EUROPEAN COMMISSION Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME)

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1 EUROPEAN COMMISSION Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME) Unit A1 COSME Call for proposals - COS-TEDEN European Destinations of Excellence Promotion of EDEN destinations and awareness raising EASME-COSME-EDEN-CALL-2015@ec.europa.eu Questions and Answers v.4 05/06/2015 INDEX A. Background of the call B. Activities C. Timetable D. Available budget and funding of projects E. Admissibility Requirements F. Eligibility Criteria G. Exclusion Criteria H. Selection criteria I. Award criteria J. Legal commitments K. Financial provisions L. Publicity & Data protection M. Submission of proposals New Questions (and Answers) from the previous version are highlighted in a yellow background. Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME), B-1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË

2 A. Background of the call B. Activities B.1 Is the Call for proposals COS-TEDEN to increase visibility of the European Destinations of Excellence selected in years or just for destinations that we intend to select this year? As mentioned in art. 2.1 of the call, the national promotion campaign should concern all the EDEN destinations selected in the country since B.2 We are a regional authority with an EDEN destination in the territory. We are thinking on submitting a project idea (awareness campaign) to this call but we are not sure if it is needed to include in the proposal the EDEN destination which already existed in the region exclusively or would it be possible to extent the project proposal to other destinations in the region in relationship with the EDEN destination? First, as mentioned in art. 6.1 of the call, the single applicant / coordinator must be a National Tourism Administration. If the responsibility for the tourism sector is decentralised, then the proposal may be submitted by the competent regional administration. National Tourist Offices or other public bodies in charge of tourism can submit an application, provided that the competent National Administration gives its consent in writing. As a result, a regional Government could only apply for this call in case the national Government does not apply AND if the regional Government gets the consent in writing of the national Government. In such a case, as the call says that only one application per country will be eligible (ie either the proposal is submitted by the National Tourism Administration or by another organisation to whom the National Administration would have given its consent), the promotion campaign should cover all the EDEN destinations previously selected in that country independently of the region in which they are located. Only selected EDEN destinations (winners and runner-ups) should be targeted by the campaign, no other places. B.3 we have a question regarding the Call for proposals COS-TEDEN : could we submit a proposal before the selection of the national winner for the EDEN 2015? The objective of the call is to promote EDEN destinations (winners and runners-up) selected in Even if the selection of the destinations through the call launched in 2014 on the topic "tourism and local gastronomy" is not completed at the time of applying for this years' call, the proposal to be submitted by 25 June should clearly mention that it will also aim at promoting the destinations selected further to the call published in 2014 (the exact destinations do not have to be specified). 2

3 C. Timetable D. Available budget and funding of projects E. Admissibility Requirements F. Eligibility Criteria F.1 We have carefully read the Call for proposals and Guide for applicants and it is not very clear for us if the Project Coordinator may also be a local authority from an EDEN destination (which has also competencies in tourism promotion) that provides a letter of support from our National Administration in charge of tourism. According to art. 6.1 of the call, the single applicant / coordinator in case of a consortium must be a National Tourism Administration. If the responsibility for the tourism sector is decentralised, then the proposal may be submitted by the competent regional administration. National Tourist Offices or other public bodies in charge of tourism can submit an application, provided that the competent National Administration gives its consent in writing. If the local authority from an EDEN destination corresponds to the definition of a public body in charge of tourism, then the provisions of art. 6.1 could apply. In any case, all other organisations mentioned in the article above can only apply for this call in case the national Government does not apply AND if the organisation gets the consent in writing of the national Government. The above mentioned article also says that only one application per country will be eligible. In such a case, the promotion campaign should cover all the EDEN destinations previously selected in that country independently of the region in which they are located. F.2 The call text reads as such: "If the responsibility for the tourism sector is decentralised, then the proposal may be submitted by the competent regional administration". However, we suppose that the regional authorities have to be the ones in which the Destinations of Excellence are located. Is it correct? Or should we assume that any regional authority of the countries which have selected at least one of the European Destinations of Excellence is suitable for applying? Please read the answers to questions B.2 and F.1. F.3 Our association is interested to participate in this call but we understand that this is subject to the participation in the previous calls and this one of the National or Regional Tourism administrations. We would then like to know if our National or Regional Tourism 3

4 administrations took part in previous calls and which were the EDEN destinations selected in our country. Concerning the eligibility of your association to take part in this call, please read the answers to questions B.2 and F.1. Concerning the list of EDEN destinations (winners and runner-ups) selected to date, please consult the page: To find out more about previous participation in your country of National or Regional Administrations in EDEN calls, please contact your national EDEN Project Officer whose address is available there: F.4 In our country we created 4 years ago a network made of the winners and runner-ups of the EDEN selection calls. This network does not have a legal status. Could it though submit a proposal under the current call? The answer is no since, as mentioned in art. 6.1 of the call, "applicants must be legal entities properly constituted and registered under national law". F.5 Could you help me looking for partners? You may contact your nearest Enterprise Europe Network member who could assist you in finding potential Partners. The list of Enterprise Europe Network members is available at F.6 We are currently preparing our application for the new call and are considering the possibility of applying on behalf of the Ministry of Tourism instead of the national Tourism Authority as has always been the case for our country. Can you kindly indicate the possible implications (if any) in this regard Eligibility criteria are mentioned in article 6 of the call. As long as the eligibility criteria are fulfilled, the applicant for this call can be different from the previous EDEN calls since the grant agreement to be signed will be totally independent from the ones granted under previous calls. G. Exclusion Criteria H. Selection criteria I. Award criteria J. Legal commitments K. Financial provisions K.1 We may read at page 18 of the Call for proposal file: "EU grants may not have the purpose or effect of producing a profit within the framework of the action". However, in Financial 4

5 Regulation, art. 125 par. 4 point (e) is clearly stated that no-profit principle shall not apply to low value grants. Rules of application, art. 185, indicates low value grants as lower than euros. According to Call for proposal file, pag. 9, no grants will be higher than euros for the present action. Does not this mean that the projects may actually produce profit? The no-profit principle is a general principle applicable to grants and therefore stated in the call for proposals. However, this general principle indeed has a few exceptions, one of them is that it does not apply to low value grants, i.e. grants below Euros. L. Publicity and Data protection M. Submission of proposals M.1. Could you advise where we can enter the electronic submission system for the Call for proposal COS-TEDEN The link to access the submission system for this call has been added on the call page ( 5