Appeals – Complaints
Appeal Procedure*
If you wish to appeal against the decision taken by the National Agency of the European Solidarity Corps Programme in relation to the application for funding or grant agreement, you should follow the appeal procedure below.
*Please note that you can only appeal if you believe that the National Agency has not followed the correct procedures as set out in the relevant call for proposals by the European Commission or in the relevant guidelines published by the National Agency.
What is an Appeal?
An Appeal is defined as a request for a review of the decision taken by the National Agency if you believe that the National Agency has not properly followed the procedures for scoring and/or providing feedback/comments on your rejected application, or for calculating the final grant amount of your approved application. For the purpose of providing legal protection, a specific appeal procedure has been established, where those who decide to appeal are required to explicitly state the points of the procedures that they believe have not been implemented by the National Agency and for which the Appeal is submitted.
When is it considered an Appeal and when a Complaint?
If no specific documents are submitted during the Appeal or simply dissatisfaction is expressed with the results of the evaluation of the applications or the final reports, the National Agency will treat the case as a Complaint and will handle it accordingly. To make a complaint, you can send us an email.
Who can submit an Appeal?
Applicants
For applicants of projects under the European Solidarity Corps Programme (i.e. the person or organisation submitting a project to the National Agency), Appeals will be considered in cases where a project has been rejected. Please note that the decision on your application (i.e. whether it was approved or rejected) can only be changed in cases where an administrative error has been made by the Agency or where published procedures have not been implemented in detail. At this stage, information that was not included in the application from the outset cannot be accepted.
Beneficiaries
For the Beneficiaries of projects of the “European Solidarity Corps” Programme (i.e. the person or Organisation that is going to sign a grant agreement issued by the National Agency), Appeals concerning the amount of the grant will be considered in cases where it is believed that incorrect calculations have been made. Please note that the Agency’s decision on the grant amount will only be reviewed when an administrative error has been made or in cases where the specific conditions and annexes to the grant agreement have not been respected.
When can you submit an Appeal?
You may submit only one Appeal for each application or project at each stage of the procedure, i.e. either during the evaluation of the application or during the evaluation of the final report of the project. If your project is put on a waiting list, there is no additional opportunity for an Appeal.
How to submit an Appeal?
All Appeals must be submitted in writing, by downloading and completing the “Appeal Submission Form“. The completed form must then be submitted to the National Agency in the ways described in the application. The timeframe for submitting an Appeal is as follows:
- For Appeals on applications that have been rejected at the eligibility stage: within 10 days from the date of notification to you of the decision by the National Agency
- For Appeals concerning any other decision by the National Agency: within 30 days from the date of notification to you of the decision by the National Agency
- For Appeals that are more complex, it may require a longer timeframe. In these cases, we will keep you informed of the progress of their examination procedures.
In any case, the Agency will inform you of the timetable and an effort will be made to inform you of the receipt of the Objection from the Agency on the same day. Appeals will be handled in accordance with the procedure described in the European Commission’s Guide for National Agencies.