CHAPTER IIINFORMATION PROGRAMMES

Article 31.

The aim of the information programmes financed by the Fund shall be to improve public awareness of the dangers of all forms of tobacco consumption.

The programmes shall consist of projects involving information and education, data collection and studies. The projects concerned shall focus in particular on:

(a)

raising public awareness of the harmful effects of tobacco consumption, including passive smoking;

(b)

improving the relevance and effectiveness of the messages put across about the harmful effects of tobacco consumption, and the methods of communication used (language and images);

(c)

preventing and stopping smoking;

(d)

disseminating the results to the national authorities and the relevant sectors, in the areas referred to in (a), (b) and (c).

Article 41.

The Commission, with the assistance of a scientific and technical committee, shall be responsible for the management of the Fund as regards the information programmes.

The scientific and technical committee shall be made up of nine members appointed by the Commission. The Committee shall be chaired by the Commission. The Commission shall ensure that members of the Committee are independent as regards the projects submitted to them.

Article 5

Projects shall be the subject, as appropriate, of a call for proposals or a public invitation to tender, in accordance with the relevant provisions, published in the C series of the Official Journal of the European Communities, within the period set in the notice.

Article 61.

Proposals for projects may be submitted by any natural or legal persons established in the Community who:

(a)

possess recognised competence and at least five years' professional experience in the field in question;

(b)

undertake to contribute from their own resources at least 25 % of the total financing of the project. However, projects carried out on the initiative and on behalf of the Commission shall be financed by the Fund at a rate of up to 100 % of the total cost;

(c)

undertake to carry out the proposed programme within the time limit laid down;

(d)

agree to provide regular reports on the progress of the work;

(e)

agree to make their accounts and other supporting documents on expenditure available for verification by the Commission;

(f)

agree to the conditions laid down in Articles 9, 10 and 11.

Projects may be carried out on an annual basis, and may be renewed, but may not however exceed five years from the date on which the contract is signed.

However, the time limit for implementation may be extended if the interested party requests the Commission to extend it and provides proof that, because of exceptional circumstances beyond that party's control, it is not able to comply with the time limit initially laid down.

Article 71.

Projects submitted in response to a call for proposals shall be assessed by a group of independent experts selected by the Commission. The following factors must be taken into account in the assessment:

(a)

the work must be done on a collaborative basis by natural or legal persons established in several Member States;

(b)

the projects must pay particular attention to the cultural and linguistic characteristics of the Member States, notably in the case of information campaigns directed at the public at large, and to groups at risk;

(c)

the projects must show that they have a methodology and firm scientific backing. They must be innovative and take account of work that has been carried out already and of experience gained under past or present national or Community programmes, so as to avoid any likelihood of duplication in the allocation of Community funding;

(d)

the projects must, as appropriate, contribute objectively and effectively to improving public awareness of the harmful effects on health of using tobacco, to collecting and analysing relevant epidemiological data or to ensuring the rapid implementation of practical preventive measures;

(e)

contractors must ensure that the results of their projects are disseminated in recognised scientific journals and/or presented at international conferences;

(f)

priority will be given to projects covering the whole of the territory of the Community and submitted by public health organisations which are recognised and/or are expressly supported by national or regional health authorities.

On the basis of the assessment, the Commission shall submit a list of the projects shortlisted for financing to the scientific and technical committee referred to in Article 4. The committee shall deliver an opinion on the list.

As part of the public tendering procedure, projects to be carried out at the initiative and on behalf of the Commission, and shortlisted for financing, shall also be submitted by the Commission to the scientific and technical committee referred to in Article 4. The committee shall deliver an opinion on those projects.

Pursuant to Article 5(4) of Decision No 646/96/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council

OJ L 95, 16.4.1996, p. 9.

, the Commission shall inform the Committee referred to in Article 5 of that Decision which projects have been shortlisted for financing, and shall provide it with the opinion of the scientific and technical committee referred to in Article 4 of this Regulation.

Article 81.

On the basis of the opinions referred to in Article 7(2) and (3), the Commission shall select the projects and decide on their financing by the Fund. It may decide not to proceed with any of the projects.

Projects accepted for financing by the Fund shall be the subject of a contract concluded by the Commission. A list of the projects financed shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Communities.

The Commission shall monitor the implementation of projects accepted for financing by the Fund. It shall inform the Management Committee for Tobacco regularly of the contracts concluded and the progress of work.

Article 91.

Contracts shall be based on the appropriate standard contract drawn up by the Commission and shall reflect, where necessary, the various activities concerned. They shall specify in particular:

(a)

the possibility of the payment of an advance by the Fund, within two months of the contract being signed;

(b)

the nature of the project deliverables required in order to obtain subsequent payments, which shall be made in staggered instalments reflecting the progress of the work and on the basis of invoices and appropriate supporting documents;

(c)

the deadline for submitting applications for payment of the balance following completion of the measures provided for in the contract, together with the nature of the accompanying deliverables, which shall include at least a summary of work carried out, appropriate supporting documents and an evaluation of the results obtained and how those results can be used;

(d)

a maximum period for payments from the Fund of 60 days from the date of approval by the Commission of the project deliverables, which may be suspended by the Commission in order to carry out additional verifications.

The payment of an advance by the Fund shall be subject to the lodging by the contractor, in favour of the Commission, of a security of an amount equivalent to 110 % of the advance, lodged in accordance with the conditions laid down in Title III of Regulation (EEC) No 2220/85. However, public institutions may be exempt from this requirement.

The security shall be released subject to payment of the balance of the contribution for the measures concerned.

Where the advance exceeds the amount due, the security shall be partially forfeit for an amount equal to the amount wrongly paid.

Article 10

Projects accepted for financing by the Fund may not receive Community financing from other sources.

Article 111.

Where financing has been unduly paid for a project, the Commission shall recover the amounts paid to the beneficiaries, plus interest to be counted from the date of payment to the date of recovery.

The interest rate to be used shall be that charged by the European Central Bank on its euro operations as published in the Official Journal of the European Communities on the first working day of each month.

The amounts recovered, together with the interest, shall be paid to the Commission and deducted from expenditure in the tobacco sector financed by the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund.