“TRADUZIONI” (TRANSLATIONS) 2020 ANNOUNCEMENT “For the translation and dissemination of Italian books and the reading of Italian authors abroad”
With this announcement, prepared pursuant to Inter-Ministerial Decree no. 21 dated 8 January 2021 on “Management of the Fund for the implementation of the National Action Plan for the promotion of reading and provisions for the year 2020”, the Centre for books and reading (hereinafter referred to as the “Centre”) turns to Italian publishers who are interested in promoting the translation and dissemination of books and the reading of Italian authors abroad, including through or in collaboration with Italian schools abroad, the network of cultural institutes and their libraries. The Announcement is published on the institutional websites of the Centre, of the General Directorate for Libraries and copyright, of the MiC and of the MAECI.
Art. 1 – Preamble and objectives
The Centre – which has among its various institutional aims the promotion of books, culture and Italian authors abroad – intends promoting a support programme for Italian publishers consisting in the translation of works of fiction, non-fiction, poetry and children’s literature, written by Italian authors, in order to promote our culture at international level. The Announcement envisages the awarding of grants for the translation into other languages of works by Italian authors to be carried out with the financial support of the Centre pursuant to art. 3, paragraph 1, letter b) of the above-mentioned Inter-Ministerial Decree.
Art. 2 – Eligible works
All types of works by Italian authors are eligible, with the exception of school books, which have already been published in Italian in paper format at the time of the publication of the Announcement. Works published only in electronic or audio format are therefore excluded.
Translations into all foreign languages are allowed, with priority for works in translation into the following languages: English, French and German. 2
Art. 3 – Beneficiaries of funds
The application must be submitted by the Italian publisher or agent (applicant) on behalf of the foreign publisher (beneficiary) to whom the translation rights of the work are assigned in the period from 1/01/2021 to 29/10/2021.
The grant will be paid to the beneficiary through the applicant, which may be a publishing house, a publishing group, a literary agency/agent.
A publishing house is defined as an entity whose economic activity is carried out professionally, in an organised and continuous manner, with the primary aim of publishing original works for which the author has acquired, through a publishing contract or other suitable contract, the rights to the economic use of the work.
Publishing group means a group of companies made up of several publishing houses, defined as above, with autonomous legal subjectivity and controlled by or connected to a parent company pursuant to the Italian Civil Code.
A literary agency/agent is defined as an entity that carries out an economic activity exercised professionally, on a continuous basis in the form of an organised or individual enterprise, with the aim of representing, by virtue of a mandate, the author with the publishing house in the stipulation of the publishing contract (or other suitable contract), and in the activities that ensue therefrom.
Applicants may therefore apply for the grant which have registered offices in Italy and meet the following requirements:
- • publishing houses or publishing groups with an ISBN code and established by 31/12/2019, which have published at least 8 titles in 2020;
- • literary agencies/agents operating on behalf of authors with works already published in Italian in paper format or on behalf of publishing houses whose catalogue they manage abroad.
Publishing houses may not transfer translation rights to associated foreign companies.
Natural persons, associations/foundations or bodies of any kind, publishers of multimedia works and self-publishing platforms are not eligible to apply.
In order to ensure a fair distribution of resources, a maximum limit is set for the number of works proposed which each entity may submit, according to the procedures set out in art. 6 of the Announcement:
- • maximum 5 works in the case of a publishing house;
- • maximum 25 works in the case of a publishing group (the subdivision of the 25 works between the different brand names is at the discretion of the publishing group);
- • maximum of 20 works per literary agency/agent, with a maximum of 5 works per publishing house.
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Within the maximum limits defined in the Announcement, the examining Commission shall be entitled to change these ceilings in order to ensure a fair distribution of the overall resources.
The submission of grant applications for a greater number of works than that specified in the previous paragraph shall result in the exclusion of the applicant from the procedure.
It should be noted that an application may be submitted for the translation of the same work into different languages: in this case, each request for translation into a single language shall be deemed equivalent to one application.
Applications from different Italian publishers are accepted even if they refer to the same foreign publisher.
The same contract for the assignment of translation rights may not be the subject of any further grants (past, present or future) by Italian institutions.
Article 4 – Eligible expenses
Applications are eligible which envisage measures aimed at achieving the objectives specified in art. 1. Only expenses relating to the implementation of projects for the translation and dissemination of Italian books and the reading of Italian authors abroad are eligible and may be financed, and more specifically: costs for the translation of the work or works for which the grant is requested. Costs can only be reported if they have actually been incurred and documented. The Centre reserves the right to carry out checks on the documentation submitted with the application, on the status and methods of implementation of the activities for which the grant has been requested and on the documentation produced during the reporting stage.
Art. 5 – Amount of grant
The general endowment of the Announcement, attributed pursuant to Inter-Ministerial Decree no. 21 dated 8 January 2021, to Chap.1.03.02.005/L “Special Projects” of the Centre – Financial Year 2020, amounts to a total of € 650,000.00 (six hundred and fifty thousand/00 Euros).
Each grant, for each work, may amount to a minimum of €500.00 (five hundred euros) and a maximum of €5,000.00 (five thousand euros): such amounts may be subject to variations at the discretion of the Commission. The determination of the amount of the grant shall take into account the number of pages of the work subject to the assignment of translation rights, where page means 1,500 characters including spaces.
Any residual amounts1 may be re-assigned to the Commission, during the proceedings, as part of the suitable projects. Following the approval of the ranking with executive determination,
1 “Residual amount” means the amount that may be left over when, after the Commission has defined the ranking list of the winners, not all the committed funds are allocated due to requests for grants lower than the maximum amount that can be financed for each application or for other reasons motivated by the Commission. 4
in the event of non-acceptance, revocation or forfeiture of the approved funding, the Centre may consider the possibility of scrolling the ranking list.
Art. 6 – Application form: terms and conditions of presentation
The application form (Annex A) must be completed in full and digitally signed by the legal representative of the applicant. The following must also be attached to the form:
– a copy of the valid contract of assignment of rights for each work, signed by the holder and the buyer for the translation of the work for which the grant is requested. Alternatively, a copy of the acquirer’s letter of intent certifying the commitment to acquire such rights (the grant, if awarded, will be paid only after the submission of a suitable document certifying the acquisition). In the case of free assignment, a declaration by the holder of the same rights must in any case be produced;
– the list of works for which the grant is requested (Annex B);
– a copy of the privacy policy relating to the protection of personal data, with consent to processing, duly dated and signed (Annex C).
The project applications, in PDF format with digital signature (pdf with digital signature extension such as, for example, pdf.p7m are also acceptable), must be sent no later than 18:00 on 29/10/2021 to the certified email address ediser-pec@pec.ediser.it.
The deadline for submitting applications, for which the date of transmission attested by the computer system shall be taken as proof, is peremptory. Any reservations regarding the subsequent submission of documents shall be null and void. Sending the application by any method other than that indicated or sending it after the deadline shall result in disqualification. The Centre disclaims all liability for late submission of applications.
The application must include a valid certified email address, which will be used by the Centre, for all legal purposes, for communications concerning the procedure for awarding the grant and its payment.
It is therefore the responsibility of each participant to ensure the functionality of this email address, communicating any changes to: mbac-c-ll.bandi@mailcert.beniculturali.it.
Art. 7 – Formal preliminary investigation and grounds for ineligibility
The preliminary examination of the applications will be carried out by EDISER s.r.l., the service company of the Italian Publishers’ Association. 5
Applications will be declared inadmissible if:
– submitted after the deadline indicated in art. 6;
– submitted by a party other than that indicated in art. 3;
– not sent according to the procedures described in art. 6;
– without the digital signature of the legal representative of the applicant;
– submitted using a format other than the Form in Annex A;
– lacking one of the compulsory annexes mentioned in art. 6.
– referring to those works which numerically exceed the maximum limit set out in art. 3.
Art. 8 – Appointment of the Commission
Eligible project applications following the preliminary investigation as per art. 7 shall be examined by a Commission established by executive decision after the deadline for the submission of applications. The Commission will consist of 5 members: the Chairperson, an external person, a representative of the Centre, a representative of MAECI and two external experts. The secretarial functions will be carried out by the staff of the Centre.
Art. 9 – Assessment criteria
The Commission will first of all define a grid of assessment criteria. It will then analyse the applications received and define the grant to be awarded for each application. In defining the assessment criteria, the Commission, at its sole discretion, may also take into account the type of work, the number of pages to be translated, the language of translation (with priority given to English, French and German, also in consideration of future international events in which Italy is called to participate) and the quantity of applications submitted. The final decisions of the Commission are final.
On the basis of the results of the Commission’s work, a specific executive act will approve the ranking of the assessed project applications and of the awarded grant, which will be published on the institutional websites of the Centre, of the General Directorate for Libraries and copyright, of the MiC and of the MAECI. Such publication shall constitute notification to the parties involved for all legal purposes. With a subsequent provision, the Centre will proceed with the granting of the funds according to the procedures indicated in art. 10 below, making the relative formal commitment of expenditure in compliance with the provisions on accounting and public finance.
Art. 10 – Method of payment of the grant 6
The grant will be paid to the applicant (after payment to the foreign publisher), after the publication of the work following the submission to the Centre of the following documents
– digital copy of the translated work
– administrative-accounting documentation proving the payment made by the applicant to the foreign publisher. Specifically, a copy will have to be sent of the expenditure supporting documents (e.g., a copy of the invoice) and payment (e.g., a copy of the bank or postal transfer, or other payment instruments that allow for full traceability of the transactions). In the event of, in the final accounts, the amount of the expenses actually incurred being lower than the awarded grant, the Centre shall proportionally reduce the amount of the grant to be paid.
Art. 11 – Information on the procedure
Information and/or clarifications on the procedure may be requested, within 5 days from the deadline of the Announcement, solely by means of written queries to be forwarded to the following email address: segreteria@ediser.it. Answers to frequently asked questions (FAQ) will be published on the Centre’s website www.cepell.it in the “Transparent Administration” section under the heading “Subsidies, grants, economic benefits”.
Art. 12 – Performance of activities and obligations of beneficiaries
The beneficiaries of funds undertake to carry out the planned activities under their own exclusive responsibility and assume all the consequences thereof. Such responsibility applies to their own staff, to the Centre and to third parties. All measures will therefore have to be taken to ensure the safety of persons and property involved in the performed activities, in accordance with the planned timetable.
The translated work must bear, in the language in which the work is published, the words “This work has been translated with the contribution of the Centre for books and reading of the Italian Ministry of Culture” accompanied by the logo of the Centre available on the institutional website www.cepell.it. Equivalent wording must be included with adequate visibility in the various websites where the publication will be announced.
Art. 13 – Time scale 7
Upon termination of the proceedings of the Commission, the winners will be officially notified of the grant resolution, which must be formally accepted within, at the latest, 30 days from the date of the above-mentioned communication. The work must be published within 24 months from the approval of the ranking list, including in consideration of the scheduled international events. The report must be submitted within 60 days from the publication of the work.
Art. 14 – Revocation and forfeiture of the grant
The grant may be revoked in the following cases
– non-acceptance of the grant according to the terms and conditions set out in art. 12;
– express refusal of the grant by the applicant;
– discovery of false and/or misleading statements in the submitted documentation;
– failure to carry out the activities on time, except for causes not attributable to the beneficiary, without prior request and appropriate agreement of the Centre;
– failure to send the final report documentation within the deadline, i.e. within 60 days from the publication of the work.
Furthermore, in the event of failure to complete or incomplete implementation of the activity, the grant shall be totally or partially revoked in accordance with the procedures provided for by the regulations in force or the grant shall be reduced by the relative amount.
Art. 15 – Privacy policy pursuant to the Personal Data Protection Code
Pursuant to Legislative Decree 196/2003 and Regulation 2016/679 G.D.P.R. and subsequent amendments and supplements, you are hereby informed that:
– the processing of the provided data is aimed at the granting of funds;
– the data will be processed by computer and/or manually;
– the provision of data is compulsory for the correct development of the preliminary investigation and other procedural formalities.
Art. 16 – Contact persons
The data controller is the Centre for books and reading, with headquarters in Via Pasquale Stanislao Mancini, 20 – 00196 Rome.
The Data Processor is the pro tempore Director of the Centre.
Art. 17 – Annexes
The following annexes are an integral part of the present Announcement: 8
A) Application presentation form (Annex A);
B) List of works for which the grant is requested (Annex B);
C) Privacy policy on the protection of personal data and consent to their processing (Annex C).
Rome, 01/07/2021
THE DIRECTOR
Angelo Piero Cappello
(Digitally signed document)
