Division 3.4 Financial support for actions contributing to Community objectives

In order to ensure the timely fulfilment of users’ needs, the Commission can support the development of statistics and the build-up of capacity in the ESS by awarding service contracts or concluding grant agreements. Such support will take into account the financial burden-sharing between the EU and the Member State budgets relating to the implementation of the programme (as well as the individual situation of the Member States), in particular in cases where the European approach to statistics is used.

The objectives for the programme period are to:

• award service contracts and grant agreements with a view to ensuring the optimum development of statistics and build-up of capacity in the ESS, making best use of available resources, and

• make efforts to streamline and simplify the grant-management procedures, without prejudice to Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 of 25 June 2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities^f1.