16. 7. 90 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 174/35 
7. The knowledge acquired during the course of the projects shall be disseminated on the one hand within 
the specific programme and on the other and by means of a centralized activity, pursuant to the Decision 
referred to in the third subparagraph of Article 4 of Decision 90/221/Euratom, EEC. 
Proposal for a Council Decision adopting a specific research and technological development 
programme in the field of measurements and testing (1990 to 1994) 
COM(90) 157 final — SYN 262 
(Submitted by the Commission on 3 May 1990) 
(90/C 174/05) 
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, 
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European 
Economic Community, and in particular Article 130q 
(2) thereof, 
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, 
In cooperation with the European Parliament, 
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and 
Social Committee, 
Whereas, by Decision 90/221/Euratom, EEC(1), the 
Council adopted a third framework programme for 
Community activities in the field of research and tech­
nological development (1990 to 1994), specifying inter 
alia the actions required, for improved harmonization, 
of testing methods, of measurements and analysis, for 
the elimination of certain barriers to trade in the large 
internal market; whereas this Decision should be taken 
in the light of the grounds set out in the preamble to 
that Decision; 
Whereas Article 130k of the Treaty stipulates that the 
framework programme is to be implemented through 
specific programmes developed within each activity; 
Whereas the Joint Research Centre contributes to the 
realization of these actions, by means of its own pro­
gramme; 
Whereas an estimate should be made of the amount of 
Community financial resources needed to carry out this 
specific programme; whereas the definitive amounts 
will be fixed by the budgetary authority in line with 
the financial perspectives covering the period 1988 to 
1992 included in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 
29 June 1988 (2) and with any future financial perspec­
tives covering the period 1993 to 1994; Whereas, pursuant to Article 4 of and Annex I to 
Decision 90/221/Euratom, EEC, the amount deemed 
necessary for the whole framework programme includes 
an amount of ECU 57 million for the centralized dis­
semination and exploitation of results, to be divided up 
in proportion to the amount envisaged for each activity; 
whereas in view of the importance of this specific 
programme within the 'Industrial and materials tech­
nologies' action the estimate of the financial resources 
needed by this programme is to be reduced by ECU 
500 000, which amount is to be allocated to the central­
ized activities, in order to comply with the second 
sentence of Article 130p (2) of the Treaty; 
Whereas this programme must be implemented by the 
Commission; whereas, to help accomplish this, the 
Member States are bound, pursuant to Article 5 of the 
Treaty, to facilitate the achievement of its tasks, where 
necessary, notably within a committee; 
Whereas this programme must be implemented essen­
tially by the selection of research and development 
projects to enable them to benefit from Community 
participation; whereas the Commission should encour­
age the submission of such projects by the usual means 
of publishing calls for proposals in the Official Journal 
of the European Communities; whereas a special pro­
cedure should also be devised so as to maintain a degree 
of flexibility enabling the Commission, in the face of 
the continuous evolution and gradual acceleration of 
technological progress, also to take into consideration 
spontaneous proposals consistent with the objectives of 
the programme; 
Whereas the projects to be carried out under the pro­
gramme must be selected with special attention to the 
principle of economic and social cohesion in the Com­
munity, the transnational nature of the projects and 
the support to be given to small and medium-sized 
enterprises; 
(!) OJ No L 117, 8. 5. 1990, p. 28. 
(2) OJ No L 185, 15. 7. 1988, p. 33. Whereas it is only in the light of experience gathered 
in the course of this programme that the Commission 
No C 174/36 Official Journal of the European Communities 16. 7. 90 
will be able to propose and the Council to adopt sup­
plementary programmes by having recourse to the 
means provided for in Articles 1301, 130m or 130o of 
the Treaty, if they contribute to the achievement of the 
programme's objectives, in accordance with the option 
made available by Article 2 (2) of Decision 90/221/ 
Euratom, EEC; 
Whereas, in accordance with Article 130g of the Treaty, 
the Community's activities aimed at strengthening the 
scientific and technological basis of European industry 
and encouraging it to become more competitive include 
promoting cooperation on research and technological 
development with third countries and international 
organizations; whereas such cooperation may prove 
particularly beneficial for the development of this pro­
gramme; 
Whereas it is necessary, as Annex II to Decision 
90/221/Euratom, EEC, provides, that the laboratories 
of the Member States are equipped with the technical 
means necessary to carry out measurements and tests 
in a harmonized manner and are able to have the 
validity of their respective results recognized; 
Whereas the Scientific and Technical Research Com­
mittee (Crest) has been consulted, 
HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: 
Article 1 
A specific research and technological development pro­
gramme for the European Economic Community in 
the field of measurements and testing, as defined in 
Annex I, is hereby adopted for a period of five years 
as from 1 January 1990. 
Article 2 
1. The Community funds estimated as necessary for 
the execution of the programme under this Decision 
amount to ECU 140 million. This amount includes ECU 
50 million, for carrying out the actions instituted by 
this Decision, and ECU 90 million, related to activities 
by which the JRC contributes to this programme and 
which will be the objective of a separate decision by 
the Council. 
2. Of the specified funds of ECU 50 million, the sum 
of ECU 500 000 is deducted for the centralized action 
of dissemination and exploitation. The amount thus 
reduced to ECU 49 500 000 includes expenditure on 
staff up a maximum of 16 %. 
3. An indicative allocation of funds is set out in 
Annex II. 
4. Should the Council take a decision in implemen­
tation of Article 1 (4) of Decision 90/221/Euratom, 
EEC, this decision shall be adapted to take account of 
the abovementioned Decision. 5. The budgetary authority shall decide on the appro­
priations available for each financial year. 
Article 3 
Rules for the implementation of the programme are set 
out in Annex III. 
Article 4 
The rate of the Community financial contribution shall 
be laid down in accordance with Annex IV to Decision 
90/221/Euratom, EEC. 
Article 5 
1. During 1992 the Commission shall review the pro­
gramme and address a report on the results of the 
review to the Council and the European Parliament, 
together with proposals for any necessary changes. 
2. At the end of the programme the Commission shall 
assess the results obtained. It shall address a report 
thereon to the Council and the European Parliament. 
3. The reports shall be drawn up having regard to the 
objectives set out in Annex I to this Decision and 
in accordance with Article 2 (4) of Decision 90/221/ 
Euratom, EEC. 
Article 6 
1. The Commission shall be responsible for the 
execution of the programme. It shall be assisted by 
an advisory committee, hereinafter referred to as 'the 
Committee', composed of representatives of the Mem­
ber States and chaired by a representative of the Com­
mission. 
2. The contracts concluded by the Commission shall 
govern the rights and obligations of each party, includ­
ing the procedures for disseminating, protecting and 
exploiting the research results, in accordance with the 
arrangements adopted pursuant to the second para­
graph of Article 130k of the Treaty. 
3. A work programme for each year shall be drawn 
up and updated where necessary. It shall set out the 
detailed objectives and types of projects to be under­
taken, and the financial arrangements to be made for 
them. The Commission shall make calls for proposals 
for projects on the basis of the annual work pro­
grammes. 
Article 7 
1. In the cases referred to in Article 8 (1), the represen­
tative of the Commission shall submit to the Committee 
a draft of the measures to be taken. The Committee 
16. 7. 90 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 174/37 
— draft calls for proposals, referred to in Article 6 (3), 
— projects, referred to in point 2 of Annex III, submit­
ted through the ordinary procedure, for which the 
Community contribution is less than ECU 5 million, 
and the results of their evaluation, 
— accompanying measures, referred to in point 2 of 
Annex HI, 
— concerted actions, referred to in point 2 of Annex III. 
Article 9 
In implementing this programme, supplementary pro­
grammes within the meaning of Article 1301, partici­
pation within the meaning of Article 130m and joint 
undertakings or any other structures within the mean­
ing of Article 130o of the Treaty may also be decided 
on as the need arises. 
Article 10 
Where cooperation with third countries and inter­
national organizations aiming at achieving the objec­
tives of this programme requires legal undertakings 
between the Community and the third parties con­
cerned, the Commission shall be authorized to nego­
tiate, in accordance with Article 130n of the Treaty, 
international agreements laying down the terms of such 
cooperation. 
Decisions on the conclusion of such agreements shall 
be adopted in accordance with the procedure referred 
to in Article 130q (2) of the Treaty. 
Article 11 
This Decision is addressed to the Member States. 
ANNEX 1 
Scientific and technical objectives and content 
This specific programme fully reflects the approach embodied in the third Framework Programme in terms 
of the scientific and technical goals and the underlying aims which it pursues. 
Paragraph 2C of Annex II to the Framework Programme forms an integral part of the present specific 
programme. 
The aim is to improve measurements, testing techniques and chemical analyses where they are not sufficiently 
accurate and therefore laboratories cannot mutually agree on their results and where the measurement 
methods are insufficient to satisfy the new challenges in industry, in the monitoring of the environment, food 
quality and health. shall deliver its opinion on this within a time limit 
which the chairman may set in accordance with the 
urgency of the matter, if necessary by holding a vote. 
2. The opinion shall be entered in the minutes; in 
addition, each Member State shall have the right to ask 
for its position to appear in the minutes. 
3. The Commission shall take the fullest account of 
the opinion delivered by the Committee. It shall inform 
the Committee of the way in which it has taken account 
of the opinion. 
Article 8 
1. The procedure laid down in Article 7 shall apply 
to: 
— the preparation and updating of the work pro­
grammes referred to in Article 6 (3), 
— evaluation of the projects referred to in point 2 of 
Annex III, as well as the estimated amount of the 
Community's financial contribution when these 
projects are submitted through the ordinary pro­
cedure referred to in point 4 of Annex III and the 
abovementioned amount is more than ECU 
5 million, 
— evaluation of all projects submitted through the 
exceptional procedure referred to in point 4 of 
Annex III, as well as the estimated amount of the 
Community's financial contribution, 
— measures for evaluating the programme. 
2. The Commission may consult the Committee on 
any matter falling within the scope of the programme. 
3. The Commission shall inform the Committee with 
regard to: 
— the progress of the programme, 
No C 174/38 Official Journal of the European Communities 16. 7. 90 
The research activities will be closely connected to the requirements of the internal market [as specified in 
the White Paper on the completion of the internal market (l)] and to the implementation of specific Community 
policies. Close coordination with the relevant research programmes will be also assured. 
The following presents an analytical description of the content of the programme, based on and taking 
account of the above elements. 
Area 1: Support to Regulations and Directives 
The aim is to improve methods of obtaining reliable and internationally accepted results for the application 
of Directives, in particular, on food products, environment and health. 
The work will consist in developing, improving or harmonizing the test methods required for the preparation 
of the new Regulations and Directives concerning agriculture, environment, health and industrial products. 
For existing Regulations and Directives, difficulties may occur in the application and harmonization of 
methodologies. In this context, work will be done, for example, for supporting the collaboration between 
food control laboratories to harmonize the methods and results, for harmonizing the determination of 
hormones in meat, for the determination of dangerous substances in the atmosphere at the workplace and 
for improving the quality of chemical analyses in the context of the next monitoring campaign of the North 
Sea pollution. 
Area 2: Sectoral testing problems 
The aim will be to contribute to the implementation of 'the global approach to conformity assessment' of 
industrial products [Council resolution of 21 December 1989 (2)], through support to European standardiz­
ation, laboratory accreditation and mutual recognition. 
The work will include collaborative projects to solve problems of measurement and testing arising in the 
course of the preparation of new European norms (CEN/Cenelec); collaborative projects to solve measurement 
problems arising in industry in the application of norms, in particular to avoid laboratories finding different 
results when using the same standard method; organization of interlaboratory comparisons to facilitate 
mutual recognition agreements between testing laboratories. 
Area 3: Common means of calibration for the Community 
The objective is to support projects to develop the calibration means required by testing laboratories in the 
Community, to ensure that measurements and tests are done on a common basis and can be compared also 
with measurements done outside the Community. 
For fields such as food, agriculture, environment and biomedical analyses, the means of calibration will be 
reference materials which will be used essentially by laboratories to establish the traceability of their analyses 
or tests to a common reference. Similarly, transfer standards will be developed for smaller national metrology 
laboratories to be connected to larger organizations. This will be done with particular attention to the needs 
of the newer Member States. 
Area 4: Development of new methods of measurements 
The aim is to develop new methods of measurements as required by Community policies. Work in this area 
will include methods for the calibration of the instruments which are used in automated manufacturing 
systems (a programme carried out in consultation with the IT and with the industrial technologies pro­
grammes); methods of measurement for extremely small dimensions (micrometrology) in applications such 
as microelectronics, optical components (in coordination with the IT programme); research and development 
of measurement principles which could lead to new instrumentation; better and faster methods for food 
control; methods for the determination of the chemical form of polluting elements (environment) and 
monitoring the pollution of the working environment; new methods necessary to certify reference materials, 
in particular in the field of biomedical analyses. 
(*) COM(85) 310 final. 
(2) OJ No C 10, 16. 1. 1990, p. 1. 
16. 7. 90 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 174/39 
ANNEX 11 
Indicative breakdown of expenditures for the period 1990 to 1994 
(%) 
Area 1: Support to Regulations and Directives 15-25 
Area 2: Sectoral testing problems 15-25 
Area 3: Support to means of calibration 25-35 
Area 4: Development of new methods of measurements 25-35 
The breakdown between different areas does not exclude the possibility that projects could cover several 
areas. 
ANNEX 111 
Rules for implementing the programme 
and activities for dissemination and exploitation of the results 
1. The Commission shall implement the programme on the basis of the scientific and technical content 
described in Annex I. 
2. The rules for implementing the programme, referred to in Article 3, comprise research and technological 
development projects, accompanying measures and concerted actions. 
The direct research activities carried out by the JRC will be the subject of a separate Council Decision. 
The projects shall be the subject of shared-cost research and technological development contracts. 
The accompanying measures consist of applying the means to ensure proper technical execution, manage­
ment and evaluation of the programme, as well as adequate dissemination and accessibility of the results, 
and coordination, training and consciousness-raising of the participants in the programme. 
The concerted actions are those defined in the Financial Regulation. 
3. The participants in the projects must be natural or legal persons established in the Community, such as 
universities, research organizations and industrial firms, including small and medium-sized enterprises, 
or associations thereof, in particular European economic interest groupings (EEIGs). 
Natural or legal persons established in countries which have concluded agreements with the Community 
foreseeing scientific and technical research, may, based on the criterion of mutual advantage, take part 
in the projects undertaken in the context of this programme. The contracting parties under such 
arrangements shall not benefit from Community funding. They shall contribute to the general administrat­
ive costs. 
4. The choice of projects shall be carried out according to the following order of priority, the first method 
being the rule, the second the exception. 
The participants in the projects shall be selected on the basis of the ordinary procedure of calls for 
proposals referred to in Article 6 (3) and published in the Official Journal of the European Communities. 
The Commission may also accept proposals according to an exceptional procedure and under the 
conditions mentioned below, when they make a particularly promising and significant contribution as 
regards the originality of the theme proposed, the novelty of the scientific and technical approach and 
the methodology of execution, also taking into account the particular nature of the proposers. 
No C 174/40 Official Journal of the European Communities 16. 7. 90 
A favourable technical evaluation of such proposals shall not by itself be a sufficient justification for 
accepting a project; this exceptional procedure may only apply after verification that the nature of the 
project, as defined above, does not justify the use of the normal procedure for calls for proposals. 
The exceptional procedure must be completed before the ordinary procedure in such a way that the 
available amount for the Community's financial participation in projects retained by the ordinary 
procedure can be determined precisely. The closing date for the exceptional procedure shall be published 
each year in the Official Journal of the European Communities. 
The amount of the financial participation of the Community for all the projects retained by the exceptional 
procedure will be decided each year, in relation to the projects selected according to particularly strict 
criteria of excellence. In any case, this amount may not exceed 15%; it may be revised each year in the 
light of experience. 
The Commission shall draw up a vade mecum setting out all the rules applicable to this exceptional 
procedure in order to guarantee full transparency. 
5. The projects must involve at least two mutually independent partners established in different Member 
States. 
6. The Commission may encourage the participants to form a European Economic Interest Grouping (EEIG) 
or make other arrangements for carrying out projects, such as those on a large scale, permitting 
decentralized management adapted to the specific requirements of the project. 
7. The knowledge acquired during the course of the projects shall be disseminated on the one hand within 
the specific programme and on the other and by means of a centralized activity, pursuant to the Decision 
referred to in the third subparagraph of Article 4 of Decision 90/221/Euratom, EEC. 
Proposal for a Council Decision adopting a specific research and technological development 
programme in the field of environment (1990 to 1994) 
COM(90) 158 final — SYN 263 
(Submitted by the Commission on 3 May 1990) 
(90/C 174/06) 
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, 
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European 
Economic Community, and in particular Article 130q 
(2) thereof, 
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, 
In cooperation with the European Parliament, 
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and 
Social Committee, 
Whereas by Decision 90/221/Euratom, EEC(1), the 
Council adopted a third framework programme for 
Community activities in the field of research and tech­
nological development (1990 to 1994), specifying inter 
alia the activities to be pursued for developing the 
scientific knowledge and technical know-how needed 
by the Community, in particular to carry out its role 
relating to the environment according to Part Three, Title VII of the Treaty; whereas this decision should be 
taken in the light of the grounds set out in the preamble 
to that Decision; 
Whereas Article 130k of the Treaty stipulates that the 
framework programme is to be implemented through 
specific programmes developed within each activity; 
Whereas the Joint Research Centre shall contribute 
through its own programme to the implementation of 
the aforesaid activities; 
Whereas an estimate should be made of the amount of 
Community financial resources needed to carry out this 
specific programme; whereas the definitive amounts 
will be fixed by the budgetary authority in line with 
the financial perspectives covering the period 1988 to 
1992 included in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 
29 June 1988 (2) and with any future financial perspec­
tives covering the period 1993 to 1994; 
(!) OJ No L 117, 8. 5. 1990, p. 28. (2) OJ No L 185, 15. 7. 1988, p. 33.