Article 34
1.
Between the date of accession and the end of 2006, the
Union shall provide temporary financial assistance, hereinafter
referred to as the ‘Transition Facility’, to the new Member
States to develop and strengthen their administrative capacity
to implement and enforce Community legislation and to foster
exchange of best practice among peers.
2.
Assistance
shall
address
the
continued
need
for
strengthening institutional capacity in certain areas through
action which cannot be financed by the Structural Funds, in
particular in the following areas:
— justice and home affairs (strengthening of the judicial
system, external border controls, anti-corruption strategy,
strengthening of law enforcement capacities),
— financial control,
— protection of the Communities' financial interests and the
fight against fraud,
— internal market, including customs union,
— environment,
— veterinary services and administrative capacity-building
relating to food safety,
— administrative and control structures for agriculture and
rural development, including the Integrated Administration
and Control System (IACS),
— nuclear
safety
(strengthening
the
effectiveness
and
competence of nuclear safety authorities and their
technical support organisations as well as public radioactive
waste management agencies),
— statistics,
— strengthening public administration according to needs
identified in the Commission's comprehensive monitoring
report which are not covered by the Structural Funds.
3.
Assistance under the Transition Facility shall be decided
in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 8 of
Council Regulation (EEC) No 3906/89 on economic aid to
certain countries of Central and Eastern Europe (
1
).
4.
The programme shall be implemented in accordance with
Article 53(1)(a) and (b) of the Financial Regulation applicable
to the general budget of the European Communities (
2
). For
twinning projects between public administrations for the
purpose of institution building, the procedure for call for
proposals through the network of contact points in the
Member States shall continue to apply, as established in the
Framework Agreements with the present Member States for the
purpose of pre-accession assistance.
The commitment appropriations for the Transition Facility, at
1999 prices, shall be EUR 200 million in 2004, EUR 120
million in 2005 and EUR 60 million in 2006. The annual
appropriations shall be authorised by the budgetary authority
within the limits of the financial perspective.
Article 35
1.
A Schengen Facility is hereby created as a temporary
instrument to help beneficiary Member States between the
date of accession and the end of 2006 to finance actions at
the new external borders of the Union for the implementation
of the Schengen acquis and external border control.
In order to address the shortcomings identified in the prep-
aration for participation in Schengen, the following types of
action shall be eligible for financing under the Schengen
Facility:
— investment in construction, renovation or upgrading of
border crossing infrastructure and related buildings,
— investments in any kind of operating equipment (e.g.
laboratory
equipment,
detection
tools,
Schengen
Information System-SIS 2 hardware and software, means
of transport),
— training of border guards,
— support to costs for logistics and operations.
2.
The following amounts shall be made available under the
Schengen Facility in the form of lump-sum grant payments as
of the date of accession to the beneficiary Member States listed
below:
(EUR million, 1999 prices)
2004
2005
2006
Estonia
22,9
22,9
22,9
Latvia
23,7
23,7
23,7
Lithuania
44,78
61,07
29,85
Hungary
49,3
49,3
49,3
Poland
93,34
93,33
93,33
Slovenia
35,64
35,63
35,63
Slovakia
15,94
15,93
15,93
EN
44
Official Journal of the European Union
23.9.2003
(
1
) OJ L 375, 23.12.1989, p. 11. Regulation as last amended by Regu-
lation (EC) No 2500/2001 (OJ L 342, 27.12.2001, p. 1).
(
2
) Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 (OJ L 248, 16.9.2002, p.
1).
3.
The beneficiary Member States shall be responsible for
selecting
and
implementing
individual
operations
in
compliance with this Article. They shall also be responsible
for coordinating use of the facility with assistance from other
Community
instruments,
ensuring
compatibility
with
Community policies and measures and compliance with the
Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the
European Communities.
The lump-sum grant payments shall be used within three years
from the first payment and any unused or unjustifiably spent
funds shall be recovered by the Commission. The beneficiary
Member States shall submit, no later than six months after
expiry of the three-year deadline, a comprehensive report on
the financial execution of the lump-sum grant payments with a
statement justifying the expenditure.
The beneficiary State shall exercise this responsibility without
prejudice to the Commission's responsibility for the implemen-
tation of the general budget of the European Communities and
in accordance with the provisions of the Financial Regulation
applicable to decentralised management.
4.
The Commission retains the right of verification, through
the Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF). The Commission and the Court
of Auditors may also carry out on-the-spot checks in
accordance with the appropriate procedures.
5.
The Commission may adopt any technical provisions
necessary for the operation of this Facility.
Article 36
The amounts referred to in Articles 29, 30, 34 and 35 shall be
adjusted each year, as part of the technical adjustment provided
for in paragraph 15 of the Interinstitutional Agreement of 6
May 1999.
TITLE II
OTHER PROVISIONS
Article 37
1.
If, until the end of a period of up to three years after
accession, difficulties arise which are serious and liable to
persist in any sector of the economy or which could bring
about serious deterioration in the economic situation of a
given area, a new Member State may apply for authorisation
to take protective measures in order to rectify the situation and
adjust the sector concerned to the economy of the common
market.
In the same circumstances, any present Member State may
apply for authorisation to take protective measures with
regard to one or more of the new Member States.
2.
Upon request by the State concerned, the Commission
shall, by emergency procedure, determine the protective
measures which
it considers necessary, specifying
the
conditions and modalities in which they are to be put into
effect.
In the event of serious economic difficulties and at the express
request of the Member State concerned, the Commission shall
act within five working days of the receipt of the request
accompanied by the relevant background information. The
measures thus decided on shall be applicable forthwith, shall
take account of the interests of all parties concerned and shall
not entail frontier controls.
3.
The measures authorised under paragraph 2 may involve
derogations from the rules of the EC Treaty and from this Act
to such an extent and for such periods as are strictly necessary
in order to attain the objectives referred to in paragraph 1.
Priority shall be given to such measures as will least disturb the
functioning of the common market.
Article 38
If a new Member State has failed to implement commitments
undertaken in the context of the accession negotiations,
causing a serious breach of the functioning of the internal
market, including any commitments in all sectoral policies
which concern economic activities with cross-border effect,
or an imminent risk of such breach the Commission may,
until the end of a period of up to three years after the date
of entry into force of this Act, upon motivated request of a
Member State or on its own initiative, take appropriate
measures.
Measures shall be proportional and priority shall be given to
measures, which disturb least the functioning of the internal
market and, where appropriate, to the application of the
existing sectoral safeguard mechanisms. Such safeguard
measures shall not be invoked as a means of arbitrary discrimi-
nation or a disguised restriction on trade between Member
States. The safeguard clause may be invoked even before
accession on the basis of the monitoring findings and enter
into force as of the date of accession. The measures shall be
maintained no longer than strictly necessary, and, in any case,
will be lifted when the relevant commitment is implemented.
They may however be applied beyond the period specified in
the first paragraph as long as the relevant commitments have
not been fulfilled. In response to progress made by the new
Member State concerned in fulfilling its commitments, the
Commission may adapt the measures as appropriate. The
Commission will inform the Council in good time before
revoking safeguard measures, and it will take duly into
account any observations of the Council in this respect.
EN
23.9.2003
Official Journal of the European Union
45