European Commission announces Call for Proposals – Environmental Crime

Deadline: 17-Dec-20

The European Commission has launched a call for proposals on the operational cooperation in the fight against environmental crime.

The action aims to gather intelligence and develop a better understanding of trends and flows of environmental crimes. Alongside supporting the stated objectives of the EU Policy Cycle, the action aims to improve data and develop the existing exchanges of information between existing EU and international bodies involved in the fight against environmental crime. The action will support law enforcement operational activities in the fight against wildlife trafficking, trafficking in illicit waste, and/or any other types of environmental crimes.

Priorities

Project applications submitted under the present call for proposals must address at least one of the following priorities:

Fight against wildlife trafficking, forest crime and other forms of wildlife crime;
Fight against trafficking in illicit waste;
Any other type of environmental crime.

Funding Information

The total budget earmarked for the co-financing of projects under this call for proposals is estimated at EUR 2 300 000 (two million three hundred thousand euros).

Outcomes

Projects must be aiming to achieve one or more of the following outcomes:

to boost intelligence-led investigations, including cross-border investigations and regionally focussed operations to tackle environmental crime;
to develop detection and investigation methodologies and tools, including the use of forensic techniques, IT technology, Earth observation techniques, methods for valuation and quantification of damage caused by environmental crime;
to develop know-how on preparation of national enforcement strategies to combat environmental crime;
to develop tools for exchange of intelligence and operational information;
to identify training needs for police and other enforcement officers, develop tailored training materials and organise training courses, including common events for police, customs, national environmental inspectorates and other administrative and judicial authorities in the field of environment and the judiciary;
to establish structured mechanisms (e.g. networks) to enhance communication, coordination and cooperation between different enforcement and judicial authorities at national and EU level;
to enhance cooperation between enforcement agencies of Member States, as well as between these agencies and (i) relevant EU and international organisations and agencies, such as Europol, Eurojust, Interpol, World Customs Organisation, (ii) third countries and (iii) relevant actors from the private sector;
to develop expertise and a strategic analysis of the environmental crime phenomenon;
to gather statistics and intelligence on environmental crime for the purpose of threat and risk analysis;
to explore and share good practices in investigating and prosecuting environmental crime;
to detect and analyse links with related areas of crime, such as corruption and illicit financial flows and raise awareness on environmental crime with agencies specialised in these issues.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility of the Applicants and co-applicants
All applicants and co-applicants must fulfil the following eligibility requirements for applications to be eligible. To prove these eligibility requirements, applicants and co-applicants will have to provide the relevant information and upload necessary documents showing their legal status in the Participant Register.
- Legal Status
  The following entities can apply as lead applicants and co-applicants:
  - - public bodies;
    - non-profit-making private entities.
  - The following entities can only apply as co-applicants:
    - international organisations
  - The following are not eligible, neither as applicants nor as co-applicants:
    - Union Agencies;
    - natural persons.
  - Affiliated entities, i.e. legal entities having a legal or capital link with applicants, shall take part in the action as individual co-applicants in order to declare eligible costs unless they are affiliated to a public body.
- Country of establishment
  With the exception of international organisations, applicants and co-applicants must be established in the following countries to be eligible:
  - - the Member States of the European Union with the exception of Denmark (“Member States participating in the ISF Police instrument”).
  - International organisations can be established outside the above-mentioned countries.
  - The lead applicant must be established in a Member States participating in the ISF Police instrument.
Eligibility of the Application
In order to be eligible, applications:
- a must be transnational, i.e. involve at least two eligible entities established in two different Member States participating in the ISF Police instrument;
- must request an EU contribution equal to or higher than EUR 250 000. Applications seeking lower EU contributions will be rejected;
- must have an implementation period of maximum 24 months. Applications for projects scheduled to run for a longer period will be rejected. Activities must not have started prior to the date of submission of the grant application.
Eligible Activities
The following types of activities are eligible under this call for proposals:
- activities promoting networking, public-private partnerships, mutual confidence, understanding and learning, identification and dissemination of good practices andinnovative approaches at Union level, training and exchange programmes as well as organisation of seminars and workshops;
- analytical, monitoring and evaluation activities, including threat, risk and impact assessments, which are evidence based and consistent with priorities and initiatives identified at Union level, in particular those that have been endorsed by the European Parliament and the Council and projects monitoring the implementation of Union law and Union policy objectives in the Member States;
- the development and the dissemination of new methods and/or deploying new technologies with a potential for significant transferability to other Member States;
- the development and/or the implementation of tools/toolkits such as (e-)learning materials;
- the acquisition, maintenance and/or further upgrading of technical equipment, expertise, secure facilities, infrastructures, related buildings and systems, especially ICT systems and their components at the Union level;
- studies;
- management of the project and evaluation of activities.