Léargas PIC Guide for Schools Your school must have a Participant Identification Code (PIC) to apply for any EU grant programme, including Erasmus+. PICs are generated centrally by the European Commission, not by Léargas. PICs are used to ensure that European funding is only supplied to authentic organisations. Any organisation that will be entered as a partner in an application form must have a PIC. The process has two stages, self registration and submission of supporting documents. Both stages must be completed before the application deadline.
1: Visit the Participant Portal Go to http://ec.europa.eu/education/participants/portal
2: Check for existing registration Click organisations and then search to check if your organisation is already registered.
If your search returns a Validated result, your organisation is already registered. Note the PIC and use it in your application. There is no need to re register.
If your search returns a Declared result, your PIC has been applied for, but it is awaiting submission or validation of documents (see section on Supporting Documents ).
3: Access the Participant Portal If your organisation is not already registered, you must now set up your PIC. If you already have an ECAS/EU Login account, go to step 4. If not, you need to create one.
3a: Create an EU Login account EU Login is user authentification service for a wide range of EU information systems. To set up an account, go to: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/cas/eim/external/register.cgi. Click external.
4: Start PIC registration Log in to the Participant Portal using your ECAS/EU Login details. You will see your user on the right of the screen. Click organisations and then register.
Click Register organisation. If you have to stop at any time in the registration process, you can save your details and click Resume registration when you begin again.
The Registration wizard will open and guide you through the process. Click next to continue.
5: Enter your school s details Enter your School Roll number under Registration number and your VAT number if you have one. If you do not have one, tick VAT number not applicable. Reveal more info by clicking on the i icons!
6: Check if you are already registered At this stage, the Participant Portal may pick up a similarity to a school or school organisation that has already registered. Click on the blue tabs to expand and see the data.
If the data matches your organication, click Use this PIC and record the PIC number. If you want to check who the contact person in your own organisation is, click contact organisation to send an email to them.
If the data does NOT match your organisation, tick the none of the organisations box at the bottom of the page and continue with your registration.
7: Complete your school s details Fill in your organisation s legal name and status. Public schools and ETBs should choose a legal person, non profit, and public body. Click on the i icons for more detail about each status. Scroll down the page to fill in further details. For registration date, enter the date your school was founded (if you know it). Registation authority will be Department of Education and Skills.
State your organisation address. Postal code (Eircode) is not mandatory for Ireland. Phone numbers must be in the format +353 (area code without 0) (phone number) e.g. +353 1 8871224.
8: Enter contact details In the contact information section, some details will be pre filled from your ECAS account. If you want to change the details, click no and enter new information. Note that the listed contact is the person who will receive notifications about the registration process.
9: Review your information If you need to change anything, click edit. When all the details are correct, scroll to the end of the page and click submit.
10: Record your PIC Your PIC is generated and displayed on screen. Print and keep for your records together with the ECAS account details. If you misplace the PIC, you can find it again by clicking organisations and search on the front page of the Participant Portal.
If you already have documents to upload or other details to add, click continue to update. Otherwise, exit the Participant Portal and read the next section of this guide.
After registration, the contact person will get a confirmation email. It contains a record of your PIC, and a link to the EU forms required to validate your organisation s identity. However, you can still get to the forms without the link (see next section). 21
11: Supporting documentation After completing self registration, you must upload supporting documentation confirming your organisation s details so that your PIC can be validated. Documents required include two European Commission forms: the Legal Entity (FEL) form and Financial Identification form (see section 9 for full details). You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer to work with these forms. The forms must be printed and signed by the legal representative of your organisation. This may be the principal of the school or the CEO of the ETB.
Documents required Public Entities A public entitity is a public sector body or a legal entity governed by private law with a public service mission providing adequate financial guarantees. These include schools, higher education institutions and organisations that have received over 50% of their annual revenue from public sources. Public entities must submit: Completed Legal Entity (FEL) and Financial Identification forms with required stamps/signatures. Completed Financial Identification from signed and dated by the account holder. A recent bank statement showing the school name and account number OR a bank stamp and signature on the Financial Identification form.
Documents required (continued) A copy of the resolution, law, decree, decision or any other official document establishing the organisation. To meet this requirement and show that your school roll number is valid, please scan a recent, official document from the Department of Education and Skills that is addressed to your school and clearly shows the school roll number.
12: Complete the EC forms Make sure you have installed Adobe Acrobat Reader (https://get.adobe.com/reader) on your computer, and then download the forms from the European Commission website. You will not be able to view the forms without Adobe Acrobat Reader. Legal Entity (FEL) Form: http://ec.europa.eu/budget/contracts_grants/info_contracts/legal_e ntities/legal_entities_en.cfm Financial Identification Form: http://ec.europa.eu/budget/contracts_grants/info_contracts/financi al_id/financial_id_en.cfm
On each link, scroll down to the en (English) section. For the Legal Entity (FEL) form, click on the correct document for your organisation type (for public schools & ETBs, it is Public Entities ).
After you open the form, if you see Fill & Sign in Adobe Reader you can complete the form on your computer. If you don t see this option, print the form and fill it in by hand.
For Private Companies, the Legal Entity (FEL) form must be signed by the authorised representative i.e. the legal signatory of your organisation. For Public Entities, the Legal Entity (FEL) form must be signed and stamped by the authorised representative. SCAN THE COMPLETED FORM AND SAVE IT ON YOUR COMPUTER.
The Financial Identification form must be signed and dated by the account holder. A recent bank statement OR bank signature are also required. SCAN THE COMPLETED FORM AND SAVE ON YOUR COMPUTER.
13: Upload your documents When you have assembled all the necessary documents, log back in to the Participant Portal to upload them. Click organisations and then my organisations. Next to your organisation name, click MO (for modify organisation ).
1. Click the Documents tab 2. Click Add document.
1. Click browse to search for and select the documents you scanned earlier. 2. Choose the document type from the drop down list. NB: Legal Entity forms are listed as FEL forms. 3. Tick the box to assert that the document is in its original language (i.e. it has not been tranlsated). Click Submit for processing to upload the document for validation.
Once you see your document name and sent on the screen, your documents have been succesfully uploaded for review by the validation service and you can exit the portal. You do NOT need to enter LEAR (Legal Entity Appointed Representative) details. These are ONLY needed for applications to centralised Erasmus+ actions managed by the Directorate General Education and Culture in Brussels.
14: Check progress of validation You can log back in to the Participant Portal at any time. Click my organisations and VO (view organisations) to review your information. You can check the progress of validation under the top menu documents tab.
15: Resources and Support For more information on PICs, see the Erasmus+ Programme Guide: http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus plus/documents/erasmus plusprogramme guide_en.pdf. A FAQ is available at: https://ec.europa.eu/education/participants/portal/desktop/en/support/faq.html A User Manual is available at: http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus plus/documents/manualurf_en.pdf If you have questions related to your PIC application which are not addressed in this guide or in the User Manual, please contact: Léargas Operations and Finance Unit (01) 887 1290 OpsFin@leargas.ie