25. 11. 85 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 303/1 
II 
(Information) 
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE 
Opinion on the proposal for a Council Regulation amending Regulation (EEC) No 1787/84 on the 
European Regional Development Fund 
(85/C 303/01) 
On 24 July 1985 the Council decided to ask the Economic and Social Committee, under Article 198 
of the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, for an opinion, on the 
abovementioned proposal. 
The Section for Regional Development, which was responsible for preparing the Committee's 
work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 13 September 1985, on the basis of the report by Mr 
Delia Croce. 
At its 229th plenary session (meeting of 25 September 1985) the Economic and Social Committee 
adopted the following opinion unanimously: 
1. Introduction 
1.1. In 1984 major amendments were made to the 1975 
ERDF Regulation. However, in addition to a review of this 
kind, further amendments have to be made when the 
Community extends its membership. This was the case in 
1980 when Greece joined and it is the case now with the 
forthcoming membership of Spain and Portugal. 
1.2. The new ERDF Regulation will abolish quotas and 
introduce ranges of aid with lower amd upper limits for 
each of the two new Member States. This naturally means 
there will have to be an adjustment to all the ERDF aid 
granted to Member States. 
The Economic and Social Committee approves the 
proposal concerned subject to the following general and 
specific comments. 
2. General comments 
2.1. As far as the necessary adjustments to aid granted to 
other Member States are concerned, the Committee notes 
that the relationships between the aid granted have not 
been altered. More particularly, the introduction of the two 
new ranges will not involve any reduction, in absolute 
terms, of 1985 aid granted to Member States, in as far as the Commission is proposing a simultaneous increase of 45 % 
in real terms of the 1986 ERDF allocation. 
2.2. The Committee lays heavy emphasis on the 
importance of this corresponding adjustment in the ERDF 
allocation, and hopes that the Council will take the 
necessary measures without delay. The growth of the 
Community's regional development budget, which has 
been systematically called for in all the opinions of the 
Committee and the Parliament, even before the question of 
Spanish and Portuguese membership was raised, is 
particularly pressing today and will demonstrate the 
Twelve's conscious commitment to move towards a 
cohesive economic unit, under the terms of the Treaty. 
2.3. Besides this, the increase in own resources should 
allow this effort to be maintained after 1986 in successive 
annual budgets, in order to attain a better balance between 
the various forms of Community expenditure, further 
promoting instruments, such as the ERDF, designed for 
structural reform. 
3. Specific comments 
3.1. The Committee feels that Article 8 of the ex­
planatory memorandum, providing a possible 20 point 
increase over five years for Portugal, is to a large extent 
compensatory, and demonstrates solidarity between the 
European partners. 
No C 303/2 Official Journal of the European Communities 25. 11. 85 
3.2. Similarly, it approves the exemption in Article 4 
of the ERDF Regulation which reduces the transition 
period for the new ranges to two years and which will 
permit a harmonized and simultaneous re-examin­ation of aid granted to all the Member States. The 
Committee would like to see the introduction of criteria 
based on the concept of the Community average, on this 
occasion. 
Done at Brussels, 25 September 1985. 
The Chairman 
of the Economic and Social Committee 
Gerd MUHR 
Opinion on the 
— proposal for a Council Directive on standardization in the field of information technology and 
telecommunications (J) 
and on the 
— proposal for a Council Directive concerning the first phase of the establishment of the mutual 
recognition of type approval for telecommunications terminal equipment (2) 
(85/C 303/02) 
On 12 June 1985 the Council decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee, under Article 
100 of the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community on the abovementioned 
proposals. 
The Section for Industry, Commerce, Crafts and Services, which was responsible for the 
Committee's work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 4 September 1985, in the light of the 
report by Mr Nierhaus. 
At its 229th plenary session (meeting of 28 September 1985) the Economic and Social Committee 
adopted the following opinion by a unanimous vote: 
1. Introduction 
1.1. These two draft Directives are part of a com­
prehensive Community policy aimed at the gradual 
creation of a harmonized internal market in information 
technology (IT) products and the linking-up of national 
telecommunications networks. The proposed Directive on 
standardization in the field of information technology and 
telecommunications potentially covers a wide spectrum of 
activities both in isolation from, and in the presence of, 
public telecommunications networks. In the former case, 
the Directive will enable the purchaser himself to assemble 
optimum systems in so far as products from a variety of 
suppliers will be able to be combined in fields such as 
distributed office systems and manufacturing automation. 
In the latter case, i.e. in connection with public networks 
(and the standards which relate to that activity), the second 
of the two Directives is an important addition. Under these 
circumstances the importance and repercussions of the two 
(!) OJ No C 232, 19. 9. 1985, p. 3. 
(2) OJ No C 232, 19. 9. 1985, p. 9. Directives mean that they cannot be seen in isolation. Not 
only do they belong together, as the Commission points 
out, but they also form part of a comprehensive Com­
munity programme and can therefore only attain their 
objective if the Member States seriously intend to back 
them up with pragmatic solutions as quickly as possible. 
1.2. The draft Directives are to be seen against the 
background of the Commission's communication on 
telecommunications in which it reports on the thinking and 
work done in this field and puts forward initial proposals 
for an action programme. To this extent the draft 
Directives may be seen as an attempt to give legal shape to 
the goals and strategies set out in the action programme. 
1.3. The action programme's objectives are threefold: 
(a) to provide the users of telecommunications networks 
with the requisite equipment and services as soon as 
possible and at the lowest cost;