Framework Partnership Agreement: Representation of SMEs, consumers, environmental interests and social interests in European standardisation

• Update 25/03/2025: Call amendment
• Update 26/03/2025: new FAQs added

The main objective of this call for proposals is to establish Framework Partnerships for operating and action grants to facilitate appropriate representation and effective participation of SMEs, consumers, environmental interests and social interests in the European standardisation activities.

As a result of this call, the Agency might conclude with the selected Partners Framework Partnership Agreements (FPAs) for the period covering 2025 to 2026, distinguishing between action grants (FPA-AG) and operating grants (FPA-OG). One FPA may be signed per category of representative organisations (SMEs, consumers, environmental interests and social interests) for each type (FPA-AG, FPA-OG) of Framework Partnership.

Based on the FPA, the Agency may request the Partner to submit proposals for action or operating grants. The grants will be awarded and concluded subject to the satisfactory evaluation of the specific proposal for a grant of the Partner and budget availability.

This call covers the following topics:

Topic 1: EISMEA-SMP-STA-FPA-OG-2025-SME - Framework Partnership Agreement for operating grants with an organisation representing Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in European standardisation activities

Topic 2: EISMEA-SMP-STA-FPA-OG-2025-CNS - Framework Partnership Agreement for operating grants with an organisation representing consumers in European standardisation activities

Topic 3: EISMEA-SMP-STA-FPA-OG-2025-ENV - Framework Partnership Agreement for operating grants with an organisation representing environmental interests in European standardisation activities

Topic 4: EISMEA-SMP-STA-FPA-OG-2025-SOC - Framework Partnership Agreement for operating grants with an organisation representing social interests in European standardisation activities

Topic 5: EISMEA-SMP-STA-FPA-AG-2025-SME - Framework Partnership Agreement for action grants with an organisation representing Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in European standardisation activities

Topic 6: EISMEA-SMP-STA-FPA-AG-2025-CNS - Framework Partnership Agreement for action grants with an organisation representing consumers in European standardisation activities

Topic 7: EISMEA-SMP-STA-FPA-AG-2025-ENV - Framework Partnership Agreement for action grants with an organisation representing environmental interests in European standardisation activities

Topic 8: EISMEA-SMP-STA-FPA-AG-2025-SOC - Framework Partnership Agreement for action grants with an organisation representing social interests in European standardisation activities

Each project application under the call must address only one of these topics. Applicants wishing to apply for more than one topic, must submit a separate proposal under each topic.

For example, if an applicant wants to apply for FPA-OG and FPA-AG, then it must apply twice, one application to submit the FPA-OG proposal and another one to submit the FPA-AG proposal.

We invite you to read the call documentation carefully, and in particular this Call Document and the  MFPA — Model Framework Partnership Agreement, the EU Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual and the EU Grants AGA — Annotated Grant Agreement (for the specific operating or action grants under the Framework Partnership).

Eligible applicants

In order to be eligible, the applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities) must:

• be legal entities (private bodies) 
• be established in one of the eligible countries i.e.: EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories (OCTs))
• meet the eligibility criteria for Union financing specified in the Annex III of Regulation (EU) 1025/2012:

  • For European organisations representing SMEs in European standardisation activities, the organisation must:

    (a) be a non-governmental and non-profit-making entity and

    (b) have statutory objectives and activities focused on representing the interests of SMEs in the standardisation process at the European level, raising awareness among SMEs about standardisation, and encouraging their involvement in the standardisation process and

    (c) be mandated by non-profit organisations representing SMEs in at least two-thirds of the Member States to act on their behalf in the European standardisation process and

    (d) provide a list of the national non-profit organisations mandating them, including the names of these organisations, as evidence of compliance with criterion (c).

  • For European organisations representing consumers in European standardisation activities, the organisation must:

    (a) be a non-governmental, non-profit-making entity, independent of industry, commercial, business, or other conflicting interests and

    (b) have statutory objectives and activities aimed at representing consumer interests in the European standardisation process and

    (c) be mandated by national non-profit consumer organisations in at least two-thirds of the Member States to act on their behalf in the European standardisation process and

    (d) provide a list of the national non-profit organisations mandating them, including the names of these organisations, as evidence of compliance with criterion (c).

  • For European organisations representing environmental interests in European standardisation activities, the organisation must:

    (a) be a non-governmental, non-profit-making entity, independent of industry, commercial, business, or other conflicting interests and

    (b) have statutory objectives and activities focused on representing environmental interests in the European standardisation process and

    (c) be mandated by national non-profit environmental organisations in at least two-thirds of the Member States to act on their behalf in the European standardisation process and

    (d) provide a list of the national non-profit organisations mandating them, including the names of these organisations, as evidence of compliance with criterion (c).

  • For European organisations representing social interests in European standardisation activities, the organisation must:

    (a) be a non-governmental, non-profit-making entity, independent of industry, commercial, business, or other conflicting interests and

    (b) have statutory objectives and activities aimed at representing social interests in the European standardisation process and

    (c) be mandated by national non-profit social organisations in at least two-thirds of the Member States to act on their behalf in the European standardisation process and

    (d) provide a list of the national non-profit organisations mandating them, including the names of these organisations, as evidence of compliance with criterion (c).

Beneficiaries (and affiliated entities only for FPA action grants) must register in the Participant Register — before submitting the proposal — and will have to be validated by the Central Validation Service (REA Validation). The Participant Register is the Commission online tool to register and manage the data of the organisations participating in the EU programmes. It allows consistent handling of the applicants’ official data and avoids multiple requests to enter the same information. All organisation applying to this call for proposals need to be self-registered in the Participant Register – before the submission of the proposal - and must have obtained a 9-digit Participant Identification Code (PIC). For the validation, participants will be requested to upload documents showing legal status and origin.

For action grants, other entities may participate in other consortium roles, such as associated partners, subcontractors, third parties giving in-kind contributions.

Please read a guide on how and where to register.

Indicative Budget  

The total budget earmarked for specific (action or operating) grants calls under this framework partnership call is estimated as follows:

Taking into account the repartition of the budget among the Annex III organisations, awarded in the last years through specific grant agreements under the previous FPAs concluded with the European Commission, and in light of the policy priorities of the current mandate of the European Commission, the maximum grant amount for organisations representing ANNEX III interests per year is estimated to be allocated according to the following proportions: 

*Percentages are indicative and may change subject to policy priorities and needs.

The availability of the call budget for 2026-2027 for specific (operating or action) grants still depends on the final adoption of the respective Financing Decisions by the Commission. For those specific grants, the EU contribution will be limited to a maximum reimbursement rate of 95% of the eligible costs. 

Depending on the number and quality of proposals, we expect to sign one (1) framework partnership per topic.

Only the Partner having signed an FPA with the Agency may be invited to submit proposals for specific (operating or action) grants. 

How to apply

Applicants must comply with the requirements set out in the full text of the call for proposals and submit their full application electronically to the following email address:

EISMEA-SMP-STA-FPA-ANNEX-III-2025ec [dot] europa [dot] eu (EISMEA-SMP-STA-FPA-ANNEX-III-2025[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu).

Paper submissions are NOT eligible.

IMPORTANT: Amendment to the call documents (25/03/2025)

Following a request submitted by several applicants, the following modifications to the call document and the application form have been made:

• Changes to the Call document:
  In section “5. Admissibility and documents”, the page limit indicated in the paragraph below was modified from “30 pages – 5 MB (Part B, excluding annexes)” to “50 pages – 10 MB (Part B, excluding annexes)”, with the final text being as follows:
  “Proposals are limited to maximum 50 pages – 10 MB (Part B, excluding annexes). Evaluators will not consider any additional pages.”

   

• Changes to the Application form:
  In the "IMPORTANT NOTICE" box (page 2), the references to the page limit for Part B will be modified from 30 to 50 pages.

All other provisions remain unchanged.

Please find below the amended Call document and Application form embedding the abovementioned changes.

More information

Call and application related questions should be sent to the following email address: EISMEA-SMP-STA-FPA-ANNEX-III-2025ec [dot] europa [dot] eu (EISMEA-SMP-STA-FPA-ANNEX-III-2025[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu) until 25 March 2025, 17:00:00 CET, Brussels time.

FAQs

Please consult carefully the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) document available below.

Note: questions are progressively added to the list, so make sure to check the document. Latest update below dates 26/03/2025.