LegalizeCouncil Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 of 19 November 2021 establishing the Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe and repealing Regulations (EC) No 219/2007, (EU) No 557/2014, (EU) No 558/2014, (EU) No 559/2014, (EU) No 560/2014, (EU) No 561/2014 and (EU) No 642/2014
PART ONE
COMMON PROVISIONS
TITLE I
GENERAL PROVISIONS
Article 1
Subject matter
This Regulation sets up nine joint undertakings within the meaning of Article 187 TFEU for the implementation of institutionalised European partnerships referred to in Article 10(1), point (c), of the Horizon Europe Regulation. It determines their objectives and tasks, membership, organisation and other operating rules.
Article 2
Definitions
For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions apply:
‘member other than the Union’ means any participating state, private member or international organisation that is a member of a joint undertaking;
‘founding member’ means any legal entity established in a Member State, a country associated to Horizon Europe or, where applicable, associated with DEP, or an international organisation that is identified as a member of a joint undertaking in this Regulation or in one of its Annexes;
‘associated member’ means any legal entity established in a Member State, a country associated to Horizon Europe or, where applicable, associated to DEP, or an international organisation that accedes to a joint undertaking by signing a letter of commitment in accordance with Article 6(3) and subject to an approval in accordance with Article 7;
‘participating state’ means any Member State or country associated to Horizon Europe or, where applicable, associated to DEP upon notification of its participation in the activities of the relevant joint undertaking by means of a letter of commitment;
‘private member’ means any legal entity established under public or private law that is a member of a joint undertaking other than the Union, participating states or international organisations;
‘constituent entities’ means the entities that constitute a private member of a joint undertaking, where the private member is an association according to that member’s statutes;
‘contributing partner’ means any country, international organisation or legal entity other than a member of a joint undertaking, or a constituent entity of a member or an affiliated entity of either, that supports the objectives of a joint undertaking in its specific area of research and whose application has been approved in accordance with Article 9;
‘in-kind contributions to operational activities’ means contributions by private members, constituent entities or the affiliated entities of either, by international organisations and by contributing partners, consisting of the eligible costs incurred by them in implementing indirect actions less the contribution of that joint undertaking and of the participating states of that joint undertaking to those costs;
‘additional activity’ means an activity, included in the annual additional activities plan annexed to the main part of the work programme, that does not receive financial support from the joint undertaking but contributes to its objectives and is directly linked to the uptake of results from projects under that joint undertaking or its preceding initiatives or that has a significant Union added value;
‘in-kind contributions to additional activities’ means contributions by the private members, constituent entities or the affiliated entities of either, and by international organisations, consisting of the costs incurred by them in implementing additional activities less any contribution to those costs from the Union and from the participating states of that joint undertaking;
‘preceding initiative’ means any partnership in one of the areas covered by a joint undertaking that received financial support from one of the previous Union framework programmes for research;
‘Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda’ means the document covering the duration of Horizon Europe that identifies the key priorities and the essential technologies and innovations required to achieve the objectives of a joint undertaking;
‘work programme’ means the document referred to in Article 2, point (25), of the Horizon Europe Regulation;
‘conflict of interest’ means a situation involving a financial actor or other person as referred to in Article 61 of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046;
‘newcomer’ means an entity that is, for the first time, a beneficiary of a grant awarded by an individual joint undertaking or its preceding initiative and that is not a founding member of that joint undertaking or its preceding initiative.
Article 3
Establishment
The following joint undertakings are set up as Union bodies for a period ending on 31 December 2031 and financed under the MFF 2021-2027:
(a) the Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking;
(b) the Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking;
(c) the Clean Hydrogen Joint Undertaking;
(d) the Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking;
(e) the Global Health EDCTP3 Joint Undertaking;
(f) the Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking;
(g) the Chips Joint Undertaking;
(h) the Single European Sky ATM Research 3 Joint Undertaking;
(i) the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking.
TITLE II
FUNCTIONING OF THE JOINT UNDERTAKINGS
CHAPTER 1
Objectives and tasks
Article 4
Objectives and principles
The Chips Joint Undertaking shall also contribute to the general objective referred to in Article 4(1) of Regulation (EU) 2023/1781 of the European Parliament and of the Council (1), the operational objectives referred to in Article 4(2), points (a) to (d), of Regulation (EU) 2023/1781 (‘operational objectives 1 to 4’) and the general objectives of DEP referred to in Article 3(1) of Regulation (EU) 2021/694.
The joint undertakings shall, through the involvement and commitment of partners in designing and implementing a programme of research and innovation activities with European added value, deliver collectively on the following general objectives:
(a) strengthening and integrating the scientific, innovation and technological capacities and facilitating collaborative links across the Union to support the creation and diffusion of high-quality new knowledge and skills, in particular with a view to delivering on global challenges, securing and enhancing Union competitiveness, European added value, resilience and sustainability and contributing to a reinforced European Research Area (ERA);
(b) securing sustainability-driven global leadership and resilience of Union value chains in key technologies and industries in line with the industrial and SMEs strategies for Europe, the European Green Deal, the European Recovery Plan and other relevant Union policies;
(c) developing and accelerating the uptake of innovative solutions throughout the Union addressing climate, environmental, health, digital and other global challenges contributing to Union strategic priorities, accelerating the economic growth of the Union and fostering the innovation ecosystem, while reaching the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and achieving climate neutrality in the Union at the latest by 2050, in line with the Paris Agreement, thereby improving the quality of life of European citizens.
The joint undertakings shall deliver on the following specific objectives:
(a) enhance the critical mass and scientific and technological capabilities and competences in collaborative, cross-sectoral, cross policy, cross-border and interdisciplinary research and innovation across the Union as well as facilitate their integration into European ecosystems;
(b) accelerate the green and digital transitions as well as economic, social and societal transformations in areas and sectors of strategic importance for Union priorities, in particular to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 in accordance with the climate and energy targets set in line with the European Green Deal and the European Climate Law;
(c) enhance the research and innovation capabilities and performance of existing and new European innovation ecosystem and economic value chains, including in start-ups and SMEs;
(d) accelerate the deployment, uptake and diffusion of innovative solutions, technologies, services and skills in reinforced European research and innovation ecosystems and industrial ecosystems, including through wide and early engagement and co-creation with end-users, including SMEs and start-ups, citizens and regulatory and standardisation bodies;
(e) deliver environmental, energy, resource-saving, societal, circularity and productivity improvements in new products, technologies, applications and services by exploiting Union capabilities and resources.
Article 5
Operational objectives and tasks
The joint undertakings shall adhere to the following operational objectives in accordance with the criteria set out in Annex III to the Horizon Europe Regulation, and contribute to the operational objectives of Horizon Europe set out in the Specific Programme implementing Horizon Europe:
(a) reinforce and spread excellence, including by fostering wider participation and boosting collaborative links throughout the Union;
(b) strengthen scientific excellence, including by considering, where relevant, state-of-the-art basic and frontier research findings in the implementation of their activities;
(c) stimulate research and innovation activities in SMEs and contribute to the creation and scaling-up of innovative companies, in particular start-ups, SMEs and, in exceptional cases, small mid-caps;
(d) reinforce the link between research, innovation and, where appropriate, education, training and other policies, including complementarities with national, regional and Union research and innovation policies and activities;
(e) strengthening gender mainstreaming, including the integration of gender dimension in the research and innovation content;
(f) increase collaboration links in European research and innovation and across sectors and disciplines, including social sciences and humanities;
(g) strengthen international cooperation in support of Union policy objectives and international commitments;
(h) increase public awareness and acceptance, respond to demand and encourage the diffusion and uptake of new solutions by involving, where appropriate, citizens and end-users in co-design and co-creation processes;
(i) encourage exploitation of research and innovation results and actively disseminate and exploit results, in particular for leveraging private investments and for policy development;
(j) accelerate industrial transformation and resilience across the value chains, including through improving skills for innovation and advancing digital technology;
(k) support the scientific evidence-based implementation of related Union policies, as well as regulatory, standardisation and sustainable investment activities at national, European and global levels.
The joint undertakings shall carry out the following tasks by adopting a systemic approach in achieving the objectives:
(a) provide financial support, mainly in the form of grants, to research and innovation indirect actions, selected following open, transparent and competitive calls except in duly justified cases specified in their work programme in order to set additional conditions requiring the participation of members of the joint undertaking or their constituent or affiliated entities;
(b) develop close cooperation and ensure coordination with other European partnerships, including by dedicating, where appropriate, a part of the joint undertaking’s budget to joint calls;
(c) seek and maximise synergies with and, where appropriate, possibilities for further funding from relevant activities and programmes at Union, national and regional level, in particular with those supporting the deployment and uptake of innovative solutions, training, education and regional development, such as Cohesion Policy Funds, or the national Recovery and Resilience Plans;
(d) ensure their operations contribute towards the strategic multiannual planning, reporting, monitoring and evaluation and other requirements of Horizon Europe set out in Articles 50 and 52 of the Horizon Europe Regulation, such as the implementation of the common policy feedback framework;
(e) promote the involvement of SMEs and start-ups in their activities and ensure the provision of timely information to them, in line with the objectives of Horizon Europe;
(f) develop a targeted approach within their Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda to implement measures for attracting newcomers, in particular SMEs, higher education institutions and research organisations, for expanding collaborative networks;
(g) mobilise the public and private sector resources needed to achieve the objectives set out in this Regulation;
(h) monitor progress towards the achievement of the objectives set out in this Regulation, as well as in accordance with the provisions set out in Article 50 of and Annexes III and V to the Horizon Europe Regulation;
(i) define and implement their work programme;
(j) liaise with the most extensive range of stakeholders including, but not limited to, decentralised agencies, research organisations and higher education institutions, end users and public authorities, in particular for the purpose of defining the priorities and activities of each joint undertaking as well as to ensure transparency, openness and inclusiveness, and benefits to society;
(k) engage in information, communication, publicity and dissemination and exploitation activities by applying mutatis mutandis Article 51 of the Horizon Europe Regulation, including by making the detailed and coherent information on results from funded research and innovation activities available and accessible in a common Horizon Europe e-database, in a timely manner;
(l) provide the Commission with the necessary technical, scientific and administrative support to carry out its tasks for the purposes of ensuring the proper functioning and development in the Union of the specific areas addressed by the joint undertaking;
(m) contribute to developing a more effective science-policy interface, to fostering open science by ensuring better use of results and to addressing policy needs, as well as to promoting faster exploitation, dissemination and uptake of results in accordance with Articles 14 and 39 of the Horizon Europe Regulation;
(n) identify and report, in line with the common policy feedback framework and with strategies and actions to support the European Green Deal objectives, the relevant knowledge acquired from the management of research and innovation projects and their results to the Commission to serve as input for monitoring, evaluating and rectifying, where necessary, existing policy measures or shaping new policy initiatives and decisions;
(o) support the Commission in the development and implementation of robust science-based technical screening criteria pursuant to Article 3 of Regulation (EU) 2020/852 on sustainable investments, by monitoring and assessing their implementation within the economic sector in which they operate, in order to provide ad hoc feedback to policy-making, when needed;
(p) consider the ‘do no significant harm’ principle pursuant to Article 17 of Regulation (EU) 2020/852 for activities of the joint undertakings falling within the scope of that Regulation and take into account the provisions of that Regulation to improve access to sustainable finance, where relevant;
(q) perform any other task necessary to achieve the objectives set out in this Regulation.
CHAPTER 2
Members, contributing partners and contributions
Article 6
Members
The members of the joint undertakings referred to in Article 3 shall be the Union, represented by the Commission, and any of the following, as specified in Part Two:
(a) participating states;
(b) founding members;
(c) associated members.
Article 7
Selection of associated members
Article 8
Changes to or termination of membership
Article 9
Contributing partners
Article 10
Union financial contribution
Article 11
Contributions from members other than the Union and contributing partners
Unless specified otherwise in Part Two, the contributions of private members shall consist of financial contributions and of any of the following:
(a) in-kind contributions to operational activities;
(b) in-kind contributions to additional activities, approved by the governing board in accordance with Article 17(2), point (n).
The Commission may terminate, proportionally reduce or suspend the Union financial contribution to a joint undertaking or trigger the winding-up procedure referred to in Article 45 in any of the following cases:
(a) where the joint undertaking concerned fails to meet the conditions for the entrustment of the Union contribution;
(b) where the members other than the Union or their constituent or affiliated entities fail to contribute, contribute only partially, do not respect the time limits set out in paragraph 2 with regard to the contribution referred to in paragraphs 1, 4 and 5 of this Article;
(c) as a result of the evaluations referred to in Article 171(2).
Article 12
Management of contributions from the participating states
In addition to criteria set out in Article 22 of the Horizon Europe Regulation or, in the case of the Chips Joint Undertaking, in Article 18 of Regulation (EU) 2021/694, the work programme may include, as an annex, eligibility criteria regarding national legal entities.
Each participating state shall entrust the joint undertaking with the evaluation of the proposals according to the Horizon Europe Regulation and, where applicable, to Regulation (EU) 2021/694.
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