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1. Only actions implementing the objectives referred in Article 3 shall be eligible for funding.

2. In particular, the following actions implementing the objectives referred in Article 3 shall be eligible for funding:

(a) the creation of the right conditions to empower all actors of the internal market, including businesses, citizens, consumers, representatives of civil society and public authorities, through the transparent exchange of information and campaigns to raise awareness, particularly as regards applicable Union rules and the rights of businesses, citizens and consumers, as well as through the exchange and dissemination of good practices, expertise, knowledge and innovative solutions, including through actions implemented through the SOLVIT network and the European Consumer Centres Network;

(b) provision of mechanisms for citizens, consumers, end-users and representatives of civil society, including representatives of the social partners and business representatives from the Union, in particular those representing SMEs, to contribute to political discussions, policies and decision making process, notably by supporting the functioning of representative organisations at national and Union level;

(c) capacity building, facilitation and coordination of joint actions between Member States, between the competent authorities of Member States and between the competent authorities of Member States and the Commission, the decentralised Union agencies and third country authorities, including joint actions aimed at strengthening product safety;

(d) support for the effective enforcement and modernisation of the Union legal framework and for its rapid adaptation to enable the Union to effectively face global competition, as well as support for efforts to resolve issues raised by digitalisation, including through the following:

(i) data gathering and analyses;

(ii) research on the functioning of the internal market, studies, evaluations and policy recommendations;

(iii) the organisation of demonstration activities and pilot projects;

(iv) communication activities;

(v) the development of dedicated IT tools to ensure the transparent and efficient functioning of the internal market and to combat and prevent fraudulent practices on the internet.

3. Actions constituting activities referred to in Article 36 of Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 and implementing the specific objectives referred to in Article 3(2)(a)(ii) of this Regulation shall be eligible for funding, in particular in respect of the following:

(a) coordination and cooperation between market surveillance authorities and other relevant Member States authorities, in particular through the Union Product Compliance Network;

(b) support for the development of joint actions and testing in the field of compliance including in relation to connected products and products sold online;

(c) support for market surveillance strategies, knowledge and intelligence gathering, testing capabilities and facilities, peer reviews, training programmes, technical assistance and capacity building for market surveillance authorities.

4. Actions implementing the specific objective referred to in Article 3(2)(b) shall be eligible for funding, in particular in respect of the following:

(a) providing various forms of support to SMEs, including information, mentoring, training, education, mobility, cross-border cooperation or advisory services;

(b) facilitating, in coordination with Member States, the access of SMEs and clusters and business network organisations to markets within and outside the Union, supporting them, during their life-cycle, in addressing global environmental, economic and societal challenges and business internationalisation, and strengthening Union entrepreneurial and industrial leadership in global value chains;

(c) supporting the work of the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) in providing integrated business support services to Union SMEs, including helping those SMEs find business partners and funding, in particular from the InvestEU, Horizon Europe and Digital Europe Programme, facilitating their innovation uptake, their internationalisation and their green and digital transition and helping them access digital, environmental, climate, energy and resource efficiency expertise, in order to make it easier for them to explore opportunities in the internal market and in third countries, whilst avoiding duplication of activities by closely coordinating with the Member States in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity and bearing in mind the need to ensure that when the EEN is being used to deliver services on behalf of other Union programmes, including advisory or capacity-building services, those services are to be funded by those other Union programmes;

(d) addressing market barriers and the administrative burden and creating a favourable business environment to empower SMEs to benefit from the internal market;

(e) facilitating the development and growth of businesses, including through promoting technical, digital and entrepreneurial skills, sustainable business management and product and process development in order to foster green and digital transformation across industrial ecosystems and throughout the value chains of the manufacturing and service sectors;

(f) supporting the competitiveness and sustainability of enterprises and whole sectors of the economy, and supporting the uptake of creativity and all forms of innovation by SMEs, the enhancing of corporate social responsibility, the adoption of new business models and value chain collaboration, through strategically connecting ecosystems and clusters, including the Joint Cluster Initiatives;

(g) fostering an entrepreneurial business environment and entrepreneurial culture, including through mentoring and mobility schemes to improve know-how, skills, technological capacity and enterprise management, as well as by supporting start-ups, business sustainability and scale-ups in particular projects, based on market-driven opportunities, paying special attention to the particular needs of potential new entrepreneurs, as well as those of the members of underrepresented groups.

5. Actions constituting activities referred to in Articles 15 and 16 of Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 and implementing the specific objective referred to in Article 3(2)(c)(i) of this Regulation shall be eligible for funding.

6. The actions providing support for activities that aim to develop, apply, assess and monitor international standards in the fields of financial and non-financial reporting and auditing and to oversee their standard-setting processes and implementing the specific objective referred to in Article 3(2)(c)(ii) shall be eligible for funding.

7. In particular, the following actions implementing the specific objective referred in Article 3(2)(d)(i) shall be eligible for funding:

(a) improving awareness, digital literacy and life-long education of consumers about their rights, including regarding issues raised by technological development and digitalisation, including addressing the particular needs of vulnerable consumers;

(b) facilitating access for consumers and traders to quality out of court dispute resolution and online dispute resolution and to information on the possibilities of obtaining redress;

(c) supporting stronger enforcement of consumer law by competent authorities, including in situations where traders are established in third countries, in particular through efficient cooperation and joint actions;

(d) fostering sustainable consumption, in particular by raising consumer awareness of the environmental performance of products, such as their durability and eco-design features, as well as fostering the application of consumer rights and redress possibilities in relation to misleading practices.

8. The actions set out in Annex I implementing the specific objective referred to in Article 3(2)(e) shall be eligible for funding.

9. The actions set out in Annex II implementing the specific objective referred to in Article 3(2)(f) shall be eligible for funding.