Regulation (EC) No 1692/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 2006 establishing the second Marco Polo programme for the granting of Community financial assistance to improve the environmental performance of the freight transport system (Marco Polo II) and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1382/2003 (Text with EEA relevance)

This Regulation establishes a financing instrument, hereinafter referred to as ‘the Marco Polo II Programme’ or ‘the Programme’ in order to reduce congestion, to improve the environmental performance of the transport system and to enhance intermodal transport, thereby contributing to an efficient and sustainable transport system which provides EU added value without having a negative impact on economic, social or territorial cohesion. The duration of the Programme shall be from 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2013 in order to achieve, by the end of the Programme, a traffic shift that is a substantial part of the expected yearly aggregate increase in international road freight traffic, measured in tonne-kilometres, to short sea shipping, rail and inland waterway transport or to a combination of modes of transport in which road journeys are as short as possible.

For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions shall apply: (a) ‘action’ means any project executed by undertakings which contributes to reducing congestion in the road freight transport system and/or to improving the environmental performance of the transport system in the territories of the Member States or participating countries; catalyst actions, modal shift actions and common learning actions may comprise several coordinated projects; (b) ‘catalyst action’ means any innovative action aimed at overcoming significant structural barriers in the Community freight transport market which impede the efficient functioning of the markets, the competitiveness of short sea shipping, rail, or inland waterway transport, and/or the efficiency of transport chains making use of these modes, including the modification or creation of ancillary infrastructure; for the purpose of this definition, such structural barriers shall mean any non-regulatory, factual and non-temporary impediment to the proper functioning of the freight transport chain; (c) ‘Motorways of the Sea action’ means any innovative action directly shifting freight from road to short sea shipping or a combination of short sea shipping with other modes of transport in which road journeys are as short as possible; actions of this kind may include the modification or creation of the ancillary infrastructure required in order to implement a very large-volume, high-frequency intermodal maritime transport service, including, preferably, the use of the most environmentally-friendly transport modes, such as inland waterways and rail, for hinterland freight transport and integrated door-to-door services; if possible, the resources of the outermost regions should also be integrated; (d) ‘modal shift action’ means any action directly, measurably, substantially and immediately shifting freight from road to short sea shipping, rail, inland waterways or a combination of modes of transport in which road journeys are as short as possible, without being a catalyst action; this includes, where appropriate, actions where modal shift is brought about by the development of an existing service; the Commission shall examine the possibility of supporting ancillary infrastructure projects; (e) ‘traffic avoidance action’ means any innovative action integrating transport into production logistics to avoid a large percentage of freight transport by road without adversely affecting production output or workforce; actions of this kind may include the modification or creation of ancillary infrastructure and equipment; (f) ‘common learning action’ means any action aimed at improving cooperation for structurally optimising working methods and procedures in the freight transport chain, taking into account the requirements of logistics; (g) ‘innovative action’ means any action which features elements which have hitherto not existed in a given market; (h) ‘ancillary infrastructure’ means the necessary and sufficient infrastructure to achieve the goals of actions, including freight-passenger installations; (i) ‘accompanying measure’ means any measure which seeks to prepare for or to support current or future actions, including dissemination activities and project monitoring and evaluation, and the collection and analysis of statistical data; measures devoted to the commercialisation of products, processes or services, marketing activities and sales promotion are not accompanying measures; (j) ‘preparatory measure’ means any measure taken in preparation for a catalyst, Motorways of the Sea or traffic avoidance action, such as technical, operational or financial feasibility studies and equipment tests; (k) ‘undertaking’ means any entity engaged in an economic activity, regardless of the legal status of the entity and the way in which it is financed; (l) ‘consortium’ means any arrangement by which at least two undertakings execute together and share the risk relating to an action; (m) ‘tonne-kilometre’ means the transport of a tonne of freight, or its volumetric equivalent, over a distance of one kilometre; (n) ‘vehicle-kilometre’ means the movement of a truck, loaded or empty, over a distance of one kilometre; (o) ‘close third country’ means any country not a member of the European Union with a common border with the European Union or with a coastline on a closed or semi-closed sea neighbouring the European Union.

1 The Programme shall cover actions: (a) involving the territory of at least two Member States, or (b) involving the territory of at least one Member State and the territory of a close third country.

2 Where an action involves the territory of a third country, costs arising in the territory of that country shall not be covered by the Programme, except in the circumstances set out in paragraphs 3 and 4.

3 The Programme shall be open to participation by countries which are candidates for accession to the European Union. Participation shall be governed by the conditions laid down in the Association Agreements with those countries, and on the basis of the rules laid down in the decision of the Association Council for each country concerned.

4 The Programme shall also be open to participation by EFTA and EEA countries and close third countries, on the basis of supplementary appropriations in accordance with procedures to be agreed with those countries.

1 Actions shall be submitted by a consortium of two or more undertakings, established in at least two different Member States or in at least one Member State and one close third country, or may in the case of a transport link with a close third country, in exceptional cases, be submitted by a single undertaking established in a Member State.

2 Undertakings established outside the participating countries referred to in Article 3(3) and (4) may be associated with a project, but may under no circumstances receive Community funding under the Programme.

1 The following actions shall be eligible for funding under the Programme: (a) catalyst actions; those aimed at improving synergies in the rail, inland waterways and short sea shipping, including Motorways of the Sea, sectors by better use of existing infrastructures in particular deserve specific attention; (b) Motorways of the Sea actions; within the European Union such actions shall use the trans-European networks defined in Decision No 1692/96/EC of the European Parliament and Council of 23 July 1996 on Community guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network ; (c) modal shift actions; (d) traffic avoidance actions; (e) common learning actions.

2 The specific funding conditions and other requirements for the various actions are set out in Annex I. The funding conditions for ancillary infrastructures within the meaning of Article 2(h) are set out in Annex II.

3 Community financial assistance shall be based on contracts to be negotiated by the Commission and the beneficiary. The terms and conditions of those contracts shall, as far as possible, keep financial and administrative burdens to a minimum, for example by facilitating business-friendly bank guarantees, as contemplated by applicable rules and regulations, especially Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 of 25 June 2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities , so as to achieve maximum administrative efficiency and flexibility.

4 Without prejudice to the overall policy objectives referred to in Article 1, annual priorities in the call for applications relating to catalyst actions and common learning actions shall be established and, if necessary, reviewed, by the Commission, assisted by the Committee referred to in Article 10 and in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 10(2).

Detailed rules concerning the procedure for submission and selection of actions under the Programme shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 10(2).

Community financial assistance for the actions covered by the Programme shall not prevent those actions from being granted State aid at national, regional or local level, insofar as such aid is compatible with the State-aid arrangements laid down in the Treaty and within the cumulative limits established for each type of action set out in Annex I. The total aid granted in the form of State aid and Community financial assistance in respect of ancillary infrastructure shall not exceed 50 % of eligible costs.

Actions shall be submitted to the Commission in accordance with the detailed rules issued under Article 6. Submissions shall contain all the information necessary to enable the Commission to make its selection in accordance with Article 9.

Submitted actions shall be evaluated by the Commission. When selecting actions for financial assistance under the Programme, the Commission shall take account of the following: (a) the objectives referred to in Article 1; (b) the conditions set out in Annexes I and II, as appropriate; (c) the contribution of the actions to reducing road congestion; (d) the relative environmental merits of the actions, including their contribution to reducing negative environmental effects caused by short sea shipping, rail and inland waterway transport. Specific attention will be paid to projects going beyond legally binding environmental requirements; (e) the overall sustainability of the actions. The decision to grant financial assistance shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 10(2). The Commission shall inform the beneficiaries of its decision.

1 The Commission shall be assisted by a committee.

2 Where reference is made to this paragraph, Articles 4 and 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof. The period laid down in Article 4(3) of Decision 1999/468/EC shall be set at three months.

3 The Committee shall adopt its rules of procedure.

The financial envelope for the implementation of the Marco Polo II Programme, for the period 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2013, shall be EUR 400 million . Annual appropriations shall be authorised by the budgetary authority within the limits of the financial framework.

Up to 5 % of the budget provided for in this Regulation shall be set aside for accompanying measures and independent evaluation of the implementation of Article 5.

1 The Commission shall ensure that, when actions financed under this Regulation are implemented, the financial interests of the European Communities are protected by the application of preventive measures against fraud, corruption and any other illegal activities, by means of effective checks and the recovery of any amounts unduly paid and, if irregularities are detected, by means of effective, proportional and dissuasive penalties, in accordance with Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95 of 18 December 1995 on the protection of the European Communities' financial interests , Council Regulation (Euratom, EC) No 2185/96, of 11 November 1996 concerning on-the-spot checks and inspections carried out by the Commission in order to protect the European Communities' financial interests against fraud and other irregularities , and with Regulation (EC) No 1073/1999 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 May 1999 concerning investigations conducted by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) .

2 For the actions financed under this Regulation, the notion of irregularity referred to in Article 1 of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95 shall mean any infringement of a provision of Community law or any breach of a contractual obligation resulting from an act or omission by an economic operator, which has, or might have, the effect of prejudicing the general budget of the European Union or budgets managed by it, by an unjustified item of expenditure.

3 Contracts and agreements as well as agreements with participating third countries resulting from this Regulation shall provide in particular for supervision and financial control by the Commission or any representative authorised by it and audits by the Court of Auditors, if necessary on-the-spot.

1 The Commission shall inform the Committee at least twice a year concerning the financial execution of the Programme and give an update of the status of all actions financed under the Programme. The Commission shall carry out both mid-term and final evaluations of the Programme in order to assess its contribution to the objectives of Community transport policy and the effective use made of the appropriations.

2 The Commission shall present to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions an evaluation report on the results achieved by the Marco Polo Programme for the period 2003 to 2006 by 30 June 2007. If this report reveals a need to adjust the Marco Polo II Programme, the Commission shall submit proposals accordingly.

Regulation (EC) No 1382/2003 is hereby repealed, with effect from 14 December 2006. Contracts relating to actions within the framework of Regulation (EC) No 1382/2003 shall continue to be governed by that Regulation until their operational and financial closure. The entire evaluation and selection procedure for the year 2006 shall also be governed by Regulation (EC) No 1382/2003, even if that procedure ends in the year 2007.

This Regulation shall enter into force on 14 December 2006.