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 (Text with EEA relevance)
Date: 2002-11-06
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: State aid, control of State aid, regional aid, small and medium-sized enterprises, telecommunications, vocational training

C 270/6

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

6.11.2002

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

(2002/C 270/04)

(Text with EEA relevance)

Aid No: XT 05/02

Member State: Italy

Region: Valle d'Aosta

aid: Regional measures

Title of aid scheme or name of the company receiving an
individual
and
medium-sized enterprises with projects to promote quality,
safety and the environment. Amendment of Regional Law No
84 of 7 December 1993 (regional measures to assist research,
development and quality), as last amended by Regional Law No
11 of 18 April 2000

to assist

small

Legal basis: Orden Ministerial (O.M.) de 1 de agosto de 2001
del Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología

Annual expenditure planned under the scheme or overall
amount of individual aid granted to the company: Where
aid schemes are concerned EUR 5,5 million

Maximum aid intensity: 50 % for large enterprises and 70 %
for SMEs. If the project is carried out in one of the regions
referred to in Article 87(3)(a) or (c) of the Treaty establishing
the European Community, this percentage shall be increased by
10 and five percentage points respectively (see Section 8 of the
Ministerial Order of 1.8.2001)

Legal basis: Legge regionale 12 novembre 2001, n. 31

Date of implementation: 22 August 2001

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

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

1. EUR 78 760 for 2001;

2. EUR 157 483 for 2002;

3. EUR 165 233 a year from 2003

of

aid:

training
telecommunications
The
Objective
programme (Forintel) can subsidise only general
training
within the meaning of Article 2(e) of Regulation (EC) No
68/2001, as is explicitly stated in Section 3(1) of the above-
mentioned Ministerial Order of 1.8.2001.

Maximum aid intensity: Not exceeding 35 %. The intensity is
increased by five percentage points for firms in areas qualifying
for regional aid under Article 87(3)(c) of the EC Treaty

It comprises the following two actions:

Date of implementation: 5 December 2001

information society.

1. Training

for

users

of

telecommunications

and

the

Duration of scheme or individual aid award: Until 30 June
2007

Objective of aid: The scheme concerns specific training

The substance of the training, according to Section 3.2.(b)
of the Ministerial Order which governs the programme, is
that featuring in Annex II of the abovementioned Ministerial
Order.

Economic sector(s) concerned: Small and medium-sized
manufacturing and service enterprises

2. Training for telecommunications and information society

professionals.

Name and address of the granting authority:

Regione Autonoma Valle d'Aosta
Assessorato Industria, Artigianato ed Energia
Servizio assistenza alle imprese, ricerca, qualità e formazione
professionale
Piazza della Repubblica 15
I-11100 Aosta

Aid No: XT 20/01

Member State: Spain

Region: The whole of the Spanish territory

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

This is provided pursuant to Section 3.3.(a) of the Ministerial
Order governing the programme

Economic sector(s) concerned: The Forintel programme is
applicable to all economic sectors with the exception of enter-
prises producing coal and steel, as referred to in Articles 80
and 81 of the Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel
Community

Name and address of the granting authority:

Dirección General para el Desarrollo de la Sociedad de la
Información
Palacio de Comunicaciones
Alcalá 50
E-28071 Madrid

6.11.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 270/7

Aid No: XT 24/01

Member State: United Kingdom

Region: Highlands and Islands enterprise area. Highlands and
Islands of scotland defined in the NUTS II nomenclature as area
UKM4 plus the parts of the Moray Council area which are not
in NUTS II UKM4. The latter area is a small part of the NUTS
III area UKM11

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

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

Objective of aid: The scheme is intended to cover both
general and specific training.

Specific training

Description: Training directly and principally applicable to the
employee's present or future position within the assisted firm
and providing qualifications which are not (or only to a limited
extent) transferable to other firms.

Legal basis: Enterprise and New Towns (Scotland) Act 1990, as
amended by Scottish Statutory Instrument 2001 No 126,
which extends the operational area of HIE into the remaining
parts of the Moray Council area not previously covered

General training

Annual expenditure planned under the scheme or overall
amount of individual aid granted to the company: The total
HIE budget for discretionary training expenditure is currently
as below:

Description: Training 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
fields of work, and thereby substantially
improve the employability of the employee.

firms or

2000/2001: GBP 5 817 000.

These budgets are fixed annually.

NB. The above figures represent total expenditure on discre-
tionary training, some of which is not State aid (e.g. because it
assists unemployed individuals).

Based on the above,
it is estimated that future discretionary
training budgets are highly unlikely to exceed GBP 8 million
per year during the period coverd by this notification

Maximum aid intensity: Aid intensities would be established
on a case-by-case basis, following expert appraisal. The level of
aid proposed would not be allowed to exceed the following
absolute maximum levels, and in most cases would be less
owing to addionality considerations.

Maximum permitted aid levels:

(i.e.

firms

sector

subject

inside Article 87(3)(c)

Maritime
to
conditions as per Regulation (EC) No
68/2001, Article 4)
Large firms outside assisted areas (*)
Large
area (*)
SMEs outside assisted areas (*)
SMEs inside Article 87(3)(c) area (*)
Supplement
for
categories
older workers, women returners)

disadvantaged
(low-skilled, handicapped,

Specific

General

100 %
25 %

30 %
35 %
40 %

100 %
50 %

55 %
70 %
75 %

+ 10 %

+ 10 %

(*) SMEs and large firms are defined in accordance with the EU definition of

SMEs (Commission Reccomendation of 3 April 1996).

Aid to one enterprise for a single project may not exceed
EUR 1 000 000

Date of implementation: 19 February 2001

Discretionary funding would be awarded to businesses to help
them develop the skills of their staff, thus creating a skilled,
trained and adaptable workforce and labour markets responsive
to economic change

Economic sector(s) concerned: All sectors

Name and address of the granting authority:

Highlands and Islands Enterprise
Official responsible: Director, Developing Skills Group
Tel. (014 63) 23 41 71
Fax (014 63) 24 44 69

It

the

area,

for example, surveys,

Other information: Two different mechanisms will be used to
deliver the aid. In the first case, the Local Enterprise Company
would identify a need for some form of training. This could be
done through,
information gathered
through business advisers, or specific requests from a number
of companies. The local Enterprise Company would then
identify appropriately experienced and qualified trainers and
develop a training course specifically suited to the needs of
the companies in their locality.
is highly unlikely that
training provision would be available locally, so the Local
Enterprise Company would have to source the training from
outside
and
incurring
subsistence costs in respect of the trainers. In addition, the
number of companies wishing to send employees on the
training is unlikely to be sufficient to make the training finan-
cially viable for them. The Local Enterprise Company funding
towards the training will ensure that the costs are set at a level
which will enable local companies to participate and will offer
the training at a cost similar to other parts of the UK, whilst at
the same time respecting the aid ceilings in this scheme. The
mechanism for respecting the aid ceilings would be to set the
fees paid for each attendee so that the aid is below the appro-
priate ceiling. The aid amount would be computed by
subtracting the fee paid for each beneficiary from the actual
course cost.

additional

travel

thus

C 270/8

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

6.11.2002

The second mechanism will be utilised where a company has
analysed its training needs in lin with its business objectives
and has developed a company training plan. Frequently, this
take place as a company works towards the
analysis will
the Local
standard.
Investors
Enterprise Company will appraise the company training plan
and will provide funding towards the costs of the training,
including travel and subsistance costs of
trainees who are
required to travel outside the area to undertake the training.

In this case,

in People (1)

Explanation of the incentive effect in the case of training projects for
large firms outside assisted regions

Aid must be for a business which is undertaking a development
that contributes to economic development in the Highlands
and Islands region. The level of assistance would be the
minimum necessary to enable the development to proceed,
as determined by appraisal of the business and its business
that a firm
plan. This additionally requirement
undertakes more training than would have been the case
without public funds. The incentive would be determined for
each firm, using discretion to ensure that the optimum outturn
per unit of public funds is achieved,
in the context of the
long-term viability of the business.

ensures

Payments would be made on documentary evidence of expen-
diture. These would be mandatory requirements stated in
formal undertakings made by the assisted firm in return for
an individual offer of aid

(1) Investors in People is a national quality standard which sets a level
of good practice for improving an organisation's performance
through its people.

Aid No: XT 35/01

Member State: Italy

Region: Autonomous region of Valle d'Aosta

Title of aid scheme or name of the company receiving an
individual aid: Regional operational programme (ROP)
for
structural measures taken by the Valle d'Aosta region to
meet Objective 3 in the period 2000-2006

Legal basis: Decisione (CE) n. 2067/2000 del 21 settembre
2000; regolamento (CE) n. 1260/1999 del Consiglio, del 21
giugno 1999, recante disposizioni generali sui Fondi Strutturali;
regolamento (CE) n. 1784/1999 del Parlamento europeo e del
Consiglio, del 12 luglio 1999, relativo al Fondo sociale euro-
peo; delibera della Giunta regionale n. 4514 del 6.12.1999,
ratificata dal Consiglio regionale con atto n. 1138/XI in data
10.2.2000, recante approvazione del Programma Operativo
Regionale (POR); delibera della Giunta regionale n. 504 del
26 febbraio 2001

Annual expenditure planned under the scheme or overall
amount of individual aid granted to the company: Annual
ITL 3 108 410 407 (EUR 1 605 359),
expenditure will be
giving
ITL 21 758 872 850
a
(EUR 11 237 520) for the whole programming period

cumulative

total

of

Maximum aid intensity:

Specific training:

Large enterprises: 25 %

SMEs: 35 %

Bonus for areas included in the Italian regional aid map for the
period 2000-2006: five percentage points.

General training:

Large enterprises: 50 %

SMEs: 70 %

Bonus for areas included in the Italian regional aid map for the
period 2000-2006: five percentage points

Date of implementation: 24 August 2001

Duration of scheme or individual aid award: December
2006

Objective of aid: The aid is intended for projects involving
specific or general training. General training involves training
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. Training will be considered
general
is organised jointly by
different independent enterprises or of employees of different
enterprises may avail themselves of the training or if
it is
recognised, certified for validated by public authorities or
bodies on which a Member State or the Community has
conferred the necessary powers.

for example,

training if,

it

A special committee will be responsible for assessing whether a
proposed training scheme is general or specific, in the light of
the definitions given above

Economic sector(s) concerned: All sectors

Name and address of the granting authority:

Regione Autonoma Valle d'Aosta
Dipartimento Politiche del Lavoro
Direzione Agenzia regionale del Lavoro
Via Garin, 1
I-11100 Aosta
Tel. (39) 01 65 27 56 11
Fax (39) 01 65 27 56 86
E-mail: direzioneadl@regione.vda.it
m.monteleone@regione.vda.it

Aid No: XT 69/01

Member State: Germany

6.11.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 270/9

Region: Bavaria

Title of aid scheme or name of the company receiving an
individual aid: Promoting job rotation via the Bavarian Labour
Market Fund

Legal basis: Bayerische Haushaltsordnung i. V. m. Bescheid der
Regierung von Oberbayern und Bescheid der Regierung von
Schwaben

Annual expenditure planned under the scheme or overall
amount of
individual aid granted to the company:
EUR 30 000

Maximum aid intensity: 50 % of eligible expenditure

Date of implementation: Immediate

from the Labour Office. This enables them to gain work
experience and so improve their prospects on the labour
market. At the same time the small and medium-sized firms
involved are able to boost
through
employees attending courses to enhance their qualification.

their competitiveness

taken on as a substitute for

Under
the scheme, small and medium-sized firms receive
subsidies of up to 50 % of the eligible training costs if an
unemployed person is
the
duration of the training course. The essential requirement is
that aid is granted only for general
i.e. external
training covering more than one firm, where the qualifications
obtained can be transferred to other areas of work and used in
other firms (e.g. preparatory courses for master craftsman
qualifications, commercial specialists, customer service, envi-
ronmentally friendly construction planning,
fundamentals of
electrical engineering).

training,

Duration of scheme or individual aid award: Until 30 June
2002

No other projects are to receive assistance

Objective of aid: Provision of general training subsidies to
make it easier for small and medium-sized enterprises to take
part in job rotation.

Two job rotation projects (in Ingolstadt and Augsburg) are
receiving aid from the Bavarian Labour Market Fund.

Job rotation involves employees of small and medium-sized
firms attending further training courses. While they are away,
unemployed workers are taken on as ‘substitutes’ to fill the
vacancies. They continue to receive unemployment benefit

Economic sector(s) concerned: All economic sectors

Name and address of the granting authority:

Ingolstadt scheme: Regierung von Oberbayern

Maximilianstraße 39
D-80538 München

Augsburg scheme: Regierung von Schwaben

Fronhof 10
D-86125 Augsburg

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 270/05)

(Text with EEA relevance)

Aid No: XS/69/01

Member State: Italy

Region: Tuscany

Title of aid scheme or name of the company receiving an
individual aid: Tax credits for productive and environmental
investments by industrial firms and cooperatives

regionale

Legal basis: Delibera Consiglio regionale n. 283 del 28 dicem-
economico
bre 2000 «Piano
2001-2005», ai sensi della L.R. 20 marzo 2000, n. 35 «Disci-
plina degli interventi regionali in materia di attività produttive»
Misura 1.1. Decisione Giunta regionale n. 13 dell'11 luglio
2001 «Reg. 1260/99 — Docup Ob. 2 anni 2000-2006 —
Direttive per l'attuazione dei regimi di aiuto»

dello sviluppo

Annual expenditure planned under the scheme or overall
amount of
individual aid granted to the company:
EUR 13 000 000

Maximum aid intensity: The intensity of the aid to each firm
may not exceed 15 % gross grant equivalent for small firms
and 7,5 % gge of
investment costs for medium-sized
firms.

total

If the regions concerned by the programme are eligible for
exemption under Article 87(3)(c) of the Treaty, the aid may
be increased within the limits provided for in the Commission
decision.

Aid granted may not be combined with aid under other
schemes for the same investment costs

Date of
implementation:
Commission received the notification

July 2001, date on which the