The measures implemented by Spain, namely the amendment to Law No 37/1992 provided for in Royal Decree-Law No 10/2000, the measures to support agricultural cooperatives provided for in Royal Decree-Law No 10/2000 and the tax measures provided for in the Order of 29 November 2000 of the Ministry of Finance, which involve applying a corrective index to feed purchased from third parties in the case of certain stockfarming activities subject to the objective assessment scheme, reducing the net yield under the scheme for the objective assessment of personal income tax for farming activities, reducing the percentage for calculating quarterly VAT payments under the simplified arrangements for certain agricultural activities, and the tax measure increasing the percentage of expenditure which is difficult to substantiate in the context of tax on personal income tax, do not constitute State aid within the meaning of Article 87(1) of the EC Treaty.
The State aid granted by Spain to farmers in the form of subsidies on loans and guarantees provided for in a Ministry of Agriculture resolution of 15 November 2000 publishing a Council of Ministers agreement of 10 November 2000 and the measure extending, for 2000 and 2001, tax benefits applicable to personal income on transfer of certain agricultural land and holdings provided for in the seventh transitional provision of Law No 14/2000 are incompatible with the common market.
Spain shall abolish the schemes referred to in Article 2.
1. Spain shall adopt all measures necessary to recover from the beneficiaries all aid referred to in Article 2 which has been granted illegally.
2. Recovery shall be immediate and in accordance with the procedures laid down in Spanish law, provided that these permit the immediate and effective implementation of this Decision. The amounts to be repaid must include interest from the date the aid was made available to the beneficiaries to its actual recovery. The interest must be calculated on the basis of the reference rate used to calculate the grant equivalent of regional aid.
Spain shall inform the Commission within two months from the date of notification of this Decision of the measures it has taken to comply with this Decision.
This Decision is addressed to the Kingdom of Spain.
Done at Brussels, 11 December 2002.
For the Commission
Franz Fischler
Member of the Commission
(1) OJ C 172, 16.6.2001, p. 2.
(2) See footnote 1.
(3) Official State Gazette No 312, 29.12.1992, p. 44247.
(4) Official State Gazette No 241, 7.10.2002, p. 36614.
(5) OJ L 145, 13.6.1977, p. 1.
(6) OJ L 331, 7.12.2002, p. 27.
(7) Official State Gazette No 170, 17.7.1999, p. 27027.
(8) Official State Gazette No 304, 20.12.1990, p. 37970.
(9) Official State Gazette No 241, 8.10.1998, p. 33517.
(10) OJ C 384, 10.12.1998, p. 3.
(11) Official State Gazette 276, 17.11.2000, p. 40088.
(12) Interest rate subsidy: 3 %, duration of loan: five years. One-year exemption, maximum amount of the loan per hectare: ESP 75000. 0,03 x 75000 (1 + 1+ 1/4 + 2/4 + 3/4)1/5 = ESP 1575 per hectare.
(13) Official State Gazette 287, 30.11.2000, p. 41611.
(14) Official State Gazette 159, 5.7.1995, p. 20394.
(15) Official State Gazette 313, 30.12.2000, p. 46631.
(16) OJ C 28, 1.2.2000, p. 2. (Corrected version in OJ C 232, 12.8.2000, p. 19).
(17) OJ C 71, 11.3.2000, p. 14.
(18) Official State Gazette 188, 7.8.1986, p. 27907.
(19) Official State Gazette 58, 9.3.1970, p. 3820.
(20) Official State Gazette 308, 24.12.1992, p. 43867.
(21) Official State Gazette 295, 10.12.1998, p. 40730.
(22) Official State Gazette No 310, 28.12.1995, p. 37072.
(23) Source: Eurostat.
(24) Aid for agricultural holdings in financial difficulty may not be granted unless that aid meets the conditions set out in the Community guidelines on State aid for rescue and restructuring firms in difficulty (OJ C 288, 9.10.1999, p. 2).
(25) OJ L 160, 26.6.1999, p. 80.
(26) ECR 1995, p. II-1675.
(27) ECR 1979, p. 2161.
(28) OJ L 83, 27.3.1999, p. 1.
(29) OJ C 74, 10.3.1998, p. 9.
