Final – web FAQ

GENERAL QUESTIONS

1. I cannot find the proposal word templates (Part B) in the participant portal after starting a

proposal. Where do I get the word templates? Can you provide them?

Proposal word templates (Part B) can be downloaded as a package in the Project portal during the

submission of Proposal (in the "Step 5"). Please note that Part B of the proposal must be filled out by

the participants in WORD, assembled and uploaded as PDF in the PP Submission System (in the

"Step 5"). Be aware that the Annex "Detailed budget table (annex 1 to the Technical Submission

Template (Part B)" needs to be in uploaded in PDF (and not anymore in Excel).

2. We have recently discovered the Blue Economy Call 2018, announced by the EMFF, and we

are interested in Topic 1 and 2 – Blue Labs and Blue Careers, in this context we would like to

clarify some specifics related to the participation of organizations from the Russian Federation

in this Call for Proposals. Is it correct to assume that organizations from the Russian

Federation are eligible to take part in the Call of Proposals, but only as a member of the

Consortium (while consortium coordinator has to be established only in an EU Member State)?

Are there any other specific aspects related to eligibility of participants from the Russian

Federation?

General eligibility conditions for participants (applicable to all 3 topics) state that applicants must be

(iner alia) based in and EU Member State (including overseas countries and territories) or (for project

with activities extending to neighbouring waters outside the territory of the EU) be established in one

of the following eligible non-EU countries. Regarding the questions, for activities related to the Black

Sea Synergy: applicant must be established in one of the following countries - Armenia, Azerbaijan,

Georgia, Moldova, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine. Therefore, Russia is eligible to take part in the call for

proposals.

For the Topic 1 and Topic 2, applications must be submitted by consortium complying with specific

conditions (please see pages 20 – 21 of the call for proposal document). The consortium coordinator

(or, for Topic 3, the single applicant submitting the application) has to be established in an EU

Member State, therefore entities established in Russia may participate as partners within the

consortium, not as a consortium coordinators.

There are no specific aspects related to eligibility of participants from Russia. Participants need to

comply with rules and conditions settled in call for proposals document.

We invite you to pay particular attention to themes & priorities, as well as activities that can be funded

under the different topics. Please see the section 2 (Objectives – Themes & priorities – Activities that

can be funded – Expected Results) in the call for proposals document. Please note that proposals

must relate to activities concerning one of the following sea basins/areas: North Sea, Baltic Sea,

Black Sea, the Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea basins as well as the EU Outermost regions

marine areas. Activities should normally relate to the EU waters, but may extend into neighbouring

waters, if this is necessary for the implementation of the project (in view of its nature and its

objectives).

3. We read with great interest the Blue Economy call for proposals. We would like to ask for

clarification from you as we realised that the overseas countries and territories of the EU

(OCTs) are eligible to this call. Indeed, the EMFF is one of the five ESI Funds to which the

OCTs are not eligible. Can you please explain us why this is no longer the case?

The Council Decision 2013/755/EU (the ‘Overseas Association Decision’) allows for the eligibility for

participation of OCT entities in Union programmes according to the rules and objectives

of the respective programme (see Article 94 of the above Decision). The EMFF Regulation is

directly applicable to Union Member States and by derogation to operations carried out outside their

territory (see Articles 7(2), 81 and 84 of the EMFF Regulation with respect to Union actions financed

under direct management).

The current Blue Economy call (EMFF-2018-1.2.1.7) is an action funded under direct management,

hence the aforementioned eligibility rules apply and OCT entities have been included in the current

call as eligible as long as they meet all eligibility conditions (general and specific) stipulated in the call.

4. I am contacting you as I would like to have a clarification about the geographical scope

proposals should have. In the call text, it is mentioned that “proposals must relate to activities

concerning one of the following basin areas etc”. Does it mean that a project should cover at

least one of these basin areas and that is it possible to cover several basin areas in a same

project ? Or does it mean that a project can focus on only one basin area?

The call section on geographical scope is applicable to the 3 topics. The text on the geographical

scope (see page 21 of the call for proposals document) states that “Proposals must relate to activities

concerning one of the following sea basins/areas: North Sea, Baltic Sea, Black Sea, the Atlantic and

the Mediterranean Sea basins as well as the EU Outermost regions marine areas. Proposals can

focus on a part/sub-region of these sea basins/areas.” The aim of this section - defining the

geographical scope of the call - is to exclude proposals which are out of geographical scope (thus

ineligible). In this respect when a proposal relates to activities in none of the listed sea basins/marine

areas, the proposal is out of geographical scope/ineligible; whereas when a proposal relates to any of

the listed sea basins (one of the listed sea basins or even more than one), the proposal is within the

geographical scope of the call.

For topic 1, this is further developed: projects under topic 1 (Blue Labs : innovative solutions

for maritime challenges) allows applicants to develop solutions that have to be tailored to

specific problems or needs of one or more sea basins or sub-sea basin surrounding the EU

coasts (e.g. Mediterranean, Western Mediterranean, Adriatic-Ionian Seas, Atlantic, North

Sea, Baltic Sea, Black Sea). For details please see page 6 of the call for proposals

document.

For topic 2, the general geographical scope in page 21 is applicable. However, please note

that theme 3 on establishing industry-education networks at sea basin level (see page 11 of

the call for proposals document), requires that projects applying to this theme have a sea

basin focus. Therefore in this case, the specific nature of the theme requires that one sea

basin is chosen.

For topic 3, the general geographical scope in page 21 is applicable.

For the three topics, the proposal would have to explain and justify why the proposal is covering one

or more sea-basins related challenges and opportunities. This will be evaluated in the award criteria.

5. The Tobago Hospitality and Tourism Institute just completed our initial study and presented

the results on "matching stakeholder needs with our VET programmes" working with island

wide industry stakeholders and would like the opportunity to apply for this grant. under the

subject captioned above. Is Trinidad and Tobago eligible?

The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago does not belong to 'outermost regions' or 'overseas territories’; it

is also not a country with neighbouring waters to an EU territory (please see footnote 35 on page 19

of the call for proposals document), therefore it is not eligible for EMFF funding.

6. Question for completing and uploading the Budget (Annex1 to Part B_Detailed Budget

Table_EASME_MGA V5.0). According to the instructions, the sheets 3 and 4 of the budget

spreadsheet should be completed by each beneficiary/linked third party. This implies that a

separate budget spreadsheet should be completed by each beneficiary. The detailed budget

table will then have to be uploaded in excel format in ‘Part B and annexes’ part of the proposal.

This allows only one excel file to be uploaded so how is it possible to upload the budget

spreadsheets completed by each beneficiary?

Please kindly note that there is a change as regards the uploading requirements of the Detailed

budget table (annex 1 to the Proposal Template (Part B)): now it only needs to be uploaded in PDF

(and not anymore in Excel).

Please see below further instructions and some clarifications on the Detailed budget table.

Further instructions and support for completing and uploading the Detailed budget table (annex 1 to

the Proposal Template (Part B)):

Sheets 3 and 4 have to be completed by each beneficiary/linked third party in

separate excel documents. Please note that in sheet 3 "Detailed budget table",

section C "Costs of financial support to third parties" is NOT to be completed as

financial support to third parties is not allowed in this call.

The Coordinator should fill in sheet 5 manually after having all the information by the

other Beneficiaries.

Sheets 3 and 4 per beneficiary have to converted to PDF; For the coordinator, sheets

3, 4 and 5 have to be converted to PDF; Save the workbooks/tabs you want by

choosing the "Options" when saving as PDF.

Once each Excel is saved as a PDF, then combine into a single PDF document for

upload. There are many online tools and free applications that you can use for this,

including Adobe Acrobat and the Preview app on Apple Macs

The Detailed budget table (annex 1) ONLY needs to be uploaded in PDF (and NOT

anymore in Excel as required before). The guide for applicants document has been

updated accordingly (p. 11)

7. I would like to receive information about the eligibility conditions. One of our partner comes

from Algeria, he will be involved for his research studies and findings in the topic related to

our proposal, but the project activities will not be carried out outside the territory of the Union.

Could you clarify to us if the Algerian University is an eligible partner?

As it is stated in the call for proposals document (see page 19), in order to be eligible for a grant, the

applicant must be (inter alia) established in an EU Member State (including OCTs) or for projects with

activities extending to neighbouring waters outside the territory of the EU: be established in one of the

eligible non-EU countries.

In your case, Algeria is an eligible country for activities related to the Union for Mediterranean

(including the Western Mediterranean Framework for Action). Thus, your partner, the Algerian

university, could be eligible. However, to be eligible it has to meet the following additional criterion: the

project should have activities taking place in the neighbouring waters outside of the EU, which is not

the case of the university that you are mentioning.

So, if the project activities are not to be carried out outside the territory of the EU, the university

established in Algeria is not an eligible project partner.

8. Regarding the on-line Administrative Forms, concerning the Abstract, it is indicated that “it

should be identical to the abstract provided in Part B (Max. 2.000 characters with spaces)”.

The proposal template part B “Project Technical Description”, also indicates in the “Project

summary” section the following sentence: “Please use the same text here and in Part A

(Abstract).” However, since Project Summary in part B is composed of 3 parts: “Context &

overall objectives”, “Work planned & main achievements” and “Results & impacts”, it is not

clear to us if the summary of 2000 characters of part A should be the same as “Context &

overall objectives” or on the contrary, should be the same as the 3 parts altogether.

In section 1 (Project Summary) of the proposal template document, it is stated that applicant should

provide an overall description of the project ( including expected results, outcomes and outputs,

activities, number and type of beneficiaries). Project summary includes three parts: Context & overall

objectives; Work planned & main achievements and Results & impacts.

Applicants are asked to use the same text in Part B (Project summary) of the proposal template

document and in Part A (Abstract) of the online administrative forms. Therefore, the summary of 2000

characters of Part A should be identical to the Project summary of the Part B (all three above

mentioned parts together).

9. We are a public, non-profit institution of higher education located in Israel. Are our

researchers eligible to apply? To the Blue Economy Call for Projects?

General eligibility conditions for participants on page 19 of the call for proposals document

(applicable to all 3 topics) state that applicants must be (iner alia) based in an EU Member State

(including overseas countries and territories) or (for project with activities extending to neighbouring

waters outside the territory of the EU) be established in one of the following eligible non-EU countries.

Regarding the question, for activities related to the Union for the Mediterranean (including the

Western Mediterranean Framework for Action): applicant must be established in one of the following

countries - Algeria, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Mauritania,

Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, Palestine, Tunisia, Turkey. Therefore, Israel is eligible to take part in

the call for proposals.

Please note that for the topic 1 and topic 2, applications must be submitted by consortium complying

with specific conditions (please see pages 20 – 21 of the call for proposal document). The

consortium coordinator (or, for topic 3, the single applicant submitting the application) has to be

established in an EU Member State, therefore entities established in Israel may participate as

partners within the consortium, not as a consortium coordinators.

Please also note that special rules may apply for entities from certain countries (e.g. countries

covered by Council sanctions, entities covered by Commission Guidelines No 2013/C 205/05). Please

see the footnote 36 on page 19, which includes information on the Commission Guidelines No

2013/C 205/05 on the eligibility of Israeli entities and their activities in the territories occupied by Israel

since June 1967.

10. I am filling the template (Part B) for the call on Blue Economy. I would like to know if

preparing my proposal I can delete the explanations and notes made in the Template to

explain how to fill it, or if I should keep it as it is. Also I would like to know If I can widen the

table to the limits of 15 mm margin (left and right) that are described in the third page

“IMPORTANT NOTICE”. May I also delete the first 2 pages (titles)?

As it is stated in the important notice on page 3 of the proposal template document, please abide by

the formatting rules. Please note at the end of the “IMPORTANT NOTICE” box in the third page it

says “Don’t forget to delete this page (it would count to your page limit)”. So you can delete this page.

The first 2 pages of the template (part B) can also be deleted.

Regarding the margins (top, bottom, left and right) there is a condition of at least 15 mm (not including

headers & footers), therefore you can widen the table to this limit.

11. Could you kindly let me know, if it is allowed to add figures, pictures, graphs or tables in

the Project Technical Description (Part B), delete the explanations in the boxes of Project

Technical Description (Part B)?

It is not allowed to delete instructions, explanation texts must remain in the proposal template

document (Part B). Please note that it is allowed to add figures, pictures, graphs or tables as long

as you respect the page limit and the formatting rules.

12. As per explained on page 27 of the Call for proposal (Blue economy call - EMFF work

programme 2018), paragraph 7, it is explained that: "for applicants requesting more than EUR

750 000: audit report produced by an approved external auditor, certifying the accounts for the

last closed financial year". Could you please clarify if the external auditor has to be approved

by the EU or if we can ask the audit report from any French accounting firm? In case our

accounts has to be certified by an auditor approved by the EU, please send me the list of

approved auditors as soon as possible.

External auditor does not have to be approved by the EASME. If you are, as a participant, requesting

an EU contribution for action grant of more than 750 000 EUR you are obliged to provide an audit

report issued by an approved/certified external auditor.

The audit report must (inter alia) include:

- the clear mandate and scope of the audit

- the responsibilities of the management and the auditor

- the way in which the audit is carried out

- the auditor’s opinion, including a reasonable assurance that the financial statements are

free of material misstatement.

For more information, see Rules on Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial

Capacity Assessment.

13. I have the following question: the call states that natural person can't be eligible partners.

Is a freelance or a self-employee considered a natural person or a legal person?

Freelance or self-employee is considered as a natural person. A person is considered as a “self-

employed” when he or she is running his/her own business (liberal professions, craftsmen, industrial

and commercial professions) without a separate legal personality and provides as such services to

the institution.

Please note that there are specific rules on SME owners. The costs of owners of beneficiaries that are

small and medium-sized enterprises (“SME owners”), who are working on the action and do not

receive a salary, are eligible personnel costs. These should correspond to the amount per unit set out

in Annex 2a of the model grant agreement multiplied by the number of actual hours worked on the

action. The same applies for beneficiaries that are natural persons and do not receive a salary. The

Commission Decision on this was adopted on 07.05.2018 and applies to all EMFF calls published as

of that date.

14. Is the amount of more than EUR 750 000 (from which depends the necessity of an audit

report) to be meant as the total of requested funds of the project or the total of a single

participant?

As it is stated in the call for proposals document (page 27): for applicants requesting more than EUR

750 000: audit report produced by an approved external auditor, certifying the accounts for the last

closed financial year. This applies on the total amount of funds requested by the applicant for the

whole project.

For more information about external audit report, see page 19 of the Rules on Legal Entity Validation,

LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment.

15. Is “internal invoicing” eligible? In other words, can a company participating in a project

use internal invoicing from one department not participating in the project to another

department participating in the project, for an asset to be rented in order to be used in the

project?

If both departments belong under the same legal entity and the invoices do not include any

overheads, EASME can consider them as eligible costs.

For more info on Legal & financial set-up of the grants see section 9 of the call for proposals

document and for the cost eligibility rules, see the model grant agreement (art. 6) and the Guide for

applicants.

16. My project has some specific objectives (SO), which I describe in 3.1. There is also Annex 3

to describe and quantify the Project Indicators. My question is: Should I have exactly the same

number and type of SO and Project Indicators? Can I have, for example, eight SO and have in

Annex 3 the 8 Project Indicators from the SO + six additional indicators, for example? Is it

better to have a lot of project indicators if It is easy for me to control this during the project?

Please see the Guide for Applicants (page 11) – section 3. EMFF project indicators table - Please fill

in column A according to the topic you have chosen. You can add additional objectives and indicators

tailored to your project in addition to the ones provided, and leave blank those that are not applicable

to your project.

As is stated in the call for proposals document, applicants must define appropriate indicators for each

project objective. Please see (page 17) – paragraph on Monitoring and evaluation of the project

activities and project results:

Beneficiaries will have to monitor and evaluate the progress of the project, notably in terms of

realising the project objectives and reporting on the results of their project.

Applicants should select and explain which quantitative and qualitative indicators they will use for

monitoring and evaluation:

For each project objective, they must define appropriate indicators for measuring

achievement (including a unit of measurement, baseline value and target value).

Beneficiaries will have to report on the project results achieved by the end of the project

taking into account the EMFF project indicators provided in the Project Indicators table32.

These indicators will contribute to evaluating the results of the proposed project.

Proposals have to include a specific activity/task to monitor and measure the project activities and the

project results with a defined budget. Information on monitoring and assessing project results has to

be submitted at the time of the periodic reports.

It is not stipulated that the number of objectives must be equal to the number of indicators.

Regarding your request for advice on the best number of project indicators in your project proposal,

please note that EASME cannot give a prior opinion on the eligibility of an applicant, a partner, an

action or specific activities of a particular project (i.e. there are no pre-screening checks of project

proposals).

17. We have a couple of questions about the forms to be delivered. Regarding the “Proposal

Template” to submit, that includes Part A and B, the call indicates that the page limit is 45. In

this proposal we have to include the annex: Detailed budget table (annex 1 to Part B);

Operational capacity fiche (annex 2 to Part B); EMFF Project Indicators table (annex 3 to Part

B) as PDF`s within the proposal template. Thus, the limit of 45 pages has to include this

annex? The second question is related to the administrative forms. We are coordinating one

proposal to the Blue Economy Call. The justification of Legal entity validation, Official VAT

document, Status validation, the financial capacity check (profit and loss accounts, etc)… of

each partner of the consortium have to be uploaded by each partner during the registration in

the Participant Register, isn’t it? So during the proposal submit process this documents won’t

be required?

Regarding the first question, annexes of the proposal are not part of the page limit 45 of part B form.

Regarding the second question, please note that as stated in the call document and accompanying

guide for applicants:

- Call document (section 7 – Other conditions, p. 30): "All applicants must register in the

Participant Register — before the call deadline — and upload the necessary documents showing

legal status and origin. Linked third parties can register later (during grant preparation)"

- Guide for applicants (section 5 – how to submit your proposal, p. 6): "To complete part A, all

applicants must be registered in the Participant Register and have communicated their PIC to the

coordinator. Linked third parties must also register, but later on during grant preparation.

Subcontractors and in-kind contributors do NOT need to register."

As stated on page 28 of the call document, for more information, see Rules on Legal Entity

Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment.

Please also see question 20 of the general EMFF FAQs, which states that "For calls published

through eGrants, the financial data required for the financial capacity check will be requested only to

successful proposals invited to the grant agreement preparation phase."

Please see also section 8 (Evaluation & award procedure) of the call for proposals document.

- Unsuccessful applications will be informed about their evaluation result (see timetable

section 4).

- Successful applications will be invited for grant agreement preparation. Please note that

invitation to grant preparation does NOT constitute a formal commitment for funding. We

will still need to make various legal checks before grant award: legal entity validation,

financial capacity, exclusion check etc.

18. I work for a company (SME) that is preparing a proposal for the Call EMFF-BlueEconomy-

2018. For the implementation of the project, we would need to make use of some facilities and

services provided by the same company I work for, in particular they are a research vessel and

a test pool normally provided to customers at given costs. Can these services (and relative

costs) be put as other goods and services in the budget under direct costs? In a previous

H2020 project we participated in, the costs were put under other goods and services in direct

costs, does it apply also to this call?

Services (and relative costs) you have mentioned can be declared under other direct costs.

For more info on Legal & financial set-up of the grants see section 9 of the call for proposals

document and for the cost eligibility rules, see the model grant agreement (art. 6) and the Guide for

applicants.

19. Since it looks like EMFF is organised under EASME, I expect that it can only be SME's who

apply? Or can companies of any size apply?

Answer to the question is already available here, in the FAQ section number 1 under the “Topic 3 |

Grants for Blue Economy”.

20. Did I understand correctly, that we are not allowed to delete the yellow marked text in the

attached screen shot (template for WPs/ milestones & deliverables section)? Furthermore, we

have to repeat this header plus explanations for every work package. Could you kindly let me

know, if we are allowed to use a smaller font size (if only for the explanations)?

Regarding your first question on deleting instructions in WP (while copying the WP2), it is not allowed

to delete instructions, explanation texts (in grey) must remain in the proposal template document (Part

B), even if you are copying WPs. Please abide by the formatting rules. Do not change a font size in

the instruction part.

As it is stated in project technical description document (Part B, page 3), please keep your text as

concise as possible. Do not use hyperlinks to show information that is an essential part of your

project. We would invite you to pay particular attention to the Guide for Applicants, section 5.2 How to

fill out your application. Make sure that it is clear and concise — don't interpret completeness as a

requirement to include as much information (and words) as possible. Your proposal must also be

easy to understand, precise and focused on substance. Respect the page limit. Do not repeat

information.

21. In regards to the Grant Agreement / Declaration of Honour, we would like to ask you for a

clarification. In the call document, it stated that:

The coordinator represents the consortium towards the EU. You must have agreement of the

other members and their mandate to act on their behalf and will have to confirm this in your

application. Moreover you will have to declare that the information in the proposal is correct

and complete and that all participants comply with the conditions for receiving funding

(especially, eligibility, financial and operational capacity, no exclusion, etc.) and have agreed

to participate. Before signing the grant agreement, each participant will have to confirm this

again by signing a declaration of honour (DoH). Proposals without full support will be rejected.

We understand that the Grant Agreement itself will only be signed in case of project funding.

But in regards to the DoH (Declaration of Honour), does it follow the same principle? In other

words, will it only have to be signed in case of project funding?

Only when the project is selected for funding, applicants will be asked to sign a grant agreement with

EASME (please see section 9 - Legal & financial set-up of the grants in the call for proposals

document).

In the section Administrative Forms in Participant Portal Electronic Submission System, there is a

section 1: General Information where applicants are asked to answer following three question

(replies need to be ticked).

1) The coordinator declares that the information contained in this proposal is correct and

complete

2) The coordinator confirms:

- to have carried out the self-check of the financial capacity of the organisation (when

applicable)* on

https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/organisations/lfv.html.

Where the result was weak or insufficient, the coordinator confirms that the applicants

are aware of the measures that may be imposed in accordance with the Call for

proposals' documents; and

- to have explicit consent of all partners - including the coordination organisation - on

their participation and the content of this proposal.

3) The coordinator confirms that:

- all partners in the proposal are fully eligible in accordance with the exclusion and

eligibility criteria set out in the specific call for proposals; and

- that no partners are in one of the situations referred to Article 106(1) and Art 107,

108, 109 of the Regulation (EU, Euratom) NO 966/2012 of the European Parliament

and of the Council of 25 October 2012 on financial rules applicable to the general

budget of the Union.

- all have the financial and operational capacity to carry out the proposed action; and in

particular

- have the professional resources, competences and qualifications required to

complete the proposed action

These declarations can be filled in by any coordinator contact(s). Failing to reply to question 1 will

block the submission. Question 2 is mandatory. For question 3 all replies have to be ticked in order to

have a completed set of declarations.

Please note that if the proposal is to be retained for EU funding, the applicant organisation(s)

will be required to present a formal declaration in this respect. To answer to the question, formal

declaration will be required in case of project funding.

22. Can we use pictures, graphs, etc. within the attached proposal template? Offcourse, mostly

these pictures etc. don’t use text with arial and fond size 8 points; that is no problem I assume

then? The template says supporting documents can be provided. What kind of documents can

we think of? We are ourselves thinking about Letters of Intent of important stakeholders. Are

these allowed?

Answer to the first question is already available here, in the FAQ section number 11 under the

“General questions”. Regarding the second question, for the three topics – topic 1 Blue Labs; topic 2

Blue Careers and topic 3 Grants for the Blue Economy – the following documents need to be

uploaded in the Participant Portal Electronic Submission System:

a. Technical Submission Template (part B)

b. Detailed budget table (annex 1 to the Technical Submission Template (part B))

c. Operational capacity fiche (annex 2 to the Technical Submission Template (part B))

d. EMFF project indicators table (annex 3 to the Technical Submission Template (part B)

Besides, for topic 3 – Grants for the Blue Economy –another annex that can be uploaded (not

mandatory) is Letters of intent of investors. If letters of intent are included (in the Participant Portal

Electronic Submission System), please upload them as a single PDF file. Reference to the letters of

intent is included, under section Themes & priorities of the call for proposals document (page 15

of the call for proposals document on topic 3):

“To promote the involvement of third-party investment, in particular by private financing

bodies or National Promotional Banks (NPBs), priority will be given to proposals that are at a

sufficiently advanced stage in terms of securing financing from third party investors, e.g. as

demonstrated by, for instance, a letter of intent by an investor to support the project”.

For more information about submission, please see section 10 (How to submit an application?) of the

call for proposals document.

23. Must all applicants have a “EU Login” ? The documents to be attached to the online

application are 4: DoA Description of the action; Detailed budget table 3 and 4 for each

applicant and sheets 3, 4 and 5 by the coordinator (join in one pdf); Operational capacity fiche

– 1 fiche for each applicant including the coordinator; EMFF project indicators table – 1 table

for the whole project. Do you confirm that the above 4 documents must not be signed. Do you

confirm that no other documents are needed (e.g. Letters of intent).

To obtain a PIC that is necessary for adding partners in your application you will have to open an EU

login account. Following documents need to be uploaded in the Participant Portal Electronic

Submission System:

a. Technical Submission Template (part B)

b. Detailed budget table (annex 1 to the Technical Submission Template (part B))

- Please information about uploading requirements of the Detailed budget table is already in FAQ in

the section General questions (question number 6).

c. Operational capacity fiche (annex 2 to the Technical Submission Template (part B))

- Description of previous activities or projects by all applicants related to the field of the topic and

connected to the subject of the proposal in the last 3 years

- Description of technical equipment/tools/facilities/patents (where appropriate)

- merge documents in a single pdf file

d. EMFF project indicators table (annex 3 to the Technical Submission Template (part B)

- Covering the whole project proposal (upload as pdf file)

Documents don’t need to be signed. Regarding the question on Letter of intent of investors, this

document is not mandatory.

24. Could you please provide clarifications on the expected content of § 3.5 Cost Effectiveness

of the proposal template ? Show that your project represents good value for money and that

you aimed for cost efficiency in the estimated budget. The guidelines mention that applicants

can include any comments of the horizontal nature in relation to the items presented in the

estimated budget. You may include any comments of the horizontal nature in relation to the

items presented in the estimated budget. Could you elaborate on what does the horizontal

nature refer to ? Should we compare and justify the relative cost of each WP?

Please note that the box on cost-effectiveness is included under the overview section on "Objectives,

approach and impact" of the part B form. The instructions indicate " Show that your project

represents good value for money and that you aimed for cost efficiency in the estimated budget. You

may include any comments of the horizontal nature in relation to the items presented in the estimated

budget (Proposal, Part B, page 7)".

Therefore you can include here a few general comments on how your project represents value for

money taking into account the project´s set-up, budget and expected results and deliverables. You

may give overall comments on how you took care in ensuring good value for money and cost

efficiency when preparing your project budget and may include one or two examples for some

overarching costs for your project. You do not have to compare and justify the relative costs of each

WP. The purpose is to give an overall explanation on your budget´s cost effectiveness. The brief

overview given in this box together with the details given in the detailed budget table will be assessed

as part of award criterion 2 on project implementation.

25. Is it possible to have different shares of co-financing across partners, but ensuring an

overall % which is in line with the requirements for the call - i.e. 65%)? Alternatively, could we

put partners below 60K as individual sub-contractors so to ensure the alignment with 65%of

co-financing for beneficiaries of EMFF funds?

We kindly inform you that the answer to your first question is already available in the general FAQ

section number 17 and 18 under the Section IV “Financial provisions”.

Regarding the second question, please note that there are no specific rules for partners regarding co-

financing share.

26. It is not clear to me if the financial capacity form (that I cannot find in the participant portal

or in other sections of the submission service) is a document that must be submitted just by

the applicant at the submission stage or just in case the proposal is awarded? also the other

partners are subject to the same control? Is this a procedure activated by the EC Services?

We kindly inform you that the answer to your questions is already available in the FAQ section

number 17 under the “General questions”. We advise you to regularly consult this page as the

EASME EMFF team is regularly providing answers to the received questions in this section. Please

see also section 9 - Legal & financial set-up of the grants in the call for proposals document).

27. The text of the 2018 Blue Economy call refers that subcontracting costs are not considered

for the calculation of indirect costs. However, in the budget template, the direct costs of

subcontracting enter in the total of direct costs on which the flat rate of indirect costs is

based. Thus, would you please confirm if the costs of subcontracting are included in the total

direct costs to which the 7% flat rate applies?

Please note that Subcontracting is taken into consideration when calculating the indirect costs

for EMFF grants (contrary to H2020 rules where the indirect cost are not taking into account the

Subcontracting).

We would like to invite you to pay particular attention to Guide for applicants page 19 (Direct &

Indirect costs) and pages 28 – 32 (Subcontracting costs versus purchase costs). For the cost

eligibility rules, see the model grant agreement (art. 6). For more information, see also Rules on Legal

Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment.

28. We are going to submit a project under this call and we would like to organize 6 meetings.

Project beneficiaries are expected to participate in these meetings, which will be held in Spain

and Italy. Can Italian beneficiaries include in the budget costs for travels and subsistence

when the meetings are organized at short distance (180 or 340 roundtrip km)?

There is no specific rule forbidding applicants from not including travel costs on short distance as long

as it is justified and linked with the project objectives and the objectives of the topic. As it is stated in

the Guide for applicants, travel and subsistence costs must be reasonable and in line with your usual

practices on travel costs. Please see more information on travel costs in the Guide for applicants

(page 33 – 35).

29. I would like to ask whether we can submit our EMFF-blue-economy proposal in German or

not (does it have to be in English?)

As it is stated in the call for proposals document (page 29) - You can submit your proposal in any

official EU language. However, for reasons of efficiency, we strongly advise you to use English.

30. We are experiencing some constraints in deblocking the excel budget file linked to this

call. Do you have any suggestions to overcome the problem?

Please follow the instructions in the first sheet of the document - V_Annex1 to Part B_Detailed

Budget Table

Getting started

- To use the file, the Excel Macro security settings must be enabled on your computer. This is

managed and checked when opening the file, but contact your IT support if you encounter

problems.

- Save the file on your computer and close all other excel files (open excel files may hamper

the macros).

- Please complete the sheets in their order (Start - Detailed budget table - Consolidated table

(participants) - Consolidated table (project)).

ATTENTION! White cells mean that you are required to enter data. Blue cells are calculated

automatically.

T1 – BLUE LABS: innovative solutions for maritime challenges

1. Our proposal is a continuation of EU Project XXX, dealing with XXX. It fits perfectly well with

all requirements, but doesn't match the priorities. Would that be eligible, or should we better

abandon? We are working on a proposal which adapts very well to the "Blue Lab" concept,

but the main theme is not included in the list of five priorities (p.7). However, it is said that 6

proposals will be chosen, at least one for each of the 5 themes. Does this mean that projects

revolving around other issues could be eligible for that 6th undetermined grant? Or does it

mean that that two projects will be chosen for one of those 5 subjects, and all other themes

will be discarded?

Applicants must select one of the specific themes per proposal, according to the topic. Topic 1 – Blue

Labs has five specific themes and EASME intends to fund at least one (could be more) for each of the

themes mentioned in section 2 (Objectives - Themes & priorities — Activities that can be funded —

Expected Results) of the call for proposals document.

Please note that admissible and eligible applications will be evaluated and ranked against of the

award criteria. Regarding the question, we invite you to pay particular attention to the criteria - 1.

Relevance and added value (please see the section 6. Award Criteria of the call for proposals) that

describes ranking based on the relevance of the project and its objectives to the topic and extent to

which it matches the themes and priorities of the topic.

Regarding the project proposal, please note that EASME cannot give a prior opinion on the eligibility

of an applicant, a partner, an action or specific activities of a particular project (i.e. there are no pre-

screening checks of project proposals).

2. We are drawing up a bid for the Blue labs strand (under topic 4 or 5), but I had a few queries

relating to eligible spend, eligible partners and also a clarification regarding the blue economy

strand as well. For the Blue economy strand – can you confirm that it is limited to certain sea

basins (e.g. the Atlantic is not eligible?) For the Blue Labs strand – Is the European Marine

Biological Resource Centre deemed an ‘EU body’ and therefore not an eligible partner? Can

the call support facilities (e.g. developing a xxx as a tangible outcome)?

We kindly inform you that the answer to your first question is already available in the FAQ section

number 4 under the “General question” on the geographical scope of the project proposals.

Regarding questions on the topic Blue Labs, European Marine Biological Resource Centre is not an

EU body, therefore the entity could be eligible (as long as the entity meets other eligibility conditions –

see section 5 “Eligibility conditions” of the call for proposals document). Please note also that

EASME cannot give a prior opinion on the eligibility of an applicant, a partner, an action or specific

activities of a particular project (i.e. there are no pre-screening checks of project proposals). For the

cost eligibility rules, see the model grant agreement (art. 6) and the Guide for applicants.

3. Regarding specific theme: "3. Innovative marina and leisure boat design: e.g. development

of technological solutions/products and services for marinas to adapt to changing demand

from customers (e.g. access to marinas and boats for an ageing population; ICT-oriented

requirements from young people) and/or address environmental challenges (e.g. safe

dismantling and recycling of leisure boats);" I would like to know your understanding of

“leisure boat design”: do you refer only to private small boats for family/private use, or is it

possible to consider as leisure boat a boat for transporting commuters and/or tourists along

the coastline? (commercial use). Would be a marina adapted to this novel boats within the

scope of this theme as well?

There is no specific limitation of the « leisure boat design « definition, as long as it is justified and

linked with the project objectives and the objectives of the topic. The proposals submitted under this

topic (Blue Labs) must develop (inter alia) specific elements:

- solid partnerships between maritime stakeholders and fostering multidisciplinary approaches

and combination of competences from businesses, the public sector and research bodies;

- enhanced cooperation and coordination amongst maritime stakeholders at local, regional or

even sea basin levels

A Blue Lab must be:

- Result-oriented: resulting in a tangible deliverable, such as a premarketable service, product or

prototype;

- Multidisciplinary: developed by involving businesses, researchers, young scientists (e.g. post-

graduate students, recent post-graduates, other students) and, if relevant, other entities such as

local authorities, NGOs etc.; and bringing different disciplines together into a common project idea

development.

- Stakeholder driven: being designed and implemented in cooperation with at least one private

partner and in consultation with a group of relevant partners (e.g. research bodies, businesses

and local authorities).

Regarding your question on eligibility of the adapted marina, please note that EASME cannot give a

prior opinion on the eligibility of an applicant, a partner, an action or specific activities of a particular

project (i.e. there are no pre-screening checks of project proposals). Please see pages 8 – 9 of the

call for proposals document, section Activities that can be funded and Expected results.

4. We are contacting you because there’s a XXX coordinating a proposal for the BLUE-LABs

2019 call and a doubt regarding the participation of Norwegian partners have arisen to us.

Could the Norwegian partners participate at any proposal within this call or is there an specific

rule or requirement to be eligible for these groups?

General eligibility conditions for participants (applicable to all 3 topics) state that applicants must be

(inter alia) based in and EU Member State (including overseas countries and territories) or (for project

with activities extending to neighbouring waters outside the territory of the EU) be established in one

of the following eligible non-EU countries. Regarding the question, for activities related to the EU

Baltic Sea Strategy: Belarus, Iceland, Norway and Russia. Therefore, Norway is eligible to take part in

the call for proposals.

For the topic 1 – Blue Labs (and topic 2), applications must be submitted by consortium complying

with specific conditions (please see pages 20 – 21 of the call for proposal document). The consortium

coordinator (or, for topic 3, the single applicant submitting the application) has to be established in an

EU Member State, therefore entities established in Norway may participate as partners within the

consortium, not as a consortium coordinators.

5. I am writing to you as regards of the above-referenced call. We would like to submit a

proposal for this call but we are a little unsure about our topic being fit for the proposed

Themes and Priorities. In particular, we would like to know to what extend the examples given

are restrictive in Theme 3: Innovative marina and leisure boat design: e.g. development of

technological solutions/products and services for marinas to adapt to changing demand from

customers (e.g. access to marinas and boats for an ageing population; ICT- oriented

requirements from young people) and/or address environmental challenges (e.g. safe

dismantling and recycling of leisure boats);

Are those examples the only themes accepted? Will projects addressing the proposed

examples be given priority? Our project idea is related to the development of XXX. Can you

kindly confirm if it fits in the topic scope?

For the EMFF-01-2018 – Blue Labs, as it is stated in the call for proposals document (page 7),

applicants MUST select only one of the following specific themes per proposal:

1. Blue bio-remediation

2. Unexploded ordnances at sea

3. Innovative marina and leisure boat design

4. Marine biomass and blue-bioeconomy

5. Ecofriendly aquaculture

Under the themes, projects must undertake all of the core activities listed on page 8, as part of the

project implementation. In addition to the core activities, applicants should include in their project at

least one or more of the complementary activities listed on the page 8. Please note that the list of

complementary activities is non-exhaustive and aims at providing guidance to an applicant. To

answer your question, projects addressing different topic than it is listed above, won’t be considered

as eligible.

Regarding the second question on the eligibility of the project idea, please note that EASME cannot

give a prior opinion on the eligibility of an applicant, a partner, an action or specific activities of a

particular project (i.e. there are no pre-screening checks of project proposals).

6. We are contacting you because there’s a CSIC’s researchers group coordinating a proposal

for the BLUE-LABs 2019 call and a doubt regarding the participation of Norwegian partners

have arisen to us. Could the Norwegian partners participate at any proposal within this call or

is there an specific rule or requirement to be eligible for these groups?

As it is stated in the call for proposals document (page 21), proposals must relate to activities

concerning one of the following sea basins/areas: North Sea, Baltic Sea, Black Sea, the Atlantic and

the Mediterranean Sea basins as well as the EU Outermost regions marine areas. Proposals can

focus on a part/sub-region of these sea basins/areas. Activities should normally relate to the EU

waters, but may extend into neighbouring waters, if this is necessary for the implementation of the

project (in view of its nature and its objectives).

General eligibility conditions for participants (applicable to all 3 topics) state that applicants must

be (inter alia) based in and EU Member State (including overseas countries and territories) or (for

project with activities extending to neighbouring waters outside the territory of the EU) be established

in one of the following eligible non-EU countries: for activities related to the EU Baltic Sea Strategy:

Belarus, Iceland, Norway and Russia. Therefore, Norway is eligible to take part in the call for

proposals. For more information see section 5. Eligibility conditions of the call for proposals

document.

For the topic 1 – Blue Labs (and topic 2), applications must be submitted by consortium complying

with specific conditions (please see pages 20 – 21 of the call for proposal document). The consortium

coordinator (or, for topic 3, the single applicant submitting the application) has to be established in an

EU Member State, therefore entities established in Norway may participate as partners within the

consortium, not as a consortium coordinators.

T2 – BLUE CAREERS IN EUROPE

1. Regarding Topic 2: Blue Careers of the EMFF Blue Economy call 2018 - can you please

confirm that a business association is considered a business entity and therefore is eligible to

apply as the consortium coordinator?

For the eligibility of participants, please see section 5 (Eligibility conditions) of the call for proposals

document that includes general eligibility conditions for participants (applicable to all 3 topics) and

specific eligibility conditions for participants per topic.

Regarding the specific question, a business association is considered a business entity and as such

is eligible to apply as the consortium coordinator.

2. Topic 2: Blue Careers - The consortium must comprise "Minimum two legal entities from

two different countries" so, in the case of an Italian Business Association as coordinator, the

partner- educational organization (university) must be from another EU Country, correct?

Therefore, in the case of a consortium created by an Italian Business Association as

coordinator and several (4) partners such as 2 universities (one Italian and one Portuguese)

and 2 business association (from Spain and from Portugal), the eligibility of the consortium is

assured, correct?

For Topic 2 – Blue Careers, the applications must be submitted by a consortium complying with the

following condition:

Minimum two legal entities from two different countries. One of these must act as the

consortium coordinator, while the others will act as partners.

In case of a consortium consisting of two entities, they have to be established in two different

countries. Please note that the consortium coordinator (or, for Topic 3, the single applicant submitting

the application) has to be established in an EU Members State. Other project partners (in order to be

eligible for a grant), must be established in EU Members State (including overseas countries and

territories) or (for project with activities extending to neighbouring waters outside the territory of the

EU) be established in one of the eligible non-EU countries (for more details, see pages 19 – 20 of the

call for proposals document).

Regarding the question on the eligibility of the consortium created by an Italian Business Association,

eligibility of the consortium is assured if it complies with the general eligibility conditions and specific

conditions for participants per topic (see section 5 of the call for proposals document). Please note

that EASME cannot give a prior opinion on the eligibility of an applicant, a partner, an action or

specific activities of a particular project (i.e. there are no pre-screening checks of project proposals).

3. Regarding the 20% (Topic 2: Blue Careers) that will not be funded. Such amount has to be

covered and divided among the entire consortium and not only provided by the coordinator,

right? So when you proceed with the financial capacity check, all the partners will be

evaluated and contribute to define the financial capacity necessary for the project, right?

The answer to the question is already available in the FAQ section number 19 and 20 on co-

financing rate and financial capacity. Please note that all project participants must have stable and

sufficient resources to successfully implement the project and contribute their share. The financial

capacity check will be done by EASME on the basis of the documents you will be requested to upload

in the Participant Register. For more information please see section 7 (Other conditions) of the call

for proposals document.

4. During the info event last week, it was stated, that it is no longer a requirement for

applicants to be part of a consortium. This woke our interest, as we are very much involved in

developing students for a career within the maritime industry. But when I look at the Blue

Careers topic on your website, it’s says: For topic 2 - Blue Careers (....applicants by single

applicants are not allowed). Can you clarify, if this is just a criteria that hasn’t been updated on

the website from last year’s call, or if we indeed still need a consortium, to apply for funding

for our projects this year?

For the topic 2 – Blue Careers (and also topic 1 – Blue Labs)

The application must be submitted by a consortium

- Applications by single applicants are NOT allowed

This criteria does not apply on topic 3 – Grants for the Blue Economy: investing in innovation

For the Topic 3, the applications can be submitted by a consortium of partners OR a single applicant

complying with other conditions (please see p. 21 of the call for proposals document)

Please, for general eligibility conditions for participants (applicable to all 3 topics) see p. 19 - 20 of the

call for proposals document. For specific eligibility conditions for participants (per topic), see p. 20 –

21.

5. We are contacting you regarding an issue related to the Blue Careers Grant. As Jordan is

listed eligible under the eligible countries but every time we try to apply for this grant a

message keeps popping up and saying that Jordan is not eligible for this grant. Can you

please clarify if the country (Jordan) that we are applying from is eligible or not?

As stated in the text of the Call for proposals (p. 20), for Topic 2 – Blue Careers: the applications must

be submitted by a consortium complying with the (inter alia) following condition:

• Minimum two legal entities from two different countries. One of these must act as the

consortium coordinator, while the others will act as partners. (Applicants by single

applicants are not allowed).

If you are applying as a coordinator, please note that the consortium coordinator (or, for Topic 3, the

single applicants submitting the applications) has to be established in an EU Member State (see page

20 of the call for proposals document). If you are a project partner, please let us know and we will get

back to you as soon as possible and check if there is an IT issue in the system.

6. We would like to apply for the topic 2 EMFF 02-2018 Blue Careers in Europe for the theme 02

"Collaboration frameworks between industry and education". Must the proposal be developed

at a sea basin level (for example only east Mediterranean) or is it possible to include two sea

basin levels? (for example Baltic sea and Mediterranean sea)? In the case that the proposal

must include just one sea basin level, can the partner's consortium be located in different sea

basin levels but the proposal be addressed just to a specific sea basin level?

We kindly inform you that the answer to the question is already available here, in the FAQ section

number 4 under the “General question” on the geographical scope of the project proposals.

7. I have a few questions regarding my application for the Blue Career call (EMFF-02-2018)

A) Regarding Administrative forms (part A), section 2 –Participants & Contacts

- It is clear that we need to include organizational and contact person information about the

Beneficiaries in the table and the sections afterwards. Do we also need to include information

about the Linked third parties?

B) Regarding Administrative forms (part A), section 2 –Participants & Contacts

- I am not sure what to fill out in the last column of the table labeled ‘Action’. Does this refer to

the name of the type of Action (EMFF Action Grant) or does this refer to the role the participant

plays in the project? Can you clarify this and/or give an example?

A) As indicated in the guide for applicants document (section on part A – Administrative forms, p. 8): "

List of participants – This section should list the organisations that wish to participate as beneficiaries.

Other participants (linked third parties, subcontractors, etc.) should only be mentioned in Part B of the

Proposal Template. All applicants must also register in the Participant Register before proposal

submission. Linked third parties can register later on (during grant preparation).

Please note that for the budget overview table (in part A of the Proposal Template), the guide for

applicants (p. 9) also mentions that "(the budget costs) should include all your estimated costs

(including those of your linked third parties)."

B) “Action” button in the last column (section 2 – Participants & Contacts) in the Administrative

Forms in Participant Portal Electronic Submission System leads you to the section 2 - Administrative

data of participating organisations. The section shows the administrative data of the participating

organisation as registered and/or validated in the central registry of organisations of the European

Commission, linked to the given PIC number. Data in blue is read-only, modification is not possible in

the proposal forms. For more information on how to modify this information, please visit the H2020

online manual on the beneficiary register.

8. Another few questions regarding Blue Career call (EMFF-02-2018)

C) Regarding Administrative forms (part A), section 2 –Participants & Contacts

- Does the contact person for the application have to be registered as a contact person for the

organization in the Participant Portal?

D) Regarding Project Technical Description (Part B, section 4 Activities and Work Packages)

- When describing the division of work for the different work packages, I would like to show

the different roles the partners have for these tasks. If more partners play a role in a task (for

example one partner coordinates, but another partner is a content expert), can I use more lines

to describe those tasks or am I limited to one line per task? I guess my question that it is clear

how to describe the role of the coordinator, but is how I can describe the different roles our

partners play in this section about the work packages).

C) The contact person for the application does not have to be necessarily the same contact person of

the organization. It is very common that the legal representative of an organization is a different

person to the contact person/person in charge of the proposal.

D) You may add different lines in the division of work box for a given task. Please use the list of tasks

numbering, so you could e.g. have two lines for a given task. Please be aware of the page limit of 45

pages to be respected.

9. Blue Careers: We have a question about the possibility that one Organisation may

participate in two applications (Leading one of the proposals and going as beneficiary in

other). In the text of the call we have seen that "Applicants may submit more than one

application for different projects under the same call (and be awarded a grant for them) and

even that Organisations may participate in several applications. But we have seen that it is

specified that "if are several applications for the same/very similar project, only one

application will be accepted and evaluated; the applicants will be asked to withdraw one of

them (or it will be rejected)". Our dout is because in our case both projects are related to the

Blue Careers strand, but with different approaches and partners. We wanted to confirm that

the organization that is participating in one proposal and leading another may have to

withdraw one of them in case that both could be granted.

Applicants may submit more than one application for different projects under the same call and

topic (and be awarded a grant for them). Organisations may participate in several applications. BUT:

if are several applications for the same/very similar project, only one application will be accepted

and evaluated; the applicants will be asked to withdraw one of them (or it will be rejected).

Organisation that is participating in one proposal and leading another may have to withdraw one of

them not in the case that both could be granted, but in the case that the project proposals will be

same/very similar (e.g. covering the same theme(s) under the Blue Careers topic, developing

same/similar solutions, etc.). Please note that EASME cannot give a prior opinion on the eligibility of

an applicant, a partner, an action or specific activities of a particular project (i.e. there are no pre-

screening checks of project proposals).

10. We are writing to kindly ask to you if is possible that one entity (private company) can be

part of two project proposals as partner for the same Call submission (in this case Call Emff 02

Blue Economy Careers. Other question is if an Association (xxx) can be part of the project

consortium in this Call. Is not mentioned in the Call Description directly participation of

Associations so we would like to clear our doubts.

As is it is stated in call for proposals document (call text p. 29): Applicants may submit more than one

application for different projects under the same call and topic (and be awarded a grant for them).

Organisations may participate in several applications. BUT: if are several applications for the

same/very similar project, only one application will be accepted and evaluated; the applicants will

be asked to withdraw one of them (or it will be rejected). Organisation that is participating in one

proposal and leading another may have to withdraw one of them not in the case that both could be

granted, but in the case that the project proposals will be same/very similar (e.g. covering the

same theme(s) under the Blue Careers topic, developing same/similar solutions, etc.).

Regarding your second question, specific eligibility conditions for participants for Topic 2 – Blue

Careers are following:

The applications must be submitted by a consortium complying with the following conditions:

Minimum two legal entities from two different countries. One of these must act as the

consortium coordinator, while the others will act as partners.

Applications by single applicants are NOT allowed.

The consortium must comprise at least:

a) an educational/training organisation such as higher education institution or an

organisation providing vocational training; and

b) a business entity, company or chamber of commerce or legally established

maritime cluster.

Other participants may be public authorities and other public or private stakeholders.

International organisations are eligible as additional partners.

To answer to your question, If you are a business entity (such as companies, business association) or

if you are part of an established maritime cluster (in your country) you can be part of the consortium.

11. We would like to submit a proposal under the topic: EMFF-02-2018 - Blue Careers. Could

you please clarify to us if a Declaration of Honour (DoH), is required by the partners to be

uploaded in the portal in order to submit the proposal?

We kindly inform you that the answer to your question is already available in the FAQ section number

21 under the “General questions”. We advise you to regularly consult this page as the EASME EMFF

team is regularly providing answers to the received questions in this section.

Please see also answer in the FAQ section number 17 and 22 under the “General questions”

regarding the documents that need to be uploaded in the Participant Portal Electronic Submission

System.

T3 – GRANTS FOR BLUE ECONOMY: investing in innovation

1. I am writing to ask a question concerning the EMFF-2018-1.2.1.7 and in particular EMFF-03-

2018 – Grants for the Blue Economy: investing in innovation. Is the call open to SMEs only or

can large enterprises participate?

There are no specific limitations for the size of applicants (as single applicants or members of

consortia) as long as it is justified and linked with the project objectives and the objectives of the topic.

For Topic 3 – Grants for the Blue Economy: investing in innovation, the applications can be submitted

by a consortium or partners or a single applicant. Please note that for Topic 3: "the eligibility

requirements” (either for single applicants or for consortia) is that the business partner is a business

partner in the sense of a profit making legal entity. For eligibility conditions for participants and

specific eligibility conditions for participants per topics, please see the section 5 (Eligibility conditions)

of the call for proposals document.

2. Our company is based in Latvia and we are developing XXX. We would be interested to

participate in the Blue Economy project and, possibly, receive an investment for our

innovation in order to be able to develop the technology. Considering the previously

mentioned, we thought whether such innovation would fall among the criteria of Blue

Economy project and whether we would be able to apply for the program?

Please note that EASME cannot give a prior opinion on the eligibility of an applicant, a partner, an

action or specific activities of a particular project (i.e. there are no pre-screening checks of project

proposals).

The applicant has to follow requirements settled in section 2 – Objectives — Themes & priorities —

Activities that can be funded — Expected Results in the text of the call for proposals. We invite you to

pay particular attention to pages 13 – 17 of the call for proposals describing more in details

requirements for EMFF-03-2018 – Grants for the Blue Economy: investing in innovation. In addition

please read the eligibility conditions and the award criteria, in section 5 & 6, which are different for

the three topics.

3. Call EMFF-03-2018 (Blue Economy) - We kindly ask if the Countries on the Caribbean Sea

could be eligible to participate and in our case is Jamaica eligible?

Please see question 7 " Which countries are eligible? Are there any specific requirements for

entities established in non-EU countries?", in Section II. of the general FAQs on EMFF calls.

Moreover, as stated in the text of the Call for proposals, in order to be eligible for a grant, the

applicants must (inter alia), be established in an EU Member State including overseas countries and

territories (for more details see the page 19 of the document Call for proposals) or for projects with

activities extending to neighbouring waters outside the territory of the EU – be established in one of

the following eligible non-EU countries:

– for activities related to the EU Atlantic Sea Strategy: Canada and United States of America;

– for activities related to the EU Baltic Sea Strategy: Belarus, Iceland, Norway and Russia;

– for activities related to the Adriatic-Ionian Macro-regional Strategy: Albania, Bosnia and

Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia;

– for activities related to the Union for the Mediterranean (including the Western Mediterranean

Framework for Action): Algeria, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon,

Mauritania, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, Palestine, Tunisia, Turkey;

– for activities related to the Black Sea Synergy: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Russia,

Turkey and Ukraine;

– for activities related to the waters of an EU Outermost Region: the countries with neighbouring

waters.

Please, note also that regarding geographical scope, for Topic 3 – Grants for the Blue Economy:

investing in innovation, proposals must relate to activities concerning one of the following sea

basins/areas: North Sea, Baltic Sea, Black Sea, the Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea basins as

well as the EU Outermost regions marine areas. Activities should normally relate to the EU waters,

but may extend into neighbouring waters, if this is necessary for the implementation of the project (in

view of its nature and its objectives).

The Caribbean region includes 16 territories with direct links to EU member states (four French

'outermost regions'; and 12 'overseas territories'– five British, six Dutch and one French territory).

Jamaica does not belong to 'outermost regions' or 'overseas territories’; it is also not a country with

neighbouring waters to an EU territory (please see footnote 35 in page 19*) , therefore it is not eligible

for EMFF funding.

*Neighbouring waters’ is to be understood in the geographical sense, e.g. countries with a common

border of their territorial waters, contiguous zones or EEZ. They must be neighbouring waters to EU

territory (i.e. not neighbouring waters to OCTs or other territories which are not part of the EU

territory).

4. Regarding the call 'EMFF-03-2018: Blue economy' can you please clarify some points

concerning the remaining part of the project budget not covered by the EU grant. According to

FAQ:

the beneficiary's own resources;

income generated by the action;

financial contributions from third parties

Beneficiaries may also rely on in-kind contributions by third parties. If against payment, they

can be charged as project costs; if for free, which is not prohibited, they will be cost-neutral

(i.e. cannot be declared as project costs). As regards the second point above, please note that

EU grants may not have the purpose or effect of producing a profit within the framework of the

action of the beneficiary. If the project generates income by itself, the corresponding profit will

be recovered by EASME. Profit is defined as a surplus of the receipts over the total eligible

costs incurred by the beneficiary when the request for payment of the balance is made (i.e.

when the final report and financial statement are submitted to EASME)."

In practical terms in a project with a budget of 600k € if partner 1 has a cost/investment of 300k

€ can you please validate the following project allocation for partner 1:

- Eu grant 65% -> 195k €

- Beneficiary contribution 35% -> 105k €

of which:

- own resources -> 25k €

- Invoiced Services -> 75k €

In this particular case if the invoiced services are higher than 75k €, that surplus would be

recovered by EASME, is that correct?

If by 'invoiced services' you refer to the income generated by the action, which is considered as a

receipt to the action then it will be recovered by EASME only if the amount resulting from the total EU

contribution received plus the amount of the receipt (EU Grant + Invoiced services) is higher than the

beneficiary's total claimed costs during the payment for the balance.

Using the example, we would say that if the EU Grant + Invoiced services are higher than 300k i.e

total project costs of the beneficiary, then we will issue a recovery order up to the amount of the profit.

We would like to also invite you to pay particular attention to cost eligibility rules in section 9 (Legal &

financial set-up of the grants) of the call for proposal document. For the cost eligibility rules, see the

model grant agreement (art. 6) and the Guide for applicants.

Please note that there are also specific cost eligibility rules (see pages 31 - 32 of the call for proposals

document):

7% fixed flat-rate for indirect costs

depreciation costs for equipment

project activities must take place in one of the eligible countries

financial support to third parties is not allowed

subcontracting of action tasks is subject to special rules and must be approved by us

(either as part of your proposal or in a periodic/final report)

in-kind contributions against payment are allowed (in-kind contributions for free are

not prohibited, but they are cost-neutral, i.e. cannot be declared as cost and will not

be counted as receipts)

VAT — please note that there are new rules in place since 2013 for public entities

(VAT paid by beneficiaries that are public bodies acting as public authority is NOT

eligible)

costs for the introductory meeting (see section 11) will be eligible as travel costs (2

persons, return ticket to Brussels, accommodation for one night)

5. Topic 3 – “At least one partner in a consortium must be a business partner in the sense of a

profit making legal entity”. What does that mean? Does it mean the company must be for-

profit, in the sense of not non-profit (as is the rule under the SME Instrument)? Or does it

mean that the company must be making a profit? The latter would of course eliminate most

start-ups/ young companies/ early stage spin-offs.

Please note that the general eligibility conditions for participants (applicable to all 3 topics) is given in

section 5 of the call, which requires, amongst others, that applicants are legal persons and belong to

one of the following categories: private entities, public entities, or international organisations. Then,

specific to topic 3, there is the requirement that at least one partner in a consortium must be a

business partner in the sense of a profit making legal entity (or in the case of single applicants, that

the applicant is the business partner in the sense of a profit making legal entity).

The requirement is that the private entity must be an undertaking that has the purpose of

making profit as opposed to other possible entities that could have a private status but have other

goals. In this respect, the definition of non-profit organisations is "A legal entity which, by its legal

form, is non-profit making AND/OR which has a statutory obligation not to distribute profits to its

shareholders or individual members ".

As regards start-ups/ young companies/ early stage spin-offs, please note also on the provisions in

section 7 on financial capacity, which requires that all project participants must have stable and

sufficient resources to successfully implement the project and contribute their share. The financial

capacity check will be done by us on the basis of the documents you will be requested to upload in

the Participant Register (profit and loss account and balance sheet for the last two closed financial

years, or for newly created entities possibly the business plan) at the Grant Agreement preparation

phase.

6. How do you see the main differences between call 3 and the EIC instruments like the SME

Instrument phase 2 or FTI?

Topic 3 – Grants for the Blue Economy is part of an EMFF call for proposals. The SME Instrument

phase 2 is part of Horizon 2020. They are different programmes and they have different rules and

objectives. Some differences include: Topic 3 is exclusively focused on the blue economy whereas

the SME Instrument has no topics defined any longer and covers all sectors of the economy. The

budget ranges for projects in topic 3 of the 2018 Blue Economy call are between €0.5 mil. to 1

mil., whereas in the SME Instrument phase 2 the ranges are between € 0.5 mil. to 2.5 mil. The

business coaching services of SMEi phase 2 is not part of topic 3. The submission and evaluation

phase is also different. For further information on the EIC SME Insturment please see here.

7. The call text mentions aquaculture among the relevant sectors for call 3. Call 1 mentions

both offshore and onshore aquaculture, and the EC 2018 report on EU blue economy mentions

onshore aquaculture among the six established blue economy sectors, so I assume that both

offshore and onshore aquaculture is relevant for EMFF-3-2018. But since the EMFF does

generally focus on the maritime sector, I am not sure. Can you please let me know if onshore

aquaculture would indeed be relevant for EMFF-3-2018?

Offshore and onshore aquaculture can be relevant for EMFF-3-2018 as long as the action is justified

and linked with the project objectives and the objectives of the topic. We invite you to pay particular

attention to sections Themes & priorities, Activities that can be funded and Expected results of the

topic 3 on pages 14 – 17 in the call for proposals document.

Please also note that proposals must relate to activities concerning one of the following sea

basins/areas: North Sea, Baltic Sea, Black Sea, the Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea basins as

well as the EU Outermost regions marine areas. Proposals can focus on a part/sub-region of these

sea basins/areas. Activities should normally relate to the EU waters, but may extend into

neighbouring waters, if this is necessary for the implementation of the project (in view of its nature and

its objectives).

8. EMFF-03-2018 – Grants for the Blue Economy. Our company look for scalable, international

potential, deep technology based start-ups with innovative solutions or disruptive business

models to the maritime sector. We believe in collaborative approach so as to groom the

entrepreneurs throughout their start-up journey and further enhance their business models

and refine their monetization model. Moreover, we help connecting our deep technology based

start-ups with the best potential investors to support and turn their projects into great

companies. Our question is whether our acceleration program would fall among the Blue

Economy categories in section 2 (core activities).

Please note that EASME cannot give a prior opinion on the eligibility of an applicant, a partner, an

action or specific activities of a particular project (i.e. there are no pre-screening checks of project

proposals).

Regarding the activities that can be funded under the topic 3, we would invite you to pay particular

attention to the call for proposals text and the section themes & priorities (page 14 – 15) and activities

that can be funded (page 15 – 16) and also expected results (page 16 – 17).

9. EMFF-03-2018 (Blue Economy). Our company is established in a EU country but it is

devoted to study tropical species, therefore we need to carry out demonstrative activities in

tropical no-EU waters (mainly Atlantic and Pacific Oceans). Taking into account the

geographical scope of the call, would our proposal be eligible? It must be noticed that our

project will benefit EU Blue economy, since blue EU companies also need to operate in no-EU

waters.

As stated in the call for proposals (section 5 – Eligibility conditions – applicable for all three topics) a

project applicant must be (inter alia) established in an EU Member State (including overseas countries

and territories) or for projects with activities extending to neighbouring waters outside the territory of

the EU, the applicant must be established in one of the mentioned eligible non-EU countries and must

be necessary for the implementation of the project (in view of its nature and its objectives) :

for activities related to the EU Atlantic Sea Strategy: Canada and the United States of

America;

for activities related to the waters of an EU Outermost Region: the countries with

neighbouring waters.

For more information about the Overseas Countries and Territories, please see page 19 of the call for

proposals document.

In particular, please see the paragraph on Geographical scope on page 21 of the call document which

states that: Proposals must relate to activities concerning one of the following sea basins/areas: North

Sea, Baltic Sea, Black Sea, the Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea basins as well as the EU Outermost

regions marine areas. Please note that activities should normally relate to the EU waters, but may

extend into neighbouring waters, if this is necessary for the implementation of the project (in view of

its nature and its objectives). Please note that the relevance and added value of the project and

whether the proposed activities have a logical link with the project objectives and targets will be

assessed as part of the award criteria (see section 6 of the call document).

Regarding the question on eligibility of your proposal, EASME cannot give a prior opinion on the

eligibility of an applicant, a partner, an action or specific activities of a particular project (i.e. there are

no pre-screening checks of project proposals).

10. We are currently evaluating possible participation on the “EMFF-03-2018 (Topic 3) with a

project in the island of Curacao (OCTs). Although the island is explicitly listed under the

eligible territories list on page 19 of the call document it is not clear to us if it meets the

geographical scope requirement on page 21:

“Proposals must relate to activities concerning one of the following sea basins/areas: North

Sea, Baltic Sea, Black Sea, the Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea basins as well as the EU

Outermost regions marine areas. Proposals can focus on a part/sub-region of these sea

basins/areas. Activities should normally relate to the EU waters, but may extend into

neighbouring waters, if this is necessary for the implementation of the project (in view of its

nature and its objectives).”

Can you please clarify to us if a project located in the Caribbean Sea as part of the marine area

of certain EU Outermost territories and OCTs would be eligible for this call?

In order to be eligible, project proposals must conform to (inter alia) the eligibility conditions for

participants and the conditions on the geographical scope of the project activities.

As it is stated in the General eligibility conditions for participants in the call for proposals document

(page 19), in order to be eligible for a grant, the applicants must be (inter alia):

- established in an EU Member State (including OCTs)

Applicants from Curaçao can therefore be eligible. Please note that the consortium coordinator (or, for

Topic 3, the single applicant submitting the application) must be established in an EU Member State.

An entity established in Curaçao is therefore eligible as a project partner only.

Conditions on the geographical scope of the project activities for Topic 3 are set out on page 21 of the

call for proposals document. As you have correctly mentioned, proposals must relate to activities

concerning one of the following sea basins/areas: North Sea, Baltic Sea, Black Sea, the Atlantic and

the Mediterranean Sea basins as well as the EU Outermost regions marine areas. Proposals can

focus on a part/sub-region of these sea basins/areas. In addition, activities should normally relate to

the EU waters, but may extend into neighbouring waters, if this is necessary for the implementation of

the project (in view of its nature and its objectives).

Therefore, for activities in the Caribbean Sea to be eligible, they must relate to one or more of the EU

Outermost Regions in the Caribbean (Martinique, Guadeloupe, Saint-Martin) and may extend into

neighbouring waters of the Outermost Region(s) in question. We would also invite you to pay

particular attention to FAQ section, question 3 under the “Topic 3 | Grants for Blue Economy” on

eligibility.

11. A) We heard that EU priority for boosting investments in Blue Economy may be given

to Black Sea Synergy, namely Bulgaria and Romania and non-EU riparian countries of

the Black Sea. Is that true and do we need to orientate our project in the Black Sea Basin ?

B) We understand that our proposal will not comply the requirement for a third party investor.

Is that a must award criteria ? Should you abandon ? Is the preference for a third party

investor primarily to show third party validation of the project ? Could you elaborate on the

other motivations/reasons, if any, for setting this preference ? Is it intended to bring financial

support to companies which do not have this self-investment capacity ? Is it enough that the

applicants fund the remainder considering the fact that the long-term sustainability of the

project might be ensured by an upcoming regulatory framework ?

A) There is no priority towards particular EU sea basins. The text on the geographical scope (see

page 21 of the call for proposals document) clearly states that “Proposals must relate to activities

concerning one of the following sea basins/areas: North Sea, Baltic Sea, Black Sea, the Atlantic and

the Mediterranean Sea basins as well as the EU Outermost regions marine areas. Proposals can

focus on a part/sub-region of these sea basins/areas.” Activities should normally relate to the EU

waters, but may extend into neighbouring waters, if this is necessary for the implementation of the

project (in view of its nature and its objectives).

B) Third party investment is not a requirement under Topic 3 but, as is stated in the call for proposals

document (page 15), priority will be given to proposals that are at a sufficiently advanced stage in

terms of securing financing from third party investors, e.g. as demonstrated by, for instance, a letter of

intent by an investor to support the project. The extent to which the proposal demonstrates financing

support from investors will be assessed as one of four sub-criteria under the ‘Impact’ award criterion

(page 24).

The aim of the action is to promote projects that are able to attract third-party co-funding but require

support to do so. This is in line with the EU’s Blue Growth Strategy, the objectives of which include

mobilising investment in the sustainable blue economy. The 2014 Commission Communication on

Innovation in the Blue Economy recognised the existence of considerable funding gaps in scaling up

promising projects from pilot to demonstration phase.

Please note also that EASME cannot give a prior opinion on the eligibility of an applicant, a partner,

an action or specific activities of a particular project (i.e. there are no pre-screening checks of project

proposals).

12. We went through the requirements for Blue Lab and Blue Economy and have few

questions regarding eligibility criteria and the application process. Let me first shortly tell you

about XXX. Our aim is to XXX. At his stage we have completed Technology readiness level 3 –

experimental proof of concept and in few months will reach Technology readiness level 4 –

Technology validated in lab as we are running tests in lab right now.

1. It’s mentioned in the Call for proposals document, that for Blue Economy “proposal

must have a completed proof of concept and early field trials under the way” (page 14).

What step is that according to Technology readiness levels?

2. Is there any similar restriction for Blue Lab application? Can we apply for this grant on

this stage?

3. Are there any requirements about self-financing for Blue Economy and Blue Lab?

Point 7 (page 27) states that “all project participants must have stable and sufficient

resources to successfully implement the project and contribute their share”. Can the

project be financed entirely from the grant resources? Is there any required percentage

of self-financing in total financing of a project? At this stage our start-up doesn’t have

any other revenue streams.

As it is stated in the project for proposals document (see footnotes of page 14), the Technology

Readiness Level (TRL) of the proposed actions must be from 6 to 9 (see General Annex G of the

H2020 Work Programme to assess the TRL of your innovation):

TRL 6 - Technology demonstrated in relevant environment

TRL 7- System prototype demonstration in operational environment

TRL 8 - System complete and qualified

TRL 9 - Actual system proven in operational environment

Completed proof of concept and early field trials under way applies only on topic 3 EMFF-03-2018 –

Grants for the Blue Economy: investing in innovations. Please note that EASME cannot give a prior

opinion on the eligibility of an applicant, a partner, an action or specific activities of a particular project

(i.e. there are no pre-screening checks of project proposals).

Regarding your last question, please see page 31 of the project for proposals document.

The grant will be a reimbursement of actual costs grant. This means that it will reimburse ONLY

certain types of costs (eligible costs) and ONLY those costs you actually incurred for your project

(NOT the budgeted costs).

The costs will be reimbursed at the funding rate fixed in the grant agreement:

maximum 80% for Topics 1 and 2

maximum 65% for Topic 3

EU grants may NOT produce a profit. If there is a profit (i.e. surplus of receipts + EU grant over

costs), we will deduct it from your final grant amount. The final grant amount you will receive will

therefore depend on a variety of criteria (actual costs incurred and project income; eligibility;

compliance with all the rules under the grant agreement, etc.). For the cost eligibility rules, see the

model grant agreement (art. 6) and the Guide for applicants.

13. Topic 3: What would be the % of pages we should dedicate to the business plan ? Which

sections are particularly important for the proposal ? Could please provide guidance and

detailed answer on which sections/content of what is expected for the evaluation ?

There is no recommended number of pages (or % of pages) that should be dedicated to the business

plan. It is necessary to address fully all sections of the application form and to convey the general and

specific objectives of your project, while adhering to the page limit.

We would invite you to pay particular attention to section 6 (Award Criteria) of the Call for proposals

document. Admissible and eligible applications will be evaluated and ranked against of the award

criteria stated on pages 21 – 25.

Regarding the business plan (see table on page 24), the sustainability and long-term impact of the

proposal will be assessed on the following basis:

the extent to which the proposal demonstrates financing support from investors. In line with

the objectives of this topic, priority will be given to proposals that are at a sufficiently

advanced stage in terms of securing financing from investors, e.g. as demonstrated by a letter

of intent by an investor to support the project;

the extent to which the proposal creates new market opportunity in the blue economy and

projects the longer term impact on economic and social and/or environmental parameters;

including by demonstrating that there will be a realistic demand/market for the innovation

proposed, providing a clear business plan. A key aspect is to demonstrate that your project

has a European or international dimension;

the extent to which the proposal provides measures to disseminate and exploit the project's

results and maximise the impact, including by providing a clear and well-designed

communication and commercialisation strategy; and including measures linked to intellectual

property, knowledge protection and regulatory issues (“Freedom to operate” measures,

management of IPR if relevant, regulatory and/or standards requirements);

the extent to which the proposed solutions/methodology/approach may be

transferable/transferred to other areas/regions/domains.

14. Could you please confirm that an elaborated business plan (see definition below from the

call for proposal) is a deliverable of the project and that it should be delivered to EU at the end

of the project?

As you have correctly mentioned, elaborated business plans (see the call for proposals page 15 –

20), can be a part of the core activities within the topic 3. As it is stated, projects must undertake

concrete activities in at least one of the following categories as part of the project implementation:

Produce new materials, products or devices, and/or install new processes, systems and

services, and/or improve substantially those already designed, produced and/or installed;

and/or operating pre-commercial pilot manufacturing system; and/or test and validate the

manufacturing process of first small series of pre-commercial products

Consult, obtain feedback and validate with relevant stakeholders the

technologies/services/products being tested/deployed/scaled-up and/or prepare internal and

external organisations for full manufacturing, including development of a value chain; and/or

prepare for full commercialisation, e.g. market/competitor/investment analyses, elaborated

business plans (including risk management, intellectual property rights, access to financing,

replication potential to other industrial/commercial application or to other sectors, entities,

regions etc.)

Therefore, an elaborated business plan is included within one option for core activities. It is not

required that proposals address both options.

Please see also Article 21 of the model grant agreement on confidentiality, according to which the

parties to the grant agreement must keep confidential any data, documents or other material that is

identified as confidential at the time it is disclosed.

15. The project indicators (Annex 3 to part B) for topic 3 include an indicator on the

Employment defined as a number of Jobs created expressed in % of change with respect to

the baseline at the start of the project. Does this change apply

to the company's applicant and/or partners ?

to the physical product's manufacturers ?

to the specific customers/blue economy sector targeted by the project ?

The employment change (in %) refers to all new jobs (FTE = equivalent to one employee working full-

time) created during the implementation of project. It is necessary to compare the change (expressed

as a percentage) at the end of the project to the initial situation (at the beginning of the project).

Please note that you need to explain reference data used to calculate the chosen baseline.

Moreover, note that the list of indicators in the Annex 3 to part B is non-exhaustive. The list gives

some examples of objectives that are aligned to the topic objectives. You may leave blank some

fields, or include additional ones tailored to your specific project objectives.

16. What is the success rate for the topic “Blue Economy”? Is it as competitive as Horizon

2020 calls for proposals? Would it be possible to get funded for a smaller project than

expected, but very innovative ? (i.e. the total project’s cost would be less than 500,000 €)

Regarding the success rate,

for the 2016 call “Blue Technology: Transfer of Innovative Solutions to Sea Basin Economies”

(EASME/EMFF/2016/1.2.1.3) there were 9 eligible proposals, from which 3 were successful

(33,3 %)

for the 2017 call “Demonstration projects making blue technologies market- and investor-

ready” (EASME/EMFF/2017/1.2.1.12/S1) there were 31 eligible proposals, from which 11

were successful (35,4 %)

EASME considers that proposals requesting a contribution in the ranges indicated in the table on

page 19 (project proposals document) would allow the specific objectives per topic to be addressed

appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of proposals requesting

higher or lower amounts.

17. Please find below a new batch of questions related to EMFF-2018-1.2.1.7 - EMFF-03-2018 –

Grants for the Blue Economy: investing in innovation. This enquiry relates to the template part

B word document, § 5.4 Ethics, Environment & security. We request clarification on the

expected content of the Environment section. Though we had a close reading of the EASME

Environmental Policy Charter, it is not clear enough. The template document mentions the

following indication: Where applicable, briefly describe the measures to reduce the

environmental footprint of your proposal. Note: Refer to the EASME Environmental Policy

Charter :

Should we elaborate the environmental footprint of the proposal preparation work, like:

fully digital work place, visio-conference meetings, etc?

Or should we elaborate the environmental impact of the proposed project / activities

undertaken during the project?

Could we refer to our corporate social and environmental responsibility report?

Section 5.4 Ethics, environment & security of the Proposal template (Part B) refers to measures to

reduce the environmental footprint of the proposed project, its tasks and actions. Regarding the

question on the references to your corporate social and environmental responsibility report, please

note that EASME cannot give a prior opinion on the eligibility of an applicant, a partner, an action or

specific activities of a particular project (i.e. there are no pre-screening checks of project proposals).

Disclaimer: The content of this page is for information purposes only. The relevant legal

instruments and the text of the call shall take precedence over the information contained in

this page. The European Commission or EASME does not accept responsibility for any use

made of the information contained therein.