Representation of social interests in European standardisation

Deadline: Sep 2, 2020  
CALL EXPIRED

Call for proposals for a Framework Partnership Agreement 316/G/GRO/STA/20/11641

1. INTRODUCTION – BACKGROUND

The Regulation (EU) No 1025/20121 of the European Parliament and of the Council on European standardisation, adopted on 25 October 2012 (the Regulation) emphasises the importance of the participation of all relevant interested parties including SMEs and societal and social stakeholders in the European standardisation process.

Standards are important tools for the competitiveness of undertakings and especially SMEs, whose participation in the standardisation process is important for technological progress in the Union. Furthermore, standards can have a broad impact on society, in particular on the safety and well-being of citizens, the efficiency of networks, the environment, workers’ safety and working conditions, accessibility and other public policy fields.

However, standards are written by technical experts in their field who represent the background and interest of the companies which these experts work for. It is therefore important for the EU to facilitate and support the participation of experts representing background and interests of SMEs and societal and social stakeholders in the standardisation process, especially in the European context where European standards play a very important role in supporting EU legislations and EU policies.

Historically, the participation of SMEs and societal and social stakeholders had been supported by different EU programmes. The Regulation has put the inclusiveness of the European standardisation process as a priority and unified the legal basis for the role, the establishment and the financing of European stakeholders organisations in standardisation.

Regarding the representation of social interests in standardisation, the Commission has provided financial support to ETUI2 – The European Trade Union Institute - through specific grants. ETUI's work has been focusing on the standardisation activities related to health and safety and security in the workplace.

In addition, a call for proposals was launched in 2014 by the Commission in order to establish a Framework Partnership Agreement with an organisation representing social interest in Standardisation based on the Regulation 1025/2012. ETUC3 - the European Trade Union Confederation - has signed with the Commission a Framework Partnership Agreement and has received funding through yearly operating grants for the period 2015- 2020.

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

This Call for Proposals aims at concluding a Framework Partnership Agreements (FPA) with a European Organisation representing social interests in European standardisation activities. The purpose of the call is to establish a Framework Partnership Agreement to fund activities that lead to an increasing participation of societal stakeholders in the European standardisation process.

As a result of this call, the Commission might conclude with the selected Partner one FPA for the period 2021-2026 and specific agreements for the provision of an Operating Grant for 2021. Under the FPA, other Specific Grant Agreements in the form of Action grants might be awarded to fund other individual actions.

The legal basis for the call are the Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 on European standardisation, (draft) Regulation (EU) establishing the Programme for single market, competitiveness of enterprises, including small and medium-sized enterprises, and European statistics and repealing Regulations (EU) No 99/2013, (EU) No 1287/2013, (EU) No 254/2014, (EU) No 258/2014, (EU) No 652/2014 and (EU) 2017/826 and the Commission's financing decision C(2019)8928 of 17/12/2019 related to the Programme “Single market, competitiveness of enterprises, including small and medium-sized enterprises, and European statistics”.

The Framework Partnership Agreement formalises the partnership between the European Commission and the selected partner (the Partner) by specifying the common objectives agreed, the type of activities envisaged, the procedure for awarding specific grants and the general rights and obligations of each party under the specific agreements. However, the Framework Partnership Agreement do not per se constitute an obligation to award grants to the Partner.

The Framework Partnership Agreement shall be concluded with the Partner on the basis of an evaluation of the capacity of the applicant to fulfil the objectives set out in the Action Plan annexed to the FPA and the eligibility, selection and award criteria as described under sections 6, 8 and 9 of this Call for Proposals. The Commission intends to conclude only one Framework Partnership Agreement following this call.

The maximum duration of the FPA is four years with the possibility of two years extension, as in duly justified cases, only by decision taken by the Authorising Officer in respect of article 74(9) and 130 c) of Regulation 2018/1046.

Based on the FPA and the proposed annual work programme, the Commission may conclude, in a separate step, a specific agreement and award an Operating grant (OG) to the Partner. The purpose of an Operating Grant is to provide financial support for the existence and functioning of a body over a period that is equivalent to its accounting period to enable it to carry out a set of activities. In other words, the grant is awarded to support a work programme proposed by the beneficiary for the duration of the accounting period concerned. The operating grant will be concluded for one year subject to the satisfactory evaluation of the financial viability and of the capacity of co-financing of the Partner. It may be renewed yearly according to the terms defined in the FPA.

The Commission may also award to the Partner, based on the provisions of the FPA, specific grants for an Action (AG).

In the application, the applicants are requested to propose an annual work programme for 2021 together with a budget breakdown. After the evaluation of the received proposals, the candidates may be invited for an interview with the Commission to discuss particular aspects of the proposals.

In case of successful application and after the signature of the FPA, the Partner will be asked to revise the proposed work programme taking into account the recommendations of the Commission's Evaluation Committee and to submit it to the Commission for agreement. Based on the agreed annual work programme, an Operating Grant can be awarded.

The European organisation (the Partner) representing social interests in European standardisation activities must meet the eligibility criteria for Union financing specified in the Annex III of the Regulation:

(a) is non-governmental, non-profit-making, and independent of industry, commercial and business or other conflicting interests;

(b) has as its statutory objectives and activities to represent social interests in the standardisation process at European level;

(c) has been mandated by national non-profit social organisations in at least two thirds of the Member States, to represent social interests in the standardisation process at European level.

Article 16 of the Regulation defines the scope of the activities for such Union financing:

(a) the functioning of these organisations and of their activities relating to European and international standardisation, including the processing of technical work and the provision of information to members and other interested parties;

(b) the provision of legal and technical expertise, including studies, in relation to assessment of the need for, and the development of, European standards and European standardisation deliverables and training of experts;

(c) the participation in the technical work with respect to the development and revision of European standards and European standardisation deliverables which is necessary and suitable for the support of Union legislation and policies;

(d) the promotion of European standards and European standardisation deliverables, and the information on and use of, standards among interested parties, including SMEs and consumers.

Article 5 of the Regulation requests the European standardisation organisations (ESOs) to encourage and facilitate an appropriate representation and effective participation of all relevant stakeholders, especially through the European stakeholder organisations receiving Union financing, in their standardisation activities, such as:

(a) the proposal and acceptance of new work items;

(b) the technical discussion on proposals;

(c) the submission of comments on drafts;

(d) the revision of existing European standards or European standardisation deliverables;

(e) the dissemination of information of, and awareness-building about, adopted European standards or European standardisation deliverables.

The Partner will also work in cooperation with the Committee on Standards set up under the Regulation and respond to the consultation launched by the Commission on annual work programme for European standardisation and other standardisation related decisions.

To implement the Regulation, the Partner will ensure that its membership policy is open and easy for all relevant associations to join. Efforts must be made to ensure a broad sectoral and geographical coverage in order to represent social interests in at least two thirds of the Member States. The Partner will participate in the work of a selected number of Technical bodies of ESOs based on a systematic and comprehensive review of the relevance of all ESO’s technical bodies to social interests.

The selection process of experts and criteria of assessment will be open and transparent. The list of experts will be published and updated on the Partner's website.

The Partner will set up a consultation procedure involving all relevant actors. The Partner must ensure that its system of consultation, ex ante and ex post, is robust, clear, comprehensive, sound, broad, transparent, consensual, inclusive and pro-active. The partner will also ensure that any adopted position is made publicly available and includes clear information on organisations which were consulted, how this position was achieved at and which organisations contributed to it. All the steps of the consultation (ex ante, ex post), the contributions of every party and the final position taken will be disclosed on the Partner's website.

The Partner will inform regularly all interested parties about its work, in terms of its activities, processes, positions and achieved results. Under Article 24.2 of the Regulation, the Partner is requested to provide the Commission with an annual report on its activity containing detailed information about the membership and activities referred to in Article 16 of the Regulation.

The Partner is expected to cooperate with the other European organisations representing stakeholders financed under the Regulation to improve the inclusiveness of the European standardisation system and to promote the participation of SMEs and societal and social stakeholders in the standardisation activities. It will participate in the coordination meetings of stakeholder representation organisations and coordination meetings with ESOs (2 to 4 meetings per year in Brussels). The Partner will attend the meetings of the Committee on standards set up under the Regulation as an observer (2 to 4 meetings per year in Brussels).

The Partner will set up a mechanism for an efficient and effective interaction with the European Commission for the Framework Partnership and the management of the operating grant (2 to 4 meetings per year in Brussels).

3. TIMETABLE

(a) Publication of the call

16 June 2020

(b) Deadline for submitting applications

2 September 2020 – 17:00

(c) Evaluation period*

September - October 2020

(d) Information to applicants*

By end of October 2020

(e) Signature of the FPA*

Before November 2020

(f) Signature of grant agreement(s)*

By mid-November 2020

* Indicative

4. BUDGET AVAILABLE

The total maximum budget earmarked for the co-financing of projects covering all standardisation activities carried out by the European stakeholder organisations described in Annex III of Regulation 1025/2012 is of 4.246.000 € for year 2021, and estimated at 4.750.000 € per year from year 2022 onwards.

This amount is subject to the availability of the appropriations provided for in the draft budget for 2022 and onwards after the adoption of the draft Regulation establishing the Programme for single market, competitiveness of enterprises, including small and medium-sized enterprises, and European statistics and repealing Regulations (EU) No 99/2013, (EU) No 1287/2013, (EU) No 254/2014, (EU) No 258/2014, (EU) No 652/2014 and (EU) 2017/826.

The European Commission contribution is limited to a maximum reimbursement rate of 95 % of eligible costs under an operating grant and to a maximum reimbursement rate of 85 % of eligible costs under an action grant.

Taking into account the repartition of the budget among the Annex III organisations, awarded in the last years through specific grant agreements under the previous FPAs concluded with the European Commission, and in light of the policy priorities of the current mandate of the EC, the maximum grant amount per organisation per year is estimated to be allocated according to the following proportions:

(TABLE NOT AVAILABLE)

Following this Call for proposals, the Commission intends to conclude one Framework Partnership Agreement with an European Organisation representing social interests in European standardisation activities. The signature of a FPA does not in itself entitle the Partner to receive specific grants.

On the basis of the budget available, and following the positive assessment of the proposed annual work programme, the Commission may award an operating grant to the Partner. An operating grant is to be concluded for 1 year subject to the satisfactory evaluation of the financial viability and of the capacity of co-financing of the Partner. It may be renewed yearly according to the terms defined in the FPA, for a period of 4 years with a possible prolongation of another 2 years maximum.

Subject to the availability of budget, the Commission may award, in addition to one operating grant per year per Partner, one or more action grants in case it deems them appropriate to support EU policies, and in the limits of the maximum budget available per year per each Partner, according to the table above.

Action grants’ proposals are to be assessed in line with the EC rules applicable to the evaluation of such grant proposals and in particular according to section 6 of this Call for Proposals. The project proposal cannot overlap with the tasks and duties already covered by the operating grant and particular attention will be paid on ensuring no double- financing.

Proposals requesting EU co-financing beyond the maximum EU co-financing rate and exceeding the maximum EU financing amount per organisation will not be eligible.

The maximum requested EC contribution for all proposals together should be equal to the budget available per organisation as indicated in the table above.

The Commission reserves the right to award a grant of less than the amount requested by the applicant. In such a case, applicants will be asked either to increase their co- financing, propose other co-financing means or to decrease the total costs without altering the substance of the proposal. Grants will not be awarded for more than the amount requested.

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

5. ADMISSIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

In order to be admissible, applications must be:

•   sent no later than the deadline for submitting applications referred to in section 3;

•   submitted in writing (see section 14), using the application form and the electronic submission system available at https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/submission/manage/secure/createdraft?callId=316- G-GRO-STA-11641-2020&sfs=ENT-EIP-GEN&preregtype=Topic&preregvalue=316-G-GRO-STA- 11641-2020 ; and

•   drafted in one of the EU official languages. [If your proposal is not in English, a translation of the full proposal would be of assistance to the evaluators. An English translation of an abstract may be included in the proposal.]

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

6. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR THE CONCLUSION OF THE FRAMEWORK PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT

6.1. Eligible applicants

Proposals may be submitted by non-profit organisation (private or public).

Applicants must meet the eligibility criteria for Union financing specified in the Annex III of Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012: be a European organisation representing social interests in European standardisation activities which:

(a) is non-governmental, non-profit-making, and independent of industry, commercial and business or other conflicting interests;

(b) has as its statutory objectives and activities to represent social interests in the standardisation process at European level;

(c) has been mandated by national non-profit social organisations in at least two thirds of the Member States, to represent social interests in the standardisation process at European level.

Affiliated entities

Following the signature of a Framework Partnership Agreement under this Call for proposals, entities affiliated to the applicants are not eligible to receive funding for operating grants, but only funding for action grants. They may take part in the action under an operating grant as affiliated entities at their own costs only.

Country of establishment

Only applications from legal entities established in the following countries are eligible:

•   EU Member States;

•   EFTA and EEA countries: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland..

For UK applicants: Please be aware that following the entry into force of the EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement4 on 1 February 2020 and in particular Articles 127(6), 137 and 138, the references to natural or legal persons residing or established in a Member State of the European Union are to be understood as including natural or legal persons residing or established in the United Kingdom. UK residents and legal entities are therefore eligible to participate under this call.

Supporting documents

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, decision or other official document establishing the public-law entity;

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

•   Private/public entity or entities without legal personality: Proof of proactive support (ideally through a national membership) of at least two thirds of Member States.

   

6.2. Eligible activities

Only projects which can be identified as aiming to increase and strengthen the representation of social interests in standardisation activities may receive Union financial assistance. The project has to comply, in particular, with the following objectives:

•   awareness and dissemination actions aiming at the promotion of European standardisation system, European standards and the information on, and use of, standards among interested parties;

•   training of experts in European and international standardisation;

•   studies, analyses, mapping projects and technical expertise in relation to the assessment of the need for, and the development of, European standards;

•   conferences, seminars;

•   actions aiming at cooperation with the European Standardisation Organisations (ESOs) in view of facilitating the appropriate representation and effective participation of all relevant stakeholders, including SMEs, consumer organisations and environmental and social stakeholders in their standardisation activities;

•   actions related to the participation in the development of standards (i.e. proposal of new work items, technical discussion on proposals, submission of comments on drafts, use of the Right of Opinion within CEN and CENELEC, revision of existing standards);

•   actions aiming at improving all relevant stakeholders, including SMEs, consumer organisations and environmental and social stakeholders’ visibility and relevance at national level;

•   actions aiming at strengthening the cooperation with the other Annex III organisations;

•   actions aiming at facilitating and enhancing the cooperation with the European Commission.

Only projects that are strictly non-profit-making and/or whose immediate objective is non-commercial shall be eligible;

Applications must respect the maximum rate for EU co-financing;

Applications must respect the maximum amount for EU co-financing;

Applications may not include financial support to third parties;

In this context, will be rejected any project directly or indirectly contrary to EU policy or against public health, human rights, citizen’s’ security or freedom of expression.

Implementation period

For operating grants: The maximum duration of an operating grant is of 12 months. The action shall run as from 1st January of year n (“the starting date”).

For action grants: Activities may not start before the signature of the grant agreement. The projects duration must be between 12 and 36 months.

7. EXCLUSION CRITERIA

7.1. Exclusion

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

1. (a)  the applicant is bankrupt, subject to insolvency or winding-up procedures, its assets are being administered by a liquidator or by a court, it is in an arrangement with creditors, its business activities are suspended, or it is in any analogous situation arising from a similar procedure provided for under EU or national laws or regulations;

2. (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 applicable law;

3. (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 intent or gross negligence, including, in particular, any of the following:

   1. (i)  fraudulently or negligently misrepresenting information required for the verification of the absence of grounds for exclusion or the fulfilment of eligibility or selection criteria or in the performance of a contract, a grant agreement or a grant decision;

   2. (ii)  entering into agreement with other applicants with the aim of distorting competition;

   3. (iii)  violating intellectual property rights;

   4. (iv)  attempting to influence the decision-making process of the [Commission] [Agency] during the award procedure;

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

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

   1. (i)  fraud, within the meaning of Article 3 of Directive (EU) 2017/1371 of the European Parliament and of the Council and 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. (ii)  corruption, as defined in Article 4(2) of Directive (EU) 2017/1371 or 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, or conduct referred to in Article 2(1) of Council Framework Decision 2003/568/JHA, or corruption as defined in the applicable law;

   3. (iii)  conduct related to a criminal organisation, as referred to in Article 2 of Council Framework Decision 2008/841/JHA;

   4. (iv)  money laundering or terrorist financing within the meaning of Article 1(3), (4) and (5) of Directive (EU) 2015/849 of the European Parliament and of the Council;

5. (v)  terrorist 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. (vi)  child labour or other offences concerning trafficking in human beings as referred to in Article 2 of Directive 2011/36/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council;

7. (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;

8. (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;

9. (g)  It has been established by a final judgement or final administrative decision that the applicant has created an entity in a different jurisdiction with the intent to circumvent fiscal, social or any other legal obligations of mandatory application in the jurisdiction of its registered office, central administration or principal place of business;

10. (h)  it has been established by a final judgement or final administrative decision that an entity has been created with the intent referred to in point (g);

11. (i)  for the situations referred to in points (c) to (h) above, the applicant is subject to:

    1. (i)  facts established in the context of audits or investigations carried out by European Public Prosecutor's Office after its establishment, the Court of Auditors, the European Anti-Fraud Office or the internal auditor, 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. (ii)  non-final judgments or 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. (iii)  facts referred to in decisions of persons or entities being entrusted with EU budget implementation tasks;

    4. (iv)  information transmitted by Member States implementing Union funds;

    5. (v)  decisions of the Commission relating to the infringement of Union competition law or of a national competent authority relating to the infringement of Union or national competition law; or

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

7.2. Remedial measures

If an applicant declares one of the situations of exclusion listed above (see section 7.1), it must 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 correct the conduct and prevent further occurrence, compensation of damage or payment of fines or of any taxes or social security contributions. 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.

7.3. Rejection from the call for proposals

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

1. (a)  is in an exclusion situation established in accordance with section 7.1; or

2. (b)  has misrepresented the information required as a condition for participating in the procedure or has failed to supply that information; or

3. (c)  was previously involved in the preparation of documents used in the award procedure where this entails a breach of the principle of equal treatment, including distortion of competition, that cannot be remedied otherwise.

The same exclusion criteria apply to affiliated entities.

Administrative sanctions (exclusion) 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.

7.4. 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 136(1) and 141 FR, by filling in the relevant form attached to the application form accompanying the call for proposals.

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

1. (i)  the applicant signs a declaration in its name and on behalf of its affiliated entities; OR

2. (ii)  the applicant and its affiliated entities each sign a separate declaration in their own name.

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