2000/128/EC: Commission Decision of 11 May 1999 concerning aid granted by Italy to promote employment (Notified under document number C(1999) 1364) (Text with EEA relevance) (Only the Italian text is authentic)

• Articles: 5

Article 1

1. The aid granted unlawfully by Italy since November 1995 for employment under the training and work experience contracts provided for in Laws Nos 863/84, 407/90, 169/91 and 451/94 is compatible with the common market and the EEA Agreement provided that it concerns:

- the creation of jobs in the recipient firm for persons who have not yet found employment or have lost their previous employment within the meaning of the guidelines on aid to employment,

- the employment of workers experiencing particular difficulties in entering or re-entering the labour market. For the purposes of this Decision, workers experiencing particular difficulties in entering or re-entering the labour market shall mean young persons under the age of 25, persons up to the age of 29 and the long-term unemployed, i.e. out of employment for more than one year.

2. Aid for training and work experience contracts which does not satisfy the conditions set out in paragraph 1 is incompatible with the common market.

Article 2

1. The aid granted by Italy under Article 15 of Law No 196/97 for the conversion of training and work experience contracts into open-ended contracts is compatible with the common market and the EEA Agreement provided that it complies with the net job creation requirement as defined in the Community guidelines on aid to employment.

The workforce employed by a firm shall be calculated without taking account of jobs resulting from the conversion and jobs created through fixed-term contracts or not guaranteeing sufficiently stable employment.

2. Aid for the conversion of training and work experience contracts into open-ended contracts which does not satisfy the requirement laid down in paragraph 1 is incompatible with the common market.

Article 3

Italy shall take all necessary measures to recover from the recipients the aid which does not satisfy the conditions of Articles 1 and 2 and has already been unlawfully paid.

Repayment shall be made in accordance with the procedures of Italian law. The amounts to be repaid shall bear interest from the date on which the aid was paid until the date on which it is effectively recovered. The interest shall be calculated on the basis of the reference rate used to calculate the net grant equivalent of regional aid.

Article 4

Italy shall inform the Commission within two months of the date of notification of this Decision of the measures it has taken to comply herewith.

Article 5

This Decision is addressed to the Italian Republic.

Done at Brussels, 11 May 1999.

For the Commission

Karel VAN MIERT

Member of the Commission

(1) OJ C 384, 10.12.1998, p. 11.

(2) Official Journal of the Italian Republic No 154, 4 June 1997.

(3) See footnote 1.

(4) The information consists solely of official statistics published by the Istituto Nazionale di Statistica (ISTA) "Forze di lavoro media 1997" and "Formazione universitaria e mercata del lavora" and by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development ("Uno sguardo sull'educazione", 1997). The statistics provided by Confindustria consist solely of those data reproduced in the form of graphs.

(5) OJ C 334, 12.12.1995, p. 4.

(6) OJ C 213, 23.7.1996, p. 4.

(7) See footnote 1.

(8) Point 12.6 of the Commission letter of 17 August 1998 (see footnote 1).

(9) In support of this argument, Confindustria refers to the judgment of the Court of Justice in Case 730/79, Philip Morris v Commission [1980] ECR 2671.

(10) State aid N 692/97.

(11) Judgment of 13 July 1988 in Case 102/87 [1988] ECR 4067.

(12) See footnote 5.

(13) See footnote 5.

(14) See footnote 1.

(15) Point 12.3 of the Commission letter of 17 August 1998 (see footnote 1).

(16) International Labour Office Report on youth employment drawn up for the Conference of Ministers responsible for youth, 8 to 12 August 1998, Lisbon, point 1.1.

(17) Ibid.

(18) Report drawn up by the ILO for the conference of Ministers responsible for youth, 8 to 12 August 1998, Lisbon, point 1.5 (see footnote 16).

(19) OJ C 74, 10.3.1998, p. 9.

(20) See footnote 5.

(21) According to the first survey on State aid in the European Community (1989), "general measures comprise any interventions that apply uniformly across the economy and which do not favour certain enterprises or sectors", (COM(88) 945).

(22) See footnote 5.

(23) See State aid N 692/97.

(24) Commission notice on the de minimis rule for State aid (OJ C 68, 6.3.1996).

(25) See footnote 24.

(26) Commission notice of 24 November 1983 (OJ C 318, 24.11.1983, p. 3). See also the Court of Justice judgments in Cases 70/72 of 12 July 1973 Commission v Germany [1973] ECR 813 and 310/85 of 24 February 1987 Deufil v Commission [1987] ECR 901.