14.2.2001 Official Journal of the European Communities L 4327 COMMISSION COMMISSION DECISION of 15 November 2000 on the modernisation, rationalisation and restructuring plan for the United Kingdom coal industry, covering the period from 17 April 2000 to 23 July 2002 (notified under document number C(2000) 3709) (Only the English text is authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (2001/114/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 (1), and in particular Article 2(1) and Article 8 thereof, Whereas: By letter of 26 July 2000 the United Kingdom sent notification of a modernisation, rationalisation and restructuring plan for the United Kingdom coal industry, together with the ‘UK Coal Operating Aid Scheme, covering the period from 17 April 2000 to 23 July 2002 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the restructuring plan’). In accordance with Article 8(3) of Decision No 3632/ 93/ECSC, the Commission must give an opinion on whether the abovementioned plan is in conformity with the general and specific objectives of the Decision, without prejudging the ability of the measures planned to attain these objectives. The restructuring of the coal industry, which has been under way in the United Kingdom since 1994, has achieved tangible progress in reducing production costs for mining coal. Production costs for deep-mined coal, at constant 1999 prices, have fallen from GBP 49 per () O] L 329, 30.12.1993, p. 12. tonne in 1992 to under GBP 32 per tonne in 1999, a reduction of 35 % over the period as a whole. In the case of opencast mines, which produced 15 million tonnes of coal in 1999 out of a total production of 36 million tonnes, production costs at constant prices have likewise been reduced by some 35 %, to GBP 26 per tonne in 1999. Despite these efforts, a series of factors could make mine closures inevitable in the very near future, in particular the sharp fall in world market coal prices in 1999 and the lifting of the moratorium imposed by the United Kingdom authorities on the construction of gas-fired generating stations. The conclusion at the end of 2000 of new contracts to supply power stations with coal, which will replace existing contracts, could also put coal producers in difficulty. In fact, the trend in the price of electricity may in future oblige them to make coal deliv- eries at less advantageous prices. The value of the pound sterling has also contributed to making the price of coal imported into the United Kingdom more attractive and exports of coal mined in the United Kingdom less competitive. Consequently, coal mining in the United Kingdom is now in a serious crisis which should, however, be temporary. In particular, the United Kingdom authorities consider that on the one hand world market coal prices have already begun to move upwards noticeably while, on the other hand, the uncertainties created by the conclusion of new supply contracts with power stations and the lifting of the moratorium on the construction of gas-fired generating stations should progressively disappear.