CELEX: 51983PC0698
Language: en
Date: 1983-12-01
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL REGULATION ( EEC ) ESTABLISHING SPECIAL MEASURES OF COMMUNITY INTEREST RELATING TO ENERGY STRATEGY

N o C 344/4                           Official Journal of the European Communities                              20. 12.83
                                                              II
                                                      (Preparatory Acts)
                                                COMMISSION
                                                 i
               Proposal for a Council Regulation establishing special measures of Community interest
                                                 relating to energy strategy
                                                     COM(83) 698 final
                            (Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 2 December 1983)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN                                       measures executed in the United Kingdom and at
COMMUNITIES,                                                      201 million ECU for projects and measures executed
                                                                  in the Federal Republic of Germany;
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the
European Economic Community, and in particular                    Whereas the projects and measures must be specified
Article 235 thereof,                                              and supported by the information required in order to
                                                                  retain only those which are of Community interest in
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,                the field to which they relate;
                                                                  Whereas the Commission should be in a position to
Having regard to the opinion of the European Par-                 check the implementation of the projects and
liament,                                                          measures provided for in this Regulation;
Whereas the Council resolutions of 17 December                    Whereas the Treaty has not provided for the powers
1974 0), of 13 February 1975 (2), and of 9 June                   of action required for this purpose,
1980 (3), as well as the Council recommendations of
28 July 1982 (4), and of 24 May 1983 (5), laid down
                                                                  HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
certain guidelines for the Community's energy policy;
                                                                                          Article 1
Whereas conditions incompatible with the proper
functioning of the Community could arise when a                   Special measures of Community interest relating to
Member State's economy, whilst in a special situation,            energy strategy are hereby established in 1984 in the
is forced to bear a disproportionate burden in the                Federal Republic of Germany and in the United
financing of the Community budget;                                Kingdom.
Whereas the Community has defined an energy                                               Article 2
strategy designed notably to reduce dependence on
imports of energy products, particularly oil;                      1.    The special measures of Community interest
                                                                   shall be implemented by means of financial assistance
                                                                   for the implementation of projects and measures
Whereas it is necessary to establish special measures
                                                                  which contribute towards one or more of the
 of Community interest relating to energy strategy and
                                                                   following Community energy policy objectives:
 involving financial contributions from the Community
 to energy projects or measures in the Federal                     — the maintenance of the level of the Community's
 Republic of Germany and in the United Kingdom,                        coal production under satisfactory economic
 which contribute towards Community energy policy                      conditions,
 objectives;
                                                                   — to ensure by a technological research and
 Whereas the total amount of the Community contri-                     development policy that traditional forms of
 butions necessary for the said specific measures is                   energy are better exploited and, in the long term,
 estimated at 255 million ECU for projects and                         replaced by new sources of energy,
                                                                   — the development of indigenous energy resources
 (») OJ No C 153, 9. 7. 1975, p. 2.                                    under satisfactory economic conditions,
 O   OJ No C 153, 9. 7. 1975, p. 6.
 (') O J N o C 149, 18.6. 1980, p. 1.                              — the reduction of the ratio between the rate of
 (4) OJ No L 247, 23. 8. 1982, p. 9.                                    growth in energy consumption and the rate of
 (*) OJ No L 140, 31. 5. 1983, p. 25.                                   economic growth,
 ---pagebreak---  20. 12. 83                           Official Journal of the European Communities                              N o C 344/5
 — the reduction of oil consumption in the                                                 Article 4
     Community as a proportion of total energy
     consumption,                                                 1.    The Commission shall examine the projects and
                                                                  measures submitted to it by each of the Member
                                                                  States concerned under this Regulation and shall refer
— an increased share for solid fuels and nuclear
                                                                 them for.information to the Committee referred to in
     energy in electricity production,
                                                                 Article 7.
— the increased use of renewable energy sources,
                                                                 2.     In accordance with the procedure laid down in
— restructuring of demand in favour of the more                  Article 8, the Commission shall decide on:
     rational use of energy,
                                                                 (a) the projects and measures meriting Community
— increased investment in conversion to the use of                    assistance, in the light of the criteria provided for
     solid fuels.                                                     in Article 3;
                                                                 (b) the amount of the Community's overall financial
2.     The projects and measures shall be submitted to                contribution, within the limits of the appro-
the Commission together with all the information                      priations available.
necessary in order to assess:
— their conformity with the objectives referred to in            3.     The Community's overall financial contribution
    paragraph 1,                                                 may not exceed, for each project or measure, 70 % of
                                                                 the annual public expenditure to be provided for its
                                                                 execution.
— their conformity with the eligibility criteria laid
    down in Article 3,
                                                                 4.     No financial contribution shall be made in
— their Community interest taking account of                     respect of expenditure implemented more than 12
    energy strategy and the field under consideration,           months before the entry into force of this Regulation.
— the possibilities of verifying the execution of each           5.    Not less than 20 % of the Community's total
    project and measure and of auditing expenditure.             financial contributions under this Regulation for
                                                                 projects and measures in each country shall be
                                                                 allocated in respect of projects or measures
3.     The Commission may request any additional
                                                                 commenced after a date 12 months before the entry
information necessary for the examination of the said
                                                                 into force of this Regulation.
projects and measures.
                                                                 6.    The Commission decisions referred to in
                          Article 3                             paragraph 2 shall be published in the Official Journal
1.     The projects or measures shall be eligible for a          of the European Communities.
financial contribution by the Community provided
they are financed wholly or in part by public auth-
                                                                                           Article 5
orities and fulfil the following criteria:
                                                                 1.    Appropriations relating to projects and measures
(a) they must serve to bring about the objectives of             shall be entered in the budget of the European
     the Community's energy policy;                              Communities.
(b) they must be compatible with other Community                 2.    As soon as a decision has been taken pursuant
     policies;                                                   to Article 4 (2), the Commission shall make a
                                                                 payment of 90 % of the amount of the Community
(c) they must not give rise to distortions of                    contribution provided for.
     competition, particularly as regards the amounts
     of public aid.
                                                                 3.     Payment of the 10 % balance shall be effected
                                                                 immediately after the sum referred to in paragraph 2
2.     Additionally, only those demonstration projects           has been used up, as certified by the Government of
or energy research projects will be retained for which           the Member State concerned, provided that
Member States make the necessary provisions with                 implementation of the project or measure proceeds as
xegard to ensuring the productive use, the commer-               planned and that on-the-spot checks have been
cialization and dissemination of the results in a non-           carried out in accordance with the procedure
discriminatory way throughout the Community.                     provided for in Article 6.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 344/6                         Official Journal of the European Communities                             20.12.83
                        Article 6                                                      Article 8
1. The Commission shall ensure that each project              1. Where the procedure laid down in this Article is
or measure is implemented in accordance with this             to be followed, the chairman shall refer the matter to
Regulation, with the provisions adopted for its               the Committee either on his own initiative or at the
application and with the Regulation adopted pursuant          request of the representative of a Member State.
to Article 209 of the Treaty.
                                                              2. The representative of the Commission shall
To this end, each of the Member States concerned              submit drafts of decisions to be taken. The
shall supply the Commission with all information              Committee shall deliver its opinion on the drafts
requested by it and shall take all steps with regard to       within a time limit which the chairman may fix
Community-assisted projects and measures to                   according to the urgency of the questions under
facilitate such supervision as the Commission may             consideration. An opinion shall be adopted by a
consider appropriate, including on-the-spot checks            qualified majority in accordance with Article 148 (2)
made at its request with the approval of the Member           of the Treaty.
State concerned by the latter's competent authorities,        3. The Commission shall adopt decisions which
in which Commission officials may participate.                shall apply immediately. However, if these decisions
                                                              are not in accordance with the opinion of the
Each Member State concerned shall make available to           Committee, they shall be communicated to the
the Commission, for a period of three years from the          Council as soon as possible and at the latest within
transfer of the balance referred to in Article 5 (3), all     one month. In that event, the Commission shall defer
supporting documents or certified copies thereof              application of the decisions it has adopted for not
relating to expenditure.                                      more than two months from the date of such
                                                              communication. The Council, acting by a qualified
2. Where a project or measure is not implemented              majority, may take a different decision within two
in conformity with this Regulation or departs sub-            months.
stantially from decisions taken for its application, the
Commission may suspend payments still due. In this                                    Article 9
case, it may also decide that sums already paid or still
due are to be allocated in accordance with the                Each of the Member States concerned shall, in
procedure laid down in Article 8 to other projects or         agreement with the Commission, take the necessary
measures submitted under this Regulation. If, in the          steps to ensure that suitable publicity is given to the
opinion of the Commission, no other project or                assistance granted under this Regulation.
measure is available, it shall recover the payments
                                                                                      Article 10
made.
                                                              The Commission shall report to the Council and to
                        Article 7                             the European Parliament on the application of this
                                                              Regulation.
 1. A management committee (hereinafter called
'the Committee') is hereby established, composed of                                   Article 11
representatives of the Member States and chaired by a
                                                              This Regulation shall enter into force on the day of
representative of the Commission.
                                                              its publication in the Official Journal of the European
                                                               Communities.
2. Within the Committee, the votes of the Member
States shall be weighted in accordance with Article           This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and
 148 (2) of the Treaty. The chairman shall not vote.          directly applicable in all Member States.