Evaluation

Evaluation of effectiveness of undertaken activities and progress in their execution, both on the basis of specified physical and financial indicators as well as evaluation of the efficiency of the implementation arrangements, is an inseparable element of the SOP-ICE required by Article 40-43 of the Council Regulation No 99/1260/EC. The arrangements for evaluation of the SOP-ICE over its lifetime are set out hereunder.

6.5.1 Ex-ante evaluation

Pursuant to Article 41 of the Council Regulation No 99/1260/EC, the ex-ante evaluation was carried out as an element of a broader evaluation process, which included other operational programmes and the NDP. It involved both foreign and Polish external experts, having broad professional and scientific experience in this aspect (more on the ex-ante evaluation - see: Chapter 2).

6.5.2 Mid-term evaluation

Pursuant to Article 42 of the Council Regulation No 99/1260/EC, a mid-term evaluation shall examine the initial results of the assistance. Taking into consideration the short life-span of the SOP-ICE (the years 2004-2006), a mid-term evaluation is not foreseen.

6.5.3 Ex-post evaluation

Pursuant to Article 43 of the Council Regulation No 99/1260/EC, the ex-post evaluation of the SOP-ICE is completed upon request and under the responsibility of the European Commission, in collaboration with the Member State and the Managing Authority. Such an evaluation, carried out by independent experts, should be based on the evaluation of tasks achieved in the programming period, and should cover: the utilisation of resources, the effectiveness and efficiency of the assistance and its impact, in regard to the economic and social cohesion policy. The ex-post evaluation is to be finished in three years (at the latest), after the programming period deadline.

6.5.4 Building of evaluation capacities, supplementary evaluations, and ex-post evaluation

Enhancing evaluation capacities within Poland’s administration is one of the objectives during the programming period 2004-2006. This is a necessary process to make better use of evaluation already undertaken, to improve interventions of the 2004-2006 programming period, and to prepare the ex-ante evaluation for future structural funds intervention after 2006, as well as to prepare the ex-post evaluation of the 2004-2006 period.

Establishment of a National Evaluation Unit in the Ministry in charge regional development is a central element for enhancing Poland’s evaluations capacities. Gradually the SOP-ICE evaluation unit will be created, separated in administrative terms from the Managing Authority.

Poland will establish - in consultation with the European Commission - a working plan for evaluation. Inter alia, this working plan may comprise:

- drawing up of the evaluation standards,

- limited number of supplementary evaluations of sectoral, regional or horizontal nature. These evaluations will be included in the review by the Monitoring Committee and in the ex-post evaluation,

- improvement and development of the system of indicators, their quantification and target setting,

- enhancing and developing methods for impact assessment of co-financed policies, particularly for the cost-benefit analysis of major projects, pursuant to the definition of Article 25 and Article 26 of the Regulation No 99/1260/EC, - co-ordination of evaluation activities within the SOP-ICE.

The SOP-ICE Evaluation Unit will act in co-operation with the Monitoring Committee and the Managing Authority.

The results of evaluations shall be made available to the public, upon request (Article 40, Regulation No 99/1260/EC).

6.6 Information and publicity

The Managing Authority’s responsibility is to supervise meeting the requirements of the Commission Regulation No 200/1159/EC. Measures envisaged in this area are specified in the Programme Complement. The SOP-ICE includes in a budgetary allocations to cover the costs of information and publicity at the SOP-ICE level (Communication Action Plan).

A special unit responsible for information and publicity has been created within the Managing Authority. The tasks of these unit include mainly: providing information on the structural funds and projects supported by the ERDF, initiating and organising additional publicity and information activities, playing the role of the contact point for

potential Final Recipients (beneficiaries) in accordance with the Intermediate Bodies (when appropriate). Information should reach the general public, and in particular the economic and social partners, organisations promoting equal opportunities for women and men, as well as non-governmental organisations.

Information and publicity activities are subjected to regular evaluation by the Monitoring Committee and is included in the overall SOP-ICE assessment.

Information actions, apart from providing information for the Final Recipients (beneficiaries), will include publicising achievements of the ERDF and the National Development Plan, underlining the EU contribution to the undertaken measures. Promotion activities are supported by developing information tools aimed at specific target groups:

- electronic information system for the SOP-ICE – addressing questions on proposals, execution of projects under the SOP-ICE and on criteria of projects’ selection, online advice, application forms, forum, technical advice, frequently asked questions,

- a bulletin for a wide range of recipients issued by the Managing Authority and published in printed or electronic form. It includes information on calls for proposals, execution of projects, explanations, examples of “best practices”, articles including analyses, comments, concepts and opinions, etc.,

- tools such as press articles, television and radio broadcasts and conferences, publications, reports, leaflets, etc.,

- Information Working Group33 of the SOP-ICE, which exercises inter alia the following tasks: creation of common promotional strategy, coordination of promotional activities among individual Final Beneficiaries (implementing institutions), creation of an internal information system, as well as analysis of evaluation reports of the Monitoring Committee.

33

Information Working Group consists of representatives of all institutions engaged in the SOP-ICE management and implementation (Managing Authority, Intermediates Bodies and Final Beneficiaries (implementing institutions).

7. PARTNERSHIP

Pursuant to Article 8 of the Council Regulation No 99/1260/EC, the SOP-ICE was elaborated according to the partnership principle. The economic and social partners were included into the work on the SOP-ICE.

The economic and social partners, identified at the stage of the SOP-ICE preparation, participate also in the process of implementation of the projects co- financed under the ERDF, i.a. via participation in the Monitoring Committee works. Formal consultation process was launched in July 2002. At this stage, the consultation process consisted in gathering opinion and comments from relevant departments within the former Ministry of Economy, Labour and Social Policy, as well as from professional and social organizations, and self-governments. As a result, key changes to the structure of the documents were introduced, both in terms of the evaluation of the competitive position of the economy and of the set-up of the Priorities and measures for the attainment of the objectives. The altered document was then subjected to the next stage of the consultation process. In order to gather opinions, comments and proposals to the SOP-ICE from national and regional authorities, the document was published on the web-site. At the same time self- governments were given a possibility to participate in consultation meetings, when necessary. Simultaneously the same possibility was given to 16 selected social and professional organizations operating nationwide.

Between September and October 2002 the consultations took place in the framework of regional meetings on objectives and Priorities covered by the draft of the NDP and the SOP-ICE, during which suggestions and opinions were received. Meetings in 8 voivodships were attended by representatives of the Managing Authority.

As a result, suggestions and opinions were received, both of general and very specific nature, which testifies to a meaningful engagement on the part of numerous partners in working out the draft.

The draft of the SOP-ICE was also subject to discussions during two targeted conferences:

- the first one, which took place at Mierzęcin on 10-12 October 2002, with 69 participants, was organized by the Polish Business and Innovation Centres Association and was devoted to the summary of existing activities of the centres, including their operational methods and forms, to discussing experiences gathered in other countries as well as elaborating a programme for the promotion of innovation and entrepreneurship in years to come. Conference participants prepared the drafting of priorities and activities and of their scopes,

- the second one on “Science and Technology Parks in Poland – Successes and Failures”, which took place at Białystok on 25-26 October 2002 with 100 participants, was organized by the Regional Development Foundation of Podlasie and dedicated to reviewing initiatives of this kind in Poland,

exchanging experiences, and examining possibilities to finance such undertakings in years to come, especially upon joining the EU. Furthermore, local and regional initiatives were considered in terms of actions put forward in the SOP-ICE and their compliance with the set priorities, in addition to summarising the adequacy of existing activity forms.

The SOP-ICE draft was analysed at detail during these conferences, attended by prospective Final Recipients (beneficiaries) – institutions for promoting innovation and entrepreneurship and representatives of the business community The participants indicated the necessity to balance between different instruments for promoting innovation and entrepreneurship, taking account of qualitative structure of the prospective aid recipients (relatively low technological level of enterprises concerned), and to include the measures envisaged in the Priority relating to the information society in the first two Priorities.

Moreover, two conferences on central level were organized by the former Department of Regional Development Programming at the former Ministry of the Economy, (prior to its transformation into the Ministry of the Economy, Labour and Social Policy:

- the first one, on 18 October 2002, comprised the reviewing of operational programmes in terms of their shaping the labour market and changing employment structures,

- the second one, on 23 October, focused on research, development and new technologies against the main objectives and Priorities of the operational programmes, including especially the SOP–ICE. The need was emphasized at the conference to include activities dealing with the issues relating to the development of information society and the employing of resources of the R&D sphere for the enhancement of the competitive condition of the Polish economy.

Two other conferences on central level, were also organised, at which the Department of Economic Strategy, acting on behalf of the former Ministry of Economy, Labour and Social Policy, presented the government programmes for the promotion of innovation in the context of the accession, especially considering the SOP–ICE,

- the first one, on 25-26 November 2002, organised by the former Committee for Scientific Research, was related to the launching of the 6th UE Framework Programme,

- the second one, on 11-12 December 2002, organized by the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development, dealt with the role of the assistance system for the SMEs in building up the competitive condition of the Polish economy.

Social and economic partners, which were identified at the SOP-ICE elaboration stage, participate also in implementing of projects co-financed from the ERDF resources, i.a. by taking part in the activities of the Steering Committee for the selection of projects and the Monitoring Committee (see Chapter 6.1.7 for more information on the participation of social partners in the Steering Committee, and Chapter 6.4.1 for their participation in the Monitoring Committee). All social and

economic partners are kept informed on the aid granted from the ERDF under the SOP-ICE.

Pursuant to Article 46 of the Council Regulation No 99/1260/EC and the Commission Regulation No 2000/1159 the Managing Authority is responsible for keeping posted all social and economic partners involved in implementing the SOP-ICE on financial engagement by the ERDF in the projects’ implementation. To that effect, the Managing Authority prepares and carries out an action plan for information and publicity on the level of the SOP-ICE (Communication Action Plan for information and publicity of the SOP-ICE), that was included in the Programme Complement, Chapter VII.

Financial Table 1 for the SOP-ICE by Priorities (commitments) - total 2004-2006 (EUR) at current prices

Public

Community contribution National public contribution

Priority/Measure Areas of interve ntion Total costs (with private contribution) Total

Total ERDF ESF EAGGF FIFG Total State budget Self-

governme nts' budgets Other NFEPWM Private Cohesion Fund Other financial instrumen ts Loan EIB Priority 1 Enhancement of a knowledge-based economy business environment 792294791 702099763 537659396 537659396 164440367 143290367 21150000 90195028

Priority 2 Direct support to

enterprises 2047629022 983339022 693139023 693139023 290199999 238400000 51799999 1064290000

Technical Assistance 27100000 27100000 20300000 20300000 6800000 6800000

Total 2867023813 1712538785 1251098419 1251098419 461440366 388490367 21150000 51799999 1154485028

Total related to ERDF 1251098419

Total related to ESF 0,0

Total related to EAGGF 0,0

Total related to FIFG 0,0

Financial Table* 2 for the SOP-ICE by Priorities and year (commitments) total 2004-2006 (EUR), at current prices

Public

Community contribution National public contribution

Priority/Year Total costs

(with private

contribution) Total

Total ERDF ESF EAGGF FIFG Total State budget Self-

government s' budgets Other NFEPWM Private Cohesi on Fund Other financial instrume nts Loan EIB Priority 1 792294791 702099763 537659396 537659396 164440367 143290367 21150000 90195028 2004 190057412 167316356 127913618 127913618 39402738 34461051 4941687 22741056 271543863 239052660 182756135 182756135 56296525 49236107 7060418 32491203 2005 2006 330693516 295730747 226989643 226989643 68741104 59593209 9147895 34962769 2004-2006 792294791 702099763 537659396 537659396 164440367 143290367 21150000 90195028 Priority 2 2047629022 983339022 693139023 693139023 290199999 238400000 51799999 1064290000 2004 471885326 226485585 159661826 159661826 66823759 54720715 12103044 245399741 2005 674204506 323590485 228116274 228116274 95474211 78182029 17292182 350614021 2006 901539190 433262952 305360923 305360923 127902029 105497256 22404773 468276238 2004-2006 2047629022 983339022 693139023 693139023 290199999 238400000 51799999 1064290000 Technical assistance 27100000 27100000 20300000 20300000 6800000 6800000 2004 6331902 6331902 4743085 4743085 1588817 1588817 2005 9046682 9046682 6776666 6776666 2270016 2270016 2006 11721416 11721416 8780249 8780249 2941167 2941167 2004-2006 27100000 27100000 20300000 20300000 6800000 6800000 Total 2867023813 1712538785 1251098419 1251098419 461440366 388490367 21150000 51799999 1154485028 2004 668274640 400133843 292318529 292318529 107815314 90770583 4941687 12103044 268140797 2005 954795051 571689827 417649075 417649075 154040752 129688152 7060418 17292182 383105224 2006 1243954122 740715115 541130815 541130815 199584300 168031632 9147895 22404773 503239007 2004-2006 2867023813 1712538785 1251098419 1251098419 461440366 388490367 21150000 51799999 1154485028

Total related to ERDF 1251098419

Total related to ESF 0,0

Total related to EAGGF 0,0

Total related to FIFG 0,0

ANNEX 2 THE FRAMEWORK STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL

ASSESSMENT OF THE SOP - ICE

The measures proposed under the SOP-ICE are compatible with the sustainable development strategy and 6th Framework Programme of the EU for the environment.

Diagnosis and impact indicators

In the diagnosis of the present situation attention has been focused on economic issues, without directly considering the issues of competitiveness of the economy from the environmental impact point of view (emission levels, raw materials consumption, energy consumption). On the other hand information has been presented about the enterprises' innovation level, use of modern technologies, R&D expenditures and labour productivity. All these factors constitute also the elements of sustainable development.

Among the SOP–ICE measures monitoring indicators there are also sustainable development indicators. In this field attention was paid to indicators relating to the condition of environment in the respective areas: water (water and waste management), ambient air (emissions of gases), wastes (treatment of industrial and hazardous wastes), general indicators, such as energy intensity of the economy or environment protection investments in the industry. In addition, the social factor has been taken into account, i.e. the number of new jobs in companies included in the assistance under the SOP-ICE.

The Programme does not contain a definition of project selection criteria, which are presented in Annex 8 to the SOP-ICE Complement, along with ecological criteria (Annex 8 Criteria for projects’ selection within measures).

Environmental objectives

The SOP-ICE does not focus directly on environmental issues, as it is not its major objective. However, it includes one broad measure for investments relating to adaptation of enterprises to environment protection standards. This measure is aimed at assistance to enterprises in their adaptation to standards of the selected EU Directives in the following areas: water and wastewater management, air protection, water protection, as well as the implementation of projects designed to implement the principles of integrated pollution prevention and control, in particular with a view to adjusting to the requirements of the Best Available Techniques.

In addition to the above measures, the SOP-ICE also contains other proposals, which will lead to in the first place improvement of competitiveness and reduction of pressure on the environment from enterprises. This relates to introduction of modern, cleaner and more economic technologies, including ICT,. Also advisory and financial aid has been proposed for designing and implementation of environmental management certificates. The Programme also contains proposals for advisory aid relating to technological and product competitiveness of SMEs, which also will comprise realisation of environmental protection undertakings. These elements – if successfully implemented – will obviously contribute to a more efficient use of natural resources. A consequence of this situation may be a change of production patterns into more economic in terms of materials use and closer to the idea of sustainable

development. These measures also constitute preliminary steps for realisation of programmes of sustainable consumption and production patterns, as recommended during the United Nations Summit in Johannesburg, and compatible with a strategy being drafted in Poland and regarding a change of production and consumption patterns in the direction of sustainable development. The above mentioned objectives were and will be attained through a preference given to projects aimed at counteracting the climatic change, to Cleaner Production projects, extension of responsibility of the business for the effect on the environment, improvement of waste management, changes in the consumption and production patterns. The detailed preferences should be defined in the project selection criteria.

Innovation

The SOP–ICE places a very strong emphasis on the development of innovation. In certain measures also the necessity for pro-ecological solutions has been taken into account or environment protection is mentioned as the sphere deserving close attention. However, innovative projects regarding environment friendly technologies are not the same as eco-innovation. Such solutions as "green deliveries" or creation of "green jobs" have been omitted from the study.

Negative impact of the SOP-ICE

The Sop-ICE does not present an analysis of potential negative effects on the environment as a result of its implementation. It is probably the effect of an assumption that realisation of projects under the SOP-ICE should not cause negative impact. For this reason the potential negative effect of the Programme has not been given consideration. As a result also measures mitigating its adverse effect have not been proposed. (It should be pointed out, however, that under the SOP-ICE the discussion relates to many sectors - also SMEs might operate in various sectors. Thus it is very difficult to precisely predict and quantify impact from all the areas under the SOP-ICE and to propose suggestions for preventive or improvement action).

It can be expected that e.g. modernisation of large enterprises which would be possible under investment support, and support to adaptation to the selected EU environmental Directives will lead to an improvement of ambient air, reduction of the amount of pollution penetrating to surface and underground waters, and slowing down of the processes of soil degradation, if the modernised entities would affect the environment to a lesser degree than before.

The proposed measures may affect the environment, however on the SOP-ICE level they are formulated in a very general way, so it is difficult to definitely and in global terms ascertain whether this impact would be negative or positive. It is not possible to determine (both locally and regionally) the effects of an avalanche development and emergence of SMEs, which are to be supported by the SOP-ICE, if a measure relating inter alia to emission reduction from the existing enterprises is not sufficiently realised. In such a case the positive effect of the Programme may be eliminated by new emission from newly established enterprises. It may turn out that on the national scale there is no improvement of the natural environment, although the indicators of energy intensity, material consumption, waste and pollution emission per unit of production have improved.

While considering the possible negative impact of the SOP-ICE, one should take into account also its impact on human health. Hazards to health derivate from the environment. The health risks come both from a threat (characteristics of