Division (C) Scrutiny of potential classified ERC Actions

After the scientific evaluation of proposals, they shall be ranked according to the evaluation results. A ‘retained list’ containing proposals recommended for possible funding, namely that have not been rejected, and for which funding is available, plus ‘reserve-list(s)’ are established by the ERCEA.

Any ERC action on the retained list and on the reserve list(s), which has the flag ‘security considerations’, will undergo a scrutiny procedure. This will be performed by an ad-hoc sub-committee: the ‘Security Scrutiny Committee’.

This ‘Security Scrutiny Committee’ is composed by Member States representatives nominated in close liaison with the competent national security authorities, supported if appropriate by representatives of the relevant Programme Committee(s), in a configuration representing the countries of the proposal applicants. This Committee is chaired by a representative of the Commission.

This Committee will verify if all security aspects are properly taken into account by the applicants. Proposals will be scrutinised by Committee members from the same countries as the proposal applicants.

This process should reach a common position between the concerned national representatives resulting in one of the following recommendations:

• Classification is not required: Procedures for preparation of the ERC grant agreements can be started (though some recommendations for preparation may be issued, if relevant),

• Classification is required: specific recommendations for the preparation of the ERC grant agreement are given in the form of conditions to be met in the grant agreement. The ERC action will become a Classified Action^f1 and will be EU-classified at the level of the highest classification of the information used/produced by the ERC action as indicated in the SAL and its annexed SCG,

• The proposal is too sensitive to be financed because the applicants do not have the appropriate experience, skills or permissions to handle properly the classified information. In that case, the proposal may be rejected. If so, the ERCEA will explain the reasons of rejection, except when these reasons are themselves classified.

Based on this common position, the level of classification will be determined. As a result, the ERCEA, together with all the relevant NSAs, will then verify, during preparation and implementation of the grant agreement, that all the necessary procedures and actions are put in place in order to guarantee that classified information is dealt with in the appropriate way.