# Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 laying down common provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund, the Cohesion Fund, the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund and laying down general provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund, the Cohesion Fund and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006, Division 6.4: With a view to an integrated territorial approach to addressing territorial challenges the relevant authority shall ensure that programmes under support for rural development reflect the diversity of ... regions, in terms of employment and labour market characteristics, interdependencies between different sectors, commuting patterns, population ageing and demographic shifts, cultural, landscape and heritage features, climate change vulnerabilities and impacts, land use and resource constraints, potential for more sustainable use of natural resources including renewables, institutional and governance arrangements, connectivity and accessibility, and linkages between rural and urban areas. In accordance with point (a) of Article 15(1), the relevant authority ... shall therefore undertake the following steps for the purpose of preparation of their ... programmes:

Extent: E+W+S+N.I.

(a). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
(b)An assessment of the major challenges to be addressed by the region or constituent nation, the identification of the bottlenecks and missing links, innovation gaps, including the lack of planning and implementation capacity that inhibit the long-term potential for growth and jobs. This shall form the basis for the identification of the possible fields and activities for policy prioritisation, intervention and concentration;
(c)An assessment of the cross-sectoral, cross-jurisdictional or cross-border coordination challenges, particularly in the context of macro-regional and sea-basin strategies;
(d)Identification of steps to achieve improved coordination across different territorial levels, taking account of the appropriate territorial scale and context for policy design as well as constituent nations institutional and legal framework, and sources of funding to deliver an integrated approach linking ... with regional and local actors.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2013/1303/annex/I/division/6/division/6.4 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/eu-regulation-2013-1303/annex-I/division-6/division-6.4
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.