Division 1 EXCLUSION AND ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

Financial contributions by the Community may be awarded to the functioning of a non-governmental body or the costs associated with the coordination of a specialised network by a non-profit body. A specialised network is a European network representing non-profit bodies active in the Member States or in countries participating in the second Health Programme and promoting principles and policies consistent with the objectives of the Programme, which have a relevant track record of joint achievements and established rules of collaboration (e.g. SOPs or a memorandum of understanding). An organisation or a specialised network may receive funding if it:

• is non-profit-making and independent of industry, commercial and business or other conflicting interests,

• has members in at least half of the Member States,

• has a balanced geographical coverage,

• pursues as its primary goal one or more objectives of the Programme,

• does not pursue general objectives directly or indirectly contrary to the policies of the European Union or associated with an inadequate image,

• has provided to the Commission satisfactory accounts of its membership, internal rules and sources of funding,

• has provided to the Commission its annual work programme for the financial year and the most recent annual activity report and, if available, the most recent evaluation report,

• is not in any of the situations of exclusion listed in Articles 93 and 94 of the Financial Regulation.

Any proposals received after the deadline for receipt, any incomplete proposals or proposals failing to meet the formal requirements laid down in the call for proposals will not be considered for funding. This does not apply in the case of obvious clerical errors within the meaning of Article 178(2) of the Implementing Rules.

The criterion ‘independent from industry, commercial and business or other conflicting interest’ refers to three aspects which all have to be met by the applicant organisation:

Legal independence

Two legal entities shall be regarded as independent of each other where neither is under the direct or indirect control of the other or under the same direct or indirect control of a third entity as the other.

Control may in particular take either of the following forms:

1. (a)

   The direct or indirect holding of more than 50 % of the nominal value of the issued share capital in the legal entity concerned, or of a majority of the voting rights of the shareholders or associates of that entity;

2. (b)

   The direct or indirect holding of decision-making powers, in fact or in law, in the legal entity concerned.

However, the following relationships between legal entities shall not in themselves be deemed to constitute controlling relationships:

1. (c)

   The direct or indirect holding of more than 50 % of the nominal value of the issued share capital of the applicant organisation or a majority of voting rights of the shareholders or associates of the legal entities is held by the same public body;

2. (d)

   The legal entities concerned are owned or supervised by the same public body.

Financial independence

As a general rule, applicant organisations receiving more than 20 % funding from the private sector^f1 or other conflicting interest for their functioning (core funding) shall be considered as financially dependent.

Transparency of the applicant's activities and funding

1. (e)

   All activities should be published in the applicant's annual report^f2.

   Applicants working with private sector actors regarded ineligible for example by the nature of their activity which is incompatible with the basic principles of the European Union as stated in Article 2 and 3 of the EC Treaty, can be considered unacceptable.

2. (f)

   All information on funding is to be made available to the public via the applicant's website, broken down by type (core and project funding, contribution in kind) and by funding entity.

3. (g)

   Existing position statements of applicants regarding their requirement on transparency are to be publicly available.