Article 3

Operations in support of a structural adjustment programme shall be implemented on the basis of the following principles:

• support programmes shall be adapted to the particular situation of each country and take economic and social conditions into account,

• support programmes shall provide in particular for measures to alleviate any negative effects which the structural adjustment process may have in social terms and with regard to employment, in particular for disadvantaged population groups,

• rapid disbursement shall be one of the main characteristics of the support programmes.

The following eligibility criteria must be met:

• the country concerned must carry out a reform programme approved by the Bretton Woods institutions or implement programmes recognized as similar in concert with those institutions, although not necessarily backed by them, in line with the scale and effectiveness of the reforms at macro-economic level,

• account will be taken of the economic situation of the country, with particular reference to its level of indebtedness and debt service burden, the balance of payments situation and the availability of foreign currency, the budgetary situation, the monetary situation, per capita gross domestic product and the level of unemployment.

Projects eligible for financing shall take the form, for example, of:

The aim of the import programmes is to contribute to the expansion of production capacity. The counterpart funds generated by the import programmes shall be used to finance measures aimed at mitigating the adverse social repercussions of structural adjustment, and, in particular, for job creation.

In analysing the situation of the countries eligible in accordance with paragraph 2 and on the basis of the criteria referred to in that paragraph, the Commission shall appraise the scope and effectiveness of the reforms undertaken in the areas covered by these criteria.

Aid given for structural adjustment must be linked directly to the adjustment operations and measures of the recipient country.

The procedures for the award of contracts must be sufficiently flexible for adaptation to the recipient country's normal administrative and commercial practices. In cases in the private sector where it is genuinely impractical to adhere to the procedures detailed in the Protocols, Articles 116, 117 and 118 of the Financial Regulation of 21 December 1977 applicable to the general budget of the European Communities^f1 shall be applied and the precise procedures to be followed explicitly established on a case-by-case basis under the terms of individual finance proposals. For imports in the public and semi-public sectors, however, the usual procedures stipulated in the Protocols for the award of public contracts shall be followed.

The Commission shall inform the Member States, whenever necessary and at least once a year, of the implementation of structural adjustment operations and of any problem arising in connection with the continuing eligibility of these operations.