I am organising OFN in Slovenia.
We will start it as project of cooperation of Slovenian LAGs(Local action group in CLLD/LEADER programes). In this programs there are also international cooperations that we could use for benefits of whole OFN.
I will search conections to other LAGs trough our LAG, but we shall conect people also trought OFN directly.
Why to contact:
To share project ideas and proposals. So we can create great national projects and keep them stable after end of financing.
To arange which functionalities one national project develop for all. (So we don’t need to do all everything we need)
To coordinate international project of cooperations in those programs.
So, @MyriamBoure, please ping people from other countries that are coordinating local projects there.
If we really want to make transformation of food chain we have to be organised!
Thank you @JozeHladnik for your message. I know some people have been involved in EU bids applications, I don’t know thought is there are other LAG’s projects involving OFN in Europe. @fraschelo I don’t remember which program you were involved in for Italy? @NickWeir is UK involved in any LAG project? I don’t think Norway is, but ping @CynthiaReynolds in case.
So far only UK, Norway and France platforms are available, and only UK is officially launched. Italy is pretty much getting organized and has a local OFN team. Here we are!
France will probably be part of an application due April 2017 for a CAP project with great partners, but I think the LAG program is already closed in France, from what I have seen.
LAG UK is only recently launching in many areas, severely delayed and a bureaucratic nightmare. My understanding is it is not really suitable for OFN UK to apply, it is much more fitting for local groups to apply individually. The groups that were planning on applying, to my knowledge, are pulling out due to the red tape. Perhaps @NickWeir has a better idea?
just on topic of cooperation at EU level, thanks to @JozeHladnik’s translation I have had a quick look at ofn france’s issues. @MyriamBoure can you comment on whether issues around VAT and invoices are likely to be the same for other eu users or they will differ from country to country? and same re. mangopay/marketplace - is that a france specific problem or would be the same for germany (for example?)
@Kirsten the Mangopay issue is likely to be a European one as Mangopay is the European leader in multi-vendor payment gateway… @fraschelo in italy said they would need it, @lin_d_hop also for UK, right? @CynthiaReynolds as well for Norway, what about Slovenia @JozeHladnik? Is Mangopay also used there? I think it’s also used in Germany, we can check with @orangeman maybe?
For the VAT/ invoices issue, well connected to mangopay is the problem of being able to print an invoice which is an aggregation of one invoice per producer (that functionnality will go with Mangopay, the hub should choose in its configuration if he want the invoice to be an aggregation… see post here Generating a compilation of one invoice per producer) So this is likely to concern all European countries.
About VAT and the way VAT is displayed in the shops/invoices, it varies from country to country, but I guess that what I proposed here Outstanding Tax Requirements (Jan 2016) should enable to cover any case…
In brief:
give the choice at the OC level to display VAT in the shop or not (in some countries like France, and I think most European countries, the prices need legaly to include VAT for BtoC sales, but VAT is usually not displayed in BtoB shops, so if the hub sells to professionnals like restaurants, the shop should display prices without VAT. I think it’s similar in other European countries?
and the incoive appearance should be configurable by each instance, as the rules differ from country to country. For example in France we have some specific mentions that need to appear on the invoice, and we need one line for the total VAT amount for each VAT rate.
Then you’ll see in the discussion the problematic I see in having to decide at the instance level if the VAT is included in prices or not… I think it makes things really unclear for the users and proposed something esle.
UK don’t need the multivendor payments option (mangopay). However this has been raised by a few potential users as a nice feature and will make us more competitive. UK can contribute some funds to this development.
I know that Kent Farmers Market Association (KFMA) are going for LAG funding. Their local administrator had so many complaints about the bureaucracy that they have simplified their process and KFMA are now applying.
Sorry I don’t know about VAT issues around this.
Might be worth linking to the discussion at this global hangout about EU Agri Urban funding.
Hello @JozeHladnik!
Quick recap: I was invited as stakeholder by one LAG here in the north-west of Italy during the implementation of Local Development Strategies to show OFN project (as you probably know, LAG’s Strategies must have a bottom-up approach). Now I’m waiting for the approval of the Strategy (it’s taking longer than expected), I hope there will be some funding for pilot projects in the field of selling local food in a sustainable way.
I know that each managing authority of the participating LAGs should promote also transnational cooperation for undertaking joint project with other group. They are not just simple exchanges of experiences, they must involve a concrete joint project, ideally managed under a common structure. In my opinion it seems hard to be achieved, first of all because Strategies are not always approved at the same time. I agree with @lin_d_hop when she said that it is much more fitting for local groups to apply individually.
Keep us updated on the development of your LAG’s project!
