Article 1 -
Establishment and duration of the Programme
1. This Regulation establishes a Justice programme ('the Programme').
2. The Programme shall cover the period from 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2020.
Article 2 -
European added value
1. The Programme shall finance actions with European added value which contribute to the further development of a European area of justice. To that end, the Commission shall ensure that the actions selected for funding are intended to produce results with European added value.
2. The European added value of actions, including that of small-scale and national actions, shall be assessed in the light of criteria such as their contribution to the consistent and coherent implementation of Union law and to wide public awareness about the rights deriving from it, their potential to develop mutual trust among Member States and to improve cross-border cooperation, their transnational impact, their contribution to the elaboration and dissemination of best practices or their potential to create practical tools and solutions that address cross-border or Union-wide challenges.
Article 3 -
General objective
The general objective of the Programme shall be to contribute to the further development of a European area of justice based on mutual recognition and mutual trust, in particular by promoting judicial cooperation in civil and criminal matters.
Article 4 -
Specific objectives
1. To achieve the general objective set out in Article 3, the Programme shall have the following specific objectives:
(a)
to facilitate and support judicial cooperation in civil and criminal matters;
(b)
to support and promote judicial training, including language training on legal terminology, with a view to fostering a common legal and judicial culture;
(c)
to facilitate effective access to justice for all, including to promote and support the rights of victims of crime, while respecting the rights of the defence;
(d)
to support initiatives in the field of drugs policy as regards judicial cooperation and crime prevention aspects closely linked to the general objective of the Programme, in so far as they are not covered by the Internal security fund for financial support for police cooperation, preventing and combating crime, and crisis management or by the Health for Growth Programme;
2. The specific objectives of the Programme shall be pursued through, in particular:
(a)
enhancing public awareness and knowledge of Union law and policies;
(b)
with a view to ensuring efficient judicial cooperation in civil and criminal matters, improving knowledge of Union law, including substantive and procedural law, of judicial cooperation instruments and of the relevant case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union, and of comparative law;
(c)
supporting the effective, comprehensive and consistent implementation and application of Union instruments in the Member States and the monitoring and evaluation thereof;
(d)
promoting cross-border cooperation, improving mutual knowledge and understanding of the civil and criminal law and the legal and judicial systems of the Member States and enhancing mutual trust;
(e)
improving knowledge and understanding of potential obstacles to the smooth functioning of a European area of justice;
(f)
improving the efficiency of judicial systems and their cooperation by means of information and communication technology, including the cross-border interoperability of systems and applications.
Article 5 -
Mainstreaming
In the implementation of all of its actions, the Programme shall seek to promote equality between women and men and to promote the rights of the child, inter alia by means of child-friendly justice. It shall also comply with the prohibition of discrimination based on any of the grounds listed in Article 21 of the Charter, in accordance with and within the limits set by Article 51 of the Charter.
Article 6 -
Types of actions
1. The Programme shall finance inter alia the following types of actions:
(a)
analytical activities, such as the collection of data and statistics; the development of common methodologies and, where appropriate, indicators or benchmarks; studies, researches, analyses and surveys; evaluations; the elaboration and publication of guides, reports and educational material; workshops, seminars, experts meetings and conferences;
(b)
training activities, such as staff exchanges, workshops, seminars, train-the-trainer events, including language training on legal terminology, and the development of online training tools or other training modules for members of the judiciary and judicial staff;
(c)
mutual learning, cooperation, awareness-raising and dissemination activities, such as the identification of, and exchanges concerning, good practices, innovative approaches and experiences; the organisation of peer reviews and mutual learning; the organisation of conferences, seminars, information campaigns, including institutional communication on the political priorities of the Union as far as they relate to the objectives of the Programme; the compilation and publication of materials to disseminate information about the Programme and its results; the development, operation and maintenance of systems and tools, using information and communication technologies, including the further development of the European e-Justice portal as a tool to improve citizens' access to justice;
(d)
support for main actors whose activities contribute to the implementation of the objectives of the Programme, such as support for Member States in the implementation of Union law and policies, support for key European actors and European-level networks, including in the field of judicial training; and support for networking activities at European level among specialised bodies and entities as well as national, regional and local authorities and non-governmental organisations.
2. The European Judicial Training Network shall receive an operating grant to co-finance expenditure associated with its permanent work programme.
Article 7 -
Participation
1. Access to the Programme shall be open to all bodies and entities legally established in:
(a)
Member States;
(b)
European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries which are parties to the Agreement on the European Economic Area, in accordance with that Agreement;
(c)
candidate countries, potential candidates and countries acceding to the Union, in accordance with the general principles and the general terms and conditions laid down for the participation of those countries in the Union programmes established in the respective Framework Agreements and Association Council decisions, or similar agreements.
2. Bodies and entities which are profit-oriented shall have access to the Programme only in conjunction with non-profit or public organisations.
3. Bodies and entities legally established in third countries, other than those participating in the Programme in accordance with points (b) and (c) of paragraph 1, in particular countries where the European Neighbourhood Policy applies, may be associated to the actions of the Programme at their own cost, if this serves the purpose of those actions.
4. The Commission may cooperate with international organisations under the conditions laid down in the relevant annual work programme. Access to the Programme shall be open to international organisations active in the areas covered by the Programme in accordance with the Financial Regulation and the relevant annual work programme.
Article 8 -
Budget
1. The financial envelope for the implementation of the Programme for the period 2014 to 2020 is set at EUR 377 604 000.
2. The financial allocation of the Programme may also cover expenses pertaining to preparatory, monitoring, control, audit and evaluation activities which are required for the management of the Programme and the assessment of the achievement of its objectives. The financial allocation may cover expenses relating to the necessary studies, meetings of experts, information and communication actions, including institutional communication of the political priorities of the Union, in so far as they are related to the general objectives of this Regulation, as well as expenses linked to information technology networks focusing on information processing and exchange and other technical and administrative assistance needed in connection with the management of the Programme by the Commission.
3. The annual appropriations shall be authorised by the European Parliament and the Council within the limits of the multiannual financial framework established by Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1311/2013 (17).
4. Within the financial envelope for the Programme, amounts shall be allocated to each specific objective in accordance with the percentages set out in the Annex.
5. The Commission shall not depart from the allocated percentages of the financial envelope, as set out in the Annex, by more than 5 percentage points for each specific objective. Should it prove necessary to exceed that limit, the Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 9 to modify each of the figures in the Annex by more than 5 and up to 10 percentage points.
Article 9 -
Exercise of the delegation
1. The power to adopt delegated acts is conferred on the Commission subject to the conditions laid down in this Article.
2. The power to adopt delegated acts referred to in Article 8(5) shall be conferred on the Commission for the duration of the Programme.
3. The delegation of power referred to in Article 8(5) may be revoked at any time by the European Parliament or by the Council. A decision to revoke shall put an end to the delegation of the power specified in that decision. It shall take effect the day following the publication of the decision in the Official Journal of the European Union or at a later date specified therein. It shall not affect the validity of any delegated acts already in force.
4. As soon as it adopts a delegated act, the Commission shall notify it simultaneously to the European Parliament and to the Council.
5. A delegated act adopted pursuant to Article 8(5) shall enter into force only if no objection has been expressed either by the European Parliament or the Council within a period of two months of notification of that act to the European Parliament and the Council or if, before the expiry of that period, the European Parliament and the Council have both informed the Commission that they will not object. That period shall be extended by two months at the initiative of the European Parliament or the Council.
Article 10 -
Implementing measures
1. The Commission shall implement the Programme in accordance with the Financial Regulation.
2. In order to implement the Programme, the Commission shall adopt annual work programmes in the form of implementing acts. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 11(2).
3. Each annual work programme shall implement the objectives of the Programme by determining the following:
(a)
the actions to be undertaken, in accordance with the general and specific objectives set out in Article 3 and Article 4(1), including the indicative allocation of financial resources;
(b)
the essential eligibility, selection and award criteria to be used to select the proposals which are to receive financial contributions, in accordance with Article 84 of the Financial Regulation and with Article 94 of its Rules of Application;
(c)
the minimum percentage of annual expenditure to be allocated to grants.
4. Appropriate and fair distribution of financial support between different areas covered by this Regulation shall be ensured. When deciding on the allocation of funds to those areas in the annual work programmes, the Commission shall take into consideration the need to maintain sufficient funding levels for both civil justice and criminal justice, as well as for judicial training and initiatives in the field of drugs policy within the scope of the Programme.
5. Calls for proposals shall be published on an annual basis.
6. In order to facilitate judicial training activities, the costs associated with the participation of judiciary and judicial staff in those activities and incurred by the Member States' authorities shall be taken into account in accordance with the Financial Regulation when providing corresponding funding.
Article 11 -
Committee procedure
1. The Commission shall be assisted by a committee. That committee shall be a committee within the meaning of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011.
2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Article 5 of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 shall apply.
Article 12 -
Complementarity
1. The Commission, in cooperation with the Member States, shall ensure overall consistency, complementarity and synergies with other Union instruments including, inter alia, the Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme, the Instrument for financial support for police cooperation, preventing and combating crime, and crisis management, as part of the Internal Security Fund, the Health for Growth Programme, the Erasmus+ Programme, the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme and the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA II).
2. The Commission shall also ensure overall consistency, complementarity and synergies with the work of the Union bodies, offices and agencies operating in areas covered by the objectives of the Programme, such as Eurojust established by Council Decision 2002/187/JHA (18) and the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) established by Regulation (EC) No 1920/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council (19).
3. The Programme may share resources with other Union instruments, in particular the Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme, in order to implement actions meeting the objectives of both programmes. An action for which funding has been awarded from the Programme may also give rise to the award of funding from the Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme, provided that the funding does not cover the same cost items.
Article 13 -
Protection of the financial interests of the Union
1. The Commission shall take appropriate measures ensuring that, when actions financed under the Programme are implemented, the financial interests of the Union are protected by the application of preventive measures against fraud, corruption and any other illegal activities, by effective checks and, if irregularities are detected, by the recovery of amounts wrongly paid and, where appropriate, by effective, proportionate and dissuasive administrative and financial penalties.
2. The Commission or its representatives and the Court of Auditors shall have the power of audit, both on the basis of documents and on the spot, over all grant beneficiaries, contractors and subcontractors who have received Union funds under the Programme.
3. The European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) may carry out investigations, including on-the-spot checks and inspections, in accordance with the provisions and procedures laid down in Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 883/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council (20) and in Council Regulation (Euratom, EC) No 2185/96 (21) with a view to establishing whether fraud, corruption or any other illegal activity has occurred affecting the financial interests of the Union in connection with a grant agreement or grant decision or a contract funded under the Programme.
4. Without prejudice to paragraphs 1, 2 and 3, cooperation agreements with third countries and with international organisations, grant agreements, grant decisions and contracts resulting from the implementation of the Programme shall contain provisions expressly empowering the Commission, the Court of Auditors and OLAF to conduct the audits and investigations referred to in those paragraphs, in accordance with their respective competences.
Article 14 -
Monitoring and evaluation
1. The Commission shall monitor the Programme annually in order to follow the implementation of actions carried out under it and the achievement of the specific objectives set out in Article 4. The monitoring shall also provide a means of assessing the way in which gender equality and non-discrimination issues have been addressed across the Programme's actions.
2. The Commission shall provide the European Parliament and the Council with:
(a)
an annual monitoring report based on the indicators set out in Article 15(2) and on the use of the available funds;
(b)
an interim evaluation report by 30 June 2018;
(c)
an ex-post evaluation report by 31 December 2021.
3. The interim evaluation report shall assess the achievement of the Programme's objectives, the efficiency of the use of resources and the Programme's European added value with a view to determining whether funding in areas covered by the Programme should be renewed, modified or suspended after 2020. It shall also address the scope for any simplification of the Programme, its internal and external coherence, and the continued relevance of all objectives and actions. It shall take into account the results of the ex-post evaluations of the previous 2007-2013 programmes established by the Decisions referred to in Article 16.
4. The ex-post evaluation report shall assess the long-term impact of the Programme and the sustainability of the effects of the Programme, with a view to informing a decision on a subsequent programme.
5. The evaluations shall also assess the way in which gender equality and non-discrimination issues have been addressed across the Programme's actions.
Article 15 -
Indicators
1. In accordance with Article 14, the indicators set out in paragraph 2 of this Article shall serve as a basis for monitoring and evaluating the extent to which each of the Programme's specific objectives set out in Article 4 has been achieved through the actions provided for in Article 6. They shall be measured against pre-defined baselines reflecting the situation before implementation. Where relevant, indicators shall be broken down by, inter alia, sex, age and disability.
2. The indicators referred to in paragraph 1 shall include, inter alia, the following:
(a)
the number and percentage of persons in a target group reached by awareness-raising activities funded by the Programme;
(b)
the number and percentage of members of the judiciary and judicial staff in a target group that participated in training activities, staff exchanges, study visits, workshops and seminars funded by the Programme;
(c)
the improvement in the level of knowledge of Union law and policies in the groups participating in activities funded by the Programme compared to the entire target group;
(d)
the number of cases, activities and outputs of cross-border cooperation, including cooperation by means of information technology tools and procedures established at Union level;
(e)
participants' assessment of the activities in which they participated and of their (expected) sustainability;
(f)
the geographical coverage of the activities funded by the Programme.
3. In addition to the indicators set out in paragraph 2, the interim and ex-post evaluation report of the Programme shall assess, inter alia:
(a)
the perceived impact of the Programme on access to justice based on qualitative and quantitative data collected at European level;
(b)
the number and quality of instruments and tools developed through actions funded by the Programme;
(c)
the European added value of the Programme, including an evaluation of the Programme's activities in the light of similar initiatives which have been developed at national or European level without support from Union funding, and their (expected) results and the advantages and/or disadvantages of Union funding compared to national funding for the type of activity in question;
(d)
the level of funding in relation to the outcomes achieved (efficiency);
(e)
the possible administrative, organisational and/or structural obstacles to the smoother, more effective and efficient implementation of the Programme (scope for simplification).
Article 16 -
Transitional measures
Actions initiated on the basis of Decision 2007/126/JHA, Decision 1149/2007/EC or Decision 1150/2007/EC shall continue to be governed by the provisions of those Decisions until their completion. In respect of those actions, reference to the committees provided for in Article 9 of Decision 2007/126/JHA, in Articles 10 and 11 of Decision 1149/2007/EC and in Article 10 of Decision 1150/2007/EC shall be interpreted as references to the committee provided for in Article 11(1) of this Regulation.
Article 17 -
Entry into force
This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in the Member States in accordance with the Treaties.
