General | 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.

• Import from Excel is only available for selected and very few tables. Wherever the functionality is active, it will be indicated in the Quick Guides available in the Support Material section of our Portal.
• Export to Excel (Excel and CSV formats) is available on all Tables: 1. Right click on the Table / 2. Export / 3. CSV or Excel Export

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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.

Languages of the SFC Systems' Interface

All screens and forms in SFC2007, SFC2014 & SFC2021 systems are normally available in all official EU languages. However, newly developed functionalities might temporarily appear in English only, pending the translation.

If you wish to see an SFC application in a different language, just choose the desired language from the selection box in the top-right section of the application screen.

If you find any error or problem with the translation in any particular language, please report it to the SFC Support team via the 'Contact Us' form in the corresponding period on the SFC Portal.

Languages of the SFC Support Service

We highly recommend communicating with the SFC Support team in English or French* as these two languages are commonly spoken by all members of the support team. Even if a support agent might know some other language, using English or French ensures effective processing and follow-up of the support requests in case of the agent's absence.

Languages of the SFC Support Materials

The SFC support documentation (guides, videos, FAQs) is generally available in English only. Given the limited resources and…

Documents and more specifically the Standalone/Referring documents don't have a workflow and without transaction between MS nodes, because this is more flexible and more convenient for users and best reflects how document transmission in most organizations work.

The only type of status is sent or not sent, so a creator cannot indicate that he finished editing the document, that he uploaded all the necessary files, and that the document is ready to be sent. If we would allow someone other than the creator to send, this person could send incomplete documents.

A user gets a task to upload a document to the Commission or to the Member State. There's no need for someone else to verify his job, because only documents previously approved by the organization will be requested to be submitted. The sending of Standalone/Referring documents is considered a purely administrative task, like putting a letter into an envelope and bringing it to the mailbox. That's why for Standalone/Referring documents only, it is also foreseen that the Send Document permission is included for Update users (MSMA Update, MSAA Update, ...). Like that the creator can create, update and send the document having only the Update Roles and not the Send Roles. Having the Send Role would allow such administrative user to send also workflow Objects (such as the Programme, Payment Applications etc), which are much more sensitive, and which definitely need to be verified before being sent.

Another restriction of the Standalone/Referring documents is that the system cannot always determine which Funds are involved. Since Roles are attributed per Fund, this would mean that a user with MSMA Send for AMIF could send a document dealing with only ERDF. Especially for sensitive audit documents this needs to be avoided.

Our current implementation is a tradeoff taking into account flexibility and security, and therefore will not always suit all organisations/users, but we think it…

In order to increase security for access to the SFC Portal and SFC2021 (and many other Commission sites), the way in which users can login has been modified.

You can find more information about the different types of authentication by clicking here

To be able to login using Mobile Phone + SMS you need to activate 2-factor authentication and have registered your mobile phone number in EU Login.

You can add your mobile phone number by following the steps below:

1. Go to https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/cas and login
2. Click on the settings button and choose the option "My account"

3. Click on “Manage my mobile phone numbers

4.  Add your mobile phone number

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1. Copy and paste https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/cas in your Internet browser bar in order to connect to EU Login to create a new account.

2. Click on Create an account. There is no need to fill in the "Use your email address" field 

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Once you have downloaded the EU Login Mobile App on your device, open it and tap on the "Initialise" option.

Follow the instructions on the screen: open a browser on your PC and go to the following URL:
https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/cas/mobile
You are requested to authenticate.

Then click on "Add a mobile device" in the browser on your PC.

In the "Your device name" field, provide a name that will allow you to remember to which device it refers to. You can pick any name that suits you, such as "My Android tablet", "My iPhone" or "My blue Windows phone".

Select a PIN code composed of 4 digits and enter it in the "Your 4 digit PIN code" and in the "Confirm your PIN code" fields to make sure you did not mistype it.

You will be prompted to provide the PIN code when authenticating so make sure you select one  that you can easily remember. However, avoid PIN codes that can be easily guessed, such as your birth year or birth day and month. Once you are done, click "Submit" and then "Next" on your mobile device.

The QR code scanner starts on your mobile device and a QR code is displayed on the screen of your PC. Point the camera of your mobile phone to your PC screen until the QR code is recognised.

Enter the PIN code you have just chosen on your mobile device and tap "Authenticate".
If the app is active (in the foreground) it will automatically redirect you to the browser selector.
If the app is in the background, a notification is displayed on your device. Please accept this notification to be redirected successfully.

Your EU Login Mobile app is successfully initialised and can be used for authenticating. Click on ‘’Continue’’ to be redirected to the Welcome screen. If your device is equipped with Fingerprint recognition, an automatic pop up…

In order to increase security for access to all SFC applications (and many other Commission sites), the way in which users can login has been modified.

You can find more information about the different types of authentication by clicking here

Security Keys (SK)

A security key is a small physical device that looks like a USB thumb drive, and works in addition to your password.

Trusted Platforms (TP)

You can use Windows Sign-in options in order to verify your access to SFC.

1. To do so, you will first need to set up one of the ‘Windows Hello’ options, by going to your Windows settings -> Sign-in Options and set up one of the below methods:

An email containing a URL to reactivate your password will be sent to the email address linked to your EU Login account. Passwords are managed by EU Login, not by the SFC2021 Support Team, and it happens that the email sent by EU Login doesn't reach the user's mailbox because he uses filters (ex.:spam filter) or the email linked to his account is no longer valid.

If you have tried to reset your password but this has not solved your problem and you believe there's an issue with your registration or your username/password in EU Login, register an incident with the EU Login External Support for the 'ACCESS-RIGHTS' team. Refer to Contact support for assistance.

You can find more information via the Help link on the login page https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/cas . 
 

To change your email address of your EU Login (ECAS) account, please follow the steps as described below. To do so, you will have to sign in. If you do not remember your password, please go to step 2) below.

1) Procedure to change the email address of your EU Login account

Click on the URL https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/cas to open the EU Login screen. Enter your email address and click Next:

Enter your password and click on the Sign in button:

You’re now logged into EU Login. Go to the wheel on the top right corner of the screen and open My Account.

Go to 'Configure my account':

Enter your EU Login password, choose a verification method and click on the Sign in button:

Enter your new email address in the email address field and click Submit:

A confirmation message…

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 : …