CELEX: 31974D0616
Language: en
Date: 1974-10-16 00:00:00
Title: 74/616/ECSC: Commission Decision of 16 October 1974 approving aids to be granted by the Kingdom of the Netherlands for the benefit of undertakings in the coal industry in respect of the calendar year 1973

14. 12 . 74                                Official Journal of the European Communities                          No L 335/43
                                                     COMMISSION DECISION
                                                         of 16 October 1974
               approving aids to be granted by the Kingdom of the Netherlands for the benefit of under­
                            takings in the coal industry in respect of the calendar year 1973
                                                  ( Only the Dutch text is authentic )
                                                             (74/616/ECSC)
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN                                        to reduce the differences between the costs and
COMMUNITIES ,                                                          revenue of the pits ;
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the Euro­                    Whereas the privately-owned pits are also to receive
pean Coal and Steel Community, and in particular                       aid in the form of a lump sum of Fl 4 million to
Articles 2, 3 , 4 and 5 thereof;                                      cover expenditure incurred as a result of the closure
                                                                       of pits ; whereas this aid is designed to cover costs
                                                                       amounting to that sum and attributable to excep­
Having regard to Commission Decision No 3/71/                         tional expenditure incurred by the undertakings
ECSC i1) of 22 December 1970 on Community rules                       whose pits have been closed; whereas the nature and
for interventions by Member States for the benefit                     amount of the         aid is in  accordance with the
of the coal industry ;
                                                                       provisions of Article 6 (2) of Decision No 3 /71 /ECSC ;
Having regard to Decision No 73/287/ECSC (2) of
25 July 1973 on coking coals and coke, and in                         Whereas the state-owned pits are to receive for 1973
particular Article 9 ( 1 ) thereof;                                   interest amounting to Fl 700 000 on defaulted pay­
                                                                      ments in respect of aid promised by the Netherlands
                                                                       Government in previous years but not paid until
Have consulted the Council ;                                           a later date ; whereas this payment will reduce the
                                                                       difference between the costs and revenue of the pits ;
Whereas the Netherlands Government has informed
the Commission, pursuant to Article 2 of Decision                     Whereas the aid amounting to Fl 6 million from the
No 3 /71 /ECSC, of the financial measures which it                    Netherlands Government for the state-owned pits
proposes to implement directly or indirectly for the                  for 1973 is in fact the aid promised in 1971 ; whereas
benefit of the coal industry in respect of 1973 ;                     this aid has already been approved by the Commis­
whereas the following aids require approval pursuant                  sion memorandum on financial interventions by
to the aforementioned Decision ;                                      Member States in 1971 for the benefit of the coal
                                                                      industry ; No XVII/ 191/ 1 /71 , pp . 59 et seq.; Com­
Whereas the Netherlands             Government       has   made
                                                                      mission Decision No 72/141 /ECSC of 6 March 1972 ;
                                                                      Official journal of the European Communities, No
provision for aid amounting to Fl 26-9 million for                    L 70 of 23 March 1972, pp. 22 et seq .)-,
privatelv-owned pits for 1973 to cover operating
losses ; whereas the Netherlands Government con­
siders that this amount should enable pit closures                    Whereas the aforementioned aids are in accordance
to take place at a suitable rate;                                     with the criteria laid down in Articles 6 and 9 of
                                                                       Decision No 3 /71 /ECSC ;
Whereas, furthermore, privately-owned pits are to
receive for 1973 Fl 5-1 million in interest on defaulted
payments in respect of aid promised by the Nether­                    Whereas the Netherlands Government plans to cut
lands Government in previous years but not paid                       back production to a very great extent ; whereas the
until a later date ; whereas this payment will also help              Netherlands coal production was only 1-8 million
                                                                      metric tons in 1973 compared to 2-9 million metric
                                                                      tons in 1972 ; whereas losses on mine operations in
                                                                      the Netherlands increased between 1971 and 1972 ;
0 OJ No L 3 , 5 . 1 . 1971 , pp . 7 et seq .                          whereas revenue covered only 71% of the pits'
(2) OJ No L 259 , 15 . 9 . 197.3 , p. 41 .                            production costs ; whereas the pits would no longer
 ---pagebreak--- No L 335/44                             Official Journal of the European Communities                             14. 12.74
be viable without aid from the public authorities ;                — the aids to the coal industry cannot amount to
whereas there was no improvement in the position                       indirect aid to industrial consumers of coal, as
in 1973 ;                                                              domestic coal for private consumption is almost
                                                                       the only coal produced now;
Whereas the drop in production and the implemen­
tation of rationalization measures in 1973 led to a                Whereas in view of the above findings it may be
reduction of approximately 3 700, i.e. approximately               concluded that the competitive position of the
43% of the number of persons employed in the                       Limburg coalfield in relation to the other coalfields
Netherlands coal industry ; whereas one pit was                    in the Community has not changed in 1973 ;
closed in 1973 , so that only two pits were still in
operation by the end of 1973 ; whereas in 1973 the                 Whereas, pursuant to Article 11 ( 1 ) of Decision
Netherlands coal industry was passing through a                    No 3 /71 /ECSC, the Commission must satisfy itself
phase in which production was being stopped ;                      that the approved aid is used for the purposes
whereas in view of this trend the aids proposed for                indicated in Articles 6 to 9 of Decision No 3 /71 /
 1973 to cover operating costs help to prevent                     ECSC ; whereas in order to do so the Commission
economic and social difficulties from arising and are              must be informed in particular of the amount of
therefore in accordance with the provisions of                     these aids and the manner in which they are
 Article 9 ( 1 ) ( 1 ) of Decision No 3/71 /ECSC ;                 apportioned,
Whereas it must furthermore be pointed out that
                                                                   HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION :
the operating losses sustained by the privately-owned
pits in 1973 have been estimated by the Netherlands
Government at an amount approximately equal to                                            Article 1
 that of the proposed aid to cover losses ;
                                                                   The Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
Whereas, in view of the special situation, prevailing              is hereby authorized to grant in respect of the
in the Netherlands, which has reduced its coal                     calendar year 1973 aid in an amount not exceeding
production and concentrated it on only a few pits,                 Fl 36 million for the benefit of the privately-owned
and in view of the uncertainties as regards future                 pits in the Netherlands and in respect of the like
costs, the proposed aid for the benefit of privately­              period in an amount of Fl 700 000 for the benefit
owned pits is in accordance with the provisions of                 of the state-owned pits .
Article 9 (2) of Decision No 3 /71 /ECSC ;
                                                                                          Article 2
Whereas the aids proposed by               the Netherlands
Government for 1973 are not such            as to impair the
proper functioning of the common           market, although        The Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
the amount of aid proposed for             1973 within the         shall notify the Commission by 30 November 1974
framework         of    Articles  6  and    9   of  Decision       of details of the aids granted pursuant to this
No 3/71 /ECSC is Fl 19-32 (5-42 u . a.) per metric ton             Decision, in particular as regards the amounts paid
produced and is thus lower than the corresponding                  and    the  manner   in   which    such   amounts    are
aid to be granted to the Belgian and French coal                   apportioned.
industries but higher than that to be granted to the
German and British coal industries ;
                                                                                          Article 3
Whereas       these      conclusions  are    based  on   the       This Decision is addressed to the Kingdom of the
following findings :                                               Netherlands .
— supplies of Netherlands coal to other Community
     countries fell considerably in 1973 ;                         Done at Brussels, 16 October 1974.
— the amount of Community coal purchased by the                                                     For the Commission
    Netherlands is very low, which the amount of                                                       The President
    coal imported from non-member countries rose
    in 1973 by more than 50% as against 1972 ;                                                    Francois-Xavier ORTOLI