Deadline: 10-Dec-20
The European Commission has launched a call for proposals to support activities in the area of the fight against trafficking in firearms.
The Firearms Trafficking aims to facilitate joint initiatives and operational actions of EU countries associated with third partners; improve expertise in the area of firearms trafficking, in particular by enhancing knowledge, detection, investigation and prosecution at EU level and with key third countries; promote best practices inter alia concerning the defragmentation of the relevant information and intelligence along the firearms trafficking routes to and from the EU; safeguard the EU licit market as well as reduce diversion of firearms into criminal hands in the EU.
Project applications submitted under the present call for proposals must address at least one of the following priorities, in line with the 2020-2025 EU Action Plan on firearms trafficking:
- “Safeguarding the legal market and limiting diversion”. Projects funded could notably contribute to developing firearms registers or improve physical security and stockpile management to avoid thefts and diversion.
- “Building a better intelligence picture” and developing the knowledge of the threat, notably by funding national programmes and software developments enabling the simultaneous searches/entries of/into the Schengen Information Systems and Interpol’s iARMS database, by funding national databases (and reporting software) for the firearms seizures, with comparable data at EU level, or by funding a real-time tracking tool of firearms-related incidents and seizures across the EU.
- Stepping up law enforcement to “increase pressure on criminal markets”, by funding the establishment of interconnected and fully functional firearms focal points, and supporting joint operational activities and capacity-building projects.
Outcomes
Projects must be aiming to achieve one or more of the following outcomes:
- to facilitate joint initiatives and operational actions of EU countries associated with third partners, such as south-east Europe and Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries;
- to improve expertise in the area of firearms trafficking, in particular by enhancing knowledge, detection, investigation and prosecution at EU level and with key third countries;
- to promote best practices inter alia concerning the defragmentation of the relevant information and intelligence along the firearms trafficking routes to and from the EU;
- to safeguard the EU licit market in the field of firearms trafficking;
- to reduce diversion of firearms into criminal hands in the EU.
Funding Information
- The total budget earmarked for the co-financing of projects under this call for proposals is estimated at EUR 3 000 000 (three million euros).
Eligibility Criteria
In order to be eligible, applications:
- 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.
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:
- profit making entities;
- international organisations;
- entities established in a third country.
- 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”);
- the following third countries: Ukraine, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Tunisia, Lebanon, Jordan, Algeria, Morocco, Egypt and Switzerland.
- 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.
For more information, visit https://bit.ly/2H9hJo2