EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Directorate General Internal Market and Services FINANCIAL MARKETS Securities markets

Brussels, 16/04/2014 CALL FOR APPLICATIONS FOR PARTICIPATION IN A EUROPEAN COMMISSION INFORMAL EXPERT GROUP "EUROPEAN CROWDFUNDING STAKEHOLDER FORUM" (ECSF) 1. BACKGROUND

The Commission is hereby calling for applications with a view to selecting members of an Informal Expert Group on crowdfunding, the European Crowdfunding Stakeholder Forum (ECSF), hereinafter 'the group'. The March 2014 Communication "Unleashing the potential of Crowdfunding in the European Union" 1 announced that "the Commission will set up the European Crowdfunding Stakeholder Forum as an expert group of high level representatives of associations of concerned stakeholder groups and national authorities". This group is set up for the objectives defined below, and is separate from regulatory workshops with national and European authorities announced in the same Communication. 2. OBJECTIVES

The group should assist the Commission in developing policies for crowdfunding to flourish while taking into account the interest of contributors. For this purpose, the tasks of the group include: helping the Commission to raise awareness, provide information and design training modules for project owners; providing expertise to the Commission in promoting transparency, exchange of best practices and certification; providing advice to the Commission to explore the potential of establishing a "quality label" to build trust with users; and identifying further issues that may need to be addressed.

Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions "Unleashing the potential of Crowdfunding in the European Union" COM(2014) 172 final

Commission europenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGI - Tel. +32 22991111 Office: SPA2 07/42 - Tel. direct line +32 229-69779

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FEATURES OF THE GROUP 3.1. Composition

In addition to those Member States, who will be invited to designate their representatives from public authorities which have taken or are taking the regulatory initiatives aimed at crowdfunding, or which supervise significant or growing crowdfunding markets, the members of the group will be: Consumer associations and interest groups of retail investors Associations or interest groups representing o Entrepreneurs or SME's, o social entrepreneurs, o non-profits or foundations that use or are likely to use crowdfunding significantly in the future o sectors of the economy that use or are likely to use crowdfunding significantly in the future, or o other individuals or organisations that use or are likely to use crowdfunding significantly in the future Associations of crowdfunding platforms Universities and research institutions that carry out research on access to finance and crowdfunding Associations of financial institutions or business angels

The group will be composed of maximum 40 members (organisations, public authorities and academic institutions). These organisations and authorities shall appoint high level representatives.

3.2.

Terms of Appointment

Members shall be appointed by the Directorate General Internal Market and Services for a period of two years. Their term of office may be renewed. If a member leaves the group, he/she may be replaced by a new member appointed by the Commission. Replacement of members shall be chosen from among those responding to the present call for applications. 3.3. Transparency

Personal data will be processed in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2000 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Community institutions and bodies and on the free movement of such data.
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The names of members and observers shall be published on the Internet site of the Directorate-General for the Internal Market as well as in the Register of Commission Expert Groups and other similar entities, hereinafter 'the Register'. All relevant documents (such as agendas, minutes and participants submissions) will be made available, either in the Register or via a link from the Register to a dedicated website, where information can be found. Exceptions to systematic publication are justified where disclosure of a document would undermine the protection of a public or private interest as defined in Article 4 of Regulation (EC) N 1049/2001 2.

3.4.

Operation of the group

The group shall be chaired by a representative of the Commission. The representative of the Commission may invite experts from outside the group with specific competence in a subject on the agenda to participate in the work of the group. In addition, the Commissions representative may give observer status to individuals, organisations as defined in Rule 8(3) of the horizontal rules on expert groups and candidate countries. The group shall hold its meetings at Commission premises in Brussels. The Commission shall provide secretarial services. Participants in the activities of the group shall not be remunerated for the services they render. Travel and subsistence expenses incurred by participants shall be reimbursed by the Commission in accordance with the provisions in force at the Commission within the limits of the available budgetary appropriations. Applicants should be prepared to attend meetings, contribute actively to discussions in the group, examine and provide comments on documents under discussion and act, as appropriate, as rapporteurs on ad hoc basis. Applicants should take into account that meetings generally involve preparatory and follow-up work (including, where relevant, data collection and communication with stakeholders). The working language for documents and meetings will be English. 3.5. Confidentiality

Members of expert groups and their representatives, as well as invited experts and observers, shall comply with the obligations of professional secrecy laid down by the Treaties and their implementing rules, as well as with the Commission's rules on security regarding the protection of EU classified information, laid down in the Annex to

These exceptions are intended to protect public security, military affairs, international relations, financial, monetary or economic policy, privacy and integrity of the individual, commercial interests, court proceedings and legal advice, inspections/investigations/audits and the institution's decisionmaking process.
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Commission Decision 2001/844/EC, ECSC, Euratom 3. Should they fail to respect these obligations, the Commission may take all appropriate measures.

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APPLICATION PROCEDURE

Interested applicants are invited to submit their application to the European Commission. Applications must be sent no later than 16 May 2014 (date of the email) to the following e-mail address: [email protected]. An application will be deemed admissible only if it includes the documents referred to in Section 5.2 below, sent at the latest by the above mentioned deadline. All required documents should be duly filled in, legible, signed and numbered sequentially. All these documents will be used in the selection procedure. Each application must be completed in one of the official language of the European Union. However, applications in English would facilitate the evaluation procedure. If another language is used, it would be desirable to include a summary in English. Supporting documents may be requested at a later stage. 5. REQUIREMENTS 5.1. Selection Criteria

The Commission will take the following criteria into account when assessing applications: Recent practical expertise and experience, including at European and/or international level; Ability to o collect data or assess the impact of certain soft law actions, or o communicate to stakeholders the outcome of the group's activities Proficiency in English to a level which allows the applicant to participate in discussions and the drafting of reports, if required. In addition, applicants must be organisations established in a Member State of the European Union.

In the selection process, the Commission will endeavour to strike a balance within the group in terms of representativeness of applicants across the various stakeholder groups

Commission Decision 2001/844/EC, ECSC, Euratom of 29 November 2001 amending its internal Rules of Procedure (OJ L 317, 3.12.2001, p. 1).
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identified in section 3.1. on composition, geographical representativeness of EU Member States and gender balance. 4 5.2. Supporting evidence

Each application shall include the following supporting documents: A cover letter explaining the applicant's motivation for answering this call, briefly stating (i) what contribution the applicant organisation could bring to the group; and (ii) specifically how the applicant fulfils the criteria listed in Section 5.1, with special attention to data collection, estimation of impacts and communication. Information on the applying organisation, its importance and knowledge in the field of crowdfunding. A curriculum vitae (CV) of the representative proposed by the applying organisation, not exceeding three pages in English. The CV should include relevant documentation for the selection criteria listed in Section 5.1. SELECTION PROCEDURE

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The selection procedure will consist of an assessment of the applications against the above-mentioned criteria, followed by the establishment of a list of most suitable applicants and concluded by the appointment of the members of the group. Information on the results of the call for applications will be published on the Internet site of the Directorate-General for the Internal Market and Services. A link from the Register to this site will also be provided. For any further information please contact [email protected]

Commission Decision 2000/407/EC of 19 June 2000 relating to gender balance within the committees and expert groups established by it (OJ L 154 of 27.6.2000, p. 34).
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