Are we allowed to get expertise training or consultancy in our project from a country which is not one of the 8 eligible countries?
There is a clear distinction between the service provider (a consulting company or a self-employed expert) and the experts (physical persons) provided by this service provider.
ü In case of a service provider, the ENPI nationality rules apply (art.21(1) of REGULATION (EC) No 1638/2006 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 24 October 2006 laying down general provisions establishing a European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument):
“Participation in the award of procurement or grant contracts financed under this Regulation shall be open to all natural persons who are nationals of, and legal persons established in:
– a Member State of the Community or
– a country that is a beneficiary of this Regulation (Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Egypt, Georgia, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Moldova, Morocco, Palestinian Authority of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Russian Federation, Syria, Tunisia, Ukraine) or
– a country that is a beneficiary of an Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance set up by Council Regulation (EC) No 1085/2006 of 17 July 2006 establishing an Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) (Albania, Bosnia, Croatia, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia including Kosovo, Turkey) or
– a Member State of the EEA (Island, Lichtenstein, Norway)”.
ü In case of experts (physical persons) provided by a service provider, there are no restrictions on nationality (art. 21(5) of REGULATION (EC) No 1638/2006 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 24 October 2006 laying down general provisions establishing a European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument): experts proposed in the context of procedures for the award of contracts need not comply with the nationality rules set out above.
Therefore a service provider (company or self-employed expert) signing a service contract with the Beneficiary has to comply with the ENPI nationality rules. On the other hand, experts (physical persons) provided by a service provider may be of any nationality.
The first meeting of the Joint Programming Committee – body responsible for the preparation of the Interreg NEXT (Neighbourhood External) Black Sea Basin Programme 2021-2027 – was held on the 29th of January 2020 in Brussels, Belgium. The eligible participating countries of the new Programme involves ten states from the Black Sea Basin: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Turkey and Ukraine.
It is a step closer in spreading awareness of environmental challenges and good waste management practices in the Black Sea Basin region. Further, by involving children it was anticipated to improve attitudes towards the environment.
The new generation of projects to be funded under the Joint Operational Programme Black Sea Basin 2014-2020 has been approved by the Joint Monitoring Committee during the meeting held in Odessa, Ukraine, on 17th of September 2019.
Other Info
European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI)
MINISTRY OF PUBLIC WORKS,
DEVELOPMENT AND ADMINISTRATION
