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Document 02021R0697-20240301
Regulation (EU) 2021/697 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2021 establishing the European Defence Fund and repealing Regulation (EU) 2018/1092 (Text with EEA relevance)Text with EEA relevance
Consolidated text: Regulation (EU) 2021/697 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2021 establishing the European Defence Fund and repealing Regulation (EU) 2018/1092 (Text with EEA relevance)Text with EEA relevance
Regulation (EU) 2021/697 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2021 establishing the European Defence Fund and repealing Regulation (EU) 2018/1092 (Text with EEA relevance)Text with EEA relevance
02021R0697 — EN — 01.03.2024 — 001.001
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REGULATION (EU) 2021/697 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 29 April 2021 establishing the European Defence Fund and repealing Regulation (EU) 2018/1092 (OJ L 170 12.5.2021, p. 149) |
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REGULATION (EU) 2024/795 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 29 February 2024 |
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29.2.2024 |
REGULATION (EU) 2021/697 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL
of 29 April 2021
establishing the European Defence Fund and repealing Regulation (EU) 2018/1092
(Text with EEA relevance)
TITLE I
COMMON PROVISIONS APPLICABLE FOR RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
Article 1
Subject matter
This Regulation establishes the European Defence Fund (the ‘Fund’), as set out in point (c) of Article 1(2) of Regulation (EU) 2021/695, for the period from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2027. The duration of the Fund is aligned with the duration of the MFF 2021-2027.
This Regulation lays down the objectives of the Fund, its budget for the period from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2027, the forms of Union funding and the rules for providing such funding.
Article 2
Definitions
For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions apply:
‘legal entity’ means a legal person created and recognised as such under Union, national or international law, which has legal personality and the capacity to act in its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations, or an entity which does not have legal personality as referred to in point (c) of Article 197(2) of the Financial Regulation;
‘applicant’ means a legal entity that submits an application for support from the Fund after a call for proposals or in accordance with point (e) of the first paragraph of Article 195 of the Financial Regulation;
‘recipient’ means a legal entity with which a funding or financing agreement has been signed or to which a funding or financing decision has been notified;
‘consortium’ means a collaborative grouping of applicants or recipients that is subject to an agreement and constituted for the purpose of carrying out an action under the Fund;
‘coordinator’ means a legal entity which is a member of a consortium and has been appointed by all the members of the consortium to be the principal point of contact for the purpose of the consortium’s relations with the Commission;
‘control’ means the ability to exercise a decisive influence on a legal entity directly, or indirectly through one or more intermediate legal entities;
‘executive management structure’ means a body of a legal entity, appointed in accordance with national law, and, where applicable, reporting to the chief executive officer, which is empowered to establish the legal entity’s strategy, objectives and overall direction, and which oversees and monitors management decision-making;
‘system prototype’ means a model of a product or technology that can demonstrate performance in an operational environment;
‘qualification’ means the entire process of demonstrating that the design of a defence product, tangible or intangible component or technology meets the specified requirements, providing objective evidence by which particular requirements of a design are demonstrated to have been met;
‘certification’ means the process by which a national authority certifies that the defence product, tangible or intangible component or technology complies with the applicable regulations;
‘research action’ means an action consisting primarily of research activities, in particular applied research and where necessary fundamental research, with the aim of acquiring new knowledge and with an exclusive focus on defence applications;
‘development action’ means an action consisting of defence-oriented activities primarily in the development phase, covering new defence products or technologies or the upgrading of existing ones, excluding the production or use of weapons;
‘disruptive technology for defence’ means an enhanced or completely new technology that brings about a radical change, including a paradigm shift in the concept and conduct of defence affairs such as by replacing existing defence technologies or rendering them obsolete;
‘small and medium-sized enterprises’ or ‘SMEs’ means small and medium-sized enterprises as defined in Article 2 of the Annex to Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC ( 1 );
‘middle capitalisation company’ or ‘mid-cap’ means an enterprise that is not a SME and that employs a maximum of 3 000 persons, where the headcount of staff is calculated in accordance with Articles 3 to 6 of the Annex to Recommendation 2003/361/EC;
‘blending operation’ means an action supported by the Union budget, including within a blending facility or platform as defined in point (6) of Article 2 of the Financial Regulation, that combines non-repayable forms of support or financial instruments from the Union budget with repayable forms of support from development or other public finance institutions as well as from commercial finance institutions and investors;
‘pre-commercial procurement’ means the procurement of research and development services involving risk-benefit sharing under market conditions, and competitive development in phases, where there is a clear separation of the research and development services procured from the deployment of commercial volumes of end-products;
‘project manager’ means a contracting authority established in a Member State or an associated country, appointed by a Member State or an associated country or a group of Member States or associated countries to manage multinational armament projects on an on-going or ad-hoc basis;
‘results’ means any tangible or intangible effect of a given action, such as data, knowhow or information, whatever its form or nature and whether or not it can be protected, as well as any rights attached to it, including IPRs;
‘foreground information’ means data, knowhow or information generated in the operation of the Fund, whatever its form or nature;
‘classified information’ means information or material, in any form, the unauthorised disclosure of which could cause varying degrees of prejudice to the interests of the Union, or of one or more of the Member States, and which bears an EU classification marking or a corresponding classification marking, as established in the Agreement between the Member States of the European Union, meeting within the Council, regarding the protection of classified information exchanged in the interests of the European Union ( 2 );
‘sensitive information’ means information and data, including classified information, that is to be protected from unauthorised access or disclosure because of obligations laid down in Union or national law or in order to safeguard the privacy or security of a natural or legal person;
‘special report’ means a specific deliverable of a research action summarising its results, providing extensive information on the basic principles, the aims, the outcomes, the basic properties, the tests performed, the potential benefits, the potential defence applications and the expected exploitation path of the research towards development, including information on the ownership of IPRs but not requiring the inclusion of IPR information;
‘non-associated third-country entity’ means a legal entity that is established in a non-associated third country or, where it is established in the Union or in an associated country, that has its executive management structures in a non-associated third country.
Article 3
Objectives
The Fund shall have the following specific objectives:
to support collaborative research that could significantly boost the performance of future capabilities throughout the Union, aiming to maximise innovation and introduce new defence products and technologies, including disruptive technologies for defence, and aiming to make the most efficient use of defence research spending in the Union;
to support the collaborative development of defence products and technologies, thus contributing to the greater efficiency of defence spending within the Union, achieving greater economies of scale, reducing the risk of unnecessary duplication and thereby fostering the market uptake of European defence products and technologies and reducing the fragmentation of defence products and technologies throughout the Union, ultimately leading to an increase in the standardisation of defence systems and a greater interoperability between Member States’ capabilities.
Such collaboration shall be consistent with defence capability priorities commonly agreed by Member States within the framework of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and in particular in the context of the CDP.
In that regard, regional and international priorities, when they serve the security and defence interests of the Union as determined under the CFSP, and taking into account the need to avoid unnecessary duplication, may also be taken into account, where appropriate, where they do not exclude the possibility of participation of any Member State or associated country.
Article 4
Budget
The distribution of the amount referred to in paragraph 1 shall be:
EUR 3 151 000 000 for research actions;
EUR 6 302 000 000 for development actions.
In order to respond to unforeseen situations or to new developments and needs, the Commission may reallocate the amount allocated to research or development actions, by up to a maximum of 20 %.
Article 5
Associated countries
The Fund shall be open to the participation of members of the European Free Trade Association which are members of the EEA, in accordance with the conditions laid down in the Agreement on the European Economic Area (associated countries).
Article 6
Support for disruptive technologies for defence
Article 7
Ethics
Ethics screening and assessment shall be carried out by the Commission with the support of independent experts appointed in accordance with Article 26. Those independent experts shall have a variety of backgrounds, in particular recognised expertise in defence ethics, and shall be nationals of as broad a range of Member States as possible.
The conditions under which the activities with ethically sensitive issues are to be carried out shall be specified in the funding agreement.
The Commission shall ensure that the ethics procedures are as transparent as possible and shall include them in its interim evaluation report in accordance with Article 29.
Article 8
Implementation and forms of Union funding
Article 9
Eligible legal entities
By way of derogation from paragraph 3, a legal entity established in the Union or in an associated country and controlled by a non-associated third country or a non-associated third-country entity shall be eligible to be a recipient or subcontractor involved in an action only if guarantees approved by the Member State or the associated country in which it is established in accordance with its national procedures are made available to the Commission. Those guarantees may refer to the legal entity’s executive management structure established in the Union or in an associated country. If considered to be appropriate by the Member State or associated country in which the legal entity is established, those guarantees may also refer to specific governmental rights in the control over the legal entity.
The guarantees shall provide assurances that the involvement in an action of such a legal entity would not contravene the security and defence interests of the Union and its Member States as established in the framework of the CFSP pursuant to Title V of the TEU, or the objectives set out in Article 3 of this Regulation. The guarantees shall also comply with Articles 20 and 23 of this Regulation. The guarantees shall in particular substantiate that, for the purposes of an action, measures are in place to ensure that:
control over the legal entity is not exercised in a manner that restrains or restricts its ability to carry out the action and to deliver results, that imposes restrictions concerning its infrastructure, facilities, assets, resources, intellectual property or knowhow needed for the purposes of the action, or that undermines its capabilities and standards necessary to carry out the action;
access by a non-associated third country or by a non-associated third-country entity to sensitive information relating to the action is prevented and the employees or other persons involved in the action have national security clearance issued by a Member State or an associated country, where appropriate;
ownership of the intellectual property arising from, and the results of, the action remain within the recipient during and after completion of the action, are not subject to control or restriction by a non-associated third country or by a non-associated third-country entity, and are neither exported outside the Union or outside associated countries nor accessible from outside the Union or outside associated countries without the approval of the Member State or the associated country in which the legal entity is established and in accordance with the objectives set out in Article 3.
If considered to be appropriate by the Member State or the associated country in which the legal entity is established, additional guarantees may be provided.
The Commission shall inform the committee referred to in Article 34 of any legal entity considered to be eligible in accordance with this paragraph.
The costs related to those activities shall not be eligible for support from the Fund.
There shall be no unauthorised access by a non-associated third country or other non-associated third-country entity to classified information relating to the carrying out of the action and potential negative effects over security of supply of inputs critical to the action shall be avoided.
The costs related to those activities shall not be eligible for support from the Fund.
Article 10
Eligible actions
An eligible action shall relate to one or more of the following activities:
activities that aim to create, underpin and improve knowledge, products and technologies, including disruptive technologies for defence, which can achieve significant effects in the area of defence;
activities that aim to increase interoperability and resilience, including secured production and exchange of data, to master critical defence technologies, to strengthen the security of supply or to enable the effective exploitation of results for defence products and technologies;
studies, such as feasibility studies to explore the feasibility of new or upgraded products, technologies, processes, services and solutions;
the design of a defence product, tangible or intangible component or technology as well as the definition of the technical specifications on which such a design has been developed, including any partial tests for risk reduction in an industrial or representative environment;
the system prototyping of a defence product, tangible or intangible component or technology;
the testing of a defence product, tangible or intangible component or technology;
the qualification of a defence product, tangible or intangible component or technology;
the certification of a defence product, tangible or intangible component or technology;
the development of technologies or assets increasing efficiency across the life cycle of defence products and technologies.
Moreover, actions for the development of lethal autonomous weapons without the possibility for meaningful human control over selection and engagement decisions when carrying out strikes against humans shall not be eligible for support from the Fund, without prejudice to the possibility of providing funding for actions for the development of early warning systems and countermeasures for defensive purposes.
Article 11
Selection and award procedure
In certain duly substantiated and exceptional circumstances, Union funding may also be granted without a call for proposals in accordance with point (e) of the first paragraph of Article 195 of the Financial Regulation.
Article 12
Award criteria
Each proposal shall be assessed on the basis of the following criteria:
its contribution to excellence or potential of disruption in the defence domain, in particular by showing that the expected results of the proposed action present significant advantages over existing defence products or technologies;
its contribution to the innovation and technological development of the European defence industry, in particular by showing that the proposed action includes ground-breaking or novel concepts and approaches, new promising future technological improvements or the application of technologies or concepts previously not applied in defence sector, while avoiding unnecessary duplication;
its contribution to the competitiveness of the European defence industry by showing that the proposed action is a demonstrably positive balance of cost-efficiency and effectiveness thus creating new market opportunities across the Union and beyond and accelerating the growth of companies throughout the Union;
its contribution to the autonomy of the EDTIB, including by increasing the non-dependency on non-Union sources and strengthening security of supply, and to the security and defence interests of the Union in line with the priorities referred to in Article 3;
its contribution to the creation of new cross-border cooperation between legal entities established in Member States or associated countries, in particular SMEs and mid-caps with a substantial participation in the action, as recipients, subcontractors or as other legal entities in the supply chain, and which are established in Member States or associated countries other than those where the legal entities cooperating within a consortium which are not SMEs or mid-caps are established;
the quality and efficiency of the carrying out the action.
Article 13
Co-financing rate
By way of derogation from paragraph 1 of this Article:
for activities referred to in point (e) of Article 10(3), support from the Fund shall not exceed 20 % of the eligible costs;
for activities referred to in points (f), (g) and (h) of Article 10(3), support from the Fund shall not exceed 80 % of the eligible costs.
For development actions, the funding rates shall be increased in the following cases:
an action developed in the context of a project of PESCO, as established by Council Decision (CFSP) 2017/2315 ( 4 ), may benefit from a funding rate increased by an additional 10 percentage points;
an activity may benefit from an increased funding rate, as referred to in this point, where at least 10 % of the total eligible costs of the activity are allocated to SMEs established in Member States or in associated countries and which participate in the activity as recipients, subcontractors or other legal entities in the supply chain.
The funding rate may be increased by percentage points equivalent to the percentage of the total eligible costs of the activity allocated to SMEs established in Member States or in associated countries in which recipients that are not SMEs are established and which participate in the activity as recipients, subcontractors or other legal entities in the supply chain, up to an additional 5 percentage points.
The funding rate may be increased by percentage points equivalent to twice the percentage of the total eligible costs of the activity allocated to SMEs established in Member States or in associated countries other than those in which recipients that are not SMEs are established and which participate in the activity as recipients, subcontractors or other legal entities in the supply chain;
an activity may benefit from a funding rate increased by an additional 10 percentage points where at least 15 % of the total eligible costs of the activity are allocated to mid-caps established in Member States or in associated countries.
The overall increase in the funding rate of an activity following the application of points (a), (b) and (c) shall not exceed 35 percentage points.
Support from the Fund, including increased funding rates, shall not cover more than 100 % of the eligible costs of the action.
Article 14
Financial capacity
However, where there are grounds to doubt the financial capacity of one of the applicants or of the coordinator, the Commission shall also verify the financial capacity of all of the applicants and of the coordinator where the requested funding from the Union is below EUR 500 000 .
Article 15
Indirect costs
Article 16
Use of contribution not linked to costs or single lump sum
Where the Union grant co-finances less than 50 % of the total costs of the action, the Commission may use either:
a contribution not linked to costs referred to in Article 180(3) of the Financial Regulation and based on the achievement of results measured by reference to previous set milestones or through performance indicators; or
a single lump sum referred to in Article 182 of the Financial Regulation and based on the provisional budget of the action already endorsed by the national authorities of the co-financing Member States and associated countries.
Indirect costs shall be included in the lump sum referred to in point (b) of the first paragraph.
Article 17
Pre-commercial procurement
The procurement procedures referred to in paragraph 1:
shall comply with this Regulation;
may authorise the award of multiple contracts within the same procedure (multiple sourcing);
shall provide for the award of the contracts to the tenders offering best value for money while ensuring the absence of conflicts of interest.
Article 18
Guarantee Fund
Contributions to a mutual insurance mechanism may cover the risk associated with the recovery of sums due by recipients and shall be considered to be a sufficient guarantee under the Financial Regulation. Article 37 of Regulation (EU) 2021/695 shall apply.
Article 19
Eligibility criteria for procurement and prizes
TITLE II
SPECIFIC PROVISIONS APPLICABLE FOR RESEARCH ACTIONS
Article 20
Ownership of results of research actions
TITLE III
SPECIFIC PROVISIONS APPLICABLE FOR DEVELOPMENT ACTIONS
Article 21
Additional eligibility criteria for development actions
With regard to activities referred to in points (e) to (h) of Article 10(3), the consortium shall demonstrate by means of documents issued by national authorities that:
at least two Member States or associated countries intend to procure the final product or use the technology in a coordinated manner, including through joint procurement where applicable;
the activity is based on common technical specifications jointly agreed by the Member States or associated countries that are to co-finance the action or that intend to jointly procure the final product or to jointly use the technology.
Article 22
Additional award criteria for development actions
In addition to the award criteria referred to in Article 12, the work programme shall also take into consideration:
the contribution to increasing efficiency across the life cycle of defence products and technologies, including cost-effectiveness and the potential for synergies in the procurement, maintenance and disposal processes;
the contribution to the further integration of the European defence industry throughout the Union through the demonstration by the recipients that Member States have undertaken to jointly use, own or maintain the final product or technology in a coordinated manner.
Article 23
Ownership of results of development actions
TITLE IV
GOVERNANCE, MONITORING, EVALUATION AND CONTROL
Article 24
Work programmes
The work programmes shall set out in detail the research topics and the categories of actions to be supported by the Fund. Those categories shall be in line with the defence priorities referred to in Article 3.
With the exception of the part of the work programme dedicated to disruptive technologies for defence, the research topics and categories of actions referred to in the first subparagraph shall cover defence products and technologies in the fields of:
preparation, protection, deployment and sustainability;
information management and superiority, and command, control, communication, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR), cyber defence and cybersecurity; and
engagement and effectors.
The transition of results of research actions demonstrating added value already supported by the Fund into the development phase may also be taken into consideration in the work programmes.
Article 25
Consultation of the project manager
Where a project manager is appointed, the Commission shall consult the project manager on progress made with regard to the action before the payment is executed.
Article 26
Independent experts
Article 27
Application of the rules on classified information
Within the scope of this Regulation:
each Member State shall ensure that it offers a degree of protection of EU classified information equivalent to that provided by the security rules of the Council set out in Council Decision 2013/488/EU ( 7 );
the Commission shall protect classified information in accordance with the security rules set out in Decision (EU, Euratom) 2015/444;
natural persons who are resident in and legal persons that are established in a third country may handle EU classified information regarding the Fund only where they are subject, in those countries, to security regulations ensuring a degree of protection at least equivalent to that provided by the security rules of the Commission and of the Council, as set out in Decision (EU, Euratom) 2015/444 and Decision 2013/488/EU, respectively;
the equivalence of the security regulations applied in a third country or by an international organisation shall be laid down in a security of information agreement, including industrial security matters if relevant, concluded or to be concluded between the Union and that third country or international organisation in accordance with the procedure provided for in Article 218 TFEU and taking into account Article 13 of Decision 2013/488/EU; and
without prejudice to Article 13 of Decision 2013/488/EU and to the rules governing the field of industrial security set out in Decision (EU, Euratom) 2015/444, a natural or legal person, third country or international organisation may be given access to EU classified information where considered to be necessary on a case-by-case basis, according to the nature and content of such information, the recipient’s need to know and the degree of advantage to the Union.
If no such specific security framework is set up by those Member States, the Commission shall set up the security framework for the action in accordance with the Decision (EU, Euratom) 2015/444.
The applicable security framework for the action shall in any event be put in place before the signature of the funding agreement or the contract.
Article 28
Monitoring and reporting
To that end, proportionate reporting requirements shall be imposed on recipients of Union funds and, where appropriate, on Member States.
Article 29
Evaluation of the Fund
The interim evaluation of the Fund shall be carried out once there is sufficient information available about its implementation, but no later than four years after the start of the implementation period of the Fund.
The interim evaluation report covering the period until 31 July 2024, shall include in particular:
an assessment of the governance of the Fund, including as regards:
the provisions related to independent experts;
the implementation of the ethics procedures set out to in Article 7 of this Regulation;
the lessons learned from the EDIDP and the PADR;
the implementation rates;
the project award results, including the level of involvement of SMEs and mid-caps and the degree of their cross-border participation;
the rates of reimbursement of indirect costs as set out in Article 15 of this Regulation;
the amounts allocated to disruptive technologies for defence in calls for proposals; and
funding granted in accordance with Article 195 of the Financial Regulation.
The interim evaluation shall also contain information on the countries of origin of the recipients, the number of countries involved in individual projects and, where possible, the distribution of the generated IPRs. The Commission may submit proposals for any appropriate amendments to this Regulation.
At the end of the implementation period but no later than 31 December 2031, the Commission shall carry out a final evaluation and prepare a report on the implementation of the Fund.
The final evaluation report shall:
include the results of the implementation and, to the extent possible, the impact of the Fund;
build on relevant consultations of Member States and associated countries and key stakeholders and shall in particular assess progress made towards the achievement of the objectives set out in Article 3;
help to identify where the Union is dependent on third countries for the development of defence products and technologies;
analyse cross-border participation, including of SMEs and mid-caps, in actions carried out under the Fund as well as the integration of SMEs and mid-caps in the global value chain and the contribution of the Fund to addressing the shortfalls identified in the CDP; and
contain information on the countries of origin of the recipients and, where possible, the distribution of the generated IPRs.
Article 30
Audits
Audits on the use of the Union contribution carried out by persons or entities, including by other than those mandated by the Union institutions, bodies, offices or agencies, shall form the basis of the overall assurance pursuant to Article 127 of the Financial Regulation. The Court of Auditors shall examine the accounts of all revenue and expenditure of the Union in accordance with Article 287 TFEU.
Article 31
Protection of the financial interests of the Union
Where a third country participates in the Fund by means of a decision adopted pursuant to an international agreement or on the basis of any other legal instrument, the third country shall grant the necessary rights and access required for the authorising officer responsible, OLAF and the Court of Auditors to comprehensively exercise their respective competences. In the case of OLAF, such rights shall include the right to carry out investigations, including on-the-spot checks and inspections, as provided for in Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 883/2013.
Article 32
Information, communication and publicity
Financial resources allocated to the Fund shall also contribute to the corporate communication of the political priorities of the Union, insofar as those priorities are related to the objectives referred to in Article 3.
TITLE V
DELEGATED ACTS, IMPLEMENTING ACTS, TRANSITIONAL AND FINAL PROVISIONS
Article 33
Exercise of the delegation
Article 34
Committee procedure
The European Defence Agency shall be invited to provide its views and expertise to the committee as an observer. The European External Action Service shall also be invited to assist in the committee.
The committee shall also meet in special configurations, including in order to discuss defence and security aspects relating to actions carried out under the Fund.
Where the committee delivers no opinion, the Commission shall not adopt the draft implementing act and the third subparagraph of Article 5(4) of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 shall apply.
Article 35
Repeal
Regulation (EU) 2018/1092 is repealed with effect from 1 January 2021.
Article 36
Transitional provisions
Article 37
Entry into force and application
This Regulation shall enter into force on the day of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
It shall apply from 1 January 2021.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
ANNEX
INDICATORS TO REPORT ON THE PROGRESS OF THE FUND TOWARDS THE ACHIEVEMENT OF ITS SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
Specific objective set out in point (a) of Article 3(2):
participants
number of legal entities involved (subdivided by size, type and country of establishment)
collaborative research
Measured by:
number and value of funded projects
cross-border collaboration: share of contracts awarded to SMEs and mid-caps, with value of contracts to cross-border collaboration
share of recipients that did not carry out research activities with defence applications before 12 May 2021
innovation products
Measured by:
number of new patents deriving from projects supported by the Fund
aggregated distribution of patents among SMEs, mid-caps and legal entities that are neither SMEs nor mid-caps
aggregated distribution of patents per Member State
Specific objective set out in point (b) of Article 3(2):
collaborative capability development
number and value of funded actions that address the capability shortfalls identified in the CDP
continuous support throughout the full R & D cycle
the presence in the background of IPRs or results generated in previously supported actions
job creation/support
number of supported defence R & D employees per Member State
( 1 ) Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC of 6 May 2003 concerning the definition of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (OJ L 124, 20.5.2003, p. 36).
( 2 ) Agreement between the Member States of the European Union, meeting within the Council, regarding the protection of classified information exchanged in the interests of the European Union (OJ C 202, 8.7.2011, p. 13).
( 3 ) Regulation (EU) 2024/795 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 February 2024 establishing the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP), and amending Directive 2003/87/EC and Regulations (EU) 2021/1058, (EU) 2021/1056, (EU) 2021/1057, (EU) No 1303/2013, (EU) No 223/2014, (EU) 2021/1060, (EU) 2021/523, (EU) 2021/695, (EU) 2021/697 and (EU) 2021/241 (OJ L, 2024/795, 29.2.2024, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/795/oj).
( 4 ) Council Decision (CFSP) 2017/2315 of 11 December 2017 establishing permanent structured cooperation (PESCO) and determining the list of participating Member States (OJ L 331, 14.12.2017, p. 57).
( 5 ) Directive 2014/24/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2014 on public procurement and repealing Directive 2004/18/EC (OJ L 94, 28.3.2014, p. 65).
( 6 ) Directive 2014/25/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2014 on procurement by entities operating in the water, energy, transport and postal services sectors and repealing Directive 2004/17/EC (OJ L 94, 28.3.2014, p. 243).
( 7 ) Council Decision 2013/488/EU of 23 September 2013 on the security rules for protecting EU classified information (OJ L 274, 15.10.2013, p. 1).