TAIEX Instrument

TAIEX is the Technical Assistance and Information Exchange instrument of the European Commission. TAIEX supports public administrations in the approximation, application and enforcement of EU legislation as well as in facilitating the sharing of EU best practices. It is largely needs driven and delivers appropriate tailor-made public sector expertise to address issues at short notice.

TAIEX is available to public administrations worldwide. The majority of TAIEX events are organised for non-EU countries; assistance for EU Member States is delivered via three strands:

• TAIEX-Technical Support Instrument (TSI) contributes to implementing the TSI. It helps EU Member States in the design and implementation of institutional, administrative and growth-enhancing reforms to build up more efficient institutions, stronger governance frameworks and resilient public administrations. It supports EU Member States through activities in areas such as public financial management, access to finance, green and digital transition.
• TAIEX-REGIO supports the implementation of regional and urban policy in EU countries. It provides expertise to public bodies responsible for managing and implementing the European Regional Development Fund, the Cohesion Fund and the Just Transition Fund. TAIEX-REGIO supports EU Member States in areas such as simplified cost options, public procurement, state aid and audit.
• TAIEX-Environmental Implementation Review (EIR) facilitates peer-to-peer learning between Member State environmental authorities at all levels in order to address challenges in the implementation of EU environmental policy and legislation. TAIEX-EIR supports Member States in areas such as sustainable finance and environmental governance, circular economy, waste & water management, nature protection.

TAIEX is available to:

• All EU Member States in the framework of administrative cooperation with DG for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO), DG Environment (DG ENV) and DG Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM);
• Turkish Cypriot community - in the northern part of Cyprus;
• Countries and territories worldwide (covered by DG NEAR, INTPA and the Partnership Instrument).

TAIEX provides assistance mainly in three ways:

• Workshops: EU Member State experts attend workshops with a large number of beneficiary officials;
• Expert missions: EU Member States expert(s) are sent to the beneficiary administration to provide in-depth advice;
• Study visits: a limited number of practitioners from beneficiary administrations visit an EU Member State’s administration to receive hands-on experience on a specific topic.

The instrument targets primarily public administrations, but also judiciary and law enforcement authorities, parliamentary administrations, representatives of social partners, trade unions and employers’ associations. It does not cover private sector or civil society actors.

Between December 2021 and February 2022, TAIEX-TSI supported the Ministry of Finance of Hungary in strengthening the Transfer Pricing legal framework and administrative infrastructure in Hungary. The support was delivered via a series of three expert missions – 5 days in total - with experts from the Ministries of Finance of the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium. Each expert mission addressed 15 officials from different departments of the Ministry of Finance of Hungary.

In May 2022, TAIEX-REGIO assisted Croatian Civil Protection authorities in the implementation of EU Solidarity Fund and other EU financial resources for post-earthquake rebuilding. Experts from the Italian Civil Protection shared insights with 30 Croatian peers through a 2-day workshop focused on the optimal use of EU funds, national budget resources and loans.

In March 2022, TAIEX-EIR supported Romanian authorities in the protection of Romania’s natural habitats, wild fauna and flora. Through a 3-day TAIEX-EIR workshop, experts from Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Slovenia and EU institutions exchanged best practices on sustainable forest management with Romanian authorities at central and regional level (over 70 participants).

More examples of support can be found in the TAIEX library.

To see TAIEX in action, watch the testimonial videos.