CELEX: 51988PC0500(02)
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 REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT FUND

No C 256/12                              Official Journal of the European Communities                                  3. 10. 88
               Proposal for a Council Regulation (EEC) laying down provisions for implementing Regulation
                           (EEC) No 2052/88 as regards the European Regional Development Fund
                                                COM(88) 500/2 final — SYN 151
                                      (Submitted by the Commission on 30 August 1988)
                                                          (88/C 256/02)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                            Whereas, as part of the reform of the Funds, the
                                                                    Commission should lay down the regional policy guidelines
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European               to be applied in the various stages of planning, notably in
Economic Community, and in particular Article 130E                  establishing the Community support frameworks and in
thereof,                                                            the activities of the European Regional Development Fund,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,                  HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
In cooperation with the European Parliament,
                                                                                                TITLE I
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social
Committee,                                                                      SCOPE AND FORMS OF ASSISTANCE
                                                                                               Article 1
Whereas Article 130C of the Treaty states that the
                                                                                          Scope of assistance
European Regional Development Fund is intended to help
redress the principal regional imbalances in the Com-
munity through participating in the development and                 1. The European Regional Development Fund, here-
structural adjustment of regions whose development is               inafter referred to as 'the ERDF', shall contribute to the
lagging behind and in the conversion of declining industrial        correction of the main regional imbalances in the
regions;                                                            Community, and to the strengthening of its social and
                                                                    economic cohesion.
Whereas Council Regulation (EEC) No 2052/88 of 24 June
                                                                    2. In accordance with Article 3(1) of Regulation (EEC)
1988 on the tasks of the Structural Funds and their
                                                                    No 2052/88, the ERDF shall participate in the financing of:
effectiveness and on coordination of their activities
between themselves and with the operations of the
European Investment Bank and the other existing financial           (a) investment in firms which leads to the creation or
instruments (J) states in Article 3(1) that the European                 maintenance of permanents jobs;
Regional Development Fund shall have the essential task of
providing support for Objectives 1 and 2 specified in               (b) infrastructure, and more specifically:
Article 1 of the same Regulation, that it shall participate in
the operations of Objective 5(b) and, in addition, shall                — in the regions designated under Objective 1,
provide support for studies or pilot schemes concerning                     infrastructure contributing to their economic
regional development at Community level;                                    development,
Whereas provisions common to the Community's Struc-                     — in the regions or areas designated under Objective 2,
tural Funds have been established by Council Regulation                     infrastructure relating to the redevelopment of
(EEC) No ... laying down provisions implementing                            derelict industrial sites and leading to the creation
Regulation (EEC) No 2052/88 as regards coordination of                      or development of economic activity,
the activities of the different Structural Funds as between
themselves and with the operations of the EIB and the other             — in the areas designated under Objective 5(b),
existing instruments, together with other provisions                        infrastructure directly linked to economic activity
common to the activities of the Funds;                                      which creates jobs providing an alternative to
                                                                            employment in agriculture;
Whereas these common provisions must be supplemented,
in accordance with Article 3(4) of Regulation (EEC)                 (c) the development of indigenous potential in the regions
No 2052/88, by specific provisions concerning the ac-                    by measures which encourage and support local
tivities of the European Regional Development Fund;                      development initiatives and the activities of small and
                                                                         medium-sized enterprises, involving in particular:
0) OJ No L 185, 15. 7. 1988, p. 9.                                      — assistance towards services for firms,
 ---pagebreak--- 3. 10. 88                                Official Journal of the European Communities                             No C 256/13
     — improvement of access for firms to the capital                    with the estimated sums involved in these requests for
        market, particularly by the provision of guarantees,             the various forms of Community assistance;
        equity participation, surety and insurance,
                                                                    (c) sufficient information to enable an opinion to be
     — direct aid to investment, where no aid scheme                     formed of the overall regional economic situation;
        exists,
                                                                    (d) an indication of the national, regional, local or other
     — the provision of small-scale infrastructure;                      authorities responsible for implementing the measures.
(d) operations planned in the context of regional develop-          As a general rule, these plans shall be for a period of three
     ment at Community level.                                       years and may be up-dated annually.
                          Article 2                                                            Article 3
                       Regional plans                                            Regional operational programmes
1. Apart from the general provisions laid down in Title II          1. For the regions designated under Objective 1, regional
of Regulation (EEC) No ... (the coordinating Regulation),           operational programmes shall in principle cover one or
the following specific provisions shall apply to the regional       more regions at NUTS level II or in specific cases areas at
plans referred to in Articles 8(4) and 9(8) of Regulation           NUTS level III. For regions designated under Objectives 2
(EEC) No 2052/88.                                                   and 5(b), and for frontier regions, they shall in general
                                                                    cover one or more areas at NUTS level III.
2. The plans relating to the regions designated under
Objective 1 shall, as a generate rule, cover one or more            2. The programmes may be undertaken on the initiative
regions at NUTS level II.                                           of the Member States or of the Commission in agreement
                                                                    with the Member State concerned.
These plans shall contain in particular the following
information:                                                        When they are undertaken on the initiative of a Member
                                                                    State, they shall be drawn up by the competent authorities
(a) a succinct analysis of the socio-economic situation of          designated by the Member State, in consultation with the
     the region, indicating in particular the demographic           Commission.
     outlook;
                                                                    When they are undertaken on the initiative of the
(b) a description of the development strategy envisaged by          Commission, the latter, after consulting the Committee
     the Member State, with an indication of the national           referred to in Article 28 of Regulation (EEC) No ... (the
     and regional financial resources proposed;                     coordinating Regulation), shall lay down the procedures
                                                                    and invite the competent authorities designated by the
                                                                    Member State to establish operational programmes.
(c) the Member State's priorities for action and the
     regional development measures for which it plans to
     request Community financial participation, together            The Commission's initiative shall be designed:
     with the estimated sums involved in these requests for
     the various forms of Community assistance;                     — to help resolve serious problems directly associated with
                                                                        the implementation of other Community policies and
                                                                        affecting the socio-economic situation of one or more
(d) an indication of the national, regional, local or other
                                                                        regions, or
     authorities responsible for implementing the measures.
                                                                    — to promote the application of Community policies at
As a general rule, these plans shall be for a period of five
                                                                        regional level, or
years and may be up-dated annually.
                                                                    — to help resolve problems common to certain categories
3. The plans relating to the regions designated under
                                                                        of region.
Objective 2 shall, as a general rule, cover one or more areas
at NUTS level III.
                                                                    3. For the regions designated under Objective 1, the total
                                                                    cost of a regional operational programme may not, as a
These plans shall contain in particular the following
                                                                    general rule, be less than 100 million ECU.
information:
(a) a description of the conversion strategy envisaged by
     the Member State, with an indication of the national or                                   Article 4
     regional financial resources proposed;
                                                                                    Part-financing of aid schemes
 (b) the Member State's priorities for action and the
     regional conversion measures for which it plans to             1. Incentives to investment in firms shall be mainly in the
     request Community financial participation, together            form of part-financing of regional aid schemes.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 256/14                             Official Journal of the European Communities                                   3. 10. 88
2. With a view to deciding the Community's financial               socio-economic interests directly involved in the implemen-
participation, the Commission shall examine, with the              tation of the measures planned.
competent authorities of the Member State, the charac-
teristics of the aid scheme concerned. It shall make sure that     2. The procedures for the use of global grants, on which
the procedures for the scheme take account of the                  an agreement has been concluded between the Commission
following:                                                         and the relevant regional development organization, shall
                                                                   be adopted by the Commission in agreement with the
— the rate of assistance to be tailored to the socio-              Member State concerned.
    economic situation of the regions concerned and the
    consequent locational disadvantages for firms,                 These procedures shall detail in particular:
— operating procedures and the types of aid to be varied to        — the types of measure to be carried out,
    meet the needs of beneficiaries,
                                                                   — the criteria for choosing beneficiaries,
— priority to be given to small and medium-sized
    enterprises and to the encouragement of services
                                                                   — the conditions and rates of ERDF assistance,
    supplied to them such as management advice and
    market surveys.
                                                                   — the arrangements for monitoring use of the global
                                                                       grants.
                           Article 5
                         Major projects                                                       Article 7
1. In addition to the information specified in Article 16 of                Preparatory and accompanying measures
Regulation (EEC) No ... (the coordinating Regulation),
applications for ERDF assistance for major projects shall          1. The ERDF may finance, up to a limit of 1 % of its
provide the following details:                                     annual allocation, preparatory, accompanying and man-
                                                                   agement measures necessary for the implementation of this
(a) for infrastructure:                                            Regulation. These measures may be carried out by the
                                                                   Commission or by outside experts. They shall include
     — an indication of the expected rate of use and the
                                                                   studies, among them studies of a general nature concerning
         induced effects on employment,
                                                                   Community regional action, and technical assistance or
     — an indication of the consequences that Community            information measures.
         participation will have on the completion of the
         project,                                                  2. Measures carried out on the Commission's initiative
                                                                   may be financed by the ERDF at a rate of 100 %. For other
     — an analysis of the costs and socio-economic benefits        measures the rates laid down in Article 18(2) of Regulation
         of the project,                                           (EEC) No ... (the coordinating Regulation) shall apply.
     — the expected impact on the development or
         conversion of the region concerned;                                                  TITLE II
(b) for investment in firms:                                                    GUIDELINES AND PARTNERSHIP
     — an indication of the economic outlook for the sector                                   Article 8
         concerned,                                                               Periodic report and guidelines
     — an analysis of the expected profitability of the
                                                                   1. A periodic report on the social and economic situation
         project.
                                                                   and development of the regions of the Community, which
2. All the information concerning major projects shall             also indicates the macro-economic effects of the Com-
also be given for those projects which form part of an             munity's regional action, shall be prepared by the
operational programme.                                             Commission at four-yearly intervals. Member States shall
                                                                   provide the Commission with the relevant information
                                                                   enabling it to make an analysis of all the regions of the
                                                                   Community on the basis of statistics which are as
                           Article 6
                                                                   comparable and as up to date as possible.
                         Global grants
                                                                   The first periodic report shall be prepared by 31 December
1. In accordance with Article 8(1) of Regulation (EEC)             1990 at the latest.
No 2052/88, the Commission may entrust to regional
development organizations the management of global                 2. The report shall constitute a basis for the establish-
grants, which it shall use primarily to assist local               ment of guidelines for Community regional policy. These
development initiatives. These organizations must operate          shall be applied in the various stages of planning, notably in
in the public interest and shall associate adequately the          establishing Community support frameworks and in the
 ---pagebreak--- 3 10 88                                                  C^fficial]ournal of the European Communities                                              NoC25^15
activities o f t h e E R u E , L h e guidelines shall be published in                Regulation (EEC) N o . . . (the coordinating Regulation).
theC^^^^o^r^o^^E^ro^^^Co^^^^r^^                                                      Lhe Committee may arrive at common conclusions on the
                                                                                     basis of which the Commission shall,where appropriate,
3. Lhe development or conversion strategies shall be                                 address recommendations to the member states.
devised in suchaway as toencourageeconomic growth and
the creation of permanent ^obs in the regions or areas                               3. L h e C o m m i s s i o n s h a l l l a y d o w n t h e d e t a i l e d p r o v i D
concerned. Infrastructure in receipt of ERtOE assistance                             sions for implementation of this Article.
must contribute directly to increasing the economic
potential of the regions, f h e Commission shall adopt the
necessary provisions concerning the categories of mfraD
structure in question.                                                                          ^e^RALA^O^^AL^R^Vt^OO^
                                                                                                                    Arr^^^
                                   Ar^eA^
                                                                                                     monitoring of compatibility
                         Regional partnership
                                                                                     Aiember states shall supply the Commission with inform
LheCommunity^sregional action shallbe carried o u t m                                ationenablmgittovenfythatthe provisions of Article^(l)
close consultation between the Commission, the member                                ofRegulation (EEC) No 2052/88 have been complied with.
^tate concerned and the competent authorities designated
by the latter, particularlyat regional level.
                                                                                                                    Arr^^^2
                                                                                                       Information and publicity
                                                                                     I^he provisions on information and publicity referred to in
                                                                                     Article 33 of R e g u l a t i o n ( E E C ) N o . ^ (the coordinating
                                  Ar^^^O                                             Regulation) and concerning EREoE assistance shall be laid
                       definition of assistance                                      downby t h e C o m m i s s i o n a n d p u b l i s h e d i n t h e C ^ ^
1. i n a c c o r d a n c e w i t h t h e l a s t s u b p a r a g r a p h o f Article
3(l)ofRegulation (EEC) No 2052/88, the ERUE may also                                                                Arr^^3
contribute to the financing at Community level of^
                                                                                              indicative allocation of ERL^E resources
(a) studies at the Commissions initiative aiming to
     identify                                                                        In accordance with Article 12(^) of Regulation (EEC)
                                                                                     No 2052/88, theCommissionshall,beforel]anuary 1^8^,
     — the spatial consequencesofmeasures planned bythe                              decide f o r a p e n o d o f f i v e y e a r s a n d a s a g u i d e , o n t h e
         national authorities, particularly ma^orinfrastruc                          allocation per member ^tate of 8 5 ^ o f the commitment
         tures, when their effects go beyond national                                appropriations of the EREoE.
         boundaries,
     — measures aiming to correct specific problems of the                                                          Arr^^
         border regions within the Community,
                                                                                                               Einal provision
     — the elements necessary to establish a prospective
         outline of the utilisation of Community territory,                          Council Regulation (EEC) No 178^/84 (^) is hereby
                                                                                     repealed, subject to the application of Article 15 of
 (b) pilot schemes which^                                                            Regulation (EEC) No 2052/88 and of Article 34 of
                                                                                     Regulation (EEC)No... (the coordinating Regulation).
     — constitute incentives of the creation of infrastruc
         ture, investment in firms and other specific
         measures havingamarl^ed Community interest, in                                                             Ar^A^5
         particular i n t h e b o r d e r regions within t h e C o m
                                                                                                               Entry into force
         munity,
     — encourage the pooling of experience and develop                               Lhis Regulation shall enter into force o n l ] a n u a r y l ^ 8 ^ .
         ment cooperation between different Community                                Elowever,Article 13 shall applywitheffectfromthedateof
         regions, and innovative measures.                                           adoption of the Regulation.
 2. At the Commissions initiative, matters relating to                               I^his Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly
 regional development at Community level, coordination of                            applicable in all member states.
 national regional policies or any other problem connected
 with implementation of Community regional action may
 be referred to the Committee specified in Article 28 of                              (^)01^DLt^,^.^t^4,D                       t.