Council Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 (repealed)Show full title

CHAPTER I U.K. Contribution from the funds

Article 52 U.K. Modulation of the contribution rates

The contribution from the Funds may be modulated in the light of the following:

(a)

the gravity of the specific problems, in particular of an economic, social or territorial nature;

(b)

the importance of each priority axis for the Community's priorities as set out in the Community strategic guidelines on cohesion, as well as for national and regional priorities;

(c)

protection and improvement of the environment, principally through the application of the precautionary principle, the principle of preventive action, and the polluter-pays principle;

(d)

the rate of mobilisation of private financing, in particular under public-private partnerships, in the fields concerned;

(e)

the inclusion of interregional cooperation as referred to in Article 37(6)(b) under the Convergence and Regional competitiveness and employment objectives;

(f)

under the Regional competitiveness and employment objective, the coverage of areas with a geographical or natural handicap defined as follows:

(i)

island Member States eligible under the Cohesion Fund, and other islands except those on which the capital of a Member State is situated or which have a fixed link to the mainland;

(ii)

mountainous areas as defined by the national legislation of the Member State;

(iii)

sparsely (less than 50 inhabitants per square kilometre) and very sparsely (less than 8 inhabitants per square kilometre) populated areas;

(iv)

the areas which were external borders of the Community on 30 April 2004 and which ceased to be so on the day after that date.

Article 53 U.K. Contribution from the Funds

1. The contribution from the Funds, at the level of operational programmes, shall be calculated with reference to:

(a) either the total eligible expenditure including public and private expenditure;

(b) or the public eligible expenditure.

2. The contribution from the Funds at the level of operational programmes under the Convergence and Regional competitiveness and employment objectives shall be subject to the ceilings set out in Annex III.

3. For operational programmes under the European territorial cooperation objective in which at least one participant belongs to a Member State whose average GDP per capita for the period 2001 to 2003 was below 85 % of the EU-25 average during the same period, the contribution from the ERDF shall not be higher than 85 % of the eligible expenditure. For all other operational programmes, the contribution from the ERDF shall not be higher than 75 % of the eligible expenditure co-financed by the ERDF.

4. The contribution from the Funds at the priority axis level shall not be subject to the ceilings set out in paragraph 3 and in Annex III. However, it shall be fixed so as to ensure compliance with the maximum amount of contribution from the Funds and the maximum contribution rate per Fund fixed at the level of the operational programme.

5. For operational programmes co-financed jointly:

(a) by the ERDF and the Cohesion Fund; or

(b) by the additional allocation for the outermost regions provided for in Annex II, the ERDF and/or the Cohesion Fund,

the decision adopting the operational programme shall fix the maximum rate and the maximum amount of the contribution for each Fund and allocation separately.

6. The Commission's decision adopting an operational programme shall fix the maximum rate and the maximum amount of the contribution from Fund for each operational programme and for each priority axis. The decision shall show separately the appropriations for regions receiving transitional support.

Article 54 U.K. Other provisions

1. The contribution from the Funds for each priority axis shall not be less than 20 % of the eligible public expenditure.

2. Technical assistance measures implemented at the initiative of or on behalf of the Commission may be financed at the rate of 100 %.

3. During the period of eligibility referred to in Article 56(1):

(a) a priority axis may receive assistance from only one Fund and one objective at a time;

(b) an operation may receive assistance from a Fund under only one operational programme at a time;

(c) an operation shall not receive an assistance from a Fund higher than the total public expenditure allocated.

4. For State aid to enterprises within the meaning of Article 87 of the Treaty, public aid granted under operational programmes shall observe the ceilings on State aid.

5. An expenditure co-financed by the Funds shall not receive assistance from another Community financial instrument.