Call for proposals for action grants to support transnational projects on judicial training covering civil law, criminal law or fundamental rights

JUST-2027-JTRA is a Justice Programme lump-sum call for transnational action grants to fund judicial training on civil and criminal law, fundamental rights, rule of law and the digitalisation of justice. The call is managed by the European Commission DG Justice and Consumers, opens 28 October 2026 and has a submission deadline of 4 March 2027 at 17:00 Brussels time, with an indicative 2027 budget of €4,075,000. Grants are lump sums typically calculated at a 90% funding rate with a minimum requested EU grant of €100,000, require transnational consortia with at least two beneficiaries from different eligible countries and at least one public body or private non-profit partner, and must include a documented training needs assessment, robust evaluation and sustainability/roll-out plans. Eligible activities include cross-border seminars, train‑the‑trainer, development and adaptation of training materials, blended and digital training approaches, and measures to ensure accessibility, gender mainstreaming and compliance with EU values and data protection.

What it funds

Scope and purpose

Action grants for transnational judicial training projects covering civil law, criminal law or fundamental rights. Projects should address training needs of judges and other justice professionals, support roll-out of materials to national training providers and strengthen application of EU law and the Charter of Fundamental Rights.

Project duration normally 12–24 months (up to 36 months if justified). Eligible activities include cross-border trainings, development of training material and tools for trainers, pilot and blended learning formats, exchanges and dissemination to national training systems. Projects must demonstrate synergies with existing EU and national training offers.

Key administrative notes

Applications submitted electronically via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal. Use the standard Application Form in the Submission System; Part B page limit applies. Registration in the Participant Register (PIC) is required for beneficiaries and affiliated entities.

Footnotes

1. 1Full call documentation, templates and detailed eligibility/administrative conditions are published on the topic page of the Funding & Tenders Portal: ec.europa.eu

Call identification and purpose

Eligibility and consortium rules

This call is for transnational action grants. Applicants and all participating entities must be legal persons (public bodies or private legal entities) registered in eligible countries. Natural persons are not eligible except self-employed persons where relevant. Organisations must register in the Participant Register (obtain a PIC and be validated).

Eligible countries and geographic scope

Eligible countries are set out in the call document. Participation is open to legal entities established in EU Member States (Denmark excluded from the Justice programme) and to non-EU countries that are associated to the Justice Programme or negotiating association agreements that enter into force before grant signature. The call targets EU-wide and transnational activities across participating countries; activities must take place in eligible countries.

Scope, topics and activities supported

Project features, duration and expected maturity

Projects must be transnational, practical, interactive, accessible (including for participants with disabilities), include participants from different countries, and describe selection processes, gender mainstreaming and evaluation approaches. Training may be face-to-face, blended, hybrid or online. Projects should normally last between 12 and 24 months; up to 36 months is permitted with justification. Actions can include pilot/demonstration activities, development of reusable training material, roll-out support to national trainers, and building networks — therefore suitable for maturity levels ranging from development and demonstration to early roll-out and dissemination.

Funding modalities, co-funding and eligibility thresholds

This call uses lump sum grants. The grant form reimburses a fixed lump sum amount based on the project’s estimated budget and a funding rate of 90% (or lower if applicants request a lower EU contribution). The minimum requested EU grant amount is €100,000. The funding rate implies a required co-financing share of the total eligible costs of at least 10% from the beneficiaries or other sources. The awarded grant may be lower than the amount requested. Financial rules, eligible cost categories and lump sum calculation methodology are defined in the call document and the Justice lump sum decision. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion checks apply as in regular grants.

Application and evaluation

Submission is electronic only via the Funding & Tenders Portal. Use the Portal Submission System templates: Part A (administrative forms online), Part B (technical description PDF uploaded), KPI tool (online), detailed budget table (JUST LSII Excel where applicable) and mandatory annexes (CVs, activity report of coordinator, list of previous projects, child protection policy where relevant). Proposals must respect the page limit for Part B (maximum 45 pages).

Award and grant management details

Operational, legal and financial checks

All beneficiaries and affiliated entities must undergo legal entity validation (REA Validation), and coordinators (and in some cases affiliates) will be subject to financial capacity checks. Exclusion grounds and EU restrictive/conditionality measures apply: entities subject to certain EU restrictive measures or conditionality measures are ineligible. Public bodies and international organisations are exempt from some capacity checks. Proposals must include a declaration that all applicants comply with eligibility, exclusion and capacity conditions.

Administrative and compliance points of attention

Proposals must be complete and submitted in English or any EU language (abstract in English recommended). Part B is limited to 45 pages; excess pages will be disregarded. Subcontracting is allowed but should be justified and limited. Financial support to third parties is not allowed unless explicitly authorised in the call document. Gender mainstreaming and sex-disaggregated data collection are required where relevant. Applicants must avoid duplication with existing training offers (EJTN, EJTN catalogue) and explain synergies with national and EU-funded training. Use of generative AI in proposal drafting must be declared and validated by applicants, who remain fully responsible for content and citations.

Application practical checklist

Application statistics, success rates and selection

Indicative number of grants is not fixed in the topic header; the available budget for this topic is €4,075,000 for 2027. The Commission reserves the right not to award all available funds. No historical success rates are provided in the call text; success rates depend on application quality and budget. Applications passing the Relevance threshold (≥25/40) and overall threshold (≥70/100) and ranked within available budget will be invited to grant preparation.

Risks, ethics and compliance

Projects must comply with the Charter of Fundamental Rights, the EU values in Article 2 TEU, GDPR and national law. Ethics and exclusion checks apply. Where activities involve children, a child protection policy meeting Keeping Children Safe standards is mandatory. Organisations subject to EU restrictive measures or conditionality measures are ineligible. Proposals must include a gender equality analysis and demonstrate measures to avoid bias in digital and AI training, including addressing potential discrimination risks.

Summary and how to explain this opportunity

This call JUST-2027-JTRA finances EU-level lump sum action grants for transnational judicial training projects focused on civil law, criminal law and fundamental rights, with a strong emphasis on digitalisation and the DigitalJustice@2030 agenda. It aims to improve consistent application of EU law and the Charter, to develop training tools and materials for national roll-out and to foster synergies with other EU and national training efforts. It uses lump sums and a 90% typical funding rate, requires transnational consortia with at least two entities from eligible countries and at least one public or non-profit beneficiary, and requires proposals to include robust needs assessments, gender mainstreaming, evaluation strategies and plans for sustainability and national uptake. Submission is electronic and single-stage via the Funding & Tenders Portal with a deadline on 4 March 2027. Selected projects proceed to grant preparation and signature in late 2027.

Footnotes

1. 1Official call document, annexes and detailed guidance are available on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal topic page and in the Call document and Work Programme: ec.europa.eu

Opportunity overview

JUST-2027-JTRA is a forthcoming Justice Programme call for transnational action grants supporting judicial training on civil law, criminal law, fundamental rights, rule of law and the digitalisation of justice. It is intended to improve the effective and consistent application of EU law, including the Charter of Fundamental Rights, by strengthening the knowledge and practical skills of justice professionals and by developing training materials and tools that can be reused by national training providers 1.

The call is implemented by the European Commission Directorate General for Justice and Consumers under the Justice Programme 2021 to 2027. It supports the European Judicial Training Strategy 2025 to 2030 and the DigitalJustice@2030 policy framework.

Key facts

Funding model and financial parameters

The grant is a lump sum. The amount is calculated from the estimated project budget and normally corresponds to a 90 percent EU funding rate, although applicants may request a lower EU contribution. The final grant can be lower than the amount requested.

The minimum requested EU grant is €100,000. There is no stated maximum grant amount, but the total portfolio is limited by the available call budget and the Commission may reduce individual awards during grant preparation.

The lump sum is linked to completion of the agreed work packages, activities, milestones and deliverables rather than reimbursement of each individual actual cost. Nevertheless, the estimated budget must be realistic and must comply with the basic eligibility rules applicable to actual cost grants. Ineligible, excessive or inadequately justified costs can result in a reduction of the lump sum, including during or after implementation.

Applicants should normally provide at least 10 percent of eligible project costs from their own or other permitted resources where the grant is calculated at the 90 percent rate. Any additional own contribution reduces the EU lump sum requested through the budget calculation methodology.

Prefinancing is normally expected to be approximately 80 percent of the maximum grant amount. It is generally paid within 30 days after the grant agreement enters into force or after any required financial guarantee is provided. There are normally no interim payments. A final balance is paid or recovered after assessment of the completed action.

Eligible applicants and consortium requirements

Eligible applicants are public or private legal entities established in an eligible country. Eligible countries comprise EU Member States, including overseas countries and territories, except Denmark, and countries associated with the Justice Programme or countries whose association agreement enters into force before grant signature.

International organisations are eligible and are not subject to the standard eligible country requirement. Self-employed persons may be eligible where they operate as sole traders without a separate legal personality. Ordinary natural persons are not eligible. EU bodies are not eligible, except that this restriction does not apply to the European Commission Joint Research Centre in the terms specified by the call document.

Every proposal must be transnational and include at least two beneficiaries from different participating countries. At least one beneficiary or affiliated entity must be a public body, private non-profit organisation or international organisation.

Profit-oriented organisations may apply only in partnership with public entities or private non-profit organisations. A consortium consisting only of a coordinator, affiliated entities or associated partners is not eligible because at least two beneficiaries from different countries are required.

All beneficiaries and affiliated entities must register in the Funding and Tenders Portal Participant Register before submission and obtain or use a validated participant identification code. Associated partners, subcontractors and entities providing in-kind contributions may participate in permitted roles, but they do not normally receive EU funding and do not count towards the minimum consortium composition.

Organisations subject to EU restrictive measures, applicable EU conditionality measures or exclusion situations under the EU Financial Regulation cannot participate in any funded role. Applicants must also have sufficient financial and operational capacity and must not be subject to bankruptcy, tax or social security defaults, serious professional misconduct, fraud, corruption, money laundering, terrorism-related offences or serious failures under previous EU contracts.

Target beneficiaries and end users

The training target group may include judges, prosecutors, court and prosecution office staff, lawyers, notaries, bailiffs, insolvency practitioners, mediators, court interpreters and translators, prison staff, probation staff, judicial trainers, EU law coordinators, justice sector leaders and managers, and personnel responsible for digitalisation.

Non-justice professionals cannot normally participate as trainees where their participation costs are charged to the project, unless a specific and duly justified exception is accepted at grant award stage.

Projects should describe a transparent participant selection process and should seek gender balance and broad participation across countries, professional groups and geographic areas.

Funding priorities and eligible content

Digitalisation of justice

Projects may address digital skills, artificial intelligence literacy, responsible and non-discriminatory use of AI, electronic case management, electronic filing, videoconferencing, cybersecurity, interoperability, digital evidence, decentralised EU information systems, digital cross-border cooperation, data protection, digital accessibility, online publication of judicial decisions, leadership and change management.

Fundamental rights, equality and rule of law

Possible topics include the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, the relationship between the Charter and the European Convention on Human Rights, procedural rights, remedies, victims rights, child-friendly justice, fair trial rights, rights of defence, data protection, hate crime investigation and prosecution, whistleblower protection, free movement rights, non-discrimination, equality, gender issues and rule of law safeguards.

Training on EU non-discrimination, gender equality and disability legislation will not be prioritised where it duplicates training to be supported through a separate Commission procurement action.

Civil and criminal law

Civil law projects may cover jurisdiction, recognition and enforcement of judgments, family and succession matters, parental responsibility, maintenance obligations, divorce and legal separation, matrimonial property regimes, registered partnerships and the European Certificate of Succession.

Criminal law projects may cover transfer of criminal proceedings, supervision measures, freezing and confiscation orders, electronic evidence, European Investigation Orders, restrictive measures, environmental crime, protection of EU financial interests, the European Public Prosecutors Office, Eurojust, criminal records, detention, European arrest warrants, probation, alternative sanctions, conflicts of jurisdiction and mutual recognition of financial penalties.

Eligible activity types

Eligible activities may include the following:

Training must be practical, interactive and accessible, including for participants with disabilities. Activities must include participants from different participating countries and should provide appropriate linguistic support through interpretation, translation, national breakout groups or multilingual materials where necessary.

Projects should primarily use justice professionals who have been trained to deliver judicial training. Non-judicial experts may be used where they add relevant expertise, especially for digitalisation, AI, information technology and training methodology.

Training needs assessment and strategic fit

A completed, evidence-based training needs assessment is required. The application should demonstrate the specific EU law or professional practice gap being addressed, the differences between countries or professional groups, and why EU-level transnational action is necessary.

The proposal should explain how it complements, rather than duplicates, existing national and EU training. Applicants are expected to check relevant European Judicial Training Network offers and other EU-funded projects, including projects funded through the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values Programme and the Internal Security Fund.

Strong proposals will show concrete synergies with existing training, address underserved professions or regions, respond to differences in digital maturity, and provide outputs that can be rolled out by national training providers.

Gender equality, non-discrimination, accessibility, child protection where relevant, data protection and EU values must be integrated into the project design. The training needs analysis must include a gender equality perspective and the project should use sex-disaggregated data and other relevant equality data where possible.

Duration and geographical implementation

Projects should normally last between 12 and 24 months. Longer projects may be accepted with a strong justification, but the maximum duration is 36 months. The action should normally start within six months after grant agreement signature. Extensions require justification and a formal amendment.

Activities must take place in eligible countries. A retroactive start date may be approved only exceptionally and may never precede the proposal submission date.

Evaluation and award criteria

The call uses a single-stage submission and one-step evaluation procedure. Proposals are checked first for admissibility and eligibility, then assessed against operational capacity and award criteria by an evaluation committee assisted by independent experts.

For proposals with equal scores, priority is first given to the relevance score, then to the quality score and then to the impact score. Passing the thresholds does not guarantee funding because proposals compete within the available budget.

Project design and implementation requirements

Activities must be organised into work packages with clear objectives, tasks, milestones, deliverables and indicators. Management and coordination costs in the first management work package should not exceed 10 percent of the total proposal cost.

Deliverables must be measurable and quantifiable. A report on the EU Survey on Justice, Rights and Values is mandatory for all projects. Beneficiaries must invite event participants to complete the survey and provide the resulting information as required by the Commission.

Applicants must present a robust evaluation framework that measures participation, completion, participant satisfaction, learning outcomes, practical relevance and longer-term impact. Evaluation should not rely solely on post-event satisfaction questionnaires and should include a credible strategy for obtaining representative response rates.

Sustainability is a central requirement. Applicants should explain how training materials and outputs will be translated, adapted, reused by national training providers and made accessible to other justice professionals. The Commission may promote suitable outputs through the European Training Platform.

Budget and cost conditions

The detailed budget table is used to calculate the lump sum and must be uploaded in the required spreadsheet format. Cost assumptions should be based on realistic market conditions, comply with best value for money principles and avoid conflicts of interest.

Financial support to third parties is not allowed. Separate project websites are not eligible, although communication through participants own websites or social media may be eligible. Volunteer unit costs may be used for personnel costs in accordance with the applicable Commission decision, without indirect costs.

Subcontracting should normally be limited and performed by entities outside the consortium. Subcontracting exceeding 30 percent of total eligible costs must be justified in the application. Any subcontracting must be necessary, cost-effective and free from conflicts of interest.

The grant cannot generate profit. The same costs cannot be financed twice from the EU budget, and one action may normally receive only one EU grant. Combination with an EU operating grant is possible only where activities and cost items are clearly separated and not declared twice.

Required application components

The application must be submitted electronically through the Funding and Tenders Portal. Paper applications are not accepted.

Part B is limited to a maximum of 45 pages. The standard formatting requirements include A4 page size, a minimum font size of Arial 9 points and margins of at least 15 millimetres. Pages beyond the limit may be disregarded by evaluators.

Applications may be submitted in any official EU language, but the project abstract or summary should be in English. The Commission strongly recommends using English throughout the application for evaluation efficiency.

Artificial intelligence in proposal preparation

Applicants remain fully responsible for proposal content produced with generative artificial intelligence. Any AI-assisted text must be checked for accuracy, appropriateness, intellectual property risks, plagiarism, bias, personal data risks and incorrect citations. Applicants should disclose the AI tools used, explain how they were used and provide a checked list of sources.

Key applicant risks and success factors

Overall assessment

This is a specialised capacity-building opportunity suited to judicial academies, ministries and public justice bodies, judicial training networks, universities, professional associations and experienced non-profit organisations able to deliver training across borders. The strongest applications will combine a clearly evidenced EU law or digital justice training gap with practical cross-border delivery, credible national rollout, high-quality evaluation and strong coordination with existing training systems.

The absence of a maximum grant amount provides flexibility for substantial European projects, but the total call budget is modest relative to the breadth of eligible topics. Applicants should therefore present a focused intervention with a realistic participant plan, a tightly justified budget and a clear explanation of why the selected topic and target group require funding under this call rather than another EU or national instrument.

Official references

The authoritative topic page and call document should be reviewed immediately before submission because the portal may publish updates, revised templates, participating-country information or additional instructions 1.

The official contact for non-technical questions is EC-JUSTICE-CALLS@ec.europa.eu. Technical submission issues should be directed to the Funding and Tenders Portal IT Helpdesk.

Footnotes

1. 1Official Funding and Tenders Portal topic page: JUST-2027-JTRA topic page. Official call document: JUST-2027-JTRA call document.
2. 2The official topic metadata identifies an indicative 2027 budget of €4,075,000 for the JUST Lump Sum Grant action. The call document states that the Commission may decline to award the full available budget depending on the proposals received and evaluation results.