Partnership Agreement | 2021 Support Materials MS

SFC2021 accepts a limited HTML formatting either when inputting the text or when a copy and paste is done. In order to count the characters, SFC2021 removes all HTML formatting tags, whitespaces, special characters that are non visible (like carriage return, tabulation/indentation, new line….) and only counts the remaining characters.

The rich text fields have no limitation concerning spaces. What needs to be respected is the number of characters without spaces.

Tip: Tools such as Word can be used to approximate as much as possible the SFC2021 character counting, only if the formatting is removed (I.e. save as plain text, format Unicode). 

The size limit per file is 500MB.

There is no limit on the number of files or the total size of all files in an object.

The following file extensions are allowed:

".7z",".bmp",".csv",".docm",".docx", ".jpeg",".jpg",".msg",".ods",".odt",".pdf",".png",".ppt",".pptx,".rar", ".rtf",".tif",".tiff",".txt",".xlsb",".xlsm",".xlsx",".zip",".gif"

IMPORTANT INFORMATION as of May 2024 :

Compression formats will be removed from the whitelist and will not be allowed as attachments anymore. This includes formats such as .zip, .z01, .z02, .7zip, .rar, .tar, .gz …

GIS file formats, as well as the following formats, are added to the whitelist and will be allowed: .asice, .adoc, .bdoc, .cdoc, .ddoc, .edoc.

The system requires that a document contains at least a MAIN or COVER_LETTER type of attachment.

If you want to attach a type “Annex” as the only attachment, you can give it the title "Annex", but the type should be MAIN.

SFC2021 enforces the "four-eyes" principle, which means that the user who last validated the Object cannot submit it. Two different users are required; one to validate and another to send.

According to Article 69(9) of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 2021/1060 regarding the electronic data exchange system between the Member States and the Commission, one of the responsibilities of the Member State is “Ensuring the verification of information submitted by a person other than the person who entered the data for that transmission”

If you are accessing SFC2021 with an active SFC2021 user account and are having problems with the display/connection using Internet Explorer / Edge then we recommend connecting using Chrome or Firefox browser instead.

The creation of a new version of the Partnership Agreement requires a user with Member State Authority (MSA) update access on the top Member State Level Node for the Funds that can be covered by the PA (= ERDF, CF, ESF+, JTF, EMFAF) and that are applicable for that MS. ERDF, ESF+ and JTF are always applicable. CF and EMFAF are not applicable for certain MS.

The validation and sending of the Partnership Agreement to the Commission requires two different users with Member State Authority (MSA) access - one user with update access and one with send access for all Funds concerned (ERDF, CF, ESF+, JTF, EMFAF) on the Top Level Member State node.

Every MS Liaison officer managing at least on of these funds (ERDF, CF, ESF+, JTF, EMFAF) is authorised to grant MSA update and/or send access for all funds concerned by the PA.

You will need to erase all registered phone numbers and devices.                  

If you cannot receive the SMS challenge on the current mobile phone or if you don't have access to your mobile phone number anymore, please use the PANIC button (STOP) and then register the new number/device. 

This action does not require you to be logged in with the 2-factor and will remove from your account all the mobile phone numbers/devices that were associated to it:

-Login via https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/cas/userdata/myAccount.cgi with your email address and your password (please use "Password" as authentication method).

-Select the option "Delete all my devices and eID (PANIC)". The PANIC button is only available for external self-registered users and is visible once there is a registered 2-factor method (mobile device or mobile phone number or any other method). 

-A message appears. You can confirm by clicking on "Delete".

-There is a confirmation message. The system will automatically log you out.

You will then be able to register a new mobile phone number/device following the instruction on page12 to add your mobile device ( to enable the "EU Login Mobile APP PIN code" or "EU Login Mobile APP QR code" method ) and page16 to add your mobile phone number (to enable the "mobile phone + SMS" method) here : …