B5 Call Ja 09.02.09
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EXECUTIVE AGENCY FOR HEALTH AND CONSUMERS COMMON ACTIVITIES (JOINT ACTIONS) BETWEEN NATIONAL AUTHORITIES RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ENFORCEMENT OF CONSUMER PROTECTION LAWS (Regulation n° 2006/2004 on Consumer Protection Cooperation) ACTION 8 OF DECISION N° 1926/2006/EC ESTABLISHING A PROGRAMME FOR COMMUNITY ACTION IN THE FIELD OF CONSUMER POLICY CALL FOR PROPOSALS 2009 E-mail: [email protected] Web: http://ec.europa.eu/eahc/ Commission européenne, B-1049 Bruxelles / Europese Commissie, B-1049 Brussel - Belgium. Telephone: (32-2) 299 11 11. NOTICE Under Council Regulation (EC) No 58/2003 of 19 December 2002 laying down the statute for executive agencies to be entrusted with certain tasks in the management of Community programmes1, the Commission can decide to delegate all or part of the implementation of the programme of Community action in the field of consumer policy (2007-2013), on its behalf and under its responsibility, to an executive agency. By Decision 2004/858/58/EC of 15 December 2004 the Commission created the "Executive Agency for the Public Health Programme" (PHEA), with a view to perform tasks linked to the implementation of the Community action in the field of Public Health, pursuant to Council Regulation (EC) N° 58/2003. On June, 20th 2008, the Commission transformed PHEA into the "Executive Agency for Health and Consumers" -hereinafter "EAHC"- (see Commission Decision 2008/544/EC) and decided to delegate to EAHC part of the implementation of the programme of Community action in the field of consumer policy (2007-2013), adopted by Decision No 1926/2006/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 18 December 20062. On the basis of the above, EAHC publishes this call for proposals as part of the implementation of the programme of Community action in the field of consumer policy (2007- 2013). EAHC will be also responsible for managing all the phases of the cycle of the projects selected by this call. 1 OJ L 11 of 16.01.2003, p. 1. 2 OJ L 404 of 30.12.2006, p. 39. 2 1. INTRODUCTION This document is a call for proposals for common activities between national authorities responsible for the enforcement of consumer protection laws. This action is foreseen in Decision 1926/2006/EC of 18 December 2006 establishing a programme for community action in the field of Consumer Policy (2007-2013)3: action 8 and in the Consumer Policy Annual Work Programme for 2009. The Call indicates the procedure for the preparation and submission of projects for common activities and the evaluation criteria. It also underlines the eligible costs for an EU funding. This document, the application form, including the budget, the Explanatory guideline and the draft grant agreement are available on Circa. 2. FINANCIAL PROVISIONS In principle, community financial support may not exceed 50% of the eligible costs for implementing the project. This is the maximum level of Community contribution that shall apply to projects selected by the Executive Agency for Health and Consumers (EAHC) through this call, except those described in the paragraph below. Article 4 (1) (a) of Decision No 1926 /2006/EC allows a Community contribution of up to 70% of the eligible costs for projects of exceptional utility. In 2009, the Commission proposes to give priority to projects lead by authorities of Member States that have acceded to the European Union since 1 May 2004 or to projects with a large geographical coverage (see section 4). 3 OJ L 404 of 30.12.2006, p.39 3 3. PROCEDURE FOR THE ELABORATION AND EVALUATION OF THE PROJECTS 3.1. Step 1 – Preparation and presentation of draft proposals for common activities 3.1.1. Authorities interested in developing a common activities project shall identify and agree among themselves the objectives, the content and the time schedule of the project they would like to carry out. 3.1.2. A short written technical description of each proposed action (draft proposals) should be presented to the Executive Agency for Health and Consumers (EAHC) by the representatives in the Consumer Protection Cooperation (CPC) Committee (see list in annex 2), covering all the relevant aspects and at least those laid down in Annex 1. 3.2. Step 2 – Follow-up of draft proposals for joint actions 3.2.1. Draft proposals submitted by the CPC Committee members and the application form to be used to request Community financing will be available on CIRCA for consultation. 3.2.2. The CPC Committee will be informed of the declarations of interest received. 3.2.3. The draft proposals should be finalised taking into account comments, suggestions and requests for participation received from other authorities. All authorities which have expressed their wish to participate in a project should be given the opportunity to do so. 3.3. Step 3 – Submission of the application form 3.3.1. The application form prepared in accordance with the procedure mentioned above shall be submitted by one of the authorities that take part in the common activities project. The applicant authority shall use the application form provided. 3.3.2. The application shall include a description of the project, in particular an explanation of the objectives of the project, a detailed description of the project's activities, an indication of the role of each partner in the project, including an estimation of the number of man/days, a description of the deliverables, a time schedule, an explanation how the project will be monitored, and how the results will be evaluated. The application shall also include a summary total budget and a detailed budget by authority. Each authority shall provide a written financial commitment. 3.4. Step 4 – Evaluation of the applications, decision to grant a financial contribution and grant agreements 3.4.1. The EAHC shall evaluate all applications on the basis of the criteria referred to in section 4. 3.4.2. The EAHC may ask for clarifications and for modifications to be made to the application. After the necessary clarifications and amendments, the EAHC will decide on the award of a financial contribution. 3.4.3. The EAHC shall prepare and send to the selected applicants the grant agreements for signature. Such agreements shall be in line with the general terms and conditions applicable to Community grants. 4. EVALUATION CRITERIA 4 To be deemed admissible, a project must meet all the criteria set out below. 4.1. Eligibility criteria 4.1.1. Eligible bodies/organisations Applicant organisations and participating organisations (partners) must be competent authorities or single liaison offices, as communicated to the European Commission by the Member States according to art. 5.1 of Regulation (EC) No 2006/20044 on Consumer Protection Cooperation. The list is published on CIRCA. For projects seeking a maximum of 50 % Community funding, projects must involve competent authorities and single liaison offices of at least five Member States. For projects seeking a maximum of 70% of Community funding, projects must involve: – Competent authorities or single liaison offices from ten or more Member States; – Or, competent authorities or single liaisons offices from only three Member States, where the common activities are proposed by a competent authority or a single liaison office from a Member State (i.e. the applicant authority) which has acceded to the European Union since 1 May 2004. 4.1.2. Eligible countries Applicants and partners must be established in one of the following countries: – the 27 EU Member States, of which the Member States which have acceded to the European Union since 1 May 2004 are: Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Romania and Bulgaria; – the EEA countries within the context of the Agreement on the European Economic Area (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway). 4.1.3. Eligible actions Common activities projects shall: – Improve the effective application of the laws that protect consumers' interest as defined in article 3(a) of Regulation No 2006/2004. – Include one or several of the activities listed in article 16 and 17 of Regulation No 2006/2004 (excepted exchange of officials). 4.2. Selection criteria The selection criteria make it possible to assess the applicant's financial standing and operational capability to complete the proposed work programme. The applicant organisation must have adequate financial resources in order to carry out the proposed programme. 4 OJ L 364 of 9.12.2004, p. 1 5 4.2.1. Financial capacity The applicant authority must provide: – a clear, exhaustive and detailed estimated budget, including a detailed budget from each participating authorities, of the expenses in relation to the corresponding activities carried out by each competent authority or single liaison office taking part in the action. – a declaration concerning the availability of sufficient financial own resources that will cover those expenses not supported by the Community’s contribution 4.2.2. Operational capacity Participants must be the most appropriate competent authorities/single liaison offices in regard to the area covered by the project. 4.3. Award criteria Projects shall be ranked on the basis of the award criteria below. Financial contribution shall be awarded to the highest scoring actions up to available budget. – Relevance of the project to increase the effectiveness of market surveillance and enforcement in the area covered. – Number of Member States participating, above the minimum. – Clarity and quality of the objectives, work plan, organisation and description of the results and benefits expected. – Balanced participation and benefits for the participants in the activities 5. ELIGIBLE COSTS Only the following categories of costs are eligible for a financial contribution5: 5.1. Direct eligible costs – Cost of internal staff6 – Cost of external staff (staff hired for the project) – Cost for travel and subsistence – Cost of equipment (e.g.