The RFCS project has the following research objectives for the coal sector:

• Supporting the equitable transition of the coal sector and regions;
• Improving health and safety.
• Minimizing the environmental impact of coal mines in transition.

Proposals presented under this topic shall address one or several of the RFCS objectives for steel as set out in the RFCS Regulation, and should clearly identify which work packages address which objective(s) i.e.:

• new, sustainable and low-carbon steelmaking and finishing processes.
• advanced steel grades and applications
• conservation of resources, protection of the environment and circular economy
• management of work force and working conditions.

Proposals should also identify to which of the Technical Group(s) listed in Annex 2 they refer to.

Within this frame, projects from all areas and domains are admitted.

60%

• Energy
• Environment and Climate Change
• Information and Communication Technologies
• Other Services
• Research, Technological Development and Innovation

• Legal Entities
• Other Beneficiaries
• Private Bodies
• Researchers/Research Centers/Institutions
• Services Providers
• Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
• State-owned Enterprises

Eligible participants (eligible countries)
In order to be eligible, the applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities) must:

• be legal entities (public or private bodies, e.g. undertakings, public bodies, research organizations, higher or secondary education establishments or other legal entities) which carry out an RTD activity or substantially contribute to such an activity
  • be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e.:
    • EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories (OCTs))
    • non-EU countries:
      • countries associated to the RFCS (list of participating countries).

Beneficiaries and affiliated entities must register in the Participant Register — before submitting the proposal — and will have to be validated by the Central Validation Service (REA Validation). For the validation, they will be requested to upload documents showing legal status and origin.

Other entities may participate in other consortium roles, such as associated partners, subcontractors, third parties giving in-kind contributions, etc (see section 13).

Please note that, in RFCS, associated partners may participate only if their participation is in the EU interest.

Specific cases and definitions

Natural persons — Natural persons are eligible.

International organisations — International organisations are not eligible.

Entities without legal personality — Entities which do not have legal personality under their national law may exceptionally participate, provided that their representatives have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf, and offer guarantees for the protection of the EU financial interests equivalent to that offered by legal persons.

EU bodies — EU bodies (with the exception of the European Commission Joint Research Centre) can NOT be part of the consortium.

Associations and interest groupings — Entities composed of members may participate as ‘sole beneficiaries’ or ‘beneficiaries without legal personality’9. Please note that if the action will be implemented by the members, they should also participate (either as beneficiaries or as affiliated entities, otherwise their costs will NOT be eligible).

Countries currently negotiating association agreements — Beneficiaries from countries with ongoing negotiations for participating in the programme (see list of participating countries above) may participate in the call and can sign grants if the negotiations are concluded before grant signature and if the association covers the call (i.e. is retroactive and covers both the part of the programme and the year when the call was launched).

EU restrictive measures — Special rules apply for entities subject to EU restrictive measures under Article 29 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and Article 215 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU). Such entities are not eligible to participate in any capacity, including as beneficiaries, affiliated entities, associated partners, subcontractors or recipients of financial support to third parties (if any).

For more information, see Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment.

Consortium composition

Proposals must be submitted by a consortium of:

• for Accompanying Measures, minimum 3 independent applicants (beneficiaries; not affiliated entities) from 3 different eligible countries
• for Research projects, minimum 3 independent applicants (beneficiaries; not affiliated entities) from 2 different eligible countries
• for Pilot and Demonstration projects, minimum 2 independent applicants (beneficiaries; not affiliated entities) from 2 different eligible countries

Independent — Independent means that none of the entities must be under the direct or indirect control of the other or under the same direct or indirect control as the other. For this purpose, control may, in particular, take either of the following forms:

• the direct or indirect holding of more than 50 % of the issued share capital, or of a majority of the voting rights
• the direct or indirect holding, in fact or in law, of decision-making powers.

The following relationships do not in themselves constitute control:

• if the entities have the same public investment corporation, institutional investor or venture-capital company with a direct or indirect holding of more than 50 % of the issued share capital or a majority of voting rights
•  if the entities are owned or supervised by the same public body.

Eligible activities

Applications will only be considered eligible if their content corresponds wholly (or at least in part) to the topic description for which they are submitted.

Eligible activities are the ones set out in section 2 above.

Projects should take into account the results of projects supported by other EU funding programmes. The complementarities must be described in the project proposals (Part B of the Application Form).

Projects must comply with EU policy interests and priorities (such as environment, social, security, industrial and trade policy, etc). Projects must also respect EU values and European Commission policy regarding reputational matters (e.g. activities involving capacity building, policy support, awareness raising, communication, dissemination, etc).

Financial support to third parties is not allowed.

Geographic location (target countries)
Proposals must relate to activities taking place in the eligible countries (see above).

Duration
Accompanying Measures should normally range between 18 and 36 months.

Research projects and Pilot and Demonstration projects should normally range between 36 and 42 months.

Projects of longer duration may be accepted in duly justified cases. Extensions are possible, if duly justified and through an amendment.

Project budget

Project budgets for accompanying measures (requested grant amount) are expected to range between €300.000 and €500.000.

Project budgets for research projects (requested grant amount) are expected to range between €1.00 and €3.00 million.

Project budgets for pilot and demonstration projects (requested grant amount) are expected to range between €1.50 and €3.00 million. for coal and to range between €3.00 and €5.00 million. for steel.

This does not however preclude the submission/selection of proposals requesting other amounts. The grant awarded may be lower than the amount requested.

Ethics

Projects must comply with:

• highest ethical standards (including highest standards of research integrity) and
• applicable EU, international and national law.

Projects involving ethics issues will have to undergo an ethics review to authorise funding and may be made subject to specific ethics rules (which become part of the Grant Agreement in the form of ethics deliverables, e.g. ethics committee opinions/notifications/authorisations required under national or EU law).

For general information about the programme, if you have questions or want to share your views please contact us at: REA-RFCS@ec.europa.eu

• Funding & Tenders
• Call document