Information communicated by Member States regarding State aid granted under Commission Regulation (EC) No 70/2001 of 12 January 2001 on the application of Articles 87 and 88 of the EC Treaty to State aid to small and medium-sized enterprises (Text with EEA relevance)
Date: 2002-05-18
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Denmark, State aid, control of State aid, public financing, tourism

C 117/2

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

18.5.2002

Information communicated by Member States regarding State aid granted under Commission
Regulation (EC) No 70/2001 of 12 January 2001 on the application of Articles 87 and 88 of the
EC Treaty to State aid to small and medium-sized enterprises

(2002/C 117/02)

(Text with EEA relevance)

Aid No: XS/12/01

Member State: Denmark

Title of aid scheme or name of the company receiving an
individual aid: National initiative to promote tourism in the
form of central government basic financing for
regional
tourism development corporations

Legal basis: Finansloven 2001

Annual expenditure planned under the scheme or overall
amount of individual aid granted to the company: Total
central government
financing of
regional tourism development corporations is intended to be
DKK 30 million a year over a five-year period running from
2001 to 2005. The money is to be appropriated in the Finance
Act each year

funding for

the basic

Maximum aid intensity: The Ministry of
Industry and
Commerce will pay out aid to development corporations on
the understanding that a major proportion of their business
the
constitutes a public function, and will
remainder
under
for
Commission Regulation (EC) No 70/2001 on State aid to
small and medium-sized enterprises and Commission Regu-
lation (EC) No 68/2001 on training aid.

require that
eligible

activities

used

only

be

The specific objectives eligible under Commission Regulation
(EC) No 70/2001 are counselling, consultancy and information
for
firms, organisations, associations, or countryside and
cultural foundations involved in tourism in the region; this
might
specialised lectures
towards the end of the working day, seminars, etc.

take the form for example of

for the tourist

Economic sector(s) concerned: The initiative is aimed at
broad support
trade, with assistance being
available in principle to any firm, association, organisation or
institution involved in tourism to a
countryside or cultural
greater or lesser extent.

The direct recipients of aid will be the regional tourism devel-
opment corporations, under NACE division 91, activities of
membership organisations.

The scope of the initiative is broad, and aid will be available for
activities that indirectly allow the promotion of tourism in the
following NACE groups:

55.1 Hotels

55.2 Camping sites

55.3 Restaurants

63.3 Travel agencies and tour operators

70.3 Activities relating to the rental of real estate

71.1 Car hire

The maximum aid intensity will be 50 % on consultancy
services

74.8 Miscellaneous business activities

Division 91 Activities of membership organisations

Date of
February 2001

implementation: Aid may be granted from 20

92.3 Other entertainment activities

92.5 Library, archives, museums and other cultural activities

Duration of scheme or individual aid award: The scheme is
to run until 31 December 2005

Name and address of the granting authority:

Objective of aid: The regional development corporations are
at present the regional players in the overall public effort to
promote tourism. They are required to develop and implement
in
strategies for the development of tourism in the regions,
cooperation with private tourist
firms in the industry and
public countryside and cultural bodies.

this initiative is primarily to preserve the
The purpose of
corporations as regional players partly financed by the State,
through which private firms involved in the tourist industry
and public cultural and countryside bodies can develop a joint
strategy and undertake joint development initiatives for the
benefit of the region as a whole.

Ministry of Industry and Commerce (Erhvervsministeriet)
Slotsholmsgade 10-12
DK-1216 Copenhagen K

and

Danish Tourist Board (Danmarks Turistråd)
Styrelsesafdelingen
Vesterbrogade 6D
DK-1620 Copenhagen V

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Official Journal of the European Communities

C 117/3

Aid No: XS/39/01

Member State: United Kingdom

Region: Scotland (other
Scotland)

than Highlands and Islands of

Title of aid scheme or name of the company receiving an
individual aid: Scottish Enterprise Business Advisory Services
scheme for SMEs

Legal basis: Enterprise and New Towns (Scotland) Act 1990, as
amended by Scottish Statutory Instrument 2001 No 126

Annual expenditure planned under the scheme or overall
amount of individual aid granted to the company: Exact
amounts expended on the scheme are based on the demand for
individual components. However, the budget for the scheme
will not exceed GBP 100 million per year

Maximum aid intensity:

Objective of aid: The general aim of the scheme is to assist
with the development of the regional competitiveness of the
area covered by the scheme, by assisting SMEs within the
region and adding value to local services. The scheme covers
a wide variety of specific activities undertaken by the Scottish
Enterprise Network under a general heading of business
advisory services. The primary aims of
the scheme are to
assist all forms of SME (micro enterprises, small enterprises
and medium-sized enterprises) with their development as
competitive businesses and to add value to local products
and services. The issues addressed by the scheme will cover
interventions on management and other business
issues,
competitiveness and growth, sustainability of SMEs, technology
and expanding the technical bases of the region's SMEs, inno-
vation and product development. Assistance will be given
across a wide variety of sectors and industries

Economic sector(s) concerned: This scheme applies to all
sectors, but to the following sectors only to the extent that
there is no conflict with the relevant sectoral guidelines:

— agriculture

— fisheries and acquaculture

(i) Discretionary aid of up to 50 % gross will be granted for
consultancy services provided by outside consultants to
new or established SMEs in such fields as management,
finance, new technology (especially information tech-
nology), e-commerce, pollution control, protection of intel-
lectual property rights or the like, or for the purpose of
assessing the feasibility of new ventures, the introduction
technologies and design issues. The
of environmental
enterprise's usual operating expenditure will be excluded
from support.

— shipbuilding

— coal and steel

— motor vehicles

— synthetic fibres

(ii) Discretionary aid will be provided for additional overhead
costs associated with the technical requirements of tech-
nology-related process and product development, including
additional technical staff specifically related to the project.
Such aid in the assisted areas will not exceed the ceiling of
regional investment aid determined in the map approved
by the Commission and,
in non-assisted areas, will not
exceed 15 % in the case of small enterprises and 7,5 %
in the case of medium-sized enterprises.

(iii) Discretionary aid will be granted for the purchase of
specific dedicated capital equipment and/or assets related
to the development project and additional to the SME.
Such aid in the assisted areas will not exceed the ceiling
of
aid determined in the map
approved by the Commission and, in non-assisted areas,
will not exceed 15 % in the case of small enterprises and
7,5 % in the case of medium-sized enterprises.

investment

regional

(iv) Discretionary aid for participation in fairs and exhibitions.
The gross aid must not exceed 50 % of the additional costs
incurred for renting, setting up and running the stand

Date of implementation: 2 February 2001

Duration of scheme or individual aid award: Until 31
December 2006

Name and address of the granting authority:

Scottish Enterprise
120 Bothwell Street
Glasgow
Scotland G2 7JP
United Kingdom

scheme is

Other information: This
in accordance with
Commission Regulation (EC) No 70/2001 of 12 January
2001 on the application of Articles 87 and 88 of the EC
Treaty to State aid to small and medium-sized enterprises (OJ
L 10, 13.1.2001)

Aid No: XS/48/01

Member State: Greece

Region: Entire country

Title of aid scheme or name of the company receiving an
individual aid: Business plans for micro-enterprises and small
enterprises as defined in the Commission Recommendation of
3 April 1996

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Official Journal of the European Communities

18.5.2002

Legal basis: N. 2244/94 (άρθρο 7 παράγραφος 4) και Π.∆.
98/96

Region: Lower Saxony (rural district of Lüchow-Dannenberg)

Annual expenditure planned under the scheme or overall
amount of individual aid granted to the company: The
scheme is to be organised in two rounds, one beginning in
September 2001 and a second one later during the lifetime of
the Business programme for competitiveness (2000-2006).
Public
estimated at
GRD 25 billion (EUR 73,4 million)

two rounds

expenditure

the

for

is

Maximum aid intensity: 40 %, grant only

Date of implementation: First round beginning in September
2001

Duration of scheme or individual aid award: 2001-2006

Objective of aid: The aim of the measure is to help micro-
enterprises and small enterprises in manufacturing industry
with no more than 50 employees to improve their competi-
tiveness by implementing an integrated two-year business plan
providing for technological and organisational modernisation

Title of aid scheme or name of the company receiving an
individual aid: Rules (Richtlinie) on the approval of grants to
individual SMEs in the rural district of Lüchow-Dannenberg

Legal basis: § 108 der Niedersächsischen Landkreisordnung
(NLO) in der Fassung vom 22.8.1996 (Niedersächsisches Ge-
setz- und Verordnungsblatt S. 365) i. V. mit § 65 der Nieder-
sächsischen Gemeindeordnung (NGO)
in der Fassung vom
22.8.1996 (Niedersächsisches Gesetz- und Verordnungsblatt S.
382)

Annual expenditure planned under the scheme or overall
amount of
individual aid granted to the company:
EUR 150 000

Maximum aid intensity: The whole of the rural district of
Lüchow-Dannenberg lies within the national
regional aid
map approved by the Commission

The aid amounts

Economic sector(s) concerned: All sectors with the exception
of:

— in the case of small enterprises, to no more than 25 %, and

— agriculture

— fisheries

— aquaculture

— aid linked to quantities exported or to distribution networks

— specific industries subject

to restrictive guidelines (steel,

shipbuilding, motor manufacture, synthetic fibres etc.)

Name and address of the granting authority:

Ministry of Development
Secretariat-General for Industry
Directorate for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises
Director: I. Patiris
Tel. (30-1) 779 11 71
Fax (30-1) 779 76 36

— in the case of medium-sized enterprises, to no more than

17,5 %

of eligible investment expenditure

The rules on the combination of aid are complied with

Date of implementation: From 1 July 2001

Duration of scheme or individual aid award: 1 July 2001 to
31 December 2006

Objective of aid: The aid is intended to promote the competi-
tiveness and adaptability of small and medium-sized enterprises
in the rural district of Lüchow-Dannenberg, to encourage the
creation of new jobs and help safeguard existing ones and
thereby to bring about structural improvements.

Other information: The amount of aid to any one firm may
never exceed EUR 200 000; on average it will amount
to
EUR 100 000.

Rescue and restructuring aid for firms in difficulty (within the
meaning of the Community guidelines on State aid for rescuing
and restructuring firms in difficulty: OJ C 288, 9.10.1999) is
not covered by the measure.

The Exemption Regulation expires on 31 December 2006, after
which there is to be a six-month adjustment period

Aid may be granted for the following types of investment
project:

Aid No: XS/55/01

Member State: Germany

— setting-up of an establishment

— extension of an establishment if the number of long-term
full-time jobs is increased by 15 % as compared with the
situation before the start of the investment

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Official Journal of the European Communities

C 117/5

— rationalisation, diversification or modernisation of an estab-
lishment if this serves to ensure the continued existence of
the business and the maintenance of most of the jobs

firms with fewer than 50 employees and persons starting new
businesses in these sectors whose place of business is in the
rural district of Lüchow-Dannenberg.

— acquisition of an establishment

threatened with closure,

Aid may not be granted to firms in sensitive sectors

provided that this is done on market terms.

The long-term jobs created through the aid must be maintained
for at least two years after payment of the grant.

The aid takes the form of investment grants.

Name and address of the granting authority:

Gesellschaft für Wirtschafts- und Beschäftigungsförderung
Lüchow-Dannenberg GmbH
Burgstraße 1
D-29439 Lüchow (Wendland)

All depreciable fixed assets relating to physical and intangible
assets are eligible

Other information:

Economic sector(s) concerned: Those entitled to apply are
small firms in manufacturing, the craft sector, the distributive
trades, the hotel and restaurant industry, other service-sector

Mr Berg
Tel. (49) 58 41 12 06 71
Fax (49) 58 41 12 02 78

Authorisation for State aid pursuant to Articles 87 and 88 of the EC Treaty

Cases where the Commission raises no objections

(2002/C 117/03)

Date of adoption of the decision: 18.4.2002

Member State: Italy (Friuli-Venezia Giulia)

Aid No: N 350/01

law No 203:

Title: Draft
fund for
managing outbreaks of epizootic diseases and plant diseases
in agriculture and exceptional measures
relating to BSE’,
Article 2

‘Setting-up a regional

Objective: To compensate producers
between the
rebuilding the herd

compulsory slaughter of

for

loss of

the

animals

income
and

Legal basis: Disegno di
legge n. 203 «Istituzione del fondo
regionale per la gestione delle emergenze relative alle epizoozie
e alle fitopatie in agricoltura e prime norme di applicazione per
l'emergenza BSE»

Budget: Unspecified

Aid intensity or amount: See draft letter

Duration: Unspecified

The authentic text(s) of the decision, from which all confi-
dential information has been removed, can be found at

http://europa.eu.int/comm/secretariat_general/sgb/state_aids

Date of adoption of the decision: 18.4.2002

Member State: Italy

Aid No: N 68/02

Title: Financial law No 448/2001 — increase in the budget for
aid No 144/01 concerning ‘Aid for investment in the purchase
of agricultural machinery’

Objective: To refurbish old farm machinery

Legal basis: Legge 28.12.2001 n. 488 (finanziaria 2002) ta-
bella D. Legge finanziaria 2002

Budget: EUR 15 494 000 increase in the 2002 budget

Aid intensity or amount: Between 8 and 10 %

Duration: 2002

The authentic text(s) of the decision, from which all confi-
dential information has been removed, can be found at

http://europa.eu.int/comm/secretariat_general/sgb/state_aids