General conditions

1. Admissibility conditions: described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes

Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System

2. Eligible countries: described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes

A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects. See the information in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide.

3. Other eligibility conditions: described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes

The following additional eligibility criteria apply:

This topic requires the active involvement, as beneficiaries, of at least 2 Border or Coast Guard Authorities from at least 2 different EU Member States or Associated Countries. For these participants, applicants must fill in the table “Information about security practitioners” in the application form with all the requested information, following the template provided in the submission IT tool.

If projects use satellite-based earth observation, positioning, navigation and/or related timing data and services, beneficiaries must make use of Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS (other data and services may additionally be used).

4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion: described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes

5. Evaluation and award:

• Award criteria, scoring and thresholds are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes

• Submission and evaluation processes are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual

• Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement: described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes

6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants: described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes

Eligible costs will take the form of a lump sum as defined in the Decision of 7 July 2021 authorising the use of lump sum contributions under the Horizon Europe Programme – the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (2021-2027) – and in actions under the Research and Training Programme of the European Atomic Energy Community (2021-2025). [[This decision is available on the Funding and Tenders Portal, in the reference documents section for Horizon Europe, under ‘Simplified costs decisions’ or through this link: https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/guidance/ls-decision_he_en.pdf]].

Specific conditions

7. Specific conditions: described in the [specific topic of the Work Programme]

Documents

Call documents:

Standard application form — call-specific application form is available in the Submission System

Standard application form (HE RIA, IA)

Standard evaluation form — will be used with the necessary adaptations

Standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA)

MGA

Lump Sum MGA v1.0

Call-specific instructions:

Template for Security & eligibility conditions in Horizon Europe

Additional documents:

HE Main Work Programme 2023–2024 – 1. General Introduction

HE Main Work Programme 2023–2024 – 6. Civil Security for Society

HE Main Work Programme 2023–2024 – 13. General Annexes

HE Programme Guide

HE Framework Programme and Rules for Participation Regulation 2021/695

HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764

EU Financial Regulation

Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment

EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement

Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual

Funding & Tenders Portal Terms and Conditions

Funding & Tenders Portal Privacy Statement

Projects’ results are expected to contribute to some or all of the following outcomes:

• Improve assisted border crossing control systems, coordinated between border, customs and security controls;
• Allocate more efficiently border check resources, maintaining security while minimising time and hassle for crossings and false positives;
• Allocate flexibly border check resources, when and where needed, depending on changing needs (for example seasonally, and/or in the case of roll-on-roll-off ferries);
• Contribute to capabilities that strengthen the Schengen area, by providing security at its external borders that also reassure on maintaining the free movement within its borders.

Growth of international travel and mobility (which will likely return to, and increase to a level above, the pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels), the scarcity of resources, and the need to ease border crossings while maintaining security of the Schengen area, make reliable risk assessments and border checks prioritisation important. Border practitioners in some Member States are assessing feasibility, reliability and acceptability of optimised border controls using risk-based management.

The solution(s) proposed under this topic should allow easier and more flexible allocation and change of resources in border checks, for example to meet seasonal peaks. A possible use case is that of roll-on-roll-off ferries. That situation may generate long queues for border and security checks, while often being seasonal. A proposed solution should help perform border checks, as well improve the speed for detecting threats in vehicles, such as weapons and explosives, without people coming out of vehicles and without slowing down (dis)embarkment off or onto roll-on-roll-off ferries.

In any case, the proposed solution(s) should consider both the travellers and the goods accompanying them.

Higher leveraging of risk management in border crossing practices has the potential to also decrease and minimise the use of personal data and the risk for violating fundamental rights. The project should integrate strong ethical, legal and acceptability assessment to ensure that, on the other hand, the risks of bias (such as on ethnicity or gender) and discrimination of risk mitigation is minimised.

Collaboration with international stakeholders in the field of transport and transport safety in the air, maritime and rail contexts is encouraged.

Should the project deliver on its goal and be compatible with applicable legislation, EU and Member States authorities should plan to take up the results of the research with the support of the Border Management and Visa Instrument (BMVI).

The proposed system should ensure secure data collection, access, encryption, and decision support processes. Full encryption at transit and rest should be ensured, while enabling fuzzy searches on all metrics of the documents’ data.

The system should include automated decision support systems that suggest the end-users which process and database/tool can be legally used using a certain technology.

Solutions should be compatible or interoperable with legacy and current systems, and propose or allow an interoperability between systems in use by different Member States.

Improving energy efficiency and environmental impact aspects of new security technologies for this capability (e.g. low environmental footprint, low emissions, circular economy aspects and/or self-sustained equipment) would be desirable.

Examples of technologies and approaches that can be explored by the research projects include (non-prescriptive and non-exhaustive): risk assessment methods, data fusion, sensors, artificial intelligence.

Research projects should consider, build on (if appropriate) and not duplicate previous research, including but not limited to research by other recent EU Framework Programmes projects on security research.

Proposals should delineate the plans for further development to subsequent TRLs as well as uptake (industrialisation, commercialisation, acquisition and/or deployment) at national and EU level, should the research deliver on its goals.

Proposals under this topic are expected to address the priorities of the European Border and Coast Guard and of its Agency (Frontex), including basing on the EBCG Capability Roadmap when available, and engage with the Agency during the implementation of the project. This perspective should be considered and planned when drafting proposals. Proposals should expect a key role of Frontex in validating the project outcomes, with the aim of facilitating future uptake of innovations for the border and coast guard community.

The involvement of Police Authorities[1] is encouraged, as well as synergies with relevant topics of the Fight against Crime and Terrorism Destination.

[1]In the context of this Destination, ‘Police Authorities’ means public authorities explicitly designated by national law, or other entities legally mandated by the competent national authority, for the prevention, detection and/or investigation of terrorist offences or other criminal offences, specifically excluding police academies, forensic institutes, training facilities as well as border and customs authorities.