It aims to facilitate the establishment and the operation of research infrastructures with European interest among several EU countries and associated countries* by providing a new legal instrument, the ERIC.
The ERIC legal framework may be used for new or existing, single-sited or distributed research infrastructures.

KEY POINTS

An ERIC is a legal entity set up by a decision of the European Commission. It has legal personality and full legal capacity recognised in all EU countries. The basic internal structure of an ERIC is flexible and defined in its statutes by its members.
Its members (EU countries and, under certain conditions, also associated countries, other non-EU countries and international organisations) negotiate the content of the statutes of the ERIC and its annexes in accordance with the regulation.
The liability of the ERIC’s members can be limited to their respective contributions.
An ERIC is recognised, by the country hosting it, as an international body or an organisation for the purposes of the Directives 2006/112/EC on value added tax (VAT) and 2008/118/EC on excise duties. An ERIC may therefore, under certain limits and conditions, benefit from exemptions from these on its purchases in all EU countries.
An ERIC qualifies as an international organisation for the purposes of the EU’s public procurement rules. An ERIC may adopt its own procurement rules.
The activities of the ERIC are, in principle, non-profit-making. However, an ERIC may carry out some limited economic activities as long they are closely related to its principal task and they do not impede the main aim of the research infrastructure.
The ERIC must have its statutory seat in one of its members (EU country or country associated with the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation). Its name must include the abbreviation ‘ERIC’.
To establish an ERIC a minimum number of members is necessary. At least one EU country and 2 other countries, which are either EU countries or associated countries, is the minimum configuration. Other members can join later depending on the conditions specified in the statutes.
For an ERIC to be established, the following requirements must be met:
- it is necessary for the carrying out of European research activities;
- it represents a significant improvement in the scientific and technological fields at the European and international level;
- it grants effective access to the European research community;
- it contributes to the mobility of researchers and the sharing of knowledge within the European Research Area;
- it contributes to disseminating and optimising the results of research, technological and demonstration activities.
Applications to set up an ERIC must be submitted to the Commission for assessment. They must include:
- a request to to set up the ERIC;
- the proposed statutes (a list of members, statutory seat, name of the ERIC, rights and obligations of the members, bodies of the ERIC with their competences and the manner in which they are constituted and in which they decide, duration of the ERIC, basic principles, identification of the working language, references to rules implementing the statutes);
- a technical and scientific description;
- a declaration by the host EU country recognising the ERIC as an international body within the meaning of the EU directives on value-added tax (VAT) and on excise duties.
Setting up an ERIC involves two steps :
- Step 1: verification of compliance with the requirements laid down in the ERIC regulation. The Commission must assess the application with the help of independent experts and provide feedback to the applicant;
- Step 2: a formal request to the Commission to set up the ERIC. Based on this, the Commission seeks the opinion of the ERIC Committee and prepares its decision, which is then notified to the applicants and published in the Official Journal of the European Union.
Regulation (EU) No 723/2009 was amended by Regulation (EU) No 1261/2013 to facilitate the participation of associated countries, whose contributions can be fully reflected in terms of membership and voting rights.
Unlike in the case of Joint Technology Initiative Joint Undertakings (JTI JUs), in which the EU is systematically a member, the EU is not necessarily a member of an ERIC.

FROM WHEN DOES THE REGULATION APPLY?

It has applied since 28 August 2009.

BACKGROUND

This regulation is one of the strategic initiatives following the Green Paper on the ERA of 4 April 2007. This initiative contributes to the implementation of the ‘Research infrastructures’ section of the 7th Framework Programme (2007-2013) and of Horizon 2020 — the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (2014-2020).
The establishment of an ERIC brings advantages to the development of the European Research Area (ERA) since it addresses bottlenecks, like fragmentation and regionalisation, in the rules for establishing, financing and operating this class of research infrastructure.
To date, 21 ERICs have been established.
For more information, see:
- ERIC Practical Guidelines (European Commission)
- European Research Infrastructure Consortium (European Commission).

KEY TERMS

Associated country: a non-EU country which is party to an international agreement with the EU, under the terms or on the basis of which it makes a financial contribution to all or part of the EU research, technological development and demonstration programmes.

MAIN DOCUMENT

Council Regulation (EC) No 723/2009 of 25 June 2009 on the Community legal framework for a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) (OJ L 206, 8.8.2009, pp. 1-8)

Successive amendments to Regulation (EC) No 723/2009 have been incorporated into the original document. This consolidated version is of documentary value only.