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Subject matter
1. This Regulation establishes a Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP) to support critical and emerging strategic technologies and their respective value chains in relevant sectors. 2. This Regulation lays down the objectives of the STEP, the amount of financial support available under the STEP, and rules for the implementation of the Sovereignty Seal and Sovereignty Portal as well as for reporting on the STEP objectives.
STEP objectives
1. In order to ensure Union sovereignty and security, reduce the Union’s strategic dependencies in strategic sectors, strengthen the Union’s competitiveness by strengthening its resilience and productivity and by mobilising financing, favour a level playing field for investments in the internal market, foster cross-border participation, including of SMEs, strengthen economic, social and territorial cohesion and solidarity among Member States and regions and promote inclusive access to attractive quality jobs by investing in the skills of the future and making its economic, industrial and technological base fit for the green and digital transitions, the STEP shall pursue the following objectives: (a) supporting the development or manufacturing of critical technologies throughout the Union, or safeguarding and strengthening their respective value chains as referred to in paragraph 3, in the following sectors: (i) digital technologies, including those contributing to the targets and objectives of the Digital Decade Policy Programme 2030, multi-country projects as defined in Article 2, point (2), of Decision (EU) 2022/2481, and deep tech innovation; (ii) clean and resource efficient technologies, including net-zero technologies as defined in the Net-Zero Industry Act; (iii) biotechnologies, including medicinal products on the Union list of critical medicines and their components; (b) addressing shortages of labour and skills critical to all kinds of quality jobs in support of the objective set out in point (a), in particular through life-long learning, education and training projects, including the European Net-Zero Industry Academies established pursuant to the relevant provision of the Net-Zero Industry Act, and in close cooperation with social partners and education and training initiatives already in place. 2. The technologies referred to in paragraph 1, point (a), shall be deemed critical where they meet either of the following conditions: (a) they bring to the internal market an innovative, emerging and cutting-edge element with significant economic potential; (b) they contribute to reducing or preventing strategic dependencies of the Union. 3. The value chain for the development or manufacturing of critical technologies referred to in paragraph 1, point (a), of this Article relates to final products, as well as to specific components and specific machinery primarily used for the production of the final products and critical raw materials set out in an annex to the Critical Raw Materials Act, and to associated services critical for and specific to the development or manufacturing of those final products. By way of derogation from the first subparagraph of this paragraph, the value chain for the development or manufacturing of technologies that fall within the scope of the Net-Zero Industry Act and that are technologies referred to in paragraph 1, point (a)(ii) of this Article, relates to final products, as well as to specific components and specific machinery primarily used for the production of the final products, as defined in the Net-Zero Industry Act and to associated services critical for and specific to the development or manufacturing of those final products. 4. Strategic projects recognised in accordance with the relevant provision of the Net-Zero Industry Act that comply with the criteria on resilience or the criteria on competitiveness of the Net-Zero Industry Act shall be deemed to contribute to the STEP objective referred to in paragraph 1, point (a)(ii). 5. Strategic projects recognised in accordance with the relevant provision of the Critical Raw Materials Act shall be deemed to contribute to the STEP objective referred to in paragraph 1, point (a). 6. Where an important project of common European interest (IPCEI) approved by the Commission pursuant to Article 107(3), point (b), TFEU relates to any of the technology referred to in paragraph 1, point (a), of this Article, the relevant technologies shall be deemed critical. 7. By 2 May 2024, the Commission shall issue guidance on how the technologies in the sectors referred to in paragraph 1, point (a), of this Article can be considered critical as well as on how to meet the conditions set out in paragraph 2 of this Article. In that guidance the Commission shall clarify the notion of value chain and associated services critical for and specific to the development or manufacturing of the final products referred to in paragraph 3 of this Article. That guidance shall be reviewed, where appropriate, in light of the interim evaluation report referred to in Article 8.
Financial support
1. Financial support for the implementation of the STEP shall be provided from existing Union programmes. 2. To reinforce the ability to achieve the STEP objectives, an amount of EUR 1 500 000 000 in current prices of the financial envelope referred to in Article 4(1) of Regulation (EU) 2021/697 shall support the implementation of the STEP. That amount shall be implemented in accordance with that Regulation and shall be used with the aim of achieving the STEP objectives.
Sovereignty Seal, combined and cumulative funding
1. The Commission shall award a Sovereignty Seal to any project contributing to any of the STEP objectives, provided that the project has been assessed and complies with minimum quality requirements, in particular eligibility, exclusion and award criteria, provided for in a call for proposals under Regulation (EU) 2021/522, (EU) 2021/694, (EU) 2021/695, or (EU) 2021/697, or under Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/856 ( 27 ) . 2. A call for proposals as referred to in paragraph 1 may include geographical limitations and shall, where appropriate, in accordance with the relevant sector-specific Union legislation, include obligations to respect working and employment conditions under applicable Union and national law, International Labour Organization conventions and collective agreements. 3. The Sovereignty Seal shall be used as a quality label, in particular for the purposes of: (a) receiving support for the project under another Union programme in accordance with the rules applicable to that programme; or (b) financing the project through cumulative or combined funding with another Union instrument in accordance with the rules applicable to those instruments. 4. When revising their recovery and resilience plans in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2021/241, Member States shall, without prejudice to the provisions of that Regulation, consider as priority projects those projects that have been awarded a Sovereignty Seal pursuant to paragraph 1 of this Article. 5. When deciding on investment projects to finance from their respective shares of the Modernisation Fund in accordance with Article 10d of Directive 2003/87/EC, Member States may consider as priority projects for critical clean and resource-efficient technologies those projects that have been awarded a Sovereignty Seal in accordance with paragraph 1 of this Article. In addition, Member States may decide to grant national support to projects that have been awarded a Sovereignty Seal and contribute to the STEP objective referred to in Article 2(1), point (a)(ii), of this Regulation. 6. In accordance with Regulation (EU) 2021/523, the Sovereignty Seal shall be taken into account in the context of the procedure provided for in Article 19 of the EIB Statute and of the policy check laid down in Article 23(3) of that Regulation. In addition, the implementing partners shall examine in a timely manner projects that have been awarded the Sovereignty Seal where they fall within their geographic and activity scope as laid down in Article 26(5) of Regulation (EU) 2021/523. 7. Strategic projects recognised in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Net-Zero Industry Act and the Critical Raw Materials Act that fall within the scope of Article 2 of this Regulation and that receive a contribution under the programmes referred to in Article 3 of this Regulation may also receive a contribution from any other Union programme, including funds under shared management, provided that those contributions do not cover the same costs. The rules of the relevant Union programme shall apply to the corresponding contribution to the strategic project. The cumulative funding shall not exceed the total eligible costs of the strategic project. The support from the different Union programmes may be calculated on a pro rata basis in accordance with the documents setting out the conditions for support. 8. The award of a Sovereignty Seal and the provision of cumulative funding shall be without prejudice to applicable State aid rules and to the Union’s international obligations. 9. The Sovereignty Seal shall be valid for the period of implementation of the project to which it was awarded and shall cease to be valid if that project has not started within five years of the award, or the project has been relocated outside the Union.
Implementation of the STEP
In order to implement the STEP, the Commission shall, in particular: (a) promote the Sovereignty Seal referred to in Article 4(1), in particular to enhance the visibility of projects that have been awarded the Sovereignty Seal and of projects that have received funding under the ERDF, the Cohesion Fund, the ESF+ or the JTF; (b) set up and manage the Sovereignty Portal referred to in Article 6, in particular to bring all Union funding opportunities closer to potential beneficiaries and enhance transparency towards Union citizens; (c) liaise with national competent authorities designated in accordance with Article 6(4), and other relevant stakeholders, with a view to coordinating and exchanging information about the financial needs, existing bottlenecks and best practices in access to funding within the scope of this Regulation; (d) foster contacts across the sectors of the technologies referred to in Article 2, making particular use of existing industrial alliances, networks and structures, including the Net-Zero Europe Platform established by the Net-Zero Industry Act and the European Critical Raw Materials Board established by the Critical Raw Materials Act; (e) promote consistency, coherence, synergy and complementarity among Union programmes to support projects contributing to the STEP objectives.
Sovereignty Portal
1. The Commission shall set up a dedicated publicly available website (the ‘Sovereignty Portal’), providing information about funding opportunities for projects linked to the STEP objectives and enhancing the visibility of those projects, in particular by displaying the following information: (a) information about Union programmes within the scope of this Regulation and ongoing and upcoming calls for proposals and calls for tenders linked to the STEP objectives under those respective programmes; (b) details of projects that have been awarded a Sovereignty Seal in accordance with Article 4; (c) details of projects that have been recognised as strategic projects under the Net-Zero Industry Act and the Critical Raw Materials Act, to the extent that they fall within the scope of Article 2 of this Regulation; (d) details of projects supporting the STEP objectives that have been selected for support under the ERDF, the Cohesion Fund, the ESF+ or the JTF, to the extent that they have been communicated to the Commission in accordance with paragraph 5 of this Article; (e) contacts of the national competent authorities designated in accordance with paragraph 4. 2. The Sovereignty Portal shall also display information about the implementation of the STEP and information in relation to Union budget expenditure as referred to in Article 7, as well as information about the performance indicators defined under the respective programmes. 3. The Sovereignty Portal shall be launched on 1 March 2024 and shall be updated by the Commission on a regular basis. 4. By 2 June 2024, each Member State shall designate a single national competent authority to act as its main point of contact for the implementation of the STEP at national level. 5. Where available, the national competent authorities referred to in paragraph 4 of this Article shall communicate details of projects supporting the STEP objectives that have been selected for support under the ERDF, the Cohesion Fund, the ESF+ or the JTF to the Commission for display on the Sovereignty Portal.
Monitoring and annual reporting
1. The Commission shall monitor the implementation of the STEP and measure the achievement of the STEP objectives, on the basis of the monitoring frameworks of the Union programmes referred to in Article 3. The monitoring of the implementation shall be targeted and proportionate to the activities carried out under the STEP. 2. The Commission shall ensure that data for monitoring the implementation of the activities carried out under the STEP are collected efficiently, effectively and in a timely manner. To that end, recipients of Union funding shall contribute with data for monitoring based on existing reporting requirements, where necessary and in a proportionate manner. 3. The Commission shall submit an annual report to the European Parliament and to the Council on the implementation of the STEP and shall make that report publicly available. 4. The annual report shall include consolidated information on the progress made in the implementation of the STEP objectives under each of the programmes referred to in Article 3, including, where available, qualitative and quantitative information on the STEP’s support per Member State and on cross-border projects. 5. The annual report shall also include the following information: (a) overall expenditure of the STEP broken down by programme; (b) the performance of the STEP based on the performance indicators defined in the respective programmes; (c) an overview of the contribution of the STEP to the Union’s strategic objectives in ensuring long-term competitiveness; (d) an analysis of the geographical and technological distribution of the projects that have been awarded the Sovereignty Seal.
Evaluation of the STEP
1. By 31 December 2025, the Commission shall provide the European Parliament and the Council with an interim evaluation report on the implementation of the STEP, for the purpose of informing future decision-making. 2. The interim evaluation report shall, in particular, assess to which extent the objectives of the STEP have been achieved, the efficiency of the use of the resources and its European added value. The interim evaluation report shall also: (a) provide an overview of the Union regions for which the cohesion programmes have been amended in compliance with the partnership principle; (b) consider the relevance of the STEP objectives and actions, including the critical technologies supported by the STEP; (c) assess the feasibility of providing information on Union programmes in a single Union portal, to bring all Union funding opportunities closer to potential beneficiaries and enhance their transparency towards Union citizens; and (d) assess the feasibility of setting up a simulator to provide project promoters, especially SMEs, with guidance on the Union funding opportunities for which their particular project might be eligible. 3. Where appropriate, the interim evaluation report shall be accompanied by a legislative proposal for an amendment of this Regulation with the aim of reducing the Union’s strategic dependencies and strengthening Union industrial policy, while ensuring the proper functioning of the internal market, avoiding market distortions and creating a level playing field in the Union, or by legislative proposals for other initiatives that pursue similar objectives. 4. At the end of the implementation of the Union programmes by which the STEP is financially supported, but no later than 31 December 2031, the Commission shall provide the European Parliament and the Council with a final evaluation report on the implementation of the STEP, building on all elements included in the interim evaluation report and summarising the elements provided in the annual reports referred to in Article 7.
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