The European Commission proposed on the 15th July a new legal framework that will make it easier to set up European Research Infrastructures, such as observatories for environmental sciences, data banks in genomics or state of the art large super computers. The proposal was made in response to requests from Member States, who wish to jointly develop world-class research facilities in Europe.

Until now, the absence of an adequate legal framework allowing the creation of appropriate partnership with partners from different countries has been a major difficulty for Member States. Existing legal forms under national, EU or international law do not fully correspond to the specific characteristics and needs of such multinational infrastructures. This new tailor-made legal framework would provide a legal personality recognised in all Member States and could provide some of the advantages of international organisations, such as VAT exemptions. Research infrastructures play an increasing role in the advancement of knowledge and technology. Scientific progress would be impossible without state of the art super-computers or, for instance, large-scale X-Ray systems.

Responding to challenges like climate change is greatly helped by environmental research facilities such as deep sea floor observatories, icebreaker research vessels or atmospheric observation networks. Advances in medical research also strongly benefit from the use of large databases or bio-banks, and/or of powerful systems of imaging, to name just a few other key facilities.

It also offers the opportunity to cut down significantly the time necessary for setting up such European Research Infrastructures, allowing them to become operational as soon as possible, which is important in the quickly evolving world of science.
It is foreseen that the legal framework would be discussed by the EU Council of Ministers during autumn and possibly adopted in December 2008. Following the development of related implementation procedures, the legal framework could become effective in mid 2009.

Background

The Communication is one of five policy initiatives planned by the Commission to follow up the 2007 Green Paper "The European Research Area: New Perspectives". A number of key areas were identified where effective action in partnerships between Member States could have the potential to deliver significant gains for Europe's research system and help to create a "fifth freedom" in Europe - the free movement of knowledge. In this context, "Developing world class research infrastructures" is put forward as one of the pillars of an ambitious ERA vision.