2002D1145 — EN — 30.04.2004 — 001.001 — 1
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►B DECISION No 1145/2002/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL
of 10 June 2002
on Community incentive measures in the field of employment
(Text with EEA relevance)
(OJ L 170, 29.6.2002, p. 1)
Amended by:
Official Journal
No page date
►M1Decision No 786/2004/EC of the European Parliament and of the
Council of 21 April 2004L 138 7 30.4.2004
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DECISION No 1145/2002/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIA-
MENT AND OF THE COUNCIL
of 10 June 2002
on Community incentive measures in the field of employment
(Text with EEA relevance)
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE
EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and
in particular Article 129 thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (1),
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social
Committee (2),
Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions (3),
Acting in accordance withth e procedure laid down in Article 251 of
the Treaty (4), in the light of the joint text approved by the Conciliation
Committee on 3 April 2002,
Whereas:
(1)Article 3 of the Treaty sets out that the activities of the Commu-
nity shall include the promotion of coordination betweenemployment policies of the Member States with a view toenhancing their effectiveness by developing a coordinated
strategy for employment.
(2)The Extraordinary European Council Meeting on Employment in
Luxembourg on 20 and 21 November 1997 launched an overallstrategy for employment, the European Employment Strategy,
encompassing the coordination of Member States' employment
policies on the basis of commonly-agreed employment guide-lines (the Luxembourg process), the continuation anddevelopment of a coordinated macroeconomic policy and of anefficient internal market, witha view to laying th e foundations
for sustainable growth, new dynamism and a climate of confi-
dence conducive to boosting employment. This strategy alsoinvolves the harnessing in a more systematic way of all Commu-nity policies in support of employment, bothframework policiesand support policies.
(3)The European Council of Lisbon of 23 and 24 March 2000 hasagreed on a new strategic goal for the Union to build a competi-tive and dynamic knowledge-based economy capable ofsustaining economic growthwithmore and better jobs and
greater social cohesion and so to regain the conditions for full
employment. To this end, it has set a new range of targets andbenchmarks and introduced them in a new open method of coor-dination at all levels coupled witha stronger guiding andcoordination role for the European Council, to ensure more
coherent strategic direction and effective monitoring of progress.
Moreover, it requested that the mid-term review of the Luxem-bourg process should give a new impetus by enriching theemployment guidelines withmore concrete targets establish ingcloser links withoth er relevant policy areas.
(4)A specific strength of the European Employment Strategy is thatMember States cooperate on employment policy, while retaining2002D1145 — EN — 30.04.2004 — 001.001 — 2
(1) OJ C 337 E of 28.11.2000, p. 242.
(2) OJ C 139, 11.5.2001, p. 30.
(3) OJ C 144, 16.5.2001, p. 30.
(4) Opinion of the European Parliament of 14 February 2001 (OJ C 276,
1.10.2001, p. 53), Council Common Position of 25 June 2001 (OJ C 301,
26.10.2001, p. 14) and Decision of the European Parliament of 23 October
2001 (not yet published in the Official Journal). Decision of the European
Parliament of 25 April 2002 and Council Decision of 7 May 2002.
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the right to take decisions appropriate to their individual circum-
stances. Another strength is that they learn from the experiencesof each other, including the ways in which they involve the
social partners, and local and regional authorities.
(5)The European Council has determined on several occasions thatcomparable and reliable statistics and indicators in the field of
employment and the labour market should be defined andcollected.
(6)Council Decision 2000/98/EC of 24 January 2000 establishingthe Employment Committee (
1) aims at promoting coordination
between the Member States on employment and labour marketpolicies.
(7)Council Decision 98/171/EC of 23 February 1998 on Commu-nity activities concerning analysis, researchand cooperation in
the field of employment and the labour market (
2) which
provided for suchactivities ceased to apply on 31 December2000.
(8)This Decision should provide for the continuation and develop-ment of the activities launched on the basis of Decision 98/171/EC. In implementing activities under this Decision, the Commis-sion should take full account of the results of the programmecarried out under Decision 98/171/EC.
(9)The measures necessary for the implementation of this Decisionshould be adopted in accordance with Council Decision 1999/
468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the
exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commis-sion(
3).
(10)This Decision lays down, for the entire duration of the activities,a financial framework constituting the prime reference within themeaning of point 33 of the Interinstitutional Agreement of 6May 1999 between the European Parliament, the Council andthe Commission, on budgetary discipline and improvement of
the budgetary procedure (
4) for the budgetary authority during
the annual budgetary procedure,
HAVE DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:
Article 1
Establishment of Community activities
Community activities concerning analysis, researchand cooperation
among the Member States in the field of employment and the labourmarket shall be carried out in the period from 1 January 2002 to 31December 2006.
Article 2
Principles
1. The activities referred to in this Decision are those directly linked
to the implementation of Title VIII of the Treaty.
2. The activities shall contribute to achieving the new strategic goal
set by the European Council at Lisbon of enabling the Community tore-establishth e conditions for full employment.2002D1145 — EN — 30.04.2004 — 001.001 — 3
(1) OJ L 29, 4.2.2000, p. 21.
(2) OJ L 63, 4.3.1998, p. 26.
(3) OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23.
(4) OJ C 172, 18.6.1999, p. 1.
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Article 3
Objectives
1. The objectives of these activities are:
(a) to underpin a coordinated approachto employment policy in th e
Community within the overall aim of raising the employment rateset out by the European Council at Lisbon;
(b) to contribute to the development of the coordinated strategy for
employment through the analysis, monitoring and support of
actions carried out in the Member States, with due regard for thelatter' responsibilities in this field;
(c) to develop, follow up and evaluate the European Employment
Strategy witha strong forward-looking emph asis;
(d) to foster cooperation between Member States in analysis, research
and monitoring of labour market policy;
(e) to identify best practices and promote exchanges and transfers of
information and experience;
(f) to develop the approach and contents of the European Employment
Strategy, including ways of cooperating withth e social partnersand relevant local and regional authorities, and
(g) to implement an active information policy responding to the
public's need for transparency and recognising the importance ofensuring that European citizens can be fully informed on all aspectsof the European Employment strategy. This is achieved in parti-cular by specific information measures to increase the general
awareness of the European Employment Strategy and by making
the Employment Package including the national action plans onemployment, and their evaluations as presented in the JointEmployment Report, accessible to the general public, notablythrough the use of internet facilities.
2. The analysis in the context of these activities shall to the
maximum possible extent be gender specific.
Article 4
Community measures
1. Bearing in mind the principles set out in Article 2 and with a
view to achieving the objectives referred to in Article 3, the Commu-nity measures shall cover the following activities:
(a) analysis and evaluation of employment trends and framework
policy conditions; prospective analysis on policy areas of impor-
tance to the Commission and Member States for the assessment ofpolicy options and the impact of Community policies; forwardanalysis and researchof new policy issues arising in th e develop-ment of the coordinated strategy for employment;
(b) providing support for Member States' efforts in evaluating in a
consistent and coordinated manner their National Action Plans forEmployment, including the way in which the social partners andrelevant regional and local authorities have been and may be
involved in their implementation. A special evaluation exercise
shall be completed at the end of the first period of application ofthe annual employment policy guidelines agreed in accordancewithth e Luxembourg process;
(c) a quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the effects of the
European Employment Strategy in general, including assessmentof the effectiveness of the methodology used, and analysis of theconsistency between the European Employment Strategy andgeneral economic policy, as well as other policy areas;
(d) bringing together and exchanging experience in the Member States,
including the peer review process, in terms of both the pillars andindividual guidelines, as defined in the annual Employment PolicyGuidelines for the Member States. Increasing this cooperation will2002D1145 — EN — 30.04.2004 — 001.001 — 4
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help Member States in developing their employment policies in the
light of the lessons learned;
(e) monitoring of the European Employment Strategy in the Member
States, in particular through the European Employment Observa-tory;
(f) technical and scientific work needed to underpin the development
of common quantitative and qualitative indicators, improving andcompleting statistics, benchmarking performances and the exchange
of information on best practices;
(g) supporting the input of presidencies of the Council of the European
Union in order to create a special focus on priority elements of theEuropean Employment Strategy and on special events of high inter-national importance or of general interest to the Community and
the Member States.
2. Under the activities referred to in paragraph 1, particular attention
will be given to people experiencing a combination of disadvantages
which inhibit their prospects of participating actively on the labourmarket. In addition, efforts shall be made to mainstream the principleof gender equality, in particular withregard to equal opportunities formen and women in employment and labour markets and to reconcilingworking life and family life.
3. In implementing the measures referred to in paragraph 1, the
Commission shall take into account the statistical data, studies and
project reports available from international organisations suchas th e
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)and the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
4. The activities referred to in paragraph 1 shall be based on the
objective of ensuring that there is a high level of awareness of theEuropean Employment Strategy at all geographic levels of theEuropean Union so that the general public and interest groups, such associal partners, local and regional authorities and other key local actors,
including the mutual and non-profit sector, are aware of their potential
to enhance the economic and social prospects of their localities, andencouraged and facilitated in making contributions to that end.
The activities aimed at promoting cooperation, best practice and inno-
vative approaches, improving knowledge, developing an exchange ofinformation and evaluating the experience in implementing theNational Action Plans at all levels, will include:
(a) studies on all innovative approaches and measures relating to the
implementation of the Employment strategy including at local and
regional level;
(b) the exchange of experiences to promote best practices including at
local and regional level;
(c) studies on measures to encourage local and regional partners in the
implementation of the European Employment Strategy;
(d) dissemination of the results of the abovementioned studies on the
implementation of the European Employment Strategy includingat local and regional levels.
Article 5
Outputs
The output of the activities referred to in Article 4 shall be used or
published according to the type of activity involved, including:
1. the Employment in Europe report and other publications, working
documents, reports to be submitted to the Council, the Commissionand the Employment Committee; including reports on the evaluation
of the Luxembourg process referred to in Article 4(1)(b);
2. national seminars in preparation for the National Action Plans for
Employment, seminars on employment policy or the organisationof important international events on priority topics or topics ofgeneral importance;2002D1145 — EN — 30.04.2004 — 001.001 — 5
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3. the use of Internet facilities for the dissemination of results (web
publishing, Internet chats and seminars) and as a tool to foster coop-eration and the exchange of information.
Article 6
Consistency and complementarity
The Commission shall take all necessary steps to ensure consistency
and the absence of duplication between the measures implementedunder this Decision and those of other related and relevant Communityprogrammes and initiatives. In this regard a high priority will beaccorded to assessing bothpositive and negative outcomes of allmeasures assisted under suchrelated programmes and initiatives and
ensuring that lessons learned in one sphere progressively inform activ-
ities which are being undertaken in others. To this end the Commissionshall ensure the internal links with relevant Community programmesand initiatives and the decentralised agencies.
Article 7
Participation of third countries
1. The activities which may be open to participation by the countries
of the European Economic Area, the associated countries of Central
and Eastern Europe, Cyprus, Malta and Turkey, and Mediterranean
countries which are partners of the European Union shall be definedin the context of the European Union's relations with those countries.
2. The cost of the participation referred to in paragraph 1 shall be
borne either by the countries concerned or under the Communitybudget headings covering implementation of the cooperation, associa-tion or partnership agreements with those countries in the areaconcerned.
Article 8
Implementing measures
1. The measures necessary for the implementation of this Decision
relating to the matters referred to below shall be adopted in accordance
withth e management procedure referred to in Article 9(2):
(a) the general guidelines for the implementation of the activities and
the annual plan of work;
(b) the breakdown of funding between measures;
(c) the Commission proposals for selection criteria for financial
support;
(d) the criteria for assessing activities receiving such support, and the
procedure for disseminating and transferring the results.
2. The measures necessary for the implementation of this Decision
relating to all other matters shall be adopted in accordance with the
advisory procedure referred to in Article 9(3).
Article 9
Committee
1. The Commission shall be assisted by a Committee.
2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Articles 4 and 7 of
Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the provisions of
Article 8 thereof.
The period laid down in Article 4(3) of Decision 1999/468/EC shall be
set at two months.
3. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Articles 3 and 7 of
Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the provisions of
Article 8 thereof.
4. The Committee shall adopt its rules of procedure.2002D1145 — EN — 30.04.2004 — 001.001 — 6
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Article 10
Cooperation with other Committees
To ensure the consistency and complementarity of these activities with
other measures referred to in Article 6, the Commission shall keep theCommittee referred to in Article 9 regularly informed about other rele-vant Community action. Where appropriate, the Commission shallestablishregular and structured cooperation between th is Committee
and the committees established for other relevant policies, instruments
and actions.
Article 11
Links to be established
Without prejudice to Articles 8, 9 and 10, the Commission shall estab-
lish the necessary links with the Employment Committee, in order to
ensure that that Committee is regularly and appropriately informedabout the implementation of the activities referred to in this Decision.
Furthermore, the Commission shall, within the framework of the activ-
ities referred to in this Decision, establish the necessary links with the
European Parliament and the social partners and regularly exchange
views with them. To that end, the Commission shall make the relevantinformation available to the European Parliament and the social part-ners. The Commission shall inform the Employment Committee andthe Committee referred to in Article 9 of the views of the EuropeanParliament and the social partners.
Article 12
Financing
1. The financial framework for implementing the Community activ-
ities referred to in this Decision for the period 1 January 2002 to 31
December 2006 shall be EUR 62,3 million.
2. The annual appropriations shall be authorised by the budgetary
authority within the limits of the financial perspective.
3. The Commission may have recourse to technical and/or adminis-
trative assistance, to the mutual benefit of the Commission and of thebeneficiaries, as well as to support expenditure.
Article 13
Evaluation and reporting
1. The Commission shall identify performance indicators for the
actions, monitor achievement of interim results, and carry out indepen-dent evaluations in the third year (mid-term) and early during the lastyear (ex-post) of the activities. The evaluations shall assess in parti-
cular the impact achieved and the efficiency of the use of resources,
and provide decision-oriented recommendations for adjustments andthe eventual extension of the activities.
2. The Commission shall make the results of the actions undertaken
and evaluation reports publicly available.
3. In the light of the evaluations, the Commission may propose an
extension of the activities.
4. The Commission shall submit an interim report on the results of
the activities to the European Parliament, the Council, the Economicand Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions by 31
December 2004 at the latest, and a final report by 31 December 2007
at the latest. It shall incorporate into these reports information onCommunity financing within the framework of the activities and onconsistency and complementarity withoth er relevant programmes,actions and initiatives, as well as the relevant evaluation results.2002D1145 — EN — 30.04.2004 — 001.001 — 7
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Article 14
Entry into force
This Decision shall enter into force the day of its publication in the
Official Journal of the European Communities .2002D1145 — EN — 30.04.2004 — 001.001 — 8