QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 2017 CALL FOR PROPOSALS JUST-2017-AG-DRUG SUPPORTING INITIATIVES IN THE FIELD OF DRUGS POLICY

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1 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 2017 CALL FOR PROPOSALS JUST-2017-AG-DRUG SUPPORTING INITIATIVES IN THE FIELD OF DRUGS POLICY Question 1: Is it possible that entities established outside Europe participate in this call? Answer 1: According to the Eligible criteria of the Call, the eligible countries are: The Member States (MS) of the European Union (EU), including their Overseas Countries and Territories, without UK and Denmark. You can see below the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) that are eligible/non-eligible: Programme Eligible OCTs Non-eligible OCTs JUST-DRUGS FR: French Southern and Antarctic Territories Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Barthélémy French Polynesia Wallis and Futuna New Caledonia NL: Aruba, Bonaire Curaçao Saba Sint Eustatius Sint Maarten UK: Anguilla Bermuda British Antarctic Territory British Indian Ocean Territory British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands Falkland Islands Montserrat Pitcairn Islands Saint Helena South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Turks and Caicos Islands DK: Greenland UK and Denmark opted out from the Justice Programme You can check for more details the legal framework of the programme (REGULATION (EU) No 1382/2013 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 17 December 2013 establishing a Justice Programme for the period 2014 to 2020) for more information. Question 2: Are there any eligibility restrictions for the origin of the experts? Answer 2: There are no eligibility limitations for the external experts. Question 3: Is it possible to consider the beneficiary's own resources as "in kind" contribution from the (co)applicant? Answer 3: In kind contribution in principle is not an eligible cost. For more information see the provisions of point 6.2. Non-eligible costs of the Guide for applicants. However, I would suggest that you carefully read the provisions of the Model Grant Agreement, especially point 6.2 A. Question 4: There are many different stakeholders which could benefit from a proposal, one of them being the police. Is that acceptable under this Call especially in the context of the description of the call which reads: The specific objective of the Supporting Initiatives in the Field of Drugs Policy is to support 1

2 projects in the field of drugs policy as regards judicial cooperation and crime prevention aspects closely linked to the general objective of the Programme, in so far as they are not covered by the Instrument for financial support for police cooperation, preventing and combating crime, and crisis management, as part of the Internal Security Fund, or by the third Programme for the Union's action in the field of health.? Answer 4: This call in funded under the Justice Programme and thus shall focus on projects aiming on drugs prevention but not on the "criminal" nuance of the fight against drugs that is subject of the projects financed under the Internal Security Fund, e.g. you shall not involve fight against drugs trafficking aspects in your project.. Question 5: How third parties can be involved in the application partnership? Answer 5: No participation of third parties in envisaged in this call unless they provide financial contribution to the project i.e. they ensure funds for some (or for all) of the project activities. Question 6: It seems that the application documents have changed from last year, i.e. they are different from those for the JUST-2016-AG-DRUG call. In the past, we were able to provide a specified budget table. Now it seems we are unable to differentiate costs within each category. For instance, under personal costs, we can only provide overall costs and not differentiate specific personal costs. Are we expected to provide overall personal costs, without differentiating it? Answer 6: Indeed last year calls (2016) followed different application rules and used a different application set of documents. The main difference (but not only) is that the excel table with a detailed budget forecast we ve requested to accompany the 2016 applications is no longer required for the 2017 calls. You shall only provide the information as per the application forms (A and B) available in the online IT tool (and an Audit Certificate if applicable). Question 7: Are there any changes to the application guidelines? Horizon 2020 has implemented many changes in the rules and application process and I want to confirm that they do not impact this call. Answer 7: This call is under a non-horizon 2020 Programme, so it has a separate Guide for Applicants defining the rules for application, which we would encourage you to read carefully. We are, however, using the H2020 IT tools for application, so there might be some cross-cutting provisions. In case of any particular doubt or confusion, do not hesitate to contact us for clarifications. Question 8: We are planning to involve some partners as associated partners (no financial management from their side) and would therefore like to ask if the term associated partner is still applicable for this call. Answer 8: DG Migration and Home Affairs has abandoned the notion of "associated partners". However, such partners could be involved in the implementation on non-cost basis and then their participation could be indicated in the Description of the Action (Part B of the Application) but not in the administrative forms (Part A of the application). Question 9: I have found a revised version of the Guide for Applicants, which states the following: For British applicants: Please be aware that eligibility criteria must be complied with for the entire duration of the grant. If the United Kingdom withdraws from the EU during the grant period without concluding an agreement with the EU ensuring in particular that British applicants continue to be eligible, you will cease to receive EU funding (while continuing, where possible, to participate) or be 2

3 required to leave the project on the basis of Article (b) of the grant agreement. Does that mean that British applicants are eligible for this call? Answer 9: The Guide for applicants is not only for the calls financed under the Justice Programme Drugs prevention priority, but also applys for the three other financial instruments managed by DG Migration and Home Affairs, namely the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund; the Internal Security Fund - Borders and Visa and the Internal Security Fund Police. UK participation and eligibility is different in the different financial instruments. Question 10: Would an international organisation be considered 'MS-based' because of its Headquarters in the respective MS? Answer 10: Further to the JUST-DRUGS call conditions International organisations may participate (only as co-applicants and could be established outside of the EU Member States participating in the ISF Police instrument. However, in case the co-applicant is an international organisation established outside the EU, at least two other (co-)applicants established in two different EU Member States (participating in the ISF Police instrument) are required (see footnote 5 on page 4 of the call text). Question 11: We are writing a proposal for JUST-2017-AG-DRUG and addressing our action to Priority 3: "To support the civil society organisations by reinforcing their (i) advocacy function, (ii) capacity to make a difference at the local level, (iii) best practice sharing methods and (iv) knowledge and skills on evidence-based interventions and minimum quality standards in the field of drug demand reduction" Shall we design a project proposal covering all the 4 above mentioned elements? Can we focus only on some of them? Answer 11: According to the definition provided in the Call text Project applications submitted under the present Call for Proposals must address at least one of the following priorities all the elements in a priority shall be covered by a proposal. Question 12: Could you please inform me if it is sufficient to just indicate the PIC of the intended project partner on the platform or is it necessary to enclose a signed partnership declaration like in recent years? Answer 12: There are no provisions in this call requiring the attachment of partnership declarations. Question 13: Article 28 of the Model Grant Agreement (Liability) shows 3 options. Which option would be applicable for the Grants to be concluded from this call? Answer 13: For this call the option of Art that would apply for the grants to be awarded is Option 2, i.e. limited joint and several liability of the beneficiaries. The article will read: The Commission will 3

4 at the payment of the balance or afterwards claim back any amount that was paid, but is not due under the Agreement. The coordinator is fully liable for repaying debts of the consortium (under the Agreement), even if it has not been the final recipient of those amounts. In addition, the beneficiaries (including the coordinator) are jointly and severally liable for repaying any debts under the Agreement (including late-payment interest) up to the maximum EU contribution indicated, for each beneficiary, in the estimated budget (as last amended; see Annex 2). Question 14: Would it be possible to have more information on the co-financing via "income generated by the action"? Would it be possible to sell items developed within the project to parties outside the consortium and take this income as co-financing? Answer 14: According to the provisions of the Model Grant Agreement should the results of the project be commercialised and should the project thereby generate income the latter is to be indicated in the budget under the Receipts chapter. Receipts, however is not your co-financing. Please note that a grant must not produce a profit. Question 15: In the WP table format is required to specify Effort in person months : could you please specify us if we need to give a general description or a specific amount? Answer 16: You are expected to quantify the effort, e.g. for activity 1.1 / development of feasibility study /co-applicant B / 2 person months. Question 17: We are planning our activities and budget: some members of our staff would be involved following a hourly rate criterion. Is it eligible? Answer 17: Yes, but for comparison purposes we would encourage you to convert/recalculate it in months. Question 18: Could you please clarify how shall we calculate the hourly rate? Answer 18: The hourly rate shall be re-calculated following the beneficiaries usual administrative practice in order to be presented in months. Usually a working day consists of 8 productive hours and a month of 18 productive days but that might vary depending on each beneficiary s administrative practice and or national legislation. The Commission may accept other calculation methods (such as, for instance, hourly rates, daily rates calculated with annual personnel costs and 215 fixed annual productive days or a pro-rata apportionment of the monthly salary costs). For more details you ca see Art 6.2 Specific conditions for costs to be eligible of the Model Grant Agreement. Also the Model for the Certificate on the Financial Statement (CFS), Annex 5 of the Model Grant Agreement, provides comprehensive information under point 3.1 Verification of eligibility of the costs declared on the different type of costs and the audit trail that needs to be ensured for them. 4

5 Question 19: Should we consider common accommodation and common meals/dinners under budget heading B2 or E? Answer 19: We assume your question is in the context of the experts traveling and subsistence allowances. The have to be included in heading B2 (Direct subsistence costs) Question 20: Could you elaborate more on the eligibility of affiliated entities and seconded staff? Answer 20: In order to incur and declare costs under the project these any affiliated entity, i.e. legal entities having a legal or capital link with Applicants, shall take part in the action as individual Coapplicants. Seconded experts are eligible. In such case the beneficiary using seconded experts would need to pay the costs for them to the entity that is the original employer of the expert. There should, however, be a secondment agreement providing sufficient detail to substantiate the expert s costs calculation method and the time devoted by the expert to the project. You might find some more details on the eligibility of personnel costs in the Model for the Certificate on the Financial Statement (CFS), Annex 5 of the Model Grant Agreement. It provides comprehensive information under point 3.1 Verification of eligibility of the costs declared on the different type of costs and the audit trail that needs to be ensured for them. Question 21: The template for Part B states in the work packages: "[Give a name to your work package and keep the same numbering you use in the Forecast Budget Calculation (Annex 1)]". What is meant with Forecast Budget Calculation Annex 1? We cannot find such an Annex anywhere and it is not mentioned in the Guide for Applicants. Answer 21: The reference to the Forecast Budget Calculation (Annex 1) is a clerical error. Please disregard it as there is no Annex 1 required for this call. Question 22: We would be grateful for more clarity regarding the project target groups - should they be in Europe only or they can be in other continents too? For example if we organize a workshop in a MS country, would cost covering participants from Africa or Latin America be deemed eligible? Answer 22: There is no explicit requirement for the EU origin of the project target groups. However, the legal provisions of the financial instrument under which this call is financed, i.e. the Justice Programme REGULATION (EU) No 1382/2013, require that the Programme shall finance actions with European added value. The provisions of Article 2 of REGULATION (EU) No 1382/2013 read: European added value 1. The Programme shall finance actions with European added value which contribute to the further development of a European area of justice. To that end, the Commission shall ensure that the actions selected for funding are intended to produce results with European added value. 2. 5

6 Question 23: The Part B of the Application Form includes several fields that have characters limits. Does the maximum amount of characters include also the spaces? Answer 24: As we have not clearly indicated with or without spaces you can interpret it as without spaces. However, you shall take care that the page limit for Part B of your proposal is 50 pages. Any text after page 50 will be watermarked and evaluators will not take those pages into consideration (see the respective provisions on page 11 of the Guide for Applicants). Question 25: Which budget items must be considered as subcontracting (budget heading C) or simply as purchase of goods or services (budget heading E)? Answer 25: You can find more details in the provisions of the Model Grant Agreement: Article 9 for purchasing goods, works or services; Article 10 for subcontracting. In principle the subcontracts cover the implementation of certain action tasks described in Annex 1. You can also consult the generic database of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) published on the Participant Portal: 6