International cooperation in Digital Europe

Eligible third countries

Participation in Digital Europe actions is open to eligible third countries, i.e. EEA countries (Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein) and third countries that have signed an association agreement to the programme. The conditions for international cooperation with third countries, international organisations and bodies established in third countries, are specified in Article 11 of the Regulation establishing the Digital Europe programme. Cooperation and association agreements may be subject to adequate security, intellectual property (IP) protection and reciprocity guarantees.

Partial association

Some countries have signed association agreement to participate in certain Specific Objectives of the programme, not to the entire programme in accordance with Article 10 of the Regulation establishing the Digital Europe programme. Applicants seeking consortium partners in associated countries are therefore advised to verify whether the country of their potential partner is eligible to participate in the respective call.

Security restrictions

Some calls under the Digital Europe programme restrict participation to EU Member States and certain associated countries to ensure security interests of the Union, notably in terms of cybersecurity or protection of data against unauthorised disclosure. To avoid that European data can end up in the hands of third country authorities (such as national intelligence and security agencies) without the knowledge of the individuals, businesses or public administrations in the EU to which the data relates, some call topics under the Digital Europe programme are subject to security restrictions based on the provisions of Articles 12(5) and 12(6) of the Regulation establishing the Digital Europe programme.

It is therefore recommended to double-check the eligibility of partners from non-EU countries when forming a consortium. Your NCP can help with this.