CELEX: 51988PC0500(03)
Language: en
Date: 1988-07-26
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL REGULATION LAYING DOWN PROVISIONS FOR IMPLEMENTING COUNCIL REGULATION ( EEC ) NO 2052/88 AS REGARDS THE EUROPEAN SOCIAL FUND

No C 256/16                               Official Journal of the European Communities                                 3. 10. 88
                Proposal for a Council Regulation (EEC) laying down provision for implementing Council
                               Regulation (EEC) No 2052/88 as regards the European Social Fund
                                                 COM(88) 500/2 final — SYN 151
                                       (Submitted by the Commission on 30 August 1988)
                                                           (88/C 256/03)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                             Whereas arrangements should be laid down for the
                                                                     submission and approval of applications for assistance
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European                from the Fund, as should details of the arrangements for
Community, and in particular Article 127 thereof,                    monitoring;
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
                                                                     Whereas the transitional provisions should be specified.
In cooperation with the European Parliament,
                                                                     HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social
Committee,
                                                                                               Article 1
Whereas Article 3(4) of Council Regulation (EEC)
No 2052/88 of 24 June 1988 on the tasks of the Structural
                                                                                          Eligible operations
Funds and their effectiveness and on coordination of their
activities between themselves and with the operations of
                                                                     1. Under the conditions laid down by Regulation (EEC)
the European Investment Bank and the other existing
                                                                     No 2052/88 and Regulation (EEC) No ... (COORD/88)
financial instruments (*) provides for the Council to adopt
                                                                     and those specified in this Regulation, the Fund shall
the specific provisions governing operations under each
                                                                     contribute to the financing of the following:
Structural Fund;
Whereas the types of measure to be supported by the                  (a) vocational training operations, accompanied where
European Social Fund (hereinafter referred to as 'the Fund')             necessary by vocational guidance;
should be defined;
                                                                     (b) subsidies towards recruitment into newly created jobs
Whereas the scope of the Fund should be specified in the                 of unspecified duration and towards the creation of
light of its responsibility for contributing to the attainment           self-employed activities.
of the five objectives laid down in Article 1 of Regulation
(EEC) No 2052/88;                                                    2. In this connection, the Fund shall also contribute to the
                                                                     financing of the following:
Whereas the categories of expenditure eligible for assist-
ance from the Fund should be defined;                                (a) operations of an innovatory nature which are intended
                                                                         to test new approaches to the content, methods and
Whereas expenditure trends should not be allowed to                      organization of vocational training and more generally
diverge and standard amounts should be introduced by                     the development of employment, with a view to
stages for contributions by the Fund towards operating                   establishing a basis for subsequent Fund assistance in a
costs in respect of training;                                            number of Member States;
Whereas Article 10(1) of Regulation (EEC) No 2052/88                 (b) preparatory, accompanying and management meas-
requires the Commission to establish guidelines for the                  ures needed for the implementation of this Regulation;
attainment of Objectives 3 and 4 laid down in that                       such measures shall include studies, technical assist-
Regulation;                                                              ance and the exchange of experience which has a
                                                                         multiplier effect, and follow-up to and evaluation of
Whereas arrangements should be specified for the                         measures financed by the Fund;
submission of the plans to be drawn up by Member States
pursuant to Regulation (EEC) No 2052/88;                             (c) measures involving the training of employees' rep-
                                                                         resentatives from two or more Member States, carried
Whereas it is necessary to define the forms of assistance to             out at the request of employers' and workers'
be granted by the Fund and to specify the content of                     organizations in connection with the modernization of
applications relating to operations to be carried out within             the production apparatus.
the framework of Member States' labour market policies;
                                                                     3. Vocational training within the meaning of para-
                                                                     graph 1(a) means, firstly, any measure aimed at providing
(!) OJ No L 185, 15. 7. 1988, p. 9.                                  the skills necessary to carry out one or more specific types
 ---pagebreak--- 3. 10. 88                                Official Journal of the European Communities                              No C 256/17
of employment, with the exception of apprenticeship                 (b) as regards Objectives 1, 2 and 5(b), to measures
schemes, and secondly, any measure with a large tech-                    intended to:
nology content aimed at developing the advanced qualifi-
cations required by the changing labour market and carried
                                                                         — encourage job stability and develop new employ-
out in order to meet the requirements of available jobs.
                                                                             ment possibilities, organized for persons employed
                                                                             in small and medium-sized enterprises and those
4. By way of derogation from paragraph 3, vocational                         who are unemployed or threatened with unemploy-
training shall include, in the regions concerned by                          ment,
Objectives 1 and 5(b), any vocational training and further
training measure required for the use of new production                  — facilitate vocational training for any working
and/or management techniques in small and medium-sized                       person involved in an operation which is essential to
enterprises.                                                                 the achievement of the development and conversion
                                                                             objectives of an integrated programme;
5. By way of derogation from paragraph 3, vocational
training shall include, in the regions concerned by                 (c) as regards Objective No 1, operations for persons:
Objective 1:
                                                                         — holding an apprenticeship contract,
— the theoretical portion of apprenticeship training given
    outside the firm,                                                    — trained under national secondary vocational edu-
                                                                             cation systems.
— that part of national secondary education systems
    specifically devoted to vocational training following
    compulsory full-time schooling where the system is
                                                                                               Article 3
    reorganizing its structures and vocational training
    methods to meet the challenges posed by economic and
    technological change.                                                                Eligible expenditure
                                                                    1. Fund assistance may be granted only towards expendi-
6. In the regions concerned by Objective 1, and for a
                                                                    ture to cover:
period of three years following the entry into force of this
Regulation, recruitment subsidies shall be extended to
projects which fulfil a public need involving the creation of       (a) the income of persons receiving vocational training;
additional jobs of at least six months' duration for the long-
term unemployed aged over 25.
                                                                    (b) the cost:
                                                                         — of preparing, operating and managing vocational
                                                                             training operations including vocational guidance,
                                                                             including the cost of training teaching staff,
                            Article 2
                                                                         — subsistance and travel costs of those covered by
                             Scope                                           vocational training operations;
                                                                    (c) the granting, during a maximum period of 12 months
In accordance with Article 3(2) of Regulation (EEC)
                                                                         per person, of subsidies towards recruitment into
No 2052/88, Fund assistance may be granted:
                                                                         newly-created jobs of unspecified duration and
                                                                         towards the creation of self-employed activities;
(a) as regards Objectives 3 and 4, to operations intended
     to:                                                            (d) the cost of preparing, accompanying and managing
                                                                         operations which receive assistance from the Fund
                                                                         under Article l(2)(b) and (c) of this Regulation.
     — combat long-term unemployment by means of the
         occupational integration of persons aged over 25
         who have been unemployed for more than 12                  2. The Commission shall determine each year the
         months,                                                    maximum eligible amount per person and per week granted
                                                                    under paragraph 1(c). This amount shall be based on 30 %
                                                                    of the average gross earnings of industrial workers in each
     — facilitate the occupational integration of persons of        Member State, determined in accordance with the
         up to 25 from the age at which compulsory full-time        harmonized definition of the Statistical Office of the
         schooling ends, however long or short the period           European Communities; it shall be published in the
         during which they have been seeking employment;             Official Journal of the European Communities.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 256/18                             Official Journal of the European Communities                                 3. 10. 88
3. The Commission shall ensure that Fund expenditure               — the scale of the financial effort by public authorities at
for operations of the same type does not develop in                    all levels.
different ways. To this end, it shall determine the
standardized cost by Member State for each item of
expenditure to be borne by the Fund according to the type                                    Article 6
of training involved.
                                                                                       Forms of assistance
The Commission shall establish the first set of standardized
costs in the first financial year this Regulation comes into       1. In accordance with Article 5 of Regulation (EEC)
force; they shall be published in the Official Journal of the      No 2052/88, applications for Fund assistance shall be
European Communities and shall be applicable in the                presented in the form of operational programmes, global
following financial year.                                          grant schemes or action within the meaning of Article
                                                                   l(2)(b) and (c). The operational programmes and global
                                                                   grant schemes may include associated preparatory,
                                                                   accompanying and administrative measures.
                           Article 4
                                                                   2. The Member States shall communicate the inform-
                                                                   ation necessary for the examination of measures, in
                          Guidelines                               particular the information specified in Article 14(2) of
                                                                   Regulation (EEC) No ... (COORD/88) and the inform-
1. In accordance with Article 10(1) of Regulation (EEC)            ation specifically related to the European Social Fund
No 2052/88, the Commission shall establish before 15               (location, number of persons, duration of the operation for
February 1989 for a period covering a number of years the          each person, occupational level concerned).
guidelines concerning action under Objectives 3 and 4
which it will apply in defining the Community support              Furthermore, Member States shall:
frameworks; they shall be published in the Official Journal
of the European Communities.                                       — in the case of registered unemployed persons and others
                                                                       without jobs, state their occupational level at the
                                                                       beginning of the operations,
2. Any amendments shall be made before 1 February of a
financial year; they shall apply to the new Community
                                                                   — in the case of employed persons, specify the nature and
support frameworks or amended frameworks in respect of
                                                                       scope of proposed occupational conversion operations,
the following financial years.
                                                                   — in the case of operations involving conversion or
3. The guidelines shall establish the training and                     economic restructuring, state the volume and type of
employment policies covering measures that may be                      investment planned and the changes in products or
eligible for European Social Fund assistance; apart from               production systems.
regions covered by Objectives 1, 2 and 5(b), priority shall
be given to Community financing for measures leading to
recruitment in available jobs.                                                               Article 7
                                                                    Submission and approval of applications for assistance
                           Article 5                               1. Applications for assistance shall be submitted at least
                                                                   three months before the start of operations. They shall be
                             Plans                                 accompanied by a form drawn up using computerized
                                                                   means listing the particulars for each measure so that it can
                                                                   be monitored from budgetary commitment to final
The plans referred to in Article 8 to 11 of Regulation (EEC)       payment.
No 2052/88 shall, in the part concerning the Fund, indicate
in particular:                                                     2. The Commission shall decide on these applications
                                                                   before the beginning of operations.
— the disparity between job applications and vacancies,
— the nature and characteristics of unfilled vacancies,                                      Article 8
— the occupational openings which appear on labour                                          Monitoring
    markets,
                                                                   In accordance with Article 24(2) of Regulation (EEC) No ...
                                                                   (COORD/88), the Commission may carry out on-the-spot
— the list of measures planned or underway in regard to            checks. These checks may take the form of representative
    training and employment,                                       sample checks. In this case, after consultation with the
                                                                   Member State concerned, the Commission shall establish
— the number of persons concerned, broken down by                  the proportion of samples taken in the light of the material
    category and type of measure,                                  and technical conditions of the operation concerned.
 ---pagebreak--- 3. 10. 88                               Official Journal of the European Communities                               No C 256/19
Where the sample check leads to a reduction, it shall be                                      Article 10
applied proportionately to the entire amount for which
payment is requested after the Member State has had an                              Administrative procedures
opportunity to present its observations.
                                                                   The Commission shall lay down the detailed provisions
                          Article 9                                necessary for the implementation of this Regulation.
                  Transitional provisions
1. In accordance with Article 15(4) of Regulation (EEC)                                       Article 11
No 2052/88, applications for assistance for 1989 submitted
before 21 October 1988 shall be covered by Council                                        Entry into force
Decision 83/516/EEC (x) and the provisions implementing
it.                                                                1. This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 January
                                                                   1989. Subject to the transitional provisions laid down in
2. The first plans shall cover a period beginning on 1             Article 9, it shall be applicable as from that date.
January 1990. Plans concerning Objectives 1, 2 and 5(b)
shall be presented before 31 March 1989. Plans concerning          2. Council Regulation (EEC) No 2950/83 (2) is hereby
Objectives 3 and 4 shall be presented by 1 June 1989.              repealed.
3. Applications for assistance for operations to be
implemented starting in the 1990 financial year shall be           This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly
submitted before 30 June 1989.                                     applicable in all Member States.
(!) OJ No L 289, 22. 10. 1983, p. 38.                              (2) OJ No L 289, 22. 10. 1983, p. 1.
              Proposal for a Council Regulation (EEC) laying down provisions for implementing Regulation
                                  (EEC) No 2052/88 as regards the EAGGF Guidance Section
                                               COM(88) 500/2 final — SYN 151
                                      (Submitted by the Commission on 30 August 1
                                                         (88/C 256(04)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                           Whereas the tasks laid down for the Guidance Section of
                                                                   the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European              by Article 3(3) of the above Regulation should be further
Economic Community, and in particular Article 43 thereof,          specified in the light of the contribution it makes to
                                                                   achieving Objectives 1, 5(a) and 5(b) as set out in Article 1
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,                 of that Regulation;
 In cooperation with the European Parliament,
                                                                   Whereas measures to speed up the adjustment of agricul-
 Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social           tural structures with a view to the reform of the Structural
 Committee,                                                        Funds must include measures closely connected with the
                                                                    Common Agricultural Policy and designed to meet its
 Whereas Article 3(4) of Council Regulation (EEC)                  general requirements;
 No 2052/88 (*) provides for the Council to adopt the
 specific provisions governing operations under each
 Structural Fund;                                                   Whereas, however, some of those measures, which already
                                                                    exist at Community level, may be adjusted to allow for the
                                                                    differing structural situations in the different regions of the
 (i) OJ NoL 185, 15.7. 1988, p. 9.                                  Community, by increased diversification, and specifically