Criteria for financial contributions to joint actions under the second programme of Community action in the field of health (2008-2013)
ANNEX IVSupplementary provisions
ANNEX IV Criteria for financial contributions to joint actions under the second programme of Community action in the field of health (2008-2013) Decision No 1350/2007/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, Article 4(3) 1. EXCLUSION AND ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA Joint actions may be implemented with public bodies or non-governmental bodies: — which are non-profit making and independent of industry, commercial and business or other conflicting interests, — which pursue as their primary goal one or more objectives of the Programme, — which do not pursue general objectives directly or indirectly contrary to the policies of the European Union or associated with an inadequate image, — which have provided to the Commission satisfactory accounts of their membership, internal rules and sources of funding, — which are not in any of the situations of exclusion listed in Articles 93 and 94 of the Financial Regulation. The criterion ‘independent from industry, commercial and business or other conflicting interest’ refers to three aspects all of which the applicant organisation has to meet: Legal independence: Two legal entities shall be regarded as independent of each other where neither is under the direct or indirect control of the other or under the same direct or indirect control of a third entity as the other. Control may in particular take either of the following forms: (a) The direct or indirect holding of more than 50 % of the nominal value of the issued share capital in the legal entity concerned, or of a majority of the voting rights of the shareholders or associates of that entity; (b) The direct or indirect holding of decision-making powers, in fact or in law, in the legal entity concerned. However, the following relationships between legal entities shall not in themselves be deemed to constitute controlling relationships: (c) The direct or indirect holding of more than 50 % of the nominal value of the issued share capital of the applicant organisation or a majority of voting rights of the shareholders or associates of the legal entities is held by the same public body; (d) The legal entities concerned are owned or supervised by the same public body. Financial independence: As a general rule, applicant organisations receiving more than 20 % of their funding from the private sector ( 1 ) or other conflicting interest for their functioning (core funding) shall be considered as financially dependent. Transparency of the applicant's activities and funding: All activities should be published in the applicant's annual report ( 2 ) . Applicants working with private sector actors regarded ineligible for example by the nature of their activity which is incompatible with the basic principles of the European Union as stated in Article 2 and 3 of the EC Treaty, can be considered unacceptable. (a) All information on funding is to be made available to the public via the applicant's website, broken down by type (core and project funding, contribution in kind) and by funding entity. (b) Applicant's existing position statements regarding their requirement on transparency are to be publicly available. 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. Applicants must have the professional resources, competences and qualifications required to complete the proposed action. Applicants must have adequate financial resources to maintain their activity throughout the period during which the activity is being carried out and to participate in its co-funding. Each applicant must provide: — A clear, exhaustive and well detailed estimated budget of the expenses in relation to the corresponding activities carried out by each body taking part in the joint project. — A copy of the annual accounts for the last financial year for which the accounts have been closed preceding the submission of the application (for non-profit bodies other than public bodies). 3. AWARD CRITERIA Only joint actions which have met the requirements of the exclusion and selection criteria will be eligible for further evaluation on the basis of the following award criteria. 1. Policy and contextual relevance of the project (40 points, threshold: 20 points) (a) Joint action's contribution to meeting the objectives and priorities of the second Health Programme, as defined in the Work Plan for 2010 (8 points); (b) Strategic relevance in terms of relevance to the EU Health Strategy ( 3 ) and in terms of expected contribution to the existing knowledge and implications for health (8 points); (c) Added value at European level in the field of public health (8 points): — impact on target groups, long term effect and potential multiplier effects such as replicable, transferable and sustainable activities, — contribution to, complementarity, synergy and compatibility with relevant EU policies and other programmes. (d) Pertinence of the geographical coverage (8 points) Applicants must ensure that a geographical coverage of the action is appropriate with regard to its objectives, explaining the role of the eligible countries as partners and the relevance of the action resources or target populations they represent. Proposals with national or sub-national dimension (i.e. which involve only one eligible country or a region of a country) will be rejected. (e) Adequacy of the joint action with social, cultural and political context (8 points) Applicants must relate the action to the situation of the countries or specific areas involved, ensuring the compatibility of envisaged activities with the culture and views of the target groups. 2. Technical quality of the joint action (30 points, threshold: 15 points) (a) Evidence base (6 points) Applicants must include a problem analysis and clearly describe the factors, the impact, the effectiveness and applicability of measures proposed. (b) Content specification (6 points) Applicants must clearly describe the aims and objectives, target groups, including relevant geographical factors, methods, anticipated effects and outcomes; (c) Innovative nature, technical complementarity and avoidance of duplication of other existing actions at EU level (6 points) Applicants must clearly identify the progress the joint action intends to accomplish within the field in relation with the state of the art and ensure that there will be neither inappropriate duplication nor overlap, whether partial or total, between projects and activities already carried out at European and international level. (d) Evaluation strategy (6 points) Applicants must clearly explain the kind and adequacy of methods proposed and indicators chosen. (e) Dissemination strategy (6 points) Applicants must clearly illustrate the adequacy of the envisaged strategy and methodology proposed to ensure transferability of results and sustainability of the dissemination. 3. Management quality of the joint action and budget (30 points, threshold: 15 points) (a) Planning and organisation of the joint action (5 points) Applicants must describe the activities to be undertaken, timetable and milestones, deliverables, nature and distribution of tasks, and risk analysis. (b) Organisational capacity (5 points) Applicants must describe the management structure, competency of staff, responsibilities, internal communication, decision making, monitoring and supervision; (c) Quality of partnership (5 points) Applicants must describe the partnerships envisaged in terms of extensiveness, roles and responsibilities, relationships among the different partners, synergy and complementarity of the various project partners and network structure. (d) Communication strategy (5 points) Applicants must describe the communication strategy in terms of planning, target groups, adequacy of channels used and visibility of Community co-funding. (e) Overall and detailed budget, including financial management (10 points, threshold: 5 points) Applicants must ensure that the budget is relevant, appropriate, balanced and consistent in itself, between partners and in relation to the specific objectives of the joint action. The budget should be distributed within partners at a minimum reasonable level, avoiding excessive fragmentation. Applicants must describe the financial circuits, responsibilities, reporting procedures and controls. Any proposal failing to achieve the threshold will be rejected. ( 1 ) The term ‘private sector’ covers ‘for-profit’ companies/enterprises/corporations, business organisations or other entities irrespective of their legal nature (registered/not registered), ownership (wholly or partially privately owned/state owned) or size (large/small), if they are not controlled by the public. ( 2 ) Collaborators in a position that could lead to a conflict of interest (Article 52 of the Financial Regulation and Article 34 of the Implementing Rules) shall be listed. ( 3 ) COM(2007) 630 final; http://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_overview/strategy/health_strategy_en.htm