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Legislation on communication

Communication is an important part of the implementation of the funds in the 2021-2027 Common Provisions Regulation (CPR). The communication provisions aim at strengthening the transparency, visibility and communication of the EU funding.
The regulation lays down communication responsibilities for Member States, managing authorities and project beneficiaries in the Articles 22 (3) (j), 46 - 50 and Annex IX. The main responsibilities are outlined below.
All stakeholders are required to use the Union emblem in communication activities and materials:

  • Using the emblem of the European Union and the “Funded by the European Union” or “Co-funded by the European Union” statement, placed next to the emblem and spelled out in full, when carrying out visibility, transparency and communication activities

Member States are responsible for:

  • Ensuring visibility of support in all activities of operations supported, in particular operations of strategic importance
  • Setting up a single website portal to communicate role and achievements of Funds and providing access to all programmes in the MS
  • Appoint a communication coordinator who will coordinate communication activities across all programmes of the CPR funds. The communication networks in the member states include also EC Representations, EP Liaison Offices, EDICs, other networks, educational and research institutions, regional, local, economic actors, social partners etc.

Managing authorities are responsible for:

  • Appointing a communication officer for each programme.
  • Setting up a programme website. The website offers information about programme’s objectives, activities, available funding opportunities and achievements.
  • Publishing a timetable of planned calls for proposals on programme website or ensure its publication on the national single website portal in open, machine-readable format. To ensure that the timetable is up to date, it should be updated at least 3 times a year. The timetable should provide indicative data on the geographical area covered by the call for proposal; policy objective or specific objective concerned; type of eligible applicants; total amount of support for the call; start and end date of the call.
  • Publishing a list of operations selected for support by the Funds on the website in open, machine-readable format. The list of operations shall be updated at least every 4 months.

Project beneficiaries are responsible for:

  • Acknowledging support on the beneficiary’s official website and on social media site with a short description of the operation, including its aims and results, and highlighting the financial support from the Union.
  • Displaying a poster of a minimum size A3 or equivalent electronic display at a location clearly visible to the public with information about the operation and support. 
  • Setting-up durable plaques or billboards on infrastructure project site when the total cost exceeds EUR 500 000 (ERDF and CF) and EUR 100 000 (ESF+, JTF, EMFF, ISF, AMIF, BMVI, Interreg).
  • Organising a communication event or activity for operations of strategic importance and operations exceeding EUR 10 000 000 and in case of Interreg, EUR 5 000 000. The Commission and the managing authority ought to be informed about the communication event or activity well in advance.
  • In case the beneficiary does not comply with visibility, transparency and communication obligations, the managing authority shall apply measures, taking into account the principle of proportionality, by cancelling up to 3% of the support to the operation. For Interreg, the managing authority shall cancel up to 2% of the support.

At the European level, the Commission runs INFORM EU –network for all national communication coordinators and communication officers of the CPR-funds’ programmes.
Programmes funded by the Interreg and Recovery and Resilience Fund should use the funding statement defined in the respective regulations.
Please refer to regulation for the exact wording. The Commission has produced supporting material for managing authorities and project beneficiaries implementing communication provisions. These can be found on the right of the page.

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