Kiri

Annex 4 Output and result indicators for Specific Action ‘Innovation: Artificial

Intelligence for Law Enforcement – AILE’ - ISF/2024/SA/3.4.1

The outputs and results of the Specific Action ISF/2024/SA/3.4.1 should contribute to the

following indicators and be ready to be inserted into the ISF programme into tables 1 and 2

under section 2.1.2 for Specific Objective 3 in SFC.

Please find below a non-exhaustive list of relevant indicators for activities under the

“Specific Action AILE”.

Specific Objective 31

Output indicators

O.3.1 Number of participants in training activities

O.3.2 Number of exchange programmes/workshops/study targets

O.3.3 Number of equipment items purchased

O.3.6 Number of projects to prevent crime

Result indicators

R.3.12 Number of participants who take the training useful for their work

R.3.13 Number of participants who report three months after completing the training that

they are using the skills and competences provided during the training

NB: Although reporting will only be possible for indicators addressed by the specific action

under Specific Objective 3, the list is not exhaustive and can be complemented with other

indicators designed at Member State level. These additional indicators should be reported on

in the Annual Progress Report.

1 As set out in point (c) of Article 3(2) of Regulation (EU) 2021/1149: “supporting the strengthening of

Member States’ capabilities in relation to preventing and combating crime, (…), as well as managing

security-related incidents, risks and crises, including through increased cooperation between public

authorities, relevant Union bodies, offices or agencies, civil society and private partners in different

Member States”.

Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111

Office: LX46 05/166 - Tel. direct line +32 229-98305

EUROPEAN COMMISSION DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR MIGRATION AND HOME AFFAIRS

Directorate E – HOME Affairs Funds

The Director

Brussels HOME.E.1/AF

NOTE FOR THE ATTENTION OF THE MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE

FOR THE HOME AFFAIRS FUNDS

Ref.: HOME-Funds/2024/42

Subject: Launch of the call for expression of interest under the Specific Action

“Innovation: Artificial Intelligence for Law Enforcement - AILE”

under the Internal Security Fund (ISF) – Reference ISF/2024/SA/3.4.1

1. INTRODUCTION

Regulation (EU) 2021/1149 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 July 2021

establishing the Internal Security Fund provides that Member States may receive funding

for specific actions in addition to their initial allocations in their respective programmes.

Specific actions aim to fund transnational or national projects that bring Union added value

in accordance with the objectives of the Fund for which one, several or all Member States

may receive an additional allocation to their programmes.

They will be implemented as one of the components of the Thematic Facility in line with

Art. 8 of the above-mentioned Regulation and in accordance with the relevant financing

decisions and work programmes for the Fund (1).

By the present note, the Commission launches a call for expression of interest for Specific

Action “Innovation: Artificial Intelligence for Law Enforcement - AILE”, in line with the

actions listed in the above-mentioned Commission’s financing decision and work

programme.

2. GENERAL PRINCIPLES

Specific actions will be implemented by one or more Member States participating in the

Internal Security Fund via funding received in addition to the allocation under their ISF

programmes.

1) Internal Security Fund (2021-2027) (europa.eu)

2

Funding for specific actions is added to the Member States’ programme allocations by

means of a programme amendment. That additional funding is earmarked for the specific

action concerned and shall not be used for other actions in the Member State’s programme,

except in duly justified circumstances and as approved by the Commission through the

amendment of the programme.

Whereas the regular EU co-financing rate under the Member States’ programmes will not

exceed 75% of total eligible expenditure, projects implemented under specific actions may

benefit from an increased co-financing rate of up to 90% of total eligible expenditure.

The specific action must be implemented by the Member States in accordance with the

ISF (2) Regulation and the Common Provisions Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 (CPR) (3).

This includes compliance with fundamental rights.

Your attention is drawn to one provision of the CPR. As regard the value added tax

(“VAT”) eligibility regime, Article 64 (1)(c) of the CPR provides that VAT is not eligible,

except:

(i) for operations the total cost of which is below EUR 5 000 000 (including

VAT);

(ii) for operations the total cost of which is at least EUR 5 000 000 (including

VAT) where it is non-recoverable under national VAT legislation”.

3. CALL FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST

3.1. Indicative Budget available

The 2023-2025 ISF Thematic Facility work programme indicates that for all specific

actions under the Fund EUR 16,5 million are available.

The indicative amount envisaged for this call ISF/2024/SA/3.4.1 is EUR 2 million.

The requested amount (i.e. the Union contribution to the Member State’s ISF programme

under the Specific Action):

should ideally not be lower than EUR 200.000 per application,

should ideally not be higher than EUR 1.000.000 per application.

Should many applications be received and successful, the final amount to be allocated to a

Member State’s programme may be lowered.

The Commission encourages project proposals by groups of Member States in

consideration of the potential transnational impact.

2) Regulation (EU) 2021/1149 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 July 2021 establishing the Internal

Security Fund.

3) Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 June 2021 laying down common

provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund Plus, the Cohesion Fund, the

Just Transition Fund and the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund and financial rules for those and

for the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund, the Internal Security Fund and the Instrument for Financial Support

for Border Management and Visa Policy.

3

In case of a transnational project, the Commission recommends, for the sake of

efficiency, the choice of Option 1 as presented in the Note HOME-

Funds/2022/07(Ares(2022)1060102) of 14 February 2022 on Transnational specific

actions under the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF), the Instrument for

Financial Support for Border Management and Visa Policy (BMVI), and the Internal

Security Fund (ISF) – Arrangements between partners.

Any proposal submitted by a single Member State still must demonstrate its transnational

impact by its transferability, as well as dissemination activities, trainings, or others.

3.2. Background for the specific action

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a versatile technology that has already become indispensable

in the toolbox of law enforcement agencies (LEAs). It can enhance existing capabilities,

provide new tools and improve law enforcement (LE) performance and efficiencies in a

rapidly changing and evolving criminal landscape. In doing so it supports LE to mount an

effective response to organised crime and terrorism.

This new technology can have many benefits for the EU’s internal security, but also poses

major risks if misused. Criminals are also exploiting the benefits of innovation for

malicious ends, to facilitate and upscale their criminal activities.

At the same time, AI use in the internal security sector also gives rise to concerns and fears

brought about by the perceived lack of transparency of AI technology, their use, and the

overall impact of these technologies on fundamental rights.

On 18 July 2024, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen presented to the

European Parliament her Political Guidelines (4) for the next European Commission

2024-2029. In these guidelines, the Commission outlines a comprehensive plan to position

Europe as a global leader in Artificial Intelligence (AI) innovation.

Furthermore, as stated in the EU Security Union Strategy 2020-2025 (5), Artificial

Intelligence could act as a powerful tool to prevent and fight serious and organised crime,

including terrorism, boosting investigative capabilities by for example, analysing large

amounts of information and identifying patterns and anomalies. It can also provide

concrete tools to help identify online terrorist content or discover suspicious transactions,

identify the sales of illicit products and facilitate intelligence gathering.

The Strategy states that realising this potential means bringing together research,

innovation, and users of artificial intelligence with the right governance and technical

infrastructure, actively involving the private sector, academia, and technologists. It also

means ensuring the highest standards of compliance with fundamental rights while

effectively contributing to a high level of internal security.

The practical implementation of this approach also forms part of the EU Strategy to tackle

organised crime 2021-2025 (6), where the Commission commits itself to support Member

States in relation to pilot projects on artificial intelligence solutions that would help foster

the uptake of innovation by the law enforcement community.

4) EUROPE’S CHOICE POLITICAL GUIDELINES FOR THE NEXT EUROPEAN COMMISSION 2024−2029

Ursula von der Leyen Candidate for the European Commission President

5) COM(2020) 605 final

6) COM(2021) 170 final

4

Law enforcement, industry and academia should cooperate together supported by EU

funding to develop tools and solutions at EU level that respond to EU law enforcement

needs, therefore also supporting the work of Europol in providing services and technical

solutions to EU LEAs. This collaborative approach should ensure the sustainability of

Horizon Europe and Internal Security Fund projects and support Europol in that endeavour

in compliance with relevant acquis and safeguarding fundamental rights.

Another key element is the comprehensive regulation on the use of artificial intelligence

systems through the EU Regulation on Artificial Intelligence (AI Act) which entered

into force on 1 August 2024(7). The Regulation provides guidance and legal clarity to

developers and deployers of AI systems on how to “effectively mitigate the risks for health,

safety and fundamental rights”. It classifies specific AI use cases according to their

potential risk in four levels: unacceptable risk, high risk, limited risk, and low or minimal

risk. Use cases that carry unacceptable risk are prohibited from use. In cases of ‘high-risk’,

developers and deployers (users) must abide by detailed obligations that ensure the proper

use of the AI systems and which mitigate the risk that the system may generate. Such

systems must be trained using robust and broad datasets to enhance efficacy, avoid bias

and decrease false-positive results. The AI Act is also applicable in the domain of law

enforcement.

EU-funded research projects have been investigating the use of AI for law

enforcement with promising results, whilst studying challenges that need to be

tackled from legal, ethical and societal perspectives, such as for example ensuring that AI

systems safeguard fundamental rights and are built on the principles of accountability and

trustworthiness.

Barriers and challenges often hinder the uptake of innovation in the civil security

sector and its deployment to LEAs. Examples of these challenges include:

• The lack of funding, and development paths dedicated to foster the uptake of

innovative technologies and methods, e.g. by funding last mile developments,

• A limited understanding of how public procurement can be used as a catalyst for

innovation uptake or,

• The limited visibility and traceability of successful research outcome.

EU funding is necessary for this specific action given the mentioned challenges for uptake

of innovation, new knowledge, technologies, methodologies and assimilation of ethical

and legal principles in the field of using Artificial Intelligence for law enforcement

purposes and to support the strengthening of Member States’ capabilities in relation to

preventing and combating serious and organised crime, including terrorism.

Furthermore, there is a strong EU added value in promoting European innovations (8),

as they lead to the reinforcement of existing and the development of new law enforcement

capabilities. These instruments can also support, on the one hand, technology suppliers

in the industrialisation and commercialisation of innovative products, as well as business

7) Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 June 2024 laying down harmonised

rules on artificial intelligence and amending Regulations (EC) No 300/2008, (EU) No 167/2013, (EU) No 168/2013,

(EU) 2018/858, (EU) 2018/1139 and (EU) 2019/2144 and Directives 2014/90/EU, (EU) 2016/797 and (EU)

2020/1828 (Artificial Intelligence Act).

8) COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT Enhancing security through research and innovation, Brussels,

15.12.2021 SWD(2021) 422 final.

5

creation and scale-up, and on the other hand, LEAs in further testing or validating, and

deploying innovative solutions.

Synergies between Union-funded research and innovation (R&I) and the Internal Security

Fund can maximise the impact of funding to LEAs by building on successful research

results, providing support to testing, validating or deploying new methods and technologies

stemming from R&I actions underpinned by the principles of ethics, transparency and

trustworthiness, and safeguarding of fundamental rights.

3.3. Scope and purpose of the specific action

The objective of this specific action is to provide financial support to Member States to

facilitate the adoption (i.e. testing, validating, further piloting and/or deploying) of

trustworthy, ethical and transparent AI technologies and tools by LEAs for modern and

efficient policing to prevent and combat serious and organised crime, including terrorism.

The support will focus on co-funding technical, organisational and/or societal9

solutions with compulsory innovative elements, in particular on how to implement the

new EU law (AI Act).

Project proposals must build on outcomes of security research and innovation, especially

taking up results of EU-funded activities (10), in order to ensure some of the following:

• Testing, validating, piloting and/or deploying AI tools and systems relevant to law

enforcement, building on the outcomes of EU funded research and innovation

projects (some examples listed further below);

• Improved understanding, knowledge and practices in AI across LEAs to promote

the responsible use of AI based on robust legal and ethical safeguards (11), including

achieving compliance with the new AI Act;

• Enhanced expertise and capacity of Law Enforcement Agencies to counteract AI

exploited for criminal misuse, including but not limited to facilitating cyber-

enabled and cyber-dependent crimes, e.g. the criminal generation of deepfakes or

online fraud.

The specific action can include but should not be limited to activities such as :

• uptake and testing of tools stemming from EU funded research programmes,

• validation and dissemination of such tools,

• cross-border operational actions,

• mechanisms to exchange information across borders,

• training and AI literacy for LEAs.

9) In this context, to ensure societal needs and acceptance.

10) https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/policies/internal-security/innovation-and-security-research_en

11) Proposals are encouraged to consult The CC4AI tool (a web-based tool to support internal security practitioners to

assess compliance of their AI systems with the requirements of the AI Act), as well as the 12 AP4AI Principles

(framework for AI in the law enforcement and justice sector to fundamentally assess and enforce legitimate and

acceptable usage of AI by the internal security community).

6

In all instances, this should involve training in AI literacy as well as guidance for LEAs.

As a result, selected projects should achieve one or more of the following objectives:

• Improve the security of EU citizens by providing LEAs with cutting edge AI tools

tailored to their operational needs,

• Facilitate the fast and effective uptake and adoption of AI solutions for law

enforcement purposes, especially from Union-funded security research and

innovation programmes,

• Increase the safe and responsible use of AI technologies by LEAs i.e. by promoting

mechanisms for societal, legal, and ethical implementation,

• Increase European open strategic autonomy by deploying solutions developed in

European research projects.

Proposers should focus on a particular technology’s/technologies’ uptake (further testing,

validating, piloting and/or deploying). Addressing developments regarding innovative

societal and organisational solutions and methods for trustworthy AI in law

enforcement, including new knowledge, additional recommendations and/or guidelines, is

not mandatory but welcome.

Proposed actions must build on results of previous research and innovation projects.

Examples of such initiatives include, but are not limited to, the following EU funded

projects:

• STARLIGHT is reinforcing the investigative and cybersecurity operations of EU

LEAs with AI-based tools that are transparent and resilient as well as explainable.

The technical developments in the STARLIGHT project take into consideration the

outcomes of popAI and ALIGNER listed below. These two projects provided the

principles needed to enhance collaborative efforts whilst safeguarding fundamental

rights:

o popAI worked on a set of recommendations for the ethical use of AI for

LEAs and provided a practical ethics toolbox.

o ALIGNER brings together European actors to jointly identify how to

enhance security while protecting fundamental rights.

• TRACE explored the rise and spread of cyber-enabled crimes and illicit financial

flows.

• AIDA focused on cybercrime and terrorism by approaching specific issues related

to (LEAs) using pioneering machine learning and artificial intelligence methods.

• TENSOR will provide police authorities and forensic institutes a platform they can

use to make it easier to extract, share and store biometric evidence in cross-border

environments.

• GRACE applied proven techniques in machine learning to the referral and

analysis elaboration while appropriately managing the technical, ethical, and legal

challenges unique to fighting child sexual exploitation.

• TENACITy develops a Travel Intelligence Governance Framework that facilitates

data management and access to support LE to manage intelligence in investigations

of terrorism and serious and organised criminality.

• VIGILANT is developing a platform looking at advanced disinformation

identification and analysis tools and technologies.

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• APPRAISE is an integrated threat intelligence solution for protecting the

augmented cities environment. It performs a continuous monitoring of online

sources and physical sensors to identify potential threats and improve strategies for

protection of soft targets (such as shopping malls and stadiums).

• FERMI will provide a set of tools for detecting and monitoring the spread of

disinformation and fake news and identifying its sources, as well as tailor-made

training material for LEAs, EU citizens and other relevant stakeholders.

Currently, new challenges posed by the immense quantity of data but at the same time

by very limited availability and scarcity of high-quality data to train artificial intelligence-

based tools in the context of law enforcement, constitute a significant hurdle for innovation

in the field of internal security. Therefore, proposals are encouraged to further explore

ways to facilitate LEAs’ access to high-quality data, and when doing so are expected to

create synergies with:

• LAGO will create a trusted EU research data ecosystem to facilitate data-oriented

research collaboration between LEAs, security practitioners, relevant EU agencies,

researchers, and policymakers.

• TESSERA (12) aims to conduct the preparatory work for the creation of high-

quality large-scale trusted and shareable datasets based on identified operational

use cases, thus supporting the European Security Data Space for Innovation.

Further information on Union-funded research and innovation in internal security

technologies and methods can be found on:

• the EU Funding & Tenders Portal (for past, current and forthcoming topics and

calls) (13),

• the Common Research and Development Information Service (CORDIS) (for

ongoing and past projects) (14),

• the Horizon Dashboard (for aggregated search by country, partner, topic)(15),

• through the Community for European Research and Innovation for Security

(CERIS)(16), and

• from the National Contact points (NCPs) for EU security research in each

Member State,

• from DG HOME’s Innovation and Security Research Unit(17).

Purchase of products and services that are commercially available, unless being a

very minor and complementary part of the integration effort in an innovative

solution, are not supported by this action. Purchase of off-the-shelf technology is

possible under other strands of the ISF or other EU funding instruments, e.g. ISF Member

States’ Programmes and ERDF (European Regional Development Fund).

12) Towards thE dataSetS for the European secuRity dAta space for innovation, ISF-2022-TF1-AG-DATA

13) Funding & tenders (europa.eu)

14) CORDIS | European Commission (europa.eu)

15) Funding & tenders (europa.eu)

16) CERIS - Community for European Research and Innovation for Security (europa.eu)

17) Innovation and security research (europa.eu)

8

The specific action can include but should not be limited to activities such as:

• testing, validation, and/or further piloting (including in groups of Member States)

in real environment,

• evaluating AI tools for operational maturity,

• installation and integration in legacy systems,

• deployment,

• hands-on training on the use of the new solutions.

Cooperation with Europol in any of these elements is encouraged, especially utilisation of

the Europol`s Tools Repository, as it could leverage proposals’ quality and impact. Where

relevant in the development of their proposals, Member States are also encouraged to take

into consideration the Compliance Checker for AI (CC4AI). This web-based tool, curated

by Europol, helps practitioners to assess compliance of AI systems and tools with the

requirements and obligations of the AI Act.

Article 5(5) of the ISF Regulation provides that this funding is not eligible for:

(a) actions limited to the maintenance of public order at national level;

(b) actions with a military or defence purpose;

(c) equipment of which the primary purpose is customs control;

(d) coercive equipment, including weapons, ammunition, explosives and riot

batons, except for training purposes; (…).

If expenditure is planned for purchase of equipment or means of transport or construction

of security-related buildings or facilities and the project proposal is selected, the Member

State’s ISF Managing Authority should ensure that the expenditure will be included in the

calculation under the ISF Programme for the 35% threshold stipulated in Article 13(7) of

the ISF Regulation.

Proposals should explain the plans for future deployment and/or scale-up of the new

technologies, and/or methods, should the activities funded by this specific action be

successful. Further operational deployment, use and/or scale-up can be planned with

support with national funding, Member States’ ISF programmes, and/or other public or

private funding. Project proposals that present a credible and committed plan for further

uptake will be particularly welcomed, as they will ensure impact on the capabilities of

LEAs.

The call for expression of interest is open for both national and transnational project

proposals. However, in both instances, proposals must clearly and convincingly

demonstrate the transnational impact of their efforts.

In case of a transnational project proposal, the lead Member State will have to make

sure that the ISF Managing Authority of each participating Member State duly signs the

“Partnership Declaration Form”. In the Application form, each project beneficiary in each

participating Member State should be listed and the share that each Member State will

receive from the additional amount allocated, if the project proposal is successful, should

be indicated. Based on this common agreement, each partner will have a role and resulting

responsibilities in the implementation of the project and delivering on its objectives.

The specific action proposed should not focus on activities related to research but

must rather support the uptake and use of innovative solutions stemming from past

9

research. As such, new technologies addressed in the project proposals (which are not

necessarily the only technologies involved but should be the main ones) should be of

Technological Readiness Level (TRL) not lower than 8 at the start of the project. Providing

evidence of the TRL level of selected technology(ies) would be an asset.

This specific action falls specifically under (e) of Annex III of the ISF Regulation,

regarding support to:

(e) “actions developing innovative methods or deploying new technologies with a potential

for transferability to other Member States, in particular projects aimed at testing and

validating the outcome of Union-funded security research projects”;

Member States can propose both projects implemented entirely at national level and

projects implemented transnationally by a group of Member States. In the former case, the

proposing Member States should explain the specific added value of their transnational

approach.

4. PROCEDURE FOR APPLICATION

4.1. Admissibility and assessment aspects

All EU Member States participating in the ISF are eligible. Participation of third

countries is not eligible.

The Specific Action proposed should not start before 1st September 2024 and should

ideally be completed by 31st December 2027 at the latest.

DG HOME will assess the proposals submitted by the Member States.

To be considered admissible a proposal must:

1. be submitted within the deadline (see below) to the ISF specific actions functional

mailbox [email protected],

2. consist of the official ISF/2024/SA/3.4.1 Application form attached to this Note

together with its annexes, which must be readable and complete (all fields

necessary for assessment are filled in),

3. be submitted by the Managing Authority on behalf of the entity in the Member

State that will be responsible for the implementation of the specific action,

4. identify a project beneficiary (an entity) that will be responsible for the

implementation of the specific action in the Member State (in the lead for the

action),

5. in case of a transnational project: include partnership declaration forms signed by

the Managing Authorities of all participating Member States (18).

DG HOME will assess admissible proposals based on the following criteria (19):

A. Relevance (30 points – minimum score: 15 points)

1. Clarity of the proposed solution, its correspondence with the objectives and scope

of this call for expression of interest, and its contribution towards the output and

results indicators listed in Annex VIII of the ISF Regulation (see Annex 4).

18) Please refer to the note HOME-Funds/2022/07 on the arrangements between partners to be sought when

submitting proposals for transnational specific actions.

19) Proposals not meeting the ‘pass score’ of criterion A (15 points) will not be further assessed.

Only proposals scoring at least the ‘pass scores’ defined for each criterion (A, B and C) can be proposed for funding,

depending on their overall ranking and budget availability.

10

2. Innovation of the proposed solution (of min. TRL 8) in comparison with available

state-of-the-art tools.

B. Quality and content (30 points – minimum score: 15 points)

1. Maturity of the proposal; appropriateness of the design and planned

implementation, considering the envisaged activities; methodology (including

operational and financial management); organisation of work and strategy for

project management and monitoring; measures undertaken or envisaged to

mitigate the identified risks.

2. Cost-effectiveness, complementarity, and sustainability: the proposal should

present the distribution of the financial support requested, and its appropriateness

in relation to the scale and type of the planned activities (personnel, travel, training,

etc.). It should also demonstrate the overall cost-effectiveness and value for money,

and the complementarity with other EU funding sources (Member States’ ISF

programmes, ISF calls for proposals under Union Actions, EUROPOL EMPACT

grant schemes, etc.). Finally, the sustainability model should be explained,

including a credible plan for future deployment(s) and/or scale-up after this action

lifetime.

C. Impact (40 points – minimum score: 20 points)

1. EU Added Value: the concrete benefits and quantified results of the project for the

European Union and the Member State(s) concerned, as well as its potential for

transferability should be demonstrated.

2. Impact of the proposed solution on capability development and/or improvement

of an existing AI-based capability/system for law enforcement.

3. Involvement of and cooperation with competent entities from Member States

(LEAs, private and public entities – e.g. research organisations, industry) and

relevant EU entities (e.g. Europol, CEPOL) whenever appropriate, and

explanations on how this will be achieved.

4. Dissemination and communication strategy, including transferability of the

solution to other Member States, and its relation and/or contribution to

European strategic autonomy.

Member States must ensure respect for the horizontal principles described in Article 9 of

Regulation (EU) 2021/1060, including respect for fundamental rights and compliance with

the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, as well as Regulation (EU)

2016/679 and Directive (EU) 2016/680 (20).

Moreover, Member States must also ensure that the envisaged actions are not affected by

a reasoned opinion delivered by the Commission in respect of infringement proceedings

under Article 258 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) that put

in doubt the legality and regularity of expenditure or the performance of the actions (Article

8(5) of Regulation (EU) 2021/1149).

20) Directive (EU) 2016/680 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by

competent authorities for the purposes of the prevention, investigation, detection or prosecution of criminal offences

or the execution of criminal penalties, and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Council Framework

Decision 2008/977/JHA. Regulation (EU) 2016/679 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the

processing of personal data and the free movement of such data.

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4.2. Application procedure

Deadline for the application: Member States are invited to submit their proposals by 14

February 2025 at the latest, using the official ISF/2024/SA/3.4.1 Application form

attached to this Note, together with its annexes. Proposals can be submitted in any official

EU language (project abstract/summary should however always be in English). For reasons

of efficiency, it is strongly advised to use English for the entire proposal.

In line with the Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001[1], any document held by the Commission,

including documents containing sensitive information, may be subject to a request for

public access. Therefore, if relevant, the Managing Authorities should submit each

application in a separate email. Likewise, clarifications (where needed/required) per

application should be sent in separate emails.

To ensure equal and fair treatment of the proposals and allow the Commission to allocate

at the same date all the available funding, DG HOME will assess all proposals

simultaneously. Therefore, proposals submitted after the deadline will not be admissible.

The Members of the Committee for the Home Affairs Funds will be informed at the latest

10 working days before the deadline for the submission of the proposals in case the

deadline for the submission of proposals is extended.

E-mail address for the application: The proposals should be submitted to the ISF specific

actions functional mailbox [email protected]. Member

States may submit additional documentation if necessary.

No modification to the application is allowed once the deadline for submission has elapsed.

However, if there is a need to clarify certain aspects or to correct clerical mistakes, the

Commission may contact the applicant/ lead Member State during the evaluation process.

A reply should be provided by the Member State within 3 working days from the request

date.

Any requests for clarification by the Member States on this call for expression of

interest may be sent by 24 January 2025 at the latest, to the ISF specific actions functional

mailbox [email protected].

Requests for clarifications should be sent only by the Managing Authority. The

Managing Authority has an important role to play in explaining to potential beneficiaries

the applicable rules and specificities of the ISF programme and the Specific Actions

scheme, as well as helping them to prepare their applications. The Managing Authority

should be their sole contact point and has the responsibility to review and reply to any

questions received from applicants. It may, however, address these questions to the

Commission services if further clarification is needed. As projects under specific actions

are managed at national level, according to national rules, specific questions on eligibility

of costs should be addressed first to the Managing Authority.

To respect the equal treatment and transparency, the replies to the written requests for

clarification received will be sent to all Member States, via HOME-AFFAIRS-FUNDS-

[email protected]

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DG HOME will inform Member States of the outcome of the assessment of the proposals

in April 2025.

5. AMENDMENT OF THE ISF PROGRAMMES AND ELIGIBILITY OF EXPENDITURE

After having been informed of the outcome of the call for expression of interest, each

successful Member State should submit to the Commission a request to amend its ISF

programme via SFC. The amended programme should include a short description of the

specific action, adjust the output and result indicators, and include the costs and codes

linked to this specific action (respectively in the description and under tables 1, 2 and 3 of

Specific Objective 3, and table 6 of the programme).

When amending an ISF programme of a Member States, two situations may arise regarding

the eligibility of expenditure (21):

1. For Member States that have included all the types of interventions listed in Annex

VI table 2 of the ISF Regulation that are relevant for the Specific Action “Innovation:

Artificial Intelligence for Law Enforcement - AILE” ISF/2024/SA/3.4.1 in table 2.1.3

of Specific Objective 3 in their initially approved ISF programme: expenditure for the

Specific Action will be eligible as of 1st September 2024.

2. For Member States that have not included all the types of interventions listed in Annex

VI table 2 of the ISF Regulation that are relevant for the Specific Action “Innovation:

Artificial Intelligence for Law Enforcement - AILE” ISF/2024/SA/3.4.1 in table 2.1.3

of Specific Objective 3 in their initially approved ISF programme: expenditure for the

Specific Action will be eligible from the date of submission by the Member State of

its request for amendment of the ISF programme that will add the respective types of

interventions in the programme.

Yours faithfully,

Silvia MICHELINI

Encl.: Annexes 1-4

21) Art. 63(7) of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060.

Electronically signed on 26/09/2024 10:10 (UTC+02) in accordance with Article 11 of Commission Decision (EU) 2021/2121