Use of European Union funding logos on GOV.UK
GOV.UK policy on use of the EU logos for EU funding schemes.
1. This guidance clarifies GOV.UK policy on the use of logos with regard to the requirements in EU law to display EU emblems on information relating to EU funding.
2. The legislation is complex, and varies between funding schemes and whether a government agency is itself a beneficiary of funding. This guidance has been produced following advice from legal teams in the departments concerned.
This includes the:
- European Regional Development Fund
- European Social Fund
- Cohesion Fund
- European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development
- European Maritime and Fisheries Fund
3. The above schemes are covered by Regulation EU No 1303/2013.Implementing Regulation No. 821/2014, which supplements this regulation, gives more specific guidance on the usage of EU logos.
4. For these funding schemes, GOV.UK’s obligation to publish EU logos only applies if a government body is the beneficiary (that is, end recipient) of EU funding.
5. Government organisations acting as ‘administrators’, ‘managing authorities’ or ‘managing agents’ for funding (eg, allocating it to others) are defined as ‘beneficiaries’ if they are receiving EU funding to carry out these administrative duties.
6. Government organisations requiring publication of logos on GOV.UK connected with these schemes will therefore be asked by GDS to demonstrate they are the recipient of funding, before the logo will be published. Statutory requirements for logo publishing are outlined in ‘Obligations on schemes in section A: online logos.’
The following sets out how EU legislation for the EU funding schemes listed in Section A applies in practice to GOV.UK. These schemes are all subject to Implementing Regulation No. 821/2014.
Implementation on ‘homepages’
In places, the Implementing Regulations refer to publication of a logo on a ‘homepage of a website’. We take this to refer to the most obvious starting point that GOV.UK users have for information on a particular funding stream.
For example, this might be the page that is optimised in search, or to which we direct users to get an overview. It could be a content page, ‘collection’ page, or navigation page, depending on the particular fund.
The below table sets out the logo implementation that represents the minimum acceptable usage of logos, consistent with legal obligations. Where the logo is implemented, it must be be in colour and at least as big as other logos on the page.
EU regulations on the scheme ‘homepage’
| Scheme name | Acronym | Logo type | Must it include the logo | Stipulations | GOV.UK ‘homepage’ for this scheme (as of May 2015) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| European Social Fund | ESF | A | Y | Visible without scrolling down | European Structural Investment Funds finder |
| European Regional Development Fund | ERDF | A | Y | Visible without scrolling down | European Structural Investment Funds finder |
| European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development | EAFRD | A | Y | None | European Structural Investment Funds finder |
| European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development | EAFRD | B | Y | None | Various collection pages, as agreed with Defra, eg Countryside Productivity Scheme, Countryside Stewardship Manual |
| European Maritime and Fisheries Fund | EMFF | A | Y | Visible without scrolling down | European Structural Investment Funds finder |
Implementation on ‘publication’ pages
Where EU regulations refer to ‘publications’, GOV.UK takes this to refer to the publication asset itself, for example a PDF or HTML attachment (eg, not the GOV.UK ‘cover page’ for a publication).
The following table sets out where the EU logo should appear on publication attachments. ‘Must’ describes the legal minimum; however we will follow the ‘should’ position wherever our templates allow, and this does not negatively affect user experience.
| Type of funding | Acronym | EU regulations on publications |
|---|---|---|
| European Social Fund | ESF | Must be displayed on one page. Should be displayed on first page. |
| European Regional Development Fund | ERDF | Must be displayed on one page. Should be displayed on first page. |
| European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development | EAFRD | Must be displayed on the one page. Should be displayed on title page |
| European Maritime and Fisheries Fund | EMFF | Must be displayed on one page. Should be displayed on first page. |
Implementation of EU logos on publications is the responsibility of the publishing department.
The following standard versions of the logos are use on GOV.UK:
| Type | Logo |
|---|---|
| A | European Structural and Investment Funds logo (PNG, 16KB) |
| B | European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development logo (GIF, 11.3KB) |
7. The above programme(s) are governed by the Rural Development Regulations 1305/2013 (the RDR). Article 66 of the RDR and Article 13 and Annex III of the implementing regulation 808/2014 are relevant to the issue of logos on GOV.UK.
8. These state that each action of information and publicity and publications must display ‘the Union emblem in accordance with the graphic standards as presented on http://europa.eu/abc/symbols/emblem/download_en.htm, together with an explanation of the Union’s role, by means of the following statement: ‘The European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development: Europe investing in rural areas’.
9. The LIFE funding programme is managed by the The European Commission (DG Environment and DG Climate Action.)
10. Beneficiaries of LIFE+ projects have a contractual obligation to display the LIFE+ logo on all communication. An example of this on GOV.UK is the Cumbrian Bogs Life Project.
11. Government organisations requiring publication of logos on GOV.UK connected LIFE+ will therefore be asked by GDS to demonstrate they are the recipient of funding, before the logo will be published.
v1.0, June 2015