RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/SCM/Q2/EEC/30
29 October 2001
(01-5307)
Committee on Subsidies
and Countervailing MeasuresOriginal:  English
SUBSIDIES
Questions from the UNITED STATES Regarding the Updating
Notification of the EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
(United Kingdom1)
The following communication, dated 23 October 2001, has been received from the Permanent
Mission of the United States.
_______________
The following are questions regarding the notification of the European Community,
United Kingdom, made pursuant to Article XVI:1 of the GATT 1994 and Article 25 of the Agreementon Subsidies and Countervailing Measures, in document G/SCM/N/60/EEC/Add.15, dated
14 June 2001.
Advanced Technology Programme
1. Is the amount budgeted an annual amount, a per project amount, or a per recipient amount?
Does this amount vary?  If so, how does the amount vary?
2. You note that the programme will continue until the completion of existing projects.  When is
that expected?
3. In what industries are there currently on-going projects?Business Connect Wales
1. You noted the means through which the fundin g under this programme is provided; however,
you failed to note to whom the funding is provided.  Can you please provide information on the typesof industries or companies eligible to receive funding under this programme?
2. Who develops the funding contracts under which funding is provided?3. You noted that the form of the subsidy was ‘support...’  It is unclear whether this support is in
the form of a grant, a loan, interest subsidies or another form.  What exact form does the support take?
                                                     
1 G/SCM/N/60/EEC/Add.15G/SCM/Q2/EEC/30
Page 2
Civil Aircraft Research and Demonstration Programme
1. What are considered eligible uses for the funding under this programme?  How are eligible
uses decided?
Cardiff Bay Development Corporation
1. What industries are eligible to receive aid under this programme?  What are the eligibility
requirements?
2. Is aid under this programme contingent in any way on a firm’s intention to export its product
out of the area?
3. How is it decided whether the grant must be repaid on the sale of capital assets which were
acquired using the grant?
Company Development Programme
1. Can you please clarify what an LEDU growth company is?General Industrial Collaborative Projects
1. You noted that the funding under this programme “may” be on a tapering basis per year.  Can
you please explain what factors determine whether funding is on a tapering basis per year?
2. Is the amount budgeted an annual amount, a per project amount, or a per recipient amount?
Does this amount vary?  If so, how does the amount vary?
3. You stated that there was no expected termination date.  If funding is on a tapering basis per
year, and if no new applicants have been accepte d since September 1993, it would seem that there
would be a specific time period when the funding would essentially end.  Can you give an estimate of
that time period?
Highland Equity Capital
1. When was the one investment made?Highland Opportunity Limited
1. In what way is the loan linked to free technical and business advice?  Is this advice provided
by the State or by private companies?
2. How is the discretionary interest rate determined?
3. Is the amount budgeted under this programme an annual amount, a per project amount, or a
per recipient amount?  Does this amount vary?  If so, how does the amount vary?
Home Shipbuilding Credit Guarantee Scheme
1. Do the shipowners pay a premium or some other form of fee to become part of this
programme?  If so, how is that determined?G/SCM/Q2/EEC/30
Page 3
Industrial Development Board (IDB) - Property Development Agreement
1. Is the outcome of the property development agreement a grant that is provided to the property
developer?
2. You say that the programme intends to provide assistance for private sector property
developers.  Are the buildings then leased or purchased by the IDB?  Or are they purchased or leased
by separate companies?
Leader II Programme in Wales
1. Has this programme been terminated?
Link Initiative
1. Are there specific industries which are targeted under this programme?  Or are all companies
in all industries eligible to apply for benefits under this programme?
LEDU Selective Financial Assistance
1. How is it determined whether the aid under this programme will take the form of a grant,
loan, or equity?
2. How is the ‘minimum amount necessary to ensu re that the project can succeed’ determined?
If the project fails on initial try, will more financing be provided to ensure that it succeeds?
3. On what terms are loans offered under this programme?4. Must each recipient of aid under this programme repay the aid (in the case of a loan) in a
certain time period?
5. Is there a maximum amount of financ ing over which LEDU will not provide?
6. You state that the programme is “-  targeted on new projects which have the prospect of
viability, and on existing businesses which can demonstrate that they are export orientated, provide a
substitute for imports, offer a novel product or service and/or satisfy an unfilled local market
opportunity.”  Therefore, this programme appears to meet the criteria of Articles 3.1(a) and (b) of the
SCM Agreement.  What are your plans for phasing out this programme?
LEDU - Buying Time
1. Is the government involved in the restructuring of the business as it ‘buys time’?  If so, in
what way and to what degree?
2. Is the total amount budgeted an annual amount?
NETS (New Entrants Training Scheme)
1. It is unclear from the programme notification whether the funds from this programme are
provided directly to the new entrant, or to the Countryside Agency which then would use the funds to
run the programme.  Could you please clarify exactly to whom the funds are provided?G/SCM/Q2/EEC/30
Page 4
2. You say that this programme takes the form of ‘direct assistance.’  Does this mean that the
funds are provided in the form of a grant?
Offshore Supplies and Service Company Assistance for Research
1. Are the SMEs which receive assistance under this programme allowed to market or otherwise
profit from the new developments which are made using the funds under this programme?
2. You note that the maximum support is 50 per cent.  How is the amount that each project will
receive determined?  Can companies continue to receive funding on a yearly basis?
3. Are companies which receive funding under this programme required to work with other
companies or institutions to research new developments?
Redundant Building Grants
1. Can you please define what and where th e Commission’s Rural Development Areas are?
2. Is the amount of funding granted under this programme in any way determined by what the
intended use for the building will be?  If so, how is that determined?
3. What are considered eligible costs under this programme?RDP Economic
1. How are the funds provided under this programme to be utilized?
Regional Enterprise Grants for Innovation (RIG Only)
1. Can you please clarify what is meant by the phrase that the programme “requires evidence of
additionality”?
Regional Selective Assistance in Great Britain
1. Is this scheme used to entice companies or in dustries to locate or build in certain areas of
Great Britain?
2. Is there a limit to the amount of funds a firm may receive under this programme?  If so, what
is that limit and how is it determined?
SCEEMAS
1. When was this programme terminated?
Scottish Enterprise
1. Does Scottish Enterprise receive all the funding from this programme and then passes it on  to
other organizations?
2. Are all enterprises and industries eligible for assistance under this programme?
3. You note that assistance is provided through grants, loans, guarantees etc... paid to firms.
Does Scottish Enterprise provide and oversee the disbursement of these funds?G/SCM/Q2/EEC/30
Page 5
Sector Challenge
1. When was this programme terminated?
WDA Business Advisory Services
1. When was this programme terminated?
WDA Equity Investment
1. When was this programme terminated?2. If the programme is terminated, does the WDA still hold equity in the companies in which it
invested under this programme?  If so, isn’t the programme still on-going?
WDA Rent Concessions
1. When was this programme terminated?2. Are any companies or business still in the 4 year reduction or waived rent period?  If so, when
will the last company be at the end of this period?
WDA Technology Growth Fund
1. You note that the key feature of the programme is that “the timing of capital repayments,
interest, royalties and capital profits match the investee company’s ability to pay.”  Does this meanthat if the investee company is never able to pay that the funds that were provided are written off?  If a
company cannot pay, how are the funds recouped?
Industrial Development Board
1. How is it determined whether the funds under this programme will be provided in the form of
a grant, loan, or share etc....?
__________