8º) Is it possible to fund actions aimed at investment, infrastructure or acquisition of equipments within EQUAL?

The Commission Regulation CE 1685/2000 comprises all expenditures related to the different Funds.

Aiming to promote integrated projects within the period 2000-2006 the mono-fund principle has been established, which means that each Community Initiative will be co-financed by only one Structural Fund.

The EQUAL Initiative will be co-financed exclusively be the ESF, according with its financing rules. However, in some exceptional cases, the ESF could finance other expenditures if they fit the financing criteria of the other Structural Funds (EAGGF, FIFG or ERDF), and if these activities are necessary for a suitable implementation of the eligible actions.

Because of its complementary character, actions usually funded under other Structural Funds should not exceed 15% of the total budget for Action 2 established in the ICP. Therefore, during the implementation of actions the following expenditures will be eligible:

• Support to services creation.
• Support to entrepreneurship, and financial support.
• Equipments acquisition, and support to investments in order to develop information society.
• Elimination of architectural and communication barriers, in order to facilitate equal conditions of access.
• Boosting cultural and environmental elements.