2.—(1) In these Regulations—
“the 1998 Act” means the Regional Development Agencies Act 1998(1);
“the Agency” means the Advantage West Midlands(2);
“the Commission” means the Commission of the European Communities;
“commitment” means an agreement entered into by the Agency or a global grant body in relation to an award of assistance granted by the Fund;
“the Council Regulation” means Council Regulation (EC) No.1083/2006 laying down general provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund and the Cohesion Fund and repealing Regulation (EC) No.1260/1999(3);
“the Fund” means the European Regional Development Fund, being one of the two Structural Funds referred to in Article 1;
“the Fund contribution” means the contribution from the Fund made available for the Operational Programme;
“global grant body” means a body entrusted under Article 42(1) with the management and implementation of a part of the Operational Programme;
“intermediate body” has the meaning given by Article 2;
“intermediate body functions” means the functions entrusted to the Agency by virtue of its designation as an intermediate body by regulation 3;
“the Managing Authority” means the authority designated under Article 59(1)(a) as the managing authority for the Operational Programme;
“Operational Programme” means the document which—
is an “operational programme” within the meaning given by Article 2; and
sets out the development strategy to be carried out with the aid of the Fund in the West Midlands region as a contribution towards achieving the Regional competitiveness and employment objective referred to in Article 3(2);
“Schedule of Functions” means the document published by the Secretary of State on 21st December 2007 under the title “Schedule of Functions of the Managing Authority for the European Regional Development Fund: Operational Programme covering the Regional competitiveness and employment objective for the West Midlands”, prepared for the purpose of defining the functions of the bodies concerned in the management and control of the Operational Programme(4);and
“West Midlands region” means the region named “West Midlands” in Schedule 1 to the 1998 Act.
(2) In these Regulations, a reference to an Article is a reference to an Article of the Council Regulation.
The Agency is the regional development agency established for the West Midlands region by section 1 of the 1998 Act. The Agency changed its name by resolution under section 26 of that Act on 7th December 1999.
OJ L 210, 31.7.2006, ,p.25.
The Schedule will form part of the management and control system of the Operational Programme required to be set up by the Member State by Article 58. Section 2 of the Schedule defines the functions to be reserved for exercise by the Managing Authority. Section 3 defines the functions to be entrusted to a single intermediate body for the Programme.