PURPOSE: to establish for the period 2014-2020 the Justice Programme following on from the Civil Justice, Criminal Justice, Drug Prevention and Information Programmes from 2007-2013.
LEGISLATIVE ACT: Regulation (EU) No 1382/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a Justice Programme for the period 2014 to 2020.
CONTENT: this Regulation establishes a Justice programme covering the period from 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2020.
European added value: the Programme shall finance actions with European added value which contribute to the further development of a European area of justice. To that end, the Commission shall ensure that the actions selected for funding are intended to produce results with European added value.
The European added value of actions, including that of small-scale and national actions, shall be assessed in the light of criteria such as their contribution to the consistent and coherent implementation of Union law, and to wide public awareness about the rights deriving from it, their transnational impact, their contribution to the elaboration and dissemination of best practices or their potential to contribute to the creation of minimum standards, practical tools and solutions that address cross-border or Union-wide challenges.
General objective: the general objective of the Programme shall be to contribute to the further development of a European area of justice based on mutual recognition and mutual trust, in particular by promoting judicial cooperation in civil and criminal matters.
Specific objectives: the Programme shall have the following specific objectives:
The specific objectives shall be pursued through, in particular:
The Regulation details the type of actions to be financed to respond to these specific objectives (such as the collection of data and statistics; training activities; mutual learning; support for main actors whose activities contribute to the implementation of the objectives of the Programme, such as support for NGOs in the implementation of actions with European added value).
In order to ensure an inclusive perspective, beneficiaries shall encourage the participation of relevant target groups in actions financed by the Programme.
The European Judicial Training Network shall receive an operating grant to co-finance expenditure associated with its permanent work programme.
Mainstreaming: in the implementation of all of its actions, the Programme shall seek to promote equality between women and men and to promote the rights of the child, inter alia by means of child- friendly justice. It shall also comply with the prohibition of discrimination based on any of the grounds listed in Article 21 of the Charter.
Access to the Programme: access to the Programme shall be open to all bodies and entities legally established in the EU and EFTA countries, candidate countries, potential candidates and countries acceding to the Union, in accordance with the general principles and the general terms and conditions laid down in the Regulation. Bodies and entities which are profit-oriented shall have access to the Programme only in conjunction with non-profit or public organisations.
Financial envelope: in accordance with the overall agreement on the financial framework, the financial envelope for the implementation of the Programme for the period 2014 to 2020 is set at EUR 377 604 000.
This shall be divided in line with the Annex of the Regulation:
The Commission shall not depart from the allocated percentages by more than five percentage points for each group of specific objectives. Should it prove necessary to exceed that limit, the Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts to modify each of the figures.
Work programme: the annual work programme shall determine:
Appropriate and fair distribution of financial support between different areas covered by the programme shall be ensured.
Complementarity: the Commission, in cooperation with the Member States, shall ensure overall consistency, complementarity and synergies with other Union instruments including, inter alia, the Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme, the Instrument for financial support for police cooperation, preventing and combating crime, and crisis management, as part of the Internal Security Fund, the Health for Growth Programme, the Erasmus+ Programme, the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme and the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA II).
Monitoring and evaluation of the Programme: the Commission shall monitor the Programme annually. It shall also provide:
The evaluations shall also assess the way in which gender equality and non-discrimination issues have been addressed across the Programme’s actions.
Performance indicators were also added to better evaluate the effectiveness of the Programme. In addition to the indicators, the evaluation reports shall assess the perceived impact of the Programme on access to justice, as well as the European added value of the actions and the level of finance involved in relation to results achieved (in terms of effectiveness).
ENTRY INTO FORCE: 29.12.2013.
DELEGATED ACTS: in order to ensure that the Programme is sufficiently flexible to respond to changing needs and corresponding policy priorities throughout its duration, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 TFEU should be delegated to the Commission concerning modification of the percentages set out in the Annex to this Regulation for each group of specific objectives that would exceed those percentages by more than 5 percentage points. To assess the need for such a delegated act, those percentages should be calculated on the basis of the financial envelope of the Programme for its entire duration, and not on the basis of annual appropriations.
The European Parliament or Council may raise objections to a delegated act within two months from the date of notification (which may be extended by two months). If Parliament or Council raise objections, the delegated act will not enter into force.