Electrolux EU 0561 C Manual de usuario descargar pdf (Pagina 49)

Vol. 1, N° 2, Summer 1994 EC COMPETITION POLICY NEWSLETTER PAGE 49

Member states and industry welcome the clarification of

policy which enhances transparency and predictability Aid

codes exist for motor vehicles, steel, shipbuilding, synthetic

fibres and coal, as well as in agriculture and fisheries.

Regional aid is controlled in accordance with detailed criteria

of long standing. Guidelines have been issued for aid to

SMEs and for environmental protection. Aid for Research

and Development is dealt with under the detailed rules laid

down in the 1986 R&D Aid Framework. This text is being

updated to take account of developments since then, the

White Paper on Growth, Competitiveness and Employment

and the new GATT rules. It is also important to improve

coherence between state aid policy on R&D and Community

funding of R&D projects.

The single market requires rigorous control of state aid in

order to prevent the reestablishment by Member States of

measures to favour or protect companies operating in their

territory. The EU's policies in favour of social, economic and

regional cohesion and its interventions through the structural

funds also need a solid check on national spending if they

are to be effective. Since this is

par excellence an area in

which the Commission has and must have exclusive

competence (it is hard to imagine Member States controlling

their own subsidies!), state aid will remain an important

Commission responsibility.

The great debate of the 1980s about the application of state

aid rules to the public sector has died down. It is now widely

accepted that the rules apply without discrimination to public

and private sector alike and that states grant state aid when

they provide capital to companies they own on terms or in

circumstances in which a private investor would not have

done so are granting state aid.

The Commission has set about clarifying the state aid rules

in a series of explanatory guidelines. In some specific areas

there are binding rules with which the Member States must

comply. Among the challenges before us are:

- The drafting of guidelines on employment aid schemes by

which the Member States encourage employment. These

guidelines are wanted by the Member States, since they

need clarification of our policies regarding schemes which

they have introduced or plan to introduce. It is important

to distinguish between measures which fall under the state

aid rules and those which do not. If general measures are

adopted throughout a state's territory to give financial

assistance to all companies taking on certain types of

worker, the state aid rules do not apply. If, on the other

hand, the assistance targets certain companies or

categories of company, state aid will be involved since

those companies will receive a competitive advantage

over those which are not aided. We wish to encourage

Member States wishing to target their employment aid to

concentrate on the categories of unemployed proving most

difficult to insert or reinsert on the labour market and to

provide assistance for training. This work is under way

with DG V and is a priority matter.

- The procedures applied by the Commission in state aid

cases are complex and have important consequences for

Governments and companies. They are laid down in a

bewildering variety of Court judgments and Commission

statements. We propose to bring them together in a Guide

to Procedures which it is hoped to publish in 1994. There

will no doubt be regular developments necessitating

updates. The Commission's internal procedures for state

aid cases also require attention and some decentralisation

is necessary if we are to meet the challenges of the

coming years.

- Work is under way on a set of rules for the analysis of

aid for capital-intensive investments. National aid

programmes tending to favour capital over labour are

being re-examined and our analytical tools require

adjustment too. It may be possible to adopt a general

horizontal method of analysis in place of the complex

rules which exist at present in the automobile and

synthetic fibres industries.

- In general, the strict enforcement of state aid disciplines

in the EC must be maintained and stepped up where

necessary. It is still the case that more aid is granted in

the richer central regions of the Community than in the

poorer peripheral areas. This runs counter to our cohesion

policy and undermines the structural fund interventions.

State aid control is also necessary to prevent bidding

"wars" between regions and states for mobile investment.

- Other priority areas include the implementation of the

GATT Uruguay Round on subsidies and the ongoing work

in the new WTO in this area. State aid discipline must be

extended to Eastern and Central Europe and the

Commission must remain active in international

organisations dealing with this issue.

- Finally, the new member states joining the EU must

respect fully the state aid disciplines set out in the

Treaties. It is essential that industry and the general public

maintain their confidence in the Commission as a fair

and impartial enforcer of the competition rules which

enable companies to thrive on the basis of their own

independent efforts. The Commission will therefore have

to devote considerable effort to bringing the new member

states into line with all the state aid rules.

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