Joint Operational Programme

Black Sea Basin

2014-2020

Draft Guidelines for Grant Applicants

Varna, Bulgaria

1st of November 2016

Programme objectives and priorities

Eligible area 2014-2020

Bulgaria: NUTS II regions of Severoiztochen, Yugoiztochen;

Grecia: NUTS II regions of Kentriki Makedonia, Anatoliki Makedonia Thraki;

Romania: NUTS II region of South-East;

Turcia: NUTS II equivalent regions of TR10 (İstanbul), TR21 (Tekirdağ,

Edirne, Kırklareli), TR42 (Kocaeli, Sakarya, Düzce, Bolu, Yalova), TR81

(Zonguldak, Karabük, Bartın), TR82 (Kastamonu, Çankırı, Sinop), TR83

(Samsun, Tokat, Çorum, Amasya) and TR90 (Trabzon, Ordu, Giresun, Rize,

Artvin, Gümüşhane);

Ucraina*: Odesa, Mykolaiv, Kherson, Zaporosh’ye and Donetsk Oblasts,

Crimea Republic, Sevastopol;

Rep. Moldova, Georgia, Armenia: the whole country.

*General EU restrictions on cooperation in Crimeea and Sevastopol regions are

applicable to CBC, as provided for in the ENI CBC Programming document

Type of projects

• Integrated projects each beneficiary implements a

part of the activities of the project on its own

territory;

• Symmetrical projects similar activities are

implemented in parallel in the participating countries;

• Single-country projects projects are implemented

mainly or entirely in one of the participating countries

but for the benefit of all or some of the participating

countries and where cross-border impacts and benefits

are identified.

Notice regarding the 1st Call for

proposals

Launched under suspension clause linked to

the signing of the Financing Agreement

between EC and CBC Partner Countries

(including Turkey) by 31 December 2016 –

art.16 (3) ENI CBC IR;

Contracts signature conditioned by the

designation of the Managing Authority

(compliance of the management and

control systems necessary for the

programme implementation with the

designation criteria) – art 16+25 ENI CBC IR.

Overarching criteria for projects

When preparing the project application, pay

particular attention to:

Cross border relevance of the project;

Partnership relevance

Sustainability

Knowledge

Synergies and complementarities with

other actions/ strategies /initiatives

Eligibility criteria

There are three sets of

eligibility criteria, relating to:

• Applicants;

• Activities;

• Types of costs/expenditure.

In order to be eligible, Lead Partners and Project Partners must be:

a) Regional, local public authority or, if necessary for the project

purpose, national public authority

E.g.: regional/county council, local council, municipality, ministry (if

necessary)

b) Bodies governed by public law

E.g.: state/regional owned institute, universities and educational

institutions, tourism and regional development agencies, cultural and

archaeological associations/institutions, nature parks and protected

areas management bodies, research institutes, etc.;

c) Non-profit organisations

E.g.: associations, unions, foundations, local action groups in the fields

of agriculture/rural development, fisheries and aquaculture, Euro

regions, European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation, chambers of

commerce, etc.

ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS – Legal status

Lead Partners and Project Partners must be legal

entities effectively established (registered and located)

in the eligible area of the programme – art 45.3.a/ENI

CBC IR

Compared to BSB JOP 2007-2013, legal entities

established outside programme area - NOT ELIGIBLE

under any circumstances.

ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS - Geographical location

• must have the necessary competences, experience andknowledge in the field of action they are applying for;

IMPORTANT! – Lack of ccompetences in the thematic fieldconcerned rejection of Lead Partner/Project Partnersduring eligibility check

• must have a proven technical, financial and operationalcapacity to manage the proposed project and ensure a soundfinancial management;

• must ensure that the representatives in the projectmanagement team are available throughout the entire projectimplementation period;

• have stable and sufficient financing sources to ensure thecontinuity of the operation of their organization throughoutthe project and to cover the share of co-financing and/or ofthe ineligible expenditure;

ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS –

Professional and Financial capacity

INELIGIBLE APPLICANTS

Political Parties

Profit making entities from the private or public

sector

Natural persons

Organisations representing religious cults

Organisations which are not effectively

established in the eligible area

International organizations

Partnership

Maximum - 6 partners including the Lead Partner

Minimum - 3 partners from different countries

Requirements:

Lead Partner and Project partners - from at least one of the participating EU

Member States and one of the participating CBC partner countries.

Participation of Turkish partners – in projects with at least one partner from

a participating EU Member State and one partner from another participating

CBC partner country.

The project Lead Partner may be from any of the participating countries.

The Lead Partner may submit more than one application under this Call

Maximum two grants for a Lead Partner, one per each Specific Objective

A Lead Partner/Project partner – may be partner in other applications

Associate Partners – not eligible

ELIGIBILITY OF ACTIVITIES

Implemented in the programme eligible area;

May be partially implemented outside the programme

area, only if:

It is necessary for achieving the programme objective and it

benefits the programme area, and

Costs of activities outside the programme area are limited to 15%

of the EU contribution at project level – art 39.2 /ENI CBC IR

Project duration

Minimum 18 months

Maximum 30 months

Could be small scale investments – maximum 500.000

Euro

INELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES

Profit generating activities;

Activities that create an economic advantage for the Lead Partner/Project

Partner, which acts as an undertaking in sense of state aid rules;

Activities related to the tobacco industry, production of alcoholic distilled

beverages (excluding local and traditional products), fire arms and

munitions;

Activities with provisions for financing the usual management activities of

the local organizations;

Activities that started before the submission of the grant application;

Activities linked to political parties;

Charitable donations;

Commercial activities;

Activities covered by other public funds;

Activities without a real cross-border impact;

Small scale investments outside the programme area, etc.

ELIGIBLE COSTS

Direct Costs – art. 48 ENI CBC IR

- incurred during project implementation;

- indicated in the estimated overall project budget;

- must be necessary for the implementation of the project;

- must be identifiable and verifiable;

- must be reasonable, justified and comply with the requirements of

sound financial management;

- comply with the requirements of applicable tax and social legislation;

- are supported by invoices or documents of equivalent probative value

VAT – eligible if non-recoverable from other sources under national

VAT legislation

ELIGIBLE COSTS

INDIRECT COSTS (office and administrative costs)

- Fix percentage calculated based on a pre-defined method -

maximum 7% of the total amount of eligible direct costs of the

project- art 51 ENI CBC IR;

- Not included or claimed under other budget line;

- Calculation method - included in the Guidelines for Grant

Applicants;

INELIGIBLE COSTS

• contributions in kind;

• debts and debt service charges (interest);

• provisions for losses or liabilities;

• costs declared by the Lead Beneficiary/beneficiary and already

financed by the European Union budget;

• exchange-rate losses;

• duties, taxes and charges, including VAT, except where non-

recoverable under the national tax legislation, unless otherwise

provided in appropriate provisions negotiated with CBC partner

countries;

• loans to third parties;

• fines, financial penalties and expenses of litigation;

• purchases of land or buildings;

• used equipment.

FINANCIAL ALLOCATION

FOR THE 1ST CALL

Priority EU funding %

Thematic Objective (TO) 1 11 284 294,66 57.41%

Priority 1.1 7 899 006,26 70%

Priority 1.2 3 385 288,40 30%

Thematic Objective (TO) 2 8 371 330,94 42.59%

Priority 2.1 4 185 665,47 50%

Priority 2.2 4 185 665,47 50%

TOTAL 19 655 625,60 44.54%

PERCENTAGE OF GRANTS

AND CO-FINANCING

Percentage

ENI funds – maximum 92%

Co-financing – minimum 8%

Percentages of grant and co-financing -equal for all Partners

The co-financing may take the following forms:

Beneficiary’s own resources

Financial contributions by third parties, from sources other than

the Union

Size of ENI Grants

Priority Minimum

amount

Maximum

amount

Priority 1.1 500 000 1 500 000

Priority 1.2 300 000 700 000

Priority 2.1 500 000 1 000 000

Priority 2.2 300 000 1 000 000

Submission of Application • On line application - Electronic Monitoring

System (eMS) - developed by INTERACT

• Applications submitted on-line, only by the

Lead Partner

• Other users (consultants or Partners) allowed

to fill in sections of the Application – they can

read or add/modify data in the AF, only after

the Lead Partner gives the necessary

permissions

• All users shall have an user name and

password

• Allows uploading of documents in different

formats (PDF, Excel)

Indicative schedule for the 1st call

Action Deadline

Public consultation on Application Pack 24th August –

23rd September

2016

Launching of the 1st call for proposals End of 2016

Deadline for submission of application April 2017

www.blacksea-cbc.net

office@bsb.adrse.ro

Thank you for your attention!