1.Tenderers, applicants and candidates from the following countries shall be eligible for funding under the DCI, the ENI and the Partnership Instrument for cooperation with third countries:
(a)Member States, beneficiaries listed in Annex I to Regulation (EU) No 231/2014, and contracting parties to the Agreement on the European Economic Area;
[X1(b) for the ENI, partner countries covered by the ENI and the Russian Federation when the relevant procedure takes place in the context of the multi-country and cross-border cooperation programmes in which it participates;]
(c)developing countries and territories, as included in the list of ODA recipients published by the OECD-DAC (‘list of ODA recipients’), which are not members of the G-20 group, and overseas countries and territories covered by Council Decision 2001/822/EC(1);
(d)developing countries, as included in the list of ODA recipients, which are members of the G-20 group, and other countries and territories, when they are beneficiaries of the action financed by the Union under the Instruments covered by this Article;
(e)countries for which reciprocal access to external assistance is established by the Commission. Reciprocal access may be granted, for a limited period of at least one year, whenever a country grants eligibility on equal terms to entities from the Union and from countries eligible under the Instruments covered by this Article. The Commission shall decide on the reciprocal access and on its duration in accordance with the advisory procedure referred to in Article 16(2), and after consultation of the recipient country or countries concerned; and
(f)member countries of the OECD, in the case of contracts implemented in a Least Developed Country or a Highly Indebted Poor Country, as included in the list of ODA recipients.
2.Tenderers, applicants and candidates from non-eligible countries or supplies from a non-eligible origin may be accepted as eligible by the Commission in the case of:
(a)countries having traditional economic, trade or geographical links with neighbouring beneficiary countries; or
(b)urgency or the unavailability of products and services in the markets of the countries concerned, or in other duly substantiated cases where application of the eligibility rules would make the realisation of a project, programme or action impossible or exceedingly difficult.
3.For actions implemented in shared management, the relevant Member State to which the Commission has delegated implementation tasks shall be entitled to accept as eligible, on behalf of the Commission, tenderers, applicants and candidates from non-eligible countries as referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article, or goods from a non-eligible origin as referred to in Article 8(4).
Editorial Information
X1 Substituted by Corrigendum to Regulation (EU) No 236/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2014 laying down common rules and procedures for the implementation of the Union's instruments for financing external action (Official Journal of the European Union L 77 of 15 March 2014).
Council Decision 2001/822/EC of 27 November 2001 on the association of the overseas countries and territories with the European Community (‘Overseas Association Decision’) (OJ L 314, 30.11.2001, p. 1).