| 2. | | 31999 R 1260: Council Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999 of 21 June 1999 laying down general provisions on the Structural Funds (OJ L 161, 26.6.1999, p. 1), as amended by: | — | | 32001 R 1447: Council Regulation (EC) No 1447/2001 of 28.6.2001 (OJ L 198, 21.7.2001, p. 1). |
| (a) | | The following subparagraph is inserted after the first subparagraph of Article 3(1): ‘For the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia, the regions covered by Objective 1 shall be regions corresponding to NUTS level II whose per capita GDP, measured in purchasing power parities and calculated on the basis of Community figures for the years 1997-1998-1999, is less than 75 % of the Community average at the time of conclusion of the accession negotiations.’ . |
| (b) | | Article 3(2) is replaced by the following: ‘2. The Commission shall draw up the list of regions covered by Objective 1 strictly in accordance with the first and second subparagraphs of paragraph 1, without prejudice to Article 6(1) and Article 7(4), second subparagraph. This list shall be valid for seven years from 1 January 2000. For the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia this list shall be valid from the date of accession until 31 December 2006.’ . |
| (c) | | The following sentence is inserted after point (c) in Article 4(2): ‘For the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia, the population ceiling for Objective 2 support shall be 31 % of the population of all NUTS II regions covered by Objective 2 in each of these countries.’ |
| (d) | | The following subparagraph is added to Article 4(11): ‘For the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia the list of areas shall be valid from the date of accession until 31 December 2006.’ . |
| (e) | | Article 7(1) is replaced by the following: ‘1. The resources available for commitment from the Funds for Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom for the period 2000 to 2006 shall be EUR 195 billion at 1999 prices. The annual breakdown of those resources is shown in Annex I. For the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia the resources available for commitment from the Funds for the period from the date of accession to 2006 shall be EUR 14,1559 billion at 1999 prices. The annual breakdown of those resources is shown in Annex II.’ . |
| (f) | | The following subparagraph is inserted after the fourth subparagraph of Article 7(2): ‘By way of derogation from the second, third and fourth subparagraphs, for the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia the breakdown of budgetary resources between objectives shall be as follows: | — | | 93,49 % of the Structural Funds will be allocated to Objective 1 (i.e. a total of EUR 13,2343 billion); |
| — | | 0,86 % of the Structural Funds will be allocated to Objective 2 (i.e. a total of EUR 0,1212 billion); |
| — | | 0,79 % of the Structural Funds will be allocated to Objective 3 (i.e. a total of EUR 0,1116 billion).’ | . |
| (g) | | The second subparagraph of Article 7(3) is replaced by the following: ‘For Objective 3, the breakdown by Member State shall be based principally on the eligible population, the employment situation and the severity of the problems, such as social exclusion (insofar as data are available for the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia), education and training levels, and participation of women in the labour market.’ . |
| (h) | | Article 7(6) is replaced by the following: ‘6. For the period referred to in paragraph 1, first subparagraph, 5,35 % of the commitment appropriations for the Structural Funds referred to in paragraph 1, first and second subparagraphs, shall be devoted to funding the Community initiatives. 0,65 % of the commitment appropriations referred to in paragraph 1, first and second subparagraphs, shall be devoted to funding innovative measures and technical assistance as defined in Articles 22 and 23. For the period referred to in paragraph 1, third subparagraph, 4,58 % of the commitment appropriations for the Structural Funds referred to in paragraph 1, third and fourth subparagraphs, shall be devoted to funding the Community initiatives Interreg and EQUAL. The Community initiatives Leader+ and URBAN shall not be implemented in the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia during this period. 0,27 % of the commitment appropriations referred to in paragraph 1, third and fourth subparagraphs, shall be devoted to funding technical assistance as defined in Article 23. Innovative actions, as defined in Article 22, shall not be implemented in the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia during this period.’ |
| (i) | | The following subparagraph is inserted after the fourth subparagraph of Article 11(2): ‘For the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia, as a general rule, the level of expenditure referred to in the first and second subparagraphs shall be at least equal to the amount of average annual expenditure in real terms achieved in the reference period established in close cooperation with the Commission and shall be determined in the light of the general macroeconomic circumstances in which the funding takes place, although account should be taken of certain specific economic situations, namely privatisations, an exceptional level of public structural effort or equivalent effort on the part of the Member State during the previous period and national economic trends.’ . |
| (j) | | The following sentence is added to the second subparagraph of Article 14(1): ‘For the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia, the programming period shall begin on the date of accession and shall cover the period from the date of accession until 31 December 2006.’ . |
| (k) | | In Article 20(1), the introductory phrase is replaced by the following:’‘. |
| (l) | | Article 22(1), first subparagraph, is replaced by the following: ‘Without prejudice to the provisions of Article 7(6), at the initiative of the Commission and following consultation of the committees referred to in Articles 48 to 51 on the guidelines for the various types of innovative actions, subject to a ceiling of 0,40 % of their respective annual funding, the Funds may finance innovative actions at Community level. These shall include studies, pilot projects and exchanges of experience.’ . |
| (m) | | In Article 23, the following sentence is inserted after the first sentence: ‘For the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia, the ceiling for such measures is fixed at 0,27 % of the respective annual allocation of each Fund allocated to these ten Member States.’ . |
| (n) | | The following subparagraph is inserted after the first subparagraph of Article 32(2): ‘For the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia, this payment on account shall be 16 % of the contribution from the Funds to the assistance in question. It will be subdivided over two budget years: 10 % in the first year, 6 % in the following year.’ . |
| (o) | | The following subparagraph is added to Article 52(4): ‘Notwithstanding the date specified in Article 30(2), expenditure actually paid, in respect of which the Commission has received an application for assistance from the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia or Slovakia before the date of accession and which fulfils all the conditions laid down in this Regulation, may be regarded as eligible for a contribution from the Funds as of 1 January 2004.’ . |
| (p) | | In the Annex the heading ‘Annex’ is replaced by the heading ‘Annex I’. |
| (q) | | The following Annex is inserted: ‘ANNEX IISTRUCTURAL FUNDS
Annual breakdown of commitment appropriations for the period from the date of accession to 2006 for the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia (referred to in Article 7(1)) | (EUR million - 1999 prices) | | 3453,5 | 4754,7 | 5947,6’ |
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