Action grants to enhance the rights of persons suspected of crime

European Call for Proposal

The “Action grants to enhance the rights of persons suspected or accused of crime” call for proposals for action grants is based on the 2015 annual work programme of the Justice Programme. Its general purpose is to co-fund transnational and or national projects that contribute to the effective and coherent application of EU criminal law in the area of the rights of persons suspected or accused of crime and to the preparation of new EU action, in line with the specific objective to facilitate effective access to justice for all.

 

Projects funded under the “Action grants to enhance the rights of persons suspected or accused of crime” call shall also aim to promote equality between women and men and the rights of the child. Consequently, when relevant, the applicant shall take the necessary steps to ensure that gender equality and child-related issues are taken into account by paying attention to the situation and particular needs of women and men and of children. Among others the Commission encourages applicants to promote equal employment opportunities for all its staff and team. This entails that the beneficiary is encouraged to foster an appropriate mix of people, whatever their ethnic origin, religion, age, and ability

 

The main priority of the “Action grants to enhance the rights of persons suspected or accused of crime” call for proposals is to contribute to the correct implementation and effective monitoring of the following three legal instruments:

- Directive 2013/48/EU on the right of access to a lawyer in criminal proceedings. This Directive will need to be implemented by the Member States before 27 Nov. 2016 ;

- Commission Recommendation C(2013) 8179/2 on the right to legal aid in criminal proceedings. Member States should inform the Commission on the measures taken by the end of November 2016.

- Commission Recommendation C(2013) 8178/2 on safeguards for vulnerable persons suspected or accused in criminal proceedings. Member States should inform the Commission on the measures taken by the end of November 2016.

 

The “Action grants to enhance the rights of persons suspected or accused of crime” call for proposals will cover the following activities:

- capacity building for professionals;

- mutual learning, exchange of good practices, development of working methods which may be transferable to other participating countries;

- exchange and provision of information and development of information tools;

- facilitating cooperation between competent authorities and agencies, legal practitioners and/or service providers (including multi-disciplinary networks at international, national, regional or local levels);

- dissemination and awareness raising activities.

- analytical activities, such as data collection and creation of data bases, surveys, research etc;

Training activities can also be funded under this call, as long as they are of ancillary nature and not the main purpose of the project.

 

The indicative total budget under this call for proposals is EUR 2 000 000. The EU grant requested cannot be lower than EUR 75 000. The funding under this call is based on the co-financing principle: the grant cannot constitute more than 80% of overall eligible project costs. The Commission reserves the right not to award all available funds, and/or to redistribute the amounts per priority depending on the projects received and the outcome of the evaluation procedure. The initial duration of the projects should not exceed 24 months.

 

The deadline for submitting proposals via the PRIAMOS system in the framework of the current “Action grants to enhance the rights of persons suspected or accused of crime” call for proposals is 28 October 2015.

 

Further information on the current call for proposals is available on the European Commission’s web site at: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/grants1/calls/2015_action_grants/just_2015_jacc_ag_proc_en.htm