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Detailed Conditions And Procedure For Applying For, Carrying Out, And Approving The Outcome Of Regular Evaluation Of Research And Development


Published: 2016-11-07

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Detailed conditions and procedure for applying for, carrying out, and approving the outcome of regular evaluation of research and development

Passed 01.11.2016 Annex 60

This Regulation is established on the basis of Section 20¹ Subsection 2 of the Organisation of Research and Development Act.

§ 1.  Scope of application of the Regulation

  The regulation establishes the conditions and procedure for applying for, carrying out, and approving the outcomes of regular evaluation of research and development.

§ 2.  Objective of regular evaluation

  The objective of regular evaluation is to assess the level of research and development in a corresponding field of research and development at a research and development institution, according to internationally recognized criteria.

§ 3.  Organization of regular evaluation

 (1) Regular evaluation is carried out in accordance with OECD Frascati Manual classifications.

 (2) Regular evaluation is organized by the Ministry of Education and Research or a person authorized by the Ministry of Education and Research (hereinafter, evaluation organizer).

 (3) Expenses related to regular evaluation are covered by the State budget through the budget of the Ministry of Education and Research, except when:
 1) The evaluation is related to the research and development of a private legal entity or that of the entity’s research and development institution;
 2) The research and development in the applicant’s corresponding field was granted negative evaluation in the last regular evaluation.

 (4) To carry out a regular evaluation, the Minister responsible for the corresponding field an evaluation committee of 3-16 foreign experts from various fields and also approves the working procedure for the committee. Based on the need for expertise, the evaluation committee can set up expert sub-committees.

 (5) Researchers recognized in the field to be evaluated that satisfy the following conditions may be appointed as members of the evaluation committee:
 1) They have experience in evaluating research and development;
 2) They will be independent in their work for the committee and will not represent the interests of the organization of which they are a member; and
 3) They will be unbiased in their evaluation and they have no conflict of interest with the research and development institution being evaluated.

 (6) The evaluation organizer sends information about the composition of the proposed committee to the research and development institution, who has the right, where the need is justified, within 10 business days, to request from the evaluation organizer the addition of further members or the removal of proposed committee members.

§ 4.  Application for regular evaluation and the submission of related data

 (1) Regular evaluation is applied for by a research and development institution or by a legal entity if the evaluation relates to research and development at a research and development institution belonging to a public or private legal entity (hereinafter, the applicant).

 (2) The applicant submits the application for regular evaluation to the Ministry of Education and Research and a copy to the evaluation organizer at the latest by 15 November of the calendar year preceding the regular evaluation.

 (3) The applicant submits, via the Estonian Research Information System, a self-report related to the research and development institution (hereinafter, self-report), which includes information about the research and development institution’s research staff in the corresponding field, the results of research and development, grants and research funds received, the research environment, and, where applicable, PhD studies. The evaluation organizer and the applicant jointly arrange a due date for the self-report no later than one month following the application submission deadline.

 (4) The evaluation organizer forwards the self-report, which must meet all requirements and has been submitted via the Estonian Research Information System, to the evaluation committee within four months of the application submission deadline.

§ 5.  Carrying out regular evaluation

 (1) Regular evaluation is conducted by the evaluation committee based on the application submitted by the applicant, the self-report, and the outcome of a site visit to the research and development institution. The evaluation committee’s work is based on the evaluation committee working procedures approved by the ministry of the corresponding field as well as the assessment criteria jointly approved by the Ministry of Education and Research and the evaluation organizer.

 (2) The evaluation committee submits an evaluation report to the evaluation organizer by the end of the sixth week following the research and development institution site visit. If the evaluation committee is evaluating a single research and development institution or field at the time, it submits the evaluation report by the end of the fourth week.

 (3) The evaluation organizer submits the evaluation report to the research and development institution for expressing opinion within two weeks of receiving the report.

 (4) The research and development institution may submit a response to the evaluation report to the evaluation organizer within two weeks of receiving the report.

 (5) If the evaluation organizer finds that the evaluation report is not sufficiently justified or does not conform to the requirements stipulated by this regulation or other legal acts, the evaluation report will be returned to the evaluation committee for review within one month of receiving the report.

 (6) The final evaluation report is approved in the Estonian Research Information System by the evaluation committee chairperson by the end of the 11th week following the site visit. If the evaluation committee is evaluating one research and development institution or field, the final evaluation report is approved in the Estonian Research Information System by the evaluation committee chairperson by the end of the ninth week following the site visit. The final evaluation report includes, among other things, the evaluation committee’s justified proposal:
 1) To grant positive evaluation to the research and development institution’s research and development in the corresponding field; or
 2) To grant negative evaluation to the research and development institution’s research and development in the corresponding field.

 (7) The evaluation organizer promptly forwards the evaluation report and the research and development institution’s response to the report to the Ministry of Education and Research and makes the final report available to the research and development institution being evaluated.

§ 6.  Approval of the outcome of regular evaluation

 (1) The minister responsible for the corresponding field approves by directive the regular evaluation decision to grant the research and development institution’s research and development in the corresponding field positive or negative evaluation based on the justified proposal of the evaluation committee in the evaluation report.

 (2) The minister responsible for the corresponding field has the right to return the evaluation committee’s proposal to the evaluation committee for a second review, if:
 1) The proposal is not sufficiently justified;
 2) Requirements stipulated by this regulation or other legal acts were violated in carrying out the evaluation.

 (3) The directive specified in Subsection 1 of this Section and the proposal of the evaluation committee on which it is based are made available to the applicant.

§ 7.  Repeal of Regulation

  Regulation no. 83 “Detailed conditions and procedure for applying for, conducting, and approving the result of regular evaluation of research and development” of 15 December 2009 is repealed.

Maris Lauri
Minister

Janar Holm
Secretary General