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POSITION PAPER OF THE REPUBLIC OF LATVIA
Chapter 15: "INDUSTRIAL POLICY" Setting the time frame for the process of adoption and implementation of the European Union's acquis communautaire the Latvian Government adopted 1 January 2003 as the date on which Latvia will be prepared for accession to the European Union. Latvia accepts and will implement in full the acquis communautaire in the area of Industrial policy until 1 January 2003. Where it is possible Latvia is ready to adopt and fully implement Community Law even sooner. Certain provisions of acquis communautaire applicable exclusively to the Member states will be fully implemented as from the date of accession. The Republic of Latvia assumes that the legal acts of European Coal and Steel Community that form part of present acquis in the field of Industrial policy will be abolished or amended significantly as from July 2003. Therefore, acquis communautaire in the field of Industrial policy is formed by the Council Decision 96/413/EC and the legal acts of the European Communities that do not require implementation into normative acts such as communications, recommendations and resolutions. The criteria set by the Copenhagen European Council, especially the second and the third criteria, form an important part of acquis. When elaborating its industrial policy, Latvia has taken into account the guidelines of EU Industrial policy reflected in the legal acts of EU. Industrial policy in Latvia is being developed in accordance with the priorities of the economic development that are formulated by: The Treaty Establishing Association between the European Communities and the Republic of Latvia; The Joint Assessment of European Commission and Latvian Government on priorities of Latvian economic policy; Medium term economic strategy of the Republic of Latvia in the context of accession to the EU; National program for the development of SMEs; National program of Latvian foreign trade.
The main objectives of Industrial policy are: Improvement of the environment for the entrepreneurship; Enhancement of the competitiveness of the industry; Development of the human resources, enhancement of the overall level of education and professional qualification; Export promotion; Quality assurance; Structural adjustment of the state support system; Increase of the financing from state budget for the state support for entrepreneurship, including development of high value added industry; Improvement of the tax system with an aim to facilitate entrepreneurship, including industry.
An industrial policy requires a major, comprehensive and co-ordinated effort. Presently an Industrial Strategy is being elaborated, which is based on already existing documents, is in compliance with EU guidelines and will be the main document for the mid term development of Latvian industry. As this document is linked to the preparing of Latvia for accession by 1 January 2003, the document should be approved by the Cabinet of Ministers as soon as possible. Taking into account the aforementioned, the Republic of Latvia will not request any derogation or transitional period and proposes that the negotiations within the chapter "Industrial policy" be provisionally closed
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