CELEX: 51988PC0500(01)
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 COORDINATION OF THE ACTIVITIES OF THE DIFFERENT STRUCTURAL FUNDS BETWEEN THEMSELVES AND WITH THE OPERATIONS OF THE EUROPEAN INVESTMENT BANK AND THE OTHER EXISTING FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS

3. 10. 88                              Official Journal of the European Communities                              No C 256/1
                                                              II
                                                      (Preparatory Acts)
                                                 COMMISSION
               Proposal for a Council Regulation (EEC) laying down provisions for implementing Council
               Regulation (EEC) No 2052/88 as regards coordination of the activities of the different Structural
               Funds between themselves and with the operations of the European Investment Bank and the other
                                                existing financial instruments
                                              COM(88) 500/2 final — SYN 151
                                    (Submitted by the Commission on 30 August 1988)
                                                        (88/C 256/01)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                           Regulation (EEC) No 2052/88; whereas the Commission
                                                                   has an important role to play in this respect;
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Economic Community, and in particular Articles 130E and            Whereas to ensure effective coordination between grant
153 thereof,                                                       and loan instruments, the Commission should, where
                                                                   appropriate, associate the EIB with the preparation of its
                                                                   decisions;
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
                                                                   Whereas Articles 8 to 11 of the abovementioned Regulation
                                                                   provide for provisions relating to their implementation to
In cooperation with the European Parliament,                       be laid down in the implementing decisions referred to in
                                                                   Article 130E of the Treaty;
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social
Committee,                                                         Whereas it is necessary to determine the criteria which the
                                                                   Commission should use to select those rural areas outside
                                                                   the regions designated for assistance from the Funds under
Whereas the Council has adopted Regulation (EEC)                   Objective 1 which may receive assistance under Objective
No 2052/88 of 24 June 1988 on the tasks of the Structural          5(b) as defined in Article 1 of Regulation (EEC) No 2052/
Funds and their effectiveness and on the coordination of           88;
their activities between themselves and with the operations
of the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the other                Whereas it is necessary to specify the scope, duration and
existing financial investments (*);                                content of the plans to be submitted by the Member States
                                                                   and the time limits for the submission of these plans;
Whereas Article 3(5) of Regulation (EEC) No 2052/88
provides that the Council, acting on the basis of Article          Whereas it is necessary to give guidelines on the content
130E of the Treaty, shall adopt the provisions necessary for       and duration of the Community support frameworks to be
ensuring coordination between the different Funds, on the          established by the Commission and the time limit for their
one hand, and between them and the EIB and the other               establishment;
existing financial instruments, on the other;
                                                                   Whereas the Commission should be able to adapt
                                                                   Community support frameworks to take account of
Whereas it is necessary to strengthen the coordination             measures not provided for in the plans submitted by the
between the Structural Funds and between these Funds, the          Member States, including measures resulting from new
EIB and the Community's other financial instruments, in            Community initiatives;
order to enhance the effectiveness of their contributions to
the attainment of the objectives set out in Article 1 of           Whereas assistance from the Funds envisaged in the
                                                                   Community support frameworks should be provided
                                                                    mainly in the form of part-financing of operational
 (!) OJ NoL 185, 15.7. 1988, p. 9.                                 programmes;
 ---pagebreak--- No C 256/2                              Official Journal of the European Communities                                  3. 10. 88
Whereas it is necessary to specify the conditions for the          Whereas there is a need to specify the content of the annual
implementation of operational programmes under the                 report to be submitted in accordance with Article 16 of the
integrated approach;                                               abovementioned Regulation;
                                                                   Whereas provision should be made to give adequate
Whereas it is necessary to specify the general conditions          publicity to Community assistance provided towards
governing the processing of applications for financial             specific schemes;
assistance from the Structural Funds;
                                                                   Whereas it is necessary to determine more specifically the
                                                                   transitional arrangements for assistance from the Funds
Whereas financial assistance from the Structural Funds             which was approved or applied for before the entry into
under Objectives 1 to 4 and 5(b) should normally be                force of the implementing decisions referred to in Article
provided only for measures indicated in the Community              130E of the Treaty; whereas it may also prove necessary,
support frameworks and for expenditure incurred after              with a view to ensuring continuity in the operations of the
presentation of an application for assistance from the             Funds, to provide for approval of certain measures before
Structural Funds;                                                  the Commission has decided the relevant Community
                                                                   support frameworks,
Whereas it is necessary to define the conditions under             HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
which the Structural Funds may provide global grants and
part-finance major projects;
                                                                                              TITLE I
Whereas provision should be made for the financing of                                    COORDINATION
studies and technical assistance linked to the joint or                                      Article 1
coordinated use of the Structural Funds, the EIB and the
other financial instruments;                                                            General provisions
                                                                   Pursuant to Regulation (EEC) No 2052/88, the Commis-
Whereas to facilitate their own planning of programmes,            sion shall ensure coordination of the activities of the
beneficiaries should have indications as to the rates of           different Funds as between themselves and with the
assistance which will be provided by the Funds as a                operations of the EIB and the other existing financial
proportion of eligible public expenditure;                         instruments.
Whereas at the same time the Commission must dif-                                            Article 2
ferentiate rates in the light of the criteria laid down in
Article 13(1) of Regulation (EEC) No 2052/88, including in                      Coordination between the Funds
particular the capacity of the other public bodies concerned       In order to ensure coordination of the activities of the
to contribute to the financing of the measures concerned;          Funds as between themselves, the Commission shall have
                                                                   recourse to the following:
Whereas to promote efficient and coordinated manage-               — Community support frameworks,
ment of the Funds' financial resources it is necessary to lay
down common rules and procedures on commitments,                   — multiannual budget forecasts,
payments and controls;
                                                                   — where expedient, integrated operational programmes,
Whereas in the interests of the wider use of the ECU in            — monitoring and assessment of operations under the
financial transactions in the Community and more                       Funds carried out in connection with a single objective
specifically in the implementation of the Community                    and of those carried out in connection with a number of
budget, it is important that the Community's financial                 objectives on the same territory.
entitlements and obligations with respect to the Structural
Funds should also be expressed in ECU;
                                                                                             Article 3
                                                                    Coordination between the Funds, the EIB and the other
Whereas it is necessary to specify the arrangements for the
                                                                                       financial instruments
monitoring and assessment of Community structural
action in order to strengthen the effectiveness of assistance      1. The Commission shall ensure consistency between
methods in achieving the objectives and to assess the              assistance from the Funds and assistance provided:
impact of assistance;
                                                                   — by the European Coal and Steel Community in the form
                                                                       of readaptation aids, loans, interest subsidies or
Whereas it is necessary to determine the arrangements for              guarantees,
the working of the committees which will assist the
Commission in the implementation of Regulation (EEC)               — by the EIB, the New Community Instrument and
No 2052/88;                                                            Euratom in the form of loans and guarantees,
 ---pagebreak--- 3. 10. 88                                 Official Journal of the European Communities                              No C 256/3
— from resources from the Community budget allocated                 3. The Commission shall, in accordance with the
    in particular to the integrated Mediterranean program-           procedures provided for in Title VIII and in the light of the
    mes, support for the Specific Programme for the                  criteria specified in paragraph 2, determine the rural areas
    Development of Portuguese Industry (PEDIP), fisheries            to be eligible under Objective 5(b).
    structures, transport infrastructure, environmental
    protection, energy programmes, small and medium-
    sized enterprises, innovation schemes and venture-
    capital investments,
                                                                                                TITLE II
— from the resources of the Community research budget.                                           PLANS
2. The Commission shall associate the EIB in the use of                                         Article 5
the Funds or the other existing financial instruments with a                               Scope and content
view to the part-financing of investments that are also
eligible for assistance from the EIB in accordance with its
Statute.                                                             1. Subject to the guidelines laid down in this Article, plans
                                                                     submitted in connection with Objectives 1 to 4 and 5(b)
                                                                     shall be drawn up at the geographical level deemed to be
                                                                     most appropriate by the competent national, regional or
                            Article 4
                                                                     other authorities in Member States.
          Selection of rural areas [Objective 5(b)]
                                                                     Plans submitted in connection with Objective 1 shall, as a
1. When presenting the rural development plans referred              general rule, cover one or more regions at NUTS level II.
to in Article 11(3) of Regulation (EEC) No 2052/88,
Member States shall propose to the Commission the areas              Plans submitted in connection with Objectives 2 and 5(b)
which may be selected in the light of the criteria set out in        shall, as a general rule, cover one or more areas at NUTS
paragraph 2.                                                         level III.
2. In accordance with Article 11(2) of Regulation (EEC)
No 2052/88, the rural areas that may receive Community               Plans may cover a wider territory than that of eligible
assistance under Objective 5(b) shall be selected in                 regions or areas, provided they distinguish between
accordance with the following criteria:                              operations in eligible regions or areas and operations
                                                                     elsewhere.
— high share of agricultural employment in total employ-
    ment,                                                            2. For regions concerned by Objective 1, the regional
                                                                     development plans shall include measures relating to the
— low level of agricultural income, notably as expressed in          conversion of declining industrial areas and the develop-
    terms of agricultural value added by agricultural work           ment of rural areas, together with employment and
    unit,                                                            vocational training measures not covered by plans
                                                                     submitted in connection with Objectives 3 and 4.
— low level of socio-economic development assessed on
    the basis of gross domestic product per inhabitant.
                                                                     Regional and social conversion plans submitted in
In the selection of rural areas, areas to which one or more of       connection with Objective 2 and rural development plans
the following criteria are applied may also be taken into            submitted in connection with Objective 5(b) shall also
consideration on receipt of a reasoned request from a                include employment and vocational training measures not
                                                                     covered by plans submitted in connection with Objectives 3
Member State:
                                                                     and 4.
— the extent of depopulation,
                                                                     Plans submitted in connection with Objectives 3 and 4 shall
— the peripheral nature of areas or islands in relation to           distinguish between expenditure in respect of the regions
    urban centres,                                                   covered by Objectives 1, 2 and 5(b) and expenditure in
                                                                     respect of other regions.
— the sensitivity of the area to developments in agricul-
    ture, especially with a view to the reform of the common
                                                                     In the plans, Member States shall indicate the particulars
    agricultural policy, assessed on the basis of the trend in
                                                                     relating to each Fund, including the volumes of assistance
    agricultural incomes and the size of the agricultural
                                                                     requested.
    labour force,
— the structure of agricultural holdings and the age                 3. In drawing up the plans, the competent authorities in
    structure of the agricultural labour force,                      Member States shall ensure that plans relating to the same
                                                                     objective within a Member State and plans relating to
— the pressures exerted on the environment and on the                different objectives in the same geographical area are
    countryside.                                                     mutually consistent.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 256/4                             Official Journal of the European Communities                                 3. 10. 88
4. The competent authorities in Member States shall                   an outline of the forms of assistance to be provided
ensure that the plans take full account of the development            including, for operational programmes, their specific
of Community policies.                                                objectives and the main types of measure involved,
                                                                      an indicative financing plan specifying the financial
                         Article 6                                    allocations envisaged for the various forms of assist-
                                                                      ance.
                  Duration and timetable
Each plan shall cover a period of not less than three years.      — where necessary, provisions for any studies or technical
                                                                      assistance operations relating to the preparation,
For areas designated for assistance by 31 January 1989, the           implementation or adaptation of the measures con-
initial periods covered by the plans shall commence on                cerned.
1 January 1989.
Plans shall be submitted not later than 31 March 1989.
However, plans relating to Objectives 3 and 4 shall be
submitted as soon as possible after the Commission has                                     Article 9
issued the necessary guidelines, and at the latest by 1 June
1989.                                                                         Consistency and impact of measures
                                                                  1. The Community support frameworks shall indicate
                         Article 7                                the consistency between the structural measures to be
                                                                  financed by the Community and, where appropriate, the
                        Preparation
                                                                  macro-economic and structural policies pursued by the
1. The Commission may provide Member States at their              Member States concerned.
request with any technical assistance necessary in the
preparation of plans.                                             2. In establishing and implementing the Community
                                                                  support frameworks, the Commission and the Member
2. The information provided in the plans shall contain,           States concerned shall ensure that the annual increase in the
where appropriate, details relating to the general socio-         appropriations for the Funds provided for in Article 12(2)
economic situation and to macro-economic policies and             of Regulation (EEC) No 2052/88 has a genuine additional
objectives.                                                       economic impact in the regions concerned and results in
                                                                  corresponding increases in total public expenditure, in
3. The Commission shall determine the detailed arrange-           particular on investment. The Member States shall
ments for the implementation of the provisions of this            transmit to the Commission the information necessary for
Title.                                                            this purpose, in accordance with arrangements to be
                                                                  determined by the Commission.
                         TITLE III
          COMMUNITY SUPPORT FRAMEWORKS
                                                                                           Article 10
                         Article 8
              Preparation, scope and content                                     Approval and implementation
1. The Community support frameworks relating to
Objectives 1 to 4 and 5(b) shall be drawn up on the basis of      1. Unless otherwise agreed between the Commission and
an agreement with the Member State concerned within the           the Member State concerned, the Commission shall take a
framework of the partnership and shall be established by          decision approving the Community support framework
decision of the Commission in accordance with the                 not later than six months after receiving the relevant plan
procedures laid down in Title VIII. The EIB shall be              or plans.
involved in the preparation of the Community support
frameworks.                                                       In order to expedite implementation of the measures
                                                                  provided for in a Community support framework, Member
2. A Community support framework may cover a period               States may submit applications for assistance in good time
of three to five years.                                           for the Commission to approve them at the same time as it
                                                                  takes its decision on the Community support framework.
3. A Community support framework relating to any one              In this case, the operational programmes may be im-
objective may, where appropriate, relate to the combined          plemented immediately.
territory of two or more eligible regions or areas.
4.   Each Community support framework shall include:              2. The Commission decision on the Community support
                                                                  framework shall be sent as a declaration of intent to the
— statement of the priorities for joint Community and             Member State and to the other competent authorities
    national action in relation to the objectives set out in      concerned. The declaration shall be published in the
    Article 1 of Regulation (EEC) No 2052/88,                     Official Journal of the European Communities.
 ---pagebreak--- 3. 10. 88                              Official Journal of the European Communities                             No C 256/5
The Commission and the Member States shall ensure that            the most effective manner, taking into account the special
measures accounting for at least two thirds of assistance         coordination effort required.
from the Funds during the first year of the Community
support framework are approved by the Commission
within two months of its decision on the Community
support framework.
                                                                                            TITLE IV
                                                                                ASSISTANCE FROM THE FUNDS
                          Article 11                                                       Article 14
                    Community initiatives                                          Processing of applications
In accordance with Article 5(5) of Regulation (EEC)               1. Applications for assistance from the Structural Funds
No 2052/88, the Commission may, on its own initiative             for specific operations shall be prepared by the competent
and in accordance with the procedures provided for in Title       national, regional or other authorities concerned and
VIII, decide to invite Member States to submit applications       submitted to the Commission by Member States or by any
for assistance in respect of measures of significant interest     bodies designated to do so by them. Each application shall
to the Community not covered by the plans referred to in          relate to one of the forms of assistance provided for in
Title II. Any assistance approved pursuant to this provision      Article 5 of Regulation (EEC) No 2052/88 (part-financing
shall be reflected in the establishment or revision of the        of operational programmes and of aid schemes, global
relevant Community support framework.                             grants, part-financing of major projects, and support for
                                                                  technical assistance, preparatory studies and pilot pro-
                                                                  jects).
                          Article 12
                                                                  2. Applications shall contain the information the Com-
                     Forms of assistance                          mission needs in order to assess them, including a
                                                                  description of the operation proposed, its scope and
Measures covered by a Community support framework                 specific objectives, the bodies responsible, the proposed
shall be carried out primarily by way of operational              beneficiaries and the proposed timetable and financing
programmes.                                                       plan, together with any other information necessary to
                                                                  verify that the operation concerned is compatible with
                                                                  Community legislation and policies (including those
                                                                  concerning the rules of competition, the award of public
                          Article 13                              contracts and environmental protection).
                     Integrated approach
                                                                  3. The Commission shall examine applications with a
The decision to implement measures on the basis of an             view in particular:
integrated approach shall be taken in the context of the
Community support framework.                                      — to assessing the conformity of the proposed operations
                                                                      and measures with the relevant Community legislation
An operational programme may be implemented in the                    and, where appropriate, with the relevant Community
form of an integrated approach if:                                    support framework,
— the programme involves financing by more than one
    Fund or at least one Fund and one financial instrument        — to assessing the contribution of the proposed operation
    other than a loan instrument,                                     or measure to specific development or other objectives
                                                                      and, in the case of an operational programme, the
                                                                      consistency of the constituent measures,
— the measures to be financed by different Funds or
    financial instruments are mutually reinforcing and
    significant benefits are likely to accrue from close          — to determining the arrangements for providing assist-
    coordination between all the parties involved,                    ance from the Fund or Funds concerned,
— the appropriate administrative structures are provided
                                                                  — to checking that the administrative and financial
    at national, regional and local level in the interests of
                                                                      mechanisms are adequate to ensure effective implemen-
    integrated implementation of the programme.
                                                                      tation.
Where the Commission considers that Community assist-
ance can best be organized by way of an integrated                The Commission shall subsequently decide on the granting
operational programme, it may, within the context of              of financial assistance. In the case of an integrated
initiatives covered by Article 11, propose that the Member        operational programme, a single Commission decision
State(s) concerned submit an application for assistance in        shall be taken in respect of assistance from all the Funds
respect of such a programme. In such cases, the Commis-           and other Community budgetary instruments contributing
sion shall ensure that Community assistance is provided in        to the financing of that programme.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 256/6                              Official Journal of the European Communities                                      3. 10. 88
                          Article 15                               — in relation to integrated operational programmes.
                          Eligibility
                                                                                              Article 17
1. Subject to Article 34, expenditure in respect of
measures covered by Objectives 1 to 4 and 5(b) shall be
eligible for financial assistance from the Structural Funds                                Implementation
only if the measures in question are indicated in the relevant
Community support framework.                                       The Commission shall determine the detailed arrange-
                                                                   ments for the implementation of the provisions of this
2. Except as provided for in Article 34 of this Regulation,        Title.
Article 9 of Regulation (EEC) No ... (ESF) and Article 11 of
Regulation (EEC) No ... (EAGGF), expenditure may not be
considered eligible for assistance from the Funds if it is
incurred before the date on which the corresponding                                            TITLE V
application reaches the Commission. The Commission                     DIFFERENTIATION OF COMMUNITY ASSISTANCE
shall fix the date on which eligibility for expenditure in
respect of each measures takes effect.                                                        Article 18
                                                                                    Differentiation of the rates
                                                                                  of contribution from the Funds
                          Article 16
                                                                   1. The financial contribution from the Funds shall be
                                                                   fixed as a percentage and shall be calculated in relation to
                      Specific provisions                          either the total eligible cost of, or the total public or similar
                                                                   expenditure (national, regional or local, and Community)
1. In the case of global grants, the intermediaries shall be       on, each measure (operational programme, aid scheme,
designated by agreement between the Member States                  global grant, project, technical assistance, study).
concerned and the Commission. The Member State
concerned shall ensure that all intermediaries have a sound        2. In accordance with the first indent of Article 13(1) of
financial standing and have the administrative capability to       Regulation (EEC) No 2052/88, the rates of financial
manage global grant schemes. The intermediaries shall also         contribution from the Structural Funds shall be dif-
be selected in the light of the particular situation in the        ferentiated in the light of the seriousness of the specific
Member States or areas concerned. In managing global               regional problems. As a general rule, assistance from the
grants, they shall be subject to control by the competent          Funds expressed as a percentage of public expenditure shall
public authorities.                                                be:
2. The Funds may provide financial assistance towards              — 65 % in regions covered by Objective 1,
expenditure in respect of major projects if the total cost
taken into account in determining the amount of Com-
                                                                   — 50 % in areas covered by Objective 2,
munity assistance is greater than 25 million ECU for
infrastructure investments or 15 million ECU for product-
ive investments.                                                   — 40 % in all other cases.
However, projects costing less than this in the fisheries          The rates indicated above may be increased or reduced
sector may be financed if they are covered by a multiannual        within the limits laid down in Article 13(3) of Regulation
                                                                   (EEC) No 2052/88 and in the light of the other criteria set
guidance programme approved by the Commission under
                                                                   out in Article 13(1) of that Regulation, taking account in
Council Regulation (EEC) No 4028/86 (i).
                                                                   particular of the capacity for contribution of the regional or
                                                                   local authorities concerned, notably in Greece, Ireland,
3. In addition to similar assistance connected with the            Portugal and Spain.
operations of the various Funds, the Commission may
finance studies and technical assistance linked to the joint
                                                                   3. Where the measure concerned, among its other
or coordinated deployment of the Structural Funds, the EIB
                                                                   intrinsic characteristics, entails the financing of revenue-
and the other financial instruments:
                                                                   generating investments, the rates of financial contribution
                                                                   from the Funds shall be differentiated in the light of the last
— in preparation for the establishment of plans,                   indent of Article 13(1) of the aforementioned Regulation
                                                                   and according to the size of the cash flow which the
— with a view to assessing the impact and effectiveness of         expected revenue will generate.
    assistance provided under the relevant Community
    support frameworks,                                            In any event, in connection with the development effort in
                                                                   the regions concerned, the contribution from the Funds to
                                                                   investments in firms may not exceed 50 % of the total cost
(!) OJ No L 376, 31. 12. 1986, p. 7.                               in the regions covered by Objective 1 and 30 % of the total
 ---pagebreak--- 3. 10. 88                              Official Journal of the European Communities                                 No C 256/7
cost in the other regions. It shall conform to the                Commitments in connection with subsequent annual
differentiation principles set out above.                         instalments shall be based on the financing plan for the
                                                                  operation concerned and on the progress made in
4. The Commission may differentiate the rates of                  implementing it.
contribution for individual measures forming part of
operational programmes, aid schemes or global grants.             3. For operations to be carried out over a period of less
                                                                  than two years, the total amount of Community assistance
                                                                  shall be committed when the Commission adopts the
                                                                  decision approving the operation.
                         Article 19
              Combination of grants and loans                                                Article 22
In the case of investments likely to be financed from both                                   Payments
budget resources and borrowed funds, Community
financing shall be a combination of loans and grants. This        1. Payments of financial assistance shall be made in
combination shall be determined in conjunction with the           accordance with the corresponding budgetary commit-
EIB when the Community support framework is being                 ments to the responsible body indicated in the application
established. It shall take account of the balance in the          submitted through the Member State concerned. They may
proposed financing plan, the rates of contribution from the       take the form of advances or final payments.
Funds established in accordance with Article 18 and the
development objectives pursued.                                   2. Following each commitment, the Commission may
                                                                  make a first advance of up to 50 % of the amount
                                                                  committed, taking into account the nature of the operation
                                                                  concerned.
                          TITLE VI
                  FINANCIAL PROVISIONS                            3. A second advance such that the sum of the two
                                                                  advances does not exceed 80 % of the commitment shall be
                         Article 20                               made after the responsible body has certified that at least
                                                                  half of the first advance has been used up and that the
                     General provisions
                                                                  operation is progressing according to the timetable laid
                                                                  down.
1. Financial assistance from the Structural Funds shall be
subject to the relevant rules applicable to the Funds under
                                                                  4. Final payments in respect of each commitment shall be
the Financial Regulation and to the availability of
                                                                  conditional on:
budgetary resources.
                                                                  — submission to the Commission by the responsible body
2. The financial assistance to be granted in respect of               of a request for payment within six months of the end of
specific measures undertaken in implementing a Com-                   the year concerned or of completion of the operation
munity support framework shall be consistent with the                 concerned,
financing plan laid down in that support framework.
                                                                  — submission to the Commission of the relevant reports
3. In order to avoid administrative delays at the year end,           referred to in Article 26(4),
Member States shall ensure that requests for payment are
submitted in accordance with a balanced schedule                  — transmission by the Member State to the Commission of
throughout the year.                                                  a certificate confirming the information contained in
                                                                      the request for payment and the reports.
                                                                  5. Member States shall designate the authorities empow-
                         Article 21                               ered to issue the certificates referred to in paragraphs 3 and
                                                                  4.
                       Commitments
                                                                  6. In the case of measures that are designed to support
1. Budgetary commitments shall be made on the basis of            agricultural incomes, such as compensation for natural
the Commission decisions approving the operations                 handicaps in less-favoured or mountain areas, and that are
concerned. They shall be valid for a limited period,              governed by the provisions referred to in Article 11(1) of
depending on the nature of the operations and on the              Regulation (EEC) No 2052/88, the conditions and pro-
specific conditions for their implementation.                     cedures applicable in respect of advances or final payments
                                                                  shall be laid down in the corresponding Commission
2. Commitments in respect of operations to be carried             decisions, due regard being made to the specific nature of
out over a period of two or more years shall, as a general        those measures.
rule, be effected in annual instalments. The commitments
in connection with the first annual instalment shall be made      7. In the case of studies and innovation schemes, the
when the decision approving the operation is adopted by            Commission shall determine the appropriate payment
the Commission.                                                    procedures.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 256/8                             Official Journal of the European Communities                                  3. 10. 88
                         Article 23                                                         Article 25
                      Use of the ECU                                 Reduction, suspension and cancellation of assistance
Commission decisions, commitments and payments shall              1. The Commission may reduce or suspend assistance in
be denominated and carried out in ECU. The Commission             respect of a particular operation or measure if a check
shall determine the detailed arrangements for the im-             reveals irregularities or a significant change affecting the
plementation of this Article.                                     nature or conditions of the operation or measure for which
                                                                  the Commission's approval has not been sought.
                         Article 24                               2. If completion dates have not been respected or if a
                                                                  particular operation or measure has been carried out in
                                                                  such a manner that payment of only part of the financial
                     Financial control                            assistance allocated to it is justified, the Commission shall
                                                                  ask the responsible body and the Member State concerned
1. In order to guarantee successful completion of                 to submit their comments within a specified period. Unless
operations carried out by public or private promoters,            adequate justification is given to it, the Commission may
Member States shall take the necessary measures:                  cancel the remaining portion of the financial assistance
                                                                  concerned.
— to verify that operations financed by the Community
    have been properly carried out,                               3. Any sum received unduly and to be recovered shall be
                                                                  repaid to the Commission. Interest on account of late
— to prevent and to take action against irregularities,           payment may be charged on sums not repaid. The
                                                                  Commission shall determine the detailed arrangements for
— to recover any amounts lost as a result of an irregularity      the implementation of this paragraph.
    or negligence. The Member State concerned shall be
    responsible in a subsidiary capacity for repayment of
    any sums paid in error.
                                                                                            TITLE VII
Member States shall inform the Commission of the                               MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT
measures taken for those purposes and, in particular, of the
progress of administrative and judicial proceedings.                                        Article 26
                                                                                           Monitoring
When submitting requests for payment, Member States
shall make available to the Commission any national
control reports on the measures included in the program-          1. Within the framework of the partnership between all
mes or other operations concerned.                                the bodies concerned, the Commission and the Member
                                                                  States shall ensure effective monitoring of implementation
                                                                  of assistance from the Funds, geared to the Community
2. Without prejudice to checks carried out by Member
                                                                  support framework and specific operations (programmes,
States under Article 206 of the Treaty or to any inspection
                                                                  etc.). Such monitoring shall be carried out by way of jointly
arranged on the basis of Article 209(c) of the Treaty,
                                                                  agreed reporting procedures, sample checks and the
Commission officials may carry out on-the-spot checks,
                                                                  establishment of monitoring committees.
including sample checks, in respect of operations financed
by the Structural Funds.
                                                                  The Commission shall report to the committees referred to
Before carrying out an on-the-spot check, the Commission          in Title VIII on the progress made in implementing
shall, as a general rule, give notice to the Member State         assistance operations under the Funds, including the use
concerned with a view to obtaining all the assistance             made of appropriations in relation to the particulars given
necessary. Officials of the Member State concerned may            in the Community support frameworks.
take part in such checks.
                                                                  2. Monitoring shall be carried out by reference to
The Commission may require the Member State concerned             physical and financial indicators specified, where ap-
to carry out an on-the-spot check to verify the regularity of     propriate, in the Commission decision approving the
payment requests. Commission officials may take part in           operation concerned. The indicators shall relate to the
such checks.                                                      specific character of the operation, its objectives and the
                                                                  form of the assistance provided, and to the macroeconomic
                                                                  and structural situation in the countries in which the
3. For a period of three years following the last payment         assistance is to be provided.
in respect of any operation, the responsible body and
authorities shall keep available for the Commission all the
supporting documents regarding expenditure on the                 3. Monitoring committees shall be set up by agreement
operation.                                                        between the Member State concerned and the Commission.
 ---pagebreak--- 3. 10. 88                                Official Journal of the European Communities                               No C 256/9
The Commission and, where appropriate, the EIB may be               — the impact of individual operations (programmes, etc.).
represented on those committees and may appoint                         At this level, assessment shall be concerned primarily
technical advisers to them.                                             with the micro-economic effects of operations.
4. For each multiannual operation, the responsible body             Assessment shall, according to the circumstances, be
shall submit progress reports to the Commission within six          carried out by reference to macro-economic indicators
months of the end of each full year of implementation. A            based on regional or national statistics, to information
final report shall be submitted to the Commission within            yielded by descriptive and analytical studies and to
six months of completion of the operation.                          qualitative analyses.
For each operation to be implemented over a period of less          3. In drawing up Community support frameworks and in
than two years, the responsible body shall submit a report          vetting individual applications for assistance, the Commis-
to the Commission within six months of completion of the            sion shall take into account, as the determining factor, the
operation. The Commission shall determine the form and              findings of assessments made in accordance with this
content of the reports.                                             Article.
5. On the basis of     the monitoring procedures and reports        4. The assessment principle and procedures shall be laid
outlined above, the    Commission shall make any necessary          down in the Commission decisions concerning the
adjustments to the     volume or conditions of assistance as        Community support frameworks.
initially approved      and to the schedule of payments
envisaged.
6. The Commission shall determine the detailed arrange-                                      TITLE VIII
ments for the implementation of this Article.
                                                                                            COMMITTEES
                                                                                              Article 28
                                                                             Advisory Committee on the Development
                           Article 27                                               and Conversion of Regions
                           Assessment                               In accordance with Article 17 of Regulation (EEC)
                                                                    No 2052/88, an Advisory Committee on the Development
                                                                    and Conversion of Regions, made up of Member States'
1. Assessment shall be carried out within the framework
                                                                    representatives and chaired by the Commission rep-
of the partnership. The competent authorities in the
                                                                    resentative, is hereby set up under the auspices of the
Member States shall, where appropriate, contribute in such
                                                                    Commission. The EIB shall take part in its deliberations.
a way as to ensure that assessment can be carried out in the
most effective manner. In this connection, assessment shall
make use of the various particulars that the monitoring             The Commission representative shall submit to the
arrangements can yield in order to gauge the socio-                 Committee a draft of the measures to be taken. The
economic impact of the operations, where appropriate in             Committee shall deliver its opinion on the draft within a
close association with the monitoring committees.                   time limit which the Chairman may lay down according to
                                                                    the urgency of the matter, where appropriate by taking a
                                                                    vote.
2. Ex ante and ex post assessment of operations
undertaken for structural purposes by the Community shall
be concerned with their effectiveness at three levels:              The opinion shall be recorded in the minutes. In addition,
                                                                    each Member State shall have the right to request that its
                                                                    position be recorded in those minutes.
— their overall impact on the objectives set out in Article
     130A of the Treaty, and in particular the strengthening
    of the economic and social cohesion of the Community.           The Commission shall take the utmost account of the
    At this level, assessment shall be concerned in particular      opinion delivered by the Committee. It shall inform the
    with macro-economic effects and performance, account            Committee of the manner in which it took account of the
    being taken of the general socio-economic context in            opinion.
    which the operations are being carried out and of the
    extent to which they complement national policies,              The Committee shall deliver opinions on draft Commis-
                                                                    sion decisions concerning the Community support frame-
— the impact of operations under each Community                     works as provided for in Articles 8(5) and 9(9) of
     support framework, including their macro-economic              Regulation (EEC) No 2052/88 and on the drawing-up and
     effects on the economy of the regions and areas                revision of the list of areas eligible in connection with
     concerned and their contribution to the attainment of           Objective 2. The matters referred to in Article 10 of
     specific objectives, and in particular the development         Regulation (EEC) No ... (ERDF Regulation) may also be
     priorities,                                                    referred to it by the Commission.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 256/10                            Official Journal of the European Communities                                 3. 10. 88
                         Article 29                               Committee, the votes of the Member States' representatives
                                                                  shall be weighted as provided for in the aforementioned
    Committee referred to in Article 124 of the Treaty            Article. The Chairman shall not vote.
In accordance with Article 17 of Regulation (EEC)                 The Commission shall adopt measures which shall apply
No 2052/88, the Committee referred to in Article 124 of the       immediately. However, if they are not in accordance with
Treaty shall be composed of two government representat-           the opinion delivered by the Committee, they shall be
ives, two representatives of the workers' organizations and       communicated forthwith by the Commission to the
two representatives of the employers' organizations from          Council. In that event, the Commission may defer
each Member State. The member of the Commission                   application of the measures which it has decided for a
responsible for chairing the Committee may delegate that          period of not more than one month from the date of such
responsibility to a senior Commission official.                   communication.
For each Member State, an alternate shall be appointed for        The Council, acting by a qualified majority, may take a
each category of representative mentioned above. In the           different decision within the period provided for in the
absence of one or both members, the alternate shall be            preceding paragraph.
automatically entitled to take part in the proceedings.
                                                                  The Committee shall deliver opinions on draft Commis-
The members and alternates shall be appointed by the              sion decisions:
Council, acting on a proposal from the Commission, for a
period of three years. They may be reappointed. The
Council shall, as regards the composition of the Commit-          — relating to common measures in connection with
tee, endeavour to ensure fair representation of the different          Objective 5(a),
groups concerned.
                                                                  — relating to Community support frameworks in connec-
The Committee shall deliver opinions on the draft                      tion with Objective 5(b).
Commission decisions relating to the guidelines for action
in connection with Objectives 3 and 4, on the Community
                                                                  The Committee provided for in this Article shall replace the
support frameworks relating to those objectives and, in the
                                                                  Standing Committee on Agricultural Structures, set up by
case of support from the European Social Fund, on the
                                                                  Article 1 of the Council Decision of 4 December 1962 ( ! ),in
Community support frameworks relating to Objectives 1, 2          respect of all the functions assigned to it under that
and 5(b).                                                         Decision or under Article 6 of Council Regulation (EEC)
                                                                  No 729/70 (2).
For their adoption, the opinions of the Committee shall
require an absolute majority of the votes validly cast. The
Commission shall inform the Committee of the manner in
which it took account of those opinions.
                                                                                            Article 31
The Committee shall draw up its rules of procedure.
                                                                                        Other provisions
                                                                   1. The Commission shall periodically refer to the
                          Article 30                              Committees provided for in Articles 28, 29 and 30, the
                                                                  reports referred to in Article 16 of Regulation (EEC)
      Committee on Agricultural Structures and Rural              No 2052/88. It may seek the opinion of those Committees
                        Development                               on any matter relating to assistance operations under the
                                                                  Funds other than those provided for in this Article, notably
In accordance with Article 17 of Regulation (EEC)                 in connection with its power of initiative referred to in
No 2052/88, a Committee on Agricultural Structures and            Article 5(5) of Regulation (EEC) No 2052/88.
Rural Development, made up of Member States' rep-
 resentatives and chaired by the Commission representative,        2. Council Decision 75/185/EEC (3) setting up a Regional
 is hereby set up under the auspices of the Commission.            Policy Committee, Council Decision 83/517/EEC (4)
                                                                   concerning the Committee of the European Social Fund
 The Commission representative shall submit to the                 and, as regards the EAGGF Guidance Section, Articles 11
 Committee a draft of the measures to be taken. The                to 15 of Regulation (EEC) No 729/70 concerning the
 Committee shall deliver an opinion on the draft within a          EAGGF Committee are hereby repealed.
 time limit which the Chairman may lay down according to
 the urgency of the matter under consideration. The opinion
 shall be delivered by the majority stipulated in Article          (!) OJ No 136, 17. 12. 1962, p. 2892/62.
 148(2) of the Treaty in the case of decisions which the           (2) OJ No L 94, 28. 4. 1970, p. 13.
 Council is requested to adopt on a proposal from the              (3) OJ No L 73, 21. 3. 1975, p. 47.
 Commission; when a matter is put to the vote within the           (4) OJ No L 289, 22. 10. 1983, p. 42.
 ---pagebreak--- 3. 10. 88                               Official Journal of the European Communities                             No C 256/11
                          TITLE IX                                                           TITLE X
                REPORTS AND PUBLICITY                                                   FINAL PROVISIONS
                         Article 32                                                          Article 34
                           Reports                                                    Transitional provisions
                                                                   1. In accordance with Article 15(3) of Regulation (EEC)
The annual reports referred to in Article 16 of Regulation         No 2052/88, applications in respect of multiannual
(EEC) No 2052/88 shall review, inter alia:                         operations received after adoption of that Regulation but
                                                                   before the entry into force of the implementing decisions
— the efforts deployed under all the Funds, the EIB and the        referred to in Article 130E of the Treaty must be in keeping
   other financial instruments in support of the priority          with the objectives set out in Article 1 of that Regulation
   objectives referred to in Article 1 of the aforementioned       and involve one of the forms of assistance provided for in
   Regulation,                                                     Article 5 of that Regulation.
                                                                   2. In drawing up Community support frameworks, the
— the activities of each Fund, the utilization of the              Commission shall take account of any multiannual
   budgetary resources concerned and the deployment of             operation already approved by the Council or by the
   the other financial instruments for which the Commis-           Commission before the entry into force of the implement-
   sion has responsibility.                                        ing decisions referred to in Article 130E of the Treaty and
                                                                   having financial repercussions during the period covered by
                                                                   those support frameworks.
                         Article 33                                3. The Commission may propose that the Member State
                                                                   concerned apply the provisions set out in the Funds' rules
                                                                   which enter into force on 1 January 1989 to operations
                 Information and publicity
                                                                   decided on before that date.
1. The body responsible for implementing an operation              4. In order to guarantee continuity of the activities of the
carried out with financial assistance from the Community           Funds in the period between 1 January and 1 October 1989,
shall ensure that adequate publicity is given to the               the Commission may approve operations by way of
operation with a view to:                                          derogation from Article 15(1). Such operations shall be
                                                                   indicated in the subsequent decisions concerning the
                                                                   relevant Community support framework.
— making potential beneficiaries and trade organizations
   aware of the opportunities afforded by the operation,
                                                                                             Article 35
— making the general public aware of the role played by                                   Entry into force
   the Community in relation to the operation.
                                                                   This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 January 1989.
Member States shall consult the Commission on, and                 This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly
inform it about, the initiatives taken for these purposes.         applicable in all Member States.