ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
DOMESTIC ORGANIZATIONAL SYSTEM
- National Coordination Unit (NCU)
National Development Centre, Deputy State Secretary for Development Coordination of the European Union
This national body is responsible for the planning, coordination and implementation of the Swiss Fund in Hungary.
Its main tasks include overseeing the full implementation of the cooperation programme in Hungary in accordance with the regulations, from planning to maintenance; monitoring the progress of projects and programmes under the cooperation programme; establishing the institutional, financial and procedural rules necessary for the use of the grant; fulfilment of payments; reporting the progress to the Swiss authorities.
- Paying Authority
Hungarian State Treasury
The Certifying Authority is responsible for the verification of financial data at the level of the cooperation programme, which includes checking the adequacy of financing and accounting processes.
- Audit Authority
The Directorate General for Audit of European Funds
The Audit Authority controls the adequacy of the institutional system for the implementation of the cooperation programme and the proper use of the support, which are reported to the Swiss side by the Audit Authority.
- Intermediate Body
The Intermediate Body supports the performance of the National Coordination Unit tasks from administrative aspects. As part of this, it participates in the application process and in the fulfilment of publicity obligations; maintains contact with beneficiaries; checks the reporting and financial obligations; carries out document-based and on-the-spot checks and operates the IT system.
- Programme Operator
For the areas to be supported by the programme-level approach, the beneficiaries can be divided into two main groups. We shall first mention the Programme Operators who are responsible for the preparation, implementation and professional supervision of each programme.
- Programme Component Operator
The implementation of the components of each programme is the direct responsibility of the individual Programme Component Operators, who carry out activity packages in support of the horizontal, overarching objective of the programme, in cooperation with the final beneficiaries regarding the results of the respective developments.
SWISS ORGANZIATIONAL SYSTEM
The Swiss Confederation has authorized organizations through two ministries (the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research) to act on its behalf in the preparation and implementation of the cooperation programme.
Accordingly, the two main competent bodies on the Swiss side are the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), which supervise each thematic area in accordance with their respective competencies. Developments involving larger-scale infrastructure investments, such as energy investments or modernization of drinking water network fall under the competence of SECO, while SDC is responsible for overseeing developments concerning healthcare, research and innovation.
The Swiss Contribution Office in Hungary plays an important role in the cooperation programme, which operates within the Embassy of Switzerland in Budapest and is responsible for contacts between Hungarian institutions and Switzerland. The staff of the Office is actively involved in direct implementation tasks as in the previous period.
BENEFICIARIES
The most important participants in the system are the beneficiaries who by using the resources of the cooperation programme implement various types of developments in Hungary applying in the framework of open calls for proposals in cooperation with either Swiss or Hungarian partners.