Justice Programme 2021-2027
The Justice Programme offers financial support for judicial collaboration in civil and criminal affairs, ensuring citizens and businesses have efficient access to justice. It aids in advancing a European area of justice founded on the principles of the rule of law, encompassing an independent and impartial judiciary, mutual recognition, trust, and judicial cooperation.
The Justice Programme funds actions in three main thematic areas:
- Judicial cooperation in civil and criminal matters: the objective is to support the promotion of the rule of law and to foster cooperation in civil and criminal proceedings, including easing the effectiveness of national justice. Tangible actions span from increasing the capacity of national authorities to the application of EU instruments to strengthening cooperation and exchange of information between them;
- Judicial training: this will contribute to nurturing a common legal, judicial, and rule of law culture, and to a consistent and effective implementation of EU legal instruments. Common training will also lead to an improved mutual trust between legal practitioners, in the context of cross-border judicial cooperation;
- Effective access to justice in Europe, including rights of victims of crime and procedural rights in criminal proceedings: the objective of this thematic area is to facilitate effective and non-discriminatory access to justice for all, by promoting efficient civil, and criminal procedures, and by promoting and supporting the rights of all victims of crime as well as the procedural rights of suspects and accused persons in criminal proceedings.
The Justice programme also supports the maintenance and extension of the e-Justice portal, which includes useful documents and databases to facilitate access to justice for citizens and businesses.
Funding and eligible entities
The Justice Programme is implemented in direct management, mainly through grants. The eligible entities can be:
- any legal entity established in an EU Member State;
- a third country associated with the Programme;
- any legal entity created under Union law;
- any international organization.
An action that has received a contribution under the Programme may also receive a contribution from another Union program, including funds under shared management, provided that the contributions do not cover the same costs. The cumulative financing must not exceed the total eligible costs of the action.
Third countries eligible can be:
- members of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) which are members of the EEA, in accordance with the conditions laid down in the Agreement on the European Economic Area;
- acceding countries, candidate countries, and potential candidates;
- European Neighbourhood Policy countries;
- other third countries, that should submit a preliminary agreement which:
- ensures a fair balance as regards the contributions and benefits of the third country participating in the Union programs;
- lays down the conditions of participation in the programs, including the calculation of financial contributions to individual programs, and their administrative costs;
- does not confer on the third country any decision-making power in respect of the Union program;
- guarantees the rights of the Union to ensure sound financial management and to protect its financial interests.
Budget
The financial envelope allotted to the Justice Programme for the period from January 1st, 2021, to December 31st, 2027, is 305 000 000 euro, which may be used for technical and administrative assistance for the implementation, such as preparatory, monitoring, control, audit and evaluation activities, including corporate information technology systems.
Links
Justice Programme Funding & Tender Page
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