Contents
Chapter I · Provisions implementing Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 with regard to the ESI Funds
(Empowerment under Article 74(4) of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013)
Article 1Establishment of electronic data exchange system#
The Commission shall establish an electronic data exchange system for all official exchanges of information between the Member State and the Commission.
Article 2Content of electronic data exchange system#
1.The electronic data exchange system (hereinafter referred to as ‘SFC2014’) shall contain at least information specified in the models, formats and templates established in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013, Regulation (EU) No 1299/2013, Regulation (EU) No 1305/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Councilnote and the future Union legal act establishing the conditions for the financial support for maritime and fisheries policy for the programming period 2014-2020 (the ‘EMFF Regulation’).
2.The information provided in the electronic forms embedded in SFC2014 (hereinafter referred to as ‘structured data’) may not be replaced by non-structured data, including the use of hyperlinks or other types of non-structured data such as attachment of documents or images. Where a Member State transmits the same information in the form of structured data and non-structured data, the structured data shall be used in case of inconsistencies.
Article 3Operation of SFC2014#
1.The Commission, the authorities designated by the Member State pursuant to Article 59(3) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Councilnote, Article 123 of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 and Article 65(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1305/2013 as well as the bodies to which tasks of those authorities have been delegated shall enter into SFC2014 the information for the transmission of which they are responsible and any updates thereto.
2.Any transmission of information to the Commission shall be verified and submitted by a person other than the person who entered the data for that transmission. This separation of tasks shall be supported by SFC2014 or by Member State’s management and control information systems connected automatically with SFC2014.
3.Member States shall appoint, at national or regional level or at both national and regional levels, a person or persons responsible for managing access rights to SFC2014 who shall fulfil the following tasks:
(a)identifying users requesting access, making sure those users are employed by the organisation;
(b)informing users about their obligations to preserve the security of the system;
(c)verifying the entitlement of users to the required privilege level in relation to their tasks and their hierarchical position;
(d)requesting the termination of access rights when those access rights are no longer needed or justified;
(e)promptly reporting suspicious events that may bring prejudice to the security of the system;
(f)ensuring the continued accuracy of user identification data by reporting any changes;
(g)taking the necessary data protection and commercial confidentiality precautions in accordance with Union and national rules;
(h)informing the Commission of any changes affecting the capacity of the Member State authorities or users of SFC2014 to carry out the responsibilities referred to in paragraph 1 or their personal capacity to carry out responsibilities referred to in points (a)-(g).
4.Exchanges of data and transactions shall bear a compulsory electronic signature within the meaning of Directive 1999/93/EC of the European Parliament and of the Councilnote. The Member States and the Commission shall recognise the legal effectiveness and admissibility of the electronic signature used in SFC2014 as evidence in legal proceedings.Information processed through SFC2014 shall respect the protection of privacy and personal data for individuals and commercial confidentiality for legal entities in accordance with Directive 2002/58/EC of the European Parliament and of the Councilnote, Directive 2009/136/EC of the European Parliament and of the Councilnote, Directive 1995/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Councilnote and Regulation (EC) No 45/2001.
Article 4Characteristics of SFC2014#
In order to ensure the efficient and effective electronic exchange of information, SFC2014 shall have the following characteristics:
(a)interactive forms or forms pre-filled by the system on the basis of the data already recorded in the system previously;
(b)automatic calculations, where they reduce the encoding effort of users;
(c)automatic embedded controls to verify internal consistency of transmitted data and consistency of this data with applicable rules;
(d)system generated alerts warning SFC2014 users that certain actions can or cannot be performed;
(e)online status tracking of the treatment of information entered into the system;
(f)availability of historical data in respect of all information entered for an operational programme.
Article 5Transmission of data through SFC2014#
1.SFC2014 shall be accessible to the Member States and the Commission either directly through an interactive user-interface (i.e. a web-application) or via a technical interface using pre-defined protocols (i.e. web-services) that allows for automatic synchronisation and transmission of data between Member States information systems and SFC2014.
2.The date of electronic transmission of the information by the Member State to the Commission and vice versa shall be considered to be the date of submission of the document concerned.
3.In the event of force majeure, a malfunctioning of SFC2014 or a lack of a connection with SFC2014 exceeding one working day in the last week before a regulatory deadline for the submission of information or in the period from 23 to 31 December, or five working days at other times, the information exchange between the Member State and the Commission may take place in paper form using the models, formats and templates referred to in Article 2(1) of this Regulation.When the electronic exchange system ceases to malfunction, the connection with that system is re-established or the cause of force majeure ceases, the party concerned shall enter without delay the information already sent in paper form also into SFC2014.
4.In cases referred to in paragraph 3 the date stamped by the post shall be considered to be the date of submission of the document concerned.
Article 6Security of data transmitted through SFC2014#
1.The Commission shall establish an information technology security policy (hereinafter referred to as ‘SFC IT security policy’) for SFC2014 applicable to personnel using SFC2014 in accordance with relevant Union rules, in particular Commission Decision C(2006) 3602note and its implementing rules. The Commission shall designate a person or persons responsible for defining, maintaining and ensuring the correct application of the security policy to SFC2014.
2.Member States and European institutions other than the Commission, who have received access rights to SFC2014, shall comply with the IT security terms and conditions published in the SFC2014 portal and the measures that are implemented in SFC2014 by the Commission to secure the transmission of data, in particular in relation to the use of the technical interface referred to in Article 5(1) of this Regulation.
3.Member States and the Commission shall implement and ensure the effectiveness of the security measures adopted to protect the data they have stored and transmitted through SFC2014.
4.Member States shall adopt national, regional or local information security policies covering access to SFC2014 and automatic input of data into it, ensuring a minimum set of security requirements. These national, regional or local IT security policies can refer to other security documents. Each Member State shall ensure that these IT security policies apply to all authorities using SFC2014.
5.
6.These national, regional or local IT security policies shall be based on a risk assessment and the measures described shall be proportionate to the risks identified.
7.The documents setting out the national, regional or local IT security policies shall be made available to the Commission upon request.
8.Member States shall designate, at a national or regional level, a person or persons responsible for maintaining and ensuring the application of the national, regional or local IT security policies. That person or these persons shall act as a contact point with the person or persons designated by the Commission and referred to in Article 6(1) of this Regulation.
9.Both the SFC IT security policy and the relevant national, regional and local IT security policies shall be updated in the event of technological changes, the identification of new threats or other relevant developments. In any event, they shall be reviewed on an annual basis to ensure that they continue to provide an appropriate response.
Chapter II · Provisions implementing Regulation (EU) No 1299/2013
(Empowerment under the second subparagraph of Article 8(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1299/2013)
Article 7Categories of intervention for the European territorial cooperation goal#
The nomenclature for categories of intervention referred to in the second subparagraph of Article 8(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1299/2013 is set out in the Annex to this Regulation.
III · Final provision
| 001 | Generic productive investment in small and medium – sized enterprises (‘SMEs’) |
| 002 | Research and innovation processes in large enterprises |
| 003 | Productive investment in large enterprises linked to the low-carbon economy |
| 004 | Productive investment linked to the cooperation between large enterprises and SMEs for developing information and communication technology (‘ICT’) products and services, e-commerce and enhancing demand for ICT |
| Energy infrastructure | |
| 005 | Electricity (storage and transmission) |
| 006 | Electricity (TEN-E storage and transmission) |
| 007 | Natural gas |
| 008 | Natural gas (TEN-E) |
| 009 | Renewable energy: wind |
| 010 | Renewable energy: solar |
| 011 | Renewable energy: biomass |
| 012 | Other renewable energy (including hydroelectric, geothermal and marine energy) and renewable energy integration (including storage, power to gas and renewable hydrogen infrastructure) |
| 013 | Energy efficiency renovation of public infrastructure, demonstration projects and supporting measures |
| 014 | Energy efficiency renovation of existing housing stock, demonstration projects and supporting measures |
| 015 | Intelligent Energy Distribution Systems at medium and low voltage levels (including smart grids and ICT systems) |
| 016 | High efficiency co-generation and district heating |
| Environmental infrastructure | |
| 017 | Household waste management, (including minimisation, sorting, recycling measures) |
| 018 | Household waste management, (including mechanical biological treatment, thermal treatment, incineration and landfill measures) |
| 019 | Commercial, industrial or hazardous waste management |
| 020 | Provision of water for human consumption (extraction, treatment, storage and distribution infrastructure) |
| 021 | Water management and drinking water conservation (including river basin management, water supply, specific climate change adaptation measures, district and consumer metering, charging systems and leak reduction) |
| 022 | Waste water treatment |
| 023 | Environmental measures aimed at reducing and/or avoiding greenhouse gas emissions (including treatment and storage of methane gas and composting) |
| Transport infrastructure | |
| 024 | Railways (TEN-T Core) |
| 025 | Railways (TEN-T comprehensive) |
| 026 | Other Railways |
| 027 | Mobile rail assets |
| 028 | TEN-T motorways and roads — core network (new build) |
| 029 | TEN-T motorways and roads — comprehensive network (new build) |
| 030 | Secondary road links to TEN-T road network and nodes (new build) |
| 031 | Other national and regional roads (new build) |
| 032 | Local access roads (new build) |
| 033 | TEN-T reconstructed or improved road |
| 034 | Other reconstructed or improved road (motorway, national, regional or local) |
| 035 | Multimodal transport (TEN-T) |
| 036 | Multimodal transport |
| 037 | Airports (TEN-T)note |
| 038 | Other airportsnote |
| 039 | Seaports (TEN-T) |
| 040 | Other seaports |
| 041 | Inland waterways and ports (TEN-T) |
| 042 | Inland waterways and ports (regional and local) |
| Sustainable transport | |
| 043 | Clean urban transport infrastructure and promotion (including equipment and rolling stock) |
| 044 | Intelligent transport systems (including the introduction of demand management, tolling systems, IT monitoring, control and information systems) |
| Information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure | |
| 045 | ICT: Backbone/backhaul network |
| 046 | ICT: High-speed broadband network (access/local loop; >/= 30 Mbps) |
| 047 | ICT: Very high-speed broadband network (access/local loop; >/= 100 Mbps) |
| 048 | ICT: Other types of ICT infrastructure/large-scale computer resources/equipment (including e-infrastructure, data centres and sensors; also where embedded in other infrastructure such as research facilities, environmental and social infrastructure) |
| 049 | Education infrastructure for tertiary education |
| 050 | Education infrastructure for vocational education and training and adult learning |
| 051 | Education infrastructure for school education (primary and general secondary education) |
| 052 | Infrastructure for early childhood education and care |
| 053 | Health infrastructure |
| 054 | Housing infrastructure |
| 055 | Other social infrastructure contributing to regional and local development |
| Research and development and innovation | |
| 056 | Investment in infrastructure, capacities and equipment in SMEs directly linked to research and innovation activities |
| 057 | Investment in infrastructure, capacities and equipment in large companies directly linked to research and innovation activities |
| 058 | Research and innovation infrastructure (public) |
| 059 | Research and innovation infrastructure (private, including science parks) |
| 060 | Research and innovation activities in public research centres and centres of competence including networking |
| 061 | Research and innovation activities in private research centres including networking |
| 062 | Technology transfer and university-enterprise cooperation primarily benefiting SMEs |
| 063 | Cluster support and business networks primarily benefiting SMEs |
| 064 | Research and innovation processes in SMEs (including voucher schemes, process, design, service and social innovation) |
| 065 | Research and innovation infrastructure, processes, technology transfer and cooperation in enterprises focusing on the low carbon economy and on resilience to climate change |
| Business development | |
| 066 | Advanced support services for SMEs and groups of SMEs (including management, marketing and design services) |
| 067 | SME business development, support to entrepreneurship and incubation (including support to spin offs and spin outs) |
| 068 | Energy efficiency and demonstration projects in SMEs and supporting measures |
| 069 | Support to environmentally-friendly production processes and resource efficiency in SMEs |
| 070 | Promotion of energy efficiency in large enterprises |
| 071 | Development and promotion of enterprises specialised in providing services contributing to the low carbon economy and to resilience to climate change (including support to such services) |
| 072 | Business infrastructure for SMEs (including industrial parks and sites) |
| 073 | Support to social enterprises (SMEs) |
| 074 | Development and promotion of tourism assets in SMEs |
| 075 | Development and promotion of tourism services in or for SMEs |
| 076 | Development and promotion of cultural and creative assets in SMEs |
| 077 | Development and promotion of cultural and creative services in or for SMEs |
| Information and communication technology (ICT) — demand stimulation, applications and services | |
| 078 | e-Government services and applications (including e-Procurement, ICT measures supporting the reform of public administration, cyber-security, trust and privacy measures, e-Justice and e-Democracy) |
| 079 | Access to public sector information (including open data e-Culture, digital libraries, e-Content and e-Tourism) |
| 080 | e-Inclusion, e-Accessibility, e-Learning and e-Education services and applications, digital literacy |
| 081 | ICT solutions addressing the healthy active ageing challenge and e-Health services and applications (including e-Care and ambient assisted living) |
| 082 | ICT Services and applications for SMEs (including e-Commerce, e-Business and networked business processes), living labs, web entrepreneurs and ICT start-ups) |
| Environment | |
| 083 | Air quality measures |
| 084 | Integrated pollution prevention and control (IPPC) |
| 085 | Protection and enhancement of biodiversity, nature protection and green infrastructure |
| 086 | Protection, restoration and sustainable use of Natura 2000 sites |
| 087 | Adaptation to climate change measures and prevention and management of climate related risks e.g. erosion, fires, flooding, storms and drought, including awareness raising, civil protection and disaster management systems and infrastructures |
| 088 | Risk prevention and management of non-climate related natural risks (i.e. earthquakes) and risks linked to human activities (e.g. technological accidents), including awareness raising, civil protection and disaster management systems and infrastructures |
| 089 | Rehabilitation of industrial sites and contaminated land |
| 090 | Cycle tracks and footpaths |
| 091 | Development and promotion of the tourism potential of natural areas |
| 092 | Protection, development and promotion of public tourism assets |
| 093 | Development and promotion of public tourism services |
| 094 | Protection, development and promotion of public cultural and heritage assets |
| 095 | Development and promotion of public cultural and heritage services |
| Other | |
| 096 | Institutional capacity of public administrations and public services related to implementation of the ERDF or actions supporting ESF institutional capacity initiatives |
| 097 | Community-led local development initiatives in urban and rural areas |
| 098 | Outermost regions: compensation of any additional costs due to accessibility deficit and territorial fragmentation |
| 099 | Outermost regions: specific action to compensate additional costs due to size market factors |
| 100 | Outermost regions: support to compensate additional costs due to climate conditions and relief difficulties |
| 101 | Cross-financing under the ERDF (support to ESF-type actions necessary for the satisfactory implementation of the ERDF part of the operation and directly linked to it) |
| 102 | Access to employment for job-seekers and inactive people, including the long-term unemployed and people far from the labour market, also through local employment initiatives and support for labour mobility |
| 103 | Sustainable integration into the labour market of young people, in particular those not in employment, education or training, including young people at risk of social exclusion and young people from marginalised communities, including through the implementation of the Youth Guarantee |
| 104 | Self-employment, entrepreneurship and business creation including innovative micro, small and medium sized enterprises |
| 105 | Equality between men and women in all areas, including in access to employment, career progression, reconciliation of work and private life and promotion of equal pay for equal work |
| 106 | Adaptation of workers, enterprises and entrepreneurs to change |
| 107 | Active and healthy ageing |
| 108 | Modernisation of labour market institutions, such as public and private employment services, and improving the matching of labour market needs, including throughactions that enhance transnational labour mobility as well as through mobility schemes and better cooperation between institutions and relevant stakeholders |
| 109 | Active inclusion, including with a view to promoting equal opportunities and active participation, and improving employability |
| 110 | Socio-economic integration of marginalised communities such as the Roma |
| 111 | Combating all forms of discrimination and promoting equal opportunities |
| 112 | Enhancing access to affordable, sustainable and high-quality services, including health care and social services of general interest |
| 113 | Promoting social entrepreneurship and vocational integration in social enterprises and the social and solidarity economy in order to facilitate access to employment |
| 114 | Community-led local development strategies |
| 115 | Reducing and preventing early school-leaving and promoting equal access to good quality early-childhood, primary and secondary education including formal, non-formal and informal learning pathways for reintegrating into education and training |
| 116 | Improving the quality and efficiency of, and access to, tertiary and equivalent education with a view to increasing participation and attainment levels, especially for disadvantaged groups |
| 117 | Enhancing equal access to lifelong learning for all age groups in formal, non-formal and informal settings, upgrading the knowledge, skills and competences of the workforce, and promoting flexible learning pathways including through career guidance and validation of acquired competences |
| 118 | Improving the labour market relevance of education and training systems, facilitating the transition from education to work, and strengthening vocational education and training systems and their quality, including through mechanisms for skills anticipation, adaptation of curricula and the establishment and development of work-based learning systems, including dual learning systems and apprenticeship schemes |
| 119 | Investment in institutional capacity and in the efficiency of public administrations and public services at the national, regional and local levels with a view to reforms, better regulation and good governance |
| 120 | Capacity building for all stakeholders delivering education, lifelong learning, training and employment and social policies, including through sectoral and territorial pacts to mobilise for reform at the national, regional and local levels |
| 121 | Preparation, implementation, monitoring and inspection |
| 122 | Evaluation and studies |
| 123 | Information and communication |
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