TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE INFORMATION EXCHANGE

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE INFORMATION EXCHANGE

As part to the 4^th Financial Protocol the EU is providing funds to professional and commercial associations representing social partners, as well as representatives of trade unions and employers' associations and other private sector bodies through the Technical Assistance Information Exchange (TAIEX).

The technical assistance available under TAIEX programmes, including the provision of experts, arrangements for study visits and the holding of seminars and workshops in connection with the transposition, implementation and enforcement of the Acquis, is of a short-term nature.

TAIEX acts as a broker for the transfer of expertise drawn from Member States officials in all public and semi-public bodies to their counterparts in candidate countries through an extensive network of contacts between the Member States, Commission Services and other European Union institutions, such as the European Parliament, The Committee of the Regions (COR) and the European Economic and Social Committee (ECOSOC) and the relevant bodies in the candidate countries.

Representatives of economic operators such as constituted bodies, trade unions, employers associations and representative organisations are invited to express their interest for technical assistance under TAIEX programmes for the year 2000 by lodging their written requests, indicating their specific needs, with The Chairman, Euro Assistance (Programmines and Funding) Co-ordination Taskforce (ACT), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Merchants Street, Valletta, by not later than Thursday, 30 March, 2000. It need hardly be emphasised that requests for assistance must be strictly linked to the implementation requirements arising out of the Acquis Communautaire.