Electrolux EU 0561 C Manual de usuario descargar pdf (Pagina 52)

PAGE 52 EC COMPETITION POLICY NEWSLETTER Vol. 1, N° 2, Summer 1994

leads to an increase in the production capacity, will normally

not be authorized by the Commission. However, in

exceptional cases, such as the investment aid to the Hualon

Corporation in Northern Ireland, where the aid is granted

under an authorized regional aid scheme and contributes

significantly to the economic development of very

disadvantaged region of the Community, these regional

benefits may be weighed off with the potential negative

effects on overall production capacity and competition in the

sector and lead the Commission to authorize the aid.

Horizontal aid schemes

Research & development. The Commission continues on the

basis of the framework for state aid to research &

development to adopt a favourable approach to state aid in

this field, which is confirmed by a number of positive

decisions on R&D schemes in Germany, France, the

Netherlands and Luxembourg. Sometimes these schemes

involve considerable amounts of aid, like the R&D aid to the

French company S.G.S.-Thomson Microelectronics of 321

million ECU over a three-year period approved in July, but

are authorized in view of the important contribution they

make to the development of European industry.

The Commission considered that a Dutch scheme under

which companies are exempted from paying the income tax

for its employees does not constitute an operating aid for

these companies as the tax exemption is linked to the

carrying out of concrete research & development projects.

The scheme was therefore examined under the R&D

Framework and approved.

Small

and medium-sized enterprises. The Commission

recognizes the importance of SMEs in the economy, in

particular in the field of job creation and innovation, and the

particular problems these firms are faced with, in particular

in raising capital. The Commission therefore continues to

take a favourable approach to different kinds of aid to

promote the development of SMEs by improving the

financial facilities available to them. This policy was once

again confirmed by the Commission's decision in May to

authorize a Danish guarantee scheme for venture capital

companies providing equity capital to innovative SMEs.

Under the SME Aid Guidelines aid for investment is limited

to a fixed percentage of fixed assets. If aid granted in

connection with the setting-up of a SME also covers first

stocks, it may be authorized if its intensity does not exceed

this fixed percentage. The German scheme offering equity

loans to SMEs ("Eigenkapitalhilfe-Programm") met that

condition.

The Commission believes that further effort must be put into

training, consultancy and other business support services

meeting "one-off" requirements for up-to-date knowledge in

firms, in particular SMEs. The Commission therefore has a

positive view on state aid to SMEs for these activities,

commonly termed "soft aid", and under the SME Aid

Guidelines allows Member States to grant aid covering up to

50% of the eligible costs for such activities. The

Commission authorized an Italian SME aid scheme, which

among other things offers aid of up to 50% for external

consultancy services for innovation.

Aid

for the protection of the environment. The Commission

has since 1 January 1994 applied the new Community

Guidelines on State aid for environmental protection for the

assessment of state aid in the field of environment, energy

conservation measures and renewable energy. The

Commission has during this period examined a considerable

number of environmental aid schemes nearly all of which

were in line with the new Guidelines and, thus, approved.

Under the new Guidelines the eligible costs for investment

aid must be strictly confined to the extra investment costs

necessary to meet environmental objectives. General

investment costs not attributable to environmental protection

must be excluded. Therefore the Commission decided to

open the Article 93(2) procedure concerning an

environmental aid to the Italian paper manufacturer "Cartiere

del Garda", as part of the proposed aid was to cover

replacement costs and another part of the aid seemed simply

to reduce the firm's operating costs.

The new Guidelines do not cover state aid for the relocation

of firms for environmental reasons. Each aid proposal for the

relocation of firms under an Italian environmental aid

scheme for the Province of Trento will therefore be notified

individually.

The Commission does not normally approve operating aid

which relieves firms of costs related to the pollution they

cause. However, under the Guidelines the Commission may

in exceptional cases and under certain conditions make an

exception to this principle, in particular in the field of relief

from environmental taxes. On the basis of this exception the

Commission authorized a Danish aid scheme offering a

temporary grant to combined district heating and power

plants to compensate for an increase in the energy and

environmental tax on the consumption of coal with a view

to promote the use of district heating instead of individual

heating in certain regions.

Rescue

and restructuring aid. The Commission approved

Guidelines which codify its policy towards state aid to

rescuing firms in difficulty and helping them to restructure.

Detailed account of these will be included in the next issue

of the Newsletter.

The positive decision of the Commission towards social aid

given in the context of the restructuring of Kimberly Clark

in Sotteville-les-Rouen already illustrates the favourable

treatment reserved for that type of aid.

C. Procedures

If the Commission finds that aid illegally granted to an

enterprise is also incompatible with the common market, it

will ask the Member State concerned to recover the aid from

the beneficiary. The Commission may at a later stage

authorize additional compatible state aid to the same

company(ies), but will require the Member State concerned

to suspend the payment of this aid, or at least an amount

1 2 ... 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 ... 66 67

Comentarios a estos manuales

Sin comentarios

Electrolux EU 0561 C Manual de usuario Pagina 52

Comentarios a estos manuales

Relacionado con productos y manuales para No Electrolux EU 0561 C