13 Jan 2026
Public consultation on ERA Act is closing soon
The European Commission launched the public consultation on the planned European Research Area Act (ERA Act) on 13 October 2025. The public consultation followed a Call for Evidence that had been open from 6 August to 10 September 2025 and had received 178 contributions.
The public consultation targets all stakeholders from national and regional administrations and research and innovation communities, including higher education, vocational education, and training institutions, research performing organisations, research and scientific communities, private-sector businesses including SMEs, technology centres, research and technology infrastructures, scientific advice and technology assessment structures and organisations, scientific publishers, and the general public.
The ERA Act is supposed to make important steps forward for achieving the full implementation of the ERA and towards the “fifth freedom” in the EU single market through binding European legislation. The policy measures that could be included in the proposal for an ERA Act fall under three main blocks:
1) National commitments to reach the 3% R&D target: by developing new legal mechanisms to support and incentivise public and private-sector R&D spending, alongside national plans to achieve the 3% of GDP investment target.
2) Better alignment of investments and policies: Reinforced alignment of investments, policies and programmes around strategic priority areas between the EU and Member States and across Member States
3) Improvements in framework conditions for research(ers) and research organisations in Europe in areas such as researchers' careers, open science, improved legal framework for research infrastructures; better opportunities for knowledge valorisation, the upholding of ERA fundamental values, including safeguarding scientific freedom, strengthening ethics and the integrity of R&I, and promoting gender equality and improvements in coherence and consistency between EU and national approaches to R&I cooperation with third countries, as well as a minimum level of research security across the EU.
The consultation will remain open for 10 more days, closing on 23 January 2026 (midnight Brussels time). The Commission is planning to present the proposal for an ERA Act regulation in the third quarter of 2026.