TAIEX is an instrument of the European Commission that is officially named - the Technical Assistance Information Exchange Office. The aim of TAIEX is to provide short-term assistance to new European Union member states, countries that are candidates for EU membership and countries of the Western Balkans concerning the harmonization of national regulations with acquis communautaire, as well as their implementation.
Countries that use the assistance of TAIEX are as follows:
- Candidate countries for membership in the EU – Republic of Turkey, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Republic of Serbia;
- Representatives of the Turkish community in Northern Cyprus;
- Countries of the Western Balkans - Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albania
- Neighborhood policy countries – Azerbaijan, Armenia, Egypt, Georgia, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Moldova, Morocco, Palestine, Tunisia, Ukraine;
The role of TAIEX is mediation between experts, who provide direct assistance, and users, for whom the assistance is intended. Experts that participate in the TAIEX program may be only those from European Union member states. They are mostly representatives of the administrations of EU member states, EU institutions; however experts from individual universities and the private sector may also be engaged. TAIEX has a special data base of experts, which is used for the registration of all interested experts and which is only available to representatives of EU member states.
TAIEX is financed by multilateral programs of the European Union, whose resources are limited. This means that countries that first seek help from TAIEX are more likely to receive such assistance, on the principle of "first come, first served". However, TAIEX is not a loan program of the EU and does not finance individual or group projects. TAIEX funds only activities that it organizes entirely.
The coordination of TAIEX programs is done centrally, through the communication of representatives of TAIEX departments with national coordinators, but also in a decentralized manner, through requests to provide direct assistance submitted by representatives of interested institutions of countries using the assistance of TAIEX, through the national coordinator. Applications should not be sent directly to TAIEX, but to the national TAIEX coordinator who, after examination, forwards them to Brussels. The National TAIEX Coordinator in Republic of Serbia is the Ministry of European Integration.
TAIEX offers the following services:
- Experts visit to recipient countries - with the aim of providing advice on the legislative process, the interpretation of EU regulations, as well as giving advice for the implementation of adopted laws that are harmonized with the EU;
- Study visits, which provide opportunities for representatives of recipient countries to meet directly with the practice of application of EU regulations in EU member states;
- Seminars and workshops - organized for larger groups of representatives of user countries, in order to explain EU regulations. Seminars and workshops can be organized for representatives of one user country, or even multilateral seminars and workshops, where there is a possibility of exchanging experiences between recipient countries;
- Training, aimed at providing training for inspectors in the state administration;
- Monitoring and analysis of progress - through separate analysis (Peer Reviews) aimed at assessing conditions in certain areas of the user country, in order to determine the need for further TAIEX assistance;
- Special databases, which include a database of adopted EU regulations, but also one on progress in the field of harmonization of regulations in recipient countries;
- Translation - to provide assistance in organizing the translation process in recipient countries, and, if necessary, translation of documents, both for user countries and services of the European Commission. This assistance applies only to the translation of EU legislation (acquis communautaire).
Direct beneficiaries of TAIEX are:
- civil servants at the central level;
- civil servants employed at the regional and local levels;
- deputies and employees of the parliament;
- Business and professional associations, social partners, as well as representatives of trade unions;
- judiciary;
- Translators.
Beneficiaries of TAIEX assistance may not be individuals or individual companies.
Announcement of TAIEX events
Announcements of TAIEX events can be downloaded from the official site of the European Union.
