Common use of Linked activities Clause in Contracts

Linked activities. Ukraine has been the recipient of a number of EU technical assistance projects aimed at supporting the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine in transport sector reforms. The latest completed and ongoing projects’ reports and deliverables should be taken into consideration to follow up and enforce assistance in railway sector reform and Association Agreement implementation. The technical assistance project "Support to the Implementation of the Transport Strategy of Ukraine'' has been implemented since April 2012 and was finished in December 2015. The overall project purpose was to promote the national priorities in the transport sector, support in the implementation of the national transport strategy and EU funded transport sector budget support (SBS) programme as well as to enhance the cooperation between the EU and Ukraine, referring to the priorities of the EU-Ukraine Association Agenda, Association Agreement and other agreements between Ukraine and the EU in transport sector. 5 ▇▇▇▇://▇▇▇.▇▇▇.▇▇▇.▇▇/kmu/control/uk/publish/article?art_id=247981894&cat_id=247984327 A new technical assistance project in transport "Support to the Implementation of the Association Agreement and of the National Strategy in Transport Sector in Ukraine" started in January 2016. The overall objective of the project is to contribute to further development and modernisation of the transport sector in Ukraine. Activities are planned for the assistance in harmonisation of legislation in the transport area according to the priorities of the Association Agreement and for the assistance in updating, implementation and monitoring of the national transport strategy, while providing support to effective management of national policies and plans. The focus in the assistance related to harmonisation of legislation is made on the road and maritime transport due to the deadlines fixed in the Association Agreement for those transport modes. The assistance will be provided in the whole process of the implementation and enforcement of five priority directives and regulations (Regulation (EC) 1071/2009, Directive 2009/40/ЄС, Directive 2009/45/EC, Directive 2009/16/EC, Regulation (EC) 1370/2007). The Regulation (EC) No 1370/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2007 is for public passenger transport services by rail and by road. There are a number of twinning projects for the Ukrainian authorities aimed at transport sector reforms in line with the European acquis and standards. One of them recently completed is the railway twinning project “Institutional Support to the Ministry for Infrastructure of Ukraine on Increasing the Operation Performance and the Competitiveness of Rail Transport in Ukraine” (May 2013 – December 2015). The project was dedicated to contribute to ensuring the efficient state regulation of rail transport operations in Ukraine in the framework of rail transport reform and to introducing European quality standards in transport services. Among the major project achievements based on which the project in question will need to be built are: - The project was substantially involved in analysing and providing recommendations on all major conceptual issues of the draft Law ''On Railway Transport" that is expected to be voted in 2016, after passing expertise in the parliamentary committees. - The project was involved in assisting the Ministry of Infrastructure to analyse the institutional links that the Ministry has to establish with a newly established JSC “Ukrainian Railways”. - Recommendations on how to improve the current tariff system and migrate towards a system based in market prices for the final users and infrastructure charges for the railway undertakings has been drafted and extensively explained. - A financial support procedure for passenger services has been proposed in the framework of the tariff changes. The procedure is based on the separation in business units within UZ and foresees a transition period to smooth the change of system. - Training has been conducted covering the following issues: functioning of the Certification System in EU; creation, implementation, supervision and monitoring of the Safety Management System; implementation of technical standards to make the stations and rolling stock accessible for People with Reduced Mobility in EU. - Contact with the coordination office of the Sixth TEN-T corridor has been established as a platform to improve the traffic between Ukraine and EU. In this sense, support to the feasibility study for installing automatic double gauge changeovers in the borders of EU has been provided. Another initiated Twinning project “Support to Improving the Safety of Multimodal Dangerous Goods Transport in Ukraine” that is being contracted now and is expected to be launched in May 2016 will provide assistance and best EU practice in order to contribute to the improvement of multimodal dangerous goods transport system including road, rail, sea and river (IWW) as well as multimodal connections in line with the European rules and standards with main emphasis on transposition, implementation and enforcement of Directive 2008/68/EC requirements. Taking into consideration the projects mentioned above and newly adopted approach of DG NEAR6 concerning the future regional cooperation in transport coordination efforts should be undertaken under 6 The future strategy for improving connectivity with the EU-neighbourhood East has been prepared by DG NEAR, with a view to identify the required actions from the European Union to strengthen transport connectivity in the the guidance of DG NEAR and the EU Delegation to Ukraine in order to ensure efficient cooperation among the on-going and future projects and to avoid any duplication of actions. Other donors may include the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the UN Development Programme, the USA and Canada, the EU Member States. The World Bank and the EBRD have been active in the infrastructure development sphere. The European Investment Bank (EIB) has been expanding its operations in Ukraine, too.