2003/9/EC: Council Decision of 10 December 2002 on the fulfilment of the conditions laid down in the Additional Protocol to the Europe Agreement establishing an Association between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and the Czech Republic, of the other part, with regard to an extension of the period laid down in Article 8(4) of Protocol 2 to the Europe Agreement
Date: 2002-12-10
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: Czechia, aid for restructuring, association agreement (EU), industrial restructuring, iron and steel industry

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II

(Acts whose publication is not obligatory)

COUNCIL

COUNCIL DECISION

of 10 December 2002

on the fulfilment of the conditions laid down in the Additional Protocol to the Europe Agreement
establishing an Association between the European Communities and their Member States, of the
one part, and the Czech Republic, of the other part, with regard to an extension of the period laid
down in Article 8(4) of Protocol 2 to the Europe Agreement

(2003/9/EC)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Commu-
nity, and in particular Article 87(3)(e) thereof,

Having regard to the Council decision of 29 July 2002 on the
signature and provisional application of an Additional Protocol
to the Europe Agreement establishing an Association between
the European Communities and their Member States, of the
one part, and the Czech Republic, of the other part, with regard
to an extension of the period laid down in Article 8(4) of
Protocol 2 to the Europe Agreement,

Having regard to the Additional Protocol to the Europe Agree-
ment
establishing an Association between the European
Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and the
Czech Republic, of the other part, with regard to an extension
of the period laid down in Article 8(4) of Protocol 2 to the
Europe Agreement, and in particular Article 3 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal of the Commission,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

The Europe Agreement establishing an Association
between the European Communities and their Member
States, of the one part, and the Czech Republic, of the
other part (1), was signed on 4 October 1993.

Article 8(4) of Protocol 2 of the Europe Agreement lays
down that during the first five years after the entry into
force of the Agreement, and by way of derogation from
paragraph 1(iii) of that Article, the Czech Republic may
exceptionally, as regards steel products, grant public aid
for restructuring purposes, provided that this leads to
the viability of the benefiting firms under normal market
conditions at the end of the restructuring period; that
the amount and intensity of such aid are strictly limited
to what is absolutely necessary in order to restore viabi-

(1) OJ L 360, 31.12.1994, p. 2.

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)

(7)

(8)

(9)

lity and are progressively reduced; and that the restruc-
turing programme is linked to a global rationalisation
and reduction of capacity in the Czech Republic.

The initial period of five years expired on 31 December
1996.

The Czech Republic requested an extension of
abovementioned period in February 1998.

the

It is appropriate to grant an extension of this period for
an additional period of eight years starting on 1 January
1997 or until the date of the Czech Republic's accession
to the European Union, whichever comes first.

To this effect, an Additional Protocol to the Europe
Agreement was signed by the Community and the Czech
Republic on 9 October 2002 and is provisionally applied
from that date.

Article 1 of the Additional Protocol grants an extension
of the abovenamed period, subject to the fulfilment of
conditions laid out in Articles 2 and 3 of the Additional
Protocol.

Under Article 2 of the Additional Protocol, the extension
of the abovementioned period is made conditional on
the submission by the Czech Republic to the Commis-
sion of a restructuring programme and business plans
which meet the requirements of Article 8(4) of Protocol
2 of the Europe Agreement and have been assessed and
agreed by its national State aid monitoring authority (the
Office for the Protection of Economic Competition).

to

In June, July and September 2002, the Czech Republic
submitted
restructuring
programme and business plans which have been assessed
and agreed by the Office for the Protection of Economic
Competition.

Commission

the

a

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(10) Under Article 3 of the Additional Protocol, the extension
of the abovementioned period is made conditional on a
final assessment of the restructuring programme and
plans by the Commission.

(12)

The conditions laid down in Articles 2 and 3 of the
Additional Protocol
to the Europe Agreement are
accordingly met,

(11)

the

The Commission has made a final assessment of the
restructuring programme and plans submitted by the
Czech Republic. The assessment indicates that restruc-
turing aid is necessary to return certain companies in
industry to viability. The assessment
the Czech steel
confirms
restructuring
implementation of
that
programme and plans will
lead to the viability of the
companies under normal market conditions by the end
of the restructuring period; that the amount and inten-
sity of aid are strictly limited to what is absolutely neces-
sary to reach this objective and that restructuring aid to
the Czech steel industry will cease by the end of 2003;
and that the restructuring programme is linked to a
global rationalisation and reduction of overall produc-
tion capacity in the Czech Republic. The assessment
therefore concludes that the restructuring programme
and plans submitted by the Czech Republic meet the
requirements of Article 8(4) of Protocol 2 to the Europe
Agreement.

HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:

Sole Article

The restructuring programme and business plans submitted to
the Commission by the Czech Republic pursuant to Article 2
of the Additional Protocol to the Europe Agreement estab-
lishing an association between the European Communities and
their Member States, of the one part, and the Czech Republic,
of the other part, with regard to an extension of the period laid
down in Article 8(4) of Protocol 2 to the Europe Agreement,
are in compliance with the requirements of Article 8(4) of
Protocol 2.

Done at Brussels, 10 December 2002.

For the Council

The President

P. S. MØLLER