Guide to COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS of investment projects - Ramiri

Figure 1.2 The project investment cost includes any one-off pre-production expensesSource: Authors1.3 Information requiredCommunity regulations indicate which information must be contained in the project dossier submitted tothe Commission. Article 40 of Regulation 1083/2006 stipulates its own rules for the submission of therequest for co-financing of major projects. It asks for results of a feasibility study, a cost-benefit analysis, arisk assessment, an evaluation of the environmental impact 3 , a justification for public contribution and afinancing plan showing the total planned financial resources and contributions from the Funds and otherCommunity sources of funding (see Focus for details). Similar information requirements apply to IPAprojects.For the formal request for contribution to the Commission, the Managing Authority should submit astandard application form (see Annexes XXI and XXII of the Implementing Regulation) which provides adetailed description of the specific information needed for each section of the feasibility, cost-benefit,environmental impact and risk analyses.Furthermore structured data provided in the application forms will also be encoded, according to the rulesfor the electronic exchange of data (see Article 39-42 of the Implementing Regulation and its Annex XX).A major project is formally notified only after the application form and the structured encoded data aresubmitted to the Commission.Reading this Guide will help project proposers to better understand what information is required by thedifferent decision-makers, and eventually by the Commission, in order to evaluate the socio-economicbenefits and costs; how to consider the environmental costs and benefits; how to weigh the direct andindirect effects on employment; how to evaluate the economic and financial profitability, etc. In fact, thereare different ways to respond to these requests for information: Chapter 2 stresses some fundamentalquestions, methods and criteria.3In particular the effect on the Nature 2000 sites, and the ones protected under the ‘Habitats’ Directive (92/43/EEC) and the ‘Birds’ Directive(79/409/EEC), the polluter-pays principle and compliance with the Economic Impact Analysis and SEA directives.20