Regulation (EC) No 923/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 September 2009 amending Regulation (EC) No 1692/2006 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) (Text with EEA relevance)

‘1 Actions shall be submitted by undertakings or consortia established in Member States or participating countries, as provided for in Article 3(3) and (4).’;

‘2 The specific funding conditions and other requirements for the various actions are set out in the Annex.’;

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 the Annex.’;

Actions shall be submitted to the Commission in accordance with the detailed rules issued pursuant to Article 6. Submissions shall contain all the information necessary to enable the Commission to make its selection in accordance with the criteria set out in Article 9. If required, the Commission shall provide assistance to applicants to facilitate their application process, for instance by way of an online helpdesk.’;

The actions submitted 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 the appropriate column of the Annex; (c) the contribution of the actions to reducing road congestion; (d) the relative environmental merits of the actions and the relative merits of the actions in terms of reduction of external costs, including their contribution to reducing negative environmental effects caused by short sea shipping, rail and inland waterway transport. Specific attention shall be paid to actions going beyond legally binding environmental requirements; (e) the overall sustainability of the actions. The Commission shall, after having informed the committee referred to in Article 10, adopt the decision to grant financial assistance. The Commission shall inform the beneficiaries of its decision.’;

Regulation (EC) No 1382/2003 is hereby repealed, with effect from 14 December 2006.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.’;

This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.