2000/472/EC: Commission Decision of 29 March 2000 on the aid scheme implemented by Belgium under Article 29ter of the Economic Expansion Act of 30 December 1970, as amended by the Decree of 25 June 1992 (notified under document number C(2000)1007) (Text with EEA relevance) (Only the Dutch and French texts are authentic)

• Articles: 4

Article 1

Article 29ter of the Belgian Economic Expansion Act of 30 December 1970, as amended by the decree of 25 June 1992, is incompatible with the common market.

Article 2

1. Belgium shall take all necessary measures to recover from the recipients the aid within the meaning of Article 87(1) of the EC Treaty unlawfully made available under the aid scheme referred to in Article 1.

2. Recovery shall be effected without delay and in accordance with the procedures of national law provided that they allow the immediate and effective execution of this Decision. The aid to be recovered shall include interest from the date on which it was made available to the recipients until the date of its recovery. Interest shall be calculated on the basis of the reference rate used for calculating the grant-equivalent of regional aid.

Article 3

Belgium shall inform the Commission, within two months of notification of this Decision, of the measures taken to comply with it.

Article 4

This Decision is addressed to the Kingdom of Belgium.

Done at Brussels, 29 March 2000.

For the Commission

Mario Monti

Member of the Commission

(1) OJ L 83, 27.3.1999, p. 1.

(2) Letter P11/91/533/26.864 dated 11 March 1991, registered by the Commission on 14 March 1991 as aid N 144/91.

(3) Letter SG(91) D/12925.

(4) Letter P11/91/533/35.050 dated 7 August 1992.

(5) See footnote 3.

(6) Letter P11/91/533/37.107.

(7) Letter DG IV.E.3-D/06258.

(8) See footnote 3.

(9) Letter SG(94) D/607.

(10) Letter SG(93) D/19520.

(11) OJ C 170, 23.6.1994, p. 5.

(12) Letter P11/91/533/43.927.

(13) Letter P11/91/533/44.740.

(14) Letter D/4596.

(15) Letter P11/91/533/45.789.

(16) Letter DG IV.E.3.-D/13056.

(17) Letter P12/533/54.981.

(18) Letter P12/533/55.773.

(19) Letter P12/533/61.758

(20) Letter P12/533/64.012

(21) Letter P12/533/65.339

(22) Letter D/52407.

(23) Letter P11/533/68.255 and P11/533/69.298

(24) Letter SG(93) D/19520.

(25) Letter from the Commission to the Member States dated 27 April 1989 (Ref: SG(89) D/5521).

(26) Commission communication on the method for the application of Article 92(3)(a) and (c) to regional aid (OJ C 212, 12.8.1988, p. 2), and guidelines on national regional aid (OJ C 74, 10.3.1998, p. 9).

(27) See footnote 12.

(28) See footnote 3.

(29) Letter DG IV.E.3-D/06258.

(30) See footnote 21.

(31) Case 248/84 Germany v Commission [1987] ECR 4013.

(32) See footnote 12.

(33) See footnote 29.

(34) Article 19 of the decree of 25 June 1992 amends the Economic Expansion Act of 30 December 1970 by inserting the new Article 29ter .

(35) See footnote 9.

(36) This failure to indicate the criteria is the reason why the Commission did not take a position on the scheme (then Articles 17 to 19 of the draft decree) in its letter of 9 July 1991 (SG(91 D/12925) and reserved the right to examine whether the scheme was compatible in the light of the practical arrangements for its implementation, which were to be notified to it on a case-by-case basis, as Belgium had undertaken to do.

(37) In this connection, it should be noted that, in accordance with the Community framework for State aid for research and development, in all cases where, after examination, the Commission concludes that the purpose of the aid in question is to promote the execution of an important project of common European interest, that aid may qualify for the derogation contained in Article 87(3)(b)(OJ C 45, 17.2.1996, p. 5, point 3.2).

(38) See footnote 26.

(39) See footnote 26.

(40) OJ C 83, 11.4.1986, p.2;

OJ C 45, 17.2.1996, p.5.

(41) OJ C 72, 10.3.1994, p.3.

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

(43) OJ C 343, 11.11.1998, p.10.

(44) OJ C 368, 23.12.1994, p. 12.

(45) OJ C 213, 19.8.1992, p. 4.