EN Official Journal of the European Union C 302/18

Information communicated by Member States regarding State aid granted under Commission Regulation (EC) No 1857/2006 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 of agricultural products and amending Regulation (EC) No 70/2001

(2007/C 302/11)

XA Number: XA 125/07

Member State: France

Region: Département de Saône-et-Loire

Title of aid scheme: Aides aux investissements de diversification agricole

Legal bases:

— Article 4 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1857/2006 of 15 December 2006.

— Art L 3231-2 et subséquents du Code général des collectivités territoriales permettant aux collectivités territoriales d'accorder des aides pour favoriser le développement économique.

— Délibération du Conseil régional de Bourgogne du 15 janvier 2007

— Délibération du Conseil général du 27 mars 2007.

Annual expenditure planned under the scheme: EUR 150 000 in aid annually, according to needs and depending on availability of funds

Maximum aid intensity:

Title of the activity Nature of eligible expenditure Amount of eligible expenditure in EUR (excl. tax) General rate of assistance for scheme Min. Max. Aid for diversification: support for innovative and unusual agricultural projects (1)that encourage farmers to set up in rural areas Fixed production equipment, excluding replacement equipment 5 000 30 000 30 %

Date of implementation: As soon as acknowledgement of receipt has been received from the European Commission.

Duration of scheme or individual aid award: 6 years, subject to budgetary resources

Objective of aid: The objective is to contribute to the diversification of agricultural activity in the department by helping initiatives that are conducive to the growth of new forms of production, supporting innovative or unusual agricultural projects that encourage farmers to set up in rural areas.

Sector(s) concerned: All agricultural production sectors in the department

Name and address of the granting authority:

MONSIEUR LE PRÉSIDENT DU CONSEIL GÉNÉRAL DE SAÔNE-ET-LOIRE Direction de l'Équipement rural et de l'agriculture Service des Affaires Agricoles Espace Duhesme 18 rue de Flacé F-71026 Macon Cedex 9

Web address: http://www.cg71.com

XA Number: XA 126/07

Member State: Italy

Region: Regione Autonoma Friuli Venezia Giulia

Title of aid scheme or name of company receiving an individual aid award: Legge 1329/65 «Sabatini» — Agevolazioni per l'acquisto o la locazione finanziaria di nuove macchine utensili o di produzione. Settore agricolo

Legal basis: Legge 28 novembre 1965, n. 1329

Regolamento concernente criteri e modalità per la concessione delle agevolazioni di cui alla L 1329/65 approvato con deliberazione della Giunta regionale n. 1387 dell'8 giugno 2007

Annual expenditure planned under the scheme or overall amount of individual aid granted to the company: Total budget for all the production sectors receiving incentives under Law No 1329/65: EUR 15 000 000

Maximum aid intensity: Up to 50 % of eligible investments by undertakings active in less-favoured areas or the areas referred to in Article 36(a)(i), (ii) and (iii) of Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005, designated by the Member States in accordance with Articles 50 and 94 of that Regulation.

For undertakings active in other areas, the gross aid intensity may not exceed 40 % of eligible costs.

Date of implementation: The aid scheme will enter into force on 1 July 2007 and in any case ten working days after this form is submitted, in accordance with Article 20(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1857/2006 on exemptions.

Duration of scheme or individual aid award: Ends 31 December 2013

Objective of aid: To help SMEs with the purchase or financial lease of new machine-tools or manufacturing equipment costing over EUR 1 000 in total.

Eligible investment must pursue one or more of the following objectives:

reduction of production costs,

improvement and re-deployment of production,

improvement in quality,

preservation and improvement of the natural environment, hygiene conditions and animal welfare standards.

The aid measure falls under Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1857/2006 published in OJ L 358 of 16 December 2006.

Sector(s) concerned: SMEs active in the sector of primary agricultural production listed in Annex I to the EC Treaty

Name and address of the granting authority:

Regione Autonoma Friuli Venezia Giulia Direzione centrale attività produttive Servizio sostegno e promozione comparto produttivo industriale Via Trento, 2 I-34132 Trieste

Web address: http://www.regione.fvg.it/istituzionale/delibere/delibere.htm

Other information: Director, Servizio sostegno e promozione comparto produttivo industriale

Antonio Feruglio

XA Number: XA 150/07

Member State: Republic of Slovenia

Region: State aid covering the entire territory of the Republic of Slovenia

Title of aid scheme or name of company receiving individual aid: „Podpora strokovnim prireditvam, stanovskemu in interesnemu povezovanju“

Legal basis: 4. člen Uredbe o programih kmetijske strukturne politike in kmetijske politike razvoja podeželja za leti 2007 in 2008

Annual expenditure planned under the scheme or overall amount of individual aid granted to the company: 2007: EUR 292 104

2008: EUR 292 104

Maximum aid intensity: To provide technical support in agriculture, the intensity of aid to cover presentations given by experts and for high-level and interest-group based networks totals up to 100 % of eligible costs.

Date of implementation: Starts 17 July 2007

Duration of scheme or individual aid award: Ends 31 December 2008

Objective of the aid: Technical support to SMEs

Reference to Articles of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1857/ 2006 and eligible costs: Article 4 of the Decree on the programmes of agricultural structural and rural development policy for 2007 and 2008 includes measures constituting State aid in accordance with Article 15 (technical support for agriculture) of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1857/2006 of 15 December 2006 on the application of Articles 87 and 88 of the Treaty to State aid to small and medium-sized enterprises active in the production of agricultural products and amending Regulation (EC) No 70/2001 (OJ L 358, 16.12.2006, p. 3).

Aid to make expert presentations, for information and training will be granted in the form of subsidised services for non-governmental and non-for-profit forms of cooperation between farmers that are SMEs, therefore the requirement is fulfilled that aid may be granted only to small and medium-sized enterprises active in agricultural production.

Economic Sector(s) concerned: Agriculture

Name and address of granting authority: Ministrstvo za kmetijstvo, gozdarstvo in prehrano RS

Web address: http://www.uradni-list.si/1/ulonline.jsp?urlid=200758&dhid=90280

Other information: Date: 3 July 2007

Signature of person responsible:

Branko RAVNIK

Acting Director-General

Directorate of Agriculture

XA Number: XA 151/07

Member State: France

Region: All, since these measures may be financed by any regional or local authorities (regional councils or general councils) wishing to do so.

Title of aid scheme or name of company receiving individual aid: Aides à l'assistance technique dans le secteur de l'élevage

Legal basis: Code Rural, partie législative, articles L 621-1 à L 621-11.

Projet d'arrêté du ministre de l'agriculture et de la pêche

Code général des collectivités territoriales, articles L 1511-1 et suivants

Annual expenditure planned under the scheme or overall amount of individual aid granted to the company: EUR 26 million/year from the National Inter-trade Office for Livestock and Livestock Products, subject to budget allocations, and an unspecified amount from regional and local authorities.

Maximum aid intensity: Up to 100 %

Date of implementation: The aid scheme will be implemented from the date of acknowledgement of receipt by the Commission, subject to the corresponding appropriations being available.

Duration of scheme or individual aid: 7 years

Objective of aid: This aid scheme is in line with Article 15 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1857/2006 of 15 December 2006.

The National Inter-trade Office for Livestock and Livestock Products will introduce livestock sector aid programmes aimed at providing stock farmers with specific technical assistance centred, depending on the programme, around the following themes:

animal disease prevention, food safety and traceability, including by introducing the ‘hygiene package’ (applying Regulation (EC) 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 January 2002 laying down the general principles and requirements of food law, establishing the European Food Safety Authority and laying down procedures in matters of food safety, Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the hygiene of foodstuffs, and Regulation (EC) No 853/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 laying down specific hygiene rules for food of animal origin),

reduction of constraints at work, improvement of work ergonomics and design of buildings,

improvement of practices favouring respect for the environment and animal welfare,

assistance in the sphere of genetic improvement,

segmentation of markets, in particular by introducing and backing up quality measures.

These aid programmes will involve defraying the costs of consultancy services provided by producer groups or other organisations acting vis-à-vis stock farmers within the framework of collective agreements introducing, based on the above themes, individual and specific livestock monitoring. It will also be a question of supporting the consultancy programmes enabling those agreements to be drawn up and monitored.

The aid scheme will make it possible to finance the costs of technical support and advice provided within that framework, limited to the costs relating to the supply of that service. No aid will be paid to stock farmers.

Steps will be taken to ensure that no stock farmer whose holding does not satisfy the Community criteria for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will benefit from a subsidised technical assistance service. Subject to this restriction, the aid will be granted in the form of subsidised services, accessible to all stock farmers, without having to be members of producer organisations or other structures.

Regional and local authorities (regional councils and general councils) wishing to do so will be able to grant aid under the same conditions as those adopted by the Office for Livestock in respect of this scheme, subject to compliance with the authorised limit rates.

Sector(s) concerned: Livestock sector

Name and address of the granting authority:

Office National Interprofessionnel de l'Élevage et de ses Productions 80, avenue des Terroirs de France F-75607 Paris Cedex 12

Web address: http://www.office-elevage.fr/aides-nat/aides-nat.htm

Other information: Regional or local authorities supplementing the financing by the Office for Livestock must do so subject to the same conditions as those adopted by the Office for Livestock and verify compliance with the aid limits, with the help of the departmental directorates for agriculture and forestry, by reference to the limits laid down in Article 15(2)(a), (b), (c), (d) and (e) of Regulation (EC) No 1857/2006, the framework for this scheme.

(1) Innovative and unusual agricultural projects: bison, ostriches, worm-farming, snail-farming, etc.