Information communicated by Member States regarding State aid granted under Commission Regulation (EC) No 68/2001 of 12 January 2001 on the application of Articles 87 and 88 of the EC Treaty to training aid

(2002/C 286/05)

(Text with EEA relevance)

Aid No: XT 04/01

Member State: Germany

Region: Rhineland-Palatinate

Title of aid scheme or name of the company receiving an individual aid: Offensive for structural change - Programme of the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Health of Rhineland-Palatinate (Training measures for businesses in Rhineland-Palatinate)

Legal basis: Verordnung (EG) Nr. 68/2001 der Kommission vom 12. Januar 2001 über die Anwendung der Artikel 87 und 88 EG-Vertrag auf Ausbildungsbeihilfen

Annual expenditure planned under the scheme or overall amount of individual aid granted to the company: It is assumed that funds of approximately DEM 2 Million (EUR 1022583,76) are required in order to implement the aid scheme

Maximum aid intensity: For specific training measures in large companies: 25 % of eligible costs,

For specific training measures in SMEs: 35 % of eligible costs,

For general training measures in large companies: 50 % of eligible costs;

For general training measures in SMEs: 70 % of eligible costs.

An increase in the above-mentioned aid intensity of 10 % is possible in respect of training measures for disadvantaged employees

Date of implemantation: Aid can be provided under this scheme as from 1 May 2001

Duration of scheme or individual aid award: For the time being, the aid scheme will be implemented until 31 December 2006. Aid for measures under the scheme must be terminated by 30 June 2007 at the latest

Objective of aid: Aid for internal training measures is intended to provide employees threatened by unemployment with better opportunities within their company and on the wider labour market.

This aid is intended to enable companies which rely on their workforce acquiring new qualifications to cope with structural change to prepare their employees for the new demands of the job.

To ensure that the objective of homogeneous living standards is met, aid is to be targeted particularly on employment in structurally weak regions of the Land. Acordingly, businesses which move to structurally weak regions of the Land or which plan to expand staff numbers there but are unable to find sufficiently qualified personnel on the regional labour market are to obtain aid to promote training measures for those new employees once employment contracts have been signed.

This may involve both general and specific training measures: this aspect must be decided on a case-by-case basis

Economic sector(s) concerned: The aid scheme applies to all economic sectors in accordance with Commission Regulation (EC) No 68/2001 of 12 January 2001

Name and address of the granting authority: Landesamt für Soziales Jugend und Versorgung

Referat 63

Rheinallee 97-101 D - 55118 Mainz

Aid No: XT 65/01

Member State: Italy

Region: Autonomous Province of Trento

Title of aid scheme or name of the company receiving an individual aid: Criteria and procedures for financing training activities qualifying for co-financing by the European Social Fund under measure D1 (Development of continuing training, labour market flexibility and business competitiveness, with priority for SMEs) of the operational programme for the Autonomous Province of Trento, Objective 3, European Social Fund 2000 to 2006

Legal basis: Deliberazione della giunta provinciale n. 2920 d.d. 9.11.2001 avente ad oggetto: Modalità e termini di presentazione e di valutazione dei progetti rientranti nella Misura D1 del FSE - "Sviluppo delle formazione continua, della flessibilità del mercato del lavoro e della competitività delle imprese, con priorità alle PMI" la quale da applicazione alle disposizioni contenute nel Capo II del Titolo II D.P.G. 33-51/Leg. d.d. 27.12.2000 (pubblicato sul Bollettino ufficiale della Regione Trentino Alto Adige n. 04/I-II del 23.1.2001) sottoposte ad una clausola sospensiva dell'efficacia e alle disposizioni della deliberazione della giunta provinciale n. 527 d.d. 9.3.2001

Annual expenditure planned under the scheme or overall amount of individual aid granted to the company: EUR 2764200 in 2001; EUR 7745000 in 2002

Maximum aid intensityt: Specific training for large enterprises: intensity not exceeding 25 %,

Specific training for SMEs: intensity not exceeding 35 %,

General training for large enterprises: intensity not exceeding 50 %,

General training for SMEs: intensity not exceeding 70 %.

The above intensities are increased by 10 percentage points where the training is given to workers with disabilities, migrant workers, unskilled workers (i.e. persons without educational qualifications or appropriate skills), long-term unemployed persons or women wishing to re-enter working life

Date of implementation: 20 November 2001

Duration of scheme or individual aid award: 31 December 2002

Objective of aid: The aid is intended for general and special training.

The definition of general training given in Regulation (EC) No 68/2001 has been adopted as it is considered sufficiently clear and exhaustive: "'general training' shall mean training involving tuition which is not applicable only or principally to the employee's present or future position in the assisted firm, but which provides qualifications that are largely transferable to other firms or fields of work and thereby substantially improve the employability of the employee"

Economic sector(s) concerned: all sectors

Name and address of the granting authority: Provincia autonoma di Trento - Servizio addestramento e formazione professionale Via Gilli, 3 I - 38100 Trento

Other information: Since this is an aid scheme, it is not possible to give a description of the content of each project in order to confirm that it corresponds to the definition of general training.

The prior verification procedure applied by the Province to ensure that the highest aid intensity is granted only to general training projects comprises the following steps:

- on submitting the project, the applicant declares whether it involves general or specific training,

- as provided for by point 5 of the operative part of Decision No 2920 adopted by the Provincial Council on 9 November 2001, a committee makes a prior assessment of whether individual projects are to be classed as general or specific training; its findings are set out on an evaluation grid signed by the experts and attached to the minutes of the committee meeting,

- on the basis of the above assessment, the Province determines the intensity of the funding to be granted to each individual project,

- the Province then adopts the project funding decision, which also reproduces the committee's assessment of the nature of each project (general or specific training),

- the Province notifies the individual applicants of the outcome of the committee's assessment and consequently the intensity of the funding allocated to them

The committee is composed of:

- three experts on training and the evaluation of training activities, from outside the Province (all highly qualified university lecturers),

- one official from the Province, appointed by the Provincial Council

Aid No: XT 68/01

Member State: Italy

Region: Autonomous Province of Trento

Title of aid scheme or name of the company receiving an individual aid: Procedures and criteria for implementing employee training activities under Article 6(4) of Law No 53 of 8 March 2000 and managing the funds referred to in Ministry of Labour and Social Security Decree No 167 of 6 June 2001

Legal basis: Deliberazione della giunta provinciale n. 3106 d.d. 23 novembre 2001 in attuazione del decreto del ministero del Lavoro e della previdenza sociale del 6 giugno 2001 n. 167 (pubblicato nella Gazzetta ufficiale della Repubblica italiana del 22.6.2001 serie generale n. 143)

Annual expenditure planned under the scheme or overall amount of individual aid granted to the company: Central government budget allocation to the Province for 2001: ITL 902036000 (EUR 465862,72)

Maximm aid intensity: Specific training for large enterprises: intensity not exceeding 25 %,

Specific training for SMEs: intensity not exceeding 35 %,

General training for large enterprises: intensity not exceeding 50 %,

General training for SMEs: intensity not exceeding 70 %.

The above intensities are increased by 10 percentage points where the training is given to workers with disabilities, migrant workers, unskilled workers (i.e. persons without educational qualifications or appropriate skills), long-term unemployed persons or women wishing to re-enter working life

Date of implemantation: 12 December 2001

Duration of scheme or individual aid award: 31 December 2001

Objective of aid: The aid is intended for general and special training.

The definition of general training given in Regulation (EC) No 68/2001 has been adopted as it is considered sufficiently clear and exhaustive: "'general training' shall mean training involving tuition which is not applicable only or principally to the employee's present or future position in the assisted firm, but which provides qualifications that are largely transferable to other firms or fields of work and thereby substantially improve the employability of the employee"

Economiac sector(s) concerned: All sectors

Name and address of the granting authorithy: Provincia autonoma di Trento - Servizio addestramento e formazione professionale Via Gilli, 3 I - 38100 Trento

Other information: since this is an aid scheme, it is not possible to give a description of the content of each project in order to confirm that it corresponds to the definition of general training.

The prior verification procedure applied by the Province to ensure that the highest aid intensity is granted only to general training projects comprises the following steps:

- on submitting the project, the applicant declares whether it involves general or specific training,

- as provided for by point 5 of the operative part of Decision No 3106 adopted by the Provincial Council on 23 November 2001, a committee makes a prior assessment of whether individual projects are to be classed as general or specific training; its findings are set out on an evaluation grid signed by the experts and attached to the minutes of the committee meeting,

- on the basis of the above assessment, the Province determines the intensity of the funding to be granted to each individual project,

- the Province then adopts the project funding decision, which also reproduces the committee's assessment of the nature of each project (general or specific training),

- the Province notifies the individual applicants of the outcome of the committee's assessment and consequently the intensity of the funding allocated to them

The committee is composed of:

- three experts on training and the evaluation of training activities, from outside the Province (all highly qualified university lecturers),

- one official from the Province, appointed by the Provincial Council