EN Official Journal of the European Union C 165/6

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 165/04)

XA Number: XA 23/07

Member State: Slovenia

Region: —

Title of aid scheme or name of company receiving individual aid: Sofinanciranje zavarovalnih premij za zavarovanje kmetijske proizvodnje za leto 2007

Legal basis: Uredba o sofinanciranju zavarovalnih premij za zavarovanje kmetijske proizvodnje za leto 2007 (Uradni list RS 138/2006)

Annual expenditure planned/overall amount of individual aid granted to company: The expenditure planned for 2007 totals EUR 5 633 450

Maximum aid intensity: The co-financing covers 40 % of the expenditure on insurance premiums to insure agricultural crops against damage from hail, fire, lightning, late frost, hurricane and flood. As regards insurance against the risks of destruction, slaughter on the orders of a veterinary surgeon and economic slaughter on account of disease, the co-financing of insurance premiums is determined in absolute terms per species and category of animal and may not be more than 50 % of the justified expenditure on insurance premiums

Date of implementation:

Duration of scheme or individual aid award: The aid may be granted up to 31 December 2007

Objective of aid: The aid is in accordance with Article 12 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) 70/2001 (1) — Aid towards the payment of insurance premiums.

The purpose of paying a proportion of the expenditure on insurance premiums is to encourage agricultural producers to insure themselves against potential losses due to natural hazards or adverse weather conditions, as well as losses due to disease in animals, whilst taking responsibility for reducing risk in the area of arable and livestock farming

Sectors: Agriculture — arable and livestock farming

Name and address of the granting authority:

Ministrstvo za kmetijstvo, gozdarstvo in prehrano Dunajska 58 SLO-1000 Ljubljana

Agencija RS za kmetijske trge in razvoj podeželja Dunajska 160 SLO-1000 Ljubljana

Website address: http://www.uradni-list.si/1/ulonline.jsp?urlid=2006138&dhid=86719

Other information: —

XA Number: XA 24/07

Member State: Finland

Region: Regions affected by adverse weather conditions in 2006

Title of aid scheme or name of company receiving an individual aid: Aid to agricultural enterprises affected by adverse weather conditions in 2006

Legal basis: Laki satovahinkojen korvaamisesta (1214/2000)

Valtioneuvoston asetus satovahinkojen korvaamisesta (270/2003)

Maa- ja metsätalousministeriön asetus satovahinkojen korvaamisesta (364/2003)

Annual expenditure planned under the scheme or overall amount of individual aid granted to the company: In 2006 the annual expenditure planned for culture-specific crop failure compensation is EUR 4,75 million

Maximum Aid intensity: Compensation is paid under Article 2(8) of Regulation (EC) No 1857/2006 only if at least one-third of a given farmer's harvest of each eligible crop is destroyed. The compensation is limited to 90 % of the losses exceeding the farmer's own contribution i.e. 30 % of the volume of the standard harvest. Also for each individual crop eligible for aid, the farmer's own contribution is at least 30 % of total losses. In comparing harvest levels the standard harvest is the average harvest of the five years preceding the year in which the losses took place, excluding the highest and lowest entry relative to the other harvest years. The value of the loss is then calculated individually for each farmer on the basis of this background information. The method of calculation therefore complies with Article 11(2) and (4) of Regulation (EC) No 1857/2006.

The value of the harvest to be compensated is calculated on the basis of the market prices for previous harvest years and the market price for the year in which the losses took place; the latter market price is set by the advisory committee for harvest losses on the basis of available market price information.

The maximum amount of loss eligible for aid must be reduced by any amount received under insurance schemes and any other costs and losses than those resulting from the adverse weather conditions

Date of implementation: The aid scheme will not enter into force before 28 March 2007. The first possible payment date is 5 April 2007

Duration of scheme or individual aid award: The aid is paid for damages occurring in 2006

Objective of aid: Aid to agricultural and horticultural enterprises affected by adverse weather conditions (Article 11 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1857/2006)

Sectors(s) concerned: The total area covered by the aid scheme is 63 000 ha. A total of 32 different crops have been damaged. The farmer's own contribution towards the damages caused to the harvest and the value thereof is at least 30 %

Name and address of the granting authority:

Maa- ja metsätalousministeriö PL 30 FIN-00023 Valtioneuvosto

Internet address: www.mmm.fi, www.finlex.fi

Other information: —

Aid number: XA 25/07

Member State: France

Region: local/regional authorities

Title of aid scheme or name of company receiving individual aid: Programme for setting up and developing local initiatives

Legal basis:

— Council Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005 (2)

— Commission Regulation (EC) No 1974/2006 (3)

— Commission Regulation (EC) No 1857/2006, Article 15

— Articles R 343-34 et seq of the Rural Code

Annual expenditure planned under the scheme or overall amount of individual aid granted to the company: EUR 7 000 000

Maximum aid intensity:

— Technical/economic support for young farmers: up to 80 % of expenditure incurred subject to a limit of EUR 1 500 a year per farmer, all financing taken together (State and local/regional authorities), aid being possible during the first five years of setting up.

— Defrayment of diagnosis costs: up to 80 % of expenditure incurred subject to a limit of EUR 1 500, all financing taken together (State and local/regional authorities).

— Aid for training: EUR 60 a day, may be granted by the State for 100 days and supplemented by the same amount from a local/regional authority, up to the limit of expenditure incurred.

— Payment for the course on increasing professionalism: corresponding to the hourly amount set for vocational training (the minimum monthly rate set by the Employment Code is EUR 652,02 as at 1 December 2006).

— Promotion and communication measures: 100 % intensity rate

Date of implementation: In 2007, from when this exemption sheet appears in the Official Journal of the European Union

Duration of scheme or individual aid: until December 2013

Objective of aid:

I. Aid for advice

Young farmers setting up are of diverse origin. Among them, young people not from a farming background, those setting up on a holding away from their family, and farmers' children whose holding does not enable them to set up under satisfactory economic conditions have more difficulty in achieving a professional project. It is therefore necessary to implement measures in favour of this specific target group.

Article 15 of Regulation (EC) No 1857/2006 concerns in particular covering part of the costs of technical support provided by an agricultural organisation or a producer group (experts' or advisers' fees).

This aid will be granted to young farmers during the first five years of setting up and can be financed by the State and local/regional authorities.

— Technical/economic support for young farmers: In order to ensure the viability of setting up, the professionalism of young farmers in carrying out their personal projects should be reinforced. This can take the form of technical/economic monitoring. This provision is intended particularly for innovative projects, projects to establish holdings, projects based on diversification or involving major modernisation. Where setting up is being done in the form of a company, the monitoring may include a module on work organisation and professional relations.

— Defrayment of diagnosis costs: The aid may relate to diagnosis in respect of the holding to be given up or taken over, or a market study for specific types of production or production for direct sale (organic, for example). The aid is paid to the service provider under Article 15 of Regulation (EC) No 1857/2006 once the relevant administrative authority has established that setting up has taken place or when, after setting up, the young farmer redirects production. Diagnosis is also necessary to facilitate the process of transfer and setting up; where appropriate, the result of the diagnosis accompanies entry of the transferor in the departure/setting up list if the diagnosis is requested by the transferor. In that case, the transferor receives the aid.

II. Aid for training

Aid for training may be financed by the State and local/regional authorities either with a view to preparing for setting up or after setting up to supplement the young farmer's initial training. It concerns helping the young person to follow a training course.

— Aid for training is granted to young people who set up and who need to follow supplementary training appropriate to their project, or who undertake to progressively obtain a level IV qualification (in accordance with the provisions of the human resources development project). The purpose of the aid is to enable the recipient to be replaced on the holding in order to follow further training for five years, or three years in the case of acquiring the professional skill to qualify for setting up aid.

— Payment for the course on increasing a young person's professionalism is the aid provided for in respect of a period spent being mentored by a farmer who plans to give up farming. A young person is considered to be a disadvantaged worker within the meaning of Article 2(f) of Regulation (EC) No 2204/2002 (4) in the sense that, in the absence of mentoring, that young farmer, particularly if not from a farming background, ‘has difficulty entering the labour market without assistance’ (cf. Article 2(f) of Regulation (EC) No 2204/2002). The aid is intended to provide a young person, considered to be a disadvantaged worker within the meaning of Article 2(f) of Regulation (EC) No 2204/2002, with technical and economic advice and with general training on running a holding, in order to sustain employment in a viable enterprise which could be split up if nobody took it over. The mentor is thus provided with an incentive to transfer the holding to the young person. The aid is paid by the State or the local/regional authority to the young person undergoing training for 3-12 months. That period may be extended if necessary in order to complete the young person's training. During the mentoring period, the young person's status is that of a vocational trainee. This measure may also be implemented for the benefit of a young person who wishes to be mentored by an associate farmer with a view to integrating an existing agricultural company. The training course and its progress will be monitored by the CFPPA (agricultural vocational training and promotion centre) or the ADASEA (departmental association for improving the structure of agricultural holdings) in the department where the holding is based and/or by an approved regional centre. The mentoring training course may count for the total duration of the professionalism course which the young person must complete before setting up.

III. Promotion and communication measures

Professional agricultural organisations, the ADASEAs or other structures undertake work with education and training establishment students (young people from vocational secondary schools or elsewhere) in the form of studies, communication measures (brochures, press articles, talks at schools, information points on setting up and transfer, etc.), promotion measures centred on the occupation of farmer.

The above-mentioned organisations also carry out expert evaluation work in the form of pinpointing holdings which will become vacant over the coming years and they play an advisory role by organising, in rural municipalities, meetings to inform and raise awareness among older farmers so as to encourage them to choose to transfer to young people who are looking for a holding to take over. An observatory may group together at regional level the monitoring of these expert evaluation and advisory operations.

In order to fulfil these tasks successfully, subject to the conditions of Article 15 of Regulation (EC) No 1857/2006 the State contributes towards financing them. To that end, an annual budget is divided among the regions.

There may be an additional financial contribution from local/regional authorities in order to successfully implement specific measures.

These measures are implemented within the framework of departmental or regional agreements under prefects' authority and are paid for on receipt of an annual report on the work carried out

Sector(s) concerned: all agriculture

Name and address of the granting authority:

Ministère de l'agriculture et de la pêche 78, rue de Varenne F-75349 Paris 07 SP

Web address: www.agriculture.gouv.fr (Once the programme for setting up and developing local initiatives has been approved, a factsheet will be made available online providing information specifically on setting up in agriculture.)

Other information: Continuation of the measures already approved under the previous programme for setting up and developing local initiatives (scheme N 184/03 approved by the Commission on 9.7.2003)

XA Number: XA 27/07

Member State: United Kingdom

Region: Wales

Title of Aid scheme or name of company receiving an individual aid: Wales Catchment Sensitive Farming Project

Legal basis: Agriculture Act 1986 (Section 1(1)(C)) to be read in conjunction with Government of Wales Act 1998 (Sections 40 and 85)

Annual expenditure planned under the scheme or overall amount of individual aid granted to the company: Planned annual expenditure (GBP'000)

2007: GBP 422,700

2008: GBP 50,000

Total: GBP 472,700

Maximum aid intensity: The scheme consists of two measures

Date of implementation: The scheme will start on 1 April 2007

Duration of scheme or individual aid award: The scheme will begin on 1 April 2007.

It will close on the 31 December 2007.

The last payment will be made 31 March 2008

Objective of aid: Enviromental protection

Establish and run a project to promote catchment sensitive farming to safeguard the water environment. The project will be run in two areas covering 80 farms.

It includes consultancy to identify potential pollution hazards and mitigation requirements. Such aid will be granted in line with Article 15 of Regulation 1857/2006 and the eligible expenses will be consultancy services.

Grants will also be paid for eligible capital works that enhance the water environment. Such aid will be granted in line with Article 4 of Regulation 1857/2006 and the eligible expenses will be for:

the construction, acquisition or improvement of immovable property and

the purchase or lease-purchase of new machinery and equipment, including computer software up to the market value of the asset; other costs connected with a leasing contract (Tax, lessor's margin, interest refinancing costs, overheads, insurance charges, wtc.) are not eligible expenditure.

The above items will only constitute eligible expenditure where they will significantly mitigate pollution risks. Expenditure on second hand machinery is not eligible

The wider project also includes water quality monitoring, catchment modelling, and assessment of farmer attitudes, uptake of measures and evaluation of project effectiveness

Sector(s) concerned: The scheme applies to production of agricultural products. The scheme seeks to mitigate the effects of agricultural production on the water environment and aid will be available to all viable agricultural holdings within the two project areas irrespective of enterprise type. One area is an upland livestock farming area (mainly beef and sheep). The other is in a lowland area where dairying and livestock (beef and sheep) predominate

Name and address of the granting authority:

Welsh Assembly Government Cathays Park (CP2) Cardiff CF10 3NQ United Kingdom

Contact: M P Samuel (Room 1-097)

The statutory body responsible for the scheme is: —

The organisation operating the scheme is: —

Web-Address: http://new.wales.gov.uk/docrepos/40371/403823112/4038213/1304878/CSF-agristateaid?lang=en

Alternatively details can be found on the Defra website.

http://www.defra.gov.uk/farm/policy/state-aid/setup/exist-exempt.htm

Other information: Further and more detailed information relating to eligibility and rules for the scheme can be found in the web links above

An application to fund part of the project using Objective 1 funds has been made under Objective 1 Priority 5 Measure 7

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

Neil Marr

Agricultural State Aid

Defra

8B 9 Millbank

c/o 17 Smith Square

London SW1P 3JR

United Kingdom

(1) OJ L 358, 16.12.2006, p. 3.

(2) OJ L 277, 21.10.2005, p. 1.

(3) OJ L 368, 23.12.2006, p. 15.

(4) OJ L 337, 13.12.2002, p. 3.