implementation guidance 2014-2020

7/22/2019 Implementation Guidance 2014-2020

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Implementation Guidance 2014 -2020

Information and Communication1

Version 2 – 24/03/2014

Table of contents

1. Background ………………………………………………………………………………………p. 1

1.1 Most relevant articles………………………………………………………………………… p. 2

1.2 Key differences with the 2007 – 2013 period……………………………..……………….p. 3

2. Guidance………………………………………………………………………………………….p. 4

This is a draft document based on the new ESIF Regulations published in OJ 347 of 20

December 2013 and on the most recent version of the relevant Commission draft

implementing and delegated acts. It may still require review to reflect the content of these

draft legal acts once they are adopted.

1. Background

Providing information and communicating on the aims, funding opportunities and results of

operational programmes and projects is a key task for the Member State, managing authorities

and the beneficiaries in the Member States. Information and communication activities should

address the following questions:

What investment opportunities exist?

How does a beneficiary go about tackling publicity issues (including informing participants in training measures that they are supported by a Cohesion Policy fund)?

Who is being funded and for what purpose?

What are the main achievements/results/ impacts of the implementation of the operational

programme?

Informing potential beneficiaries about funding opportunities is a crucial part of programme

management to ensure equal and transparent access to the Cohesion Policy Funds. To enable

operational programmes to invest in the most relevant and best performing projects, the

widest possible audience of potential beneficiaries needs to be informed.

1 Desk officers should check if updated information is available in the intranet (e.g. COESIF notes, new

procedures) since the guidance note might not be updated during the implementation period.



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The managing authorities, together with project beneficiaries, have to demonstrate to the

citizens as well as to the media and politicians at all levels, the results of these investments.

Taxpayers within the EU have the right to know how their money is spent. Therefore it is

necessary to showcase the results achieved.

Desk officers have a crucial monitoring role in this regard. Each desk officer should be aware

of the most successful, but also the more problematic, projects in their operational programme. This is not only important for briefings but also vital information for the

Commissioner, the spokesperson, the Director-General, and the communication unit.

This fiche provides guidance on information and communication requirements for Cohesion

Policy (ERDF, ESF and Cohesion Fund). Therefore, it does not apply to the EAFRD or the

EMFF, but could be a source of good practice for these Funds.

1.1 Most relevant articles

The most relevant articles for communication and information are:

Article 115 of Regulation 1303/2013

(Common Provisions Regulation,

CPR)*

Information and communication

Article 116 of CPR* Communication strategy

Article 117 of CPR* Information and communication officers and their

networks

Annex XII of CPR List of operations

Information and communication measures for the

public Information measures for potential beneficiaries and

beneficiaries

Elements of the communication strategy

* Articles 9 and 54 of the Regulation 1305/2013 (European Agricultural Rural Development

Fund, EAFRD) set out the main requirements on information and communication for rural

development programmes .

1.2 Key differences with the 2007-2013 period

The 7-year Communication plan is called the communication strategy;

There may be one communication strategy for several operational programmes and oneMonitoring Committee may be designated to approve it, but all relevant Monitoring

Committees have to be consulted – desk officers for different operational programmes

have to co-ordinate with each other;

The Commission no longer approves the communication strategy or subsequent

amendments. In return, the managing authority and the Monitoring Committee have to

take ownership of communication issues and review progress systematically in the

Monitoring Committee meetings;



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Most rules regarding communication are part of the CPR, but those on the use of the EU

emblem and templates for billboards, plaques etc, will be covered by an Implementing

Act;

The online list of operations (projects) to be updated twice a year (instead of yearly);

A single cohesion policy website or portal has to be set up. However, covering as well theother ESI Funds (EAFRD, EMFF) would be a good practice.

2. Guidance

2.1 Commentary/analysis of the regulatory framework

Communication Strategy:

In the spirit of creating stronger ownership of communication issues at programme level,

including the Monitoring Committee, the Commission will no longer approve the

communication strategy prepared by the managing authority. The Monitoring Committee will

have to approve the communication strategy within 6 months of adoption of the OperationalProgramme (OP) and can comment on the planned annual communication activities for the

following year. According to Article 116 (3) CPR , “the managing authority shall inform the

responsible monitoring committee(s) at least once a year on the progress in the

implementation of the communication strategy and on its analysis of the results as well as on

the planned information and communication activities to be carried out in the following year.”

Desk officers have to ensure that this is being taken seriously in the Monitoring Committee,

and it is crucial that communication issues do not fall off the agenda. This is even more

important because communication is no longer a compulsory element of the Annual Report –

only for the Annual Reports of 2017 and 2019 is there a compulsory chapter on

communication.According to Annex XII Section § 4(g) of the CPR, the communication strategy has to

include:

“an indication of how the information and communication measures shall be assessed in

terms of visibility and awareness of policy, operational programmes and operations,

and of the role played by the Funds and the European Union;”

In this context, desk officers should remind the Managing Authorities about the importance of

paying attention to cost-efficiency, notably with regard to communication campaigns.

Desk officers should check before the Monitoring Committee meeting which is to approve the

communication strategy if all elements listed in § 4 of Annex XII are included and point out

any missing elements to the managing authority. The same applies for any subsequent

revision of the strategy.

There may be one single communication strategy for several operational programmes. The

Member State may designate one specific Monitoring Committee to approve acommunication strategy for several operational programmes, but all Monitoring Committees

concerned are to be consulted (Article 116 (2) CPR). The desk officers of the respective

operational programmes will have to coordinate between them to ensure that this consultation

is carried out.



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The communication strategy shall be adopted six months after the adoption of the

programme(s) concerned and desk officers should monitor the timely adoption. They should

also ensure that the major information activity publicising the programme launch (see below),

as well as other activities for beneficiaries, are carried out even prior to the approval of the

communication strategy (Annex XII, Sections § 2.1 and 2.2 of the CPR).

The communication strategy shall be proportional to the size of the programme (Article 116(1) CPR) – a multi-billion euro programme has to have a much bigger budget allocated to

communication activities than a small cross-border programme, for example. It also has to

address a larger audience and has to plan more activities.

Every year, the managing authority or the Member State has to organise at least one major

information activity which promotes the funding opportunities, the (investment) strategies

pursued and presents the achievements of the operational programmes. Where relevant, major

projects, joint action plans and other project examples should feature in these information

activities.

Desk officers should, at the beginning of each year, obtain information about the major

information activity and ensure it is targeted towards the general public living in the

programme area and that it also aims at the widest possible media coverage. For example, this

activity should not be a stakeholder or public body oriented conference only. Good practices

include “project open days”, when projects and their beneficiaries present their results, often

around 9 May, with stands on a central public place or during organised cycling or bus tours

to projects for citizens and journalists. See, for example:

http://www.europaomdehoek.nl/kijkdagen

http://www.europe-en-midipyrenees.eu/le-joli-mois-2013/

or http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20111124/local/coach-tours-to-eu-funded-

projects.395189 and http://www.ppcd.gov.mt/newsarchives_2011

Increased Transparency

Single website or web portal for cohesion policy

To facilitate finding information about funding opportunities and beneficiaries, the CPR sets

the obligation for each Member State to set up a single website for all its cohesion policy

operational programmes (ERDF, ESF, CF) or a web portal with links to all its cohesion policy

operational programmes (Article 115 CPR). However, it is recommended that these websites

cover as well the EAFRD and the EMFF (websites common to all ESI Funds).

List of Operations (Annex XII Section § 1 of the CPR)

The list of operations with information about projects and beneficiaries has to be accessible

from this website/portal (Article 115 (2) CPR). There should be one list per programme in

spreadsheet compatible format (XML or CSV) and not in PDF. The list has to be updated at

least twice a year. The Regulation does not specify any dates, but it would be a good practice

to send it at the same time as financial data in order to facilitate consistency checks. Desk

officers should check if the list of operations is indeed updated twice a year, and where

necessary remind the managing authority to do so.





http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20111124/local/coach-tours-to-eu-funded-projects.395189



http://www.ppcd.gov.mt/newsarchives_2011










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Responsibilities of the Beneficiaries

Annex XII Section § 2.2.1 of the CPR sets out the general obligation for beneficiaries to

display the following information for projects supported by the Funds:

a. "The EU emblem in accordance with the technical characteristics laid down in the

implementing act adopted by the Commission under Article 115 (4), together with areference to the European Union".

b. "A reference to the Fund or Funds supporting the operation". In the case of operations

co-financed by more than one Fund, this reference may be replaced by a general

"reference to the European Structural and Investment Funds".

In addition, Annex XII Section § 2.2.2 of the CPR sets out specific obligations for the

beneficiary to inform the public about the support obtained from the Funds:

a. Provide "on the beneficiary's website, where such a website exists, a short description

of the operation, proportionate to the level of support, including its aims and results,

and highlighting the financial support from the European Union”. b. Display, in order to give more visibility to smaller non-infrastructure projects (< EUR

500,000 of public [national + EU] funding) “at least one poster with information about

the project (minimum size A3), including the financial support from the European

Union, at a location readily visible to the public, such as the entrance area of a

building.”

Displaying the EU flag at the site of the Managing Authority

Flying the EU flag during the week of 9 May at the premises of the managing authority

became a political issue in some EU Member States during 2007-2013. As a result a more

flexible approach has been adopted of:

“displaying the emblem of the European Union […] at the premises of each managing

authority” (Annex XII Section § 2.2.1 (a) of the CPR).

This means, for example, that in practice even only an EU emblem sticker on the main

entrance door of the managing authority’s building would be sufficient. However, this EU

emblem now has to be displayed 365 days a year.

Information and Communication officers and their networks (Art. 117)

The main responsibility for communicating the results of the operational programmes lieswith programme managing authorities and final beneficiaries (including the project owner).

Each programme therefore has to have a designated communication officer. One

communication officer may be designated for several operational programmes.

In addition to the communication officer at programme level, there is a designated

information and communication officer at Member State level who is responsible for co-

ordinating the information and communication actions of one or several funds. This national

communication officer is also responsible for the designing and maintaining the cohesion

policy website/portal (Article 117 (2) CPR).

Desk officers have to monitor that the communication officer(s) is (are) nominated and the

cohesion policy website/portal is set up and should inform their communication unit about it.



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The national communication officers are also the Commission's contact point for organising

the work of the 'Union networks' (Article 117 (4), INFORM for ERDF/CF, INIO for ESF).

Under the EAFRD, National Rural Networks might be designated to provide information and

communication on rural development programmes .

Good practice REGIO desk officers are encouraged to join the REGIO Communicators' Network on

Yammer to share and discuss communication issues.

Follow communication activities actively: What are the main communication activities of

your programme? When are key projects adopted? Is a representative of the Commission

(relevant DG and/or the Commission Representation) invited at the appropriate level for

publicity events? For important project inaugurations, a high-level Commission participation

is desirable to ensure publicity for the EU co-funding.

Get to know the most interesting project examples in programme and inform communication

unit about it. If some projects go wrong or the programme management runs into difficultieswith ramifications in the media, inform the spokesperson (and communication unit).

Dealing with the media

This section provides a reminder of how desk officers should react to queries from journalists.

If approached by a journalist always ask for contact details (business card) and which mediahe or she works for. This will be useful in case the spokesperson has to follow up on questions

or articles. In general, desk officers are free to answer questions from a journalist (alwaysreferring of course to the available factual and technical information) as long as they are not

of a 'political nature'. Stick to the facts. Always let the spokesperson of the Commissioner

know if you have been contacted2.

Press conferences/questions from journalists after Monitoring Committees

On occasion, press conferences are organised after Monitoring Committees, (for example

when projects/operational programmes have been approved or announced). In such cases, it

would often be inappropriate to decline to take part, even if you are not informed of such an

event in advance. (If you know beforehand that there will be a press conference, you should

inform the spokesperson before leaving on mission.) Questions relating to the approval of projects, operational programmes and more general comments on the on-going

implementation of the programme can probably be handled without problems.

2 Further details for REGIO colleagues are available here:

http://myintracomm.ec.europa.eu/dg/REGIO/our_procedures/documents/contacts_with_press.pdf

https://www.yammer.com/ec.europa.eu/#/threads/inGroup?type=in_group&feedId=1185235


http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/hahn/contact/spokesperson/index_en.cfm




http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/hahn/contact/spokesperson/index_en.cfm




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More difficult questions should be directed towards the spokesperson with an explanation that

you are there to speak about that particular committee meeting only. Press conferences

following committees are one of the few occasions where it would be acceptable to be named

in any quotes. Being quoted on a non-attributable basis as the programme desk officer would

seem odd and could send the wrong message to the programme partners.

If journalists have questions related to other EU policies, you need to refer them to the press

officers in the Commission's Representation in the specific Member State: see the list:

http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/communication/about/contact_us/ec_spokespersons/index_en.htm

The Communication Unit can also be contacted in case of any doubt and would be grateful to

receive information on any contact or enquiries from the media.

2.2 Contact points

REGIO: Communication Unit DG02: [email protected],

[email protected]

EMPL: Communication Unit G3, [email protected]



mailto:[email protected]












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