TAIEX programme

TAIEX (Technical Assistance and Information Exchange)  - EU institution-building instrument (was introduced in 1996) is designed to provide short-term support to public administrations in a unique peer-to-peer fashion: TAIEX experts come as volunteers from the public administrations of  EU Member States to share their experience with their peers on how to apply EU law.

The benefits of TAIEX cooperation are the speed, ease and flexibility of activities. Activities are based on the needs of beneficiaries and tailored to their specific situations. TAIEX has proved to be a very efficient tool for transferring expertise and best practices. TAIEX activities are an easy and quick way for public authorities to engage in cooperation with countries with whom they have not had any previous contacts. The TAIEX instrument can also be used to set up networks and to prepare the ground for Twinning cooperation.

TAIEX assistance is open to:

• Civil servants, principally in central public administrations;
• Judiciary and law enforcement authorities;
• Parliaments and civil servants working in Parliaments and Legislative Councils;
• Representatives of social partners, trade unions and employers’ associations.

      TAIEX does not provide direct support to civil society, private citizens or to individual companies.

Since summer 2020, TAIEX support has also been available in a fully digital format. This allowed the instrument to support partner countries in tackling the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as in the post-COVID recovery strategies and the combination of offline and digital solutions makes the instrument flexible and resilient, and allows it to be used quickly in response to emerging needs.

TAIEX is used in the following fields:

• Agriculture and food safety
• Freedom, security and justice
• Environment, Energy, Transport and Telecommunications
• Inclusive economy for stronger society and innovation
• Support for the Turkish Cypriot community
• TAIEX-REGIO Peer 2 Peer
• TAIEX-TSI Peer 2 Peer 
• TAIEX-EIR Peer 2 Peer 
• TAIEX-FPI
• TAIEX INTPA

Beneficiary countries usually initiate TAIEX cooperation by sending an online application on the Commission’s TAIEX website. 

The request can be targeted to a specific EU Member State. The format, length and other details of each assistance mission are tailored to the beneficiary’s needs.

The most popular services provided by TAIEX are:  

• Expert Missions: experts from an EU Member State environmental authority visit an environmental authority in other Member States that have requested peer advice and exchange experience on a specific topic. Expert missions can last between two to five days. 
• Study Visits: employees (maximum three) from a requesting environmental authority go on a working visit to other EU Member State institutions to learn from peers and exchange good practices. Study visits can last between two to five days. 
• Workshops: workshops with environmental authorities from one or several EU Member States (single or multi-country workshops) can be organized in a requesting institution. Workshops would normally last two days. 

Depending on the purpose of the event, the focus can be more on learning from a specific good practice example, a specific experience or knowledge or more on a mutual exchange of experience between environmental authorities on a particular implementation challenge. 

TAIEX Expert Database

Public officials of EU Member States interested in the TAIEX cooperation may register in the TAIEX Expert Database.

The Commission may offer expert tasks directly to those in the database: TAIEX experts can be invited as speakers to seminars, workshops, expert missions or to host study visits matching their specific profile.

Please contact us whenever you need more information on Twinning or TAIEX twinning@urm.lt