Source: EURLEX
Language: en
Format: md

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| 26.10.2006 | EN EN | Official Journal of the European Union | C 258/42 |

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Invitation to submit comments pursuant to Article 1(2) in Part I of Protocol 3 to the Surveillance and Court Agreement on state aid granted by the Research Council of Norway in connection with the software programme Turborouter

(2006/C 258/13)

By means of Decision No 60/06/COL of 8 March 2006, reproduced in the authentic language on the pages following this summary, the EFTA Surveillance Authority initiated proceedings pursuant to Article 1(2) in Part I of Protocol 3 of the Agreement between the EFTA States on the establishment of a Surveillance Authority and a Court of Justice (Surveillance and Court Agreement). The Norwegian authorities have been informed by means of a copy of the decision.

The EFTA Surveillance Authority hereby gives the EFTA States, EU Member States and interested parties notice to submit their comments on the measure in question within one month from the publication of this notice to:

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| EFTA Surveillance Authority |
| Registry |
| 35, Rue Belliard |
| B-1040 Brussels |
| Fax: (32-2) 286 18 00 |

The comments will be communicated to the Norwegian authorities. Confidential treatment of the identity of the interested party submitting the comments may be requested in writing, stating the reasons for the request.

SUMMARY

By letter dated 5 March 2002 (Doc. No. 02-1733-A), the Authority received a complaint alleging that state aid had been granted by Norway through the Research Council of Norway (hereinafter: ‘the RCN’) to various research projects in connection with the development of the software programme Turborouter.

On 8 March 2006, after an extensive exchange of correspondence between the Authority and the Norwegian authorities as well as with the complainant, the Authority decided to open the formal investigation procedure with regard to the projects referred to in the complaint.

The RCN had granted aid to four projects related to the development of the software programme Turborouter within the framework of the aid scheme Industrial R&D Programme. The Authority had assessed this programme, together with other existing aid schemes, and adopted Decision No 217/94/COL in December 1994 proposing appropriate measures to Norway. The Norwegian authorities accepted the appropriate measures. Accordingly, thereafter, any granting of aid under this scheme had to be done in accordance with the State Aid Guidelines on R&D aid adopted by the Authority in 1994.

On the basis of the information available, the Authority has doubts whether the granting of aid to the concerned research projects complied with the provisions of the R&D Guidelines. It is questionable whether the projects were correctly classified. This is in particular the case regarding the three projects considered as pre-competitive research projects, which could be too close to the market to be eligible for aid.

The Authority also has doubts about the financing of the project. It is not clear whether the companies participating in the projects actually contributed to the research costs of the projects or whether regular operating costs were considered as part of the research projects. Should this be the case, the aid intensities will have to be revised.

In this context, the Authority has doubts whether the aid beneficiaries misused the aid granted by the RCN.

Should the granting of aid to the projects concerned not be covered by the scheme Industrial R&D Programme, each project will have to be assessed individually on the basis of the provisions of the R&D Guidelines applicable at the time the grants were given or directly on the basis of the rules of the EEA Agreement.

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