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 270/04)

(Text with EEA relevance)

Aid No: XT 05/02

Member State: Italy

Region: Valle d'Aosta

Title of aid scheme or name of the company receiving an individual aid: Regional measures to assist small and medium-sized enterprises with projects to promote quality, safety and the environment. Amendment of Regional Law No 84 of 7 December 1993 (regional measures to assist research, development and quality), as last amended by Regional Law No 11 of 18 April 2000

Legal basis: Legge regionale 12 novembre 2001, n. 31

Annual expenditure planned under the scheme or overall amount of individual aid granted to the company: 1. EUR 78760 for 2001;

2. EUR 157483 for 2002;

3. EUR 165233 a year from 2003

Maximum aid intensity: Not exceeding 35 %. The intensity is increased by five percentage points for firms in areas qualifying for regional aid under Article 87(3)(c) of the EC Treaty

Date of implementation: 5 December 2001

Duration of scheme or individual aid award: Until 30 June 2007

Objective of aid: The scheme concerns specific training

Economic sector(s) concerned: Small and medium-sized manufacturing and service enterprises

Name and address of the granting authority: Regione Autonoma Valle d'Aosta Assessorato Industria, Artigianato ed Energia

Servizio assistenza alle imprese, ricerca, qualità e formazione professionale

Piazza della Repubblica 15 I - 11100 Aosta

Aid No: XT 20/01

Member State: Spain

Region: The whole of the Spanish territory

Title of aid scheme or name of the company receiving an individual aid: Forintel programme

Legal basis: Orden Ministerial (O.M.) de 1 de agosto de 2001 del Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología

Annual expenditure planned under the scheme or overall amount of individual aid granted to the company: Where aid schemes are concerned EUR 5,5 million

Maximum aid intensity: 50 % for large enterprises and 70 % for SMEs. If the project is carried out in one of the regions referred to in Article 87(3)(a) or (c) of the Treaty establishing the European Community, this percentage shall be increased by 10 and five percentage points respectively (see Section 8 of the Ministerial Order of 1.8.2001)

Date of implementation: 22 August 2001

Duration of scheme or individual aid award: Until 31 December 2006

Objective of aid: The telecommunications training programme (Forintel) can subsidise only general training within the meaning of Article 2(e) of Regulation (EC) No 68/2001, as is explicitly stated in Section 3(1) of the abovementioned Ministerial Order of 1.8.2001.

It comprises the following two actions:

1. Training for users of telecommunications and the information society.

The substance of the training, according to Section 3.2.(b) of the Ministerial Order which governs the programme, is that featuring in Annex II of the abovementioned Ministerial Order.

2. Training for telecommunications and information society professionals.

This is provided pursuant to Section 3.3.(a) of the Ministerial Order governing the programme

Economic sector(s) concerned: The Forintel programme is applicable to all economic sectors with the exception of enterprises producing coal and steel, as referred to in Articles 80 and 81 of the Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community

Name and address of the granting authority: Dirección General para el Desarrollo de la Sociedad de la Información Palacio de Comunicaciones

Alcalá 50

E - 28071 Madrid

Aid No: XT 24/01

Member State: United Kingdom

Region: Highlands and Islands enterprise area. Highlands and Islands of scotland defined in the NUTS II nomenclature as area UKM4 plus the parts of the Moray Council area which are not in NUTS II UKM4. The latter area is a small part of the NUTS III area UKM11

Title of aid scheme or name of the company receiving an individual aid: HIE training scheme

Legal basis: Enterprise and New Towns (Scotland) Act 1990, as amended by Scottish Statutory Instrument 2001 No 126, which extends the operational area of HIE into the remaining parts of the Moray Council area not previously covered

Annual expenditure planned under the scheme or overall amount of individual aid granted to the company: The total HIE budget for discretionary training expenditure is currently as below:

2000/2001: GBP 5817000.

These budgets are fixed annually.

NB.

The above figures represent total expenditure on discretionary training, some of which is not State aid (e.g. because it assists unemployed individuals).

Based on the above, it is estimated that future discretionary training budgets are highly unlikely to exceed GBP 8 million per year during the period coverd by this notification

Maximum aid intensity: Aid intensities would be established on a case-by-case basis, following expert appraisal. The level of aid proposed would not be allowed to exceed the following absolute maximum levels, and in most cases would be less owing to addionality considerations.

Maximum permitted aid levels:

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Aid to one enterprise for a single project may not exceed EUR 1000000

Date of implementation: 19 February 2001

Duration of scheme or individual aid award: Until 31 December 2006

Objective of aid: The scheme is intended to cover both general and specific training.

Specific training

Description: Training directly and principally applicable to the employee's present or future position within the assisted firm and providing qualifications which are not (or only to a limited extent) transferable to other firms.

General training

Description: Training 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.

Discretionary funding would be awarded to businesses to help them develop the skills of their staff, thus creating a skilled, trained and adaptable workforce and labour markets responsive to economic change

Economic sector(s) concerned: All sectors

Name and address of the granting authority: Highlands and Islands Enterprise Official responsible: Director, Developing Skills Group Tel. (014 63) 23 41 71 Fax (014 63) 24 44 69

Other information: Two different mechanisms will be used to deliver the aid. In the first case, the Local Enterprise Company would identify a need for some form of training. This could be done through, for example, surveys, information gathered through business advisers, or specific requests from a number of companies. The local Enterprise Company would then identify appropriately experienced and qualified trainers and develop a training course specifically suited to the needs of the companies in their locality. It is highly unlikely that training provision would be available locally, so the Local Enterprise Company would have to source the training from outside the area, thus incurring additional travel and subsistence costs in respect of the trainers. In addition, the number of companies wishing to send employees on the training is unlikely to be sufficient to make the training financially viable for them. The Local Enterprise Company funding towards the training will ensure that the costs are set at a level which will enable local companies to participate and will offer the training at a cost similar to other parts of the UK, whilst at the same time respecting the aid ceilings in this scheme. The mechanism for respecting the aid ceilings would be to set the fees paid for each attendee so that the aid is below the appropriate ceiling. The aid amount would be computed by subtracting the fee paid for each beneficiary from the actual course cost.

The second mechanism will be utilised where a company has analysed its training needs in lin with its business objectives and has developed a company training plan. Frequently, this analysis will take place as a company works towards the Investors in People(1) standard. In this case, the Local Enterprise Company will appraise the company training plan and will provide funding towards the costs of the training, including travel and subsistance costs of trainees who are required to travel outside the area to undertake the training.

Explanation of the incentive effect in the case of training projects for large firms outside assisted regions

Aid must be for a business which is undertaking a development that contributes to economic development in the Highlands and Islands region. The level of assistance would be the minimum necessary to enable the development to proceed, as determined by appraisal of the business and its business plan. This additionally requirement ensures that a firm undertakes more training than would have been the case without public funds. The incentive would be determined for each firm, using discretion to ensure that the optimum outturn per unit of public funds is achieved, in the context of the long-term viability of the business.

Payments would be made on documentary evidence of expenditure. These would be mandatory requirements stated in formal undertakings made by the assisted firm in return for an individual offer of aid

Aid No: XT 35/01

Member State: Italy

Region: Autonomous region of Valle d'Aosta

Title of aid scheme or name of the company receiving an individual aid: Regional operational programme (ROP) for structural measures taken by the Valle d'Aosta region to meet Objective 3 in the period 2000-2006

Legal basis: Decisione (CE) n. 2067/2000 del 21 settembre 2000; regolamento (CE) n. 1260/1999 del Consiglio, del 21 giugno 1999, recante disposizioni generali sui Fondi Strutturali; regolamento (CE) n. 1784/1999 del Parlamento europeo e del Consiglio, del 12 luglio 1999, relativo al Fondo sociale europeo; delibera della Giunta regionale n. 4514 del 6.12.1999, ratificata dal Consiglio regionale con atto n. 1138/XI in data 10.2.2000, recante approvazione del Programma Operativo Regionale (POR); delibera della Giunta regionale n. 504 del 26 febbraio 2001

Annual expenditure planned under the scheme or overall amount of individual aid granted to the company: Annual expenditure will be ITL 3108410407 (EUR 1605359), giving a cumulative total of ITL 21758872850 (EUR 11237520) for the whole programming period

Maximum aid intensity: Specific training:

Large enterprises: 25 %

SMEs: 35 %

Bonus for areas included in the Italian regional aid map for the period 2000-2006: five percentage points.

General training:

Large enterprises: 50 %

SMEs: 70 %

Bonus for areas included in the Italian regional aid map for the period 2000-2006: five percentage points

Date of implementation: 24 August 2001

Duration of scheme or individual aid award: December 2006

Objective of aid: The aid is intended for projects involving specific or general training. General training involves training 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. Training will be considered general training if, for example, it is organised jointly by different independent enterprises or of employees of different enterprises may avail themselves of the training or if it is recognised, certified for validated by public authorities or bodies on which a Member State or the Community has conferred the necessary powers.

A special committee will be responsible for assessing whether a proposed training scheme is general or specific, in the light of the definitions given above

Economic sector(s) concerned: All sectors

Name and address of the granting authority: Regione Autonoma Valle d'Aosta Dipartimento Politiche del Lavoro

Direzione Agenzia regionale del Lavoro

Via Garin, 1 I - 11100 Aosta Tel. (39) 01 65 27 56 11 Fax (39) 01 65 27 56 86 E-mail: direzioneadl@regione.vda.it

m.monteleone@regione.vda.it

Aid No: XT 69/01

Member State: Germany

Region: Bavaria

Title of aid scheme or name of the company receiving an individual aid: Promoting job rotation via the Bavarian Labour Market Fund

Legal basis: Bayerische Haushaltsordnung i. V. m. Bescheid der Regierung von Oberbayern und Bescheid der Regierung von Schwaben

Annual expenditure planned under the scheme or overall amount of individual aid granted to the company: EUR 30000

Maximum aid intensity: 50 % of eligible expenditure

Date of implementation: Immediate

Duration of scheme or individual aid award: Until 30 June 2002

Objective of aid: Provision of general training subsidies to make it easier for small and medium-sized enterprises to take part in job rotation.

Two job rotation projects (in Ingolstadt and Augsburg) are receiving aid from the Bavarian Labour Market Fund.

Job rotation involves employees of small and medium-sized firms attending further training courses. While they are away, unemployed workers are taken on as "substitutes" to fill the vacancies. They continue to receive unemployment benefit from the Labour Office. This enables them to gain work experience and so improve their prospects on the labour market. At the same time the small and medium-sized firms involved are able to boost their competitiveness through employees attending courses to enhance their qualification.

Under the scheme, small and medium-sized firms receive subsidies of up to 50 % of the eligible training costs if an unemployed person is taken on as a substitute for the duration of the training course. The essential requirement is that aid is granted only for general training, i.e. external training covering more than one firm, where the qualifications obtained can be transferred to other areas of work and used in other firms (e.g. preparatory courses for master craftsman qualifications, commercial specialists, customer service, environmentally friendly construction planning, fundamentals of electrical engineering).

No other projects are to receive assistance

Economic sector(s) concerned: All economic sectors

Name and address of the granting authority: Ingolstadt scheme: Regierung von Oberbayern Maximilianstraße 39 D - 80538 München

Augsburg scheme: Regierung von Schwaben Fronhof 10 D - 86125 Augsburg

(1) Investors in People is a national quality standard which sets a level of good practice for improving an organisation's performance through its people.