EN Official Journal of the European Union C 55/20

Summary information communicated by Member States regarding State aid granted under Commission Regulation (EC) No 1/2004 on the application of Articles 87 and 88 of the EC Treaty to State aid to small and medium-sized enterprises active in the production, processing and marketing of agricultural products

(Text with EEA relevance)

(2007/C 55/05)

XA Number: XA 113/06

Member State: United Kingdom

Region: Northwest of England

Title of Aid scheme or name of company receiving an individual aid: MCJ Casings Ltd

Legal basis: The Government's powers for Regional Selective Assistance (RSA) and Selective Finance for Investment in England (SFIE) are provided in Section 7 of the Industrial Development Act 1982. Section 7(1) of the Act provides for financial assistance to be given on a discretionary basis in order to provide, maintain or safeguard employment in the Assisted Areas (AAs). Offers of assistance in England are subject to the consent of the Treasury

Annual expenditure planned under the scheme or overall amount of individual aid granted to the company: A Selective Finance for Investment grant of GBP 58 000 payable in 2 instalments over an 18 month period

Maximum aid intensity: An SFI grant of GBP 58 000 equates to 5 % of the company's total project capital expenditure (GBP 1 240 000)

Date of implementation: The project is due to commence 29th December 2006

Duration of scheme or individual aid award: The grant will be paid in 2 instalments when capital expenditure, job creation and productivity growth targets have been met. The final payment will be made by 30th June 2008

Objective of aid: The objective is Regional Development. The grant complies with Article 7 which deals with investment in processing and marketing of agricultural products. The eligible costs will be the purchase of new machinery and equipment namely odour control plant steam cleaning equipment, gut cleaning equipment, workstations, refrigeration, wet chemical scrubber and ancillary equipment

Sector(s) concerned: The main activity of MCJ Casings is to process and market sausage casings from sheep intestine.

Name and address of the granting authority:

Northwest Regional Development Agency PO Box 37 Renaissance House Centre Park Warrington WA1 1XB United Kingdom

Web-Address: http://www.nwda.co.uk/RelatedContent.aspx?area=86&subarea=252&item=20029190203189955

Scroll down the page and click on the Defra State Aid link on the right hand side.

http://defraweb/farm/policy/state-aid/setup/exist-exempt.htm

Other information: Details of the offer targets can be found in the full text document.

This grant is being made under the selective finance for investments scheme which was approved as regional selective assistance under N731/2000. The processing of Annex1 products is however excluded form the approval to scheme N731/2000 and MCJ Casing's products falls under Annex1. Therefore, the grant is being notified individually under Regulation 1/2004.

MCJ Casings Ltd is based in the Merseyside Objective 1 region.

Signed and dated on behalf of the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (UK competent authority)

Neil Marr

Agricultural State Aid Advisor

Defra

8B 9 Millbank

c/o 17 Smith Square

London SW1P 3JR

United Kingdom

Aid No: XA 100/06

Member State: Spain

Region: Catalonia

Title of aid scheme or name of company receiving an individual aid: Aid to improve the processing and marketing of agricultural and livestock products

Legal basis: Orden ARP/203/2005, de 27 de abril, por la que se aprueban las bases reguladoras de las ayudas para la mejora de los procesos de transformación y comercialización de los productos agrícolas y ganaderos (DOG C 4379 de 6.5.05)

Annual expenditure planned under the scheme or overall amount of individual aid granted to the company: 2005: EUR 100 000

2006: EUR 4 500 000

Since these are interest subsidies, the allocated budget will be distributed across the life of the loans, which will not exceed ten years

Maximum aid intensity: The aid takes the form of a subsidy of up to 1.5 percentage points on the interest on loans contracted to finance investments in improving the processing and marketing of agricultural and livestock products. The maximum amount of the loan will be 70 % of the eligible investment, excluding VAT, up to EUR 1 400 000.

The maximum intensity will be:

5,74 % in the case of a loan over 10 years.

4,48 % in the case of a loan over 8 years.

3,16 % in the case of a loan over 5 years.

Date of implementation:

Duration of aid scheme or individual aid award: Aid may be granted up to 31 December 2006. Payments will be made for up to 10 years until the loans granted have been totally repaid

Objective of aid: The objective is to encourage firms to make investments to improve the processing and marketing of agricultural products.

Article 7.

Eligible costs are:

the construction and purchase of immovable property, excluding the purchase of land;

new equipment and machinery, including computer programs and software;

miscellaneous expenditure, up to 12 % of expenditure under the preceding indents, including drafting and preparation of the technical draft of the investment and supervision of the works justifying the investment, feasibility studies and expenditure which helps improve competitiveness

Sector(s) concerned: Processing and marketing of the agricultural products listed in Annex I to the Treaty, excluding fisheries products but including cork products (CN code 4502, 4503 and 4504), provided that the result of the processing is also an agricultural product or one included in Annex I to the Treaty. The investment must be carried out by agri-food industries in the following sectors:

Name and address of the granting authority:

Departamento de Agricultura, Ganadería y Pesca Generalitat de Catalunya Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, 612-614 E-08007 Barcelona

Web address: https://www.gencat.net/diari_c/4379/05116113.htm

Other information: Signature of the competent authority

Joan Luria i Pagès

Subdirector-general of programming

Department of economics and finance

GENERALITAT DE CATALUNYA