WRITTEN QUESTION No. 2594/97 by W.G. van VELZEN to the Commission. State aids for research and development and competition rules
Date: 1997-07-17
Institutions: European Parliament, VAN VELZEN W G
Subjects: EU Member State, EU control, European Commission, State aid, competition law, control of State aid, electronic component, infringement of EU law, research and development

17. 3. 98

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 82/115

(98/C 82/189)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-2594/97

by W.G. van Velzen (PPE) to the Commission

(17 July 1997)

Subject: State aids for research and development and competition rules

Reports recently appearing in the Dutch press and elsewhere concerning aid granted by certain Member States
for research and development regularly suggest that such aid might not be in accordance with the EC Treaty, in
particular Articles 92 to 94. On page 75 of the XXVIth Report on Competition Policy (1996), four cases are
mentioned where the Commission has expressed serious doubts, including SGS Thomson and Philips.

1.  Under Community law, do the SGS Thomson and Philips cases fall into the same category?

2.  Why  should  these  two  cases  fall  outside  the  new  framework  regarding  State  aids  for  research  and

development of 17 February 1996?

3.  What is the annual amount of government support for research and development in the EU granted by the
Member States? How does this compare with the amount of aid granted by Japan and the United States?

Answer given by Mr Van Miert on behalf of the Commission

(22 September 1997)

1.
The  SGS-Thomson  and  Philips  cases  where  investigations  have  been  opened  by  the  Commission  both
concern individual aid to companies in the semiconductor sector. In the SGS-Thomson case, the work concerns
technologies  for  semiconductor  integrated  circuits  in  application  areas  like  computer  and  power  supply,
telecommunications,  automotive,  audio  and  radio,  and  other  applications.  The  Philips  case  concerns  techno-
logies  for  semiconductor  integrated  circuits  for  personal  digital  assistants  (PDAs)  or  personal  intelligent
communicators (PICs).

2.
The assessment of the cases for the opening of the investigations has been carried out using criteria given in
the guidelines for research and development adopted by the Commission in December 1995 (1). The cases fall
within the scope of Article 92(1) of the EC Treaty since the aid favours (on an individual basis) the companies
concerned,  each  operating  in  highly  competitive  semiconductor  market  segments  for  which  there  is  trade
between  Member  States.  When  opening  the  investigations  in  both  cases,  the  Commission  expressed  doubts
regarding the proposed aid in relation to the necessity for the aid, the (cid:145)incentive(cid:146) effect › an inducement for the
company to pursue research it would not otherwise have pursued › as well as the nature of the work proposed. It
is these concerns which are being addressed in the current investigation. A full description explaining why the
investigations  were  opened  in  each  case  has  been  published  in  the  Official  journal  (SGS-Thomson (2),
Philips (3)). A final Commission decision on both cases is still pending.

European research investment in 1995 amounted to 1.9% of gross domestic product (GDP), compared with

3.
2.45% in the United States and 2.95% in Japan.

(1)  OJ C 45, 17.2.1996.
(2)  OJ C 358, 27.11.1996.
(3)  OJ C 393, 31.12.1996.

(98/C 82/190)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-2595/97

by Luigi Vinci (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(17 July 1997)

Subject: Segrate-Lacchiarella transport/transfer centre

On  24  May  1996  I  tabled  a  written  question  to  the  Commission  (E-1283/96) (1)  requesting  clarification
concerning  Community  funding  for  the  construction  of  the  Segrate-Lachiarella  transport/transfer  centre,  in
connection with which various irregularities appear to have occurred. Subsequently, on 12 June 1997, Italian
the
magistrates  sent  notification  of 

to  various  politicians  and  officials 

investigation 

involved 

in