13.8.1999 Official Journal of the European Communities L2135 REGULATION (EC) No 1784/1999 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 12 July 1999 on the European Social Fund (*) THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 148 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission ('), Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (%), Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions (3), Acting in accordance with Article 251 of the Treaty (%), (1)  Whereas Council Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999 of 21 June 1999 laying down general provisions on the Struc- tural Funds (°) replaces Regulation (EEC) No 2052/88 (%) and Regulation (EEC) No 4253/88 (); whereas it is also necessary to replace Council Regulation (EEC) No 4255/ 88 of 19 December 1988 laying down provisions for implementing Regulation (EEC) No 2052/88 as regards the European Social Fund (%); (2)  Whereas Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999 defines the general arrangements governing the Structural Funds as a whole and it is necessary to define which activities are eligible for financing by the European Social Fund (here- inafter the ‘Fund’) within the framework of Objectives 1, 2 and 3, referred to in Article 1, first subparagraph, points 1, 2 and 3 of the said Regulation (hereinafter referred to as ‘Objectives 1, 2 and 3), in the framework of the Community initiative for combating all forms of discrimination and inequalities in connection with the labour market, and within the framework of innovative measures and technical assistance; (3)  Whereas it is necessary to define the mission of the Fund in relation to the tasks prescribed in the Treaty and in the context of the priorities agreed by the Community in (*) This publication cancels and replaces the publication which appeared in O] 161, 26.6.1999, p. 48. () O] C 176, 9.6.1998, p. 39 and O] C 74, 18.3.1999, p. 7. () O C 407, 28.12.1998, p. 74. () O] C 51, 22.2.1999, p. 48. (*) European Parliament Opinion of 19 November 1998 (O] C 379, 7.12.1998, p. 186), Council Common Position of 14 April 1999 (O] C 134, 14.6.1999, p. 9) and European Parliament Decision of 6 May 1999 (not yet published in the Official Journal). Council De- cision of 21 June 1999. () O] L 161, 26.6.1999, p. 1. (®) OJ L 185, 15.7.1988, p. 9. Regulation as last amended by Regula- tion (EC) No 319394 (O] L 337, 24.12.1994, p. 11). () OJ L 374, 31.12.1988, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regula- tion (EC) No 3193/94. (®) OJ L 374, 31.12.1988, p. 21. Regulation as last amended by Regu- lation (EC) No 2084/93 (O] L 193, 31.7.1993, p. 39). the fields of human resource development and employ- ment; (4)  Whereas the Conclusions of the Amsterdam European Council in June 1997 and its Resolution on growth and employment (°) initiated the implementation of the European employment strategy, the annual guidelines on employment and the process of establishing national action plans for employment; (5)  Whereas it is necessary to redefine the scope of the Fund, in particular following the restructuring and simplification of the Objectives of the Structural Funds, to support the European employment strategy and the national action plans for employment linked to it; (6)  Whereas it is necessary to define a common framework for Fund interventions in all three Structural Fund Objectives in order thereby to ensure consistency and complementarity of actions undertaken pursuant to those Objectives with a view to improving the workings of the labour market and to developing human resources; (7)  Whereas the Member States and the Commission ensure that programming and implementation of the actions financed by the Fund in the context of all the Objectives contribute to the promotion of equality of opportunity between men and women and the promotion of the integration and retention of disadvantaged groups and individuals in the labour market; (8)  Whereas the Member States and the Commission also ensure that the social dimension and the employment aspect of the information society are duly taken into account in implementing actions financed by the Fund; (99 Whereas it is necessary to ensure that operations relating to industrial adaptation take account of the general needs of workers of either sex resulting from economic change and changes in production systems identified or predicted and are not designed to benefit a single firm or a particular industry; whereas particular attention should be devoted to small and medium-sized enterprises and to enhancing access to training and to improving work organisation; () O] C 236, 2.8.1997, p. 3.