This Regulation lays down rules for the granting of State aid to the coal industry with the aim of contributing to the restructuring of the coal industry. The rules laid down herein take account of:

• the social and regional aspects of the sector's restructuring,

• the need for maintaining, as a precautionary measure, a minimum quantity of indigenous coal production to guarantee access to reserves.

For the purposes of this Regulation:

1. (a)
   ‘coal’ means high-grade, medium-grade and low-grade category A and B coal within the meaning of the international codification system for coal laid down by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe8;
2. (b)

   ‘plan for accessing coal reserves’: plan drawn up by a Member State, providing for the production of the minimum quantity of indigenous coal necessary to guarantee access to coal reserves;

3. (c)

   ‘closure plan’: plan drawn up by a Member State providing for measures culminating in the definitive closure of coal production units;

4. (d)

   ‘initial investment costs’: fixed capital costs directly related to infrastructure work or to the equipment necessary for the mining of coal resources in existing mines;

5. (e)

   ‘production costs’ means costs related to current production, calculated in accordance with Article 9(3). These cover, apart from mining operations, operations for the dressing of coal, in particular washing, sizing and sorting, and the transport to the delivery point;

6. (f)

   ‘current production losses’ means the positive difference between the coal production cost and the delivered selling price freely agreed between the contracting parties in the light of the conditions prevailing on the world market.