass the following categories:

a) Premises and related expenses (e.g. rent, insurance, administration and management cost)

b) Office expenses and consumables (e.g. telephone, postal services, photocopies, goods or equipment)

 

 

11.2 Ineligible costs 

the acquisition of licenses and copyright costs;

return on capital;

debt and debt service charges;

provisions for losses or debts;

interest owed;

doubtful debts;

exchange losses;

costs of transfers from the Commission charged by the bank of a beneficiary;

costs declared by the beneficiary under another action receiving a grant financed from the Union budget. Such grants include grants awarded by a Member State and financed from the Union budget and grants awarded by bodies other than the Commission for the purpose of implementing the Union budget. In particular, beneficiaries receiving an operating grant financed by the EU or Euratom budget cannot declare indirect costs for the period(s) covered by the operating grant, unless they can demonstrate that the operating grant does not cover any costs of the action. 

contributions in kind from third parties;

excessive or reckless expenditure;

deductible VAT.

 

11.3 Form of the grant

 

Reimbursement of costs actually incurred 

 

The grant will be defined by applying a maximum co-financing rate of 60% to the eligible costs actually incurred and declared by the beneficiary and its affiliated entities. 

Consequently, part of the total eligible expenses entered in the estimative budget must be financed from sources other than the EU grant (see section 11.1c). 

Conditions for compliance of the beneficiary's usual cost accounting practices: 

The beneficiary must ensure that the cost accounting practices used for the purpose of declaring eligible costs are in compliance with the following conditions:

the cost accounting practices that are used must constitute the  usual cost accounting practices of the beneficiary. The beneficiary must  apply those practices in a consistent manner, based on objective criteria irrespective of the source of funding (EU financing or other);

the costs declared can be directly reconciled with the amounts recorded in its general accounts; and

the categories of costs used for the purpose of determining the costs declared do not include any ineligible costs or costs already covered by other forms of grant.

 

11.4 Balanced budget 

 

The estimated budget of the action must be attached to the application form. It must have revenue and expenditure in balance. 

The budget must be drawn up in euros. 

Applicants for whom costs will not be incurred in euros should use the exchange rate published in the Official Journal of the European Union and available on the Infor-euro website:  http://ec.europa.eu/budget/contracts_grants/info_contracts/inforeuro/inforeuro_en.cfm.

The applicant must ensure that the resources which are necessary to carry out the action are not be entirely provided by the EU grant. 

Co-financing of the action may take the form of:

the beneficiary's own resources, 

income generated by the action or work programme, 

financial contributions from third parties.

Overall co-financing may also include in-kind contributions from third parties, i.e. non-financial resources made available free of charge by third parties to the beneficiary or to the consortium. The corresponding costs of third parties are not eligible under the grant, e.g. volunteer work, providing a meeting room for free, etc.

The value of the contribution in kind must not exceed:

either the costs actually borne and duly supported by accounting documents;

or, in the absence of such documents, the costs generally accepted on the market in question.

In-kind contributions shall be presented separately in the estimated budget to reflect the total resources allocated to the action. Their unit value is evaluated in the provisional budget and shall not be subject to subsequent changes.

In-kind contributions shall comply with national tax and social security rules.

11.5 Calculation of the final grant amount 

The final amount of the grant is calculated by the Commission at the time of the payment of the balance. The calculation involves the following steps:

Step 1 — Application of the reimbursement rate to the eligible costs 

The amount under step 1 is obtained by application of the reimbursement rate specified in section 11.3.1 to the eligible costs accepted by the Commission.

Step 2 — Limit to the maximum amount of the grant

The total amount paid to the beneficiaries by the Commission may in no circumstances exceed the maximum amount of the grant as indicated in the grant agreement. If the amount obtained following Step 1 is higher than this maximum amount, the final amount of the grant is limited to the latter.

Step 3 — Reduction due to the no-profit rule

‘Profit’ means the surplus of the amount obtained following Steps 1 and 2 plus the total receipts of the action, over the total eligible costs of the action.

The total eligible costs of the action are the consolidated total eligible costs approved by the Commission. The total receipts of the action are the consolidated total receipts established, generated or confirmed on the date on which the request for payment of the balance is drawn up by the beneficiary.

The following are considered receipts:

income generated by the action;

financial contributions given by third parties to a beneficiary or to an affiliated entity, if they are specifically assigned by the third parties to the financing of the eligible costs of the action reimbursed by the Commission.

The following are not considered receipts:

financial contributions by third parties, if they may be used to cover costs other than the eligible costs under the grant agreement;

financial contributions by third parties with no obligation to repay any amount unused at the end of the implementation period.

If there is a profit, it will be deducted in proportion to the final rate of reimbursement of the actual eligible costs of the action approved by the Commission.

Step 4 — Reduction due to improper implementation or breach of other obligations.

The Commission may reduce the maximum amount of the grant if the action has not been implemented properly (i.e. if it has not been implemented or has been implemented poorly, partially or late), or if another obligation under the Agreement has been breached. 

The amount of the reduction will be proportionate to the degree to which the action has been implemented improperly or to the seriousness of the breach.

 

11.6 Reporting and payment arrangements 

 

11.6.1 The beneficiary may request the following payments provided that the conditions of the grant agreement are fulfilled (e.g. payment deadlines, ceilings, etc.). The payment requests shall be accompanied by the documents provided below and detailed in the grant agreement: 

 

Payment request

A pre-financing payment corresponding to 40% of the grant amount 

A second pre-financing payment corresponding to 30% of the grant amount.

 

Payment of the balance 

The Commission will establish the amount of this payment on the basis of the calculation of the final grant amount (see section 11.5 above). If the total of earlier payments is higher than the final grant amount, the beneficiary will be required to reimburse the amount paid in excess by the Commission through a recovery order.

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Accompanying documents

technical report on progress

statement on the use of the previous pre-financing instalment

final technical report; 

final financial statement;

summary financial statement aggregating the financial statements already submitted previously and indicating the receipts 

a certificate on the financial statements and underlying accounts

-----------------------------------

In case of a weak financial capacity section 8.1 above applies.

 

11.6.2 Pre-financing guarantee 

A pre-financing guarantee for up to the same amount as the pre-financing may be requested in order to limit the financial risks linked to the pre-financing payment.

The financial guarantee, in euro, shall be provided by an approved bank or financial institution established in one of the EU Member States. When the beneficiary is established in a third country, the Commission may agree that a bank or financial institution established in that third country may provide the guarantee if it considers that the bank or financial institution offers equivalent security and characteristics as those offered by a bank or financial institution established in a Member State. Amounts blocked in bank accounts shall not be accepted as financial guarantees.

The guarantee may be replaced by:

a joint and several guarantee by a third party or, 

a joint guarantee of the beneficiaries of an action who are parties to the same grant agreement.

The guarantee shall be released as the pre-financing is gradually cleared against interim payments or the payment of the balance, in accordance with the conditions laid down in the grant agreement.

 

11.7 Other financial conditions 

 

Non-cumulative award

An action may only receive one grant from the EU budget.

In no circumstances shall the same costs be financed twice by the Union budget. To ensure this, applicants shall indicate in the grant application the sources and amounts of Union funding received or applied for the same action or part of the action or for its (the applicant's) functioning during the same financial year as well as any other funding received or applied for the same action.

 

Non-retroactivity 

No grant may be awarded retrospectively for actions already completed.

A grant may be awarded for an action which has already begun only where the applicant can demonstrate in the grant application the need to start the action before the grant agreement is signed.

In such cases, costs eligible for financing may not have been incurred prior to the date of submission of the grant application.

 

Implementation contracts/subcontracting 

 

Where the implementation of the action requires the award of procurement contracts (implementation contracts), the beneficiary must award the contract to the bid offering best value for money or the lowest price (as appropriate), avoiding conflicts of interests.

The beneficiary is expected to clearly document the tendering procedure and retain the documentation for the event of an audit. 

Beneficiaries may subcontract tasks forming part of the action. If they do so, they must ensure that, in addition to the above-mentioned conditions of best value for money and absence of conflicts of interests, the following conditions are also complied with:

subcontracting may only cover the implementation of a limited part of the action; 

recourse to subcontracting is justified because of the nature of the action and what is necessary for its implementation;

the estimated costs of the subcontracting are clearly identifiable in the estimated budget;

any recourse to subcontracting, if not provided for in description of the action, is communicated by the beneficiary and approved by the Commission. The Commission may grant approval:

before any recourse to subcontracting, if the beneficiaries requests an amendment 

after recourse to subcontracting if the subcontracting:

is specifically justified in the interim or final technical report and

does not entail changes to the grant agreement which would call into question the decision awarding the grant or be contrary to the equal treatment of applicants;

the beneficiaries ensure that certain conditions applicable to beneficiaries, enumerated in the grant agreement (e.g. visibility, confidentiality, etc.), are also applicable to the subcontractors.

subcontracting may not account for more than 60% of the total cost of the action. Sub-contracting costs must be substantiated by receipted invoices.

 

Financial support to third parties

The applications may envisage provision of financial support to third parties. In such case the applications must include:

 

an exhaustive list of the types of activities for which a third party may receive financial support, limited to the fixed list of eligible activities within the call, including an organisation of a promotional contest;

the definition of the persons or categories of persons which may receive financial support; 

the criteria for awarding financial support;

 

The amount of financial support per third party must not exceed 60 000 EUR. 

 

In case the financial support takes the form of a prize (for instance after organising a competition to raise awareness about the project amongst the European audience and promote subtitled content available thanks to the preparatory action), the beneficiaries shall give such financial support in accordance with specified conditions, which shall at least contain: 

 

(a) the conditions for participation; 

 

(b) the award criteria; 

 

(c) the amount/form of the prize; 

 

(d) the payment arrangements.

 

12.  Publicity 

 

12.1 By the beneficiaries

Beneficiaries must clearly acknowledge the European Union’s contribution in all publications or in conjunction with activities for which the grant is used.

In this respect, beneficiaries are required to give prominence to the name and emblem of the European Commission on all their publications, posters, programmes and other products realised under the co-financed project. 

To do this they must use the text, the emblem and the disclaimer available at https://ec.europa.eu/info/resources-partners/european-commission-visual-identity_en.

If this requirement is not fully complied with, the beneficiary’s grant may be reduced in accordance with the provisions of the grant agreement.

The EU is not responsible for the views displayed in the publications and/or in conjunction with the activities for which the grant is used.

 

12.2 By the Commission

With the exception of scholarships paid to natural persons and other direct support paid to natural persons in most need, all information relating to grants awarded in the course of a financial year shall be published on an internet site of the European Union institutions no later than the 30 June of the year following the financial year in which the grants were awarded. 

The Commission will publish the following information:

name of the beneficiary;

address of the beneficiary when the latter is a legal person, region when the beneficiary is a natural person, as defined on NUTS 2 level if he/she is domiciled within EU or equivalent if domiciled outside EU;

subject of the grant;

amount awarded.

Upon a reasoned and duly substantiated request by the beneficiary, the publication shall be waived if such disclosure risks threatening the rights and freedoms of individuals concerned as protected by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union or harm the commercial interests of the beneficiaries.

13. 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 CNECT I.3 Unit. 

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 106(1) and 107 of the Financial Regulation 966/2012 (for more information see the Privacy Statement on: 

http://ec.europa.eu/budget/library/explained/management/protecting/privacy_statement_edes_en.pdf).

14. PROCEDURE FOR THE SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS 

Proposals must be submitted by the deadline set out under section 3.

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 to correct clerical mistakes, the Commission may contact the applicant during the evaluation process.

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

 

Application forms are available at https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/newsroom/call-proposals/all.

Applications must be submitted in the correct form, duly completed and dated. They must be submitted in 3 copies (one original clearly identified as such, plus 2 copies) and signed by the person authorised to enter into legally binding commitments on behalf of the applicant organisation.

Where applicable, all additional information considered necessary by the applicant can be included on separate sheets.

Applications must be sent to the following address:

European Commission

Directorate General Communication Networks, Content and Technology

Directorate I – Unit I3- Audiovisual Industry and Media Support Programmes 

Office: BU25 05/130

1049 Brussels 

Belgium

 

by post, date as postmark;

in person, date as receipt,

by courier service, date of receipt by the courier service.

Applications sent by fax or e-mail will not be accepted.

 

Electronic submission

In addition to the submission by registered mail, an electronic version of the following documents must be submitted by 15 September 2017, 12.00, Brussels time at the latest to the following email address:

CNECT-I3@ec.europa.eu

- grant application form

- grant application budget

- declarations of honour

- financial viability check tools

 

 

Contacts

Questions and requests for clarification may be sent until 8 September 2017 to CNECT-I3@ec.europa.eu with a reference to the Call's title and number. 

 

Questions will be gathered and published anonymously in the FAQs section on:

https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/newsroom/call-proposals/all.

 

Annexes:

Application form

Estimated budget form

Legal entity form

Bank account form

Financial viability check tool

Declaration of honour

Checklist of documents to be provided

Public link:   Only for registered users