What is TAIEX?
TAIEX is the Technical Assistance and Information Exchange instrument of the European Commission. TAIEX supports public administrations with regard to the approximation, application and enforcement of EU legislation as well as facilitating the sharing of EU best practices. It is largely needs-driven and delivers appropriate tailor-made expertise to address issues at short notice in three ways:
- Workshops: EU Member State experts present specific areas of EU legislation in workshops to a large number of beneficiary officials.
- Expert missions: EU Member States expert(s) are sent to the beneficiary administration to provide in-depth advice on the transposition, implementation or enforcement of a specific part of EU legislation.
- Study visits: a group of five practitioners from a beneficiary administration take part in a study visit to an EU Member State’s administration.
TAIEX beneficiaries and partners
The TAIEX mandate to provide assistance covers:
- Türkiye, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo*;
- Turkish Cypriot community in the northern part of Cyprus;
- Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Georgia, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Moldova, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia and Ukraine;
- All countries covered by the Partnership Instrument;
- EU Member States in the framework of administrative cooperation with DG for Regional and Urban Policy, DG Environment and DG Structural Reform Support;
- Partner countries and territories covered by Directorate-General for International Partnerships.
Who do we help?
TAIEX assistance is open to:
- Civil servants, principally in central public administrations;
- Judiciary and law enforcement authorities;
- Civil servants working in Parliaments and Legislative Councils;
- Representatives of social partners, trade unions and employers’ associations.
TAIEX does not provide direct support to civil society, private citizens or to individual companies.
View TAIEX events and materials
Most TAIEX events have publicly available agendas and presentations. Even though all TAIEX events are adapted to the audience, beneficiaries can draw inspiration from similar TAIEX events implemented in the past. This is a good starting point for anyone who is thinking about applying for a TAIEX event.
TAIEX Search
How can TAIEX beneficiaries apply for assistance?
Officials in line Ministries dealing with community legislation, staff from regulatory or supervisory bodies and inspectorates, officials in notified bodies which implement or enforce legislation as well as officials in Parliaments, the Judiciary and Law Enforcement Agencies, can introduce requests for TAIEX assistance.
TAIEX Application Form
Matching experts with needs
Public officials of EU Member States with expertise relevant to TAIEX beneficiaries can register as TAIEX experts or as institutional contact points. TAIEX experts can be invited as speakers to seminars, workshops, expert missions or to host study visits matching their specific profile. Institutional contact points act as a reference point for their own institution on a voluntary and ad hoc basis and can assist in identifying and proposing experts from it. For more information, interested public officials could consult the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for TAIEX experts
TAIEX relies on a network of contact points at the level of national public institutions implementing or enforcing EU legislation. Contact points help TAIEX identify suitable experts within their respective ministries or agencies, depending on the request.
TAIEX Expert Database
Which policy fields?
TAIEX is used in the following fields:
The TAIEX instrument delivers assistance across the agriculture, food safety, veterinary and phytosanitary and fisheries sectors.
The timely provision of targeted expert help is of particular importance in the veterinary sector. Disease control simulation exercises, both before an outbreak of disease and a rapid deployment of experts immediately after disease detection, have been of significant benefit for the participants.
Priorities for agricultural policy assistance are centred on the establishment and development of paying agencies, delegated national institutions charged with the responsibility of administering trade mechanisms and processing farm support payments, from the application stage through to verification, payment and audit. Furthermore guidance is given on the implementation and enforcement of the Common Organisation of the Markets and a range of policy areas from state aids and rural development to quality issues such as the protection of geographical indications and organic farming standards.
Strengthening the European Union as an area of freedom, security and justice without internal borders continues to be a priority and it is a model that TAIEX assistance contributes to export.
The range of legislation is wide, covering issues such as free movement of persons, visa policy, EU external borders policy, Schengen area, immigration, asylum, judicial cooperation in civil and criminal matters, drugs policy coordination, data protection, fundamental rights, racism and xenophobia, police and customs cooperation, crime prevention, fight against organised crime.
At the same time, the target groups remain varied and diverse, composed not only of officials of the Ministries of Justice and the Ministries of Interior but very often includes those who have to apply the acquis in their daily work: judges, prosecutors, police officials, other law enforcement agencies, border guards, officials from migration and asylum authorities, customs departments, etc.
Classical TAIEX assistance or support via the Environment and Climate Regional Accession Network (ECRAN) is provide to our beneficiaries in all fields covered by the environmental legislation (air quality, waste management, nature protection, chemicals, industrial pollution and climate change).
Environment and energy are key policies closely linked as production of energy has an impact on the environment and the climate. The topics addressed go from renewable energy and energy savings to market liberalisation in the oil, gas and electricity sectors.
In the area of transport, sectors covered include maritime, inland and aviation including joint programmes with the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA), the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC).
Technical knowledge is also transferred on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and its market regulation. TAIEX activities are organised on topics such as electronic communication, number portability, broadband infrastructure and postal services.
Activities cover a vast array of acquis measures related to the internal market: four freedoms, public procurement, company law, intellectual property rights issues, competition issues including state aids, competition policy, financial services, taxation, EMU, statistics, social and employment policy, SMEs and industry, regional policy and structural funds, science and research, education culture, sports and youth, financial and budgetary provisions, financial control and public administration reforms.
Against the backdrop of EU measures already taken, aimed at ending the isolation of the Turkish Cypriot community by encouraging economic development, the TAIEX instrument has been designated as the vehicle for implementing all technical assistance to support the preparation of the Turkish Cypriot community's ability to apply EU legislation. The main objective of TAIEX assistance to the Turkish Cypriot community, in the framework of cooperation with the Directorate General for Structural Reform Support of the European Commission, is to assist with the preparation of legislative and enforcement capacity so that the EU acquis will be immediately applicable upon the entry into force of a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus situation.
To support this programme, TAIEX engages Member State experts in many of the thematic areas of the EU acquis in order to support the revision and implementation of legislation and standards; provide advice on the necessary changes to policies and strategies so as to facilitate their enactment in the relevant thematic areas; and provide guidance on procedures to ensure effective implementation and enforcement of the legislation and standards.
In order to provide the necessary assistance, assessment missions aimed at evaluating both legislation and administrative capacity and at developing in close cooperation with local counterparts, a structured plan for future technical assistance, are undertaken. Following on from these, Medium-term expert missions are undertaken to implement the agreed plans and to support capacity building and development of key co-ordination structures within the Turkish Cypriot community. Study visits to the Member State of the experts may also be undertaken, these allow the local counterparts to be provided with practical experience of the legislation and systems implemented in the Member State of the experts.
The TAIEX-REGIO Peer 2 Peer was created in cooperation with Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy. It facilitates short-term exchange of know-how between cohesion policy experts and administrations involved in the management of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and Cohesion Fund in all Member States. It is part of the Commission's broader effort to help Member States strengthen their administrative capacity. Public sector institutions involved in the management of the ERDF or Cohesion Fund can request support.
As under the TAIEX instrument, three types of exchanges can be provided: short-term expert missions, study visits and workshops.
The tool is easy to use and flexible. The application can be submitted online, the main information required is:
- the type of exchange requested
- a short explanation of the need for assistance; the objective of the exchange for the applicant; the topics of interest
- a designated contact person and the profiles of the potential participants
- an estimated timeframe during which the exchange could be organised
More information:
TAIEX-TSI Peer 2 Peer is an instrument managed in cooperation with the Directorate General for Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM) of the European Commission, to implement part of the Technical Support Instrument (TSI). The instrument provides short-term exchanges of best practice between public sector experts of EU Member States through Expert Missions, Study Visits and Workshops. It aims to support EU Member States to carry out their institutional, administrative and structural reforms, in order to build up more effective institutions, stronger governance frameworks and efficient public administrations.
TAIEX-TSI Peer to Peer is only available to EU Member States that benefit from projects selected under the TSI and the technical support covers the entire reform process, from preparation and design to implementation and completion of reforms. For more information on how your Public Administration can benefit from the technical support under the TSI, please see here.
The Environmental Implementation Review (EIR) has mapped for each EU Member State the main challenges in the implementation of European environmental policy and legislation as well as existing good practices and points of excellence. In order to improve the implementation of environmental standards TAIEX-EIR Peer 2 Peer has been established as a new, practical tool that facilitates peer-to-peer learning between environmental authorities of EU Member States at all levels. TAIEX-EIR Peer 2 Peer provides tailored support to Member States' environmental authorities so their staff members can benefit directly from the experience of peers in other countries and regions. Across Europe, there are thousands of public experts working in environmental authorities who possess a wealth of knowledge and invaluable know-how. TAIEX-EIR Peer 2 Peer helps to share this expertise and good practice between Member States.
TAIEX-EIR Peer 2 Peer arranges expert missions, study visits and workshops with participants from environmental authorities from the national, regional and local level of EU Member States. The expert exchanges can address all issues covered by the EIR country reports: for example circular economy and waste management, nature protection, biodiversity, green infrastructure and soil protection, improvement of air quality, water quality and management, sustainable urban development. They can also deal with common root causes of implementation gaps, such as administrative capacity, skills, governance and coordination mechanisms or similar issues. Applications can come from environmental authorities of all levels.
More information, including the online application tool can be found on the TAIEX-EIR Peer 2 Peer website.
TAIEX events funded by the Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI) through Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI) – ‘Global Europe' advance EU interests and values around the world.
TAIEX-FPI primarily targets high-income countries and territories. It facilitates the adoption of EU legislation and best practice in partner countries and helps build new alliances with partners worldwide. The instrument provides a platform where like-minded administrations can collaborate to address global challenges, such as climate change and cybersecurity, in a fast and flexible manner.
TAIEX-FPI applications can be submitted by public administrations of high-income countries and territories, European Commission services or by the European External Action Service, including EU Delegations.
TAIEX-FPI is built on the success of TAIEX funded by the Partnership Instrument in 2014-2020 (TAIEX-PI), which supported public administrations and advanced EU and mutual interests in partner countries in Africa, the Americas, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific between 2015 and 2022.
More information:
TAIEX INTPA geographically extends the Technical Assistance and Information Exchange instrument (TAIEX) to partner countries and territories covered by Directorate-General for International Partnerships.
It provides rapidly mobilised short-term technical support using European Union Member States’ public sector experts in response to requests for assistance from public institutions or EU Delegations in partner countries. TAIEX events can be organised at the national and/or regional level and the request can be for a single event or a sequence of TAIEX events.
In order to ensure the maximum impact, TAIEX INTPA aims at strengthening the national development policy context. It supports the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, in line with the EU commitments to the Agenda 2030. TAIEX INTPA events will also be designed in synergy with other technical cooperation modalities active in the partner country.
Under the TAIEX instrument, the following types of activities can be organised: short-term expert missions, study visits, workshops, which can also be implemented online.
To learn more, you can watch the promotional videos for TAIEX INTPA (available in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese), download the TAIEX INTPA leaflet in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese or near-taiex-intpa
ec [dot] europa [dot] eu (contact us).”