European Union (EU) has announced a call for proposals to Support the Reforms in Forestry.

Objectives and Priority Issues

The global objective of this call for proposals is to facilitate the implementation of EU related strategies, policies and acquis in order to boost sustainable development of the Forestry sector in North Macedonia. 

The specific objectives of this call for proposals is to provide assistance to MAFWE to progress in the reforms in the forestry sector including strategic, legal, institutional and entrepreneurial frameworks, as well as development of informational and other tools for sustainable forest management. 

The priority issues to be addressed within this call for proposals are exclusively the following ones: 

• Priority 1. Improvement of strategic and legal framework of the forestry sector with main focus on updating the Forestry strategy and development of new Forest law and new State forest company law;
• Priority 2. Improvement of institutional framework of the forestry sector with main focus on establishment of the Forest Agency and the restructuring and transformation of the Public Enterprise "National Forests" (PENF);
• Priority 3. Establishment of integral forest information system (IFIS) with main focus on upgrading the wood tracing and the forest management planning sub-systems, and integration of all necessary forest information components into the joint IFIS platform - as main tool for sustainable forest management (SFM) and combating illegal harvesting;
• Priority 4. Development of other instruments of SFM, i.e. for forest protection and conservation.

The following main results are expected:

• Improved backgrounds of strategic framework of the forestry sector and the forest-related part of rural development taking into account the EU policies and strategies and national requirements on forestry
• Improved and harmonised backgrounds of legal framework of forestry sector and forest-related part of rural development, taking onto account the EU acquis and national requirements on forestry
• Developed the necessary backgrounds for establishing the Forest Agency and restructuring and transformation of PENF (into state-owned company of limited liability)
• Improved and established (web-based) IFIS tools and capacities for efficient management with forests and prevention of illegal harvesting
• Enhanced (some) instruments and capacities for prevention and control of biotic, abiotic and anthropogenic forest damages and for conservation of forest biodiversity.

Funding Information

The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is EUR 1,300,000. The contracting authority reserves the right not to award all available funds.

Size of grants

Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between the following maximum amounts: EUR 1,300,000 

Eligibility Criteria

Lead applicant(s)

In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must: 

• be a legal person
• be established in EU Member States
• be mandated with the tasks to ensure the administration and management of the country forestry resources
• be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action with the co-applicant(s) and affiliated entity(ies), not acting as an intermediary.
• For UK applicants: Please be aware that following the entry into force of the EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement and in particular Article 127(7), UK participants are no longer eligible to participate in actions under EU programmes, which involve access to security-related sensitive information. UK residents and entities may therefore not apply under this call

Co-applicant(s)

• Co-applicants participate in designing and implementing the action, and the costs they incur are eligible in the same way as those incurred by the lead applicant.
• Co-applicants must satisfy the eligibility criteria as applicable to the lead applicant himself.
• In addition to the categories, the following are however also eligible:
  • Public forestry research institutions and faculties established in EU member states
  • EU member states development agencies whose pillars have been positively assessed by the European Commission preferably with experience with project in the Forestry sector
  • International organisations and their specialized agencies that are implementing forestry projects
• Co-applicants must sign the mandate form. If awarded the grant contract, the co-applicant(s) (if any) will become beneficiary(ies) in the action (together with the coordinator).

Affiliated entity(ies)

• The lead applicant and its co-applicant(s) may act with affiliated entity(ies).
• Only the following entities may be considered as affiliated entities to the lead applicant and/or to co-applicant(s):
  • Only entities having a structural link with the applicants (i.e. the lead applicant or a co-applicant), in particular a legal or capital link.
  • This structural link encompasses mainly two notions:
    • Control, as defined in Directive 2013/34/EU on the annual financial statements, consolidated financial statements and related reports of certain types of undertakings:
      • Entities affiliated to an applicant may hence be:
        • Entities directly or indirectly controlled by the applicant (daughter companies or first-tier subsidiaries). They may also be entities controlled by an entity controlled by the applicant (grandrlaughter companies or second-tier subsidiaries) and the same applies to further tiers of control;
        • Entities directly or indirectly controlling the applicant (parent companies). Likewise, they may be entities controlling an entity controlling the applicant;
        • Entities under the same direct or indirect control as the applicant (sister companies).
    • Membership, i.e. the applicant is legally defined as a e.g. network federation, association in which the proposed affiliated entities also participate or the applicant participates in the same entity (e.g. network, federation, association,...) as the proposed affiliated entities.

For more information, visit EuropeAid and download the guidelines.