14.5.98 Official Journal of the European Communities L 142/1 (Acts whose publication is obligatory) COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 994/98 of 7 May 1998 on the application of Articles 92 and 93 of the Treaty establishing the European Community to certain categories of horizontal State aid THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 94 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission ('), After consulting the European Parliament (%), Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (%), ( ( ( 1) ) ) ) 0J 0J 0J Whereas, pursuant to Article 94 of the Treaty, the Council may make any appropriate regulations for the application of Articles 92 and 93 and may, in particular, determine the conditions in which Article 93(3) shall apply and the categories of aid exempted from this procedure; Whereas, under the Treaty, the assessment of compatibility of aid with the common market essentially rests with the Commission; Whereas the proper functioning of the internal market requires strict and efficient application of the rules of competition with regard to State aids; Whereas the Commission has applied Articles 92 and 93 of the Treaty in numerous decisions and has also stated its policy in a number of communi- cations; whereas, in the light of the Commission’s considerable experience in applying Articles 92 and 93 of the Treaty and the general texts issued by the Commission on the basis of those provisions, it is appropriate, with a view to ensuring efficient supervision and  simplifying  administration, without weakening Commission monitoring, that C 262, 28. 8. 1997, p. 6. C 138, 4. 5. 1998. C 129, 27. 4. 1998, p. 70. the Commission should be enabled to declare by means of regulations, in areas where the Commis- sion has sufficient experience to define general compatibility criteria, that certain categories of aid are compatible with the common market pursuant to one or more of the provisions of Article 92(2) and (3) of the Treaty and are exempted from the procedure provided for in Article 93(3) thereof; Whereas group exemption regulations will increase transparency and legal certainty; whereas they can be directly applied by national courts, without prejudice to Articles 5 and 177 of the Treaty; Whereas it is appropriate that the Commission, when it adopts regulations exempting categories of aid from the obligation to notify provided for in Atrticle 93(3) of the Treaty, specifies the purpose of the aid, the categories of beneficiaries and thresh- olds limiting the exempted aid, the conditions governing the cumulation of aid and the conditions of monitoring, in order to ensure the compatibility with the common market of aid covered by this Regulation; Whereas it is appropriate to enable the Commis- sion, when it adopts regulations exempting certain categories of aid from the obligation to notify in Article 93(3) of the Treaty, to attach further detailed conditions in order to ensure the compatibility with the common market of aid covered by this Regulation; Whereas it may be useful to set thresholds of other appropriate conditions requiring the notification of awards of aid in order to allow the Commission to