The INTERREG IVA 2 Seas Programme is part of the European Territorial Cooperation Objective of the Cohesion Policy for the period 2007-2013. It is a crossborder cooperation Programme part-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The Programme supports joint crossborder cooperation projects between organisations from England, France, Belgium-Flanders and the Netherlands, under a variety of themes including Economic Development, Environment and Quality of Life.
The Joint Technical Secretariat which runs the programme on a day to day basis is directly linked to the Regional Council of Nord Pas-de-Calais which is the Managing Authority for the Programme.
The Programme has two documents of reference. The Operational Programme (OP) describes the context and priorities for cooperation. All the rules and requirements for the eligibility of a project in the Programme and for the management and implementation of approved projects are defined in the Programme Manual.
The Programme can support a wide range of organisations located in the eligible area. These can be public bodies, public equivalent bodies, not-for-profit organisations and private bodies (small and medium enterprises (SMEs)). More information about the eligibility of beneficiaries can be found in section 2 of the Programme Manual.
The Programme supports a wide variety of themes in relation to the sustainable development of the area including Economic Development, Environment and Quality of Life. You can find the Programme priorities and an indication of supported activities in the Operational Programme.
Projects can be approved as ‘strategic projects’ in the framework of the 2 Seas Programme. There is no specific Call regarding ‘strategic projects’. The calendar of the calls published on the Programme website applies. It is the authorities responsible for the Programme who will decide on whether a project is a ‘strategic project’ or not. This will be during its evaluation after submission. More information about the procedures and potential themes can be found in the Key Info on ‘Strategic projects’.
The authorities responsible for the Programme have decided not to develop micro-projects in the framework of the 2 Seas Programme. However, there is no minimum size for a project and smaller organisations are of course welcome in the Programme.
Before starting the development of your project, there are two main documents that need to be consulted.
The Operational Programme describes the context and priorities for cooperation in the Programme.
The Programme Manual defines the rules and requirements for the eligibility of a project in the Programme and for the management and implementation of approved projects.
During the development of your project, territorial facilitators are your key contacts. You can find the contact details of the territorial facilitator operating in your area on the Programme website (see section ‘Contacts’). For specific and technical questions, territorial facilitators might advise you to get in touch with the Joint Technical Secretariat.
The territorial facilitation network can help you find partners in the other Member States.
Furthermore, you can also use the Cooperation Corner of the website, to submit your project idea online and to make it visible to potential partners. The website also allows you to find partners that have expressed their interest in participating in crossborder projects in your area(s) of interest.
You can find all these possibilities in the ‘Cooperation Corner’ of the website. A database containing all project ideas currently under development will allow you to find a potential project to join. The ‘Express your Interest’ form will allow other partners from the 2 Seas area to identify your interest in crossborder cooperation on a certain theme.
The Lead Applicant Seminars are targeted towards partners of project ideas under development, or organisations that want to learn more about the 2 Seas Programme.
Before each Call for Proposals, 3 Lead Applicant Seminars are organised, one in England, one in France and one alternatively in Flanders or The Netherlands.
Yes, partners coming from outside the Programme area are not considered as eligible in the 2 Seas Programme, and therefore cannot receive ERDF. However, to widen the dissemination of results or to advise the project, organisations from outside the Programme area are welcome as observers during the implementation of projects.
The Lead Partner bears several duties and responsibilities for ensuring the project implementation. The Lead Partner has the overall legal and financial responsibility for the project vis-a-vis the Programme and particularly, the Lead Partner takes on the lead role on behalf of the partnership for project coordination, administrative and financial management, communication and dissemination. As a consequence, the Lead Partner should foresee sufficient means to fulfil these roles.
For each Call for Proposals, a specific period for the eligibility of expenditure is defined. More information can be found in annex 4 of the Programme Manual.
The partnership decides when the preparation phase ends and the implementation phase begins. Preparation costs normally involve bid and partnership development before the start of the activities. Obviously any costs incurred prior to the approval of the project are at the risk of the project partners.
Costs linked to the 2 Seas events are indeed eligible as far as specific budget is foreseen in the Application Form and the project partners can provide their first level controller with supporting evidence in compliance with the Programme requirements (agenda or programme of the events, original tickets and all other original documentary evidence for the travel. Please refer to the Programme Manual for additional information)
The Programme Manual lists all the costs that can be claimed in the framework of a project implemented within the 2 Seas Programme. Please refer to Section 4 of the Programme Manual.
Since all beneficiaries receive ERDF grants, the compliance with European, national, regional and internal public procurement rules is an obligation for all beneficiaries involved in an INTERREG project, independently from their legal status or typology.
For amounts below the lowest applicable European and national thresholds, the beneficiary shall refer to its internal public procurement policy.
First Level Controllers must check the compliance with European, national, regional and internal public procurement rules, and shall provide detailed evidence of their control in the control check-lists. In addition, First Level Controllers shall check that all documentation supporting the tendering and awarding of contracts is kept in compliance with the Programme requirements for a clear and transparent audit trail.
For amounts below the lowest applicable procedure, the Programme recommends to request at least 3 offers.
General information on the EU procurement directives and public procurement legislation is provided in annex 8 of the Programme Manual. In case you have specific questions concerning your national legislation, you are invited to contact the competent authority in your Member State (contact details are available in annex 8 of the Programme Manual).
Project partners are encouraged to organise meetings within the Programme area. Nevertheless meetings can be organised outside the Programme area if foreseen in the Application Form or if the concerned partners have received prior approval from the JTS.
The amount of match funding required must be at least 50% of the budget at partner and project levels. The ERDF funding will then contribute the difference between the total eligible cost and the amount of match-funding secured, up to a maximum of 50% of the total budget at partner and project levels.
In-kind contribution can be claimed as part of one or more project partners’ match funding. In-kind contribution can come from the partner’s own source or be provided by an external organisation. In this last case, the in-kind contribution must be gifted for free to one of the project partners and properly secured. For each project partner, the maximum amount of eligible in-kind contribution cannot exceed the total amount of match-funding. In order to ensure a sufficient cash flow, the JTS strongly recommend to commit a reasonable amount of cash contribution in each project partner’s match-funding.
For further information concerning in-kind contribution, please refer to annex 5 of the Programme Manual.
Partners are not allowed to match-fund each other in the framework of the project. If the partnership plans to share certain costs, an official procedure has been set up by the Programme. Please refer to section 2.6 and annex 7 of the Programme Manual
Umbrella partnerships – where one partner collects funding and represents other partners listing them as such in the application form – are not allowed within the 2 Seas Programme. Only organisations involved in the activities of the project, contributing financially and claiming back ERDF are considered as project partners.
Yes, this is possible. However, it is not possible that two or more organisations who are partners in the same project match-fund each other (unless they are naturally and structurally linked by existing financial arrangements in the absence of the project). For further explanation and examples, please see section 2.6 of the Programme Manual.
The template of the Application Form will be put online on the Programme website on the opening date of each Call for Proposals, from where it will remain available, until the closure of the Call. Please pay attention to use the version of the Application Form that corresponds to the Call for Proposals you are submitting your project in.
Yes, all the sections of the Application Form have to be duly filled-in, otherwise your project may be considered ineligible.
The Application Form needs to be filled-in in all the languages of the partnership. For instance, if your project gathers partners from 3 Member States (e.g. United-Kingdom, France and the Netherlands), it means that you will have to fill-in the Application Form in three different linguistic versions (English, French and Dutch).
Confirmation that partners have indicated the correct legal status in the Application Form is a responsibility of the Member State where the partner is located. In case of private bodies (or more generally bodies involved in commercial activities), Member States will also have to check for compliance with state aid rules. If necessary, Member States will need to verify the total amount of ‘De minimis’ aid declared by the partners concerned.
If the project partner is an entity that exercises an activity of economic nature in competition with other operators active in the market, a ‘De minimis aid form’ needs to be filled-in. This form can be found on the Programme website, in the section ‘Calls for Proposals’ and under ‘Associated documents’.
Further information on the “De minimis” rule can be found in section 2.2.3 and in Annex 9 of the Programme Manual.
The Application Form automatically counts words in the sections where limits apply. The JTS will take a pragmatic approach particularly regarding any increase of word count due to translation from the original version although projects are advised, again, to keep within the limits given. The JTS also advises projects to use the KISS (Keep it Short and Simple) principle.
No. It is possible to have only one person carrying out all of these roles but it is important that the Finance officer has a financial background. They must all work for the Lead Partner.
Yes – However, projects are asked to limit the sub-actions to six in the spreadsheet provided. This will be used as a tool to help the monitoring of some key milestones of the project. Other actions can be included in the activities box in section 1.9 of the Application Form.
The electronic version of the Application Form has to be submitted in all the OFFICIAL languages of the project partners. The ORIGINAL signed paper version of the Application Form is submitted in the official language of the Lead Partner. If the official language of the Lead Partner is French or Dutch, an ORIGINAL signed paper English version also needs to be submitted.
The different versions must be identical both in content and information otherwise your project could be considered as ineligible.
No, both electronic and paper versions of the Application Form need to be submitted. The completed Application Form will need to be submitted at the JTS offices by midday at the call closure date. The address to submit hard copies of the Application Form and e-mail address to submit electronic copies can be found on the Application Form.
No, both electronic and paper versions of the Application Form need to be submitted. The completed Application Form will need to be submitted at the JTS offices by midday at the call closure date. The address to submit hard copies of the Application Form and e-mail address to submit electronic copies can be found on the Application Form.
Yes all partners need to provide an original signed letter of support with the Application Form. The templates in all the official languages of the Programme are available on the Programme website, in the section ‘Calls for Proposals’.
A complete Application Form should contain all the original signed letters of support for each partner. Furthermore, if the Lead Partner is a private or not-for-profit organisation, a bank guarantee or a proof of solvability has to be enclosed with the Application Form in order to prove the soundness of the Lead Partner’s financial position. If a partner is exercising an activity of an economic nature in competition with other operators active in the market, the filled in and signed ‘De minimis aid Form’ needs to be annexed to the Application Form.
No. However, any losses due to the exchange rate shall be borne by the partnership.
The selection procedure is undertaken by the Programme Authorities (Member State representatives of the Programme,) and the Joint Technical Secretariat. The selection procedure contains an eligibility check, quality check and strategic assessment. All the different steps of the appraisal process can be found in this document. More information about each step of the process can be found in the section 8 of the Programme Manual.
It is the Programme Steering Committee which takes the decision on all the projects submitted in the framework of the 2 Seas Programme.
In case evidence of non-compliance with eligibility criteria is clear, notification to projects will be done by the Joint Technical Secretariat before the Programme Steering Committee meeting.
In the case of rejection or referral back, the Lead Applicant is notified of the reasons agreed at the Programme Steering Committee and can re-submit an improved application in a future Call for Proposals. The Lead Applicant can also contact the Joint Technical Secretariat and the territorial facilitators to work on the recommendations formulated by the Programme Steering Committee.
After each Call for Proposals, approved projects are invited by the JTS to a Lead Partner seminar. These seminars provide project Lead Partners with practical information related to the implementation and management requirements within the 2 Seas Programme, especially on monitoring and reporting procedures, on first level control and on payments.
After formal approval by the Programme Steering Committee, a project needs to send back an original signed copy of the Subsidy Contract to the JTS as soon as possible. With its first progress report, the project will also be asked to submit the Partnership Agreement. The template of these two documents can be found on the website. A project Communication Strategy will need to be submitted with the second progress report.
A procedure is foreseen that allows the Lead Partner to ask for project changes. Major modifications (both with and without financial impact) have to be proposed through a “request for changes procedure”. Major modifications with financial impact are allowed twice during the project’s lifetime. More information on this procedure can be found in section 9 of the Programme Manual.
All documentation supporting and justifying the eligibility of the expenditure claimed by beneficiaries must be kept, retrievable and accessible until the 31st December 2025.
This requirement concerns accounting documents (bookkeeping), legal and supporting documents (e.g. Subsidy Contract, Application Form, service contracts, public procurement documentation, rental agreements/contracts), important communication with and from the Programme Authorities, as well as documents related to the expenditure (invoice, tickets, bank statement) and linking expenditure to Project activities (registration list, meeting agenda, minutes...),
First Level Controllers are required to check that the beneficiaries comply with the Programme requirements about a clear and transparent audit trail.
Projects are required to submit two claims a year to the JTS. Apart from the first claim (that also includes the preparation period), all claims cover a six-month period, from the 1st of January to the 30th of June and from the 1st of July to the 31st of December. Projects have a period of two months after each claim period to submit their claim. The partnership therefore submits their claim by the 1st of September (covering the first semester January-June) and by the 1st of March (covering the second semester July-December).
Payments will be made by the Programme on a 'first come first served' basis and therefore projects are encouraged to send in their claims to the JTS as soon as they are able following the claim period. Depending on the quality of the progress report submitted by the project and the time the partnership needs to answer the potential queries sent by the JTS, the grant payment can be made between one month and three months after the JTS has received the claim.
Every project partner needs to have 100% of its own claimed expenditure checked by an independent controller: this is the so-called First Level Control.
There are two different first level control national systems in place within the Programme: a centralized system in Belgium-Flanders and a decentralized system in the Netherlands, United Kingdom and France.
The First Level Control must be performed by an independent and competent controller designated by the Approbation authority at national level (except for Belgium where the first level controller is the central authority itself).
The expenditure declared by each beneficiary can be fully accepted, partially accepted or fully rejected by the first level controller. A detailed report on the control done (First Level Control Checklists) and a certificate attesting the eligibility of the approved expenditure (First Level Control Certificate) must be signed by the first level controller following the control done.
First Level Control shall be done through the following three steps:
Ongoing administrative control on documents;
At least one administrative control at the premises of the beneficiary (complementary to step n°1);
At least one "physical" on-site check in the place of the investment (if existing).
According to this approach, three different templates of check-list are available on the Programme web-site, one for each type of action to be undertaken. Each specific check-list has very tailored questions focused on the elements to be verified during each type of control.
First Level Controllers are required to fill in accurately the check-lists, particularly the sections asking for the methodology applied, the detected findings and the recommendations. They shall also trace in detail the results of the control done using the "Comments" boxes for each tailored question. Each check-list shall be considered as a tool at the disposal of the controller to ensure a complete control and to report any observation and useful explanation.
For the Dutch, English and French First Level Controllers, regular seminars are organized by the Member states and JTS to provide uniform information to the First Level Controllers about the Programme rules and offer an opportunity to share frequently found issues. The participation to these seminars is strongly recommended by the Programme!
First Level Control is generally implemented on administrative documentation with a periodicity of 2 controls per year (by the 1st of March and 01st of September each year). In addition, for each project partner, the appointed First Level Controller shall implement at least one on-the-spot check at the premises of the partner’s organisation to complete the administrative control. In case the partner organisation is in charge of some investment costs in the framework of the project, an additional on-the-spot check in the place of the investment is required (in the last six-month period of the project).
The procedures are different depending on the Member State where each project partner is located:
- In Belgium-Flanders, where a centralised system is in place, the First Level Control is implemented by the Province of West-Flanders.
- For England, France or the Netherlands, where a decentralised system is in place, each Project Partner has to propose a first level controller to the competent National Authority of its own Member State. The National Authority is responsible for the validation of the First Level Controller in compliance with Art.16 of Regulation of the European Parliament and Council (EC) No 1080/2006 (ERDF Regulation). The National Authority can also refuse the proposed First Level Controller if the latter does not match the Programme and/or national requirements.
Yes, each partner needs to appoint a First Level Controller in order to claim ERDF. Only expenditure validated by the First Level Controllers can be deemed eligible.
The Lead Partner's First Level Controller must perform a control on the eligibility of the Lead Partner's expenditure.
In addition, the Lead Partner's First Level Controller has to ensure that the Lead Partner implements well its role of project leader. For this reason, the Lead Partner's First Level Controller must also check that all documents related to the first level controls performed at the project partners' level have been correctly produced and submitted in compliance with the Programme requirements.
The Lead Partner's First Level Controller must ensure the consistency between the Project Financial Reports with the Project Activity Reports and the Application Form. A specific section in the check-list to be used during the 6-months administrative First Level Control is dedicated only to the Lead Partner's First Level Controller.
The price of the First Level Control can vary depending on the partner’s function in the project (Lead Partner or Project Partner), the status of the controller (public or private), the country where the project partner is located, the amount of expenditure per claim, etc. An indicative budget between 3.000 € and 10.000 € per Partner can be deemed reasonable. Anyway, it is important that all project partners foresee from the beginning to include a realistic budget in the application form to cover this requirement. As for all provisions of services, compliance with national and EU public procurement requirements must be fulfilled.
Once the project reaches its last semester of implementation, the project will have to provide an overview of project and partnership achievements at the moment of closure (both in terms of finance and content) and the potential durability of these achievements.
The Final Report is a therefore a key set of documents for communication and capitalisation purposes and represents the project business card.
The documents required at the end of a project are the followings:
1. If the project does not intend to claim costs for the extra 3 months beyond the end of the project implementation:
The LP will have to submit the following documents within 2 months after the end of the project implementation:
- the last regular progress report (original paper signed version + electronic version)
- the Closure Report (electronic version only)
- the CD-ROM
- the supporting documents indicated in the administrative closure checklist (electronic version)
2. If the project intends to claim costs for the extra 3 months beyond the end of the project implementation:
The LP will have to submit the following documents within 2 months after the end of the project implementation:
- the last regular progress report (original paper signed version + electronic version)
- the Closure Report (electronic version only)
- the CD-ROM
Once these documents have been delivered to the JTS, the LP will then ask the JTS for the additional financial report template.
For further details
An end of project audit is no longer required because First Level Control is carried out throughout the life of the project.
Please, be aware that at least 1 on-the-spot administrative check shall be performed by the FLC of each project partners and at least 1 physical on-the-spot check in case of investment.
These verifications must be performed by the respective project partners' FLC bodies and not by the LP FLC bodies for all project partners.
The documents related to the project (invoices, accounting documents, controls and audits' reports, project results, etc.) have to be kept and must be accessible at least until the 31st December 2025.
A condition of a 2 Seas cluster is that 2 or more 2 Seas approved projects come together to work on a given theme in order to capitalise their results.
The clusters can also include potential competent organisations from the 2 Seas area.
A 2 Seas cluster initiative can consist of two phases: Phase 1 (mandatory) shall aim at valorising and disseminating the results of the clustered projects; Phase 2 (optional) can support development activities in a given theme, building on the actions and results obtained in the different clustered projects.
The Programme authorities have decided to particularly focus the thematic clusters on four main themes:
- Applied research, Innovation, and business support
- Accessibility of the area
- Social inclusion
- Risk management in the framework of Integrated Coastal Zone Management.
Nevertheless, the 2 Seas Call for Clusters is open to the 16 relevant themes as implemented in the 2 Seas Programme (see Annex 1 of the Terms of Reference for the 2 Seas Cluster initiative for more information).
The total duration of a cluster cannot exceed 18 months excluding its preparation phase. The implementation of the activities cannot go beyond the 30/09/2015.
The ERDF rate will be 100%. An indicative budget of up to 300 000 € can be allocated to each phase of a cluster.
Beneficiaries eligible for funding from the Interreg IV A 2 Seas Programme can be either public bodies, public equivalent bodies or private sectors organisations (SMEs). An indication of the target groups supported per priority can be found in the Operational Programme.
As a general rule, organisations that receive financing from the Programme must be located in the Programme area (eligible area or adjacent area), which covers parts of France, England, Belgium-Flanders and The Netherlands.
Organisations located outside the Programme area can take part to the Cluster as associated partners.
Additional information relating to the eligibility of a partner organisation can be found in the Programme Manual and in Terms of Reference.
The partnership should be composed of formal partners (mandatory) who are the only beneficiaries receiving ERDF, and can also include "associated partners".
The formal partners can be any organisation involved in an approved 2 Seas project or an organization based in the eligible area, not involved in an approved 2 Seas project yet, that brings a thematic added-value to the cluster activities. Formal partners are those that are the most involved in the delivery of the cluster activities.
The associated partners can be any relevant organisation competent on the theme willing to be involved, share knowledge/results and undertake communication and dissemination for the cluster. An active role of the associated partners is expected in the implementation of both Phases.
Please read section 4 of the Terms of Reference for the 2 Seas Cluster initiative for more information.
Before starting the development of your thematic cluster, there is a series of key documents that need to be consulted. All of them are available in the cluster information section.
In Phase 1, two deliverables are mandatory: a 2 Seas cluster event and a 2 Seas cluster publication. They are conceived and set up by the cluster partners, but they are considered as communication activities at "2 Seas Programme level".
A strong working relationship with the 2 Seas Programme JTS has to be established for approving their contents and coordinating their timing in order to avoid any conflicting dates between clusters. The visual and editorial style of the publications and event communication supports must respect the graphic chart of the 2 Seas Programme: templates and examples of lay out will be sent to the Clusters.
Any Cluster Event Programme or Cluster Publication must receive a "ready for printing" approval by the JTS.
In the optional Phase 2, precise delivrables will be defined by the partnership as a result of the work undertaken in the previous phase. Eg: Case studies, pilot actions...
If I have a cluster idea, where can I find partners?
The territorial facilitation network can help you find partners in the other Member States. Furthermore, you can also use the Cluster Corner of the website, to submit your project idea online and to make it visible to potential partners. The website also allows you to find partners that have expressed their interest in participating in a cluster in your theme(s) of interest.
If I do not have a specific cluster idea, where can I find cluster ideas and express my interest to cooperate with partners on certain themes?
You can find all these possibilities in the ‘Cluster Corner' of the website. A database containing all cluster ideas currently under development will allow you to find a potential cluster idea to join. The ‘Express your Interest' form will allow other partners from the 2 Seas area to identify your interest in crossborder cooperation on a certain theme.
You can also contact the territorial facilitation network that can help you find cluster ideas under development in your theme(s) of interest.
