Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 723/2009 of 25 June 2009 on the Community legal framework for a European research infrastructure consortium (ERIC)

Council Regulation (EC) No 723/2009 on the Community legal framework for a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (hereinafter referred to as “the ERIC Regulation”) was adopted in order to facilitate the establishment and the operation of large European research infrastructures among several Member States and associated countries by providing a new legal instrument, the European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC).

The ERIC Regulation addressed one of the major difficulties that was identified for the establishment of new European research infrastructures, apart from scarcity of resources and the complexity of technical and organisational issues, i.e. the lack of an adequate legal framework agreed by all countries allowing the creation of appropriate partnership with partners from different countries.

The ERIC Regulation was also to facilitate the quicker establishment of European research infrastructures by saving time in avoiding the repetition of negotiations, project by project, to analyse and discuss the best legal form for such international research organisations, with related advantages and disadvantages and the time saved in avoiding discussions in each national parliament related to the approval of a needed international agreement in case the framework provided for under the ERIC Regulation would not have existed.

The ERIC Regulation was to respond to the European political ambition of creating the European Research Area to enable tackling current challenges (e.g. internationalisation of research; achievement of critical mass; development of distributed facilities; development of reference models). It also was to contribute to building an EU identity around flagship scientific facilities leading to the increase of the positive image of the European Union at international level by providing the international counterparts with a single legal entity to which they could become member or to which cooperation and possible partnerships could be agreed.

The ERIC Regulation was amended in December 2013 to allow better reflection of the contributions of associated countries in the ERIC by putting those countries at a more equivalent level as Member States in the governing bodies of the ERIC in terms of voting rights in the light of the possible hosting of ERICs in associated countries which would lead to an increased participation of associated countries in ERICs. These requests were also made against the background of the possible hosting by Norway of three ERICs that are included in the 2010 ESFRI Roadmap.

This report has been drawn up by the Commission pursuant to Article 19 of the ERIC Regulation which provides that the Commission will submit not later than 27 July 2014 a report to the European Parliament and Council on its application and proposals for amendments where appropriate.

EUR-Lex: COM(2014)460: Follow the progress of this report through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2014:460:FIN

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