CHAPTER II

RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EURES NETWORK

Re-establishment of the EURES network
Article 5
1
The EURES network is hereby re-established.
2
This Regulation replaces the regulatory framework on EURES as set out in Chapter II of Regulation (EU) No 492/2011 and Implementing Decision 2012/733/EU adopted on the basis of Article 38 of that Regulation.

Objectives of the EURES network
Article 6
The EURES network shall, within the areas of its activities, contribute to the following objectives:
1. facilitating the exercise of the rights conferred by Article 45 TFEU and by Regulation (EU) No 492/2011;
2. implementing the coordinated strategy for employment and, in particular, for promoting a skilled, trained and adaptable workforce as referred to in Article 145 TFEU;
3. improving the functioning, cohesion and integration of the labour markets in the Union, including at cross-border level;
4. promoting voluntary geographical and occupational mobility in the Union, including in cross-border regions, on a fair basis and in compliance with Union and national law and practice;
5. supporting transitions into the labour market, thereby promoting the social and employment objectives referred to in Article 3 TEU.

Composition of the EURES network
Article 7
1
The EURES network shall comprise the following categories of organisation:
a
a European Coordination Office which shall be established within the Commission and which shall be responsible for assisting the EURES network in carrying out its activities;
b
national coordination offices (NCOs) responsible for the application of this Regulation in the respective Member State, which shall be designated by the Member States and which may be their PES;
c
the EURES Members, namely:
1. the PES appointed by the Member States in accordance with Article 10; and
2. organisations admitted in accordance with Article 11, or, for a transitional period in accordance with Article 40, to provide at national, regional or local level, including on a cross-border basis, support with clearance and support services to workers and employers;
d
the EURES Partners, which are organisations admitted in accordance with Article 11, and in particular with paragraphs 2 and 4 thereof, or for a transitional period in accordance with Article 40, to provide at national, regional or local level, including on a cross-border basis, support with clearance or support services to workers and employers.
2
Social partner organisations may become part of the EURES network as EURES Members or Partners in accordance with Article 11.

Responsibilities of the European Coordination Office
Article 8
1
The European Coordination Office shall assist the EURES network in carrying out its activities, in particular by developing and conducting, in close cooperation with the NCOs, the following activities:
a
the formulation of a coherent framework and the provision of horizontal support activities for the benefit of the EURES network, including:
1. the operation and development of the EURES portal, and related IT services, including systems and procedures for the exchange of job vacancies, job applications, CVs and supporting documents and other information, in cooperation with other relevant Union information and advisory services or networks, and initiatives;
2. information and communication activities regarding the EURES network;
3. a common training programme and continuing professional development for the staff of the EURES Members and Partners and of the NCOs, ensuring the necessary expertise;
4. a helpdesk function supporting the staff of the EURES Members and Partners and NCOs, in particular the staff in direct contact with workers and employers;
5. the facilitation of networking, exchange of best practices and mutual learning within the EURES network;
b
the analysis of geographic and occupational mobility, taking into account the different situations in the Member States;
c
the development of an appropriate cooperation and clearance structure within the Union for apprenticeships and traineeships, in accordance with this Regulation.
2
The European Coordination Office shall be managed by the Commission. The European Coordination Office shall establish a regular dialogue with the representatives of the social partners at Union level.
3
The European Coordination Office shall, in consultation with the Coordination Group referred to in Article 14, draw up its multiannual work programmes.

Responsibilities of the NCOs
Article 9
1
Member States shall designate NCOs in accordance with point (b) of Article 7(1). The Member States shall notify the European Coordination Office of those designations.
2
Each NCO shall be responsible for:
a
the organisation of work relating to the EURES network in the Member State, including ensuring a coordinated transfer to the EURES portal of information on job vacancies, job applications and CVs in accordance with Article 17 through a single coordinated channel;
b
cooperation with the Commission and the Member States on the clearance within the framework set in Chapter III;
c
providing the European Coordination Office with any available information on discrepancies between the number of job vacancies notified and the total number of job vacancies at national level;
d
the coordination of actions within the Member State concerned and together with other Member States in accordance with Chapter V.
3
Each NCO shall organise the implementation at national level of the horizontal support activities provided by the European Coordination Office as referred to in Article 8, where appropriate in close cooperation with the European Coordination Office and other NCOs. Those horizontal support activities shall include in particular:
a
for the purpose of publication, in particular on the EURES portal, the collection and validation of up-to-date information on the EURES Members and Partners operating on the NCO's national territory, their activities and the scope of the support services that they provide to workers and employers;
b
the provision of pre-training activities relating to EURES activity and the selection of staff for participation in the common training programme and in mutual learning activities;
c
the collection and analysis of data relating to Articles 31 and 32.
4
For the purpose of publication, in particular on the EURES portal, in the interest of workers and employers, each NCO shall make available, regularly update and disseminate in a timely manner, information and guidance available at national level relating to the situation in the Member State concerning:
a
living and working conditions, including general information on social security and tax payments;
b
the relevant administrative procedures regarding employment, and the rules applicable to workers upon taking up employment;
c
its national regulatory framework for apprenticeships and traineeships and existing Union rules and instruments;
d
without prejudice to point (b) of Article 17(2), access to vocational education and training;
e
the situation of frontier workers in particular in cross-border regions;
f
post-recruitment assistance in general and information about where to obtain such assistance within and, if such information is available, outside the EURES network.
Where appropriate, NCOs may make available and disseminate the information in cooperation with other information and advisory services and networks and appropriate bodies at national level, including those referred to in Article 4 of Directive 2014/54/EU.
5
NCOs shall exchange information on the mechanisms and standards referred to in Article 17(5) as well as on standards regarding data security and data protection of relevance for the common IT platform. They shall cooperate with each other and with the European Coordination Office, in particular with regard to complaints and job vacancies that are considered not to comply with those standards under national law.
6
Each NCO shall provide general support to the EURES Members and Partners regarding collaboration with their EURES counterparts in other Member States, including advice to the EURES Members and Partners on how to handle complaints relating to EURES job vacancies and recruitments, as well as on cooperation with relevant public authorities. If the information is available to the NCO, the outcome of complaints procedures shall be transmitted to the European Coordination Office.
7
The NCO shall promote collaboration with stakeholders such as the social partners, career guidance services, vocational training and higher education institutions, chambers of commerce, social services and organisations representing vulnerable groups on the labour market and organisations involved in apprenticeships and traineeships schemes.

Appointment of PES as EURES Members
Article 10
1
Member States shall appoint the PES relevant for the activities in the EURES network as EURES Members. The Member States shall inform the European Coordination Office of those appointments. By virtue of their appointment, those PES shall enjoy a special status within the EURES network.
2
Member States shall ensure that, in their role as EURES Members, PES fulfil all obligations laid down in this Regulation and meet at least the minimum common criteria set out in Annex I.
3
PES may fulfil their obligations as EURES Members through organisations acting under the responsibility of the PES, on the basis of delegation, outsourcing or specific agreements.

Admission as EURES Members (other than PES) and as EURES Partners
Article 11
1
Each Member State shall, without undue delay but at the latest by 13 May 2018, have in place a system to admit organisations to become EURES Members and Partners, to monitor their activities and their compliance with the applicable law when applying this Regulation and, where necessary, to revoke their admission. That system shall be transparent and proportionate, shall respect the principles of equal treatment for applicant organisations and due process of law and shall provide remedies sufficient to ensure effective legal protection.
2
For the purposes of the system referred to in paragraph 1, Member States shall establish the requirements and criteria for admitting EURES Members and Partners. Those requirements and criteria shall at least contain the minimum common criteria laid down in Annex I. Member States may establish additional requirements or criteria which are necessary for the purpose of a correct application of the rules applicable to the activities of employment services and the effective management of labour-market policies on their territory.
3
Organisations lawfully operating in a Member State may apply to become EURES Members, subject to the conditions laid down in this Regulation and to the system referred to in paragraph 1. An organisation applying to become a EURES Member shall, in its application, undertake to fulfil all the obligations addressed to Members under this Regulation, including to perform all tasks referred to in points (a), (b) and (c) of Article 12(2).
4
An organisation lawfully operating in a Member State may apply to become a EURES Partner, subject to the conditions laid down in this Regulation and to the system referred to in paragraph 1, provided that it duly justifies that it can fulfil no more than two of the tasks listed in points (a), (b) and (c) of Article 12(2), on the grounds of the scale, financial resources and nature of the services normally provided by the organisation or organisational structure, including being a not-for-profit organisation. An organisation applying to become EURES Partner shall, in its application, undertake to fulfil all the requirements to which EURES Partners are subject under this Regulation and at least one of the tasks referred to in points (a), (b) and (c) of Article 12(2).
5
Member States shall admit applicant organisations to become EURES Members or Partners if they fulfil the applicable criteria and requirements referred to in paragraphs 2, 3 and 4.
6
The NCOs shall inform the European Coordination Office of the systems referred to in paragraph 1, including the additional criteria and requirements as referred to in paragraph 2, of the EURES Members and Partners admitted in accordance with that system and of any refusal of admittance on the grounds of non-compliance with point 1 of Section 1 of Annex I. The European Coordination Office shall forward that information to the other NCOs.
7
Member States shall revoke the admission of EURES Members and Partners where they cease to fulfil the applicable criteria or requirements referred to in paragraphs 2, 3 and 4. The NCOs shall inform the European Coordination Office of any such revocation and the grounds therefor. The European Coordination Office shall forward that information to the other NCOs.
8
The Commission may, by means of implementing acts, adopt a template for the description of the national system and procedures for sharing information between Member States about the systems referred to in paragraph 1. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the advisory procedure referred to in Article 37(2).

Responsibilities of the EURES Members and Partners
Article 12
1
The EURES Members and Partners shall contribute to the EURES network regarding the tasks for which they are appointed in accordance with Article 10 or for which they are admitted in accordance with Article 11(3) and (4), or, for a transitional period in accordance with Article 40, and they shall fulfil their other obligations under this Regulation.
2
The EURES Members shall participate in the EURES network, including by fulfilling all of the following tasks and EURES Partners shall participate in the EURES network, including by fulfilling at least one of the following tasks:
a
contributing to the pool of job vacancies in accordance with point (a) of Article 17(1);
b
contributing to the pool of job applications and CVs in accordance with point (b) of Article 17(1);
c
providing support services to workers and employers in accordance with Articles 23 and 24, Article 25(1), Article 26 and, where relevant, Article 27.
3
The EURES Members and, where applicable, the EURES Partners, shall provide, for the purposes of the EURES portal, all job vacancies made publicly available with them as well as all job applications and CVs where the worker has consented to making the information available also to the EURES portal in accordance with Article 17(3). The second subparagraph of Article 17(1) and Article 17(2) shall apply to job vacancies made publicly available through the EURES Members and, where applicable, the EURES Partners.
4
The EURES Members and Partners shall designate one or more contact points, such as placement and recruitment offices, call centres and self-service tools in accordance with national criteria, where workers and employers can get support with clearance, access to support services, or both, in accordance with this Regulation. The contact points may also be based on staff exchange programmes, the detachment of liaison officers or involve common placement agencies.
5
The EURES Members and, where relevant, the EURES Partners, shall ensure that the contact points they have designated clearly indicate the scope of the support services provided to workers and employers.
6
In accordance with the principle of proportionality, Member States may, through their NCO, require the EURES Members and Partners to contribute to:
a
the collection of information and guidance to be published on the EURES portal referred to in Article 9(4);
b
the exchange of information as referred to in Article 30;
c
the programming cycle as referred to in Article 31;
d
the collection of data as referred to in Article 32.

Joint responsibilities
Article 13
In accordance with their respective roles and responsibilities, all organisations participating in the EURES network shall, in close cooperation with each other, seek to promote actively the opportunities that labour mobility in the Union offers and seek to enhance ways and means for workers and employers to enjoy mobility on a fair basis and to seize those opportunities at Union, national, regional and local level, including on a cross-border basis.

Coordination Group
Article 14
1
The Coordination Group shall be composed of representatives at the appropriate level of the European Coordination Office and the NCOs.
2
The Coordination Group shall support the implementation of this Regulation by exchanging information and developing guidance. In particular, it shall advise the Commission on the templates referred to in Article 11(8) and Article 31(5), the draft technical standards and formats referred to in Article 17(8) and Article 19(6), and the uniform detailed specifications for data collection and analysis referred to in Article 32(3).
3
The Coordination Group may, inter alia, organise exchanges of best practices concerning the national admission systems referred to in Article 11(1) and the support services referred to in Articles 23 to 27.
4
The European Coordination Office shall organise the work of the Coordination Group and chair its meetings. It shall keep informed other relevant bodies or networks of the work of the Coordination Group.
Representatives of the social partners at Union level shall have the right to attend the meetings of the Coordination Group.
5
The Coordination Group shall cooperate with the Board of the PES Network, in particular by informing it about the activities of the EURES network and exchanging best practices.

Common identity and the trade mark
Article 15
1
The name ‘EURES’ shall be used exclusively for activities within the EURES network in accordance with this Regulation. It shall be illustrated by a standard logo, the use of which is determined by a graphic design scheme adopted by the European Coordination Office.
2
The EURES service mark and logo shall be used by all organisations participating in the EURES network referred to in Article 7 in all their activities relating to the EURES network, to ensure a common visual identity.
3
Organisations participating in the EURES network shall ensure that the information and promotional material they provide is coherent with the overall communication activities, the common quality standards of the EURES network and the information coming from the European Coordination Office.
4
Organisations participating in the EURES network shall inform the European Coordination Office without delay of any abuse of the EURES service mark or logo by a third party or third country of which they become aware.

Cooperation and other measures
Article 16
1
The European Coordination Office shall facilitate the cooperation between the EURES network and other Union information and advisory services and networks.
2
The NCO shall cooperate with the services and networks referred to in paragraph 1 at Union, national, regional and local level to achieve synergies and avoid overlaps, and, where appropriate, shall involve the EURES Members and Partners.
3
The NCOs shall facilitate the cooperation of the EURES network with the social partners at national level by ensuring a regular dialogue with the social partners in accordance with national law and practice.
4
Member States shall encourage close cooperation at cross-border level between regional, local and, where relevant, national actors, such as practices and services delivered in the framework of EURES cross-border partnerships.
5
Member States shall seek to develop one-stop-shop solutions for communication, including online communication, with workers and employers with regard to the common areas of EURES activity and the services and networks referred to in paragraph 1.
6
Member States shall examine with the Commission every possibility of giving priority to citizens of the Union when filling job vacancies, in order to achieve a balance between labour supply and demand within the Union. Member States may adopt all measures necessary for that purpose.