CHAPTER I

This Regulation establishes the tasks of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the scope of its assistance with regard to the Convergence, Regional competitiveness and employment and European territorial cooperation objectives as defined in Article 3(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006, and the rules on eligibility for assistance. The ERDF is governed by Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 and by this Regulation. Pursuant to Article 160 of the Treaty and Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006, the ERDF shall contribute to the financing of assistance which aims to reinforce economic and social cohesion by redressing the main regional imbalances through support for the development and structural adjustment of regional economies, including the conversion of declining industrial regions and regions lagging behind, and support for cross-border, transnational and interregional cooperation. In so doing, the ERDF shall give effect to the priorities of the Community, and in particular the need to strengthen competitiveness and innovation, create and safeguard sustainable jobs, and ensure sustainable development. The ERDF shall focus its assistance on thematic priorities. The type and range of actions to be financed within each priority shall reflect the different nature of the Convergence, Regional competitiveness and employment and European territorial cooperation objectives in accordance with Articles 4, 5 and 6. The ERDF shall contribute towards the financing of: productive investment which contributes to creating and safeguarding sustainable jobs, primarily through direct aid to investment primarily in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs); investment in infrastructure; development of endogenous potential by measures which support regional and local development. These measures include support for and services to enterprises, in particular SMEs, creation and development of financing instruments such as venture capital, loan and guarantee funds, local development funds, interest subsidies, networking, cooperation and exchange of experience between regions, towns, and relevant social, economic and environmental actors; technical assistance as referred to in Articles 45 and 46 of Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006. The range of investments and measures listed above under points (a) to (d) shall be available to implement the thematic priorities in accordance with Articles 4, 5 and 6. Under the Convergence objective, the ERDF shall focus its assistance on supporting sustainable integrated regional and local economic development and employment by mobilising and strengthening endogenous capacity through operational programmes aimed at the modernisation and diversification of economic structures and at the creation and safeguarding of sustainable jobs. This shall be achieved primarily through the following priorities, the precise policy mix depending on the specificities of each Member State: research and technological development (R&TD), innovation and entrepreneurship, including strengthening research and technological development capacities, and their integration into the European Research Area, including infrastructures; aid to R&TD, notably in SMEs, and to technology transfer; improvement of links between SMEs, tertiary education institutions, research institutions and research and technology centres; development of business networks; public-private partnerships and clusters; support for the provision of business and technology services to groups of SMEs; and fostering of entrepreneurship and innovation funding for SMEs through financial engineering instruments; information society, including development of electronic communications infrastructure, local content, services and applications, improvement of secure access to and development of on-line public services; aid and services to SMEs to adopt and effectively use information and communication technologies (ICTs) or to exploit new ideas; local development initiatives and aid for structures providing neighbourhood services to create new jobs, where such actions are outside the scope of Regulation (EC) No 1081/2006; environment, including investments connected with water supply and water and waste management; waste-water treatment and air quality; prevention, control and fight against desertification; integrated pollution prevention and control; aid to mitigate the effects of climate change; rehabilitation of the physical environment, including contaminated sites and land and brownfield redevelopment; promotion of biodiversity and nature protection, including investments in NATURA 2000 sites; aid to SMEs to promote sustainable production patterns through the introduction of cost-effective environmental management systems and the adoption and use of pollution-prevention technologies; prevention of risks, including development and implementation of plans to prevent and cope with natural and technological risks; tourism, including promotion of natural assets as potential for the development of sustainable tourism; protection and enhancement of natural heritage in support of socio-economic development; aid to improve the supply of tourism services through new higher added-value services and to encourage new, more sustainable patterns of tourism; investments in culture, including protection, promotion and preservation of cultural heritage; development of cultural infrastructure in support of socio-economic development, sustainable tourism and improved regional attractiveness; and aid to improve the supply of cultural services through new higher added-value services; transport investments, including improvement of trans-European networks and links to the TEN-T network; integrated strategies for clean transport which contribute to improving the access to and quality of passenger and goods services, to achieving a more balanced modal split, to promoting intermodal systems and to reducing environmental impacts; energy investments, including in improvements to trans-European networks which contribute to improving security of supply, the integration of environmental considerations, the improvement of energy efficiency and the development of renewable energies; education investments, including in vocational training, which contribute to increasing attractiveness and quality of life; investments in health and social infrastructure which contribute to regional and local development and increasing the quality of life. Under the Regional competitiveness and employment objective, the ERDF shall focus its assistance in the context of sustainable development strategies, while promoting employment, primarily on the following three priorities: innovation and the knowledge economy, including through the creation and strengthening of efficient regional innovation economies, systemic relations between the private and public sectors, universities and technology centres which take into account local needs, and in particular: enhancing regional R&TD and innovation capacities directly linked to regional economic development objectives by supporting industry or technology-specific competence centres, promoting industrial R&TD, SMEs and technology transfer, developing technology forecasting and international benchmarking of policies to promote innovation and supporting inter-firm collaboration and joint R&TD and innovation policies; stimulating innovation and entrepreneurship in all sectors of the regional and local economy by supporting the introduction of new or improved products, processes and services onto the market by SMEs, supporting business networks and clusters, improving access to finance by SMEs, promoting cooperation networks between enterprises and appropriate tertiary education and research institutions, facilitating SMEs' access to business support services and supporting the integration of cleaner and innovative technologies in SMEs; promoting entrepreneurship, in particular by facilitating the economic exploitation of new ideas and fostering the creation of new firms by appropriate tertiary education and research institutions and existing firms; creating financial engineering instruments and incubation facilities that are conducive to the research and technological development capacity of SMEs and to encouraging entrepreneurship and the formation of new businesses, especially knowledge-intensive SMEs; environment and risk prevention, and in particular: stimulating investment for the rehabilitation of the physical environment, including contaminated, desertified and brownfield sites and land; promoting the development of infrastructure linked to biodiversity and investments in NATURA 2000 sites, where this contributes to sustainable economic development and/or diversification of rural areas; stimulating energy efficiency and renewable energy production and the development of efficient energy management systems; promoting clean and sustainable public transport, particularly in urban areas; developing plans and measures to prevent and cope with natural risks (e.g. desertification, droughts, fires and floods) and technological risks; protection and enhancement of the natural and cultural heritage in support of socio-economic development and the promotion of natural and cultural assets as potential for the development of sustainable tourism; access to transport and telecommunication services of general economic interest, and in particular: strengthening secondary transport networks by improving links to TEN-T networks, regional railway hubs, airports and ports or multimodal platforms, providing radial links to main railway lines and promoting regional and local inland waterways and short-sea shipping; promoting access to, take up, and efficient use of ICTs by SMEs by supporting access to networks, the establishment of public Internet access points, equipment, and the development of services and applications, including, in particular, the development of action plans for very small and craft enterprises. In addition, for operational programmes supported by the ERDF in the regions eligible for the specific and transitional financing referred to in Article 8(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006, the Member States and the Commission may decide to extend support to the priorities referred to in Article 4 of this Regulation. Under the European territorial cooperation objective, the ERDF shall focus its assistance on the following priorities: the development of cross-border economic, social and environmental activities through joint strategies for sustainable territorial development, and primarily: by encouraging entrepreneurship, in particular the development of SMEs, tourism, culture, and cross-border trade; by encouraging and improving the joint protection and management of natural and cultural resources, as well as the prevention of natural and technological risks; by supporting links between urban and rural areas; by reducing isolation through improved access to transport, information and communication networks and services, and cross-border water, waste and energy systems and facilities; by developing collaboration, capacity and joint use of infrastructures, in particular in sectors such as health, culture, tourism and education. In addition, the ERDF may contribute to promoting legal and administrative cooperation, the integration of cross-border labour markets, local employment initiatives, gender equality and equal opportunities, training and social inclusion, and sharing of human resources and facilities for R&TD. As regards the PEACE Programme between Northern Ireland and the border counties of Ireland as envisaged under paragraph 22 of Annex II to Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006, the ERDF shall in addition to the abovementioned actions contribute to promote social and economic stability in the regions concerned, notably by actions to promote cohesion between communities; the establishment and development of transnational cooperation, including bilateral cooperation between maritime regions not covered under point 1, through the financing of networks and of actions conducive to integrated territorial development, concentrating primarily on the following priority areas: innovation: the creation and development of scientific and technological networks, and the enhancement of regional R&TD and innovation capacities, where these make a direct contribution to the balanced economic development of transnational areas. Actions may include: the establishment of networks between appropriate tertiary education and research institutions and SMEs; links to improve access to scientific knowledge and technology transfer between R&TD facilities and international centres of RTD excellence; twinning of technology transfer institutions; and development of joint financial engineering instruments directed at supporting R&TD in SMEs; environment: water management, energy efficiency, risk prevention and environmental protection activities with a clear transnational dimension. Actions may include: protection and management of river basins, coastal zones, marine resources, water services and wetlands; fire, drought and flood prevention; the promotion of maritime security and protection against natural and technological risks; and protection and enhancement of the natural heritage in support of socio-economic development and sustainable tourism; accessibility: activities to improve access to and quality of transport and telecommunications services where these have a clear transnational dimension. Actions may include: investments in cross-border sections of trans-European networks; improved local and regional access to national and transnational networks; enhanced interoperability of national and regional systems; and promotion of advanced information and communication technologies; sustainable urban development: strengthening polycentric development at transnational, national and regional level, with a clear transnational impact. Actions may include: the creation and improvement of urban networks and urban-rural links; strategies to tackle common urban-rural issues; preservation and promotion of the cultural heritage, and the strategic integration of development zones on a transnational basis. Assistance to bilateral cooperation between maritime regions may be extended to the priorities referred to in point 1; reinforcement of the effectiveness of regional policy by promoting: interregional cooperation focusing on innovation and the knowledge economy and environment and risk prevention in the sense of Article 5(1) and (2); exchanges of experience concerning the identification, transfer and dissemination of best practice including on sustainable urban development as referred to in Article 8; and actions involving studies, data collection, and the observation and analysis of development trends in the Community. The following expenditure shall not be eligible for a contribution from the ERDF: interest on debt; the purchase of land for an amount exceeding 10 % of the total eligible expenditure for the operation concerned. In exceptional and duly justified cases, a higher percentage may be permitted by the managing authority for operations concerning environmental conservation; decommissioning of nuclear power stations; recoverable value added tax. Expenditure on housing shall be eligible only for those Member States that acceded to the European Union on or after 1 May 2004 and in the following circumstances: expenditure shall be programmed within the framework of an integrated urban development operation or priority axis for areas experiencing or threatened by physical deterioration and social exclusion; the allocation to housing expenditure shall be either a maximum of 3 % of the ERDF allocation to the operational programmes concerned or 2 % of the total ERDF allocation; expenditure shall be limited to: multi-family housing, or buildings owned by public authorities or non-profit operators for use as housing designated for low-income households or people with special needs. The Commission shall adopt the list of criteria needed for determining the areas referred to under point (a) and the list of eligible interventions in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 103(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006. The eligibility rules set out in Article 11 of Regulation (EC) No 1081/2006 shall apply to actions co-financed by the ERDF falling within the scope of Article 3 of that Regulation.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-11-02 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.