Regulation (EU) 2024/795 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 February 2024 establishing the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP), and amending Directive 2003/87/EC and Regulations (EU) 2021/1058, (EU) 2021/1056, (EU) 2021/1057, (EU) No 1303/2013, (EU) No 223/2014, (EU) 2021/1060, (EU) 2021/523, (EU) 2021/695, (EU) 2021/697 and (EU) 2021/241

Chapter 1

STEP

Article 1

Subject matter

Article 2

STEP objectives

In order to ensure Union sovereignty and security, reduce the Union’s strategic dependencies in strategic sectors, strengthen the Union’s competitiveness by strengthening its resilience and productivity and by mobilising financing, favour a level playing field for investments in the internal market, foster cross-border participation, including of SMEs, strengthen economic, social and territorial cohesion and solidarity among Member States and regions and promote inclusive access to attractive quality jobs by investing in the skills of the future and making its economic, industrial and technological base fit for the green and digital transitions, the STEP shall pursue the following objectives:

(a) supporting the development or manufacturing of critical technologies throughout the Union, or safeguarding and strengthening their respective value chains as referred to in paragraph 3, in the following sectors: (i) digital technologies, including those contributing to the targets and objectives of the Digital Decade Policy Programme 2030, multi-country projects as defined in Article 2, point (2), of Decision (EU) 2022/2481, and deep tech innovation; (ii) clean and resource efficient technologies, including net-zero technologies as defined in the Net-Zero Industry Act; (iii) biotechnologies, including medicinal products on the Union list of critical medicines and their components; (iv) defence technologies.

(b) they contribute to reducing or preventing strategic dependencies and vulnerabilities of the Union.

The technologies referred to in paragraph 1, point (a), shall be deemed critical where they meet either of the following conditions:

(a) they bring to the internal market an innovative, emerging and cutting-edge element with significant economic potential;

(b) they contribute to reducing or preventing strategic dependencies of the Union.

By way of derogation from the first subparagraph of this paragraph, the value chain for the development or manufacturing of technologies that fall within the scope of the Net-Zero Industry Act and that are technologies referred to in paragraph 1, point (a)(ii) of this Article, relates to final products, as well as to specific components and specific machinery primarily used for the production of the final products, as defined in the Net-Zero Industry Act and to associated services critical for and specific to the development or manufacturing of those final products.

Article 3

Financial support

Article 4

Sovereignty Seal, combined and cumulative funding

The Sovereignty Seal shall be used as a quality label, in particular for the purposes of:

(a) receiving support for the project under another Union programme in accordance with the rules applicable to that programme; or

(b) financing the project through cumulative or combined funding with another Union instrument in accordance with the rules applicable to those instruments.

Article 5

Implementation of the STEP

In order to implement the STEP, the Commission shall, in particular:

(a) promote the Sovereignty Seal referred to in Article 4(1), in particular to enhance the visibility of projects that have been awarded the Sovereignty Seal and of projects that have received funding under the ERDF, the Cohesion Fund, the ESF+ or the JTF;

(b) set up and manage the Sovereignty Portal referred to in Article 6, in particular to bring all Union funding opportunities closer to potential beneficiaries and enhance transparency towards Union citizens;

(c) liaise with national competent authorities designated in accordance with Article 6(4), and other relevant stakeholders, with a view to coordinating and exchanging information about the financial needs, existing bottlenecks and best practices in access to funding within the scope of this Regulation;

(d) foster contacts across the sectors of the technologies referred to in Article 2, making particular use of existing industrial alliances, networks and structures, including the Net-Zero Europe Platform established by the Net-Zero Industry Act and the European Critical Raw Materials Board established by the Critical Raw Materials Act;

(e) promote consistency, coherence, synergy and complementarity among Union programmes to support projects contributing to the STEP objectives.

Article 6

Sovereignty Portal

The Commission shall set up a dedicated publicly available website (the ‘Sovereignty Portal’), providing information about funding opportunities for projects linked to the STEP objectives and enhancing the visibility of those projects, in particular by displaying the following information:

(a) information about Union programmes within the scope of this Regulation and ongoing and upcoming calls for proposals and calls for tenders linked to the STEP objectives under those respective programmes;

(b) details of projects that have been awarded a Sovereignty Seal in accordance with Article 4;

(c) details of projects that have been recognised as strategic projects under the Net-Zero Industry Act and the Critical Raw Materials Act, to the extent that they fall within the scope of Article 2 of this Regulation;

(d) details of projects supporting the STEP objectives that have been selected for support under the ERDF, the Cohesion Fund, the ESF+ or the JTF, to the extent that they have been communicated to the Commission in accordance with paragraph 5 of this Article;

(e) contacts of the national competent authorities designated in accordance with paragraph 4.

Article 7

Monitoring and annual reporting

The annual report shall also include the following information:

(a) overall expenditure of the STEP broken down by programme;

(b) the performance of the STEP based on the performance indicators defined in the respective programmes;

(c) an overview of the contribution of the STEP to the Union’s strategic objectives in ensuring long-term competitiveness;

(d) an analysis of the geographical and technological distribution of the projects that have been awarded the Sovereignty Seal.

Article 8

Evaluation of the STEP

The interim evaluation report shall also:

(a) provide an overview of the Union regions for which the cohesion programmes have been amended in compliance with the partnership principle;

(b) consider the relevance of the STEP objectives and actions, including the critical technologies supported by the STEP;

(c) assess the feasibility of providing information on Union programmes in a single Union portal, to bring all Union funding opportunities closer to potential beneficiaries and enhance their transparency towards Union citizens; and

(d) assess the feasibility of setting up a simulator to provide project promoters, especially SMEs, with guidance on the Union funding opportunities for which their particular project might be eligible.

Chapter 2

Amendments

Article 9

Amendment to Directive 2003/87/EC

In Article 10a(8) of Directive 2003/87/EC, the following subparagraph is inserted after the fifth subparagraph:

‘When designing and implementing calls for proposals or competitive bidding under the Innovation Fund, the Commission shall consider strategic projects recognised in accordance with a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a framework of measures for strengthening Europe’s net-zero technology products manufacturing ecosystem, which are deemed to contribute to the objectives of the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP) in accordance with Article 2(4) of Regulation (EU) 2024/795 of the European Parliament and of the Council (¹). Member States shall consider providing support from the European Regional Development Fund and the Cohesion Fund established by Regulation (EU) 2021/1058 of the European Parliament and of the Council (2) and the Just Transition Fund established by Regulation (EU) 2021/1056 to projects in their territory in the context of financial mechanisms developed under the Innovation Fund, such as the ‘auction-as-a-service’ scheme.

Article 10

Amendments to Regulation (EU) 2021/1058

Regulation (EU) 2021/1058 is amended as follows:

(1) Article 3 is amended as follows: (a) in paragraph 1, point (a), the following point is added: ‘(vi) supporting investments contributing to the objectives of the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP) referred to in Article 2 of Regulation (EU) 2024/795 of the European Parliament and of the Council (³). (b) in paragraph 1, point (b), the following point is added: ‘(ix) supporting investments contributing to the STEP objective referred to in Article 2(1), point (a)(ii), of Regulation (EU) 2024/795.’; (c) the following paragraph is inserted: ‘1a The resources under the specific objective referred to in paragraph 1, points (a)(vi) and (b)(ix), shall be programmed under dedicated priorities corresponding to the respective policy objective and shall be limited to a maximum of 20 % of the initial national allocation of the ERDF. The Commission shall pay 30 % of the allocation to the priorities referred to in the first subparagraph of this paragraph as set out in the decision approving the programme amendment as exceptional one-off pre-financing in addition to the yearly pre-financing for the programme provided for in Article 90(1) and (2) of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 or in Article 51(2), (3) and (4) of Regulation (EU) 2021/1059 of the European Parliament and of the Council (4). That exceptional pre-financing shall be paid within 60 days of the adoption of the Commission decision approving the programme amendment, provided that the programme amendment is submitted to the Commission by 31 March 2025. In accordance with Article 90(5) of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 and Article 51(5) of Regulation (EU) 2021/1059, the amount paid as exceptional pre-financing shall be cleared from the Commission accounts no later than with the final accounting year. In accordance with Article 90(6) of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060, any interest generated by the exceptional pre-financing shall be used for the programme concerned in the same way as the ERDF and shall be included in the accounts for the final accounting year. In accordance with Article 97(1) of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060, the exceptional pre-financing shall not be suspended. In accordance with Article 105(1) of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060, the pre-financing to be taken into account for the purposes of calculating amounts to be de-committed shall include the exceptional pre-financing paid. By way of derogation from Article 112 of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060, the maximum co-financing rates for dedicated priorities established to support the STEP objectives shall be 100 %.

(2) Article 5 is amended as follows: (a) in paragraph 2, the following point is added: ‘(e) when they contribute to the specific objective under PO 1 set out in Article 3(1), point (a)(vi), or to the specific objective under PO 2 set out in Article 3(1), point (b)(ix), in less developed and transition regions, as well as more developed regions in Member States whose average GDP per capita is below the EU-27 average measured in purchasing power standards and calculated on the basis of Union figures for the period 2015-2017, while preserving a focus on SMEs.’; (b) in paragraph 2, the following subparagraph is added: ‘Point (e) shall apply to Interreg programmes where the geographical coverage of the programme within the Union consists exclusively of categories of regions set out in that point.’; (c) the following paragraph is inserted: ‘3a. In order to contribute to the specific objectives under PO 1 set out in Article 3(1), point (a)(vi), and under PO 2 set out in point (b)(ix) of that subparagraph, the ERDF shall also support training, life-long learning, reskilling and education activities.’ ;

(3) in Annex I, Table I is amended as follows: (a) under policy objective 1, the following row is added: ‘(vi)  supporting investments contributing to the STEP objectives referred to in Article 2 of Regulation (EU) 2024/795 Any RCO listed for specific objectives (i), (iii) and (iv) RCO125 Firms: Enterprises supported linked primarily to digital technologies and deep tech innovation productive investments RCO126 Firms: Enterprises supported linked primarily to clean and resource-efficient technologies productive investments RCO127 Firms: Enterprises supported linked primarily to biotechnologies productive investments [These indicators are to be reported as subsets of RC001-RCO04] Any RCR listed for specific objectives (i), (iii) and (iv)’ (b) under policy objective 2, the following row is added: ‘(ix)  supporting investments contributing to the STEP objectives referred to in Article 2(1), point (a)(ii) of Regulation (EU) 2024/795 Any RCO listed for specific objectives (i), (iii), (iv) and (vi) under policy objective 1 RCO125 Firms: Enterprises supported linked primarily to digital technologies and deep tech innovation productive investments RCO126 Firms: Enterprises supported linked primarily to clean and resource efficient technologies productive investments RCO127 Firms: Enterprises supported linked primarily to biotechnologies productive investments [These indicators are to be reported as subsets of RC001-RCO04] Any RCR listed for specific objectives (i), (iii) and (iv) under policy objective 1’

(4) in Annex II, the table is amended as follows: (a) under policy objective 1, the following row is added: ‘(vi)  supporting investments contributing to the STEP objectives referred to Article 2 of Regulation (EU) 2024/795 Any CCO listed for specific objectives (i), (iii) and (iv) under policy objective 1 Any CCR listed for specific objectives (i), (iii) and (iv) under policy objective 1’ (b) under policy objective 2, the following row is added: ‘(ix)  supporting investments contributing to the STEP objectives referred to Article 2(1), point (a)(ii) of Regulation (EU) 2024/795 Any CCO listed for specific objectives (i), (iii) and (iv) under policy objective 1 Any CCR listed for specific objectives (i), (iii) and (iv) under policy objective 1’

Article 11

Amendments to Regulation (EU) 2021/1056

Regulation (EU) 2021/1056 is amended as follows:

(1) Article 2 is replaced by the following: ‘Article 2 Specific objective In accordance with the second subparagraph of Article 5(1) of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060, the JTF shall contribute to the specific objective of enabling regions and people to address the social, employment, economic and environmental impacts of the transition towards the Union’s 2030 targets for energy and climate and a climate-neutral economy of the Union by 2050, based on the Paris Agreement. The JTF may also support investments contributing to the objectives of the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP) referred to in Article 2 of Regulation (EU) 2024/795 of the European Parliament and of the Council (^*5).

(2) in Article 8(2), the following subparagraph is added: ‘The JTF may also support productive investments in enterprises other than SMEs, while preserving a focus on SMEs, contributing to the STEP objectives referred to in Article 2 of Regulation (EU) 2024/795. That support may be provided irrespective of whether the gap analysis was carried out in accordance with point (h) of Article 11(2) of this Regulation and irrespective of its outcome. Such investments shall only be eligible where they do not lead to relocation as defined in point (27) of Article 2 of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060. The provision of such support shall not require a revision of the territorial just transition plan where that revision would be exclusively linked to the gap analysis. Apprenticeships and jobs, education or training for new skills shall be considered in the selection process.’;

(3) in Article 10, the following paragraph is added: ‘4. The Commission shall pay 30 % of the JTF allocation, including amounts transferred in line with Article 27 of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060, to a programme as set out in the decision approving the programme as exceptional one-off pre-financing in addition to the yearly pre-financing for the programme provided for in Article 90(1) and (2) of that Regulation. That exceptional pre-financing shall be paid as from 1 March 2024. In accordance with Article 90(5) of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060, the amount paid as exceptional pre-financing shall be cleared from the Commission accounts no later than with the final accounting year. In accordance with Article 90(6) of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060, any interest generated by the exceptional pre-financing shall be used for the programme concerned in the same way as the JTF and shall be included in the accounts for the final accounting year. In accordance with Article 97(1) of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060, the exceptional pre-financing shall not be suspended. In accordance with Article 105(1) of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060, the pre-financing to be taken into account for the purposes of calculating amounts to be de-committed shall include the exceptional pre-financing paid. By way of derogation from Article 112 of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060, the maximum co-financing rates for dedicated priorities established to support the STEP objectives shall be 100 %.’.

Article 12

Amendment to Regulation (EU) 2021/1057

The following Article is inserted in Regulation (EU) 2021/1057:

In accordance with Article 90(5) of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060, the amount paid as exceptional pre-financing shall be cleared from the Commission accounts no later than with the final accounting year.

In accordance with Article 90(6) of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060, any interest generated by the exceptional pre-financing shall be used for the programme concerned in the same way as the ESF+ and shall be included in the accounts for the final accounting year.

In accordance with Article 97(1) of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060, the exceptional pre-financing shall not be suspended.

In accordance with Article 105(1) of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060, the pre-financing to be taken into account for the purposes of calculating amounts to be de-committed shall include the exceptional pre-financing paid.

By way of derogation from Article 112 of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060, the maximum co-financing rate for dedicated priorities established to support the STEP objectives shall be 100 %.

Article 13

Amendments to Regulation (EU) 2021/1060

Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 is amended as follows: