Objectives and measures
The support granted under Article 43 of the basic Regulation shall be for:
(a)
implementing local development strategies as referred to in Article 45(2) of the basic Regulation and Article 24 of this Regulation with a view to achieving the objectives referred to in Article 43(2)(a), (b) and (c) of the basic Regulation and through the eligible measures provided for in Article 44(1)(a) to (g), (i) and (j) and Article 44(2) and (3) of that Regulation;
(b)
implementing inter-regional and trans-national cooperation among the groups in fisheries areas as referred to in Article 44(1)(h) of the basic Regulation, mainly through networking and disseminating best practices with a view to achieving the objective referred to in Article 43(2)(d) of that Regulation.
Geographical application of Priority axis 4
1. The operational programme shall specify the procedures and the criteria for selecting the fisheries areas. Member States shall decide how they will apply Articles 43(3) and (4) of the basic Regulation.
2. The fisheries areas selected do not necessarily have to coincide with a national administrative area or with zones established for the purposes of eligibility under the objectives of the Structural Funds.
Procedures and criteria for selecting the groups
1. A group, as referred to in Article 45(1) of the basic Regulation, shall be composed in such a way that it is able to draw up and implement a development strategy in the area concerned.
The relevance and effectiveness of the partnership shall be assessed on the basis its composition, as well as its transparency and clarity in the allocation of tasks and responsibilities.
The capacity of the partners to carry out the tasks assigned to them and the effectiveness and decision-making shall be guaranteed.
The partnership shall comprise, including at the decision-making level, representatives of the fisheries sector and of other relevant local socio-economic sectors.
2. The administrative capacity of the group shall be considered adequate where the group:
(a)
either selects from the partnership, one partner as the administrative leader who will guarantee the satisfactory operation of the partnership;
or
(b)
comes together in a legally constituted common structure, the formal constitution of which guarantees the satisfactory operation of the partnership.
3. If the group is entrusted with the administration of public funds, its financial capacity shall be assessed:
(a)
with regard to paragraph 2(a), in terms of the ability of the administrative leader to administer the funds;
(b)
with regard to paragraph 2(b), in terms of the ability of the common structure to administer the funds.
4. The groups for the implementation of local development strategies shall be selected no later than four years from the date of the approval of the operational programme. Longer time limits may be granted where the managing authority organises more than one selection procedure for the groups.
5. The operational programme shall specify:
(a)
the procedures and the criteria for selecting the groups, as well as the number of groups that the Member State intends to select; the selection criteria referred to in Article 45 of the basic Regulation and in this Article shall constitute a minimum and may be supplemented by specific national criteria; the procedures shall be transparent, provide adequate publicity and ensure competition where applicable, between the groups putting forward local development strategies;
(b)
the management arrangements and the procedures for the mobilisation and circulation of financial flows as far as the beneficiary; it shall describe in particular how the groups are integrated into the management, monitoring and control systems.
Local development strategy
The local development strategy proposed by the group in accordance with Article 45(2) of the basic Regulation shall:
(a)
be integrated and be based on interaction between actors, sectors and operations and go beyond a mere collection of operations or a juxtaposition of sectoral measures;
(b)
be consistent with the needs of the fisheries area particularly in socio-economic terms;
(c)
prove its sustainability;
(d)
be complementary to other interventions made in the area concerned.
Implementing local development Strategy
1. Notwithstanding Article 45(2) of the basic Regulation, the group shall choose the operations to be financed under the local development strategy.
2. If the group is entrusted with the administration of public funds, it shall create a separate account for the implementation of the local development strategy.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
