COMMISSION REGULATION (EEC) No 1956/91 of 21 June 1991 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EEC) No 4028/86 as regards measures to encourage the creation of joint enterprises
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN
COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 4028/86 of 18 December 1986 on Community measures to improve and adapt structures in the fisheries and aquaculture sector (1), as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 3944/90 (2), and in particular Articles 21c and 21d thereof,
Whereas Article 21b of Regulation (EEC) No 4028/86 provides for the grant of financial aid for joint enterprise projects relating to fishing vessels to be transferred to third countries;
Whereas applications for Community assistance must contain information enabling the Commission to take a decision thereon and must be submitted in standardized form;
Whereas it is necessary to guarantee supplies to the Community as a primary consideration and to build up stable and durable cooperation between the Community and the third countries with which it maintains fisheries relations;
Whereas it is necessary to guarantee that joint enterprise projects cofinanced by the Community offer a good prospect of being implemented in order to ensure that the favourable decisions taken by the Commission represent effective expenditure;
Whereas payment applications to the Commission by the Member State(s) concerned must contain certain infor
mation permitting verification that the expenditure meets the requirements of Regulation (EEC) No 4028/86;
Whereas applications are to be lodged through the competent authorities of the Member States, which must examine them in order to formulate an opinion for the attention of the Commission;
Whereas the Commission must have the information needed to take a decision on the merits on such applications;
Whereas this Regulation should be restricted to laying down the detailed rules for payment of the Community assistance referred to in Article 21c (2) of Regulation (EEC) No 4028/86 where such aid consists of a subsidy, it being understood that the detailed rules for the other forms of aid will be adopted horizontally for the application of both Article 21c and Article 43 of that Regulation;
Whereas the purpose of measures to encourage the creation of joint enterprises is to stimulate initiatives of this type throughout the Community fishing industry; whereas it is therefore essential that Member States be informed of the results obtained by the said joint enterprises;
Whereas, in order that proper checks may be made, Member States must keep at the Commission's disposal, for three years following the final payment, the documents on which the aid calculations were based;
Whereas the measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee for the Fishing Industry,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1
1. The joint enterprise projects referred to in Article 21b (1) of Regulation (EEC) No 4028/86, as amended, submitted to the Commission through the Member State(s) concerned, must contain the particulars specified in Annex I and must be presented in the form shown in that Annex.
2. Part A of Annex I is to be submitted to the Commission in duplicate. Part B of Annex I is to be kept by the competent authorities of the Member State concerned.
3. The Member State shall examine the information given in part B of Annex I and shall inform the Commission of its opinion under point 1 of Annex I, part A. At the same time, the Member State shall specify the criteria which it applies for the selection of projects and the grant of its financial contribution as provided for in point 9 of part A of Annex I.
4. The projects referred to in paragraph 1 shall be entered in the Commission's records on the day of their receipt by the Commission. Article 2 1. To qualify for the financial aid referred to in Article 21c of Regulation (EEC) No 4028/86:
- the project referred to in Article 1 must be entered in the Commission's records by the Member State within six months after the date of registration by the competent authorities;
-the joint enterprise must not be set up until after the registration date of the aid request by the competent authorities of the Member State.
2. The preceding paragraph is applicable to projects registered in Member States from 1 January 1991.
3. The vessels involved in the joint enterprise must be in operation at the time when the aid application is submitted, registered at a Community fishing port and listed in the Community register of fishing vessels.
4. The vessels involved in the joint enterprise must be registered in a third country within one year from notification of the Commission's decision referred to in Article 21d of Regulation (EEC) No 4028/86. Article 3 1. For the purposes of granting Community aid to joint enterprise projects, priority shall be given to projects which fulfil the following conditions:
(a) projects must concern third countries offering satisfactory guarantees for Community investments and having important fisheries resources which are of interest for the Community market;
(b)projects must involve vessels conducting their fishing activities in Community waters on certain heavily exploited internal fisheries resources or in non-Community waters in which access to resources is difficult.
2. In the case of projects not fulfilling the conditions laid down in paragraph 1, the Commission may give preference to projects which provide for a majority shareholding in the joint enterprise by several Community shipowners.
3. The Member State concerned shall specify under point 8 of part A of Annex I the priority categories into which the project falls.
4. The Member State concerned must ensure that projects forwarded to the Commission offer good prospect of execution. Article 4 1. Applications for payment shall be made to the Commission through the Member State(s) concerned. They must contain the particulars specified in Annex II and be presented in the form shown in that Annex.
2. Part A of Annex II is to be submitted to the Commission in duplicate. Part B of Annex II is to be kept by the competent authorities of the Member State concerned.
3. The Member State shall examine the information given in part B of Annex II and shall inform the Commission of its opinion under point 1 of part A of Annex II.
4. The Member State shall certify that the information contained in the applications referred to in paragraph 1 is accurate. Article 5 1. Community aid shall not be paid until the joint enterprise has been created in the third country concerned and the transferred vessels have been definitively removed from the Community register of fishing vessels within the meaning of Regulation (EEC) No 163/89 and registered at a port in the third country in which the joint enterprise is based.
2. Without prejudice to the conditions referred to in paragraph 1, where Community aid consists partly or fully of a capital subsidy, an initial payment of not more than 80% of the total amount of the subsidy may be made. The payment application for the balance of the subsidy must be accompanied by the first periodic progress report on the activity of the joint enterprise. This payment application must not be submitted earlier than 12 months after date of the first payment.
3. Detailed rules for the payment of Community aid other than capital subsidies shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 43 of Regulation (EEC) No 4028/86. Article 6 1. The periodic report referred to in Article 21d (3) of Regulation (EEC) No 4028/86 must be sent to the Commission every 12 months for three consecutive years.
2. The periodic report must contain the particulars specified in Annex III and be presented in the form shown in that Annex. Article 7 Member States shall keep at the Commission's disposal, for a period of three years following the payment of the balance of the Community aid, all the documents, or certified copies thereof, used for calculation of the aid provided for in Regulation (EEC) No 4028/86 together with the complete files on the applicants. Article 8 This Regulation shall enter into force on the day of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
Done at Brussels, 21 June 1991.