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

(2003/C 297/02)

(Text with EEA relevance)

Aid No: XT 102/02

Member State: Italy

Region: Autonomous Province of Trento

Title of aid scheme or name of the company receiving an individual aid: Financing procedures and criteria for 2002 for training measures for workers employed under Law No 53 of 8 March 2000

Legal basis: Deliberazione della Giunta Provinciale n. 2695 d.d. 31.10.2002, come modificata dalla deliberazione della Giunta provinciale n. 2767 d.d. 8.11.2002 recante "Procedure e criteri di finanziamento per l'anno 2002 delle azioni formative rivolte a lavoratori occupati in attuazione del comma 4 dell'art. 6 della Legge 8 marzo 2000, n. 53 e riferibili alla gestione dei fondi di cui al Decreto de Ministero del Lavoro e della Previdenza Sociale del 6 giugno 2001 n. 167" (pubblicata sul Bollettino Ufficiale della Regione Trentino Alto Adige n. 48 del 19 novembre 2002)

Annual expenditure planned under the scheme or overall amount of individual aid granted to the company: EUR 373349,90

Maximum 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 disadvantaged workers within the meaning of Article 2(g) of 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

Date of implementation: 19 November 2002

Duration of scheme or individual aid award: Indefinite although not beyond 31 December 2006

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;

- 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 assessment 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 assessment 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 11/03

Member State: United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland

Region: 32 Counties of the island of Ireland - Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland

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

Legal basis: British/Irish Agreement Act 1999 Section 2.3 Part 7 of Annex 2 of the Act empowers InterTradeIreland to invest, lend or grant aid for the purposes of its function

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

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Notes:

70 projects will be established and implemented on a rolling basis during 2002-2005. Cost per project is GBP 41000 over 18-month duration (although annual cost is approx GBP 29000 - as some aspects are pro-rata and others not). The GBP 41000 per project is paid in quarterly instalments over the 18-month period. Therefore, total expenditure for the overall Fusion scheme of 70 projects varies each year - depending on how many projects have been established on a rolling basis and the number of cumulative projects in any one year.

Total funding element for 70 projects over 4 years = GBP 2870000. This represents 60 % of the total project cost with the remaining 40 % attributed by the participating enterprises

Maximum aid intensity: Up to a maximum of GBP 29000 assistance per project per annum representing 60 % aid intensity

Date of implementation: Proposed scheme to run for 4 years from date of approval. Individual companies will be eligible for assistance for a maximum of 18 months

Duration of scheme or individual aid award: Scheme will run until 2005

Objective of aid: The objective of the aid is to train high-calibre graduates in knowledge and technology transfer between industry and academia as well as general business management, with a view to preparing them for future senior management. The training is general as it is generic to all participating graduates and provides skills which are transferable across industry

Economic sector(s) concerned: All sectors

Name and address of the granting authority: InterTradeIreland The Old Gasworks Business Park

Kilmorey Street

Newry Co Down Northern Ireland BT34 2DE

Aid No: XT 13/03

Member State: Germany

Region: North Rhine-Westphalia

Title of aid scheme or name of the company receiving an individual aid: Scheme implementing "Jugend in Arbeit plus"

Legal basis: § 44 Landeshaushaltsordnung des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen

Annual expenditure planned under the scheme or overall amount of individual aid granted to the company: EUR 24700000 annual allocation in the budget for refinancing of the whole programme

Maximum aid intensity: General training measures are to be supported in small and medium-sized enterprises, not exceeding 70 % of the eligible costs, including only aid towards the costs of the vocational training - no aid is granted towards the costs of teaching in the workplace. The aid is given as a flat-rate subsidy (hourly rate per participant) of up to EUR 3,30

Date of implementation: 1 January 2003 (scheme enters into force)

Duration of scheme or individual aid award: 31 December 2006 (end of financing period)

Objective of aid: General training measures are to be supported by subsidies for day-release vocational training for employees (minimum one day or equivalent of at least 20 % of a normal working contract). In addition to the vocational qualification, the training should also increase the young person's personal and social skills, in order to overcome individual barriers to successful integration into working life

Economic sector(s) concerned: All EU economic sectors

Name and address of the granting authority: Versorgungsamt Köln Boltensternstraße 10 D - 50735 Köln

Other information: The scheme is partially financed with EU Objective 3 funds.

After the exemption regulation expires on 31 December 2006 a six-month transitional period will apply.

The aid scheme "Jugend in Arbeit plus" incorporates both an employment and a qualification component, so two summary information forms have been provided.

The qualification component falls under Regulation (EC) No 68/2001 of 12 January 2001 on the application of Articles 87 and 88 of the EC Treaty to training aid and is set out in the summary information form.

The employment component falls under Regulation (EC) No 2204/2002 on the application of Articles 87 and 88 of the EC Treaty to State aid for employment. Please see the relevant summary information form for employment aid

Aid No: XT 17/03

Member State: Austria

Region: Carinthia

Title of aid scheme or name of the company receiving an individual aid: "Tourism" scheme. Following amendment to the scheme, under point 1.4.1.(d) and point 1.6.1.(d), aid is provided for training costs in connection with skills development measures

Legal basis: Kärntner Wirtschaftsförderungsgesetz, LGBl. Nr. 6/1993 in der geltenden Fassung

Annual expenditure planned under the scheme or overall amount of individual aid granted to the company: This is an amendment to an existing scheme, and the resources already provided for are sufficient to cover it.

Expenditure under the "tourism" scheme

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Maximum aid intensity: max. 50 %

Date of implementation: 1 May 2003

Duration of scheme or individual aid award: - Period of validity: the amendment is to enter into force on 1 May 2003, with aid commitments under the amendment being issued only after approval of the amendment by the European Commission. The scheme will remain in force until 31 December 2006.

- Provided the application is submitted within that period, aid under the scheme may, in accordance with European Commission requirements, be granted up to 30 June 2007

Objective of aid: General training measures. The training measures are not intrinsically designed for use solely or mainly in the recipient firm and may be made use of by employees in various types of establishment

Economic sector(s) concerned: Tourism and the leisure industry

Name and address of the granting authority: Kärntner Wirtschaftsförderungsfonds Heuplatz 2 A - 9020 Klagenfurt

Aid No: XT 20/03

Member State: Italy

Region: Molise

Title of aid scheme or name of the company receiving an individual aid: Aid scheme for vocational training

Legal basis: - Legge n. 845 del 21.12.1978 "Legge quadro in materia di formazione professionale" e successive modifiche.

- Legge reg. n. 10 del 30.3.1995 "Nuovo ordinamento della formazione professionale" e successive modifiche

Annual expenditure planned under the scheme or overall amount of individual aid granted to the company: The total planned expenditure is EUR 11559057, broken down as follows:

- 2000: EUR 1607577,09

- 2001: EUR 2353859,75

- 2002: EUR 1478159,56

- 2003: EUR 1637279,92

- 2004: EUR 1261980,52

- 2005: EUR 1258380,28

- 2006: EUR 1961819,88

Maximum aid intensity: Pursuant to the rules on training aid laid down in Regulation (EC) No 68/2001, the Region of Molise has provided that the gross intensity of training aid granted under the scheme must comply with the ceilings stipulated in the Regulation for assisted and non-assisted areas

Date of implementation: 15 July 2002

Duration of scheme or individual aid award: 2000-2006

Objective of aid: Aid to both specific and general training

Economic sector(s) concerned: All sectors allowed by the Community rules

Name and address of the granting authority: Regione Molise - Assessorato alla formazione professionale Via S. Antonio Abate 236/B I - 86100 Campobasso

Aid No: XT 33/03

Member State: United Kingdom

Region: England

Title of aid scheme or name of the company receiving an individual aid: Employer Training Pilot Phase 2 (2003-2004)

Legal basis: - Employment Act 1973, Section 2(1) and 2(2) as substantiated by Section 25 of the Employment and Training Act 1998 and the Industrial Development Act 1982, Section 11

- Industrial Development Act, 1982, Section 7

- Learning and Skills Council Act 2000

Annual expenditure planned under the scheme or overall amount of individual aid granted to the company: This programme will provide funding of some GBP 120000000 (EUR 168000000) from 1 July 2003 to 31 December 2004. The estimated annual funding profile is as follows:

- July-December 2003: GBP 30 million (EUR 42 million)

- January-December 2004: GBP 90 million (EUR 126 million)

Maximum aid intensity: In the case of aid schemes and individual training exempted under this scheme, the intensity rates specified in Article 4(2)-(7) of Commission Regulation (EC) No 68/2001 will be adhered to, i.e. 50 % for a large company, 70 % for a SME, + 5 % for assisted areas status and 10 % if the beneficiaries meet the definition of disadvantaged workers. Under this block exemption, the maximum amount available to any one employer will be no more than GBP 100000 (EUR 140000 based on Exchange rate of GBP 1 = EUR 1,40 as at 8 May 2003) within the 3-year period to which this notification relates and in any case, will comply with Article 5 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 68/2001

Date of implementation: 1 July 2003

Duration of scheme or individual aid award: 18 months ending December 2004 (split over two financial years and two calendar years)

Objective of aid: The scheme is focused exclusively on low-skilled and poorly qualified employees. The objective of the scheme is to use training to reduce individual employee vulnerability to unemployment and to encourage employers, particularly small employers, of the value of investing in the skills of their workforce. The scheme is a pilot scheme, which will be evaluated with the intention of rolling out a national strategy available to all employers in a future phase building on the lessons learnt in this pilot.

The training (which will be exclusively general) will be in the form of nationally recognised qualifications such as National Vocational Qualifications or other vocationally specific qualifications as defined by the appropriate Sector Skills Council where an NVQ framework is not currently available (see Annex A for examples)

Economic sector(s) concerned: In compliance with Article 3 Commission Regulation (EC) 68/2001, the scope of this training aid block exemption will cover all sectors

Name and address of the granting authority: Learning and Skills Council Cheylesmore House

Quinton Road

Coventry CV1 2WT United Kingdom

Other information: Contact officer: David Greer Direct line: 024 76 82 33 27

Mobile: 077 89 65 11 36