18.1.2006   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 12/1

18.1.2006   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 12/2

18.1.2006   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 12/4

18.1.2006   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 12/5

1.

In a letter received on 4 November 2005, the Kingdom of the Netherlands notified under Article 95(5) of the Treaty establishing the European Community a request for derogation to Directive 98/69/EC (1). The Kingdom of the Netherlands intends to adopt a new decree which would set more stringent emission limits for diesel vehicles of 5 milligrams per kilometre for particulate matter. This new national provision would apply as from 1 January 2007 on diesel passenger cars and some light commercial vehicles (category M1 and N1, class 1, as defined by Annex II to Directive 70/156/EC (2)).

2.

Article 95(5) of the Treaty establishing the European Community stipulates that if, after the adoption by the Council or by the Commission of a harmonisation measure, a Member State deems it necessary to introduce national provisions based on new scientific evidence relating to the protection of the environment or the working environment on grounds of a problem specific to that Member State arising after the adoption of the harmonisation measure, it shall notify the Commission of the envisaged provisions as well as the grounds for introducing them.

3.

The Commission shall, within six months of the notification approve or reject the national provisions involved after having verified whether or not they are a means of arbitrary discrimination or a disguised restriction on trade between Member States and whether or not they shall constitute an obstacle to the functioning of the internal market.

4.

According to the Dutch authorities, their request is justified because new scientific evidence on the environmental and health effects of particulate matter has become available since the adoption of Directive 98/69/EC. According to them, this information shows that excessive particulate matter emissions have harmful effects on human health, such as premature deaths and impaired lung functions. This scientific evidence has led, at Community level, to the provision of a draft proposal (the Euro 5 draft proposal), reducing the particulate matter level for diesel passenger cars and some light commercial vehicles to 5 milligrams per kilometre. However, according to the Dutch authorities, it is likely that this new limit value will not enter into force before 2010.

For the Dutch authorities, particulate matter is a cause of major concern because of the high population density and a more highly concentrated infrastructure than in other European countries. In their view, this situation leads to high emissions per square kilometre. Furthermore, air quality in many areas of the Netherlands does not comply with the European limit values for particulate matter as set out in Directive 1999/30/EC (3).

The envisaged measure is part of a package of measures aimed at improving the air quality in the Netherlands. The Dutch authorities consider that the measure is necessary to improve the quality of the environment and thus protect human health. They also consider that the draft measure is neither a means of arbitrary discrimination nor a disguised restriction on trade between Member States. Furthermore, they believe that the measure is proportionate to attain the desired objectives.

5.

The Kingdom of the Netherlands therefore deems it necessary to derogate from Directive 98/69/EC and to introduce new national provisions setting a limit value of 5 milligrams per kilometre for particulate matter emissions from diesel passenger cars and some light duty vehicles entering into force on 1 January 2007.

6.

Observations on the notification thus made by the Kingdom of the Netherlands may be submitted to the Commission within 30 days from the date of publication of this notice. Observations submitted later than this deadline may not be taken into consideration.

7.

Further information regarding the request from the Kingdom of the Netherlands can be obtained from:

18.1.2006   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 12/7

1.

On 9 January 2006, the Commission received a notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (1) by which the undertakings Arcelor S.A. (‘Arcelor’, Luxembourg) and Ordu Yardimlasma Kurumu (‘Oyak’) acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Council Regulation joint control of the undertaking Eregli Demir ve Celik Fabrikalari T.A.S (‘Erdemir’, Turkey) by way of purchase of shares.

2.

The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:

3.

On preliminary examination, the Commission finds that the notified transaction could fall within the scope of Regulation (EC) No 139/2004. However, the final decision on this point is reserved.

4.

The Commission invites interested third parties to submit their possible observations on the proposed operation to the Commission.

Observations must reach the Commission not later than 10 days following the date of this publication. Observations can be sent to the Commission by fax (No (32-2) 296 43 01 or 296 72 44) or by post, under reference number COMP/M.4085 — Arcelor/Oyak/Erdemir, to the following address:

18.1.2006   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 12/8

—

from the Europa competition web site (http://europa.eu.int/comm/competition/mergers/cases/). This web site provides various facilities to help locate individual merger decisions, including company, case number, date and sectoral indexes,

—

in electronic form on the EUR-Lex website under document number 32005M4032. EUR-Lex is the on-line access to European law. (http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/lex)

18.1.2006   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 12/8

—

from the Europa competition web site (http://europa.eu.int/comm/competition/mergers/cases/). This web site provides various facilities to help locate individual merger decisions, including company, case number, date and sectoral indexes,

—

in electronic form on the EUR-Lex website under document number 32006M4060. EUR-Lex is the on-line access to European law. (http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/lex)

18.1.2006   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 12/9

—

from the Europa competition web site (http://europa.eu.int/comm/competition/mergers/cases/). This web site provides various facilities to help locate individual merger decisions, including company, case number, date and sectoral indexes,

—

in electronic form on the EUR-Lex website under document number 32005M3987. EUR-Lex is the on-line access to European law. (http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/lex)

18.1.2006   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 12/10

1.

In accordance with Decision No 1513/2002/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 June 2002 concerning the sixth framework programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities contributing to the creation of the European Research Area and to innovation (2002 to 2006) (1), the Council adopted on 30 September 2002 the specific programme for research, technological development and demonstration: ‘Structuring the European Research Area’ (2002-2006) (2) (referred to as ‘the specific programme’).

In accordance with Article 5(1) of the specific programme, the Commission of the European Communities (referred to as ‘the Commission’) has adopted on 6 December 2002 a work programme (3) (referred to as ‘the work programme’) setting out in greater detail the objectives and scientific and technological priorities of the specific programme, and the timetable for implementation.

In accordance with Article 9(1) of the Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2002 concerning the rules for the participation of undertakings, research centres and universities in, and for the dissemination of research results for, the implementation of the European Community Sixth Framework Programme (2002 to 2006) (4) (referred to as ‘the rules for participation’), proposals for indirect RTD actions should be submitted under the terms of calls for proposals.

2.

The present call for proposals for indirect RTD actions (referred to as ‘the call’) comprises the present general part and the specific conditions that are described in the annex. The annex indicates in particular, the date of closure for the submission of proposals for indirect RTD actions, an indicative date for the completion of the evaluations, the indicative budget, the instruments and the areas concerned, the evaluation criteria for the evaluation of proposals for indirect RTD actions, the minimum number of participants, and any applicable restrictions.

3.

Natural or legal persons fulfilling the conditions stated in the rules for participation and that do not fall under any of the exclusion cases in the rules for participation or in Article 114(2) of the Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 of 25 June 2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities (5) (referred to as ‘the proposers’) are invited to submit to the Commission proposals for indirect RTD actions subject to the conditions in the rules for participation and in the call concerned being fulfilled.

The conditions of participation of the proposers will be verified within the framework of the negotiation of the indirect RTD action. Before that however, proposers will have signed a declaration stating that they do not fall under any of the cases given by Article 93(1) of the Financial Regulation. They will also have given the Commission the information listed in Article 173(2) of the Commission Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2342/2002 of 23 December 2002 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities (6).

The European Community has adopted an equal opportunities policy and, on this basis, women are particularly encouraged to either submit proposals for indirect RTD actions or participate in the submission of proposals for indirect RTD actions.

4.

The Commission makes available to proposers guides for proposers relating to the calls which contain information on the preparation and the submission of a proposal for an indirect RTD action. The Commission also makes available Guidelines on Proposal Evaluation and Selection Procedures (7). These guides and guidelines, as well as the work programme and other information relating to the call, can be obtained from the Commission via the following addresses:

5.

Proposals for indirect RTD actions are invited to be submitted only as an electronic proposal via the web-based Electronic Proposal Submission System (EPSS (8)). In exceptional cases, however, a coordinator may request permission from the Commission to submit on paper in advance of a call deadline. This should be done by writing to one of the following addresses:

or E-mail: rtd-mc-papersubmission@cec.eu.int

The request must be accompanied by an explanation of why the exception is being sought. Proposers wishing to use paper submission take the responsibility for ensuring that such requests for exemption and the associated procedures are completed in time for them to meet the call deadline.

All proposals for indirect RTD actions must contain two parts: the forms (Part A) and the content (Part B).

Proposals for indirect RTD actions should be prepared and submitted on-line. Part B of proposals for indirect RTD actions can only be submitted in PDF (‘portable document format’, compatible with Adobe Version 3 or higher with embedded fonts). Compressed (‘zipped’) files will be excluded.

The EPSS software tool (for on-line usage) is available via the Cordis website www.cordis.lu.

Proposals for indirect RTD actions that are submitted on-line and which are incomplete, illegible or contain viruses will be excluded.

Versions of proposals for indirect RTD actions submitted on a removable electronic storage medium (eg, CD-ROM, diskette), by email or by fax will be excluded.

Any proposal for indirect RTD actions that has been allowed to be submitted on paper and which is incomplete will be excluded.

Further details on the various proposal submission procedures are given in Annex J of the Guidelines on Proposal Evaluation and Selection Procedures.

6.

Proposals for indirect RTD actions have to reach the Commission at the latest on the closure date and at the time specified in the call concerned. Proposals for indirect RTD actions arriving after this date and time will be excluded.

Proposals for indirect RTD actions not satisfying the conditions relating to the minimum number of participants indicated in the call concerned will be excluded.

This also applies regarding any additional eligibility criteria given in the work programme.

7.

In the case of successive submissions of the same proposal for an indirect RTD action, the Commission will examine the last version received before the closure date and time specified in the call concerned.

8.

If foreseen in the relevant call, proposals for indirect RTD actions could be evaluated in the framework of a future evaluation.

9.

In all correspondence relating to a call (e.g. when requesting information, or submitting a proposal for an indirect RTD action), proposers are invited to cite the relevant call identifier.

18.1.2006   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 12/13