The meaning of the Ultimate Beneficiary encompasses that agency which holds the ultimate responsibility for the project’s implementation (i.e. signature of Agreements, repayment of Accounts, etc.).

In order for the Ultimate Beneficiary to receive co-finance from the Operational Programme it should be expressly cited in the Planning Supplement as the potential Ultimate Beneficiary, otherwise it cannot participate in the measure’s implementation under the capacity of the Ultimate Beneficiary.

Ultimate Beneficiaries are sub-divided in 4 main categories:

• The Greek State (Ministries – Regions)
• Public Law Bodies Corporate that are subject to the Ministries and Regions
•  Public Law Bodies Corporate supervised by the Greek State, the municipal enterprises, institutions, etc.
• Local Government Organizations of the 1st and 2nd Degree.

The first thing that must be examined by the Implementation Agency is the acquisition of knowledge concerning the Planning Supplement and more specifically:

• Check whether the Ultimate Beneficiary is cited in the categories of potential beneficiaries mentioned in the Planning Supplement
• Examine the Evaluation Criteria of your candidate project so as to acquire knowledge with regard to the requirements – prerequisites of finance
• Take care so as to accelerate the Maturity Procedures of your project
• Make consultations with the Managing Authority concerning the measure’s activation, i.e. when the Invitation for the Expression of Interest will be announced
• Invitation for the Expression of Interest with regard to the Measure
• Submission of “Application” for the accession of the project in the Operational Programme in line with the invitation’s framework
• Evaluation of Proposal by the Managing Authority of IS
• Issuance of accession decision
• Project’s finance.

The term project maturity means the degree of technical preparation found in a project candidate to receive finance. In specific, within the framework of the evaluation system, the project maturity forms a key group of evaluation criteria relating mainly to:

• Sufficient progress of the licenses’ granting procedures which are required for the project implementation (in line with the legislation)
• Sufficient progress of the supportive – technical studies that are required (in line with the legislation)
• Sufficiency of the Ultimate Beneficiary to implement and operate the project smoothly.

The Actions Accession Criteria accompany the Planning Supplement and correspond to each Measure of the Supplement.

They are used in the Evaluation Procedure for the final accession of a candidate project into the programme.

For each measure of the programme there are five main categories of criteria relating to:

• Nature and Kind of the Action within the Framework of the Measure
• Purpose of the Action
• Completeness of the Action
• Maturity of the Action
• Compatibility with the National and Community Policies

The Project Technical Reports (PTR) form the key tool of planning and presenting the projects in the Operational Programme.

They are brochures that:

• Describe the projects/ actions requesting finance
• Are filled in by the Project/ Action Implementation Agency
• Are evaluated by the Managing Authorities.

It is a network application integrating the total management framework and relating to all Operational Programmes of the 3rd CSF. In specific, the IIS covers all key functions relating to:

• Project Programming
• Accession & Modification
• Monitoring
• Cash flows
• Audits
• Monitoring Committees.