State aid — Commission notice pursuant to Article 88(2) of the EC Treaty to other Member States and interested parties — State aid C 25/2006 (ex E 1/2006) — Guidelines on national regional aid for 2007-2013 — appropriate measures — Germany   (Text with EEA relevance)
Date: 2006-12-28
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Germany, State aid, control of State aid, environmental protection, exchange of information, regional aid, small and medium-sized enterprises

C 320/16

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

28.12.2006

STATE AID

Commission notice pursuant to Article 88(2) of the EC Treaty to other Member States and inter-
ested parties

State aid C 25/2006 (ex E 1/2006) — Guidelines on national regional aid for 2007-2013 — appro-
priate measures — Germany

(Text with EEA relevance)

(2006/C 320/08)

By the following letter dated 22 November 2006 the Commission informed Germany of its decision to
close the procedure under Article 88(2) of the EC Treaty.

which are eligible for support under Article 87(3)(a) or
(c) in accordance with the regional aid maps adopted
by the Commission in force on the date the aid is
granted.

(3) By letter dated 9 May 2006, registered at the Commission
on 10 May 2006 (A/33589), your government only
partially accepted the appropriate measures as your
they concerned
Government
regional aid schemes involving State guarantees, public
loans and public participations (see above 2.a).

refused them as

far as

(4) Consequently, the Commission initiated the procedure laid
down in Article 88 (2) EC by decision of 16 June 2006.
This decision was published in the original language in the
the European Union (2) together with a
Official
meaningful summary in all official languages with an invi-
tation to interested parties to submit their comments but
no reaction was received.

Journal of

(5) However, by letter of 20 October 2006,

the German
authorities informed the Commission that, after all, they
give their explicit and unconditional agreement
to the
proposed appropriate measures.

(6) Subsequently,

the

formal

investigation procedure has

become without object.

(7) Therefore, the Commission has decided to close the formal

investigation procedure.

(8) The Commission reminds the German authorities that,
pursuant to Article 19 (1) of Regulation No 659/1999,
the
they are bound by their acceptance to implement
appropriate measures.’

(1) ‘On 21 December 2005,

the Commission adopted the
Guidelines on national regional aid for the period 2007-
2013.

(2) By letter dated 6 March 2006 (D(06)222), the Commis-
sion, acting in accordance with Article 88(1) of the EC
Treaty and the procedure laid down in Articles 17 and 18
of Regulation (EC) 659/1999 (1), proposed the following
appropriate measures to all Member States and invited
them to give their explicit and unconditional agreement:

(a) Without prejudice to Article 10(2) of Regulation (EC)
70/2001 on the application of Articles 87 and 88 of
the EC Treaty to State aid for small and medium-sized
enterprises, as amended by Regulation (EC) 364/2004
and to Article 11(2) of Regulation (EC) 2204/2002 on
the application of Articles 87 and 88 of the EC Treaty
to State aid for employment, to limit the application in
time of all existing regional aid schemes to aid to be
granted on or before 31 December 2006.

(b) Where environment aid schemes allow regional invest-
ment aid to be granted for environmental investments
pursuant to footnote 29 of the Community guidelines
on State aid for environmental protection, to amend
the relevant schemes in order to ensure that aid may
only be granted after 31 December 2006 if it complies
with the new regional aid map in force on the date the
aid is granted.

(c) Member States shall as necessary amend other existing
aid schemes in order
to ensure that any regional
bonuses such as those allowed for training aid, aid for
research and development or environment aid may
only be granted after 31 December 2006 in areas

(1) OJ L 83, 27.3.1999, p. 1.
(2) OJ C 194, 18.8.2006.