CELEX: 51990PC0155
Language: en
Date: 1990-05-23
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL DECISION CONCERNING A SPECIFIC PROGRAMME OF RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE FIELD OF TELEMATIC SYSTEMS IN AREAS OF GENERAL INTEREST ( 1990-1994 )

16. 7. 90                           Official Journal of the European Communities                             No C 174/19
                     Proposal for a Council Decision adopting a specific programme of research and
              technological development in the field of telematic systems in areas of general interest
                                                       (1990 to 1994)
                                              COM(90) 155 final — SYN 260
                                     (Submitted by the Commission on 3 May 1990)
                                                       (90/C 174/03)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                          Whereas this programme must be implemented by the
                                                                  Commission; whereas, to help accomplish this, the
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European             Member States are bound, pursuant to Article 5 of the
Economic Community, and in particular Article 130q                Treaty, to facilitate the achievement of its tasks, where
 (2) thereof,                                                     necessary, notably within a committee;
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,               Whereas this programme must be implemented essen-
                                                                 tially by the selection of research and development
In cooperation with the European Parliament,                     projects to enable them to benefit from Community
                                                                 participation; whereas the Commission should encour-
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and                 age the submission of such projects by the usual means
Social Committee,                                                of publishing calls for proposals in the Official Journal
                                                                 of the European Communities; whereas a special pro-
                                                                 cedure should also be devised so as to maintain a degree
Whereas, by Decision 90/221/Euratom, EEC(1), the                 of flexibility enabling the Commission, in the face of
 Council adopted a third framework programme for                 the continuous evolution and gradual acceleration of
Community activities in the field of research and tech-          technological progress, also to take into consideration
nological development (1990 to 1994), specifying inter           spontaneous proposals consistent with the objectives of
alia the activities to be pursued in the field of telematic      the programme;
systems in areas of general interest; whereas this
Decision should be taken in the light of the grounds set
out in the preamble to that Decision;                             Whereas the projects to be carried out under the pro-
                                                                  gramme must be selected with special attention to the
Whereas Article 130k of the Treaty stipulates that the            principle of economic and social cohesion in the Com-
framework programme is to be implemented through                  munity, the transnational nature of the projects and
specific programmes developed within each activity;               the support to be given to small and medium-sized
                                                                 enterprises;
Whereas an estimate should be made of the amount of
Community financial resources needed to carry out this           Whereas it is only in the light of experience gathered
specific programme; whereas the definitive amounts                in the course of this programme that the Commission
will be fixed by the budgetary authority in line with             will be able to propose and the Council to adopt sup-
the financial perspectives covering the period 1988 to           plementary programmes by having recourse to the
1992 included in the Interinstitutional Agreement of             means provided for in Articles 1301, 130m or 130o of
29 June 1988 (2) and with any future financial perspec-          the Treaty, if they contribute to the achievement of the
tives covering the period 1993 to 1994;                          programme's objectives, in accordance with the option
                                                                 made available by Article 2 (2) of Decision 90/221/
Whereas, pursuant to Article 4 of and Annex I to                 Euratom, EEC;
Decision 90/221/Euratom, EEC, the amount deemed
necessary for the whole framework programme includes             Whereas, in accordance with Article 130g of the Treaty,
an amount of ECU 57 million for the centralized dis-             the Community's activities aimed at strengthening the
semination and exploitation of results, to be divided up         scientific and technological basis of European industry
in proportion to the amount envisaged for each activity;         and encouraging it to become more competitive include
whereas in view of the importance of this specific               promoting cooperation on research and technological
programme within the 'Information technology and                 development with third countries and international
communications' activities the estimate of the financial         organizations; whereas such cooperation may prove
resources needed by this programme is to be reduced              particularly beneficial for the development of this pro-
by ECU 3 800 000, which amount is to be allocated to             gramme;
the centralized activities, in order to comply with the
second sentence of Article 130p (2) of the Treaty;
                                                                 Whereas trans-European telematic services networks
                                                                 will contribute to the successful completion of the large
                                                                 internal market and at the same time improve the
(!) OJ No L 177, 8. 5. 1990, p. 28.                              performance of large public services facing the new
(2) OJ No L 185, 15. 7. 1988, p. 33.                             technological, social and economic challenges at Com-
 ---pagebreak---  No C 174/20                        Official Journal of the European Communities                                16. 7. 90
 munity level which are implied by European inte-               review to the Council and the European Parliament,
 gration; whereas cooperation, area-by-area, of all the        together with proposals for any necessary changes.
 parties involved, especially users and providers of ser-
 vices and systems, network operators and equipment
 manufacturers, is an essential condition to ensure that       2. At the end of the programme the Commission shall
 the services are suited to needs; whereas the six main         assess the results obtained. It shall address a report
 priority areas have been selected as those best able to       thereon to the Council and the European Parliament.
 benefit from progress in information technology and
 communications and the European dimension; whereas            3. The reports shall be drawn up having regard to the
 the specific programme aims to provide the conceptual,        objectives set out in Annex I to this Decision and
 technological and prenormative bases to enable the            in accordance with Article 2 (4) of Decision 90/221/
 gradual introduction of such trans-European telematic         Euratom, EEC.
 networks;
 Whereas the Scientific and Technical Research Com-
 mittee (Crest) has been consulted,
                                                                                       Article 6
                                                               1. The Commission shall be responsible for the
 HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:                                    execution of the programme. It shall be assisted by a
                                                               committee, hereinafter referred to as 'the Committee',
                                                               composed of representatives of the Member States and
                         Article 1                             chaired by a representative of the Commission.
 A specific research and technological development pro-
 gramme for the European Economic Community in the             2. The contracts concluded by the Commission shall
 field of telematic systems in areas of general interest,     govern the rights and obligations of each party, includ-
 as defined in Annex I, is hereby adopted for a period         ing the procedures for disseminating, protecting and
 of five years as from 1 January 1990.                        exploiting the research results, in accordance with the
                                                               arrangements adopted pursuant to the second para-
                                                              graph of Article 130k of the Treaty.
                         Article 2
                                                              3. A work programme for each year shall be drawn
 1. The Community funds estimated as necessary for
                                                              up and updated where necessary. It shall set out the
 the execution of the programme under this Decision
                                                              detailed objectives and types of projects to be under-
 amount to ECU 380 million. Of this amount ECU
                                                              taken, and the financial arrangements to be made for
3 800 000 is drawn for the centralized dissemination
                                                              them. The Commission shall make calls for proposals
and exploitation of results. The amount thus reduced
                                                              for projects on the basis of the annual work pro-
 to ECU 376 200 000 includes staff costs which may not
                                                              grammes.
exceed 8 % . An indicative breakdown of expenditure is
set out in Annex II.
2. Should the Council take a decision in implemen-
tation of Article 1 (4) of Decision 90/221 /Euratom,                                   Article 7
EEC, this decision shall be adapted to take account of
the abovementioned Decision.                                   1. In the cases envisaged in Article 8 (1), the Com-
                                                               mission representative shall submit to the Committee a
3. The budgetary authority shall decide on the appro-         draft of the measures to be taken. The Committee shall
priations available for each financial year.                  deliver its opinion on the draft within a time limit
                                                              which the chairman may set according to the urgency of
                                                              the matter. The opinion shall be delivered by qualified
                         Article 3                            majority as provided for in Article 148 (2) of the Treaty
                                                              in the case of decisions which the Council is required
Rules for the implementation of the programme are set         to adopt on a proposal from the Commission. The
out in Annex III.                                             votes of the Member States' representatives within the
                                                              Committee shall be weighted in the manner set out in
                                                              that Article. The chairman shall not vote.
                         Article 4
The rate of the Community financial contribution shall        2. The Commission shall adopt the measures envis-
be laid down in accordance with Annex IV to Decision          aged where they are in accordance with the Commit-
90/221/Euratom, EEC.                                          tee's opinion.
                                                              3. If the measures envisaged are not in accordance with
                         Article 5                            the Committee's opinion, or if no opinion is delivered,
                                                              the Commission shall forthwith submit to the Council
1. During 1992 the Commission shall review the pro-           a proposal relating to the measures to be taken. The
gramme and address a report on the results of the             Council shall act by a qualified majority.
 ---pagebreak--- 16. 7. 90                               Official Journal of the European Communities                                    No C 174/21
4. If the Council has not acted within one month of                           Community contribution is less than ECU 5 million,
submission of the proposal, the proposed measures                             and the results of their evaluation,
shall be adopted by the Commission.
                                                                              accompanying measures, referred to in point 2 of
                                                                              Annex HI,
                                                                              concerted actions, referred to in point 2 of Annex III.
                          Article 8
1. The procedure laid down in Article 7 shall apply                                                  Article 9
to:
— the preparation and updating of the work pro-                         In implementing this programme, supplementary pro-
    grammes referred to in Article 6 (3),                               grammes within the meaning of Article 13&, partici-
                                                                        pation within the meaning of Article 130m and joint
— evaluation of the projects referred to in point 2 of                  undertakings or any other structures within the mean-
    Annex III, as well as the estimated amount of the                   ing of Article 130o of the Treaty may also be decided
    Community's financial contribution when these                       on as the need arises.
    projects are submitted through the ordinary
    procedure referred to in point 4 of Annex III
    and the abovementioned amount is more than                                                      Article 10
    ECU 5 million,
                                                                        Where cooperation with third countries and inter-
— evaluation of all projects submitted through the                      national organizations aiming at achieving the objec-
    exceptional procedure referred to in point 4 of                     tives of this programme requires legal undertakings
    Annex III, as well as the estimated amount of the                   between the Community and the third parties con-
    Community's financial contribution,                                 cerned, the Commission shall be authorized to nego-
— measures for evaluating the programme.                                tiate, in accordance with Article 130n of the Treaty,
                                                                        international agreements laying down the terms of such
2. The Commission may consult the Committee on                          cooperation.
any matter falling within the scope of the programme.
                                                                        Decisions on the conclusion of such agreements shall
3. The Commission shall inform the Committee with                       be adopted in accordance with the procedure referred
regard to:                                                              to in Article 130q (2) of the Treaty.
— the progress of the programme,
— planned calls for proposals, referred to in Article 6 (3),                                        Article 11
— projects, referred to in point 2 of Annex III, submit-
    ted through the ordinary procedure, for which the                   This Decision is addressed to the Member States.
                                                                  ANNEX     I
                                           Objectives and scientific and technical content
              The guidelines, scientific and technical objectives and underlying purposes of the third Framework Programme
              form an integral part of this specific programme.
              Paragraph LLC of Annex II to the Framework Programme forms an integral part of this specific programme.
              On this basis and in the light of the above, there follows an analytical description of the contents of this
              specific programme.
             Area 1: Support for the establishment of trans-European networks between administrations
             The objective of this area is to carry out studies and research, in particular at prestandardization level, for
             the definition and subsequent establishment of the trans-European telematic services networks essential to
             national administrations for the completion of the single market and the provision of the services necessary
             to the free movement of persons, goods, services and capital.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 174/22                            Official Journal of the European Communities                                           16. 7. 90
          The priority sub-areas are those most closely linked to the completion of the internal market. In the first
          instance they will be customs, social security, frontier police, indirect taxation and statistics.
          With the elimination of frontiers within the Community as a result of the completion of the internal market,
          it will no longer be possible to monitor goods in transit at national frontier posts. Monitoring of goods in
          transit will require information to be exchanged between the customs of the country in which the goods
          enter or leave Community territory and the country of destination or origin of the goods. A new need will
          therefore be felt which new IT and telecommunications tools can help to satisfy.
          Free movement of persons within the Community also requires means of controlling illegal movements of
          persons and goods. With the elimination of customs checks, cooperation between frontier police and the
          administrations concerned must be stepped up. Furthermore, the problems due to the incompatibility of
          existing national telematic systems and to relations with non-Community countries, legal constraints and
          differing procedures and methods must be surmounted. The setting-up of trans-European telematic services
          can help to do this, by ensuring rapid and secure information exchange, guaranteeing the compatibility of
          the operational procedures while respecting citizens' rights, and promoting international coordination.
          The elimination of frontiers within the Community will also mean drastic changes to the present fiscal
          procedures for VAT and excise duties. For the transitional period between the present situation (application
          of the destination principle) and the final situation (application of the origin principle), whatever the practical
          taxation procedures which are decided, mutual assistance between national tax administrations would seem
          to be essential to prevent the risks of fraud. From this transitional phase, the telematic services of the
          competent administrations must be interconnectable and interoperable in order to guarantee fraud prevention.
          The development of telematic services networks satisfying the new specific needs required in the final stage
           (those linked, in particular, to the compensation mechanisms) must be taken into account. The interconnection
          and interoperability of already existing statistical tools will allow the implementation of a European system
          of statistical information.
          Identification of needs and implementation strategies
          It will be necessary, sub-area by sub-area, and under the conditions set out below, to identify needs and
          describe the existing situation. The results of this work, which will also include development and validation
          as described below, will enable the relevant administrations of the Member States and the Commission,
          with the help of hardware and software producers, telecommunications operators, and possibly specialist
          consultancy firms, to seek a consensus on the functional technical specifications of the services required and
          strategies for setting up the trans-European networks to provide these services.
          The comparison of these descriptions with needs should enable the work remaining to be done to be identified
          by mutual agreement; this may involve some or all of the following tasks: description of the information
          desired, precise description of the types of messages required (free text, statistical tables or highly structured
          administrative messages), their format, the functional specifications and standards to be used, adapted or
          developed, as appropriate, and the protocols to be developed or converted.
          Preference will be given to systems which are designed to inter-communicate using key elements, particularly
          those which have been standardized at European or world level. The standards relating to database access,
          storage and access protocols, languages, etc. will be identified and adapted where necessary.
          Arrangements must be made to ensure secure transmission. They will be based on the Community's work
          on security in computers and communications. They will have to be defined on the basis of common
          functional specifications. Their functions will include authentication of the sender and receiver, data integrity
          and confidentiality of information.
          Development of the technologies relating to telematic services
          In order to take account of the complexity of these networks of services, the number of parties involved, the
          variety of information, real-time or batch processing, and capacity requirements, the architectures and the
          management of these trans-European networks will have to be thoroughly studied and researched in order
          to achieve the performance and reliability required to satisfy the specific needs of each administration. These
          studies and research which relate both to the choice (or definition) of hardware and to the development of
          complex software will have to be carried out jointly by users of dedicated networks, manufacturers of
          information and communications equipments, telecommunications operators and possibly specialist consult-
          ancy firms.
          This work will complement that conducted in the specific programmes on IT and communications.
 ---pagebreak---                              Official Journal of the European Communities                                     No C 174/23
Validation of common functional       specifications
The general objective is to ensure, by means of a limited number of experimental development activities
relating to the validation of functional specifications, the interoperability of the telematic systems used by
the administrations and users. Special attention will be paid to the quality, reliability, security and ease of
use of these services.
To this end, pilot projects will be carried out to test the validity of the options selected.
Some of these experimental development activities will be carried out in cooperation with the work carried
out under the Insis, Caddia and Tedis programmes and, where appropriate, certain parts of the Esprit and
RACE programmes.
Area 2: Transport services
The activities aim to contribute to the development, in the field of transport, of integrated trans-European
services using advanced IT and communications to improve the performance (security and efficiency) of
passenger and goods transport services, and at the same time reduce the impact of transport on the
environment. There will be close liaison with the Prometheus project (part of the Eureka initiative).
Account will have to be taken of the peculiarities and specific needs of the various parties involved, notably
private and business users. Security and ease of access for all users will be given special attention.
S u b - a r e a 1: R o a d transport
The activities will be divided into three interactive parts: the definition of functional specificati6ns in the
context of a global strategy for the use of technology and telematic systems for communication and traffic
control, the development of new technologies and systems, and validation work.
Strategies for the use of technologies, telematic services and systems and contribution to the definition of
common functional specifications
The results of the work carried out under the Drive programme allowed the needs specific to road transport,
and the technologies and systems available for communication and traffic control to be identified. On the
basis of these results, a strategy for using these technologies and systems will be sought in cooperation with
transport users, business, providers of transport-related services and the administrations concerned.
This strategy will help to draw up the functional specifications in terms of equipment, services and operating
procedures, and to make recommendations for standardization by the European standards bodies.
Technologies and development of systems
The work on technology will take account of the technologies emerging within IT and communications,
progress in vehicle design, and research carried out under Drive/Prometheus and Community programmes.
The technologies and telematic systems for managing transport and controlling road traffic will be developed
for both passenger and goods transport.
Safety systems will be developed to help drivers on long journeys. The research will aim to develop on-board
safety systems and equipment able to communicate with the new fixed infrastructure equipment.
Research and technological development work specific to goods transport will also be undertaken. It will
cover the software, hardware and telematic systems needed to improve goods traffic management. This work
will concern real-time monitoring of the various forms related to transactions, the goods themselves and
vehicles; management systems for all kinds of vehicle fleets will also be developed.
The technological solutions will have to ensure that the telecommunications equipment to be introduced is
suited, in terms of size and cost, to the intended specific uses and the needs identified.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 174/24                               Official Journal of the European Communities                                       16. 7. 90
            Validation and pilot projects
            In order for the new devices to be accepted by both the public and the administrative authorities, they must
            be of proven performance and reliability. This will require full-scale checks and experiments. These will be
           oriented towards the integration of multiple subsystems, functions and services.
            S u b - a r e a 2: A i r  transport
            Research will concentrate on new approaches to automating air-traffic control, the development and
            validation of the new software needed to improve safety and reliability in the context of substantially
            increased traffic. It will include work on data communications, such as interchange of data between computers
            located in neighbouring air-traffic control centres and the design of an integrated European air-traffic control
           system.
           It will also include studies on air traffic management which will cover communications, navigation and
           surveillance. The work will make use of results of research at national and Community levels, most of which
           is coordinated by Eurocontrol.
           Area 3: Health care
           Work in this area will help to develop European networks and systems for the provision of telematic health
           services, so improving citizens' access to health services throughout the Community. It will be carried out
           along three main lines, making use of the exploratory work of the AIM programme (advanced informatics
           in medicine) and in close cooperation with other Community programmes.
           Strategies for the use of technologies, telematic systems and services and contribution to the definition of
           common functional specifications
           The nature of research and technological development activities will depend to a large extent on user needs
           and the general constraints associated with the transnational nature of the information infrastructure required.
           This transnational aspect requires compliance with three principles: integration (notably the emergence of
           standards); modularity, to facilitate adaptation to different types of needs, and data security. The research
           and technological development activities will depend on the assessment of technological needs in the light of
           the main factors affecting the development of health care. They will also depend on the strategic options for
          European telematic services in the sector. They will take account of essential problems such as confidentiality
          and data protection.
          Development of telematic technology applied to medicine
          This research will relate to the development of distributed computer systems designed to support multimedia
          medical teleservices with the aim of allowing doctors, hospitals and health administrations to exchange data
          and set up centres of expertise in Europe. In order to ensure that these services are accepted they will be
          made easy to use, reliable and will conform to standards.
          Remote diagnosis and monitoring technology will be developed; this will allow physiological functions to be
          monitored in the home and the specialist knowledge most suited to the diagnosis and treatment of each
          patient to be made available anywhere in the Community.
          Validation and integration
          Pilot applications will be set up to demonstrate and evaluate the innovative nature of using IT and
          communications in the area of medical teleservices. Tests of the applicability of the R&cD results and the
          interoperability of telemedicine services will be conducted.
          Area 4: Distance learning
          On the basis of the exploratory work of the Delta programme and in close cooperation with other Community
          activities such as Comett and Eurotecnet, the work in this area will be carried out in three interdependent
 ---pagebreak--- 16. 7. 90                                Official Journal of the European Communities                                        No C 174/25
           parts: drawing-up of implementation strategies, development of technologies and systems, and validation
           and integration of services.
           Strategies for the use of technologies, telematic systems and services and contribution to the definition of
           common functional specifications
           In the light of the interests of the various categories of users and taking account of the technological potentials,
           the various possible options to satisfy these needs will be identified. The measures needed to overcome the
           difficulties of implementing educational technologies will be determined.
           Systems engineering work will be carried out: it will consist of identifying user needs and then reaching a
           consensus on specifications and functional standards which satisfy the needs of the various categories of
           users, producers of educational materials and providers of distance learning services.
           The work will centre around the development of production methods for multimedia educational materials
           which are portable and transferable between various systems with the prospect of transnational use, including
           remote assistance and help procedures for the various categories of users.
           Development of systems and technologies
           The work will relate to the technologies required to obtain a telematic service for distance learning which is
           flexible, effective, modular and interoperable.
           It will be necessary to integrate and adapt the communications technologies, hardware configurations and
           protocols for educational and training applications and ensure compatibility and portability of the various
           systems developed for the potential users, whether they be students, authors, tutors, producers or simply
           people requesting information on education services.
           Experiments on the validation and integration of services
          The performance of the various possible services and technical configurations must be evaluated. Experiments
           in the real environment will allow testing of the value added by interconnecting the various systems
           using new technologies for education, information and user assistance. The experiments will establish the
          comparative advantages and the performance, in relation to their cost, of these various configurations of
           flexible distance learning systems for different categories of users.
          Area 5: Libraries
          The objective is to facilitate user access, by optimum use and development of equipment and telematic
          systems, to the wealth of knowledge held in libraries, while reducing the handicaps caused by the present
          disparate infrastructures in the Community.
          To this end, the work will have to help develop modern library services all over the Community by promoting
          faster, but orderly and cost-effective penetration of new technologies into libraries.
          Initial Community activity in this area must be selective, concentrating on urgent problems which can catalyse
          change in a concrete and practical way. Applied R&D will therefore be used to support the development of
          appropriate tools, methods and resources which will be able to stimulate modernization of the operational
          infrastructure and services provided, and facilitate cooperation and resource sharing at national and European
          levels.
          This activity will consist of setting up computerized national bibliographies where these are lacking, and
          helping to improve existing national computerized bibliographies or collective catalogues. Support will also
          be given to retrospective conversion of catalogues of large collections at international level.
          Projects will be set up to facilitate the international interconnection of the systems managing these basic data
          for particular functions (shared cataloguing, inter-library loans, etc.) and thus help to prepare and apply a
          range of international or European standards.
          The provision of new library services using IT and communications in small units will be stimulated. Initial
          support will be given to the creation of a range of innovative experimental services for library users, taking
          account of the different levels of development of library services in the Member States.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 174/26                            Official Journal of the European Communities                                          16. 7. 90
           Finally, projects will be set up to encourage the development of a European market in telematic products
           and services specific to libraries. Interaction between libraries and IT industries will be stimulated by
           improving the definition of libraries' needs which new IT and communications can satisfy. Limited initial
           support will be given to experimental demonstrations of products (such as software) and services.
           Area 6: Linguistic research and engineering
           The aim of this area is to develop a basic linguistic technology which can be incorporated into a large number
           of computer applications where natural language is an essential ingredient. This requires the creation of
           linguistic resources (grammars, dictionaries, terminology collections, and corpora of text) for the nine official
           Community languages, and the definition of standards for these data. A number of pilot applications and
           demonstration projects will be undertaken to show how the technology will be used and demonstrate the
           technical and economic feasibility of the solutions adopted.
           The area is divided into three parts: research, development of resources and pilot applications. It is based on
           the results and experience drawn from Eurotra and certain specific projects conducted under Esprit and
           national research programmes.
           The research work will concentrate on the development of a common computer-based linguistic model for
           text representation in different languages and on the pursuit of automated techniques for reducing the number
           of possible interpretations of a given text. The development of advanced computational technologies will
           encourage the application, for linguistics, of progress made in the field of advanced expert systems, database
           technologies, speech processing and computer architectures. It is also intended to create methods, tools and
           linguistic resources, especially portable software tools, grammars, dictionaries, domain specific terminological
           collections, as well as large, high quality corpora and the stimulation of standards work. Pilot applications
           and demonstration projects will help to test the progress of research work and to demonstrate the technical
           and economic feasibility of tools, methods and resources in an operational environment.
                                                              ANNEX 11
                                              Indicative breakdown of expenditure
          Development of trans-European telematic networks and systems applied to:
                                                                                                                      (%)
          — Administrations                                                                                          29-33
          — Transport services                                                                                       30-34
          — Health care services                                                                                     15-17
          — Distance learning services                                                                               10-12
          — Libraries                                                                                                  6-7
          — Research and technological development in linguistics                                                      5-6
          The above amounts include administrative and staff costs.
          Despite this breakdown into different areas, projects may nevertheless fall under several areas.
 ---pagebreak--- 16. 7. 90                                  Official Journal of the European Communities                                            No C 174/27
                                                                   ANNEX HI
                                                Rules for implementing the programme
                                and activities for dissemination and exploitation of the results
           1. The Commission shall implement the programme on the basis of the scientific and technical content
               described in Annex I.
           2. The rules for implementing the programme, referred to in Article 3, comprise research and technological
               development projects, accompanying measures and concerted actions.
               The projects shall be the subject of shared-cost research and technological development contracts.
               The accompanying measures consist of applying the means to ensure proper technical execution, manage-
               ment and evaluation of the programme, as well as adequate dissemination and accessibility of the results,
               and coordination, training and consciousness-raising of the participants in the programme.
               The concerted actions are those defined in the Financial Regulation.
           3. The participants in the projects must be natural or legal persons established in the Community ('), such
               as universities, research organizations and industrial firms, including small and medium-sized enterprises,
               or associations thereof, in particular European economic interest groupings (EEIGs).
               Natural or legal persons established in countries which have concluded agreements with the Community
               foreseeing scientific and technical research, may, based on the criterion of mutual advantage, take part
               in the projects undertaken in the context of this programme. The contracting parties under such
               arrangements shall not benefit from Community funding. They shall contribute to the general administrat-
               ive costs.
           4. The choice of projects shall be carried out according to the following order of priority, the first method
               being the rule, the second the exception.
               The participants in the projects shall be selected on the basis of the ordinary procedure of calls for
               proposals referred to in Article 6 (3) and published in the Official Journal of the European Communities.
               The Commission may also accept proposals according to an exceptional procedure and under the
               conditions mentioned below, when they make a particularly promising and significant contribution as
               regards the originality of the theme proposed, the novelty of the scientific and technical approach and
               the methodology of execution, also taking into account the particular nature of the proposers.
               A favourable technical evaluation of such proposals shall not by itself be a sufficient justification for
               accepting a project; this exceptional procedure may only apply after verification that the nature of the
               project, as defined above, does not justify the use of the normal procedure for calls for proposals.
               The exceptional procedure must be completed before the ordinary procedure in such a way that the
               available amount for the Community's financial participation in projects retained by the ordinary
               procedure can be determined precisely. The closing date for the exceptional procedure shall be published
               each year in the Official Journal of the European Communities.
               The amount of the financial participation of the Community for all the projects retained by the exceptional
               procedure will be decided each year, in relation to the projects selected according to particularly strict
               criteria of excellence. In any case, this amount may not exceed 15%; it may be revised each year in the
               light of experience.
               The Commission shall draw up a vade mecum setting out all the rules applicable to this exceptional
               procedure in order to guarantee full transparency.
           5. The projects must involve at least two mutually independent partners established in different Member
               States.
           6. The Commission may encourage the participants to form a European Economic Interest Grouping (EEIG)
               or make other arrangements for carrying out projects, such as those on a large scale, permitting
               decentralized management adapted to the specific requirements of the project.
          (') For the purposes of this programme, the European Centre for Nuclear Research (CERN), whose headquarters are in Geneva
              and most of whose installations are on Community territory, may be a party to the contracts.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 174/28                              Official Journal of the European Communities                                     16. 7. 90
              7. The knowledge acquired during the course of the projects shall be disseminated on the one hand within
                 the specific programme and on the other and by means of a centralized activity, pursuant to the Decision
                 referred to in the third subparagraph of Article 4 of Decision 90/221/Euratom, EEC.
                     Proposal for a Council Decision adopting a specific programme of research and
              technological development in the field of industrial and materials technologies (1990 to 1994)
                                                  COM(90) 156 final — SYN 261
                                          (Submitted by the Commission on 3 May 1990)
                                                            (90/C 174/04)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                                Whereas, pursuant to Article 4 of and Annex I to
                                                                         Decision 90/221/Euratom, EEC, the amount deemed
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European                    necessary for the whole framework programme includes
Economic Community, and in particular Article 130q                       an amount of ECU 57 million for the centralized dis-
 (2) thereof,                                                           semination and exploitation of results, to be divided up
                                                                         in proportion to the amount envisaged for each activity;
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,                      whereas in view of the importance of this specific
                                                                        programme within the industrial and materials tech-
In cooperation with the European Parliament,                            nologies' action the estimate of the financial resources
                                                                        needed by this programme is to be reduced by ECU
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and                        6 700 000, which amount is to be allocated to the cen-
Social Committee,                                                       tralized activities, in order to comply with the second
                                                                        sentence of Article 130p (2) of the Treaty;
Whereas, by Decision 90/221/Euratom, EECf1), the
Council adopted a third framework programme for                         Whereas this programme must be implemented by the
Community activities in the field of research and tech-                 Commission; whereas, to help accomplish this, the
nological development (1990 to 1994), specifying inter                  Member States are bound, pursuant to Article 5 of the
alia the activities to be pursued for contributing to the               Treaty, to facilitate the achievement of its tasks, where
rejuvenation of European manufacturing industry by                      necessary, notably within a committee;
strengthening its scientific and technological basis
through research and development work; whereas this                     Whereas this programme must be implemented essen-
Decision should be taken in the light of the grounds set                tially by the selection of research and development
out in the preamble to that Decision;                                   projects to enable them to benefit from Community
                                                                        participation; whereas the Commission should encour-
Whereas Article 130k of the Treaty stipulates that the                  age the submission of such projects by the usual means
framework programme is to be implemented through                        of publishing calls for proposals in the Official Journal
specific programmes developed within each activity;                     of the European Communities; whereas a special pro-
                                                                        cedure should also be devised so as to maintain a degree
Whereas the Joint Research Centre shall contribute                      of flexibility enabling the Commission, in the face of
through its own programme to the implementation of                      the continuous evolution and gradual acceleration of
the aforesaid activities;                                               technological progress, also to take into consideration
                                                                        spontaneous proposals consistent with the objectives of
Whereas an estimate should be made of the amount of                     the programme;
Community financial resources needed to carry out this
specific programme; whereas the definitive amounts                      Whereas the projects to be carried out under the pro-
will be fixed by the budgetary authority in line with                   gramme must be selected with special attention to the
the financial perspectives covering the period 1988 to                  principle of economic and social cohesion in the Com-
1992 included in the Interinstitutional Agreement of                    munity, the transnational nature of the projects and
29 June 1988 (2) and with any future financial perspec-                 the support to be given to small and medium-sized
tives covering the period 1993 to 1994;                                 enterprises;
                                                                        Whereas it is only in the light of experience gathered
(!) OJ No L 177, 8. 5. 1990, p. 28.                                     in the course of this programme that the Commission
(2) OJ No L 185,15. 7. 1988, p. 33.                                     will be able to propose and the Council to adopt sup-