94/995/ECSC: Commission Decision of 3 November 1994 ruling on financial measures by the United Kingdom in respect of the coal industry in the 1994/95 and 1995/96 financial year (Text with EEA relevance)

• Articles: 6

Article 1

The United Kingdom is hereby authorized to grant to the coal industry for the 1994/95 financial year:

- aid not exceeding £ 40 million to the Coal Authority, a public-sector body, to cover liabilities for environmental and physical damage caused by coal production activities before the privatization of the British Coal Corporation,

- aid not exceeding £ 635 million for the 1994/95 financial year to the British Coal Corporation to cover exceptional social-welfare payments to or in respect of workers who have been made redundant or been transferred to other production units as a result of the restructuring, rationalization and modernization of the coal industry in the United Kingdom.

Article 2

The United Kingdom is hereby authorized to grant to the coal industry for the 1995/96 financial year:

- aid not exceeding £ 130 million to The Coal Authority, a public-sector body, to cover liabilities for environmental and physical damage caused by coal production activities before the privatization of the British Coal Corporation,

- aid not exceeding £ 2 million to cover compensation for workers and former workers of the British Coal Corporation for hearing loss arising from that part of their employment in the Corporation running from 26 March 1989 to the date of privatization of the Corporation and aid not exceeding £ 30 million to cover compensation for other industrial injury and damage to health suffered by workers and former workers of the British Coal Corporation during that part of their employment in the Corporation falling between 1947 and the date of privatization of the Corporation,

- aid not exceeding £ 1 million for concessionary fuel entitlement to coal or smokeless fuel or, in certain cases, cash-in-lieu to British Coal Corporation workers who have retired or have been made redundant as a result of the modernization, rationalization and restructuring of the coal industry in the United Kingdom, and their dependants, for that part of their employment in the Corporation running from 31 March 1990 to the date of privatization of the Corporation,

- aid not exceeding £ 183 million for contributions to pension schemes for British Coal Corporation workers, including those granted early retirement as a result of the restructuring, rationalization and modernization of the coal industry in the United Kingdom,

- aid not exceeding £ 25 million to the British Coal Corporation to cover exceptional social-welfare payments to workers who have been made redundant or who have been transferred to other production units as a result of the restructuring, rationalization and modernization of the coal industry in the United Kingdom,

- aid not exceeding £ 70 million to the British Coal Corporation to cover the costs arising from residual activities prior to dissolution of the Corporation following privatization.

Article 3

The United Kingdom is hereby authorized to take, for the 1994/95 and 1995/96 financial years, a financial measure in favour of the British Coal Corporation to reflect restructuring costs funded by loans and the fall in the Corporation's assets value in recent years, not exceeding the difference between the loans on the balance sheet at the end of the 1994/95 financial year, expected to be approximately £ 1 700 million, and the eventual proceeds of the sale of the regional coal companies and the mines under care and maintenance, carried out in accordance with the modernization, rationalization and restructuring plan approved by the Commission.

Article 4

The United Kingdom shall ensure that it is reimbursed for any overestimated expenditure or cancelled expenditure on any of the items covered by this Decision.

Article 5

The United Kingdom shall inform the Commission by 30 September 1995 at the latest of the amount of aid actually paid in the 1994/95 financial year and by 30 September 1996 of the amount of aid actually paid in the 1995/96 financial year.

Article 6

This Decision is addressed to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Done at Brussels, 3 November 1994.

For the Commission

Marcelino OREJA

Member of the Commission

(1) OJ No L 329, 30. 12. 1993, p. 12.(2) OJ No L 220, 25. 8. 1994, p. 12.(3) OJ No L 346, 11. 12. 1990, p. 22.(4) OJ No L 98, 19. 4. 1991, p. 16.