13.11.98 Official Journal of the European Communities L 303/53 COMMISSION DECISION of 3 June 1998 on financial measures by Spain in respect of the coal industry in 1997 (notified under document number C(1998) 2044) (Only the Spanish text is authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (98/636/ECSC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community, Having regard to Commission Decision No 3632/93/ ECSC of 28 December 1993 establishing Community rules for State aid to the coal industry ('), and in particular Article 2(1) and Article 9 thereof, Whereas: By letter of 25 March 1997 Spain notified the Commis- sion, pursuant to Article 9(1) of Decision No 3632/93/ ECSC, of the financial measures which it intended to take in respect of the coal industry in 1997. By letters of 4 September 1997, 20 February 1998 and 31 March 1998, Spain also provided the additional informa- tion requested by the Commission in its letters of 23 April 1997 and 24 October 1997. Pursuant to Decision No 3632/93/ECSC, the Commis- sion must rule on the following financial measures relating to 1997: (a) aid of ESP 130 738 million to cover operating losses by coal undertakings; (b) aid of ESP 51 244 million to cover exceptional welfare aid paid to workers who lose their jobs as a result of the measures to modernise, rationalise, restructure and reduce the activity of the coal industry; (c) aid of ESP 9 113 million to cover the technical costs of closing down mining installations as a result of the measures to modernise, rationalise, restructure and reduce the activity of the coal industry. () OJ L 329, 30. 12. 1993, p. 12. The financial measures proposed by Spain for the coal industry fall within the provisions of Article 1 of Decision No 3632/93/ECSC and must be approved by the Commission, in accordance with Article 9, on the basis, in particular, of the general criteria and objectives laid down in Article 2 and the specific criteria established by Articles 3 and 4 of that Decision. In accordance with Article 9(6) of that Decision, the Commission must assess whether the measures are in conformity with the 1994 to 1997 phase of the plans to modernise, rationalise, restruc- ture and reduce the activity of the Spanish coal industry, as provided for in Decision 94/1072/ECSC (3. II The aid of ESP 130 738 million consists of ESP 116 877 million intended to compensate in full or in part for operating losses suffered by coal producers and ESP 13 861 million to help with marketing coal. The aid of ESP 116 877 million to cover operating losses subdivides into operating aid of ESP 47 347 million pursuant to Article 3 of Decision No 3632/93/ECSC and aid of ESP 69 530 million to reduce activity pursuant to Article 4 thereof. Of the operating aid of ESP 47 347 million for coal production totalling 14,6 million tonnes, ESP 46 347 million will be covered by the specific costs included in the payments for the activities of the national electricity system, while the remaining ESP 1000 million will be charged to the public budgets. Spain proposed to the Commission that part of the aid to the coal industry for 1997 be entered in mechanisms considered strictly equivalent to entry in the public () OJ L 385, 31. 12. 1994, p. 31.