Legal provisions of COM(2004)475 - General rules for the granting of Community financial aid in the field of the trans-european transport networks and energy and amending Council Regulation (EC) n° 2236/95 - Main contents
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| dossier | COM(2004)475 - General rules for the granting of Community financial aid in the field of the trans-european transport networks and energy ... |
|---|---|
| document | COM(2004)475  |
| date | June 20, 2007 |
CHAPTER I
GENERAL PROVISIONS
Article 1
Subject matter
This Regulation defines the conditions, methods and procedures for granting Community financial aid to projects of common interest in the field of the trans-European transport and energy networks under Article 155(1) of the Treaty.
Article 2
Definitions
For the purposes of this Regulation:
| 1. | ‘project of common interest’ means a project or a part of a project identified as being of common interest for the Community in the field of transport in the framework of Decision No 1692/96/EC or in the field of energy in the framework of Decision No 1364/2006/EC, |
| 2. | ‘priority project’ in the field of transport means a project of common interest located on an axis, or any other project, listed in Annex III to Decision No 1692/96/EC or in the field of energy a project of common interest considered to be a priority for the Community in the framework of Decision No 1364/2006/EC; |
| 3. | ‘project of European interest’ in the field of energy means a mature project located on a priority axis referred to in Decision No 1364/2006/EC and which is of a cross-border nature or which has a significant impact on cross-border transmission capacity; |
| 4. | ‘part of a project’ means any activity that is independent financially, technically or over time and which contributes to the completion of a project; |
| 5. | ‘cross-border section’ means the cross-border sections referred to in Article 19b of Decision No 1692/96/EC and cross-border sections which ensure, via a third country, the continuity of a priority project between two Member States; |
| 6. | ‘bottleneck’ in the field of transport means obstacles to speed and/or capacity which make it impossible to guarantee the continuity of transport flows; |
| 7. | ‘beneficiary’ means one or more Member States, international organisations or joint undertakings, within the meaning of Article 171 of the Treaty, or public or private undertakings or bodies having complete responsibility for a project and proposing to invest their own resources or funds provided by third parties with a view to carrying out a project; |
| 8. | ‘studies’ means activities needed to prepare project implementation, including preparatory, feasibility, evaluation and validation studies, and any other technical support measure, including prior action to define and develop a project fully and decide on its financing, such as reconnaissance of the sites concerned and preparation of the financial package; |
| 9. | ‘works’ means the purchase, supply and deployment of components, systems and services, the carrying out of construction and installation works relating to a project, the acceptance of installations and the launching of a project; |
| 10. | ‘project cost’ means the total cost borne by a beneficiary of studies or works directly related to and necessary for carrying out a project; |
| 11. | ‘eligible cost’ means the part of the project cost taken into consideration by the Commission for the calculation of Community financial aid; |
| 12. | ‘loan guarantee instrument’ means a guarantee issued by the EIB in favour of a stand-by liquidity facility provided to projects of common interest in the field of transport. It covers the debt service risks due to demand shortfalls and the resulting unforeseen loss of revenue during the initial operating period of the project. The loan guarantee instrument is used only for projects whose financial viability is based, in whole or in part, on revenues, tolls or other income paid by or on behalf of the users or beneficiaries; |
| 13. | ‘availability payment schemes’ means financing schemes for infrastructure projects, built and operated by a private investor who receives periodic payments after the construction phase for the infrastructure service provided. The payment level depends on the degree of attainment of the contractually-agreed performance levels. Availability payments are made throughout the duration of a contract between the authority awarding the contract and the project promoter and serve to cover the construction, financing, maintenance and operational costs. |
CHAPTER II
ELIGIBLE PROJECTS, FORMS AND METHODS OF FINANCIAL AID, COMBINATION OF FINANCING
Article 3
Eligibility of projects and applications for Community financial aid
1. Only projects of common interest shall be eligible to receive Community financial aid under this Regulation.
The eligibility of applications for Community financial aid for such projects is conditional on compliance with Community law.
2. In the field of transport only, eligibility shall also be subject to a commitment by the applicant for Community financial aid and, where appropriate, by the Member States concerned, to make a financial contribution to the project submitted, mobilising private funds if necessary.
3. Transport-related projects involving a cross-border section or a part of such a section shall be eligible to receive Community financial aid if there is a written agreement between the Member States concerned or between the Member States and third countries concerned relating to the completion of the cross-border section. Exceptionally, when a project is necessary to link to the network of a neighbouring Member State or a third country but does not actually cross the border, the written agreement referred to above shall not be required.
Article 4
Submission of applications for Community financial aid
Applications for Community financial aid shall be submitted to the Commission by one or more Member States or, with the agreement of the Member States concerned, by international organisations, joint undertakings, or public or private undertakings or bodies.
The methods for submitting applications for financial aid shall be established in accordance with Article 9(1).
Article 5
Selection of projects
1. Projects of common interest shall be awarded Community financial aid in relation to their contribution to the objectives and priorities defined in the framework of Decisions Nos 1692/96/EC and 1364/2006/EC.
2. In the field of transport, special attention shall be given to the following projects:
| (a) | priority projects; |
| (b) | projects to eliminate bottlenecks, in particular in the framework of priority projects; |
| (c) | projects submitted or supported jointly by at least two Member States, in particular those involving cross-border sections; |
| (d) | projects contributing to the continuity of the network and the optimisation of its capacity; |
| (e) | projects contributing to the improvement of the quality of service offered on TEN-T and which promote, inter alia through action relating to infrastructure, the safety and security of users and ensure interoperability between national networks; |
| (f) | projects relating to the development and deployment of traffic management systems in rail, road, air, maritime, inland waterway and coastal transport which ensure interoperability between national networks; |
| (g) | projects contributing to the completion of the internal market; and |
| (h) | projects contributing to the re-balancing of transport modes in favour of the most environmentally-friendly ones, such as inland waterways. |
3. In the field of energy, particular attention shall be given to projects of European interest that contribute to:
| (a) | the development of the network so as to strengthen economic and social cohesion by reducing the isolation of the less-favoured and island regions of the Community; |
| (b) | the optimisation of the capacity of the network and the completion of the internal energy market, in particular projects concerning cross-border sections; |
| (c) | the security of energy supply, diversification of sources of energy supplies and, in particular, interconnections with third countries; |
| (d) | the connection of renewable energy resources; and |
| (e) | the safety, reliability and interoperability of interconnected networks. |
4. A decision to grant Community financial aid shall take into account, inter alia:
| (a) | the maturity of the project; |
| (b) | the stimulating effect of Community intervention on public and private funding; |
| (c) | the soundness of the financial package; |
| (d) | socio-economic effects; |
| (e) | environmental consequences; |
| (f) | the need to overcome financial obstacles; and |
| (g) | the complexity of the project, for example that which arises from the need to cross a natural barrier. |
Article 6
Forms and methods of Community financial aid
1. Community financial aid for projects of common interest can take one or more of the following forms:
| (a) | grants for studies or works; |
| (b) | in the field of transport, grants for works in the framework of availability payment schemes; |
| (c) | interest rate rebates on loans given by the EIB or other public or private financial institutions; |
| (d) | a financial contribution to the provisioning and capital allocation for guarantees to be issued by the EIB on its own resources under the loan guarantee instrument. The duration of such guarantees may not exceed five years after the date the project goes into operation. Exceptionally, in duly justified cases, a guarantee may be granted for up to seven years. The contribution from the general budget of the European Union to the loan guarantee instrument may not exceed EUR 500 million. The EIB shall contribute an equal amount. The Community exposure to the loan guarantee instrument, including management fees and other eligible costs, shall be limited to the amount of the Community contribution to the loan guarantee instrument and there shall be no further liability on the general budget of the European Union. The residual risk inherent in all operations shall be borne by the EIB. The main terms, conditions and procedures of the loan guarantee instrument are laid down in the Annex; |
| (e) | risk capital participation for investment funds or comparable financial undertakings with a priority focus on providing risk capital for trans-European network projects and involving substantial private sector investment; such risk-capital participation shall not exceed 1 % of the budgetary resources set out in Article 18; |
| (f) | a financial contribution to the project-related activities of joint undertakings. |
2. The amount of Community financial aid granted in the forms referred to in paragraph 1(a), (b), (c) and (f) shall take account of the criteria laid down in Article 5 and shall not exceed the following rates:
| (a) | studies: 50 % of the eligible cost, irrespective of the project of common interest concerned; |
| (b) | works:
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| (c) | the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS):
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| (d) | road, air, inland waterway, maritime traffic and coastal traffic management systems: a maximum of 20 % of the eligible cost of works. |
3. Acting in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 15(2), the Commission shall adopt implementation measures for the instruments referred to in paragraph 1(c) and (e) of this Article.
Article 7
Other financial aid and instruments
1. EIB operations shall be compatible with the granting of financial aid under this Regulation.
2. The Commission shall coordinate and ensure the coherence of projects co-financed in the framework of this Regulation with related actions benefiting from other Community contributions and financial instruments as well as EIB operations.
CHAPTER III
PROGRAMMING, IMPLEMENTATION AND CONTROL
Article 8
Multiannual and annual work programmes
1. Acting in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 15(2), the Commission shall apply the criteria laid down in Article 5 and the objectives and priorities defined in the framework of Decisions Nos 1692/96/EC and 1364/2006/EC when establishing multiannual and annual work programmes.
2. A multiannual work programme in the field of transport shall apply to priority projects and to road, air, rail, inland waterway and coastal and maritime traffic management systems. The amount of the financial envelope shall lie within a range of 80 to 85 % of the budgetary resources referred to in Article 18 reserved for transport.
3. The annual work programme in the field of transport shall apply the criteria for the granting of financial aid to projects of common interest not included in the multiannual programme.
4. The annual work programme in the field of energy shall apply the criteria for the granting of financial aid to projects of common interest.
5. The multiannual work programme shall be reviewed at least at mid-term and, if necessary, revised in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 15(2).
Article 9
Granting of Community financial aid
1. Following every call for proposals based on the multiannual or annual work programmes referred to in Article 8(1), the Commission, acting in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 15(2), shall decide on the amount of financial aid to be granted to the projects or parts of projects selected. The Commission shall specify the conditions and methods for their implementation.
2. The beneficiaries and the Member States concerned shall be informed by the Commission of any financial aid to be granted.
Article 10
Financial provisions
1. Budgetary commitments may be divided into annual instalments. Each year the Commission shall commit the annual instalments taking into account the state of progress of the projects or project phases receiving financial aid, the estimated needs and the budget available.
The indicative timetable for the commitment of the individual annual instalments shall be communicated to the beneficiaries and the Member States concerned.
2. Community aid may cover only project-related expenditure incurred by the beneficiaries or by third parties responsible for the implementation of a project.
Expenditure shall be eligible from the date on which an application for aid is lodged. Expenditure resulting from projects included in the multiannual programme may be eligible as from 1 January of the current year, starting from 1 January 2007.
VAT shall not be an eligible cost, except for non-refundable VAT.
3. Payments shall be made in the form of pre-financing, where appropriate divided into several payment instalments, intermediate payments and payment of the balance.
The payment methods shall be defined in such a way as to take into account in particular the multiannual implementation of infrastructure projects.
The pre-financing, or where appropriate the first instalment thereof, shall be paid when the financial aid is granted.
Any intermediate payments shall be made on the basis of payment applications, subject to compliance with Article 13.
Payment of the balance shall be made after acceptance of the final report concerning the project submitted by the beneficiary and certified by the Member States concerned. The final report shall detail in particular all the expenditure actually incurred.
4. In the case of availability payment schemes, the first pre-financing payment shall be made within a period of up to three years following the granting of Community financial aid upon certification by the Member States of the start of the project and upon submission of the respective public-private partnership contract. Further pre-financing payments may be made upon certification by the Member States of the progress of the project.
Payment of the balance shall be made after the start of the operational phase of the project upon verification that the infrastructure has been delivered, certification by the Member States that the expenses claimed have actually been incurred and proof of a total amount of availability payments equalling the amount of the Community financial aid.
Where no payment of the availability payment is due because of a failure to deliver the infrastructure, the Commission shall recover the pre-financing payments it has made.
Article 11
Member States' responsibilities
1. Within the sphere of their responsibility, the Member States shall make every effort to implement the projects of common interest which receive Community financial aid granted under this Regulation.
2. The Member States shall undertake the technical monitoring and financial control of projects in close cooperation with the Commission and shall certify the reality and the conformity of the expenditure incurred in respect of projects or parts of projects. The Member States may request the participation of the Commission during on-the-spot checks.
3. The Member States shall inform the Commission of the measures taken under paragraph 2 and, in particular, shall supply a description of the control, management and monitoring systems set up to ensure that projects are successfully completed.
Article 12
Compatibility with Community law and Community policies
Projects financed under this Regulation shall be carried out in conformity with Community law and shall take into account any relevant Community policies, in particular those relating to competition, the protection of the environment, health, sustainable development, public procurement and interoperability.
Article 13
Cancellation, reduction, suspension and discontinuance of aid
1. After appropriate examination and after having informed the beneficiaries and Member States concerned in order that they may present their observations within a given time, the Commission:
| (a) | shall cancel, except in duly justified cases, financial aid granted for projects or parts of projects which have not been started in the two years following the start date of the project established in the conditions governing the granting of aid; |
| (b) | may suspend, reduce or discontinue the financial aid:
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| (c) | may, taking account of all relevant factors, request the reimbursement of the financial aid granted if, within four years of the finishing date established in the conditions governing the granting of aid, the implementation of the project or part of a project receiving the financial aid has not been completed. |
2. The Commission may recover all or part of the sums already paid:
| (a) | where this is necessary, notably following cancellation, discontinuation or reduction of the financial aid or a request for reimbursement of financial aid; or |
| (b) | in the event of cumulation of Community aid for a part of a project. |
Article 14
Protection of the Community's financial interests
1. The European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) may undertake on-the-spot site controls and checks in accordance with Council Regulation (Euratom, EC) No 2185/96 of 11 November 1996 concerning on-the-spot checks and inspections carried out by the Commission in order to protect the European Communities' financial interests against fraud and other irregularities (10).
2. The conditions governing the granting of Community financial aid may, in particular, provide for monitoring and financial checks to be undertaken by the Commission or any representative authorised by it, and for audits to be undertaken by the Court of Auditors, where appropriate on the spot.
3. The Member State concerned and the Commission shall immediately exchange all relevant information concerning the results of the checks undertaken.
CHAPTER IV
FINAL PROVISIONS
Article 15
Committee procedure
1. The Commission shall be assisted by a committee.
2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Articles 5 and 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof.
3. The Committee shall adopt its rules of procedure.
4. The EIB shall designate a representative to the committee who shall not take part in the voting.
Article 16
Evaluation
1. The Commission and the Member States, assisted by the beneficiaries, may undertake an evaluation of the methods of carrying out projects as well as the impact of their implementation, in order to assess whether the objectives, including those relating to environmental protection, have been attained.
2. The Commission may request a beneficiary Member State to provide a specific evaluation of projects financed under this Regulation or, where appropriate, to supply it with the information and assistance required to undertake an evaluation of such projects.
Article 17
Information and publicity
1. Every two years the Commission shall submit a report to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on the activities undertaken under this Regulation. The report shall contain an evaluation of the results achieved with Community financial aid in the different fields of application with regard to the original objectives, as well as a chapter on the substance and implementation of the current multiannual programme. The report shall also contain information on the sources of funding for each project.
2. The Member States concerned and, where appropriate, beneficiaries shall ensure that suitable publicity is given to aid granted under this Regulation in order to inform the public of the role of the Community in the implementation of the projects.
Article 18
Budgetary resources
1. The financial envelope for the implementation of this Regulation for the period 2007 to 2013 shall be EUR 8 168 000 000, of which EUR 8 013 000 000 shall be for TEN-T and EUR 155 000 000 shall be for TEN-E.
2. The annual appropriations shall be authorised by the budgetary authority within the limits of the multiannual financial framework.
Article 19
Revision clause
Before the end of 2010, the Commission shall submit to the European Parliament and to the Council a general report on the experience gained with the mechanisms provided for by this Regulation for the granting of Community financial aid.
Acting in accordance with the procedure provided for in the first subparagraph of Article 156 of the Treaty, the European Parliament and the Council shall decide if, and under what conditions, the mechanisms provided for by this Regulation are to be maintained or amended beyond the period referred to in Article 18 of this Regulation.
Article 20
Entry into force
This Regulation shall enter into force on the 20th day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
It shall apply as from 1 January 2007.
Actions underway in the field of transport and energy on the date of application of this Regulation shall continue to be subject to Regulation (EC) No 2236/95 in the version in force on 31 December 2006.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.