Communication from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs No. 225 / 1998 Coll.
Communication from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the negotiation of Decision No 1 / 98 Association Councils between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and the Czech Republic, of the other part, of 24 June 1998 laying down detailed rules for the application of the State aid provisions referred to in Article 64 (1) (iii) and (2), pursuant to Article 64 (3) of the Europe Agreement establishing an association between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and the Czech Republic, of the other part, and Article 8 (1) (iii) and (2) of Protocol 2 to this Agreement on the products of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC)
Valid
International Treaty
Effective from 11.07.1998
Text versions:
06.10.1998
225
COMMUNICATION
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announces that Decision No 1 / 98 was signed in Brussels on 24 June 1998. The Association Councils between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and the Czech Republic, of the other part, of 24 June 1998 laying down detailed rules for the application of the State aid provisions referred to in Article 64 (1) (iii) and (2), pursuant to Article 64 (3) of the Europe Agreement establishing an association between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and the Czech Republic, of the other part, and in Articles 8 (1) (iii) and (2) of Protocol 2 to this Agreement on the products of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) .1)
Decision No 1 / 98 entered into force on the date of its adoption and applies with effect from 11 July 1998.
Czech version The decision shall be made simultaneously.
Attachment
between the European Union
and the Czech Republic
Association Council
DECISION No 1 / 98
Association Councils between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part
and the Czech Republic, of the other part
of 24 June 1998
adopting detailed rules for the application of the State aid provisions referred to in Article 64 (1) (iii) and (2);
Article 64 (3) of the Europe Agreement establishing an association between the European Communities
and their Member States, of the one part, and the Czech Republic, of the other part, and in Article 8 (1) (iii) and (2)
Protocol 2 to this Agreement on ECSC Products
The Association Council,
having regard to the Europe Agreement establishing an association between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and the Czech Republic, of the other part, and in particular Article 64 (3) thereof,
having regard to Protocol 2 to the Europe Agreement on ECSC products and in particular Article 8 (3) thereof,
Whereas Article 64 (3) of the Europe Agreement provides that the Association Council shall, within three years of the entry into force of the Agreement, adopt the necessary rules for the implementation of paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article,
Whereas it is recalled that, within the meaning of Article 64 (2) of the Europe Agreement, the concept of "State aid 'as referred to in Article 64 (1) (iii) of the Europe Agreement must be assessed on the basis of the criteria resulting from the application of the rules of Article 92 of the Treaty establishing the European Community and therefore includes aid granted in any form by States or through State resources which distort or threaten to distort competition by favouring certain undertakings or the production of certain goods to such an extent that this may affect trade between the European Community and the Czech Republic (State aid),
Whereas the Czech Republic will appoint a national institution or administration which will become the supervisory authority responsible for State aid matters,
Whereas the supervisory authority will be responsible for analysing existing and future individual support decisions and support programmes in the Czech Republic and will be responsible for expressing its opinion on their compatibility with Article 64 (1) (iii) and (2) of the Europe Agreement and Article 8 (1) (iii) and (2) and (4) of Protocol 2 to the European Agreement on ECSC products,
Whereas the Czech Republic, when laying down the necessary rules to ensure effective supervision, will in particular ensure that the supervisory authority receives all relevant information at the appropriate time from other government authorities at central, regional or local level,
Whereas the Commission of the European Communities will assist the supervisory authority in the relevant Community programmes by providing documentation, training, study trips and other relevant technical assistance,
Decided as follows:
The detailed rules for the application of the State aid provisions referred to in Articles 64 (1) (iii) and (2), pursuant to Article 64 (3) of the Europe Agreement establishing an association between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and the Czech Republic, of the other part, and in Articles 8 (1) (iii) and (2) of Protocol 2 to this ECSC Agreement, as set out in the Annex to this Decision, are hereby adopted.
ANNEX
Detailed rules for the application of the State aid provisions referred to in Article 64 (1) (iii) and (2),
Article 64 (3) of the Europe Agreement establishing an association between the European Communities
and their Member States, of the one part, and the Czech Republic, of the other part,
and in Article 8 (1) (iii) and (2) of Protocol 2 to this ECSC Agreement
MONITORING OF STATE AID BY THE SUPPORT AUTHORITY
MONITORING OF STATE AID BY THE SUPPORT AUTHORITY
In view of the applicable procedural rules in the European Community (Community) and the Czech Republic, the granting of State aid will be monitored and assessed according to its compatibility with the European Agreement by the responsible supervisory authorities in the Community and the Czech Republic. The supervisory authority in the Community will be the Commission of the European Communities (Commission) and the Ministry of Finance in the Czech Republic.
PROCEDURE
COMPATIBILITY CRITERIA
1. The assessment of the compatibility of individual decisions on aid and programmes with the European Agreement, as referred to in Article 1 of these Rules, will be carried out on the basis of criteria arising from the application of the rules of Article 92 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, including current and future secondary legislation, systems, guidelines and other relevant administrative regulations in force in the Community, as well as the precedent law of the Court of First Instance and the Court of Justice of the European Communities and the specific guidelines to be drawn up pursuant to Article 4 (3).
2. The supervisory authority of the Czech Republic shall be informed of any regulations relating to the adoption, revocation or modification of the Community compatibility criteria referred to in paragraph 1, provided that they are not published but are specifically made available to all Member States.
3. If such changes do not meet the objections of the Czech Republic within three months, they will become compatibility criteria as referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article. If such changes meet the objections of the Czech Republic and in the light of the approximation of legislation as set out in the Europe Agreement, consultations will be held within the Association Committee in accordance with Article 7 of these Rules.
4. The same principles will apply as regards other significant changes in Community State aid policy.
DE DOCUMENT
Aid programmes or individual support decisions which do not include export aid and whose total amount of aid for one company over a period of three years is not more than ECU 100 000 will be considered as having a negligible effect on competition and trade between the Parties and will therefore not be assessed under these Rules. This Article shall not apply to the industrial sectors covered by the Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community, to shipbuilding, to transport and to support expenditure relating to agriculture or fisheries.
LIABILITIES
1. According to the definition of Article 64 (4) (a) of the Europe Agreement, the Czech Republic will be regarded as an area identical to the Community areas referred to in Article 93 (3) (a) of the Treaty establishing the European Community.
2. The supervisory authorities shall jointly assess the maximum amount of aid and the specific regional coverage of areas eligible for national regional aid. It shall submit a joint proposal to the Association Committee, which shall take a decision on this matter.
3. The Commission and the supervisory authority of the Czech Republic shall also assess whether, in addition to the types of aid allowed within the Community, they may issue guidelines on the compatibility of aid intended to address specific problems in the implementation of the transition to the market economy.
PROCEDURES FOR CONSULTATION AND PROBLEM MANAGEMENT
COMPATIBILITY OF CERTAIN AID
1. Aid programmes or individual support decisions - whether or not covered by Community guidelines - where the amount of aid exceeds ECU 3 million may be submitted by the competent supervisory authority to examine the Subcommittee on the approximation of the law. The Association Committee shall be composed of representatives of the Parties.
2. The basic objective of such decisions or recommendations will be to prevent trade defence measures from being taken as a result of that aid.
3. The Association Committee may decide to extend further the possibilities of verification as referred to in this Article.
APPLICATION FOR INFORMATION
Whenever a supervisory authority of one Party finds that a support programme or individual support decision affects the relevant interests of that Party, it may request relevant information from the responsible administrative body. In any event, both supervisory authorities will seek to inform each other of the significant circumstances that may be of practical importance for the other Party.
CONSULTATION AND AMENDMENT
1. Whenever the Commission or the Supervisory Authority of the Czech Republic considers that the granting of State aid in the territory for which the Office of the other Party is responsible substantially affects the important interests of its own Party, it may request consultation with the Office of the other Party or may require the Supervisory Authority of the other Party to take appropriate measures to remedy this. This applies without prejudice to any activity in accordance with the Party legislation and without prejudice to the law of the final decision of the supervisory authority referred to in this matter and made in the framework of the provisions of the Europe Agreement.
2. The supervisory authority thus addressed shall fully assess and participate in the assessment of these views and factual evidence which may be submitted by the requesting authority and shall in particular consider the alleged negative effects on the relevant interests of the requesting Party.
3. Without prejudice to any of its rights and obligations, the supervisory authority shall endeavour to seek mutually acceptable solutions in the course of the consultations provided for in this Article within a period of three months, taking into account the relevant important interests.
PROBLEM SOLUTION
1. If the consultations referred to in Article 7 do not lead to a mutually acceptable solution, this shall be discussed within the Subcommittee on the approximation of the law established under the Europe Agreement at the request of one of the Parties within three months of the submission of the request.
2. After such exchange of views or after the expiry of the period referred to in paragraph 1, the matter may be referred to the Association Committee, which may issue appropriate recommendations for resolving such cases.
3. These procedures are not at the expense of any activity under Article 64 (6) of the Europe Agreement and Article 8 (6) of Protocol 2 on ECSC products to the Europe Agreement. However, trade instruments should be used only after all other options have been exhausted.
SECRET AND CONFIDENTIALITY INFORMATION
1. In the light of Article 64 (7) of the Europe Agreement, none of the supervisory authorities is required to provide information to the other supervisory authority where the provision of such information to the requesting Party is prohibited under the law in force in the country of the administrative institution which owns that information.
2. Each supervisory authority shall agree to maintain the confidentiality of any information it obtains as confidential from the supervisory authority of the other Party.
TRANSPARENCY
LIST
1. According to the relevant Community programmes, the Commission will assist the Czech Republic in drawing up and subsequently updating the list of its support programmes as well as the individual support decisions established on the same basis as in the Community in order to ensure and continuously improve transparency.
2. The Commission will regularly provide the Czech Republic with information on the documentation it issues for the same purpose as regards the Member States of the Community.
VISUAL INFORMATION
Both Parties shall ensure transparency in the field of State aid by providing appropriate documentation and by exchanging information on State aid policy on the basis of regularity and reciprocity.
ECSC PRODUCTS
TREATY ESTABLISHING THE EUROPEAN COAL AND STEEL COMMUNITY (ECSC)
The provisions of Articles 1, 2, 4 (3) and 5 to 11 of these Rules shall apply mutatis mutandis, taking account of the coal and steel sectors, as set out in Protocol 2 to the European Agreement on ECSC products.
MISCELLANEOUS
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANCE (LANGUAGES)
The Commission and the Supervisory Authority of the Czech Republic shall take practical measures in terms of mutual assistance or other appropriate solutions, in particular on translation.
Done at Brussels, 24 June 1998.
For the Association Council:
J. Grey v. r.
The President
G. Testa v. r.
J. Final v. r.
The Secretaries
1) The Europe Agreement establishing an Association between the Czech Republic, of the one part, and the European Communities and their Member States, of the other part, of 4 October 1993 was published under No 7 / 1995 Coll.
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Regulation Information
| Citation | Communication from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs No. 225 / 1998 Coll., on the negotiation of Decision No. 1 / 98 Association Councils between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and the Czech Republic, of the other part, of 24 June 1998 laying down detailed rules for the application of the State aid provisions referred to in Article 64 (1) (iii) and (2), pursuant to Article 64 (3) of the Europe Agreement establishing an association between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and the Czech Republic, of the other part, and Article 8 (1) (iii) and (2) of Protocol 2 to this Agreement on the products of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) |
|---|---|
| Regulation Type | International Treaty |
| Author | - |
| Collection | Code of Laws |
| Date of Promulgation | 06.10.1998 |
|---|---|
| Effective from | 11.07.1998 |
| Effective until | - |
| Status | Valid |
The regulation text is for informational purposes only.
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