CELEX: 51982PC0415(01)
Language: en
Date: 1982-07-05
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL REGULATION ( EEC ) ON LOANS FOR PROJECTS COVERED BY EXPLORATION PROGRAMMES FOR NON-ENERGY MINERAL RAW MATERIALS WITHIN THE TERRITORIES OF THE MEMBER STATES

No C 203/2                           Official Journal of the European Communities                              6.8.82
                                                           II
                                                   (Preparatory Acts)
                                             COMMISSION
              Proposal for a Council Regulation on loans for projects covered by exploration
              programmes for non-energy mineral raw materials within the territories of the Member
                                                         States
                             (Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 7 July 1982)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY,                          HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the                                             Article 1
European Economic Community, and in particular
Article 235 thereof,                                            The Community may conclude contracts providing
                                                                Community financial assistance to programmes for
                                                                exploration at the surface and underground for non-
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,              energy mineral raw materials with the objective of
                                                                identifying new sources of these materials within the
Having regard to the opinion of the European Par-               territories of the Member States which could make a
liament,                                                        contribution to ensuring Community supplies.
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and                Such financial assistance may be granted at any stage
Social Committee,                                               of the programme, from the reconnaissance stage to
                                                                the feasibility study of extraction and ore processing
Whereas the expansion of exploration programmes                 installation.
for non-energy mineral raw materials within the
territories of the Member States would tend to                                           Article 2
improve the Community's security of supply and
therefore to contribute to a harmonious development             Contracts must be concluded with one or more
of economic activities throughout the Community;                natural persons who are nationals of Community
                                                                Member States or with a legal person constituted in
                                                                accordance with the legal requirements in force in the
Whereas in its resolution of 9 March 1982, the
                                                                Member States.
European Parliament considers that it is indispensable
to pursue the efforts undertaken with a view to
improving the Community's level of self-sufficiency             Should the creation of a legal person with the legal
through a better knowledge of its own potential and             capacity to carry out a programme cause the parti-
the exploitation of its own deposits;                           cipant undertakings to incur additional cost's, the
                                                                programme may be implemented simply by way of
Whereas in the first instance it is for the mining              cooperation between natural or legal persons. In such
 industry itself to finance such activities; whereas the         a case, the persons in question shall be jointly and
 Community should, however, in view of the high risk             severally liable in respect of the obligations arising
 inherent in such activities, which can exceed the              from the Community assistance.
 resources of undertakings, be able to grant financial
 assistance in the form of exploration loans;
                                                                                         Article 3
 Whereas the Community is implementing a research
 and development programme on primary raw                        1.    Following publication by the Commission in the
 materials, one of the aims of which is to facilitate the        Official Journal of the European Communities of a call
 discovery and exploitation of new mineral resources             for applications, persons wishing to receive financial
 within the territory of the Community;                          assistance must lodge an application together with a
                                                                 programme of work to be carried out.
 Whereas the necessary powers for granting such
 exploration loans are not provided by the Treaty                2.    Every programme must be accompanied by a
 establishing the European Economic Community,                   report showing:
 ---pagebreak--- 6. 8. 82                            Official Journal of the European Communities                                 No C 203/3
(a) the natural or legal person(s) responsible for the           stances' set up in accordance with Council Decision
     project, his(their) financial situation and his(their)      8 2 / . . ./EEC. This working party shall consist of one
     technical capacities;                                       representative of each Member State.
(b) any aid granted or provided for by the Member                In the light of this opinion, the Commission shall
     States for the implementation of the programme;             decide whether or not to grant assistance to the
(c) a detailed description of the programme, as in the           programmes proposed.
     Annex, and in particular:
                                                                                            Article 6
    — the nature and extent of the risks involved in
         the programme,                                          1.       The Commission shall negotiate and conclude
                                                                the contracts necessary for the implementation of the
    — the cost of the programme and the methods of
                                                                programmes selected in accordance with Article 5. It
         financing its implementation,
                                                                shall lay down for this purpose the general conditions
    — any other factor justifying the nature and the            governing each contract, stipulating the rights and
         extent of the financial assistance which the           obligations of each party, in particular the procedures
         Commission could grant to the programme,               for the repayment of the assistance granted, the
         especially    if    it includes       technological    details relating to the implementation of the
         innovations,                                           programme and the rules for the dissemination in the
    — the time-scale for the programme.                         Community of the results of projects in receipt of
                                                                assistance.
3.    Assistance shall be granted only to undertakings          2.        The     person(s)       responsible    for     the
having the technical and economic capacities needed             implementation          of    a     programme      receiving
for implementing the project in the Community.                  Community          assistance     shall   submit   to    the
                                                                Commission, each year or at the latter's request, a
4.    The Commission may request additional                     report on the fulfilment of the contractual obligations
document or information necessary for the assessment            towards the Commission and, in particular, on the
of the application.                                             progress of work on the programme and the
                                                                expenditure incurred in carrying it out.
                           Article 4                            3.        The Commission and the Court of Auditors
Assistance may be granted to a programme in the                 shall have access at all times to the accounts relating
form of a financial contribution from the Community,            to the programme. They shall be empowered to carry
which shall be interest-free and repayable under the            out on-the-spot checks and documentary inspections
conditions laid down in Article 7 and shall take                in such a way as to monitor the execution of the
account of any other Community or national                      contract and, in particular, the progress made in
financial assistance which the programme may                    implementing the programmes.
receive.                                                        4.        The person(s) applying for a loan shall
The public financial assistance, either from the                undertake:
Community alone or in combination with national                 — to contribute to the programme the remainder of
assistance, shall be adapted to the nature of the                     the necessary funds,
project and shall amount to:                                    — not to reduce the amount of its(their) parti-
(a) 50 % of the total cost of the programme where                     cipation to below the level of that participation at
     the latter is essentially an exploratory programme;              the time when the application was made without
(b) as a general rule, 30 % as the programme ap-                      the prior agreement of the Commission,
     proaches the industrial stage.                             — to implement the project in the shortest time
                                                                      possible in line with the objectives established and
The total amount of assistance granted shall not                      not to interrupt or abendon the project without
exceed the maximum appropriations entered for this                    the prior agreement of the Commission,
purpose in the general budget of the European
 Communities.                                                   — should the programme result in the extraction of
                                                                      raw materials to give priority to supplies to the
                                                                      Community in the form of either source materials
                           Article 5                                  or processed products at least in proportion to the
The Commission shall, under conditions which                          financial assistance granted by the Community,
safeguard industrial secrecy, examine applications              — not to dispose in any manner whatsoever, in             the
and, after an initial selection carried out by qualified              four years following termination of                 the
Commission officials, obtain the opninion of a select                 programme, of the results of programmes             for
working party composed of members of the Advisory                     which assistance has been granted under            this
Committee on Programme Management responsible                         Regulation without the prior agreement of           the
for the sub-programme 'Metals and minerals sub-                       Commission.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 203/4                              Official Journal of the European Communities                                   6. 8. 82
                        Article 7                                                               Article 9
1.    Contributions made by the Commission shall be                   The Commission shall report annually to the Council
repayable two years after termination of the                           on the application of this Regulation.
programme in equal payments spread over a period of
five years.
Repayments shall be entered, according to the                                                  Article 10
expected timetable for their collection, as revenue in
the budget of the European Communities.                                Contracts pursuant to Article 6 may confer juris-
                                                                       dication on the Court of Justice of the European
2.    The Commission may, at the request of the                        Communities to decide on any dispute arising under
recipient of the loan after termination of the                         such contracts between the parties.
programme, waive its entitlement to repayment of all
or part of the loan if it is of the opinion that the
programme does not permit of production on a
                                                                                               Article 11
commercial scale.
                                                                      This Regulation shall enter into force on the day
                         Article 8                                     following its publication in the Official Journal of the
The financial assistance granted by the Community                      European Communities.
must not adversely affect the conditions of
competition in a manner incomptible with the rules of                 This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and
the Treaty on competition.                                             directly applicable in all Member States.
                                                              ANNEX
                                                      Programme description
                                                             (Article 3)
              1. Name of programme and organizations involved.
              2. Financial status, technical expertise and availability of personnel of the company managing the
                 programme.
              3. Object and type of programme (including whether joint venture, initial reconnaissance, etc.).
              4. Geographical location.
              5. Geology of area (i.e. stratigraphy, petrography, tectonics, anomalies, mineralization).
              6. Details of previous investigations already carried out.
              7. Details of the envisaged programme.
              8. Details of mineral rights over the programme area.
              9. Details of other rights of significance to programme (i.e. access, land ownership, etc.).
             10. Environmental impact.
             11. Programme of work envisaged (including number of skilled/unskilled personnel involved).
             12. Detailed operational programme costs, including costs of any new material purchased.
             13. Percentage of funding that is required.
             14. Possibility for financing of that part of the programme not covered by point 13.
             15. Economic merits of programme.
             16. Will the programme proceed if Community funding is not available?
             17. Calendar of work and financial commitment.