Ethics
Article 7
1. Actions carried out under the Fund shall comply with relevant Union, national and international law, including the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. Moreover, those actions shall comply with ethical principles also reflected in relevant Union, national and international law. 2. Before the signature of a funding agreement, proposals shall be screened by the Commission on the basis of an ethics self-assessment prepared by the consortium, in order to identify those that raise serious ethical issues, including with regard to conditions under which the activities are to be carried out. Where appropriate, such proposals shall be subject to an ethics assessment. Ethics screening and assessment shall be carried out by the Commission with the support of independent experts appointed in accordance with Article 26. Those independent experts shall have a variety of backgrounds, in particular recognised expertise in defence ethics, and shall be nationals of as broad a range of Member States as possible. The conditions under which the activities with ethically sensitive issues are to be carried out shall be specified in the funding agreement. The Commission shall ensure that the ethics procedures are as transparent as possible and shall include them in its interim evaluation report in accordance with Article 29. 3. Legal entities participating in the action shall obtain all relevant approvals, or other documents required by national or local ethics committees and other bodies such as data protection authorities, before the start of the relevant activities. Those approvals and other documents shall be kept and provided to the Commission upon request. 4. Proposals which are considered not to be ethically acceptable shall be rejected.