Council Regulation (EEC) No 219/84 of 18 January 1984 instituting a specific Community regional development measure contributing to overcoming constraints on the development of new economic activities in certain zones adversely affected by restructuring of the textile and clothing industry

1984R0219 — EN — 28.12.1985 — 001.001

This document is meant purely as a documentation tool and the institutions do not assume any liability for its contents

Amended by:

COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) No 219/84

of 18 January 1984

instituting a specific Community regional development measure contributing to overcoming constraints on the development of new economic activities in certain zones adversely affected by restructuring of the textile and clothing industry

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 724/75 of 18 March 1975 establishing a European Regional Development Fund (1), as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 3325/80 (2), and in particular Article 13 (3) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (3),

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament (4),

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (5),

Whereas Article 13 of Regulation (EEC) No 724/75 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Fund Regulation’) provides independently of the national allocations of resources fixed by Article 2 (3) (a) of that Regulation, for participation by the Fund in financing specific Community regional development measures which are in particular linked with Community policies and with measures adopted by the Community in order to take better account of their regional dimension or to reduce their regional consequences;

Whereas the Member States concerned have provided the Commission with information on regional problems which would be suitable for a specific Community measure;

Whereas the Fund's resources are allocated with due regard to the relative severity of regional imbalances within the Community;

Whereas, pursuant to Article 92 et seq. of the EEC Treaty, the Commission established on 22 July 1971 an approach to aids to the textile industry, supplemented on 4 February 1977, which was notified to the Member States; whereas, under the approach to aids, aid granted to textile undertakings can only be allowed if they satisfy certain conditions, and in particular they must facilitate improvements in the industrial and commercial structure, in particular the industry's adaptation to new market and technical conditions;

Whereas, with respect to its external policy in the textile and clothing fields, the Community is a party to the Arrangement regarding International Trade in Textiles (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Multifibre Agreement’) which is designed to overcome the difficulties on the international textile and clothing market; whereas the measures taken under the Multifibre Agreement ‘should not interrupt or discourage autonomous industrial adjustment processes’ and should ‘encourage businesses which are less competitive internationally to move progressively into more viable types of production or into other sectors of the economy’;

Whereas between 1974 and 1977, the period of application of the first Multifibre Agreement, imports of textile products into the Community increased at an exceptionally fast rate; whereas since 1978, the year in which the second Multifibre Agreement came into force, such imports have continued to grow, a fact which has contributed to the substantial reduction in employment in this industry;

Whereas the third Multifibre Agreement was concluded on 22 December 1981 and bilateral negotiations between the Community and third countries are in progress; whereas, given the economic crisis and the stagnation of consumption, it is inevitable, even assuming constant import levels, that jobs will continue to be lost in the textile and clothing industry for several years to come;

Whereas a number of zones in the Community which are highly dependent on the textile and clothing industries and which have already suffered considerable job losses as a result of the decline in those industries are likely to see a worsening of these adverse consequences;

Whereas some of these zones in Belgium, France, Ireland, Italy, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands are situated in regions which already have a high level of unemployment;

Whereas it is necessary for the Community, by means of a specific Community regional development measure, to reinforce existing local, national and Community measures aimed at stimulating the creation of new employment in such zones in order to replace lost jobs and thus help to reduce regional imbalances;

Whereas other assistance from Community Funds, capable of being usefully combined, should be given in these zones;

Whereas the existence of an unfavourable physical environment due to the state of dereliction of certain industrial and urban sites makes it difficult to attract new employment-providing activities to these zones;

Whereas the encouragement of small and medium-sized undertakings (hereinafter referred to as ‘SMUs’), which already occupy an important place in the economies of these zones, requires that they be enabled better to adapt their productive potential in particular by way of investment aids and by facilitating access to necessary services in management, organization and finance;

Whereas the introduction of new technological products and processes can contribute to the creation and development of viable economic activities in these zones; whereas SMUs encounter difficulties in undertaking innovation;

Whereas economic activity in the zones concerned should be given greater stimulus through an especially active administration of public aids and services available, in particular those provided for under the special programme; whereas, to this end, it is necessary to establish or extend advisory agencies responsible for informing existing or potential undertakings about access to such aids and services and for helping them to take advantage of them;

Whereas the Community measure must be implemented in the form of special multiannual programmes; whereas it is for the Commission, in approving these programmes, to satisfy itself that the operations planned thereunder comply with the provisions of this Regulation;

Whereas the special programmes must respond to certain of the objectives encompassed by the regional development programmes provided for under Article 6 of the Fund Regulation;

Whereas the Commission must verify that the special programmes are properly carried out by examining the annual reports which the Member States concerned present to it for this purpose;

Whereas the Council, the European Parliament and the Economic and Social Committee must be informed regularly on the implementation of this Regulation,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

A specific Community regional development measure (hereinafter referred to as ‘the specific measure’) within the meaning of Article 13 of the Fund Regulation is hereby established, contributing to overcoming constraints on the development of new economic activities in certain zones adversely affected by restructuring of the textile and clothing industry.

Article 2

(a)a minimum number of jobs in the textile and clothing industry;

(b)industrial employment dependent in large measure on the textile and clothing industry;

(c)major job losses in the textile and clothing industry in recent years;

(d)the social and economic situation in the region in which the zone concerned is situated. This situation shall be assessed on the basis of the per capita gross domestic product and structural unemployment;

(e)eligibility of the zone concerned for a national regional-aid scheme.

(a) In Belgium: The Aalst, Monsoon and Oudenaarde ‘arrondissements’.

(b) In France: the départements of Ariège, Loire, Pas-de-Calais, Tarn and the Vosges, including the bordering aided zones of the départements of Bas-Rhin and Haut-Rhin; the zones covered by national regional aid schemes in the départements of Ardèche, Gard, Somme and Nord, including in the case of the last-mentioned the textile zones of the Lille ‘arrondissement’; the textile ‘cantons’ of the département of Aisne adjacent to the département of Nord, i.e. the ‘cantons’ of Catelet and Bohain-en-Vermandois;

(c) In Ireland: the planning regions of Donegal, north-west and west.

(d) In Italy: the assisted zones in the Provinces of Arezzo, Como, Perugia, Pesaro-Urbino, Pistoia, Treviso and Vercelli; the Provinces of Enna, Lecce, Bari and Palermo;

(e) In the United Kingdom: Northern Ireland; the region of Tayside; the travel-to-work areas of Bradford, Dewsbury, Halifax, Huddersfield, Keighley and Todmorden in the county of West Yorkshire; the travel-to-work areas of Accrington, Blackburn, Burnley, Lancaster, Nelson and Rossendale in the county of Lancashire; the travel-to-work areas of Ashton-under-Lyme, Bolton, Bury, Leigh, Oldham, Rochdale and Wigan in the county of Greater Manchester;

(f) In the Netherlands: the ‘COROP-Gebied’ of Twente and the textile zone of Helmond;

(g) In the Federal Republic of Germany: the Arbeitsmarktregionen of Ahaus, Steinfurt and Fulda, as well as the assisted zones in the Arbeitsmarktregion of Bayreuth.

Article 3

Article 4

The Fund may participate, within the framework of the special programme, in the following operations:

1.improvement of run-down areas whose character is industrial, or industrial and urban to the extent to which the two aspects cannot be dissociated, including: the cleaning-up and preparation of such areas, demolition and redevelopment of disused industrial buildings and conversion of their sites, including the modernization and conversion of premises for SMUs, the creation of green areas and minor works for improving the appearance of localities and, where justified, minor roads giving access to the locations of new activities;

2.preparation of sectoral analyses intended to provide SMUs with information on the potential of national, Community and external markets and on the effects to be anticipated therefrom on the production and organization of these undertakings;

3.aids to investment in SMUs designed to create new undertakings or to assist the adaptation of production to market potential by existing undertakings when justified by the analyses mentioned under point 2 or other satisfactory evidence. Such investment may also concern common services for a number of undertakings;

4.creation or development of consultancy firms or other bodies for management or organization matters; setting up or development of economic promotion agencies. The activities of such firms or bodies may include temporary assistance to undertakings for the implementation of their recommendations. Economic promotion agencies shall be responsible for: —opening up possibilities, through direct contacts at local level, for economic ventures by giving advice about access to available public aids and services, particularly those provided for under the special programme, and —contributing to the success of these ventures by helping existing or potential undertakings to take advantage of such aids and services;

5.establishment or development of common services for a number of undertakings;

6.promotion of innovation in industry and services: (a)collection of information relating to product and technological innovation and its dissemination among undertakings operating in the zones covered by the specific measure, which may include experimental work on such innovation; (b)encouragement of the introduction of product and technological innovation in SMUs;

7.better access for SMUs to risk capital.

Article 5

(a)reclamation and conversion operations under Article 4 (1): 50 % of public expenditure;

(b)operations relating to sectoral analyses under Article 4 (2): 70 % of their cost;

(c)operations relating to investment under Article 4 (3): 50 % of the public expenditure resulting from the granting of aid to the investment. Such aid may contain a supplementary element compared to the most favourable existing regional arrangements. The supplementary aid which is to be borne by the Community for four years may be up to 10 % of the cost of the investment. The public aid may take the form of a capital grant or an interest rebate;

(d)operations relating to consultancy services under Article 4 (4): aid covering part of the expenditure of undertakings relating to services provided by consultancy firms or bodies. The aid shall last for three years and shall be degressive. It shall cover 70 % of expenditure in the first year and shall not exceed 55 % of the total expenditure over the three-year period (indirect aid); the Member State may replace this system by an equivalent system of aid to consultancy firms or bodies (direct aid);

(e)operations relating to economic promotion under Article 4 (4): aid covering a part of the operating costs arising from the activities of promoters. The aid shall last for five years and shall be degressive. It shall cover 60 % of expenditure in the first year and shall not exceed 50 % of the total expenditure per promoter over the five-year period. These activities, which must be new and concern specifically the zones referred to in Article 2, may be entrusted by the Member State concerned to special bodies;

(f)operations relating to common services under Article 4 (5): aid covering part of the expenditure of undertakings relating to the operation of these services. The aid shall last for three years and shall be degressive. It shall cover 70 % of expenditure in the first year and shall not exceed 55 % of the total expenditure over the three-year period;

(g)operations concerning the collection and dissemination of information on innovation under Article 4 (6) (a): aid covering part of the operating costs of bodies engaged in such activities, provided that these activities are new and concern specifically the zones covered by Article 2. The aid shall last for three years and be degressive. It shall cover 70 % of the operating costs in the first year and shall not exceed 55 % of the total cost over the three-year period;

(h)operations for implementing innovation under Article 4 (6) (b): 70 % of the cost of feasibility studies that may concern all aspects, including commercial, of the implementation of innovation, limited to 120 000 ECU per study. These studies must be undertaken by or on behalf of undertakings situated in the zones covered by Article 2;

(i)operations relating to risk capital under Article 4 (7): contribution towards the operating costs of financial institutions providing risk capital for SMUs. The contribution shall be 70 % of the costs of risk evaluation studies carried out by or on behalf of the financial institutions. These studies may also examine commercial aspects.