First part of questions which have been received by project coordinators from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo and Macedonia.

1. Question:

Given that project activities can include: Media articles, programs, serials and campaigns, my question is if a private radio station with a thematic media project can apply to this public call?

Answer:

Participation in this public call is open to civil society organizations and non-governmental organizations (associations or foundations) officially registered in the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro. So you can only apply if you are registered as a non-profit person.

2. Question:

The idea is that after educating employees of a regional public portal about concept and terms connected to public finance of local government, to create a serial of articles related to the topic of the call. Regarding to this, would the money which we would pay to the portal for writing and publishing these articles treated as a program expense or as a staff expense?

Answer:

The described activity you are planning to implement is not part of the budget line for human resources because it does not engage employees from your organization, but is treated as a “program cost”. It is recommended that the mentioned portal issues you an invoice to to you without VAT.

3. Question:

This question relates to Annex A6 eligibility statement, and I would ask for your clarification: who should be present during the signing of the statemen, should that be the Chairman of the Board of Directors or Supervisory Board or a third person?

Answer:

This can be any person employed in your organization, his/her position is not important.

4. Question:

Which procedure is applied for VAT exemption?

Answer:

If your organization receives a grant, after signing the contract, we are obliged to ask for a VAT exemption certificate for you.

5. Question:

Can an association (NGO) apply for a grant in partnership with a local media (eg Internet portal or local television)?

Answer:

The association must the applicant, while the partner can be a local media.

6. Question:

Our organization was founded in 2018, but there is this requirement: Copy of the final annual financial report for the previous year (balance sheet and income statement) certified by a responsible agency for financial operations and licensed and authorized accountant, unless the organization is established in the current year. What shall we do in this case?

Answer:

In this case, it is not necessary to submit the balance sheet and income statement, nevertheless proof of registration is still obligatory.

7. Question:

When completing the proposal for application, we encountered a discrepancy in the requirements regarding budgeting. According to the form of the guidelines, it is said that the percentage of staff and administration cannot be more than 40%, and according to the A7-checklist form it is said that the percentage of staff and administration should not exceed 20%. Can you please tell us which document to prepare the budget?

Answer:

There was a mistake in the Annex A7 – Check list. The correct information is in the guidelines where it is stated that the percentage of staff and administration cannot be more than 40%.

8. Question:

You have put in the criteria that eligible applicant organizations are CSOs and NGOs (associations or foundations) and our question is if MASIT as a Chamber of commerce, founded by the Law for Chambers of commerce is also eligible since according to the Law of chambers of commerce all of the chambers are non-profit and non-governmental organizations. We have a project idea that would be applicable for this call and we would like to apply if we meet the eligibility criteria.

Answer:

As you stated that MASIT is a Chamber of Commerce, founded by the Law for Chambers of Commerce and not the Law for Associations and Foundations you are unfortunately not eligible for this call.

9. Question:

Which course do we need to use when making a budget in serbian dinar?

Answer:

Please adjust the value of the course for October value as indicated by the European Commission (1 RSD = 0.00846 EUR), available at http://ec.europa.eu/budget/contracts_grants/info_contracts/inforeuro/inforeuro_en.cfm

10. Question:

Which procedure is applied when exempt from VAT? We had different experiences with these procedures, from precisely elaborated to the fact that the costs are VAT or are at the expense of our organization.

Answer:

For all services/assets/works which are subjected to VAT exemption, it is imperative to prepare a Pre-Requisition Request and accompanying documentation in a timely manner. There is no point in VAT being borne by your organization. Detailed instructions are available on this link http://www.cfcu.gov.rs/tag.php?tag=tax

Additional assistance will be provided by administrative and/or logistic entities to all Grant beneficiaries by Fractal. (in case of the other countries it will be the country coordinator).

12. Question:

If the proposal of the project is accepted will the payment be in dinars or euros? This question is important to us because of previous experiences.

Answer:

Grants will be transferred in dinars. (or equivalent for other countries).

13. Question:

In the Excel form, used to make the budget, is automatically calculated for the item Own Contribution (Column I) automatically. Is the technical error or other items are not to be calculated?

Answer:

We apologize for this, it is a technical error, please apply the sum in all columns (F-I).

14. Question:

Does the project whose activities are carried out exclusively at a local level meets the requirements of the competition or is it necessary to include more municipalities /cities, work with national authorities, etc.?

Answer:

The call has only topical boundaries. The levels (locals/national) of the activities and implementation of the project activities are not restricted by the Call. Also, it is up to you whether the project will cover more than one subject.

Please note that some of the answers are related to the legal regulation of the country from which the question was raised.