Electrolux EU 0561 C Bedienungsanleitung PDF herunterladen (Seite 51)

Vol. 1, N° 2, Summer 1994 EC COMPETITION POLICY NEWSLETTER PAGE 51

SMEs. The duration of these two scheme corresponds to the

duration of the current program under the Community

Structural Funds.

In order to determine whether a given region may benefit

from regional aid under Article 92(3)(c) EC the Commission

has until now applied two basic criteria, i.e. GDP per

inhabitant and the structural unemployment rate in the

region. However, these two criteria are not appropriate to

reflect the particular regional problems in certain of the

Nordic countries, i.e. Sweden, Norway and Finland, which

are signatories to the EEA Agreement and possible future

members of the Community. The rough climate and the low

population density in certain regions of these countries

represent additional disadvantages for the industry to take

into account when determining the eligibility for regional aid

under Article 92(3)(c). The Commission has thus decided to

introduce an alternative criterion for the application of

Article 92(3)(c) based on low population density, which

stipulates that a region with not more than 12,5 inhabitants

per kilometer on the basis of level III in the Nomenclature

NUTS will be eligible for regional aid under Article

92(3)(c).

Sectorial aid

Aid to the steel sector. The Commission has reiterated its

willingness to authorize state aid for the restructuring of the

European steel industry, which is vital to restore its long-

term viability. Following the Council's consent at the end of

last year, the Commission in April this year decided on the

basis of Article 95 of the ECSC Treaty to approve

restructuring aid in respect of public steel companies in

Germany, Spain, Italy and Portugal. In June a number of

competitors lodged an appeal with the European Court of

Justice against the Commission's decision on the above cases

alleging that Article 95 of the ECSC Treaty had been

misused and was not applicable to the state aid measures

concerned. Rather the Commission should have applied

Article 4(c) of the ECSC Treaty, which expressely prohibits

state aid to the sectors covered by the Treaty.

The authorization of the state aid to the public steel

companies, cf. above, was linked to a comprehensive

restructuring program, considerable reduction in the overall

capacity of the public steel sector and, in some cases,

privatization program for the companies concerned.

Therefore, as the Italian company "Riva" decided not to

acquire the German public steel company "EKO Stahl

GmbH" and carry out a restructuring of that company

involving a reduction of its production capacity, the

Commission considered that the conditions for granting the

approved aid to this steel company have not been met. As

the company continues to receive state aid from the

Treuhandanstalt to cover its investment costs and operating

losses the Commission in July decided to initiate the Article

6(4) in the Code with regard to this aid.

Under the Steel Aid Code state aid may be granted for

environmental protection purposes. However, this provision

does not cover investment aid to replace old installations

with new ones, even though the objective of this replacement

is to meet new environmental standards. The Commission

therefore decided in June to initiate the procedure provided

for in Article 6(4) of the Code with regard to an

environmental aid to the Luxembourg steel company

ProfilARBED S.A.

Aid

to shipbuilding. The Commission approved three

German development aid schemes for the sale of ships to

China, Indonesia and Cameroun, which is in line with the

favourable approach towards development aid in the form of

export credits to certain developing countries for the

purchase of ships constructed by Community shipyards,

insofar as the proposed aid is in line with the OECD rules

on export credits for ships, cf. Article 4(7) of the Seventh

Directive on aid to shipbuilding.

The Commission takes a favourable view on state aid for the

shipyards in the former GDR to carry out the comprehensive

restructuring of these yards, thereby restoring their viability.

The 7th Directive for aid to shipbuilding contains a specific

derogation for those shipyards, the application of which is

conditioned upon a reduction in the capacity. The

Commission decided on the basis of this derogation to

authorize the release of a second tranche of operating aid to

the German shipyard Mathias-Thesen-Werft.

The Commission also approved a scheme offering operating

aid and restructuring aid to Spanish shipyards in line with

the aid intensity laid down in the 7th Directive. The

Commission approved a similar Dutch scheme.

Aid to the synthetic fibres industry.

Under the Commission's

Synthetic Fibres Code Member States are obliged to notify

all aid measures to the production of synthetic fibres to the

Commission, even if the individual aid concerned is granted

under a state aid scheme already notified and approved by

the Commission. In view of the continuing structural

overcapacity in the synthetic fibres sector, the Code requires

investment aid to be linked to a significant reduction in

capacity. As investment aid to BVDA DS Profil seems to

lead to a slight increase in the company's production capacity

the Commission considered that the investment aid would

not comply with the Code and decided to open the Article

93(2) procedure.

On the other hand the Commission decided that proposed

aid to the British company Hoechst (UK) plc covering part

of the costs of a training program for its employees did not

involve investment aid and , consequently, that the aid was

not covered by the Code. Therefore, the requirement under

the Code that there must be a significant reduction in

capacity in order to authorize the aid did not apply to this

case and the training aid was approved on the basis of

Article 92(3)(a) EC.

In view of the continuing presence of structural overcapacity

in the synthetic fibres sector the Commission decided to

extend the period of validity of the Code by 6 months ending

30.6.1995, with the continuing proviso that it might revise or

abolish the Code before that date.

Aid

to the textile industry. Aid to firms in this sector, which

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