Legal provisions of COM(1996)123 - Aid for reconstruction and rehabilitation in Bosnia- Herzegovina, Croatia, Yugoslavia and Macedonia - Main contents
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dossier | COM(1996)123 - Aid for reconstruction and rehabilitation in Bosnia- Herzegovina, Croatia, Yugoslavia and Macedonia. |
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document | COM(1996)123 ![]() |
date | July 25, 1996 |
Contents
Article 1
The financial reference amount for implementation of this Regulation for the period from 1996 to 1999 shall be ECU 400 million.
The annual appropriations shall be authorized by the budgetary authority within the limits of the financial perspective.
Community funding under this Regulation shall take the form of grants.
Article 2
Article 3
Article 4
2. The projects, programmes and schemes referred to in paragraph 1 shall cover the following fields, in particular:
- regional cooperation and good neighbourliness projects, and transborder projects;
- rebuilding of infrastructure and other individual or collective facilities damaged in the fighting;
- the consolidation of democracy and civil society;
- return of refugees;
- integration or reintegration of refugees, displaced persons and former soldiers into working life;
- preparation of the production apparatus for economic recovery;
- development of the private sector, notably small businesses, and promotion of investment;
- the strengthening of non-governmental organizations, cultural institutions and educational establishments.
Article 5
Article 6
2. Member States and the Commission shall also communicate, in particular within the Committee referred to in Article 12, any information they may have on other bilateral and multilateral aid schemes for the States concerned by this Regulation. To that end, Member States and the Commission shall maintain a mutual information system.
Article 7
Article 8
Agreements and contracts for the implementation of the operations financed by the Community pursuant to this Regulation shall benefit in the recipient State from tax and customs arrangements which are not less favourable than those which that State applies to the most-favoured State or to the most-favoured international organization responsible for promoting economic development.
2. Projects running and maintenance costs on the ground may be covered by Community financing within a limit set in advance for each measure on the understanding that those costs may be covered only during the start-up phase and that they shall decrease progressively.
3. With regard to investment projects, Community financing shall be combined with the recipient's own resources or with other sources of funding. Community co-financing, including loans from European Investment Bank own resources, shall not exceed 80 % of the total cost of the investment.
Article 9
Participation by natural and legal persons from the States benefiting from the Phare programme may be authorized by the Commission on a case-by-case basis if the programmes or projects concerned require specific forms of assistance specifically available in such States.
The following shall be considered to be legal persons of a Member State, a recipient State or a State benefiting from the Phare programme: legal persons who are established in accordance with the legislation of a Member State, a recipient State or a State benefiting from the Phare programme and who have their central administration or principal establishment in the territories in which the Treaty establishing the European Community applies, in the recipient States or in the States benefiting from the Phare programme, or who have their registered office there, where their activity has an actual and continuous link with the economic of the said territories or States.
In the event of co-financing, participation in invitations to tender and contracts by nationals of other countries may be authorized by the Commission on a case-by-case basis. In such case, the participation of undertakings from third countries shall be taken into account only if reciprocity is applied by those countries towards the Community.
Service contracts shall be awarded by restricted invitations to tender with the exception of operations not exceeding ECU 200 000, which may be awarded by private treaty.
Article 10
2. Decisions amending decisions adopted in accordance with the procedure provided for in Article 12 shall be adopted by the Commission without consulting the Committee where they do not comprise substantial changes to the nature of the original projects and operations or, as regards the financial element, where they do not exceed 20 % of the total amount of the initial commitment and do not exceed ECU 4 million. The Committee shall be notified of all revised decisions.
Article 11
The Commission shall implement expenditure in accordance with the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities.
As from 1 January 1988, the Commission shall also comply with the rules set out in the Annex to this Regulation which govern the award of contracts by means of invitations to tendering, in particular restricted tendering, for operations in the fields referred to in the second, sixth and seventh indents of Article 4 (2). That Annex may be amended by the Council, acting by a qualified majority, on a proposal from the Commission which the latter may submit as from 1 July 1997.
Article 12
2. The representative of the Commission shall submit to the Committee a draft of the measures to be taken. The Committee shall deliver its opinion on the draft, within a time limit which the Chairman may lay down according to the urgency of the matter. The opinion shall be delivered by the majority laid down in Article 148 (2) of the Treaty in the case of decisions which the Council is required to adopt on a proposal from the Commission. The votes of the representatives of the Member States within the Committee shall be weighted in the manner set out in that Article. The Chairman shall not vote.
3. (a) The Commission shall adopt the measures envisaged if they are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee.
(b) If the measures are not in accordance with the opinion of the Committee, or if no opinion is delivered, the Commission shall, without delay, submit to the Council a proposal relating to the measures to be taken. The Council shall act by a qualified majority.
If, on the expiry of a period of three months from the date on which the matter was referred to it, the Council has not acted, the proposed measures shall be adopted by the Commission.
4. The Committee may examine any other question relating to the implementation of this Regulation which is put to it by its Chairman, including at the request of the representative of a Member State, and in particular any question relating to programming of projects, their general implementation and co-financing.
5. The Committee shall adopt its rules of procedure by a qualified majority.
Article 13
2. The Commission shall carry out an evaluation of the main projects completed so as to ascertain whether the objectives defined at the project appraisal stage have been achieved and to draw up guidelines for enhancing the effectiveness and profile of future activities. It shall regularly refer the matter to the Committee referred to in Article 12.
3. The Commission shall inform the European Parliament and the Council quarterly of the implementation of the aid, and in particular of the evaluation referred to in paragraph 2 and of the application of the conditions as referred to in Article 4. It shall also submit a report on the subject to the European Parliament and to the Council, by 30 April of each year at the latest.
Article 14
It shall apply until 31 December 1999.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.