This Regulation establishes a programme for improving the functioning of the internal market, the competitiveness and sustainability of enterprises, especially micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, and consumer protection, for the management of expenditure in the area of plants, animals, food and feed, and for the programming and financing framework used for the development, production and dissemination of European statistics within the meaning of Article 13 of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 (Single Market Programme) (the ‘Programme’) for the period from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2027. The duration of the Programme is aligned to the duration of the multiannual financial framework.
This Regulation also lays down the objectives of the Programme and the eligible actions for implementing those objectives, the budget for the period 2021 to 2027, the forms of Union funding and the rules for providing such funding, and the system of governance of the Programme.
For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions apply:
(1)
‘blending operation’ means an action supported by the Union budget, including within a blending facility or platform as defined in Article 2(6) of the Financial Regulation, that combines non-repayable forms of support or financial instruments from the Union budget with repayable forms of support from development or other public finance institutions, as well as from commercial finance institutions and investors;
(2)
‘European statistics’ means statistics developed, produced and disseminated in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 223/2009;
(3)
‘legal entity’ means a natural person, or a legal person created and recognised as such under Union, national or international law, which has legal personality and the capacity to act in its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations, or an entity which does not have legal personality as referred to in Article 197(2)(c) of the Financial Regulation;
(4)
‘micro, small and medium-sized enterprises’ or ‘SMEs’ means micro, small and medium-sized enterprises as defined in Recommendation 2003/361/EC;
(5)
‘clusters and business network organisations’ means structures or organised groups of independent parties in the form of organisations that support the enhancement of collaboration, networking and learning of groups of enterprises that are designed to provide or channel specialised and customised business support services, especially for SMEs, in order to stimulate, inter alia, innovation and internationalisation activities, including by promoting the sharing of facilities and the exchange of knowledge and expertise.
1. The general objectives of the Programme are the following:
(a)
to improve the functioning of the internal market, and especially to protect and empower citizens, consumers and businesses, in particular SMEs, by enforcing Union law, facilitating market access, setting standards and promoting human, animal and plant health and animal welfare, whilst respecting the principles of sustainable development and ensuring a high level of consumer protection, as well as by enhancing cooperation between the competent authorities of Member States and between the competent authorities of Member States and the Commission and the decentralised Union agencies;
(b)
to develop, produce and disseminate high-quality, comparable, timely and reliable European statistics which underpin the design, monitoring and evaluation of all Union policies and help citizens, policymakers, authorities, businesses, academia and the media to make informed decisions and to actively participate in the democratic process.
2. The specific objectives of the Programme are the following:
(a)
making the internal market more effective, inter alia, in the light of the digital transformation, by:
(i)
facilitating the prevention and removal of discriminatory, unjustified or disproportionate obstacles and supporting the development, implementation and enforcement of Union law in the areas of the internal market for goods and services, including by improving the application of the principle of mutual recognition, of public procurement rules, of company law, of contract and extra-contractual law, of anti-money laundering rules, of the free movement of capital and of financial services and competition rules, including by developing user-centric governance tools;
(ii)
supporting effective market surveillance throughout the Union, with a view to ensuring that only safe and compliant products offering a high level of protection of consumers and other end-users are made available on the Union market, including products sold online, as well as with a view to achieving greater homogeneity among, and increasing the capacity of, the market surveillance authorities across the Union;
(b)
strengthening the competitiveness and sustainability of SMEs and achieving additionality at Union level through measures that:
(i)
provide various forms of support to SMEs as well as clusters and business network organisations, including in the tourism sector, thereby fostering the growth, scale-up and creation of SMEs;
(ii)
facilitate access to markets including through the internationalisation of SMEs;
(iii)
promote entrepreneurship and the acquisition of entrepreneurial skills;
(iv)
promote a favourable business environment for SMEs, support the digital transformation of SMEs and promote new business opportunities for SMEs, including those that are social economy enterprises and those with innovative business models;
(v)
support the competitiveness of industrial ecosystems and sectors, as well as the development of industrial value chains;
(vi)
promote the modernisation of industry, contributing to a green, digital and resilient economy;
(c)
ensuring the effective functioning of the internal market through standardisation processes that:
(i)
enable the financing of European standardisation and the participation of all relevant stakeholders in setting up European standards;
(ii)
support the development of high-quality international financial and non-financial reporting and auditing standards, facilitate their integration into the Union law, and promote the innovation and development of best practices in corporate reporting;
(d)
promoting the interests of consumers and ensuring a high level of consumer protection and product safety by:
(i)
in respect of consumers:
—
empowering, assisting and educating consumers, businesses and representatives of civil society in particular concerning consumer’s rights under Union law;
—
ensuring a high level of consumer protection, sustainable consumption and product safety in particular for the most vulnerable consumers in order to enhance fairness, transparency and trust in the internal market;
—
ensuring that the interests of consumers in the digital world are duly taken into consideration;
—
supporting competent enforcement authorities and consumer representative organisations and actions which enhance the cooperation between competent authorities, with particular emphasis on issues raised by existing and emerging technologies;
—
contributing to improving the quality and availability of standards across the Union; efficiently addressing unfair commercial practices;
—
ensuring that all consumers have access to efficient redress mechanisms and are provided with adequate information on markets and consumers rights, and promoting sustainable consumption, in particular through raising awareness about specific characteristics and the environmental impact of goods and services;
(ii)
in respect of consumers and other financial services end-users:
—
enhancing the participation of consumers, other financial services end-users and representatives of civil society in financial services policy-making;
—
promoting a better understanding of the financial sector and of the different categories of commercialised financial products;
—
ensuring that the interests of consumers in the area of retail financial services are protected;
(e)
contributing to a high level of health and safety for humans, animals and plants in plant, animal, food and feed areas, inter alia, by preventing, detecting and eradicating animal diseases and plant pests, including by means of emergency measures that are taken in the event of large-scale crisis situations and unforeseeable events affecting animal or plant health, and by supporting the improvement of the welfare of animals, the fight against antimicrobial resistance and the development of sustainable food production and consumption, as well as by stimulating the exchange of best practices between stakeholders in those fields;
(f)
developing, producing, disseminating and communicating high-quality European statistics in line with the quality criteria laid down in Article 12(1) of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009, in a timely, impartial and cost-efficient manner, through a strengthened European Statistical System, referred to in Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009, and enhanced partnerships within that system and with all relevant external parties, using multiple data sources, advanced data analytics methods, smart systems and digital technologies, and providing a national and, where possible, regional breakdown.
1. The financial envelope for the implementation of the Programme for the period from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2027 shall be EUR 4 208 041 000 in current prices.
2. Within the amount referred to in paragraph 1 the following indicative amounts shall be allocated to the following objectives:
(a)
EUR 451 569 500 to the objective referred to in Article 3(2)(a)(i);
(b)
EUR 105 461 000 to the objective referred to in Article 3(2)(a)(ii);
(c)
EUR 1 000 000 000 to the objective referred to in Article 3(2)(b);
(d)
EUR 220 510 500 to the objective referred to in Article 3(2)(c);
(e)
EUR 198 500 000 to the objective referred to in Article 3(2)(d);
(f)
EUR 1 680 000 000 to the objective referred to in Article 3(2)(e);
(g)
EUR 552 000 000 to the objective referred to in Article 3(2)(f).
3. The amount referred to in paragraph 1 may be used for technical and administrative assistance for the implementation of the Programme, concerning in particular preparatory, monitoring, control, audit and evaluation activities, the use of information technology networks focusing on information processing and exchange, and the use and development of corporate information technology tools. In order to ensure maximum availability of the Programme to finance actions covered by the objectives of the Programme, the total costs of administrative and technical support shall not exceed 5 % of the value of the financial envelope referred to in paragraph 1.
4. Budgetary commitments extending over more than one financial year may be broken down over several years into annual instalments.
5. By way of derogation from Article 111(2) of the Financial Regulation, the Commission shall make the budgetary commitment for the grant awarded for veterinary and phytosanitary emergency measures under the specific objective referred to in Article 3(2)(e) of this Regulation after the payment applications submitted by Member States have been assessed.
6. Resources allocated to Member States under shared management may, at the request of the Member State concerned, be transferred to the Programme subject to the conditions set out in Article 26 of a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down common provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund Plus, the Cohesion Fund, the Just Transition Fund and the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund and financial rules for those and for the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund, the Internal Security Fund and the Instrument for Financial Support for Border Management and Visa Policy (the ‘Common Provisions Regulation for 2021-2027’). The Commission shall implement those resources directly in accordance with Article 62(1), first subparagraph, point (a) of the Financial Regulation or indirectly in accordance with Article 62(1), first subparagraph, point (c) of that Regulation. Those resources shall be used for the benefit of the Member State concerned.
7. Where the Commission has not entered into a legal commitment under direct or indirect management for resources transferred in accordance with paragraph 6 of this Article, the corresponding uncommitted resources may be transferred back to the Fund from which they have been initially transferred, at the request of the Member State, in accordance with the conditions set out in Article 26 of the Common Provisions Regulation for 2021-2027.
The Programme shall be open to the participation of the following third countries:
(a)
members of the European Free Trade Association which are members of the European Economic Area, in accordance with the conditions laid down in the Agreement on the European Economic Area;
(b)
acceding countries, candidate countries and potential candidates, in accordance with the general principles and general terms and conditions for the participation of those countries in Union programmes established in the respective framework agreements and Association Council decisions, or in similar agreements, and in accordance with the specific conditions laid down in agreements between the Union and those countries;
(c)
European Neighbourhood Policy countries, in accordance with the general principles and general terms and conditions for the participation of those countries in Union programmes established in the respective framework agreements and Association Council decisions or in similar agreements, and in accordance with the specific conditions laid down in agreements between the Union and those countries;
(d)
other third countries, in accordance with the conditions laid down in a specific agreement covering the participation of the third country to any Union programme, provided that the agreement:
(i)
ensures a fair balance as regards the contributions and benefits of the third country participating in the Union programmes;
(ii)
lays down the conditions of participation in the programmes, including the calculation of financial contributions to individual programmes, and their administrative costs;
(iii)
does not confer on the third country any decision-making power in respect of the Union programme;
(iv)
guarantees the rights of the Union to ensure sound financial management and to protect its financial interests.
The contributions referred to in point (d)(ii) of the first paragraph shall constitute assigned revenues in accordance with Article 21(5) of the Financial Regulation.
1. The Programme shall be implemented under direct management in accordance with the Financial Regulation or under indirect management with bodies referred to in Article 62(1), first subparagraph, point (c) of that Regulation.
2. The Programme may provide funding in any of the forms laid down in the Financial Regulation, and in particular by way of grants, prizes and procurement. It may also provide financing in the form of financial instruments within blending operations.
3. Contributions to a mutual insurance mechanism may cover the risk associated with the recovery of funds due by recipients and shall be considered as sufficient guarantee under the Financial Regulation. The provisions laid down in Article 37(7) of Regulation (EU) 2021/695 shall apply.
