Secure digital military mobility system

It is very important that the correct organisation status is reflected in the Part A of the proposal. DG DEFIS uses it for verifying eligibility participants at the time of the proposal submission, for example whether the SME self-assessment has been conducted as required by the SME calls.

If you have made some changes in your PIC after you have created a proposal, you will have to manually update the PIC at step "participants" to refresh data in your proposal.

To proceed, we invite you to:

1. Save and exit part A (if you are editing it at the moment)

2. Click on "Back to participants list", below the annexes

3. In the organization's section concerned, click on "change organization"

4. Confirm that you want to proceed - Enter another PIC (any other PIC will work) and click on "Use"

5. Click on "Save" at the bottom of the page

6. Click again on "Change organization" and enter back the correct PIC - Click on "Use"

7. Click on "Save and go to next step" at the bottom of the page

Please go back in Part A, section participants, to save and validate new data.

You will need to submit again your proposal to take those changes into consideration at the evaluation.

If after following these steps the status still appears in the part A, please repeat this procedure by adding this extra step between steps 5 and 6:

• Enter the Part A, section participants, validate and click on the "save and Exit" button (It should show the data of the other organisation).

You can contact the EDF National Focal Point from your country, see defence-industry-space.ec.europa.eu.

The Commission staff is in not able to discuss individual proposals, any specific all questions can be addressed to the EDF Team via functional mail box DEFIS-EDF-PROPOSALS@ec.europa.eu.

Yes, it is possible to participate in the same call in more than one proposals, as long as the proposals are different.

The Call text clarifies which types of eligible activities the proposals must cover. If two or more prototyping activities are deemed as being mandatory under a Call, only the proposals covering all the required prototyping activities will be declared eligible.

In case multiple proposals could be funded under the topic, all the selected proposals must have the prototyping activities requested in the call.

There is a possible derogation for non-EU/Norway controlled entities, through providing guarantees compliant with Art. 9(4) of the EDF Regulation, approved by the Member State where the entity is established. A legal entity that is established in the EU/Norway and has its executive management structure established in the EU/Norway can be eligible as a beneficiary, affiliated entity or subcontractor, even if it is controlled by a non-associated third country or a non-associated third-country entity, only if guarantees approved by the EU Member State in which it is established/Norway are made available to the Commission (as provided by in Article 9(4) of the EDF Regulation).

At the moment of proposal submission the Commission requires only that all participants fill in a Ownership control declaration (see an example at ownership-control-declaration_dep-he-edf-cef-dig_en.docxWord, but note that for proposal you should only use the template downloadable at the submission system).

The ownership control is assessed in detail only if the proposal is selected for funding after evaluation. The Commission will then require these guarantees from the controlled entities.

The ownership control declaration is mandatory at submission. When it comes to the guarantee, if you do not use the template, please make sure that you submit the same level of detail and information to ensure a proper assessment, and that it is signed by the competent authority.

The guarantee must be approved in accordance the national procedure, and signed by an authorized person of the competent authority. The guarantee should indicate in detail the measures that comply with the requirements of Article 9 of the EDF Regulation to ensure the protection of the information and of the IPR from non-associated third parties and that access by the beneficiary to the infrastructures to perform the action is not prevented.

The Commission may still consider that the measures are not enough, or that that the involvement of the ‘legal entity’ in the EDF action will contravene the security and defence interests of the Union and its Member States; the objectives of EDF (set out in ‘Article 3 of the EDF Regulation’); or that they are not in compliance with the provisions of Articles 20 and 23 of the EDF Regulation. In this case, the Commission will concluded that the guarantee is not valid.

It is a good practice to contact the appropriate national authority in advance, while preparing the proposal, to discuss the possibility of the guarantees.

Yes, start-ups are eligible and welcome in EDF.

The financial capacity will only be checked at the grant preparation stage. If a start-up has not sufficient information for a financial capacity check, European Commission may request a business plan.

If the financial capacity is not strong the Commission may apply mitigating measures during the grant preparation phase, such as financial guarantees, adjusting the prefinancing amount or reporting periods.

See also: rules-lev-lear-fca_en.pdfPDF

As explained in the Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity AssessmentPDF referred to in the call document:Newly established enterprises (so-called start-up companies) not having closed accounts on annual basis or companies without economic activity (but expecting to enter soon into the market) may also qualify as SMEs as long as they are able to provide a ‘bona fide estimate’ (in the form of a business plan) covering the period necessary for the entity to generate turnover.

You shall therefore perform the SME self-assessment from your participant’s page as any other entity. A wizard will guide you in the process and you will be requested to use the data from your business plan.

On 13 July 2026, the European Union and Ukraine (UA) signed the Association Agreement on the participation of Ukraine in the European Defence Fund (EDF). This Association Agreement will formally enter into force once the Parties have notified each other of the completion of their respective internal procedures necessary for that purpose.

When the Association Agreement enters into force, legal entities established in Ukraine will become eligible as beneficiaries, affiliated entities and subcontractors involved in the actions supported by the EDF under the conditions laid down in Regulation (EU) 2021/697. In the meantime, Ukrainian legal entities may already apply and be considered as consortium members for the EDF Calls for proposals for 2026.

If the Association Agreement has not entered into force by the Grant Agreement Preparation (GAP) stage (should the proposal be selected for funding), the consortium would be responsible for ensuring that the proposal continues to meet the eligibility criteria. Subject to the technical nature of the proposal and the specific results of the evaluation, this could be achieved by changing the role of Ukrainian legal entities from beneficiaries, affiliated entities, or subcontractors to associated partners or suppliers, and/or by replacing them with eligible entities.

For clarity, the eligibility situation of Ukrainian (UA) legal entities before the Association Agreement enters into force is as follows:

1. An UA legal entity may already be considered an associated partner (AP) of the consortium, under the conditions of Article 9(6) of the EDF Regulation. APs do not receive funding for the costs they incur. UA entities intending to participate as AP may register in the same way as organisations from the EU Member States (for more information see webgate.ec.europa.eu)

2. The EDF consortia may also consider UA entities in the selection procedures for the purchases of goods (e.g., equipment – ranging from big ones to petty goods – consumables and supplies), works or services (e.g., consultancy ones) required for the implementation of an EDF project. Please note that such procurement may not, in particular, constitute a core task of the project as set out in the description of the action in Annex 1 of the Grant Agreement, or exceed 10 % of the total eligible costs of the action or require access to classified information.

3. In addition, all EDF 2026 call topics provide for financial support to third parties (i.e. cascade funding), under which UA entities may participate as third-party beneficiaries, subject to the conditions set out in the relevant call.

4. Finally, as provided for in Article 9(4) of EDF Regulation, a legal entity established in the Union or in an associated country and controlled by a non-associated third country or a non-associated third-country entity is eligible to participate as a recipient or subcontractor involved in an action only if guarantees approved by the Member State or the associated country in which it is established, in accordance with its national procedures, are made available to the Commission. This is a general rule applicable to all EDF Calls.

The Consortium Agreement is obligatory in EDF Grants. However, they are a matter internal to the consortium. The European Commission will not check or ask to see them, the consortium is simply requested to confirm that a Consortium Agreement exists prior to signing the Grant Agreement.

EDF does not have a compulsory Consortium agreement template that Consortiums must use. There is a model Consortium Agreement available at desca-agreement.eu that may be used.

In the submission process, when you reach the step ‘Participants’, you are invited to indicate only the beneficiaries (referred to as ‘Partners’) and, if any, affiliated entities and associated partners. Do not include here any subcontractors.

Note: All identified ‘subcontractors involved in the action’ (i.e. subcontractors with a direct contractual relationship to a beneficiary or affiliated entity, other subcontractors to which at least 10 % of the total eligible costs of the action are allocated, and subcontractors which may need access to classified information in order to carry out the project) need however to:

• have a PIC and therefore to be registered in the F&T Portal
• be identified in the proposal (Part B and annexes) including the nature/description/justification of the subcontracted tasks and the estimation of the corresponding subcontracting costs
• provide all necessary information needed to assess their eligibility (see instructions in the call documents and submission templates)

If a ‘subcontractors involved in the action’ is not yet identified at the stage of the proposal submission:

• the tasks to be subcontracted and the associated costs should still be included in the proposal (see Part B and Detailed budget table) but the associated costs will not be taken into account for bonus calculation and assessment of award criterion 5

Once they will be identified and selected after the signature of the grant, additional information will be requested in order to assess their eligibility.

According to Article 11 of EDF Regulation, Union funding shall be granted following competitive calls for proposals. Participation in these calls is open to any consortium complying with the eligibility and admissibility conditions established by EDF Regulation and by the Call itself. This applies also in case of follow-on projects envisaged in the work programme. Moreover, the competitive process is open and fully transparent, and is strictly based on the award criteria established by the Call.

No. Subcontractors should not be in charge of the core tasks of the project, therefore they should not be work package leaders. For obligations of the coordinator or beneficiaries according to the Grant Agreeement, see EDF MGAPDF and Lump-sum MGAPDF.

No, associated partners cannot lead a work package, but they can contribute to it. Only beneficiaries or affiliated entities can lead a work package.

Nota: The costs of the tasks carried out by the associated partners are not eligible to EDF funding.

The National Focal Points are individuals nominated by EU Member States and Norway that will support the implementation of the European Defence Fund. They are able to guide you to matchmaking events. As part of the EOA cooperation project of NFPs, they organise several events a year to help entities find cooperation partners, which are also announced on their corresponding LinkedIn page.

There is a partner search tool on the Funding & Tender portal under each topic.

There are also other platforms, such as Enterprise Europe Network, European Defence Agency B2B platform or the European Network of Defence related Regions (ENDR).

In EDF all applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities) must cumulatively be legal entities (public or private bodies) and be established in one of the EDF eligible countries, i.e. EU or Norway.

The question therefore is be if the entity set up by a third country owner as a “subsidiary” in EU could be considered as a “legal entity” for the purposes of participating in a consortium under the EDF programme.

The Commission validates the legal entities on the basis of the Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity AssessmentPDF (Validation Rules) and is supported by official documents, to be uploaded by the participant in Participant Register.

In particular, according to the Validation Rules:

• “Legal entity means an entity created and recognised by law as a legal person. It must have legal personality and, acting on its own account and in its own name, be able to exercise rights and be subject to obligations.” Please check whether what you meant by “subsidiary” falls within this definition.

Please have in mind as well the following

• “Branches — Are not regarded as legal entities, since they do not have legal personality distinct from that of their mother-company. The fact that they are registered in national official registers is not relevant. It will be their mother-company that will be considered as legal entity for the purposes of the legal entity validation in the Participant Register. The same applies to branches established in a different country or branches of entities such as non-profit organisations, NGOs, etc.”

If the EU subsidiary is a legal entity according to the above rules, in order to be eligible under EDF, its infrastructure, facilities, assets and resources have to be located and the executive management structures shall be established in an EU Member State/Norway.

Finally, as the legal entity will be controlled by a non-associated country, security guarantees in the meaning of Art.9(4) of the EDF Regulation, approved by the competent authorities of the Member State where the subsidiary is established, will have to be provided.

The EU-UK Security and Defence Partnership does not affect the current EDF. For more information on the eligibility of entities established in a non-associated third countries, please refer to article 5 and 9.6 of the EDF regulation as well as in: ec.europa.eu

As recalled in the call document (see section 6. Eligibility / Eligible participants (eligible countries) and section 13. Important / Consortium roles and Associated partners), entities established outside the EU or Norway can only participate as “associated partners” in EDF-funded actions but without receiving EU funding. Their participation as “associated partners” is however subject to specific eligibility conditions:

• no contravention to the EU and Member States security and defence interests;
• consistency with EDF objectives;
• results of the action not subject to control or restriction by non-associated third countries or non-associated third-country entities;
• no unauthorised access to classified information;
• no potential negative effects over security of supply of inputs which are critical for the project

Under the EDF, “subcontractors involved in the action” are defined by Article 9(8) of EDF Regulation as a specific category of “subcontractors with a direct contractual relationship to a recipient, other subcontractors to which at least 10 % of the total eligible costs of the action is allocated, and subcontractors which may require access to classified information in order to carry out the action. Subcontractors involved in an action are not members of the consortium”.

In order for subcontractors involved in the action to be eligible, the conditions set out in Article 9 of EDF Regulation apply. Subcontractors involved in the action shall be declared both in the proposal submitted under EDF Calls and in the grant agreement and they are subject subject to ownership control restrictions, meaning that they exclude the participation of legal entities which are established in the EU territory or in an EDF associated country, but are controlled by a non-associated third country or non-associated third country legal entity, unless security guarantees approved by the Member State or associated country in which they are established are provided. (more information on ownership control)

Differently from subcontractors involved in the action, EDF Regulation does not provide a definition of “service supplier”. In this regard, it is however possible to refer to the definition of “supply contract”, established by Art. 2(63) of the EU Financial Regulation, i.e., “a contract covering the purchase, leasing, rental or hire purchase, with or without option to buy, of products, and which may include, as an incidental matter, siting and installation operations”. EDF Regulation does not establish eligibility conditions for service suppliers. For this reason, it is not necessary to list or to name the service suppliers both in the proposal submitted under EDF Calls and in the grant agreement.

As outlined in the Annotated Grant Agreement (AGA), the core criterium for distinguishing between subcontracts and contracts/purchases is whether they concern action tasks as set out in the description of the action (DoA, Annex 1 of the Grant Agreement). Purchases, indeed, concern any other contracting cost (travel, equipment, goods, works and services) that are necessary for the beneficiaries to implement the work (can range from big equipment to petty goods) but do not constitute by themselves an action task described in Annex 1.

If, according to this distinction, it is to be considered as a subcontracts, under EDF it will be deemed as subcontractor involved in the action whether it fulfils any of the three conditions established by Article 9 of EDF Regulation, i.e., direct contractual link to a recipient; it is allocated at least 10% of the total eligible costs of the action; access to classified information is required to carry out the action.

To avoid this situation you need to make sure that you have activated the “optimise for compatibility” option in Excel. This might be needed even if you are not using Office 365.

You will need to restart filling in the form from the empty template.

There is no error in the Detailed Budget table template.

When opting for the actual indirect costs, the beneficiary or affiliated entity concerned will have to provide its estimated total indirect costs for the entire action in the sheet Summary per applicant (for actual costs grants) or at the bottom of the detailed sheet of the entity concerned (for lump sums grants).

These indirect costs will automatically be distributed on a pro-rata basis on the various activities (for actual costs grants) or on the various work packages (for lump sums grants) covered by the proposal. This pro-rata distribution is based on the direct eligible costs of this beneficiary or affiliated entity for these activities or work packages, excluding subcontracting costs and costs from category D. Other cost categories. You will see the resulting distribution in the sheet Summary per activity and, for lump sums grants, in the detailed sheet of the entity concerned.

This happens when applicants using Office 365 do not activate the "Compatibility option" in Excel parameters, leading to floating buttons and errors in the generation of buttons. This instruction is clearly indicated in the INSTRUCTIONS sheet of the annex.

Once the error happens, click ok to close the error message and then save manually the file using the following name convention [TOPIC_ID]_[ACRONYM_OF_PROPOSAL]_dbt:

1) first as an xlsx file (when asked, click yes to accept the file to be saved as a macro-free workbook)

2) then as a pdf file (export the entire workbook)

Yes, as long as the equipment to be used in the action by the beneficiary is located on the territory of a Member State or of an associated country for the entire duration of the action, its cost can be considered eligible for EU contribution under EDF (provided all general and specific eligibility criteria are fulfilled).

EDF Regulation does not provide conditions for the establishment or ownership control of suppliers of equipment or assets. The location of the supplier is therefore irrelevant to the eligibility of the cost of the equipment.

The work done in the third country subsidiary is not eligible for EDF funding, regardless of the nationality of the workers.

The framework conditions for the eligibility of legal entities are established in Article 9 of the EDF Regulation (in particular in subparagraphs 1, 2, 5 and 6) Regulation - 2021/697 - EN - EUR-Lex (europa.eu).

The infrastructure, facilities, assets and resources of the recipients and subcontractors involved in an action which are used for the purposes of an action supported by the Fund shall be located on the territory of a Member State or of an associated country for the entire duration of an action, and their executive management structures shall be established in the Union or in an associated country.

Only where no competitive substitutes are readily available in the Union or in an associated country, recipients and subcontractors involved in an action may use their assets, infrastructure, facilities and resources located or held outside the territory of the Member States or of the associated countries provided that such use does not contravene the security and defence interests of the Union and its Member States, is consistent with the objectives set out in Article 3 and complies with Articles 20 and 23. The costs related to those activities shall not be eligible for support from the Fund.

Purchases of equipment, infrastructure or other assets used for the action must all be declared as depreciation costs, calculated on the basis of the costs actually incurred and written off in accordance with international accounting standards and the beneficiary’s usual accounting practices. Only the portion of the costs that corresponds to the rate of actual use for the action during the action duration can be taken into account.

The depreciation of the equipment considered as such in the beneficiary’s accounts and needed for the action are eligible (multiplied by the rate of usage in the action).

The depreciation costs are calculated following the usual accounting practices of the beneficiary (practices applied in a consistent way and not specifically designed for EU funding). The beneficiary may be requested to explain/justify the calculation during grant agreement preparation.

On the exception of prototyping activities under development actions (EDF DA calls) see: ec.europa.eu

As a general rule, only depreciation costs are eligible under EDF. In development actions (DA calls) where prototyping activities are eligible, the Commission may exceptionally accept total costs of equipment for these prototyping activities if they are duly justified by the applicant.

Like any other action supported by EDF, eligible costs for follow-up projects are set out in Article 13 of EDF Regulation. They vary according to the type of action supported under the specific Call. The implementation of the Grant Agreement is periodically verified by means of reports of the beneficiaries on the fulfilment of the project’s deliverables.

There is a strict prohibition of double funding from the EU budget, hence any given action may receive only ONE grant from the EU budget and cost items may under NO circumstances be declared in two different EU actions.

Applicants opting for declaring their indirect costs as actual costs need to submit the ACTUAL INDIRECT COST METHODOLOGY DECLARATION appendix with the proposal.

The instructions to fill in the declaration are included in the template.

There are no specific instructions on the methodology to use because applicants are allowed to use their usual accounting practices, which must be described in the declaration. Moreover, those practices must have been audited by the national authorities, including the costs used for calculations.

For Lump Sum grants, the declaration and amount of indirect costs for the project will be evaluated by external experts before the signature of the grant agreement, and as a result of the evaluation some costs included in the calculation may be considered ineligible.

In actual costs grants, the methodology and costs will be ex-post audited.

Proposals should always request EU support within the indicative budget as set out for the relevant call topic in the EDF annual Work Programme. In addition, some call topics impose a budget ceiling per proposal.

Subcontracting should be less than 30% of the total costs per beneficiary (strict limit for EDF-LS-RA-SMERO and EDF-LS-DA-SME calls).

Please note also that certain tasks cannot be delegated to subcontractors (obligations of the coordinator or beneficiaries according to the Grant Agreement, see EDF MGAPDF and Lump-sum MGAPDF).

Yes, as indicated in the cofinancing declaration template instructions, as of EDF 2025, the use of this template is mandatory and all fields should be filled in.

“Expected IPR-related return on the project results for the co-financer” should be filled in to the best of the knowledge of the co-financer. If there is no expected IPR-related return the answer can also be “none”.

Yes, as indicated in the cofinancing declaration template instructions, as of EDF 2025 calls, the use of this template is mandatory and all fields should be filled in with the text/information, including limitations if any, the co-financer deems appropriate and necessary.

In particular, “Expected IPR-related return on the project results for the co-financer” should be filled in to the best of the knowledge of the co-financer. If there is no expected IPR-related return the answer can also be “none”.

The design of the co-financing declaration form allows for additional text to be inserted and co-financer may include additional remarks, clarifications or statements that she/he deems necessary.

Please avoid using copy-paste or drag-and-drop functions within the Detailed Budget Tables, as this may result in broken formulas or missing references. If such errors occur, beneficiaries are advised to delete the affected participant(s), work package(s), or cost entries and reintroduce them manually using the template’s built-in functions. It is also recommended to ensure that the latest version of the Detailed Budget Tables template is used, as available in the Funding & Tenders Portal for the relevant call. Beneficiaries should verify that all formulas and references are functioning correctly before submission, as errors in the budget tables may affect the evaluation or require clarification during the grant preparation phase.

As indicated in the call document, Part B and annexes need to be submitted, via the Funding & Tenders Portal submission service, as a single password-protected zip file, using AES-256 encryption.

The encrypted zip file may itself contain encrypted annexes using the same encryption method, for sensitivity reasons. This may be the case, for example, for entity-specific annexes like the Actual Indirect Cost Methodology Declaration or Ownership Control Declaration).

All corresponding passwords (together with the proposal ID and the name of the zip file(s)) need to be sent to the Commission by their respective originator, before the proposal submission deadline, through the following EUSurvey ec.europa.eu or at the following email address: DEFIS-EDF-PROPOSALS-PWD@ec.europa.eu.

Alternatively, you can encrypt your Part B and Annexes through the DG DEFIS DEFEND-S SNC encrypt file service:

1. Connect and login to DEFEND-S with your EU Login at defend-s-edf.defis.service.ec.europa.eu

2. On landing page select [Encryption] module

3. Upload your local already zipped but not yet encrypted file including the Part B and Annexes for encryption

4. DEFEND-S will send you an email notification when the encrypted file will be available for download. The encrypted file will be available for download only for maximum 24 hours

5. Download the encrypted file and submit it through the Electronic Submission System

6. There is no need to separately send the password to DG DEFIS

Please note that your file has not been submitted for evaluation through the DEFEND-S encryption. You still need to download the file and upload it through the Submission system at the EU Funding & Tenders Portal.

You should follow the instruction of the call document and ignore the text displayed on the submission platform which does not apply to the EDF. As explained in the call document, Part B and annexes should be uploaded as a single encrypted zip file, using AES-256 encryption.

Nota: the corresponding password (together with the proposal ID and the name of the zip archive) should be communicated to the Commission, before the proposal submission deadline, at the following email address: DEFIS-EDF-PROPOSALS-PWD@ec.europa.eu.

No. Beneficiaries and affiliated entities must register in the Participant Register — before submitting the proposal. They will have to be validated by the Central Validation Service (REA Validation) before grant signature only. At that stage for the validation, they will be requested to upload documents showing legal status and origin.

As explained in the call documents, the evaluation will take into account how the proposals address the ‘must’, ‘should’ and ‘may’ requirements included in the subsections ‘Scope and types of activities’ and ‘Functional requirements’. Failing to address a ‘must’ may give grounds to consider the proposal out of scope; failing to address a ‘should’ may give grounds for impacting the scoring negatively; addressing a ‘may’ may give grounds for impacting the scoring positively.

The harmonised capability declarations have to be mandatorily submitted in case of proposals aimed at developing design activities. However, whenever the action includes multi-activities, e.g., feasibility studies for design activities, the declaration concerning the harmonised defence capability requirements can be provided later on, before the start of the design activities. In this case a supporting document proving that the concerned Member States intend to jointly agree on common requirements and common technical specifications there should be included as part of the proposal at submission state.

In order to declare actual indirect costs instead of the ordinary 25% flat rate, you must comply with the two conditions established by art. 15.2 of the EDF Regulation: you need to submit the AIC methodology declaration describing your method for calculation of these costs AND your methodology must be consistently accepted by your National Authority for comparable national projects in the defence domain (following a structured audit process). The national authority must sign the declaration to certify that they have audited and accepted your usual accounting practices and that they are applied correctly in your proposal (before the compulsory EDF adjustments).

If this is the first time you intend to apply this methodology, unfortunately you do not meet the requirements and will need to use the 25% flat rate. Please contact your National Focal Point for more information.

For EDF calls that do not foresee the submission of proposals at an established level of security classification, there are no specific security requirements that the applicants must fulfil.

After the evaluation, the proposals selected for funding will undergo a security scrutiny in accordance with the provisions of article 27.4 of the EDF Regulation, to determine the appropriate level of classification. Should the scrutiny determine that there is a requirement of a Facility Security Clearance, it must be obtained prior to the signature of the Grant Agreement.

The PRS declaration has to be provided by the applicants as part of their application file only if an access to Galileo PRS information is needed to carry out the proposed action. No need to provide it otherwise. Each participant (i.e. beneficiary, affiliated entity, subcontractor involved in the action) concerned with the access to Galileo PRS information in order to carry out its part of the action has to provide a PRS declaration, duly completed and signed by its national PRS competent authority (CPA). The participants in the action which are not concerned with such an access don’t need to provide the PRS declaration.

Entities which do not know who is their national CPA are invited to contact the Commission at DEFIS-EDF-PROPOSALS@ec.europa.eu.

The supporting documents/annexes should be signed with a valid electronic signature or in a scanned document by blue ink, by a person authorised to represent the organisation in question.

In accordance with Article 27 of EDF Regulation, each Member State shall ensure that it offers a degree of protection of EU classified information equivalent to that provided by the security rules of the Council set out in Council Decision 2013/488/EU. The Call text may outline additional measures and requirements necessary to ensure the security of classified information, such as a valid Facility Security Clearance (FSC) at the appropriate level, and a limitation of the access and the handling of classified information for the purposes of the project to individuals with a need-to-know and which are in possession of a valid personnel security clearance.

The security provisions apply to all personnel working in EDF projects, regardless of them being EU or non-EU citizens.

The coordinator shall ensure that the action is conducted in compliance with Article 27 of EDF Regulation and national rules, as regards the security requirements needed to handle classified information.

In cases where the entity is non-EU control, Article 9 of EDF Regulation shall apply. According to it, access by a non-associated third country or by a non-associated third-country entity to sensitive information relating to the action should always be prevented and the employees or other persons involved in the action should have national security clearance issued by a Member State or an associated country of their establishment, where appropriate.

In the EDF type of activities, design includes technology demonstrators as eligible activities.

Such technology demonstrators (TRL 6) should not be confused with prototype development, in view of a final product (TRL 7 – only eligible in EDF Development calls).

“Design of a defence product, tangible or intangible component or technology as well as the definition of the technical specifications on which such design has been developed, including partial tests for risk reduction in an industrial or representative environment.”

Capability Requirements: These describe what the end-user wants a capability to achieve, without considering the technical details. In other words, it outlines the desired outcome from the user's perspective. Capability Requirements are often documented in Common Staff Targets/Common Staff Requirement documents, which outline the performance and services the customer expects to receive. These documents provide a clear understanding of what the customer wants to achieve, without limiting the technical implementation.

Technical Specifications: These are the industry's translation of Capability Requirements into technical terms. Technical Specifications outline the detailed architecture, hardware, software, performance, and requirements of a system that will deliver the desired capability. They are based on technical trade-offs and design decisions made by the industry during the development process. Technical Specifications can be observed at different stages of development, such as "as specified," "as designed," or "as built." Ultimately, the industry must ensure compliance with the customer's requirements, which is typically verified through a Statement of Compliance.

The successful proposals invited to the Grant Agreement Preparation after evaluation will undergo a security scrutiny to determine the classification level of the foreground information (information produced during the implementation of the Grant Agreement), thus the modalities and limits for dissemination.

The authority responsible for the scrutiny is jointly decided by the “Member States on whose territory the recipients [of the Grant] are established" (Art 27.4 of the EDF Regulation).

In any case the Commission handles any information related to the proposals, including the proposals itself, as sensitive information. The need-to-know principle is applied and the storage and exchanges of documents are supported by encryption devices.

Proposals for European Defence Fund have to cover a new defence product or technology or upgrade. You can learn more about the types of calls EDF funds at defence-industry-space.ec.europa.eu, in particular see the materials and information about of the annual info-days.

Also, do not hesitate to contact your National Focal Point for EDF for further information defence-industry-space.ec.europa.eu.

The use is acceptable if the results of the actions supported by the Fund are not subject to any control or restriction by a non-associated third country or by a non-associated third-country entity, directly, or indirectly through one or more intermediate legal entities, including in terms of technology transfer.

The EDF regulation does not established a percentage of the added value to be generated within the EU. However, according to the regulation the infrastructure, facilities, assets and resources of the recipients and subcontractors involved in an action which are used for the purposes of an action supported by the Fund shall be located on the territory of a Member State or of an associated country for the entire duration of an action, and their executive management structures shall be established in the Union or in an associated country.

EDF is an EU grant programme so the intellectual property created by the projects belongs to the consortium. The consortium should agree on the detailed ownership and use of the intellectual property with a Consortium Agreement. The ownership and use of results are also subject to EDF provisions protecting the security and defence interests of the Union and its Member States.

‘Testing’ aims at progressively demonstrating that a product or a technology is functional, in different relevant use cases and environments and, if needed, at applying correcting measures as appropriate

Pursuant to Article 2(9) of the EDF Regulation, ‘qualification’ means “the entire process of demonstrating that the design of a defence product, tangible or intangible component or technology meets the specified requirements, providing objective evidence by which particular requirements of a design are demonstrated to have been met”. ‘Qualification’ is usually understood as the process of demonstrating that a product or a technology complies with its requirements (operational requirements or derived technical specifications, depending on the level at which the ‘qualification’ is performed).

Costs for manufacturing or integration of systems needed to perform testing or qualification can be eligible under EDF Development Actions only if justified as part of a specific system. They would be charged under Other goods and services.

Yes, as explained in the expression for interest for EDF expert evaluators, in order to be selected, experts need to be in the possession of a valid personal security clearance (PSC) issued by the relevant Member State(s) authorities before the submission of the expression of interest. Note that the personal security clearance issued by the National Security Authority must not be confused with the criminal record.

If an expert is not in the possession of a valid PSC, the Commission will not initiate the vetting procedure for them. The Commission is not in the position to provide any further guidance and support on the process to obtain a PSC. Any questions should be directed to the National Security Authorities.

For more information on the PSC for managing EU classified information refer to the Council Decision 2013/488/EU and Commission Decision 2015/444.

The new Ownership Control Declaration (OCD) template requires information on the proposal. Moreover, as a novelty, there is a separate template to be filled in for the part on the guarantees, which must be project specific.

If you are participating in more than one project in a specific EDF call for proposals, when filling in the new OCD template, you could provide in the “project name cell” the list all the EDF projects for that call in which your entity is part of the consortium submitting a proposal. This OCD may be reused across different EDF proposals, provided that the information contained in the declaration remains accurate, complete, and up to date, and that the ownership and control situation of the entity has not changed since the date of signature. The declaration must be signed by an authorised representative of the entity, and the date of signature should be sufficiently recent to reflect the current ownership and control structure of the entity.

Please be aware that the template has been updated for EDF 2026 calls, and that you must use the latest version.

When assessing the control of a legal entity participating in EDF, the Guidance on participation in EU calls with ownership and control restrictionsPDF apply. In the case of a natural person controlling a legal entity, if the natural person has dual nationality (EU and Non-EU) she/he will be considered as EU national.

When submitting a proposal, the participating entities (Beneficiaries, Affiliated entities, Subcontractors involved in the action, and associated partners) must fill in the new ownership control declaration template (version 2026). If the entity is subject to non-Eu control, by a non-Eu country, non-EU country entity or non-EU country national, the entity must tick the box “Declaration- Non-EU Controlled”. The entity needs to indicate which is/are the non-EU country(ies) of control. If it is Norway, the entity must tick in the template the box “YES” in the question “are the non-EU country eligible country for participation in the call”. Should this be the case, the entity is deemed to be eligible, and it does not need to provide the security guarantee.

If the entity has participated in other EU funded projects, and it has been the object of a ownership control assessment, and its control situation has not changed since that assessment, the entity can tick as well the box “declaration- no change”.

The only liability regime for actions funded under the EDF is limited joint liability, as explained during the EDF Info days and the Coordinators Day.

The call text also clearly determines this as the default option. In the spirit of equal treatment for all our beneficiaries no exceptions are possible. This liability regime applies uniformly to all EDF actions and is defined in the EDF Model Grant Agreement, which forms an integral part of the call conditions. It cannot be modified on a case-by-case basis.

The SME self-assessment on the Participant Registry (Funding & Tenders Portal account > My Organisations > Actions > Modify Organisation > SME tab > Start SME self-assessment (> Mid-cap self-declaration); for more information, see IT How To) must be completed by all applicants claiming SME status before the call deadline, as specified in the Call Documents.

During the grant preparation phase, the Commission validation services may request additional information or clarifications to verify the SME self-assessment and status.

Please note that only entities which are registered in the Participant Registry (i.e. have a PIC) and which have a positive SME or Mid-cap self-assessment result, validated in accordance with the Participant Registry requirements, can be considered as SMEs or Mid-caps. This is necessary in cases where SME or Mid-cap status is an eligibility condition, where SME or Mid-cap bonuses apply, or where SME or Mid-cap participation is taken into account under the relevant award criteria, such as cross-border cooperation, as specified in the call conditions.

Yes, even if you declare “no control” or “no change”, the tables in the declaration have to be filled in.

No, entities established outside the EU/NO do not need to fill in and provide the ownership and control declaration. However, due to the provisions of Article 9(1) of EDF Regulation, only entities established in the Union or in an associated country are eligible for support from the Fund as recipients and subcontractors involved in an action.

If a subcontractor is known only after the proposal has been submitted, the consortium coordinator of a proposal selected for funding will have to provide the Commission with the same level of information regarding this subcontractor as the one requested at submission stage in order for the Commission to assess its eligibility (i.e. update of the subcontracting section in Part B, participant information, list of infrastructure, facilities, resources and assets, ownership control declaration and, where relevant, PRS declaration). It is the responsibility of the consortium coordinator to inform and provide the Commission with this information as soon as a new subcontractor is identified. Only after the subcontractor has been assessed as been eligible according to EDF requirement will its costs be accepted.

Nota 1: The description of the tasks that will be subcontracted and their costs need to be detailed in the proposal and will be set out in the signed grant agreement. The subcontractors may be identified after the grant agreement signature. Proposals for modifications in the subcontracted tasks or costs after grant agreement signature need to be communicated to the Commission and may require an amendment of the agreement.

Nota 2: subcontractors not identified in the submitted proposal will not be taken into account for the evaluation of the award criterion 5 and for the bonus calculation.

An OCD is required for the subcontractor of a subcontractor if this entity requires access to classified information in order to carry out the action, or if they are allocated at least 10 % of the total eligible costs of the action activities (i.e. if they fall within the definition of subcontractor involved in the action, Art 9 (8) EDF Regulation).

In the Ownership Control Declaration template the “last declaration/assessment” is indicated as being the date of request of supporting documents by the EU services for the previous assessment. So this is the date that you were last requested information on your ownership and control status by the Validation Service for your previous project.

The field “Project title and acronym” in case of “no change” refers to the title of the previous project for which the status was assessed. Please don’t refer there to the project that you are currently submitting a proposal for, but to the past project that you participated in.

It is recommended to also tick the “control” “no control” option even when declaring “no change”.