CELEX: 51988PC0455
Language: en
Date: 1988-08-08
Title: AMENDMENT TO THE PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL REGULATION ( EEC ) INSTITUTING A SPECIFIC COMMUNITY PROGRAMME OF ACCOMPANYING SOCIAL MEASURES TO ASSIST WORKERS IN THE SHIPBUILDING INDUSTRY WHO ARE MADE REDUNDANT OR THREATENED WITH REDUNDANCY

23. 9. 88                             Official Journal of the European Communities                                  No C 249/5
                                                                II
                                                        (Preparatory Acts)
                                                   COMMISSION
             Amendment to the proposal for a Council Regulation (EEC) instituting a specific Community
             programme of accompanying social measures to assist workers in the shipbuilding industry who
                                  are made redundant or threatened with redundancy (')
                                                       COM(88) 455 final
             (Submitted by the Commission pursuant to the third paragraph of Article 149 of the EEC Treaty on
                                                       12 September 1988)
                                                         (88/C 249/04)
             (l) OJ No C 291, 31. 10. 1987, p. 11.
                       FORMER TEXT                                                             AMENDED TEXT
                                                     Preamble unchanged
                                          F i r s t to sixth r e c i t a l s u n c h a n g e d
                                                                        Seventh recital is amended as follows:
Whereas, when adopting the said Directive, the Council                  Whereas, when adopting the said Directive, the Council
has also acknowledged that additional measures should                   has also acknowledged that additional measures should
be adopted in order to alleviate the social and regional                be adopted in order to alleviate the social and regional
consequences of the restructuring of the shipbuilding                   consequences of the restructuring of the shipbuilding
sector; whereas, for this purpose, the Commission has                   sector; whereas, for this purpose, the Commission has
submitted to the Council and the European Parliament a                  submitted to the Council and the European Parliament
communication on the industrial, social and regional                    two communications on the industrial, social and
aspects of shipbuilding (');                                            regional aspects of shipbuilding (');
                                       Eighth and ninth recitals unchanged
0) COM(86) 553 final of 15. 10. 1986.                                   O COM(86) 553 final of 15. 10. 1986 and COM(87) 275 final
                                                                            of 20. 7. 1987.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 249/6                            Official Journal of the European Communities                                    23. 9. 88
                        FORMER TEXT                                                         AMENDED TEXT
                                                                    Tenth recital is amended as follows:
Whereas, however, the provisions relating to assistance             Whereas, however, the provisions relating to assistance
from the European Social Fund and the European                      from the European Social Fund and the European
Regional Development Fund respond only in part to the               Regional Development Fund respond only in part to the
specific problems of workers made redundant or                      specific problems of workers made redundant or
threatened with redundancy in the shipbuilding industry;            threatened with redundancy in the shipbuilding industry;
whereas the range of measures qualifying for assistance             whereas assistance from the European Social Fund for
from the European Social Fund which could be used to                workers of over 25 years of age who are affected by a
assist workers affected by restructuring is limited in              restructuring process is granted only in respect of voca-
particular by the terms of Article 1 of Regulation (EEC)            tional training measures; whereas the workers affected
N o 2950/83; whereas the operations backed by the                   by the restructuring of traditional industries experience
European Regional Development Fund which, mainly                    particular difficulties in moving to available or newly
through software measures to assist small and                       created jobs and responding to changes in the demand
medium-sized enterprises, are designed to create an envi-           for labour; whereas the adoption of new accompanying
ronment favourable to the development of new economic                social measures of potential direct and immediate
activities, are limited to certain geographical areas;               advantage to shipbuilding workers made redundant or
whereas, moreover, the workers affected by the restruc-              threatened with redundancy in the European Community
turing of traditional industries have difficulty in moving           is therefore the most appropriate way of reacting to the
to available jobs and in responding to changes in the               urgent and serious nature of this particular problem of
demand for labour; whereas the adoption of new accom-                the labour market pending the implementation of the
panying social measures of direct and immediate benefit              reform of the structural funds;
to all shipbuilding workers made redundant or
threatened with redundancy in the European Community
is the most appropriate way of solving this specific
problem of the labour market;
                                           11th t o 13th r e c i t a l s u n c h a n g e d
                                                   Article 1 unchanged
                                                       Articles 2 and 3
                                                                     New Article 2 is amended as follows:
                          Article 2                                                            Article 2
 1.    The Community programme shall encourage the                    1.    The Community programme shall encourage the
absorption into economic life, socio-occupational inte-              absorption into economic life of workers made
gration and geographical mobility of workers made                    redundant or threatened with redundancy, as well as
redundant or threatened with redundancy, as well as                  facilitate permanent retirement from working life of
facilitate the transition to permanent retirement from               elderly workers who, from the point of view of their
working life of elderly workers who, from the point of               national legislation, are no longer considered as being in
view of their national legislation, are no longer                    search of employment.
considered as being in search of employment.
2.     The Community programme is intended to assist
shipbuilding workers made redundant or threatened with               2.     The duration of the Community programme shall
redundancy with effect from 1 January 1987.                          be three years as from 1 January 1988.
 ---pagebreak--- 23. 9. 88                               Official Journal of the European Communities                               N o C 249/7
                        FORMER TEXT                                                         AMENDED TEXT
3.     The duration of the Community programme shall                 3.    Assistance under the Community programme shall
be three years as from 1 January 1988.                              be granted for measures which form part of a
                                                                    programme which is defined at national level and is
                                                                    intended to promote employment.
                          Article 3
1.     Assistance under the Community programme shall               4.     The implementation of the programme shall be the
be granted for measures which form part of a                        subject of a programme contract between the
programme which is defined at national level, is designed           Commission and the Member State concerned, the
for the categories of workers, economic branch, groups              content of which is set out in the Annex hereto.
of undertakings or geographical areas concerned and is
intended to remedy the causes of the imbalances
affecting employment and encourage social cohesion.                 5.     The Member States shall be responsible for
                                                                    ensuring the proper implementation of the measures.
2.    The implementation of the programme shall be the
subject of a programme contract between the
Commission and the Member State concerned.
3.    The Member States shall be responsible for
ensuring the proper implementation of the measures.
                                                       Articles 4, 5 and 6
                                                                    New Article 3 is amended as follows:
                          Article 4                                                           Article 3
1.     Assistance under the Community programme may                 Assistance under the Community programme may be
be granted for measures to encourage the absorption of              granted for measures which are designed to:
workers into economic life and their socio-occupational
integration which are designed to promote the
recruitment      by   firms,     particularly    small    and           promote the recruitment by firms, particularly small
medium-sized undertakings and local employment                          and     medium-sized       undertakings    and    local
initiatives, of workers made redundant or threatened                    employment initiatives, of workers made redundant or
with redundancy on condition that their new                             threatened with redundancy on condition that their
employment contract is of a duration of not less than                   new employment contract is of a duration of not less
one year.                                                               than one year;
                                                                        maintain the same level of earnings by compensating
2.     Assistance under the Community programme may                     for the wage difference between the old and new jobs
be granted for measures to encourage the absorption of                  of newly recruited workers on condition that the new
workers into economic life and their socio-occupational                 employment contracts of such workers are of a
integration which are designed to maintain their incomes                duration of not less than one year;
by compensating for any wage difference between the
old and new jobs of newly recruited workers on
condition that the new employment contracts of such                  3. help workers made redundant or threatened with
workers are of a duration of not less than one year.                    redundancy to set up a firm or create a new self-
                                                                        employed activity;
3.     Assistance under the Community programme may                     promote the use by workers made redundant or
be granted for measures to encourage the absorption of                  threatened with redundancy of services offered
workers into economic life and their socio-occupational                 directly to them by local counselling bodies whose
integration which are designed to help workers made                     tasks consist mainly in helping workers to set up a
redundant or threatened with redundancy to set up a                     firm, create self-employed activities or take part in a
firm or create a new self-employed activity.                            local employment initiative;
 ---pagebreak--- N o C 249/8                           Official Journal of the European Communities                                   23. 9. 88
                         FORMER TEXT                                                        AMENDED TEXT
4.    Assistance under the Community programme may                 5. promote employment of workers made redundant in
be granted for measures to encourage the absorption of                projects fulfilling collective needs and entailing the
workers into economic life and their socio-occupational               creation of jobs of a minimum duration of one year;
integration which are designed to promote the use by
workers made redundant or threatened with redundancy               6. promote the retraining of redundant workers
                                                                      registered as unemployed who need to acquire new
of services offered directly to them by local counselling
                                                                      skills offering substantial prospects of employment by
bodies whose tasks consist mainly in helping workers to
                                                                      means of operations which have a minimum duration
set up a firm, create self-employed activities or take part
                                                                      of 400 hours under a programme not qualifying for
in a local employment initiative.
                                                                      assistance from the European Social Fund;
5.    Assistance under the Community programme may                 7. encourage geographical and vocational mobility of
be granted for measures to encourage the absorption of                workers who are made redundant or threatened with
workers into economic life and their socio-occupational               redundancy and are obliged to change their place of
integration which are designed to promote employment                  residence to take up a new job or take part in a
in projects fulfilling collective needs and entailing the             training course facilitating employment in a stable job;
creation of jobs of a minimum duration of one year.
                                                                   8. facilitate permanent retirement from working life of
6.    Assistance under the Community programme may                    elderly workers who are made redundant and, from
be granted for measures to encourage the absorption of                the point of view of their national legislation, are no
workers into economic life and their socio-occupational               longer considered as being in search of employment.
integration which are designed to maintain, for a
maximum period of 12 months, the same level of
earnings for workers who have lost their job and are
awaiting training or a new job.
                          Article 5
Assistance under the Community programme may be
granted for measures to encourage the geographical
mobility intended to facilitate the movement of workers
who are made redundant or threatened with redundancy
and are obliged to change their place of residence to
take up a new job or take part in a training course as
well as of members of their family.
                          Article 6
Assistance under the Community programme may be
granted for measures to facilitate the transition to
permanent retirement from working life of elderly
workers who are made redundant and, from the point of
view of their national legislation, are no longer
considered as being in search of employment.
                                                       Articles 7 to 14
                                                                   New Article 4 is amended as follows:
                          Article 7                                                           Article 4
 1.   In the case of the measures defined in Article 4(1),         1.    In the case of the measure defined in Article 3 (1),
 only expenditure intended to cover the granting of                only expenditure intended to cover the granting of
recruitment aid for a period of not more than 12 months            recruitment aid for a period of not more than 12 months
per person shall qualify for assistance under the                  per person shall qualify for assistance under the
 Community, programme.                                             Community programme.                 (
 ---pagebreak--- 23. 9. 88                             Official Journal of the European Communities                              No C 249/9
                        FORMER TEXT                                                      AMENDED TEXT
2.    Assistance under the Community programme may               2.     In the case of the measure defined in Article 3 (2),
be granted at a rate of 15 % of the average gross wage           only expenditure intended to cover, for a period of not
of industrial workers in the Member State concerned.             more than 12 months per person, the granting of an
The amounts of assistance to be granted per person and           income allowance designed to ensure the same level of
per unit of time for each Member State shall be as               earnings, shall qualify for assistance under the
determined by the Commission in the decision for the             Community programme.
year in question taken in accordance with Article 2 (2) of
Regulation (EEC) N o 2950/83.
                                                                 3.     In the case of the measure defined in Article 3 (3)
                                                                 only expenditure intended to cover, for a period of not
                          Article 8                              more than 12 months per person, the administrative costs
                                                                 linked to the setting up of a firm and the creation of a
                                                                 new self-employed activity as well as rental costs but
1.    In the case of the measures defined in Article 4 (2),      excluding other operating costs shall qualify for
only expenditure intended to cover the granting of an            assistance under the Community programme.
income maintenance allowance for a period of not more
than 12 months per person shall qualify for assistance
under the Community programme.
                                                                 4.     In the case of the measure defined in Article 3 (4),
                                                                 only expenditure intended to cover, for a period of not
2.    Within the meaning of this Article, 'income main-          more than 12 months per person, the cost of services
tenance' shall be understood as the maintenance of the           supplied directly to workers by counselling bodies shall
gross wage and any payments necessary in order to                qualify for assistance under the Community programme.
retain any connected statutory and non-statutory en-
titlements enjoyed by the worker in question for a
normal wage period in his former job.
                                                                 5.     In the case of the measure defined in Article 3 (5),
                                                                 only expenditure intended to cover, for a period of not
                                                                 more than 12 months per person, the granting of
3.    Assistance under the Community programme shall             recruitment aid for projects aimed at the creation of jobs
be granted at a rate of 15 % of the average gross wage           and fulfilling collective needs shall qualify for assistance
of industrial workers in the Member State concerned.             under the Community programme; the said jobs must be
The amounts of assistance to be granted per person and           stable or likely to provide additional training or
per unit of time for each Member State shall be as               experience with a vocational content giving access to the
determined by the Commission in the decision for the             labour market and facilitating employment in a stable
year in question taken in accordance with Article 2 (2) of       job.
Regulation (EEC) N o 2950/83.
                                                                 6.     In the case of the measure defined in Article 3 (6),
                          Article 9                              only expenditure intended to cover, for a maximum
                                                                 period of 12 months per person, the granting of a
                                                                 retraining allowance designed to ensure the same level of
In the case of the measures defined in Article 4 (3), only
                                                                 earnings for redundant workers registered with an
expenditure intended to cover, for a period of not more
                                                                 official employment office and calculated on the basis of
than 12 months per person, the administrative costs
                                                                 the difference between unemployment benefit and the
linked to the setting up of a firm and the creation of a
                                                                 former level of earnings, shall be eligible for assistance
new self-employed activity as well as rental costs but
                                                                 under the Community programme.
excluding other operating costs shall qualify for
assistance under the Community programme.
                                                                 7.     In the case of the measure defined in Article 3 (7),
                         Article 10                              only expenditure intended to cover the granting of a
                                                                 mobility premium intended to cover travel expenses,
                                                                 including those of dependants, and removal expenses
In the case of the measures defined in Article 4 (4), only       shall be eligible for assistance under the Community
expenditure intended to cover, for a period of not more          programme on condition that the worker concerned can
than 12 months per person, the cost of services supplied         furnish proof of his new employment or participation in
directly to workers by counselling bodies shall qualify for      a training course facilitating employment in a stable job
assistance under the Community programme.                        and has made application within 12 months following the
 ---pagebreak--- No C 249/10                            Official Journal of the European Communities                                 23. 9. 88
                         FORMER TEXT                                                      AMENDED TEXT
                          Article 11                              date of his redundancy or the end of his employment
                                                                  contract in shipbuilding.
1.    In the case of the measures defined in Article 4 (5),
only expenditure intended to cover, for a period of not
more than 12 months per person, the granting of                   8.     In the case of the measure defined in Article 3 (8),
recruitment aid for projects aimed at the creation of jobs        only expenditure intended to cover the granting of an
and fulfilling collective needs shall qualify for assistance      allowance for the permanent retirement from working
under the Community programme; the said jobs must be              life of elderly redundant workers who, from the point of
stable or likely to provide additional training or                view of their national legislation, are no longer in search
experience with a vocational content giving access to the         of employment, regardless of whether they have entered
labour market and facilitating employment in a stable             early retirement, or are in receipt of a tiding-over
job.                                                              allowance in the form of a bridging allowance supple-
                                                                  menting unemployment benefit, shall qualify for
                                                                  assistance under the Community programme.
2.    Assistance under the Community programme shall
be granted at a rate of 15 % of the average gross wage
of industrial workers in the Member State concerned.              9.    Within the meaning of this Article, 'the same level
The amounts of assistance to be granted per person and            of earnings' shall be understood as the maintenance of at
per unit of time, for each Member State, shall be as              least 80 % of the gross wage plus any payments
determined by the Commission in the decision for the              necessary in order to retain any connected statutory and
year in question taken in accordance with Article 2 (2) of        non-statutory entitlements enjoyed by a worker in
Regulation (EEC) No 2950/83.                                      respect of a normal wage period in his former job.
                                                                   10.    Assistance under the Community programme to
                          Article 12                              the expenditures defined in paragraphs 1, 2, 5 and 6
                                                                  above shall be granted at a rate of 15 % of the average
 1.   In the case of the measures defined in Article 4 (6),       gross wage of industrial workers in the Member State
only expenditure intended to cover, for a maximum                 concerned. The amounts of assistance to be granted per
period of 12 months per person, of a tiding-over                  person and per unit of time, for each Member State,
allowance designed to ensure the same level of earnings           shall be as determined by the Commission in the decision
for redundant workers registered with an official                 for the year in question taking in accordance with Article
employment office and calculated on the basis of the              2 (2) of Regulation (EEC) No 2950/83.
difference between unemployment benefit and the
former level of earnings, shall be eligible for assistance
 under the Community programme.
 2.   Within the meaning of this Article, 'the same level
 of earnings' shall be understood as the maintenance of
 80 % of the gross wage plus any payments necessary in
 order to retain any connected               statutory   and
 non-statutory entitlements enjoyed by a worker in
 respect of a normal wage period in his former job.
 3.   Assistance under the Community programme shall
 be granted at a rate of 15 % of the average gross wage
 of industrial workers in the Member State concerned.
 The amounts of assistance to be granted per person and
 per unit of time, for each Member State, shall be as
 determined by the Commission in the decision for the
 year in question taken in accordance with Article 2 (2) of
 Regulation (EEC) No 2950/83.
                          Article 13
 In the case of the measures defined in Article 5, only
 expenditure intended to cover the granting of a mobility
 premium intended to cover travel expenses, including
 ---pagebreak---  23. 9. 88                             Official Journal of the European Communities                               No C 249/11
                         FORMER TEXT                                                      AMENDED TEXT
 those of dependants, and removal expenses shall be
 eligible for assistance under the Community programme
 on condition that the worker concerned can furnish
proof of his new employment or participation in a
 training course and has made application for the said
 allowance within 12 months following the date of his
redundancy or the end of his employment contract in
shipbuilding.
                          Article 14
In the case of the measures defined in Article 6, only
expenditure intended to cover the granting of an
allowance for the permanent retirement from working
life of elderly redundant workers who, from the point of
view of their national legislation, are no longer in search
of employment, regardless of whether they have entered
early retirement, or are in receipt of a tiding-over
allowance in the form of a bridging allowance supple-
menting unemployment benefit, shall qualify for
assistance under the Community programme.
                                                          Article 15
                                                                   New Article 5 is amended as follows:
                          Article 15                                                        Article 5
 1.    Assistance under the Community programme                    1.    Assistance under the Community programme
towards eligible expenditure shall be calculated on the           towards eligible expenditure shall be calculated on the
basis of an amount per worker                                      basis of an amount per worker.
The said amount may not exceed:                                   The said amount may not exceed:
— 2 500 ECU per worker in the case of the measures                — 2 500 E.CU per worker in the case of the measures
     defined in Article 4,                                             defined in Article 3 (1) to (6),
— 1 500 ECU per worker in the case of the measures
                                                                  — 1 500 ECU per worker in the case of the measure
     defined in Article 5,
                                                                       defined in Article 3 (7),
— 5 000 ECU per worker in the case of the measures
     defined in Article 6.                                        — 5 000 ECU per worker in the case of the measure
                                                                       defined in Article 3 (8).
2.     Assistance under the Community programme
towards eligible expenditure in respect of the measures           2.     Assistance under the Community programme
defined in Article 4 is limited to 2 500 ECU per worker           towards eligible expenditure in respect of the measures
regardless of whether the worker participates in one or           defined in Article 3 (1) to (6) is limited to 2 500 ECU per
more measures to encourage the absorption of workers              worker regardless of whether the worker participates in
into economic life and their socio-occupational inte-             one or more measures to encourage the absorption of
gration.                                                          workers into economic life.
3.     Assistance under the Community programme                   3.     Assistance under the Community programme
towards eligible expenditure in respect of the measures           towards eligible expenditure in respect of the measure
defined in Article 5 may be added together with                   defined in Article 3 (7) may be added together with
assistance under the Community programme towards                  assistance under the Community programme towards
eligible expenditure in respect of the measures defined in        eligible expenditure in respect of the measures defined in
Article 4.                                                        Article 3 (1) to (6).
 ---pagebreak--- N o C 249/12                              Official Journal of the European Communities                                       23. 9. 88
                           FORMER TEXT                                                           AMENDED TEXT
4.    Assistance under the Community programme shall                      4.    Assistance under the Community programme shall
not be granted in respect of expenditure which may be                     not be granted in respect of expenditure which may be
classed as eligible and priority expenditure, for assistance              classed as eligible and priority expenditure, for assistance
from the European Social Fund.                                            from the European Social Fund.
5.    Assistance under the Community programme to                         5.    Assistance under the Community programme to
cover eligible expenditure may not exceed the amount of                   cover eligible expenditure may not exceed the amount of
the financial contribution made by the public authorities                 the financial contribution made by the public authorities
of the Member State concerned.                                            of the Member State concerned.
6.    For the purpose of granting assistance under the                    6.    For the purpose of granting assistance under the
Community programme, the Commission shall give its                        Community programme, the Commission shall give its
consideration to expenditure made by the Member State                     consideration to expenditure made by the Member State
within the 12 months preceding the date on which the                     with effect from 1 January 1987.
application for assistance is received by the Commission.
                                                                 Article 16
                                                                          Article 16 becomes Article 6 (text unchanged).
                                                                 Article 17
                                                                          Article 17 becomes Article 7 (text unchanged).
                                                                 Article 18
                                                                          Article 18 becomes Article 8 (text unchanged).
                                                                  ANNEX
              Add the following text:
                                                                  ANNEX
              The programme contract shall contain an indication of at least the following:
              (a) staff reduction programmes for 1987 to 1990 resulting from complete or partial shutdowns or changed
                  activities, the number of jobs lost since 1 January 1987 and the shipyards in question;
              (b) the nature of the accompanying social measures that have been developed or planned, the number of
                  workers affected and the time-scale;
              (c) the programme budget with a clear indication of the different sources of national and Community
                  funding;
              (d) a description of the authorities or bodies responsible for implementing the different parts of the
                  programme;
              (e) the amount of assistance from the Community programme;
              (f) an annual report on the progress of the programme;
              (g) the following procedure for payment: when requests for payment are made, supporting documents for
                  the payments including information on the workers benefiting from the payments, the nature and
                  duration of the schemes from which they have benefited and the amounts they have actually received
                  must be submitted to the Commission.