Article 1

Regulation (EC) No 1692/2006 is hereby amended as follows:

1. 1..

   in Article 2, the following point is added:

   1. (p)

      ‘“freight” means, for the purpose of the calculation of “tonne-kilometre” shifted off the road, the goods transported, the intermodal transport unit plus the road vehicle, including empty intermodal transport units and empty road vehicles, in the event that these are shifted off the road.’;

2. 2..

   Article 4(1) is replaced by the following:

   ‘1.

   Actions shall be submitted by undertakings or consortia established in Member States or participating countries, as provided for in Article 3(3) and (4).’;

3. 3..

   Article 5 is amended as follows:

   1. (a)

      point (b) of paragraph 1 is replaced by the following:

      1. (b)

         ‘Motorways of the Sea actions; within the European Union such actions shall be consistent with the features of the Motorways of the Sea priority project defined in the framework of Decision No 1692/96/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 1996 on Community guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network^f1;’;

   2. (b)

      paragraph 2 is replaced by the following:

      ‘2.

      The specific funding conditions and other requirements for the various actions are set out in the Annex.’;

4. 4..

   Article 7 is replaced by the following:

   ‘State aid

   Article 7

   Community financial assistance for the actions covered by the Programme shall not prevent those actions from being granted State aid at national, regional or local level, insofar as such aid is compatible with the State aid arrangements laid down in the Treaty and within the cumulative limits established for each type of action set out in the Annex.’;

5. 5..

   Article 8 is replaced by the following:

   ‘Submission of actions

   Article 8

   Actions shall be submitted to the Commission in accordance with the detailed rules issued pursuant to Article 6. Submissions shall contain all the information necessary to enable the Commission to make its selection in accordance with the criteria set out in Article 9.

   If required, the Commission shall provide assistance to applicants to facilitate their application process, for instance by way of an online helpdesk.’;

6. 6..

   Article 9 is replaced by the following:

   ‘Selection of actions for financial assistance

   Article 9

   The actions submitted shall be evaluated by the Commission. When selecting actions for financial assistance under the Programme, the Commission shall take account of the following:

   1. (a)

      the objectives referred to in Article 1;

   2. (b)

      the conditions set out in the appropriate column of the Annex;

   3. (c)

      the contribution of the actions to reducing road congestion;

   4. (d)

      the relative environmental merits of the actions and the relative merits of the actions in terms of reduction of external costs, including their contribution to reducing negative environmental effects caused by short sea shipping, rail and inland waterway transport. Specific attention shall be paid to actions going beyond legally binding environmental requirements;

   5. (e)

      the overall sustainability of the actions.

   The Commission shall, after having informed the committee referred to in Article 10, adopt the decision to grant financial assistance.

   The Commission shall inform the beneficiaries of its decision.’;

7. 7..

   Article 14 is amended as follows:

   1. (a)

      paragraph 2 is replaced by the following:

      ‘2.

      The Commission shall present to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions a Communication on the results achieved by the Marco Polo Programmes for the period 2003-2010. It shall do so before drawing up a proposal for a third Marco Polo Programme and shall take account of the Communication’s findings when drawing up that proposal.’;

   2. (b)

      the following paragraph is added:

      ‘2a.

      The Communication referred to in paragraph 2 shall in particular deal with the following:

      • the impact of this Regulation as amended by Regulation (EC) No 923/2009 of the European Parliament and the Council of 16 September 2009 amending Regulation (EC) No 1692/2006 establishing the second “Marco Polo” programme for the granting of Community financial assistance to improve the environmental performance of the freight transport system (Marco Polo II)^f2,

      • the experience of the Executive Agency for Competition and Innovation with programme management,

      • the need to differentiate between transport modes with regard to the conditions for funding, on the basis of safety, environmental performance and energy efficiency,

      • the effectiveness of traffic avoidance actions,

      • the need to set up demand-driven assistance at the application stage, taking into account the needs of small and micro transport enterprises,

      • the recognition of economic recession as an exceptional reason for extending the duration of actions,

      • the lowering of the eligibility thresholds for product-specific actions,

      • the possibility of indicating the targets for minimum funding thresholds for proposed actions in terms of energy efficiency and environmental benefits in addition to tonne-kilometres shifted,

      • the appropriateness of including the transport unit in the definition of the term “freight”,

      • the availability of complete yearly overviews of actions which have been co-financed,

      • the possibility of ensuring consistency between the Programme, the Logistics Action Plan and the TEN-T by taking the appropriate measures in order to coordinate the allocation of community funds, in particular for Motorways of the Sea,

      • the possibility of making costs incurred in a third country eligible if the action is carried out by undertakings from a Member State,

      • the need to take into account the specific characteristics of the inland waterway sector and its small- and medium-sized enterprises, for example by way of a dedicated programme for the inland waterway sector,

      • the possibility of extending the Programme to neighbouring countries; and,

      • the possibility of further adapting the Programme to the insular and archipelagic Member States.’;

8. 8..

   Article 15 is replaced by the following:

   ‘Repeal

   Article 15

   Regulation (EC) No 1382/2003 is hereby repealed, with effect from 14 December 2006.

   Contracts relating to actions within the framework of Regulation (EC) No 1382/2003 shall continue to be governed by that Regulation until their operational and financial closure.’;

9. 9..

   Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 1692/2006 is replaced by the text appearing in the Annex to this Regulation;

10. 10..

    Annex II to Regulation (EC) No 1692/2006 is deleted.