Grants
1. Grants under the Programme shall be awarded and managed in accordance with Title VIII of the Financial Regulation.
2. In order to ensure that applications are properly evaluated, members of evaluation committees may be external experts. External experts shall have a professional background related to the field assessed and, where relevant, knowledge of the geographical area concerned by the application.
3. In accordance with point (a) of the second subparagraph of Article 193(2) of the Financial Regulation, and by way of derogation from Article 193(4) of that Regulation, in duly justified cases specified in the financing decision, activities supported under this Regulation and the underlying costs incurred in 2021 may be considered eligible as of 1 January 2021 even if those activities were implemented and those costs were incurred before the grant application was submitted. The grant agreements for the operating grants of the 2021 financial year may exceptionally be signed within six months of the start of the beneficiary’s financial year.
4. Where applicable, the Programme actions shall set out appropriate criteria to achieve gender equality.
Eligible entities
1. The eligibility criteria set out in this Article shall apply in addition to the criteria set out in Article 197 of the Financial Regulation.
2. The following entities are eligible to participate in the Programme if they are active in cultural and creative sectors:
(a)
legal entities established in:
(i)
a Member State or an overseas country or territory linked to that Member State;
(ii)
a third country associated to the Programme; or
(iii)
a third country listed in the work programme, subject to the conditions set out in paragraphs 3 and 4;
(b)
legal entities created under Union law;
(c)
international organisations.
3. Legal entities active in the cultural and creative sectors established in a third country which is not associated to the Programme shall exceptionally be eligible to participate in the Programme where such participation is necessary for the achievement of the objectives of a given action.
4. Legal entities active in the cultural and creative sectors established in a third country which is not associated to the Programme shall in principle bear the cost of their participation. Where it is in the Union’s interest, additional contributions from the external financing instruments in accordance with Article 8(6) may cover the costs of the participation of such legal entities.
