CELEX: 51989PC0567
Language: en
Date: 1989-12-08
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL DECISION PROPOSING THE ADOPTION OF A COMMUNITY ACTION PROGRAMME FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF CONTINUING VOCATIONAL TRAINING

No C 12/16                              Official Journal of the European Communities                                 18. 1. 90
               Proposal for a Council Decision proposing the adoption of a Community action programme for
                                       the development of continuing vocational training
                                                       COM(89) 567 final
                                     (Submitted by the Commission on 20 November 1989)
                                                          (90/C 12/08)
 THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                           training and making the most of human resources;
                                                                    whereas, in particular, it considered that vocational
                                                                    training and the management of human resources are
                                                                    decisive factors in the adaptation of undertakings and
 Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European              their capacity to respond to change, and that conse-
 Economic Community, and in particular Article 128                  quently it is essential to encourage them to invest in
 thereof,                                                           these areas;
 Having regard to the Commission proposal,
                                                                    Whereas in its resolution of 5 June 1989 on continuing
                                                                    vocational training (}) the Council stressed that
                                                                    continuing vocational training plays an important role in
 Having regard      to   the   opinion    of   the  European        the strategy for achieving, by 1992, both the internal
 Parliament,                                                        market, including its social dimension, and economic and
                                                                    social cohesion, as a determining factor in economic and
                                                                    social policy; whereas it considered that all workers
 Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and                   should, in the light of requirements, have access to
                                                                    continuing vocational training, and benefit therefrom;
 Social Committee,
                                                                   whereas it requested the Member States, with due regard
                                                                   for the powers under national law of the parties
                                                                   concerned, to take or promote a number of measures;
Whereas the fundamental objectives of a common vo-                 whereas it requested the Commission to lay before it as
 cational training policy set forth in the second principle        soon as possible an action programme on continuing
 of Decision 63/266/EEC (') refer, in particular, to the           vocational training;
 need to promote basic and advanced vocational training
 and, where appropriate, retraining, suitable for the
various stages of working life; whereas the 10th principle
 of Decision 63/266/EEC states that special measures               Whereas the acceleration of technical, economic and
 may be taken in respect of special problems concerning            industrial change against a background of increased
special sectors of activity or specific categories of person;      competition and the advent of the completion of the
                                                                   internal market demand at this juncture reinforcement of
                                                                   the anticipatory and adaptational role played by
Whereas the European Council affirmed that completion              continuing vocational training and the reinforcement of
of the internal market must go hand in hand with                   existing measures;
improved access to vocational training (Hanover, 27 and
28 June 1998); whereas it stressed that Community
action should help to develop available human resources
and the preparation of future changes and technical                Whereas equality as regards access to continuing vo-
adjustment; whereas the reform of training systems,                cational training is essential to promote equal treatment
including continuing vocational training, will play a vital        for men and women;
role in achieving these objectives (Rhodes, 2 and 3
December 1988); whereas it noted the agreement
reached by the Council on continuing vocational training
(Madrid, 26 and 27 June 1989);
                                                                   Whereas the monitoring of changes in qualifications is
                                                                   an essential factor in developing initial and continuing
                                                                   vocational    training    operations   adapted    to    the
Whereas on 15 March 1989 the European Parliament                   requirements of the labour market;
adopted a resolution on the social dimension of the
internal market (2) in which it emphasized investment in
(') OJ No 63, 20. 4. 1963, p. 1338/63.
O OJ No C 96, 17. 4. 1989, p. 61.                                  O OJ No C 148, 15. 6. 1989, p. 1.
 ---pagebreak---    18. 1.90                                Official Journal of the European Communities                              N o C 12/17
  Whereas cooperation between Member States is likely to               Whereas on 6 March 1987 the two sides of industry at
  enable them to reinforce continuing vocational training              Community level (UNICE, CEEP, ETUC) adopted a
  arrangements open to all workers, to contribute to                  joint opinion on training and motivation; whereas they
  developing human resources through training and                      are presently working on a new joint opinion setting out
  investment in human resources, to make a significant                 their policy as regards continuing vocational training;
  contribution to access to continuing vocational training            whereas, accordingly, it is appropriate to associate them
  for all workers, and to promote the European dimension               closely with the implementation of the action programme
  so as to give vitality to the functions of anticipation,            with a view to establishing synergy with work on the
  adaptation and the promotion of social advancement                   social dialogue,
  through continuing vocational training; whereas such
  cooperation should be based on existing measures in
  force in the Member States, while respecting the
  diversity of national legal systems and national practices,         HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:
  and the powers under internal law of the parties
  concerned and contractual autonomy;
                                                                                                Article 1
                                                                      An action programme for the development of continuing
                                                                      vocational training in the Community is hereby adopted
                                                                      for the period 1 July 1990 to 31 December 1993. Its aim
 Whereas the Community can make a significant contri-
                                                                      is to support and complement the policies and activities
  bution to cooperation between Member States by
                                                                      developed by and in the Member States in the area of
  developing an action programme with the aim of
                                                                      continuing vocational training. It is so designed as to
  supporting and supplementing the policies and activities
                                                                      involve all the parties concerned (undertakings, training
 developed by and in the Member States in the area of
                                                                      bodies, the two sides of industry and public authorities)
 continuing vocational training; whereas this action
                                                                      and to make their efforts on the following objectives
 programme should be organized in such a way that it
                                                                      converge.
 interacts with the tasks and actions of the European
 Social Fund ('), the Eurotecnet (2) and Comett (3)
 programmes, the IRIS network (4) on vocational training
 for women with a view to 1992, and experimental                      Every European Community worker must have access to
 schemes promoted by the SMEs (5);                                    vocational training and be able to benefit from it
                                                                      throughout his working life. The conditions of access to
                                                                      such training may not include discrimination on grounds
                                                                      of nationality.
 Whereas this programme should be designed to
 mobilized all the parties concerned in the development of           The public authorities, undertakings or the two sides of
 continuing vocational training and promote the                       industry, each within their own sphere of competence,
 coherence of new measures introduced by and in the                  must set up continuing and permanent training systems
 Member States; whereas it should therefore include two              enabling every individual to undergo retraining, more
 complementary parts, a common framework of general                  especially through leave for training purposes, to
 principles and a number of transnational measures;                  improve his skills or to acquire new skills, particularly in
 whereas the common framework of general measures is                 the light of technical developments.
 designed to promote the coherence of measures adopted
 by the public authorities in the Member States, especially
 with a view to bringing about a significant improvement                                        Article 2
 in access to continuing vocational training; whereas the
transnational measures are intended to give a significant            The objectives of the programme are:
Community impetus to the Member States' efforts to
promote the development of continuing vocational
                                                                     (a) to encourage greater investment in continuing vo-
training and make sure that the Community makes a
                                                                           cational training and an improved return from it, in
significant contribution to the activities developed by and
                                                                          particular by developing innovatory partnerships
in the Member States in this field;
                                                                           designed to encourage greater awareness among the
                                                                          public authorities (especially in the regions), under-
                                                                          takings (in particular SMEs), the two sides of
                                                                          industry and individual workers, of the benefits
                                                                          accruing from investment in training;
(') OJ  No  L 185, 15. 12. 1988, p. 9, and
     OJ No  L 374, 31. 12. 1988, p. 21.                              (b) to support innovations in training management,
(') OJ   No C 186, 25. 6. 1983, p. 1.                                     training methods and training facilities, particularly
(J) OJ   No  L 13, 17. 1. 1989, p. 28.                                    with a view to developing training schemes for those
(4) OJ   No  L 342, 4. 12. 1987, p. 35.                                   categories of workers, economic sectors or regions
(5) OJ   No  L 239, 16. 8.1989, p. 33.                                    of the Community which are currently lagging
 ---pagebreak--- No C 12/18                              Official Journal of the European Communities                                 18. 1. 90
     behind in terms       of   participation   and    training       — to promote social conditions to enable large
     investment;                                                          numbers of workers to overcome their lack of
                                                                          qualifications and thereby to improve their
                                                                          situation,
(c) to promote the strategic planning and design of                   — to anticipate the consequence of the completion
     schemes which take account explicitly of the conse-                  of the internal market and to overcome the diffi-
     quences of the completion of the internal market, in                 culties arising in sectors of          undertaking
     particular by supporting transnational and trans-                    undergoing economic or technological restruc-
     frontier partnerships and the exchange of infor-                     turing,
     mation and experience;
                                                                  — the word 'undertaking' is used to denote all types of
                                                                      economic activity, including large and small busi-
(d) to contribute to greater effectiveness of training                nesses, regardless of their legal status or the
     mechanisms and their capacity to respond to changes              economic sector in which they operate,
     in the Community labour market, by reinforcing
     measures at all levels to monitor and analyse the
     development of continuing vocational training,               — the phrase 'training body' is used to denote all types
     identifying better ways of forecasting requirements in           of public, semi-public or private establishment
     terms of qualifications and occupations and ensuring             engaged in vocational training, further training,
     a general and effective dissemination of information             updating or retraining activities, regardless of the
     on these trends.                                                 way in which they are referred to in the Member
                                                                      States. By extension, the phrase 'training body' also
                                                                      denotes professional associations and autonomous
                                                                      economic organizations (in particular Chambers of
                          Article 3                                   Commerce and Industry and/or their equivalents)
                                                                      which organize training courses for third parties,
The programme includes two complementary                  parts
which respect the principle of subsidiarity:
                                                                  — the word 'worker' is used to denote any person
                                                                      obtaining an income from their employment,
(a) a common framework of general principles designed                 including the self-employed.
     to support and complement the policies and
     measures adopted by the Member States, bearing in
     mind the responsibilities of the parties concerned                                     Article 5
     under national law, with a view to promoting the
                                                                   1.   The common framework of general principles and
     development of continuing vocational training, as set
                                                                  the transnational measures provided for in Article 6
     forth in Article 5;
                                                                  contribute to promoting the convergence of measures,
                                                                  provisions and new initiatives adopted by the Member
                                                                  States, in accordance with their national legal systems
(b) a number of transitional measures implemented at              and practices, bearing in mind the responsibilities of the
     Community level, designed to support and                     parties concerned under national law, while respecting
     complement activities developed by and in the                contractual bargaining systems, which seek:
     Member States, as described in Article 6 and the
     Annex.
                                                                  (a) to promote the European dimension of schemes to
                                                                      give impetus to the functions of anticipation, adap-
                                                                      tation and social advancement assured by continuing
                          Article 4                                   vocational training;
For the purposes of this decision:
                                                                  (b) to ensure, in concertation with labour and
                                                                      management, that the least qualified workers,
                                                                      whatever their status, benefit from continuing vo-
— the phrase 'continuing vocational training' is used in              cational training measures, enabling them to obtain a
    a general sense to denote any vocational training                 basic qualification;
    engaged in by a worker in the European Community
    throughout his working life. The training operations
    are intended to perform one of three functions,               (c) to promote real equality of opportunity for men and
   within an undertaking or outside it, as appropriate:               women as regards access to continuing vocational
                                                                      training;
   — to ensure permanent adaptation to the changing
        nature and content of occupations, and hence the
        improvement      of    skills   and     qualifications    (d) to    strengthen     incentives   for    undertakings,
        imperative for strengthening the competitiveness              particularly small businesses, to invest in continuing
        of European undertakings and their staff,                     vocational training;
 ---pagebreak---  18. 1.90                              Official Journal of the European Communities                             No C 12/19
 (e) to seek, after consulting management and labour, to              improved access to it; forecasting of changes with
      improve at all levels the forecasting of trends in              regard to qualifications and occupations;
      qualifications and to achieve greater convergence
                                                                  3. supplementary back-up measures.
      between the objectives of vocational training and
      employment;                                                 Detailed provisions regarding these measures are set out
                                                                  in the Annex.
 (f) to improve, by procedures adapted to national
      conditions and customs, and, if necessary, in stages,
      the supply of continuing vocational training and to                                    Article 7
      reinforce existing arrangements for continuing vo-          From 1 January 1991, the annual appropriations needed
      cational training, in order to meet the specific needs      to cover the Community contribution to the schemes
      of small and medium-sized businesses and the                provided for in the programme will be set out in the
      demands of labour and management at all levels in           annual budgetary procedure. These appropriations are
      relation to the development of new forms of part-           intended for the financing of various schemes set out in
      nership;                                                    detail in the Annex, including the appropriate measures
                                                                  taken to ensure technical assistance at Community level,
(g) to ensure that all workers who are nationals of
                                                                  continuous monitoring and evaluation of the programme.
      Member States are afforded equal treatment as
      regards access to continuing vocational training;
                                                                 The appropriations considered necessary to cover the
(h) to promote the individual right to continuing vo-             first two years of the programme will form part of future
      cational training according to conditions to be laid       budgets in accordance with the financial perspectives for
      down by each Member State.                                  1988 to 1992 (decided in June 1988 by the three
                                                                  Institutions jointly) and their adjustments.
2.     Within two years of the date of this Decision and
                                                                                             Article 8
subsequently on an annual basis, the Member States shall
send to the Commission a report on the steps taken to             1.     The Commission shall secure the cooperation of
implement this common framework of general principles,           the European Centre for the Development of Vocational
including information on current arrangements to                 Training (Cedefop), on the terms set out in Council
promote continuing vocational training, the levels of            Regulation EEC No 337/75 (»).
such training and financing methods. These reports and
summaries thereof will be assessed with the national             2.      Before 30 June 1992 the Commission shall present
authorities in consultation with labour and management.          to the Council, the European Parliament, the Economic
                                                                 and Social Committee and the Advisory Committee on
                                                                 Vocational Training an interim report on the launch
                           Article 6
                                                                 phase and, before 30 June 1994, a final report on the
In order to give a significant Community impetus to the          implementation of the programme.
efforts of the Member States to develop continuing voca-
tional training and to ensure a genuine Community                                           Article 9
contribution to the activities developed by and in the
Member States, the Commission shall implement the                The Commission shall implement the programme in
following transnational measures:                                accordance with the provisions set out in the Annex.
1. support for      innovation    in continuing   vocational
    training;
                                                                                            Article 10
2. analysis, monitoring and evaluation of the devel-
    opment of continuing vocational training and                 This Decision is addressed to the Member States.
                                                                 0) OJ No L 39, 13. 2. 1975, p. 1.
 ---pagebreak--- N o C 12/20                               Official Journal of the European Communities                                      18. 1. 90
                                                                   ANNEX
             COMMUNITY            ACTION      PROGRAMME FOR T H E DEVELOPMENT                         OF     CONTINUING
                                                       VOCATIONAL TRAINING
            The following measures are to be implemented:
                                                                 ACTION I
                                        Support for innovation in continuing vocational training
            (a) Achieving synergy in innovation
                 The Community could support activities at Community level and the operation of a European network
                 of transnational operations with a view to stimulating all possible forms of partnership between the
                 parties concerned, to improve the design, organization and assessment of continuing vocational
                 training operations with particular reference to the general objectives of the programme and to
                 encourage the transfer of knowledge and know-how in the Community. It is up to the Member States
                 to ensure the establishment and financing of the transnational operations as such and to present in the
                 Community support frameworks measures to be financed jointly by the European Social Fund. The
                 aim of assistance from the programme is to develop and improve links between operations at
                 Community level through animation and collaboration activities and dissemination of information and
                 experience. Under the heading of organization, Community assistance could be granted for:
                  (i) an exchange scheme to promote the rapid dissemination of innovations in continuing vocational
                      training while promoting the European dimension of certain training operations aimed at bringing
                      about a significant improvement in access to continuing vocational training; the Community could
                      provide support in the form of grants for training courses in firms or training bodies in another
                      Member State, for full-time instructors, staff, in human resources departments, staff representatives
                      in firms and training specialists in regional consortia;
                 (ii) preparatory work on the design and development of transnational or cross-frontier continuing
                      vocational training pilot schemes, in close liaison with firms and groups of firms in various Member
                      States with a view to promoting the transfer of information and know-how in the Community,
                      while giving priority to the needs of small businesses, and explicitly taking into account the conse-
                      quences of completing the internal market, in particular: workers' geographical mobility;
                      promotion of equal opportunities for men and women; forecasting of trends in occupations and
                      qualifications and development of training at Community level.
            (b) European sectoral surveys of training plans
                The Community could support sectoral surveys of training plans which would examine the following
                topics: methods of drawing up training plans at firm level; cost-effectiveness evaluation of training at
                firm level; firm-level agreements and practices; techniques used to develop training and improve the
                access of workers who have few qualifications; are working part-time and on an insecure basis.
           (c) Community financial contribution
                The contribution will be limited to the costs directly incurred under (a) and (b). The Community could
                cover the management costs of the European network and cooperation activities (conferences, seminars
                and workshops) and the dissemination of knowledge (publications, video); and with respect to organiz-
                ational activities: grants for training courses — the Community contribution would be limited to the
                direct costs of mobility and could not exceed a ceiling of ECU 7 500 per grant and per beneficiary for
                training courses of up to three months. Preparatory work on the design and development of transna-
                tional or cross-frontier continuing vocational training pilot schemes: the Community contribution
                would be limited to 50 % of eligible expenditure incurred up to a celling of ECU 100 000 per year and
                per project for transnational or cross-frontier projects for a maximum of two years.
                The Community could cover the design, implementation and assessment costs of sectoral surveys, up to
                a celling of ECU 0,5 million, throughout their duration.
 ---pagebreak--- 18. 1.90                              Official Journal of the European Communities                                    N o C 12/21
                                                            ACTION II
                                         Analysis, monitoring, assessment and forecasting
         (a) Analysis and monitoring mechanism on the implementation of the common framework of general principles
              In support of reports presented by the Member States on the implementation of the common
              framework of general principles, through Eurostat the Community, while improving existing statistical
              instruments and data collection, plans to launch a survey on training and continuing vocational
              training. This survey should provide inter alia basic information on the number of beneficiaries of
             training, length of courses, level of qualifications, costs of training and methods of financing.
         (b) Analysis oj contractual policy on continuing vocational training
             The Community plans to support the preparation of a coherent table for the analysis of practices,
             contractual arrangements and collective agreements on continuing training agreed at all levels
             concerned in collective bargaining in the Member States. It will be used to identify and disseminate
              innovatory contractual agreements.
             To encourage the dissemination of innovatory contractual agreements the Community could award
              support grants for exchanges of those involved in the social process (members of socio-professional
              organizations) to employers'/workers' organizations or joint bodies in other Member States.
         (c) Forecasting trends in qualifications and occupations
              Drawing on work developed by Cedefop in this field, and with its assistance, a network of highly
             specialized experts in the analysis and forecasting of trends in qualifications and occupations could be
              made responsible for work aimed at promoting the comparability and convergence of methodologies
              relating to the analysis of training needs and changes on the labour market, and the development of a
             common analysis table.
         (d) Community financial contribution
             This will be limited to the direct costs entered into under (a), (b) and (c). The Community could cover
              the cost of the Eurostat survey analysis tables on contractual agreements and forecasting trends in
              qualifications and occupations. With respect to grants for exchanges, the Community financial contri-t
              bution will be limited to the direct costs of mobility and must not exceed ECU 7 500 per grant per
              beneficiary, for exchanges of up to three months.
                                                           ACTION III
                                              Supplementary accompanying measures
         The accompanying measures will concern monitoring the implementation of the programme, technical
         assistance and assessment of the achievement of the general objectives of the programme and concertation
         with those responsible for training within the public authorities, the two sides of industry and firms.
         The Community financial contribution could cover up to 100 % of actual expenditure incurred.