POLICIES
& PROGRAMMES
Stay informed about European policies, programmes, and initiatives relevant to ophthalmology, vision research, and eye health. EU EYE follows key developments at EU level to help our community understand emerging priorities and opportunities for engagement.
Clinical Trials
The new EU Clinical Trials Regulation (Regulation No. 536/2014) will come into force in 2019. The regulation aims at streamlining and simplifying rules in order to revive research activity in Europe, for example by introducing a unified application process through a single EU portal for cross-border trials.
Simplification of rules include:
Streamlined application procedure
Streamlined application procedure via a single entry point – an EU portal and database, for all clinical trials conducted in Europe
Single authorisation procedure
Single authorisation procedure for all clinical trials, with assessment of application by all Member States concerned, with one single assessment outcome and authorisation per Member State
Extension of the tacit agreement principle
Extension of the tacit agreement principle to the whole authorisation process for more legal certainty for sponsors, researchers, SMEs and academics
Strengthened transparency for clinical trials data
Strengthened transparency for clinical trials data and new rules for informed consent for use of subjects’ data
For more information and for accessing documents in your language:
What's the Clinical Trial Facilitation Group (CTFG)
The Heads of Medicines Agencies (HMA) agreed in 2004 to establish a clinical trials facilitation group (CTFG) to coordinate the implementation of the EU clinical trials directive 2001/20 EC across the member states.
European Open Science Cloud
The European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) is a network of organisations and infrastructures from various countries and communities that supports the open creation and dissemination of knowledge and scientific data. The EOSC is part of the European Commission’s strategy to open up European research and innovation systems as expressed in the policy initiative Open Innovation, Open Science and Open to the World.
European Research Area
The New European Research Area
The European Research Area (ERA) was launched in 2000 as a unified area open to the world. The ERA is defined by the free circulation of scientific knowledge, technology and researchers. Such integration of scientific resources of the European Union aims to establish common research agendas and infrastructures, optimise transnational cooperation and create new business by opening the labour market for researchers. Member States are aligning to the ERA principles launching new Knowledge Alliances – transnational and cross-sectoral result-driven projects between higher education and business open to any discipline. Projects under this label are joint master degrees, sector skills alliance, etc
ERA Platform
HORIZON Europe
Horizon Europe is the EU’s key funding programme for research and innovation for the period 2021-2027 with an indicative budget of € 93.5 billion.
Horizon Europe
Access the Draft Health Work Programme 2025
This is subject to change and its official publication by the European Commission is expected for April/May 2025.