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European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency

What are the communication requirements?

Overview of common rules

Given the importance of communication, all beneficiaries of EU programmes and projects must abide by a set of obligatory minimum requirements for communication and visibility purposes. 

The rules are set out in Article 17 of your programme Grant Agreement, with specific or additional requirements set out in Annex 5.

These are largely coherent across all programmes managed by CINEA, while leaving some margin for programme-specific approaches. Notably,   LIFE Programme and the Innovation Fund have some specific and additional communication requirements and obligations:

  • LIFE Programme: More information on the dedicated page.
  • Innovation Fund Programme: More information on the dedicated page.

All beneficiaries must:

(unless otherwise agreed with the granting authority) 

  1. 1

    Acknowledge EU support by displaying the EU emblem and funding statement and disclaimer in all dissemination activities and on any infrastructure, equipment, vehicles, supplies or major result funded by the EU grant received (translated into local languages as appropriate). 

  2. 2

    Engage in specific communication activities* to promote the project and its results by providing targeted information to different audiences.

  3. 3

    Link communication and messaging to the relevant EU political priorities.

  4. 4

    Present the project on the beneficiary website and/or social media accounts. This can be either stand alone or integrated into existing organisational websites or social accounts.

  5. 5

    Use accurate information.

  6. 6

    Inform your project officer about any major communication or dissemination activities.

  7. 7

    Be aware of data protection and GDPR compliance.

  8. 8

    Grant the EU the right to use communication material.

  9. 9

    Note that communication and visibility expenditure count as eligible costs.

  11. 10

    Expect financial penalties in case of non-respect of contractual obligations.

These are minimum requirements. However, we encourage you to go above and beyond and be creative to get the best results and value from communication activities.

EU emblem and the funding statement

The EU emblem is the most important visual brand used to acknowledge the origin, and ensure the visibility, of EU funding. All beneficiaries, managing authorities and implementing partners of EU funding must display the emblem correctly and prominently, in combination with the funding statement, in all communication activities. 

  • Actions or beneficiaries that receive 100% EU funding should use the funding statement "Funded by the European Union" (even though there may be other ineligible costs for the action or other participants who bring their own resources and funding, such as associated partners).
  • Actions or beneficiaries that are not funded by the EU at a rate of 100% are considered co-funded and should use funding statement "Co-funded by the European Union"
  • Third-party funding (including associated partners from other national sources) can be acknowledged by displaying relevant logos next to the EU emblem (the principle of proportionality should be respected).

How to display the EU emblem and funding statement

 

Multilingual download centre

Guidelines for use and placement of logo

Disclaimer to use in all communication materials

If you have received funding from any of the EU programmes, then any communication or dissemination activity that you undertake must contain the following disclaimer in the appropriate language. *(Please see Article 17 of your grant agreement for full details.)

“The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of (name of the implementing partner) and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Union.”

Slightly modified versions of this disclaimer may be used – check with your project officer.

Share your success stories

Get in touch with us about your success stories. We are always looking for great projects to promote through our various channels (website, social media, publications, events,...) and yours might just be the one!

Drop us a line about any significant milestones. Let us know if you are planning important events, conferences, inaugurations, social media campaigns - in short, anything with communication potential.

We can work together to reach a much wider audience, multiplying the message that EU support helps deliver quality results for everyone in the EU.

Connect on social media

Social media helps us communicate quickly and to tailored audiences, building communities that can be kept up to date at a moment's notice. Connect with our various programmes and initiatives on X, LinkedIn and YouTube.

Other useful resources