Call for proposals GR/003/23

CALL FOR PROPOSALS No GR/003/23

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AWARENESS RAISING ACTIVITIES

GUIDELINES FOR APPLICANTS

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Table of Contents
CHAPTER I – General Overview of the Call for Proposals .................................... 3
1. Introduction .................................................................................................................... 3
2. Background .................................................................................................................... 3
3. Objectives and priorities ................................................................................................. 4
4. Targeted projects by strand............................................................................................ 6
5. Timetable ....................................................................................................................... 7
6. Available budget ............................................................................................................ 8

CHAPTER II – Procedure for the Selection of Proposals ...................................... 8

7. Admissibility requirements.............................................................................................. 8
8. Eligibility criteria ............................................................................................................. 8
8.1 Eligible applicants ............................................................................................ 8
8.2 Eligible activities .............................................................................................. 9
8.3 Eligible period ................................................................................................ 10
9. Exclusion criteria ...........................................................................................................10
9.1 Exclusion ....................................................................................................... 10
9.2 Remedial measures ....................................................................................... 12
9.3 Exclusion from award .................................................................................... 12
10. Selection criteria ...........................................................................................................13
10.1 Financial capacity .......................................................................................... 13
10.2 Operational capacity ...................................................................................... 14
11. Award criteria ................................................................................................................14

CHAPTER III – Financial and Contractual Conditions ......................................... 18

12. Legal commitments .......................................................................................................18
13. Form of funding .............................................................................................................18
14. Eligible costs .................................................................................................................19
15. Budget ..........................................................................................................................19
16. Calculation of the final grant amount .............................................................................19
17. Reporting and payment arrangements ..........................................................................20
18. Other financial conditions ..............................................................................................20
18.1 Non-cumulative award ................................................................................... 20
18.2 Non-retroactivity ............................................................................................. 20
18.3 Implementation contracts/subcontracting ...................................................... 21
18.4 Checks and audits ......................................................................................... 21
19. Publicity, communication and dissemination .................................................................22
19.1 Publicity by the Office .................................................................................... 22
19.2 Publicity by the beneficiaries ......................................................................... 22
19.3 Communication, dissemination and measurement of the impact .................. 22
20. Data protection..............................................................................................................23

CHAPTER IV – Procedure for the Submission of Proposals .............................. 23

21. Application form ............................................................................................................23
22. Submission of the grant application ...............................................................................23
23. Evaluation and notification ............................................................................................24
23.1 Evaluation ...................................................................................................... 24
23.2 Notification of grant award decisions ............................................................. 24
24. Contact .........................................................................................................................24
25. Annexes ........................................................................................................................25

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CHAPTER I – General Overview of the Call for Proposals

1. Introduction

The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), ‘the Office’, which was known as
OHIM until 23 March 2016, was created as a decentralised agency of the European Union (EU)
to offer intellectual property rights protection to businesses and innovators across the EU and
beyond. Since its foundation in 1994, the Office has been based in Alicante, in Spain, where it
manages the registration of the EU trade mark and the registered Community design, unitary
intellectual property rights valid throughout the EU. In cooperation with national and regional EU
intellectual property (IP) offices, users of the IP system and other institutional partners, the Office
works to strengthen IP at European and international level. The Office also hosts the European
Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights which brings public and private
stakeholders together in the fight against piracy and counterfeiting.

2. Background

The EUIPO Strategic Plan 2025 states the need to support innovators, including young people
and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as well as consumers. The Offices’s 2023
Work programme recognises the need to boost awareness activities among consumers,
especially young people, children and SMEs.

In the past, the European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights (the
Observatory) has launched several calls for proposals to familiarise EU citizens with intellectual
property and its value, as well as to inform them about the dangers of counterfeiting and piracy.
A total of 55 projects have been awarded since the first call in 2015. Compendiums on the
previous calls are available on the EUIPO website.

These lines of action are supported by recent studies published by the Office, especially the
European Citizens and Intellectual Property: Perception, Awareness and Behaviour – 2020 (IP
Perception study), Intellectual Property and Youth Scoreboard 2022 as well as the 2022
Intellectual property SME scoreboard that show evidence of how IP rights are perceived by EU
citizens at a time when encouraging innovation and creativity is increasingly the focus of
economic policy.

Furthermore, the Intellectual Property and Education in Europe report shows the need for
greater coherence in the inclusion of IP in education. To support these activities, the
Observatory created the IP in Education Network that aims to support the educational
community, bringing IP closer to the classroom to increase the awareness of the value of IP
among pupils and teachers alike. For more information on this topic, please visit our website:
IdeasPowered@school.

SMEs represent 99 % of all businesses in the EU, employ around 100 million people and
account for more than half of Europe’s GDP. Yet only 10 % of European SMEs own a registered
IP right.

Since 2021, the Office has implemented the Ideas Powered for business SME Fund grant
scheme designed to help EU SMEs protect their IP rights. The Office has also been looking at
the relationship between SMEs and IP over the years, which has shown that SMEs that own
intellectual property rights generate 68 % more revenue per employee than those that do not.

The 2022 Intellectual Property SME Scoreboard, showed that SMEs often do not protect their
IP rights because they:

• do not perceive any additional benefits;

• do not believe their intellectual assets are innovative enough;
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• lack knowledge;
• do not meet registration requirements;
• find it too costly and burdensome.

To improve the awareness of IP among SMEs, the Office has launched several activities which
can be found on the EUIPO website. It also cooperates with the intellectual property offices of
the Member States of the EU to increase outreach to businesses and has launched a dedicated
website to support SMEs and created new social medial channels on LinkedIn and Twitter.

To tackle IP awareness from all perspecitves, this call also aims to raise the IP awareness of
SMEs for the first time by including a dedicated strand for this purpose. This strand aims to
support SMEs in protecting their intellectual property, since using IP protection can enhance
their business performance, their competitiveness in the market and safeguard their intangible
assets.

3. Objectives and priorities

The specific objectives of this call for proposals are the following.

For Strands A and B

The call for proposals in respect of these strands aims to raise awareness about the benefits of
protecting IP rights and about the damage caused by the infringement of these rights by
highlighting the importance of IP in supporting creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship to
young Europeans. It intends to increase knowledge and engage priority audiences to foster
respect for IP, with a view to ultimately changing people’s behaviour: reducing their purchases
of counterfeit goods or their accessing digital content from illegal sources.

The call’s specific objectives are to:

1. increase knowledge of the value of IP as a tool to protect creativity and innovation by

providing concrete and objective information about IP in this context and raising
awareness of the risks and damages caused by IP rights infringement;

2. engage priority audiences regarding these issues, taking relevant opportunities for
leverage into account, and especially how audiences expect to be addressed on these
matters (non-patronising, objective and neutral) with a view to changing behaviour
and reducing the appeal of counterfeiting and piracy.

For Strand C

The call for proposals in respect of this strand aims to raise awareness among SMEs about the
benefits of creating, exploiting and protecting IP rights as part of their business’ activities and
strategies. It intends to increase the numbers of SMEs taking advantage of the opportunities
offered by IP rights through the building of knowledge and skills, while also seeking to involve
influential partners. Overall, the core goal is to raise awareness of the benefits of IP rights for
SMEs. As such, the specific objectives of the call for this strand are to:

1. improve IP awareness, knowledge and skills among EU SMEs;

2. help EU SMEs learn how to successfully use IP to strengthen and grow their
businesses, including valorising their intangible assets;
3. support EU SMEs in enforcing their IP rights and the benefits to be gained from this;
4. engage EU SMEs regardingIP matters, taking relevant opportunities for leverage
into account.

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NARRATIVES
FOR STRANDS A AND B

NARRATIVE 1
Encouraging and enhancing respect for creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship, and stressing the importance of protecting them.
In Europe, the most valuable asset we have is our long history of creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship. Highlighting the importance of protecting work,
innovations and creativity to allow the public, especially young people, including students and school children, to reap the financial, societal and cultural benefits of
their intellectual potential. The idea is to emphasise respect for other people’s creative works through a knowledge of basic principles, linked to an awareness of
the value of IP and of the existing tools designed to protect it.

NARRATIVE 2
Acknowledgement of the value of original products and legal sources of digital content to avoid confusion among consumers.
In the search for genuine products and copyright-protected content, it is not always easy for consumers to identify reliable sellers/providers. Studies have shown
that consumers have been misled notably in the digital environment and/or are confused about what constitutes a legal source of digital content and of genuine
physical products.

NARRATIVE 3
Identification of the risks associated with counterfeiting and piracy, as well as how to prevent them and exert caution.
Counterfeiting and piracy compromise the safety and security of consumers. In addition to social, environmental, health and safety risks and damages, purchasing
counterfeit goods and accessing pirated digital content frequently result in security breaches and financial losses for consumers. Furthermore, organised crime
groups are often involved in the infringement of IP rights and are linked to other crimes, such as drug trafficking, forced labour, cybercrime, fraud, document fraud
and money laundering. Consumers need to be empowered to make relevant choices.

FOR STRAND C

NARRATIVE 4
Reaching out to EU SMEs, encouraging and reinforcing behavioural changes towards promoting the use of intellectual property rights as a driver to
ensure innovation and stimulate growth.
EU SMEs need support to understand the benefits of protecting their intangible assets through IP rights, as well as accessing the necessary finance and legal
protection against counterfeiting and piracy and how this all ties in to promoting innovation.

Source: IP Perception study 2020, IP Youth scoreboard 2022 & 2022 Intellectual Property SME Scoreboard and other Observatory publications.
https://euipo.europa.eu/ohimportal/en/web/observatory/home

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4. Targeted projects by strand

The 2023 call for proposals is based on the following strands:

Strand A: reaching out to children, young people and/or teachers/future teachers through
educational activities in academic and non-academic learning environments. Strand A aims to
complement and build on the IP in education project.
(Available budget: EUR 400 000)

Specifications

• Scope: educational actions inside and outside school targeting children aged
approximately 6 to 18, but also young people in vocational and tertiary education and/or
current or future educational professionals who are or will be directly engaging with
children and young people (train the trainers).
• Activities suggested must be in line with the new ‘Key Competences for Lifelong
Learning’ approved by the Council on Education of 22 May 2018, and with the new
Digital Education Action Plan (2021-2027) issued by the European Commission in
September 2020 and, in particular, with the importance of IP to support creativity,
innovation, entrepreneurship and responsible digital engagement among young
Europeans.
• Official involvement of institutions, such as a ministry of education or other relevant
policymakers/stakeholders, to approve the programme and disseminate it.
• Involvement of teachers and/or academic experts in the development of materials or
educational activities.
• Proven track record developing education programmes or materials for schools or
universities by the applicant.
• The eligible awareness-raising activities must be delivered through two or more of the
four channels specified in point 8.2.
• Please see point 8.2 for complementary information.

Strand B: reaching out to consumers (especially young consumers). Please see point 8.2 for
complementary information.
(Available budget: EUR 600 000)

Specifications

• Scope: awareness raising activities targeting consumers, especially young consumers

from 15 to 24.
• Activities must be cross-border and involve several EU Member States (to be
implemented in at least three).
• Involvement of relevant leverage partners for dissemination and reach to the target
audiences (influencers such as bloggers or artists and multipliers such as relevant
media, public authorities, consumer organisations, etc.)
• Originality and modern/creative methods using new technologies and a digital approach
are preferable.
• The eligible awareness-raising activities must be delivered through two or more of the
four channels specified in point 8.2.
• Please see point 8.2 for complementary information.

Strand C: reaching out to SMEs.

(Available budget: EUR 1 000 000)

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Specifications

• Scope: awareness raising activities targeting EU SMEs.

• Involvement of relevant leverage partners for dissemination and reach to EU SMEs.
• Originality and modern/creative methods using new technologies and a digital approach
are preferable.

For Strands A & B, the results expected are to:

• reach the EU public and especially priority target groups in an appropriate, affordable
way (including by making an optimised use of digital solutions) – the target audience
being children and young people at schools and in tertiary education (in curricular and/or
in extracurricular learning activities), current or future teachers / academic experts / young
educators, as well as consumers (particularly young consumers between 15-24 years);
• facilitate the engagement of relevant partners and multipliers such as consumer
associations, influencers (e.g. bloggers and artists) or other relevant multipliers who can
reach the target audience through a clearly defined process;
• ensure the sustainability and scalability of the project’s results.

For Strand C, the results expected are to:

• reach EU SMEs, in an appropriate and affordable way, including by making an

optimised use of digital solutions;
• facilitate the engagement of relevant partners and multipliers;
• ensure the sustainability and scalability of the project’s results;
• create awareness targeted specifically to the needs and reality of EU SMEs.

5. Timetable

The deadline for submission is 31 May 2023 before 13:00 (CET).

Any application sent after the deadline will automatically be rejected.

Applicants should be notified of the outcome of the selection procedure 6 months after the
application deadline at the latest. The provisional time frame is as follows:

DATE
Publication 17 April 2023
Deadline for requesting any clarifications from the Office 26 May 2023
Last date on which the Office is obliged to provide clarifications 29 May 2023
Deadline for submission of applications 31 May 2023
Evaluation committee meetings May/June 2023
Applicants receive written notification of the results (1) July/August 2023
Signature of grant agreements (2) September 2023

(1) Article 194(2) Financial Regulations, the applicants should be informed of the outcome of the evaluation of their
application within 6 months from the final date of submission of the proposals.
(2) Within 3 months from the date of information to successful applicants.
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6. Available budget

The total budget available for the co-financing of actions under this call for proposals is
estimated at EUR 2 000 000 (Strand A: EUR 400 000, Strand B: EUR 600 000 and
Strand C: EUR 1 000 000). This amount will be spread over two budget annualities (2023
and 2024) and the availability of funds corresponding to the 2024 budget will be subject to
the adoption of the budget by the Office’s budgetary authority.
The minimum and maximum grant amounts will be:

Strand A: EUR 20 000 to EUR 60 000

Strand B: EUR 40 000 to EUR 100 000
Strand C: EUR 60 000 to EUR 100 000

The Office reserves the right not to distribute all available funds.

CHAPTER II – Procedure for the Selection of Proposals

7. Admissibility requirements

To be admissible, applications must be:

• sent no later than the deadline for submitting applications referred to in Section 5 of the
present document;

• submitted in writing using an electronic submission system available at

https://euipo.europa.eu/ohimportal/en/grants;

• drafted in one of the official EU languages, though applicants are encouraged to submit
their applications in English, if possible, to speed up their assessment.

Failure to comply with any of these requirements will lead to the rejection of the
application.

8. Eligibility criteria

8.1 Eligible applicants

Eligible applicants must be: public or private bodies or non-profit making private entities,
registered in one of the 27 EU Member States for more than 2 years. Public entities that receive
funds or support from the Office by means of other financing measures such as cooperation
programmes, which aim to pursue the same objectives as this call, are not eligible (e.g. national
and regional IP offices, international organisations).

Supporting documents

Applicants must submit the relevant supporting documents. Examples of supporting

documents include the following:

• private entity: extract from the official journal, copy of articles of association, extract of
trade or association register, certificate of liability to VAT (if, as in certain countries, the
trade register number and VAT number are identical, only one of these documents is
required);

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• public entity: copy of the resolution, decision or other official document establishing the
public-law entity;
• natural persons: photocopy of identity card and/or passport; certificate of liability to VAT,
if applicable (e.g. self-employed people);
• entities without legal personality: documents providing evidence that their
representative(s) have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf.

8.2 Eligible activities

The types of activity eligible to be financed under this call for proposals, for both Strand A and
Strand B, are awareness-raising activities in line with Chapter 1, Sections 3 and 4 of these
guidelines, including the following, non-exhaustive examples:

• media and social media activities;

• production and dissemination of audiovisual materials or publications;
• organisation of events, fairs, exhibitions or training activities that are part of the
specific project;
• infotainment (debates, youth educational programmes, quizzes, video games or
music programmes, etc.);
• web-based tools, activities, solutions, etc.

Furthermore, to be eligible for Strand B, the proposed activities must take place in at least three
EU Member States.

The eligible awareness-raising activities must be delivered through two or more of the following
four channels:

• ‘Events’,
• ‘Online resources’,
• ‘Social media’,
• ‘Traditional media’.

Please refer to Annex 3 – Performance indicators estimation and assessment for further
description and information of channel categories and activities.

For Strand C applicants should carry out the following activities (NB this list of examples is non-
exhaustive):

• awareness-raising activities on the value of IP for EU SMEs;

• activities involving relevant leverage partners for dissemination and reach to EU
SMEs;
• media and social media activities;
• production and dissemination of audiovisual materials or publications;
• organisation of events, fairs, exhibitions or training activities that are part of the
specific project;
• web-based tools, activities, solutions, etc.

Regarding the funding conditions, the activities must comply with the following:

Strand A: a budget between EUR 20 000 and EUR 60 000.

Strand B: a budget between EUR 40.000 and EUR 100 000.

Strand C: a budget between EUR 60.000 and EUR 100 000.

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The following activities/projects are ineligible:

• projects concerned only or mainly with individual sponsorships for participation or

speaking activities in workshops, seminars, conferences, congresses or any similar
events;
• projects concerned only or mainly with individual scholarships for studies or training.
• For strand C, activities supported in the frame of the ‘Ideas powered for business SME
FUND Intellectual property vouchers’ call for proposals are not eligible under the present
call. Please refer to section 1.3 Eligible activities of Call for proposals GR/001/23.

8.3 Eligible period

The maximum duration of projects is 12 months.

Applications for projects scheduled to run for a period of more than 12 months will not be
considered eligible.

As per article 193.2 of the Financial Regulation, activities cannot start before both parties have
signed the grant agreement, except in exceptional, justified cases. Grants will not be awarded
retrospectively for projects that have already started or completed.

Following the eligibility verification, only those applications that fulfil all the eligibility criteria will
be considered for further evaluation. If an application is deemed ineligible, a letter indicating the
reasons will be sent to the applicant.

9. Exclusion criteria

9.1 Exclusion

Applicants will be excluded from participating in the call for proposals procedure if :

a) The applicant is bankrupt, subject to insolvency or winding-up procedures, its assets are
being administered by a liquidator or by a court, it is in an arrangement with creditors, its
business activities are suspended, or it is in any analogous situation arising from a similar
procedure provided for under Union or national law;

b) A final judgment or a final administrative decision establishes that the applicant is in

breach of its obligations relating to the payment of taxes or social security contributions
in accordance with the applicable law;

c) A final judgment or a final administrative decision establishes that the applicant is guilty
of grave professional misconduct by having violated applicable laws or regulations or
ethical standards of the profession to which the applicant belongs, or by having engaged
in any wrongful conduct which has an impact on its professional credibility where such
conduct denotes wrongful intent or gross negligence, including, in particular, any of the
following:

(i) fraudulently or negligently misrepresenting information required for the verification

of the absence of grounds for exclusion or the fulfilment of eligibility and selection
criteria or in the performance of a contract, an agreement or a grant decision;

(ii) entering into agreement with other applicants with the aim of distorting competition;
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(iii) violating intellectual property rights;

(iv) attempting to influence the decision-making process of the Office during the award
procedure;

(v) attempting to obtain confidential information that may confer upon it undue
advantages in the award procedure.

d) A final judgment establishes that the applicant is guilty of any of the following:

(i) fraud, within the meaning of Article 3 of Directive (EU) 2017/1371 and Article 1 of
the Convention on the protection of the European Communities’ financial interests,
drawn up by the Council Act of 26 July 1995;

(ii) corruption, as defined in Article 4(2) of Directive (EU) 2017/1371 or active

corruption within the meaning of Article 3 of the Convention on the fight against
corruption involving officials of the European Communities or officials of Member
States of the European Union, drawn up by the Council Act of 26 May 1997, or
conduct referred to in Article 2(1) of Council Framework Decision 2003/568/JHA,
or corruption as defined in other applicable laws;

(iii) conduct related to a criminal organisation, as referred to in Article 2 of Council

Framework Decision 2008/841/JHA;

(iv) money laundering or terrorist financing within the meaning of Article 1(3), (4) and
(5) of Directive (EU) 2015/849 of the European Parliament and of the Council;

(v) terrorist offences or offences linked to terrorist activities as well as of inciting,

aiding, abetting or attempting to commit such offences as defined in Articles 3, 14
and Title III of Directive (EU) 2017/541 of the European Parliament and of the
Council of 15 March 2017 on combating terrorism;

(vi) child labour or other offences concerning trafficking in human beings as referred to
in Article 2 of Directive 2011/36/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council.

e) The applicant has shown significant deficiencies in complying with its main obligations in
the performance of a contract, an agreement or a grant decision financed by the Union’s
budget, which has led to its early termination or to the application of liquidated damages
or other contractual penalties, or which has been discovered following checks, audits or
investigations by an authorising officer, OLAF or the Court of Auditors;

f) A final judgment or final administrative decision establishes that the applicant has
committed an irregularity within the meaning of Article 1(2) of Council Regulation (EC,
Euratom) No 2988/95;

g) A final judgment or final administrative decision establishes that the applicant has
created an entity in a different jurisdiction with the intent to circumvent fiscal, social or
any other legal obligations of mandatory application in the jurisdiction of its registered
office, central administration or principal place of business;

h) A final judgment or final administrative decision establishes that an entity has been
created with the intent referred to in point (g) (only for legal persons and entities without
legal personality);

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i) For the situations referred to in points (c) to (h) above, in the absence of a final judgment
or a final administrative decision, the applicant is subject to:

(i) facts established in the context of audits or investigations carried out by the
European Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Court of Auditors, or the internal auditor,
or any other check, audit or control performed under the responsibility of an
authorising officer of an EU institution, of a European office or of an EU agency or
body;

(ii) non-final judgments or non-final administrative decisions that may include

disciplinary measures taken by the competent supervisory body responsible for the
verification of the application of standards of professional ethics;

(iii) facts referred to in the decisions of persons or entities being entrusted with EU
budget implementation tasks;

(iv) information transmitted by Member States implementing Union funds;

(v) decisions of the Commission relating to the infringement of Union competition law
or of a national competent authority relating to the infringement of Union or national
competition law;

(vi) an investigation by the European Anti-Fraud office (OLAF): either because it has
been given the opportunity to comment on facts concerning it by OLAF, or it has
been subject to on-the-spot checks by OLAF in the course of an investigation, or it
has been notified of the opening, the closure or of any circumstance related to an
investigation of the OLAF concerning it.

9.2 Remedial measures

If an applicant declares one of the situations of exclusion listed above, it must indicate the
measures it has taken to remedy the exclusion situation, thus demonstrating its reliability. This
may include technical, organisational and personnel measures to correct the conduct and
prevent further occurrences, compensation for damages or payment of fines or of any taxes or
social security contributions. The relevant documentary evidence illustrating the remedial
measures taken must be provided in an annex to the declaration (Annex 1.C). This does not
apply to the situations referred to in point (d) of Section 9.1.

9.3 Exclusion from award

The Office will not award a grant to an applicant who:

• is in an exclusion situation described in Section 9.1;

• has misrepresented the information required as a condition for participating in the

procedure, or has failed to supply that information;

• was previously involved in the preparation of documents used in the award procedure
leading to a breach of the principle of equal treatment, including the distortion of
competition, that cannot be otherwise remedied.

The same exclusion criteria apply to affiliated entities.

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Administrative sanctions (exclusion) may be imposed on applicants if any of the declarations

or information provided as a condition for participating in this procedure proves to be false.

Supporting documents
Applicants must provide a signed declaration on their honour certifying that they are not in one
of the situations referred to in Articles 136(1) and 141 of the Financial Regulation (3), which is
attached to the application form (Annex 1.C).

This obligation may be fulfilled in one of the following ways:

• for mono-beneficiary grants, the applicant signs a declaration in its name and on behalf
of its affiliated entities;

• for multi-beneficiary grants, the coordinator of a consortium signs a declaration on behalf

of all applicants and their affiliated entities.

In addition, the Office may, depending on a risk analysis, request the successful applicants to
submit evidence.

10. Selection criteria

Selection criteria should facilitate the assessment of the applicant’s ability to complete the
proposed action.

10.1 Financial capacity

This criterion will be assessed cumulatively in the event of a single applicant and its affiliated
entities for a mono-beneficiary grant, and in the event of multiple applicants under a multi-
beneficiary grant, the project leader and its partners.

Applicants must have stable and sufficient sources of funding to maintain their activity
throughout the duration of the grant and to participate in its funding. The applicants’ financial
capacity will be assessed based on the following supporting documents to be submitted with
the application:

• for grants up to EUR 60 000, a declaration on honour (Annex 1.C) must be provided and
is deemed sufficient;

• for grants exceeding EUR 60 000, in addition to the declaration on honour (Annex 1.C),
the financial capacity will be assessed based on the information below.

The table provided in Section 5.1 of the description of the project form (Annex 1.A) filled in with
the relevant statutory accounting figures, in order to calculate the ratios detailed in the form.

Supporting documents
At the end of the award procedure, the applicants selected to be awarded a grant, as an
obligation, and to avoid being excluded from the procedure, will be requested to provide
the related profit and loss accounts, as well as the balance sheet, for the last 2 financial years
for which the accounts were closed.

The financial capacity check does not apply to public bodies, including Member State
organisations.

(3) Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 July 2018 on the
financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union

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If, based on the documents submitted, the Office considers that financial capacity is weak, it
may:

• request additional information;

• decide not to give pre-financing;
• decide to give pre-financing in instalments;
• decide to give pre-financing covered by a bank guarantee;
• where applicable, require the joint and several financial liability of all the partners.

If, after receiving the information, the Office considers that the financial capacity is insufficient,
it will reject the application.

10.2 Operational capacity

This criterion will be assessed cumulatively in the case of a single applicant and its affiliated
entities for a mono-beneficiary grant, and individually in the case of multiple applicants under
a multi-beneficiary grant, that is, the project leader and the partners.

See Section 5.2 of Annex 1 – A Description of the project form.

For Strands A and B

The applicants’ professional capacity necessary to complete the proposed action should consist
of a minimum of 3 years of relevant experience in awareness raising. Based in previous
performance results, social media campaigns prove to be essential for the development of the
actions, therefore a minimum of 2 years of relevant experience in social media campaigns is
required. It is also required to have successfully completed minimum two projects of similar size
to the actions envisaged in this call for proposal. Additionally, for Strand A a minimum of 2 years
of relevant experience in education or youth-related awareness raising activities is also
requested. Any relevant experience should be during the last 5 years.

For Strand C
A minimum of 3 years of relevant experience in awareness raising activities, with a minimum of
two projects of similar size to the actions envisaged in this call for proposals. Any relevant
experience should be during the last 5 years.

Supporting documents
The following supporting documents demonstrating operational capacity should be submitted:
curriculum vitae(s) (4) of the key personnel (maximum three CVs) who will perform the action,
or a description of their profile(s), the organisation’s activity reports, list and main elements of
(a) previous project(s).

Additional supporting documents may be requested, if needed, to confirm the operational

capacity of an applicant.

Public bodies and Member State organisations are exempted from the operational
capacity check.

11. Award criteria

The award criteria help with the evaluation of the quality of the applications in relation to the set
objectives and priorities, and make sure that the grants are awarded to the projects that will
maximise the overall effectiveness of the call for proposals.

(4) https://europass.cedefop.europa.eu/en/home
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As a general indication, the Office considers that a clear and concise proposal should not exceed
approximately 10 pages.

Minimum Maximum
Award Criteria
threshold score
1. Relevance and interest of the project proposal 20 points 30 points
The project proposal includes a concise, clear and well-argued
explanation of how the project responds to the call’s specific objectives
(10 points) and of how the applicant(s) intend(s) to interpret and apply
the narratives (point 3 of these guidelines) in concrete terms
(10 points).

The project proposal includes a concise, clear and well-argued

explanation of its scalability involving different Member States and its
added value (5 points).

The project proposal includes cooperation with relevant partners and/or

endorsement of national public entities (Ministries or similar) to
contribute to boost the impact of results (5 points).

2. Methodology and sustainability 20 points 30 points

The methodology contains tools and methods that are realistic,
appropriate and consistent with reaching the expected results
(5 points).

The project proposal contains specific, creative, varied and coherent

activities, and innovative elements supported by digital technologies
(5 points).

The project proposal includes a comprehensive calendar of activities

with a precise estimation of dates (5 points).

The project proposal includes a coherent risk assessment with possible

deviations that may arise during the project’s implementation together
with potential solutions (5 points).

The project proposal includes a clear argumentation of what follow-up is

envisaged and how its sustainability will be ensured after the support of
the Office’s grant (5 points).

The project proposal presents adequate approaches to ensure gender

balance, inclusion and diversity in the project’s implementation, and
presents adequate environmentally respectful strategies (5 point).

3. Dissemination and performance 30 points 40 points

Dissemination Strategy. The project proposal provides a coherent
dissemination plan explaining how the reach will be achieved per
channel, target audience and geographical distribution ensuring the
achievement of the desired results (10 points).

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Minimum Maximum
Award Criteria
threshold score
Quality reach5. The project proposal includes credible quality
measurements to determine whether the expectations will be met, thus
ensuring the proposed results (10 points).

The project proposal includes realistic quantitative and qualitative KPIs

to measure the implementation of the proposed results (10 points).

Reach quantity per euro6. The total quantitative target will be measured
in relation to the budget requested (reaches/€). Based on the results,
the scores will be distributed as follows:
• ≥100 reaches/€: 10 points;
• ≥80 and <100 reaches/€: 6 points;
• ≥60 and <80 reaches/€: 4 points;
• ≥50 and <60 reaches/€: 2 points;
• <50 reaches/€: 0 points.
(10 points)

Total 70 points 100 points

To be considered for funding, proposals for each Strand must score:

• at least 70 points overall according to the minimum thresholds indicated above per
criterion;

• at least the minimum points in each of the criteria mentioned above.

The score for each of the award criteria will be calculated based on the relative weighting of
the criterion. The total score will be a figure between 0 and 100.

The evaluation will apply the scale for attributing scores described in the following table:

5Both quantitative and qualitative indicators are mandatory. If these are not filled appropriately in the proposal, the
project could be rejected, please see Annex 3 point 1.
6Both quantitative and qualitative indicators are mandatory. If these are not filled appropriately in the proposal, the
project could be rejected, please see Annex 3 point 1.

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Quality
Classification Criteria for attributing scores
scale

The proposed answer fails to meet the criterion and/or it does

No response
not provide any solution; and/or no answer is given; and/or its
0% (complete non-
meaning is totally unclear and overlong and/or it merely
compliance)
quotes/recalls the text of the Call documents.

The proposed answer fails to meet the criterion and has

significant shortcomings in a number of key aspects and/or is
Unsatisfactory inconsistent in a number of identifiable respects and/or is
20 %
response partially incomplete and/or its meaning is partially unclear and/or
irrelevant to the question; and/or it merely quotes/recalls the text
of the Call documents in relation to most of the key aspects.

Partially The proposed answer meets the criterion but has some
40 % acceptable shortcomings that render the answer partially satisfactory and/or
response not specific to the question.

Satisfactory and
The proposed answer meets the requirements of the criterion
60 % acceptable
covering most of the key aspects.
response

Fully
The proposed answer meets the requirements of the criterion in
80 % satisfactory/very
all key aspects.
good response

Excellent The proposed answer meets the requirements of the criterion in

100 %
response all aspects and exceeds some or all of the major requirements.

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CHAPTER III – Financial and Contractual Conditions

12. Legal commitments

For grants awarded by the Office, a grant agreement drawn up in euro and detailing the
conditions and level of funding, will be sent to the applicant, as well as the information on the
procedure to formalise the agreement of the parties.

In the event of a sole applicant, a mono-beneficiary grant agreement will be used. For
partnerships, a multi-beneficiary type of agreement will be used. Both models are annexed to
this call for proposals (Annex 2).

Two copies of the original agreement must be signed first by the beneficiary (or the coordinator,
in the event of a partnership) and returned to the Office immediately. The Office will sign it last.

The applicants understand that submission of a grant application implies acceptance of the
general conditions attached to this call for proposals. These general conditions bind the
beneficiary to whom the grant is awarded and constitute an annex to the grant decision.

13. Form of funding

The system of financing applied under this call for proposals is based on the application of
financing not linked to costs form.

Payment conditions, checks and audits for financing not linked to costs.

• Contributions will be paid in full provided the action is implemented properly (with the
required quality, completeness and timeliness). As per article 131.4 of the FR, if the
action is not properly implemented, the amount of the grant will be reduced
proportionately as follows:

o reaches 90 % to 100 % of the KPIs’ objectives – this will be considered good

implementation and the final payment will be released;

o reaches 75 % to 90 % of the KPIs’ objectives – this will be considered acceptable

implementation and a reduction of 10 % of the budget allocated will be applied;

o reaches 50 % to 75 % of the KPIs’ objectives – this will be considered weak

implementation and a reduction of 40 % of the budget allocated will be applied;

o reaches 30 % to 50 % of the KPIs’ objectives – this will be considered poor

implementation entailing an audit and a reduction of 70 % of the budget allocated
will be applied;

o reaches below 30 % of the KPIs’ objectives – this will be considered unacceptable

implementation entailing full reimbursement of any amount already paid.

The fulfilment of the above conditions and/or results triggering the payment of the financing
not linked to costs, as specified in the section above, including, where required, the
achievement of outputs and/or results, will be checked at the latest before the payment of the
balance. In addition, the fulfilment of these conditions and/or results may be subject to ex post
controls.

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• For this purpose, in the event of verifications, checks or audits, the beneficiary will be
required to provide supporting documents proving:

o the achievement of the results specified in the section above.

Please refer to Annex 3 – Performance indicators estimation and assessment for further
information.

• Where the grant takes the form of financing not linked to costs, the beneficiary will not
be required to report on the costs actually incurred during the project’s implementation.

• The amounts of financing not linked to costs specified in the section above will not be
challenged by ex post controls. This does not affect the possible reduction of the grant,
as specified above, or in the case of irregularity, fraud or a breach of other obligations.

• Payment of the grant based on financing not linked to costs, as specified in the section
above, does not affect the right of access to the statutory records of the beneficiaries for
the purposes of:

o reviewing them for future grants, or;

o protecting the Union’s financial interests (e.g. detection of fraud, irregularities or
breach of obligations).

14. Eligible costs

Not applicable

15. Budget

Acceptance of an application by the Office does not constitute an undertaking to award a grant
equal to the amount requested by the beneficiary. Furthermore, under no circumstances may
the amount awarded exceed the amount requested.

The grant is limited to the maximum amounts indicated in Point 6 of Chapter I.

Exchange rate

The budget must be drawn up in euros. Applicants not using costs in euro should use the
appropriate exchange rate published by the Commission (see below).

https://commission.europa.eu/funding-tenders/procedures-guidelines-tenders/information-
contractors-and-beneficiaries/exchange-rate-inforeuro_en

Any conversion into euros of costs incurred in other currencies, should be made at the monthly
applicable accounting rate of the month when the call for proposals was published.

16. Calculation of the final grant amount

The final amount of the grant is calculated by the Office at the time the balance is paid. The
calculation involves the following steps:

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Step 1 – Application of the reimbursement of the financing not linked to costs

To calculate the total value of financing not linked to costs, the Office applies the amount of
financing specified in Section 13 (provided the results specified there are deemed to have been
achieved).

Step 2 – Limit to the maximum amount of the grant

The total amount paid to the beneficiaries by the Office may in no circumstances exceed the
maximum amount of the grant indicated in the grant agreement. If the amount obtained
following Step 1 is higher than the maximum amount indicated in the grant agreement, the final
amount of the grant is limited to the latter.

Step 3 – Reduction due to the no profit rule

This step is not applicable to grants in the form of financing not linked to costs.

Step 4 – Reduction due to improper implementation or breach of other obligations

The Office may reduce the maximum amount of the grant if the action has not been
implemented properly (i.e. if it has not been implemented or has been implemented poorly,
only partially or late), or if another obligation under the agreement has been breached (see
Section 13 above).

The amount of the reduction will be proportionate to the degree to which the action has been
implemented improperly or to the seriousness of the breach. Please refer to Annex 3 –
Performance indicators estimation and assessment.

17. Reporting and payment arrangements

The beneficiary may request the following payments provided that the conditions of the grant
agreement are fulfilled (e.g. payment deadlines, ceilings, etc.). The payment requests must be
accompanied by the documents provided below and detailed in the grant agreement.

• Pre-financing payment of 40 % upon signature of the grant agreement.

• Interim payment of up to 30 % (maximum) upon submission to the Office of the interim
technical report duly completed based on the activities carried out during the first
semester of the project’s implementation, as stated in the proposal. A minimum of 10 %
of the proposed quantitative KPIs should also have been reached.
• Balance payment based on the weighted quantitative and qualitative results following
the final technical report and final financial assessment.

18. Other financial conditions

18.1 Non-cumulative award

As per article 191 of the FR, an action may only receive one grant from the EU budget.

Under no circumstances shall the same costs be financed twice by the Union budget (Office
and/or EU budget).

18.2 Non-retroactivity

As per article 193 of the FR, no grant may be awarded retrospectively for actions already started
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or completed.

18.3 Implementation contracts/subcontracting

Where the project’s implementation requires the award of procurement contracts

(implementation contracts), the beneficiary must award the contract to the bid offering best value
for money or the lowest price (as appropriate), avoiding conflicts of interest.

The beneficiary is expected to clearly document the tendering procedure and retain the
documentation in the event of an audit.

Entities acting in their capacity as contracting authorities within the meaning of Directive
2014/24/EU or contracting entities within the meaning of Directive 2014/25/EU must comply with
the applicable national public procurement rules.

Beneficiaries may subcontract tasks forming part of the action. If they do so, they must ensure
that, in addition to the abovementioned conditions of best value for money and absence of
conflicts of interests, the following conditions are also complied with:

a) subcontracting does not cover the core tasks of the action;

b) recourse to subcontracting is justified because of the nature of the action and what is
necessary for its implementation;

c) the estimated costs of the subcontracting are clearly identifiable in the estimated budget;

d) any recourse to subcontracting, if not provided for in description of the action, is

communicated by the beneficiary and approved by the Office. The Office may grant
approval:

(i) before any recourse to subcontracting, if the beneficiaries request an amendment;

(ii) after recourse to subcontracting if the subcontracting:

− is specifically justified in the interim or final technical report, and;

− does not entail changes to the grant agreement which would call into
question the decision awarding the grant, or be contrary to the equal
treatment of applicants.

e) the beneficiaries ensure that certain conditions applicable to beneficiaries,

enumerated in the grant agreement (e.g. visibility, confidentiality, etc.) are also
applicable to the subcontractors.

18.4 Checks and audits

The Office and/or the European Court of Auditors, or a body mandated by them, may check
the use made of the grant any time up to 5 years (3 years for grants below EUR 60.000) starting
from the date of payment of the balance or the execution of recovery by the Office. Therefore,
beneficiaries should keep records, original supporting documents, statistical records and other
documents connected with the grant during this period. The Office may perform regular
monitoring of the actions including field visits, requests for supporting documents and
information and meetings/videoconferences/teleconferences.

The detailed provisions concerning checks and audits are described in the grant agreement
(article II.27.1).

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19. Publicity, communication and dissemination

19.1 Publicity by the Office

All grants awarded in the course of a financial year must be published on the Office’s website
during the first half of the year following the closure of the budget year during which they were
awarded.

The beneficiary authorises the Office to publish the following information in any form and
medium, including via the internet:

• the beneficiary’s name and address (when the latter is a legal person) and region (when
the beneficiary is a natural person), as defined at NUTS 2 level if they are domiciled
within the EU;
• the subject and purpose of the grant;
• the amount awarded.

Upon a reasoned and duly substantiated request by the beneficiary, the publication can be
waived if its disclosure risks threatening the rights and freedoms of the individuals concerned
(as protected by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union) or harm the
commercial interests of the beneficiaries.

19.2 Publicity by the beneficiaries

Beneficiaries must clearly acknowledge the Office’s contribution in all publications or in

conjunction with activities for which the grant is used, for example, ‘supported by the EUIPO’.

In this respect, beneficiaries are required to give prominence to the name and emblem of the
Office on all their publications, posters, programmes and other products realised under the co-
financed project.

To do this they must use the text, the emblem, the disclaimer and instructions that can be
downloaded from the call for proposals’ web page:
https://euipo.europa.eu/ohimportal/en/grants.

If this requirement is not fully complied with, the beneficiary’s grant may be reduced in
accordance with the provisions of the grant agreement.

19.3 Communication, dissemination and measurement of the impact

The Office may identify good practices and prepare relevant materials to be disseminated
across all participating countries and beyond.

The results of the action may be reproduced, communicated and/or distributed to the public in
line with the conditions specified in the grant agreement. Therefore, information on content
and activities, as well as on public performance and communication of the action may also be
requested during the implementation phase to ensure an optimal promotion of the different
activities for relevant audiences.

Beneficiaries may be invited to attend and participate in events organised by the Office to share
their experience with other participants and/or policymakers.

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20. Data protection

The reply to any call for proposals involves the recording and processing of personal data. This
data will be processed pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 2018/1725 of the European Parliament
and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the
processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the
free movement of such data, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 and Decision
No 1247/2002/EC.

Unless indicated otherwise, any personal data or questions required to evaluate the application
in accordance with the call for proposal will be processed solely for that purpose by the
Directors of the Observatory and the Customer Department.

Personal data may be registered in the Early Detection and Exclusion System by the
Commission, should the beneficiary be in one of the situations mentioned in Articles 136 and
141 of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046.

For more information and links to the regulations and decision, please refer to the data
protection statement / privacy statement on procurement and grants procedures available at:
https://euipo.europa.eu/ohimportal/en/grants.

CHAPTER IV – Procedure for the Submission of Proposals

21. Application form

The application form can be downloaded from the call for proposals web page:
https://euipo.europa.eu/ohimportal/en/grants

The application must be drawn up in one of the official EU languages, though applicants are
encouraged to submit the requested documents in English, if possible, to speed up the
assessment process.

22. Submission of the grant application

Proposals must be submitted by the deadline set in Section 5 ‘Timetable’ of the present
document.

Applicants can only submit one proposal per strand but may be eligible for funding in more
than one strand under the condition that activities be different and specific for the strands and
do not overlap.

Electronic submission

Applicants are requested to log in at https://www.tmdn.org/uss/148179/lang-en and follow the

procedure for submitting an application. Specific guidelines are available to help applicants.

Applicants should ensure that they have officially submitted their electronic application form
and that they have received an email acknowledging receipt of their submission. A project
response ID will be indicated in the PDF version of your application that must be saved as
proof of submission.

No other method of submission of an application will be accepted. Applications submitted in

any other way (fax or email ) will be rejected.

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No modification to the application is allowed once the deadline for submission has elapsed.
However, if there is a need to clarify certain aspects or to correct clerical mistakes, the Office
may contact the applicant during the evaluation process (as per article 200.3 of the FR).

Applicants are strongly encouraged not to wait until the final day to submit their application.

23. Evaluation and notification

All admissible applications received will undergo an evaluation procedure.

23.1 Evaluation

The Office will appoint an evaluation committee to oversee the organisation of the whole
evaluation process.

The assessment includes:

• a formal check to verify that the eligibility and exclusion criteria are respected;

• an assessment of the extent to which the applicants meet the selection criteria (i.e.
operational and financial capacity), and;

• an evaluation of the proposal against the award criteria defined in the call for proposals.

At the end of the evaluation procedure, the Office will decide which projects are to be given a
grant on the basis of a combination of:

• the ranking (points received) on the list proposed by the evaluation committee;

• the budget available for any given action per strand (see section 6).

Following the awarding of the grants, the Office may reallocate any remaining unused funds
from one strand, should there be a successful applicant in another strand where funds are not
sufficient.

The Office may also create a reserve list in case awarded projects/beneficiaries drop out.

The awarding of a grant does not establish an entitlement to a grant in subsequent years.

23.2 Notification of grant award decisions

Applicants will be informed of the results of the evaluation once the award decision is signed.

Applicants will be informed of the results of the selection process by email. Unsuccessful
applicants will receive a letter stating the reasons for the negative decision.

Once the applicants have been informed, the list of selected proposals will be published on the
Office’s website: https://euipo.europa.eu/ohimportal/en/grants.

24. Contact

Any questions or requests for further information should be addressed by email to:
grants@euipo.europa.eu.
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The Office will publish the answers to frequently-asked questions (FAQs) from potential
applicants. It is very important for applicants to refer to these regularly to ensure that they benefit
from all the supplementary information and clarifications provided by the Office.

These FAQs are made public to ensure that all applicants are treated fairly with respect to having
access to the same information on the call for proposals web page.

The Office will also organise a live information session (date to be confirmed) in the form of an
online webinar available through the website: https://euipo.europa.eu/ohimportal/en/grants. A
panel of experts will answer questions and clarify issues raised by the audience through the
available chat box. The session will be recorded and will be accessible on the website afterwards
(see previous link above). Please note that the information and opinions expressed during this
information session are only intended to complement these Guidelines and will not be legally
binding.

25. Annexes

Annex 1 – Application form containing:

• A – Description of the project form

• B – Budget form
• C – Declaration on honour
• D – Legal Entity and Financial Identification
• E – Letter of mandate (if applicable)

Annex 2 – Models of Grant Agreement (for applicant’s information only)

Annex 3 – Performance indicators estimation and assessment

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