CELEX: 51990PC0015
Language: en
Date: 1990-03-05
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL REGULATION ( EEC ) ESTABLISHING A EUROPEAN TRAINING FOUNDATION

No C 86/12                              Official Journal of the European Communities                                    4. 4. 90
                 Proposal for a Council Regulation (EEC) establishing a European Training Foundation
                                                      COM(90) 15 final/3
                                      (Submitted by the Commission on 8 February 1990)
                                                         (90/C 86/06)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                          Whereas the status and structure of the European
                                                                  Training Foundation should facilitate a flexible response
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European             to the specific and differing requirements of the indi-
Economic Community, and in particular Article 235                 vidual countries to be assisted, and allow it to carry out
                                                                  its functions in close cooperation with the existing
thereof,
                                                                  national and international facilities;
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,                Whereas the European Training Foundation should be
                                                                  given legal personality, while maintaining a close institu-
Having regard       to  the  opinion     of   the   European      tional relationship with the Commission and respecting
Parliament,                                                       the overall political responsibilities of the Community
                                                                  and its institutions;
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and
Social Committee,                                                 Whereas the European Training       Foundation should have
                                                                  close links with the European        Centre for the Devel-
                                                                  opment of Vocational Training       (Cedefop) including the
Whereas the European Council meeting at Strasbourg on             sharing of premises and certain     facilities;
8 and 9 December 1989 called upon the Council to
adopt, at the beginning of 1990, the necessary decisions
                                                                  Whereas the European Training Foundation shall be
for the establishment of a European Training Foundation
                                                                  open to the participation of countries which are not
for Central and Eastern Europe, acting on the basis of a
                                                                  members of the European Community and which share
proposal from the Commission;
                                                                  the commitment of the Community and the Member
                                                                  States to the provision of assistance to Central and
Whereas the Council has adopted Regulation (EEC) No               Eastern Europe in the training field;
3906/89 (*) on economic aid to Poland and Hungary;
                                                                  Whereas the Treaty has not provided the specific powers
Whereas in this context the European Training Foun-               necessary for setting up a European Training Foun-
dation would contribute to the development of the                 dation,
training systems of Central and Eastern European
countries, starting with Poland and Hungary;
                                                                  HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Whereas the European Training Foundation's activities
                                                                                            Article 1
form part of the overall programming of priorities and
funding for Community assistance to Poland and                    This Regulation establishes the European Training Foun-
Hungary;                                                          dation (hereinafter referred to as 'the Foundation')
                                                                  whose objective is to contribute to the development of
Whereas the Community's experience in implementing a              the vocational training systems of Central and Eastern
common policy for vocational training and its application         European countries, starting with Poland and Hungary.
can be applied to assist the development of training in           It shall in particular seek to promote effective
other countries;                                                  cooperation between the Community and the beneficiary
                                                                  countries in the field of vocational training and
                                                                  contribute to the coordination of assistance.
Whereas it is necessary to develop joint training
initiatives for the benefit of Central and Eastern
European countries, starting with Poland and Hungary;                                       Article 2
                                                                  For the purpose of achieving the objectives set out in
Whereas there exist in the Community and in third                 Article 1, the Foundation shall:
countries regional or national, public or private facilities
capable of cooperating in the development of training               (i) provide assistance in the definition of training needs
initiatives;                                                            and priorities and in the implementation of
                                                                        measures of technical assistance in the training
                                                                        field, and to cooperate with designated bodies in
                                                                        Central and Eastern European countries as appro-
(') OJ No L 375, 23. 12. 1989, p. 11.                                   priate ;
 ---pagebreak--- 4. 4. 90                                Official Journal of the European Communities                             No C 86/13
  (ii) act as a clearing house to provide the Community,                                    Article 5
       the Member States and participating third
       countries, together with beneficiary countries and          1.    The Foundation shall have a Governing Board
       all other interested parties, with information on          consisting of one representative of each Member State
       current initiatives and future needs in the training       and three representatives of the Commission. Each
       field, and serve as a channel through which offers         member of the Governing Board may be represented by
       of assistance can be filtered;                             an alternate representative.
                                                                  2.     The representatives of the Member States shall be
 (iii) examine the scope for joint ventures of training           appointed by the Member States concerned. The
       assistance, for the setting up of specialized multina-     Commission shall appoint the members who are to
       tional teams for specific projects and for identifying     represent it.
       operations which could be co-financed;
                                                                  3.     The term of office of representatives shall be three
                                                                  years. It shall be renewable.
 (iv) arrange for appropriate specialized agencies or
       private bodies with the necessary expertise to             4.     The Governing Board shall be chaired by the
       implement and manage individual projects on a              Commission. It shall adopt its rules of procedure.
       flexible, decentralized basis;                             Decisions of the Governing Board shall require a simple
                                                                  majority.
  (v) on behalf of the Commission, assist in establishing a       5.     The Chairman shall convene the Governing Board
       system for the monitoring and evaluation of                at least once a year. He shall be responsible for
       training assistance to Central and Eastern Europe;         informing the Board of other Community activities
                                                                  relevant to their work and of the expectations from the
 (vi) disseminate information and encourage exchanges             Foundation in the forthcoming year.
       of experience, by means of publications, meetings,
       and the like;                                              6.     On the basis of a draft submitted by the Director,
                                                                  the Governing Board shall adopt, by 30 November each
                                                                  year at the latest, the Annual Work Programme of the
(vii) undertake such other tasks as may be defined by             Foundation for the following year in agreement with the
       the Commission in agreement with the Governing             Commission.
       Board.
                                                                  7.     The Governing Board shall approve the setting up
                                                                  of ad hoc working groups on a project-by-project basis
                            Article 3                             involving all the relevant financing countries.
The Foundation shall work in the training field, covering         8.     The Governing Board shall, by 31 March each year
initial and continuing vocational training for young              at the latest, present a draft annual report on the acti-
people and adults, paying appropriate attention to                vities of the Foundation for the previous year and their
management training.                                              financing to the Commission. The Commission shall
                                                                  approve the annual report and submit it to the European
                                                                  Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee, the
                            Article 4                             Member States and participating third countries as
                                                                  referred to in Article 15.
1.     The Foundation shall have legal personality. It shall
enjoy in all the Member States the most extensive legal                                     Article 6
capacity accorded to legal persons under their laws; it
may, in particular, acquire or dispose of movable and              1.    The Director of the Foundation shall be appointed
immovable property and may be a party to legal                    by the Commission from a list of candidates, with
proceedings. It shall be non-profit making. It shall share        significant experience in the field of business
accommodation and facilities and other appropriate                management and/or training, submitted by the
infrastructure, at the location of the European Centre for        Governing Board. His term of office shall be five years,
the Development of Vocational Training (hereinafter               which shall be renewable. He shall be responsible for:
referred to as 'Cedefop'). The Foundation shall seek the
cooperation of other Community bodies, in particular              — the preparation and organization of the work of the
Cedefop.                                                               Governing Board, and of any ad hoc working groups
                                                                       convened by the Governing Board. In particular, he
                                                                       shall be responsible for the preparation of the draft
2.     The Foundation shall be responsible for fulfilling              annual work programme of the Foundation,
the tasks set out in Article 2.                                   — the day-to-day administration of the Foundation,
                                                                  — the preparation of the statement of revenue and
3.     The Foundation shall publish periodic reports on its            expenditure and execution of the budget of the
work.                                                                  Foundation,
 ---pagebreak---  No C 86/14                           Official Journal of the European Communities                                  4. 4. 90
— the preparation and publication of reports specified          4.    The Governing Board, after receiving the advice of
     under this Regulation,                                     the Commission, shall adopt the statement of revenue
                                                                and expenditure at the beginning of each financial year,
 — all staff matters,                                           adjusting it to the several contributions granted to the
                                                                Foundation and to its other resources.
 — undertaking the tasks referred to in Article 2.
                                                                                         Article 10
 2.    He shall be accountable to the Governing Board
 for his activities.                                             1.   The Director shall implement the budget of the
                                                                Foundation.
 3.    The Commission may, for good and sufficient
 reason, having sought the opinion of the Governing             2.    The checking of the commitment and payment of
 Board, replace the Director.                                   all expenditure and the recording and recovery of all
                                                                revenue of the Foundation will be undertaken by the
                                                                Financial Controller appointed by the Commission from
                          Article 7
                                                                a list of candidates submitted by the Governing Board.
 1.    Representatives of the social partners at European
 level which are already active in the work of the              3.    By 31 March of each year at the latest, the Director
 Community institutions may be associated with the work         shall submit to the Commission, to the Governing Board
 of the Foundation.                                             and to the Court of Auditors, the detailed accounts of all
                                                                revenue and expenditure from the previous financial
2.     International organizations active in the training       year. The Court of Auditors will examine these accounts
field may be associated with the work of the Foundation.        in accordance with Article 206a of the Treaty.
                                                                4.    The Governing Board shall be empowered to
                          Article 8
                                                                discharge the Director for the implementation of the
 1.   All the estimated revenue and expenditure of the          budget.
Foundation shall be set out in the annual budget which
shall include an establishment plan.                                                     Article 11
2.    Revenue and expenditure shall be in balance for           The Governing Board shall set down, following consul-
each financial year which shall be the same as the              tation of the Commission and of the Court of Auditors,
calendar year.                                                  detailed financial rules specifying notably the procedure
                                                                for the establishment and implementation of the Foun-
                                                                dation's budget.
3.    The revenue of the Foundation shall include,
without prejudice to finance from other sources, a
subsidy from the Community budget as well as payments                                    Article 12
received for services performed.
                                                                The Protocol on the privileges and immunities of the
                                                                European Communities shall apply to the Foundation.
4.    The budget shall also include details of matching
funds available for projects benefiting from financial
assistance from the Foundation.                                                          Article 13
                                                                The statutory personnel of the Foundation shall be
                          Article 9                             subject to the rules and regulations which apply to the
                                                                staff of Cedefop.
1.    The Director shall establish each year a proposed
draft budget for the Foundation covering running costs
and the proposed operational programme for the                                           Article 14
following financial year and shall submit it to the             1.    The contractual liability of the Foundation shall be
Governing Board.                                                governed by the proper law of the contract in question.
2.    On this basis, the Governing Board, by 15 February        2.    In the case of non-contractual liability, the Foun-
at the latest, shall adopt a draft budget for the Foun-         dation shall, in accordance with the general principles
dation and submit it to the Commission.                         common to laws of the Member States, make good any
                                                                damage caused by the Foundation or its servants in the
3.    The Commission shall evaluate the vocational              performance of their duties. The Court of Justice shall
training needs in Central and Eastern Europe in the             have jurisdiction in disputes relating to compensation for
framework of the general financial orientations on              any such damage.
economic aid to these countries. It shall establish on this
basis the annual contribution for the budget of the Foun-       3.    The personal liability of servants towards the Foun-
dation to be included in the preliminary draft                  dation shall be governed by the relevant provisions
Community budget.                                               applying to the staff of the Foundation.
 ---pagebreak--- 4. 4. 90                             Official Journal of the European Communities                             N o C 86/15
                        Article 15                             3.     Participation of such countries in the ad hoc project
                                                               working groups provided for in Article 5 (7) may be
 1.    The Foundation shall be open to the participation       decided as necessary by the Governing Board without
of countries which are not members of the European             the need for a convention.
Community, and which share the commitment of the
Community and the Member States to the provision of                                      Article 16
assistance to Central and Eastern Europe in the training
field, under arrangements to be laid down in conventions       The Commission shall establish a review procedure of
between the Community and themselves, following the            the experience acquired in the work of the Foundation
procedure laid down in Article 228 of the Treaty.              and shall undertake a first review before 31 December
                                                                1992.
2.    The conventions shall in particular specify the                                    Article 17
nature and extent of the participation by these countries
in any decision to enlarge or amend the scope of the           This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day
Foundation's work, specifically with respect to the            following that of its publication in the Official Journal of
Central and Eastern European countries receiving               the European Communities.
assistance from the Foundation. They shall also include        This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and
provisions on financial contributions and staff.               directly applicable in all Member States.