Site updated 06-05-06
Information for Applicants - Atlantic Area
Presenting an application
Proposals are required to have a trans-national character, and involve partners from at least two Atlantic Area countries, which includes all eligible regions within the geographic space of the 'Atlantic Area'. Applications should be submitted using the application designated for this purpose. The form and how to use it (the applicant guidelines), as well as any additional information about the programme and conditions for project proposal can be obtained on the programme website ( www.interreg-atlantique.org) or directly from the joint secretariat.
To prepare a project, the key documents are on www.interreg-atlantique.org/upload/programmes/eng_PIC_I3B_EA_VERSION_FINALE_eng.pdf, for the Community Initiative Programme (sometimes called the “Operational Programme”), and on www.interreg-atlantique.org/iiib/eng/guide/index.htm Document 8 for the Programme Complement, and this area also for the Applicants' Guidance, the second Call text (although now out of date, it contains much information about the Programme which is still useful), and application forms.
You can also find the assessment forms used by the Secretariat on our own website at www.interregiii.org.uk/piiaaa.shtml. You can use them to check if your project idea seems to meet the eligibility and selection criteria for the Programme before proceeding with a full application.
Summaries of approved projects
Charts showing brief information on all the projects approved to date is on this website at www.interregiii.org.uk/aaappproj.shtml.
In addition, the Atlantic Programme Secretariat is gradually putting full details of approved projects on its website. See www.interreg-atlantique.org/iiib/eng/projet/index.htm
This is very useful if you are looking for partners for projects, or thinking of developing a project and want to know what is already being done. There are contact details for all the Lead Partners, and the entries also list all the partners in each project.
Application forms
If possible the completed application form should be sent in the languages of all the partners involved in the project. The application sent by e-mail must be followed by a signed version before the deadline. The official submission date for the application will be the date the signed application is postmarked. The hard copy of the application should be sent with a copy in each of the languages no later than the deadline set in the text of the Call document.
Intervention rates - This is the proportion of your project budget which can be funded by ERDF. The average rate for your project should not exceed the proportion set in the Programme for the Priority you are applying for, even if you or your partners would normally be entitled to a higher proportion of the project costs to be funded by ERDF. This is to compensate for higher than average intervention rates of projects approved earlier.
The average intervention rate for projects applying under Priority B must not be more than 56%, and for Priority D 58%. For Priority A the rate would be 56% and for C 60%, but these figures are subject to confirmation.
Objective 1 regions are normally entitled to a higher intervention rate than the 50% maximum of other regions. You are asked to consider within your project partnership how to apply differential rates for different types of area, and to do this in a fair and equitable way, with due regard for the match funding resources available to each partner locally. The important point is that the overall intervention rate for your project as a whole should not be higher than the percentages shown above.
Human Resource costs - A limit has been set at no more than 45% of a project's budget to be on HR costs, exceptionally 50% if extra staff are being brought in specially to work on the project.
Project budgets - The Secretariat's Applicants' Guidance gives some guidance for applicants on items which can be included in each budget line; other than material in that document it largely is up to applicants to decide how to divide their budget between the various headings in the application form, though National Correspondents in some Member States have produced additional guidance.
Preparation Costs - Costs to develop projects before putting in the application are now eligible as part of your application. Technically, they can cover the period as far back as 31 July 2001 up to the date you submit your application; your project itself cannot normally last longer than 3 years. Eligible costs include; staff time and consultants for work directly on the project; transport, accommodation and food for meetings; room hire, translation and interpreting etc. Overheads are NOT eligible. Preparation costs are allowed to a maximum of 5% of the total project costs or €40 000, whichever is the lower. You apply for them on the same application form and in the same budget as the rest of the project, and you submit receipts etc with your first Claim once the project has been approved. If your project is not approved, you cannot claim them.
Measure commitments -Priorities A, C and D have already received very heavy demand. If you are preparing an application for the next Call to these Priorities, we suggest you check the figures for amounts of funding remaining, and also check projects already approved to make sure that the subject of your project is not already addressed.
See www.interregiii.org.uk/pipcmaa.shtml for charts showing amounts of ERDF money left in each Measure.
Project Selection Criteria - The selection criteria for projects are in the Community Initiative Programme (CIP) and the Programme Complement, two essential documents to study if you are thinking of applying to the Atlantic Programme. You can download these from www.interreg-atlantique.org. The Programme Secretariat has drawn all the relevant information on eligibility and selection from these documents into two checklists, with guidance for the main criteria. This is designed to help people assessing the applications. But it can also be a useful summary for applicants, to double-check their proposals against the criteria.
Click to download the following documents:
Eligibility Checklist
Eligibility Checklist Guidance
Selection Criteria Form
Selection Criteria Guidance
Further information on the Programme can be found at www.interreg-atlantique.org.
