Consultation

It is highly recommended that you arrange a consultation with the responsible Euroregion at an early stage. Funding from the Small Projects Fund is not very complicated, but there are a few mistakes that may seem small but can have serious consequences.

The lead partner principle applies in the Small Projects Fund. This means that you must first decide which partner will act as lead partner. The responsible Euroregion, and within it the responsible side, is the one in which the lead partner is based.

Your contact persons for the KPF in the Elbe/Labe Euroregion are Ms. Richter on the German side and Ms. Rožánková on the Czech side. You can find their contact information here:

for German applicants for Czech applicants

You can contact the other Saxon-Czech Euroregions here:

Euroregion Neisse-Nisa-Nysa
Euroregion Erzgebirge/Krušnohorí
Euregio Egrensis

Pre-financing

Funding from the Small Projects Fund is only paid out once the project has been completed and invoiced. There are no advances, so the project must be fully pre-financed.

Please do not underestimate the necessary duration of the pre-financing. This can take up to 1.5 years. Here is a brief explanation (you will find the settlement procedure at the bottom):

1. Your project can have a duration of up to one year. This means that you may only be able to include costs incurred at the beginning in the settlement after one year. Interim statements are not possible.
2. Once the project has been completed, you must receive and pay all invoices. You must then compile the accounting documents.
3. You then submit the documents to the Euroregion. Only a formal preliminary check takes place here, which can be carried out quickly if no problems are identified. However, the statements are only forwarded to the Sächsische Aufbaubank (SAB) for review on a quarterly basis. In the worst case scenario, this means that a further three months will pass by then.
4. The SAB then has a maximum of three months to check the receipts. If the result is positive, the funds are paid out relatively soon.

Without any culpable delay on the part of one of the parties involved, the period between payment of the first invoice and disbursement of the funding can therefore be quite long.

Tip: If necessary, divide your project into parts (caution: avoid repetition, otherwise the funding rate will be reduced - see here) to avoid having to wait a year before submitting the invoice. However, this will increase the effort involved in submitting the application.

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Lead Partner

The lead partner principle applies in the small project fund. The lead partner submits the application and only they can claim costs and receive funding.

Area of responsibility of the Elbe/Labe Euroregion

The application must be submitted to the relevant Euroregion. On the German side, the Elbe/Labe Euroregion covers the entire area of the district of Saxon Switzerland-Eastern Ore Mountains and the state capital Dresden. On the Czech side, it basically comprises the area of the four districts of Děčín, Ústí nad Labem, Teplice and Litoměřice. However, some municipalities on the periphery belong to the Krušnohoří and Nisa Euroregions. You can find the exact layout of the funding areas of all Saxon-Czech small project funds in the implementation document in point 3.1 (see under Downloads).

Online application and attachments

The application is completed and submitted online in German and Czech. Before clicking on the link below, please read the following sections on the application procedure. The four steps are as follows:

1. create application

Register once in this portal. Then create the project and complete the form ("Edit form"). It is best to open our form completion guide at the same time, as it will answer many questions that are guaranteed to arise during the application process.

To the completion aid

If you wish, you can also export it as a PDF and send it to your project partner, for example. However, this is not yet the version that will be signed.

2. upload attachments

Please also upload the necessary documents (if applicable):

• Articles of association of both project partners,
• Extract from the register of associations/commercial register of both project partners,
• Authorization to represent signatories of the application from both project partners.

3. have the application checked

When you think you have finished processing the application, click on "Submit for review". It will then be checked by the KPF Secretariat. If necessary, you will be contacted regarding changes or additions. In this case, it will then be released for processing again.

4. sign the application

If everything is OK, the application is released for signature. The following will then appear under "Status": "The application has been approved and still needs to be signed." You must now export it as a PDF and have it signed. If you do not have an electronic signature to sign the application, you must print out the PDF, sign it and scan it. This also applies to the consent form for data processing. At the end, upload the signed application to the portal as an attachment.

 

Now you can click on this link and create your application: kpf.elbelabe.eu

Early start of the measure

Once the project application has been registered , you can start implementing the project at your own risk. Registration takes place after a formal check and positive verification of technical eligibility. An early start of the measure without funding is permitted without a separate application (more under Implementation of the project).

But beware: Any step in project implementation BEFORE registration will result in the loss of ALL funding!

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Formal and technical review

Once the application has been submitted, the secretariat checks that it is formally correct and technically eligible. The formal check verifies that the application is complete and bilingual. From a technical point of view, it is checked whether the project content is eligible for funding in accordance with the rules of the Small Projects Fund. As part of these checks, documents or information may be requested from the applicant.

Once the formal and technical checks have been successfully completed, the project application is registered and receives a registration number.

Local steering committee

The Local Steering Committee decides on the funding requested for the project. This committee has 12 members representing the local authorities in the Elbe/Labe Euroregion. It also has a number of advisory members from the social, environmental, tourism and economic sectors.

If the project application is approved, the beneficiary (lead partner) receives a grant agreement. Otherwise, they will be informed of the rejection and the reasons for it.

The rejection rate in the small project fund in the Elbe/Labe Euroregion was around 10% in the 2014-2020 period.

An overview of the meetings of the Local Steering Committee including all figures on projects applied for and confirmed can be found here.

Appeal against rejection

The applicant may lodge a written appeal against the decision of the Local Steering Committee with the responsible KPF project secretariat within 30 calendar days of the Local Steering Committee's decision being announced. The Local Steering Committee will decide at a further meeting whether or not the appeal can be upheld.

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Early start of measures

You do not have to wait until the decision of the Local Steering Committee to implement the project, but can start as soon as the project is registered. Registration takes place after a formal check and positive verification of technical eligibility. Applicants bear their costs at their own risk until the small project has been approved by the Local Steering Committee. There is no entitlement to funding.

Publicity requirements

Please do not forget to observe the European Union's publicity regulations during the implementation of the project. The most important points are

1. the reference to the funding on all printed materials and objects with the INTERREG Saxony - Czech Republic program logo and the logo of the Elbe/Labe Euroregion as well as
2. the reference to the funding at events in the form of a notice with the INTERREG Saxony - Czech Republic program logo and the logo of the Elbe/Labe Euroregion (template available).
3. Please note the "Guidelines for beneficiaries on information and communication requirements", which you can download HERE.

Further details can be found here.

Be sure to keep a copy of all publications etc. to submit with the statement of account as proof.

Important regulations from the "Guidelines for beneficiaries on information and communication regulations" that you must observe

3.2 Use of multiple logos

If the cooperation partners use several logos for publicity purposes, the following must be observed: The EU emblem (EU flag) included in the program logo must be at least the same size, in terms of height or width, as the largest of the other logos used. In practice, this means that the other logos must either be at most the same height as the EU emblem (EU flag) or at most the same width as the EU emblem (EU flag).

3.6 Internet presence of the project

On the websites or social networks of the cooperation partners, if these exist, the Interreg project, including its objectives and activities, must be briefly described and the cooperation partners and the amount of funding from EU funds for the project must be indicated.

3.8 Poster / electronic advertisement

In all other cases not covered by point 3.7., each cooperation partner must provide information about the funding in German and Czech during the implementation of the project in a place that is clearly visible to the public by means of a poster in DIN A3 format or larger or an equivalent electronic display. The following information must be displayed:

• Project title
• Main objective of the project
• Name of the lead partner and the project partners
• Total costs of the project
• Reference to co-financing by the EU (Interreg logo) and logo of the Elbe/Labe Euroregion

Recommendation: Send a draft poster (before printing) by e-mail for review (rozankova@elbelabe.eu, truong@elbelabe.eu)

3.10. Social media

Videos about the results of the cooperation projects can be published on the Interreg Saxony - Czech Republic YouTube channel in compliance with the publicity regulations. The videos can be sent to the Joint Secretariat, e.g. by e-mail to kontakt@sn-cz2027.eu.

Further important regulations can be found in the Guidelines for beneficiaries on information and communication regulations!

Bilingualism

All publications in the project must be published at least bilingually, i.e. in German and Czech. The exact details can be found here.

On-site inspections

The Euroregion is obliged to carry out an on-the-spot check for a certain proportion of the projects. Therefore, all beneficiaries must inform the project secretariat at least 10 working days in advance about the implementation of events and ensure access to them for employees.

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Once the project has been completed, an invoice is issued. The funds are paid out in accordance with the reimbursement principle and only after the documents have been submitted and checked. On the German side, the Sächsische Aufbaubank (SAB) is involved in this process.

Compilation of the accounting documents

Only these documents are to be submitted:

• Final report on the implementation of the small-scale project with the presentation of the project results (from the online system),
• Photo documentation of the event carried out as proof of the participants and the activities realized,
• Participant lists with the signatures of all participants, filed registration lists, copies of participation certificates, etc. as proof of the number of participants,
• Program/agenda as proof of the duration of events.

No further documents are really necessary, no orders, no invoices, no other receipts.

Checking the accounts and payment

The procedure for checking the accounts through to payment of the funding is as follows:

• You submit the accounting documents via the online system.
• The Euroregion checks the documents.
• The Euroregion informs the SAB of the result of the check
• The SAB transfers the funding to the Euroregion.
• The Euroregion transfers the funding to you.

(This is an automatic translation by DeepL Translator.)