Changes from report parliamentary committee draft to plenary report

Added(1) in Article 3(1), second subparagraph, the following point is added:

Added‘(c) to support and accelerate dual-use projects, services, competences and applications, strengthening societal resilience.’;

Added(2) in Article 4(1) the following point is added:

Added‘(d) deploy and operate AI Factories and new generation AI Gigafactories specialised in developing, training, and running the most complex, very large, AI models and applications, including hardware and software necessary for such deployment.’;

Added(2a) in Article 5(1), point (b) is replaced by the following:

Added‘(b) make the capacities referred to in point (a) accessible to businesses, especially SMEs and start-ups, as well as civil society, not-for-profit organisations, research institutions, universities and public ▌ sector, including the armed forces, in order to maximise their benefit to the European society and economy;’

Added(2b) in Article 6(1), point (b) is replaced by the following:

Added‘(b) support the building-up and best use of European knowledge, capacity and skills related to cybersecurity, combatting hybrid threats in the digital domain, and the sharing and mainstreaming of best practices;’

Added(2c) in Article 6(1), point (e) is replaced by the following:

Added“(e) improve resilience against hybrid threats, cyberattacks, contribute towards increasing risk-awareness and knowledge of cybersecurity processes, support public and private organisations in achieving basics levels of cybersecurity, for example by deploying end-to-end encryption of data and software updates;”

Added(2d) in Article 6(1), point (ga) is added:

Added‘(ga) support the development of advanced threat intelligence and cyber-defence capabilities tailored to defence-related infrastructure, including secure-by-design hardware, intrusion-resilient systems and cryptographic technologies.’

Added(3) in Article 8(1), point (a) is replaced by the following:

Added‘(a) support the public sector and areas of public interest, such as health and care, education, judiciary, customs, civil protection, defence, transport, mobility, energy, environment, cultural and creative sectors, including relevant businesses established within the Union, to effectively deploy and access state-of-the-art digital technologies, such as HPC, quantum, AI and cybersecurity;’;

Added(4) in Article 12, paragraph 5 is replaced by the following:

Added‘5. The work programme may also provide that legal entities established in associated countries, other than Ukraine or members of the EFTA which are members of the EEA and legal entities that are established in the Union but are controlled from third countries, other than Ukraine or members of the EFTA which are members of the EEA, are not eligible to participate in all or some actions under Specific Objectives 2 and 3 for duly justified security reasons, and particularly in actions focused on technologies with dual-use potential under any specific objective. In such cases, calls for proposals and calls for tenders shall be restricted to legal entities established or deemed to be established in ▌and controlled by Member States, Ukraine or members of the EFTA which are members of the EEA, or their nationals▌. Such restrictions may be applied to access to the capacities deployed under such calls. The restrictions shall be proportionate and applied only where strictly necessary.’;

Added(4a) in Article 20 the following point 2a is added:

Added‘2a. For calls for proposals intended to support dual-use technologies, services, competences or applications, projects with a trans-European dimension, as referred to in paragraph 2, point (d), shall be given priority where multiple applications are submitted.’;

Added(4b) in Article 24 the following point 3a is added:

Added‘3a. The Commission shall, where appropriate, include in its work programme actions and activities designed to favour the cross-border cooperation of entities, aimed at ensuring broad geographical coverage across the Union and at promoting integrated and Union-wide supply chains.’;

Added(4c) in Annex I, Specific Objective 5, point I, point 4 is replaced by the following:

Added‘Deploy decentralised solutions and infrastructures required for large-scale digital applications such as connected automated driving, unmanned aerial, ground, surface and underwater vehicles, smart mobility concepts, smart cities, smart rural areas or outermost regions, in support of transport, energy and environmental policies and in coordination with the actions for digitalising the transport and energy sectors under Connecting Europe Facility.’;

AddedRegulation (EU) 2021/695 [Horizon Europe] is amended as follows:

Added(1) in Article 46, the following paragraph 4a is inserted:

Added‘4a. By derogation from Article 212(3) of the Financial Regulation, repayments including reimbursed advances, revenues and unused amounts net of fees and costs of EIC blended finance of the EIC pilot under Horizon 2020 shall be considered to be internal assigned revenues in accordance with Article 21(3), point (f) and Article 21(4) and (5) of the Financial Regulation and the time restriction of two years set out in the second subparagraph of Article 212(3) of the Financial Regulation shall apply as from [date of entry into force of this Regulation].’

Added(2) in Article 48(1), the second subparagraph is amended as follows:

Added(a) in point (a), the following sentence is added:

Added‘As an exception to Article 7(1), such support may include civil applications with potential dual-use, provided that such applications are primarily designed for civil use’;

Added(b) in point (b) the following sentence is added:

Added‘As an exception to Article 7(1), such support may include civil applications with potential dual-use, provided that such applications are primarily designed for civil use’;

Added(c) in point (c), the following sentence is added:

Added‘As an exception to Article 7(1), such support may include civil applications with potential dual-use, provided that such applications are primarily designed for civil use.’;

Added(d) in point (d), the following sentence is added:

Added‘As an exception to Article 7(1), such support may include defence and security technologies referred to in Article 2(1)(a)(iv) [of the STEP regulation], provided they demonstrate dual-use potential’;

Added(2a) in Article 50, the following paragraph 1a is added:

Added‘1a. The Commission shall guarantee the proper oversight of the application of the exceptions to Article 7(1) provided for in Article 48, including by tracing, monitoring and reporting it in an appropriate publicly available manner, and by providing additional information to the European Parliament concerning support for dual-use applications and critical technologies upon request.’

AddedRegulation (EU) 2021/697 [European Defence Fund] is amended as follows:

Added(-1) in Article 2, point (15a) is added:

Added‘(15a) ‘small mid-cap enterprise’ or ‘ small mid-cap’ means an enterprise fulfilling requirement established by Commission Recommendation on the definition of small mid-cap enterprises [C(2025) 3500 final]’;

Added(-1a) Article 5 is replaced by the following:

Added‘The Fund shall be open to the participation of Ukraine and members of the European Free Trade Association which are members of the EEA, in accordance with the conditions laid down in the Agreement on the European Economic Area (associated countries).’

Added(1) Article 6 is replaced by the following:

Added‘Article 6

AddedSupport for disruptive technologies for defence

Added1. The Commission shall support actions that are conducive to developing disruptive technologies for defence in the areas of intervention defined in the work programmes referred to in Article 24.

Added2. The work programmes shall lay down the most appropriate forms of funding, selection and award criteria and procedures, and implementation for disruptive technologies for defence.’;

Added(2) the following Article is inserted:

Added‘Article 8a

AddedCumulative funding and transfers of resources

Added1. An action that has received a contribution from another Union programme may also receive a contribution under the Programme, provided that the contributions do not cover the same costs. The rules of the relevant Union programme shall apply to the corresponding contribution to the action. The support from the different Union programmes may be calculated on a pro-rata basis in accordance with the documents setting out the conditions for support.

Added2. Resources allocated to Member States under shared management may, at the request of the Member State concerned, be transferred to the Programme subject to the conditions set out in the relevant provisions of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 for 2021-2027. The Commission shall implement those resources directly in accordance with point (a) of the first subparagraph of Article 62(1) of the Financial Regulation or indirectly in accordance with point (c) of that subparagraph. Such resources shall be used for the benefit of the Member State concerned, while ensuring the continued adherence to the programme’s established standards of excellence set out in Article 12.

AddedResources transferred in accordance to paragraph 2 of this Article may, by derogation from Article 13(2) of this Regulation, be used for the purpose of contributing to the funding of eligible actions under Article 10 of this Regulation up to 100 % of the eligible costs.

Added3. Where the Commission has not entered into a legal commitment under direct or indirect management for resources transferred in accordance with paragraph 3 and at the latest by 30 September 2027, the corresponding uncommitted resources may be transferred back to one or more respective source programmes, at the request of the Member State concerned, in accordance with the conditions set out in the relevant provisions of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060.

Added4. Member States, European Union institutions, bodies and agencies, third countries, international organisations, international financial institutions or other third parties, may provide additional financial contributions to the Programme. Such financial contributions shall constitute external assigned revenue within the meaning of Article 21(2), points (a), (d), or (e) or Article 21(5) of the Financial Regulation.’;

Added(2a) in Article 10 (3), a new indent is added:

Added‘(ia) activities that foster collaboration between European and Ukrainian DTIBs around the development, prototyping, or testing of new products or technologies, including disruptive technologies for defence, and that facilitate progressive integration of industrial bases and technology transfers’;

Added(2b) Article 13( 2) is replaced by the following:

Added‘2. By way of derogation from paragraph 1 of this Article:

Added(a) for activities referred to in point (e) of Article 10(3), support from the Fund shall not exceed 20 % of the eligible costs, except where such activities are undertaken by a consortium composed exclusively of SMEs or small midcaps, the support, by derogation from first subparagraph of paragraph 3 of this article, may amount to up to 40% of the eligible costs,

Added(b) for activities referred to in points (f), (g) and (h) of Article 10(3), support from the Fund `shall not exceed 80 % of the eligible costs, except where activities referred to in Article 10(3), point (f), are undertaken by a consortium composed exclusively of SMEs or small midcaps, the support may amount to up to 100% of the eligible costs.’;