CELEX: 51987PC0275(01)
Language: en
Date: 1987-07-20
Title: PROGRAMME FOR THE CONVERSION OF SHIPBUILDING AREAS PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL REGULATION INSTITUTING A COMMUNITY PROGRAMME TO ASSIST THE CONVERSION OF SHIPBUILDING AREAS ( RENAVAL PROGRAMME )

No C 291/8                                Official Journal of the European Communities                                 31.10. 87
                                                                 II
                                                         (Preparatory Acts)
                                                   COMMISSION
               Programme for the conversion of shipbuilding areas — Proposal for a Council Regulation
               instituting a Community programme to assist the conversion of shipbuilding areas (Renaval
                                                            programme)
                                                        COM(87) 275 final
                                  (Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 31 July 1987)
                                                          (87/C 291/08)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                             decline in shipbuilding are likely to see a worsening of
                                                                     these adverse consequences;
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Economic Community,                                                  Whereas, in adopting the said Directive, the Council also
                                                                     took the view that additional measures should be taken
                                                                     to alleviate the social and regional consequences of the
Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No                         restructuring of the shipbuilding industry; whereas, to
 1787/84 of 19 June 1984 on the European Regional                    that end, the Commission sent to the Council and to the
Development Fund (') and in particular Article 7(4)                  European Parliament a communication on the industrial,
thereof,                                                             social and regional aspects of shipbuilding; (3) whereas,
                                                                     in that communication, the Commission proposed in
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,                   particular that a Community programme within the
                                                                     meaning of Article 7 of the Fund Regulation should be
                                                                     instituted for the conversion of the worst-hit areas in the
Having regard to the opinion of the European Par-                    Community;
liament,
                                                                     Whereas, on 7 October 1980, the Council adopted Regu-
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and                     lation (EEC) No 2617/80 (4), as amended by Regulation
Social Committee,                                                    (EEC) No 217/84 of 18 January 1984 (5) and by Regu-
                                                                     lation (EEC) No 3635/85 of 17 December 1985 (4),
                                                                     which instituted a specific Community regional
Whereas Article 7 of Regulation (EEC) No 1787/84,
                                                                     development measure contributing to overcoming
hereinafter referred to as the Fund Regulation, provides
                                                                     constraints on the development of new economic
for participation by the Fund in Community programmes
                                                                     activities in certain zones adversely affected by
the purpose of which is to help in solving serious
                                                                     restructuring of the shipbuilding industry; whereas the
problems affecting the socio-economic situation in one
                                                                     areas in the new Member States adversely affected by the
or more regions and which are designed to provide a
                                                                     restructuring of shipbuilding should be allowed to
better link between the Community's objectives for the
                                                                     benefit, in the form of a Community programme, from
structural development or conversion of regions and the
                                                                     measures analogous to those introduced by the said
objectives of other Community policies;
                                                                     Regulation;
Whereas, on 26 January 1987, the Council adopted                     Whereas, on account of the worsening difficulties faced
Directive 87/167/EEC on aid to shipbuilding (2) and                  by shipyards, it will also be necessary to introduce in
whereas that Directive has to be seen in the context of a            other areas of the Community, in the form of a
further reduction in shipbuilding capacity in the                    Community programme, measures analogous to those
Community and an even larger reduction in                            already taken in certain areas of the Community under
employment; whereas the foregoing considerations also                Regulation (EEC) No 2617/80, as amended, and, where
apply to ship conversion and repair;                                 appropriate, to reinforce as part of the same programme
                                                                     the existing measures in those areas;
Whereas a number of areas in the Community which are
highly dependent on shipbuilding and which have
already suffered major job losses as a result of the                 O COM(86) 553 final, 15. 10. 1986.
                                                                     (*) OJ No L 271, 15. 1.0. 1980, p. 16.
(') O J N o L 169,28.6. 1984, p. 1.                                  O O J N o L 2 7 , 31. 1. 1984, p. 15.
O OJ No L 69, 12. 3. 1987, p. 55.                                    (') OJ No L 350, 27. 12. 1985, p. 8.
 ---pagebreak--- 31.10.87                                Official Journal of the European Communities                              No C 291 / 9
Whereas the Member States concerned have provided                  structure and the physical and social environment in the
the Commission with the necessary information and                  areas concerned, as well as to the establishment of new
whereas, pursuant to Article            11 of      Directive       activities, the growth of small and medium-sized
87/167/EEC of 26 January 1987, they are required to                enterprises and the development of innovation.
supply the Commission with yearly reports on the
attainment of the restructuring objectives;                        The Community programme shall thereby seek to
                                                                   provide a better link between the Community's objectives
Whereas, by assisting with the conversion of the                   for the conversion of regions and the objectives of the
declining industrial regions affected by restructuring of          Community's policy on shipbuilding, in particular within
the shipbuilding industry, the Community programme                 the framework of directives on aids.
contributes to the furtherance of both regional
development objectives and the Community's objectives
                                                                                            Article 3
with regard to shipbuilding; whereas the level of
Community participation must therefore be the                      1.     The Community programme shall apply to areas
maximum permissible under the Fund Regulation and                  satisfying the following criteria:
whereas, at the same time, the programme is given
priority in the management of Fund resources;                      (a) a minimum number of jobs in shipbuilding;
Whereas it is necessary to avoid combining aid granted             (b) industrial employment dependent, in large measure,
under the specific Community measures instituted                        on shipbuilding;
pursuant to former Regulation (EEC) N o 724/75 (') or
                                                                   (c) major job losses in shipbuilding;
Regulation (EEC) No 3634/85 (2) with aid granted
under this Community programme;                                    (d) the socio-economic situation in the region in which
                                                                        the area concerned is located characterized by parti-
Whereas Community assistance must be provided in the                    cularly marked employment difficulties.
form of multiannual programmes drawn up by the
competent authorities in the Member States concerned;              2.    As soon as this Regulation has entered into force,
whereas, to ensure sound financial management of the               the Community programme shall apply to the areas in
Fund, the Member States must transmit those aid                    Spain and Portugal which satisfy the criteria specified in
programmes to the Commission within a certain period               paragraph 1, namely:
after the areas to be covered by the Community
programme have been determined; whereas it is for the              — the provinces of La Corufia, Pontevedra and Cadiz,
Commission, in adopting those programmes, to ensure                    and the areas covered by a national regional aid
that the operations proposed therein are in keeping with               scheme in the province of Vizcaya in Spain,
this Regulation;
                                                                   — the area of Setubal in Portugal.
Whereas, in view of the reform of the Structural Funds
under Article 130 D of the Treaty which is in prospect,            3.    The Community programme shall apply, subject to
the choice of regions in the present Community                     a decision by the Commission, to areas in all Member
programme and the criteria on which this choice is based           States which satisfy the criteria specified in paragraph 1
should be consistent with the approach to be followed in           and in which restructuring of the shipbuilding industry
the abovementioned reform,                                         entails major job losses up to the end of 1989. In this
                                                                   respect, account shall be taken of the job losses over and
                                                                   above those taken into consideration when Regulation
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:                                       (EEC) N o 2617/80 and the successive amendments
                                                                   thereto were adopted as well as those referred to in
                              Article 1                            paragraph 2 above.
A Community programme within the meaning of Article                The Commission shall take its decision within not more
7 of the Fund Regulation that contributes to the                   than three months of the date on which the Member
conversion of certain declining industrial regions in the          State concerned submits an application in respect of the
Community adversely affected by restructuring of the               areas eligible for the Community               programme.
shipbuilding industry is hereby established.                       Applications shall be sent to the Commission by 30 April
                                                                   1990 and shall be supported by the requisite information,
                             Article 2                             notably concerning job losses in the shipbuilding
                                                                   industry; such information shall be consistent with that
The purpose of the Community programme shall be to                 supplied in the yearly reports on the attainment of the
contribute, in the areas concerned, to the removal of              restructuring objectives which Member States are
obstacles to the development of new, job creating,                 required to transmit to the Commission pursuant to
economic activities. To this end, the programme shall              Article 11 of Directive 87/167/EEC.
provide for the implementation of a series of consistent,
multiannual measures relating to improving the infra-
                                                                                            Article 4
C) O J N o L 7 3 , 21. 3. 1975, p. 1.                              The Fund may participate, under the Community
O OJ No L 350, 27. 12. 1985, p. 6.                                 programme, in operations such as those defined in
 ---pagebreak--- NoC291/10                               Official Journal of the European Communities                                   31.10.87
Article 4 of Regulation (EEC) No 2617/80, as amended,                       amended, and, where it benefits businesses
with the exception of point 2.                                              directly, the aid referred to in Article 5 (1) (g) of
                                                                            the said Regulation, may not have the effect of
The latter provision is replaced by the following text:                     reducing the share of expenditure met by recipient
'2.    Infrastructure contributing to the creation, the                     businesses to less than 20 % of total expenditure.
development and the adaptation of job-creating
productive activities'.                                                                        Article 7
                           Article 5                               1.     The programme of assistance drawn up by the
                                                                   competent authorities in the Member State concerned
1.    The Community programme shall be financed                    shall be sent to the Commission:
jointly by the Member State concerned and the
                                                                   (a) in respect of the areas referred to in Article 3 (2),
Community. Assistance from the Fund, which may not
                                                                        within six months of the date of entry into force of
exceed 55 % of the total public expenditure taken into
                                                                        this Regulation;
account in the programme, shall be provided from the
appropriations entered for this purpose in the general             (b) in respect of the areas referred to in Article 3 (3),
budget of the European Communities. The Community                       within six months of the date of the Commission
contribution for each type of operation shall not exceed                decision referred to in the said paragraph 3.
the rate fixed in Article 5 (1) of Regulation (EEC) No
2617/80, as amended (with the exception of point (b)).                  Where the Commission's decision relates to an area
                                                                        referred to in Article 3 (2) or covered by a
This latter provision is replaced by the following text:                Commission decision within the meaning of Article 3
                                                                        (3), the programme of assistance shall be adapted
'(b)    for infrastructure operations provided       for   in           accordingly.
Article 4.2: 50 % of public expenditure'.
                                                                   2.     The duration of the programme of assistance may.
2.    As regards the areas in Portugal, the level of the           not extend beyond 31 December 1992.
Community contribution provided for in paragraph 1
shall be increased until 31 December 1990 by 20
                                                                                               Article 8
percentage points, subject to a ceiling of 70 %.
                                                                   The amount of Fund assistance may not exceed the
                           Article 6                               amount laid down by the Commission when adopting
                                                                   the programme agreement referred to in Article 13 (1) of
 1.   All or part of the aid may be in the form of a               the Fund Regulation.
capital grant or an interest subsidy.
2.    The following shall be eligible for Fund assistance                                      Article 9
in respect of the operations referred to in Article 4:
                                                                   The present Regulation shall be re-examined and if
public authorities, local and regional authorities, other
                                                                   necessary amended to accord with the revision of Regu-
bodies, businesses, cooperatives or self-employed persons
                                                                   lation (EEC) N o 1787/84 provided for in Article 130 D
carrying on a productive activity.
                                                                   of the EEC Treaty.
3. (a) Aid granted under the Community programme
        shall not be combined with aid granted for the                                        Article 10
        same project under specific Community measures
        introduced pursuant to former Fund Regulation              This Regulation shall enter into force on the day
        (EEC) No 724/75 or to Regulation (EEC) No                  following its publication in the Official Journal of the
        3634/85;                                                   European Communities.
    (b) In addition, the aids referred to in Article 5 (1)         This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and
        (c) and (e) of Regulation (EEC) No 2617/80, as             directly applicable in all Member States.