2003/433/EC: Commission Decision of 21 January 2003 on the aid scheme "Stamp duty exemption for non-residential properties in disadvantaged areas" notified by the United Kingdom (Text with EEA relevance) (notified under document number C(2003) 41)

Article 1

The aid scheme called "Stamp Duty Exemption for Disadvantaged Areas" is compatible with the common market pursuant to Article 87(3)(c) of the EC Treaty, provided that the conditions set out in Article 2 are met.

Article 2

1. The United Kingdom shall ensure that any cumulation of aid awarded under the scheme with investment aid awarded under other aid schemes does not exceed the aid ceilings laid down in the regional aid map for the United Kingdom for 2000 to 2006 and in Regulation (EC) No 70/2001.
2. The scheme shall be limited in time until 31 December 2006.
Any continuation of the scheme after that date shall be notified to the Commission pursuant to Article 88(3) of the Treaty.
3. The United Kingdom shall submit annual reports on the operation of the scheme to the Commission.
The degree of detail of the reports shall be such as to allow an evaluation of the effects of the scheme on the physical regeneration of the areas which benefit from it.

Article 3

The United Kingdom 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 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Done at Brussels, 21 January 2003.
For the Commission
Mario Monti
Member of the Commission
(1) OJ C 102, 27.4.2002, p. 22.
(2) See footnote 1.
(3) The United Kingdom authorities have declared that, "relative to the present value of the rent that would be paid over the life of the lease, the stamp duty on the rent will be less than 4 % and generally less than 1 %. Hence the effective rate of stamp duty (and thus the aid intensity) on leases overall, will also be less than 4 %."
(4) Exchange rate used: 1,5698 from 6.12.2002.
(5) OJ C 74, 10.3.1998, p. 9.
(6) The United Kingdom Regional Aid Map for the period 2000-2006 was approved by the Commission by letter No SG (2000) D/106296 of 17 August 2000 (N 265/2000).
(7) According to point 4.4 of the Guidelines, initial investment means "an investment in fixed capital relating to the setting-up of a new establishment, the extension of an existing establishment, or the starting-up of an activity involving a fundamental change in the product or production process of an existing establishment (through rationalisation, diversification or modernisation)."
(8) OJ C 146, 14.5.1997, p. 6.
(9) They also ensure that companies benefiting from the stamp duty exemption will have to face, in return, the disadvantages of operating in a less favoured part of the United Kingdom so that the gain to them is likely to be small or non-existent in practice.
(10) In the light of this data, they argue that more than 84 % of the most deprived wards in England fall within the Community definitions.
(11) In the light of this, they argue that there is a total (urban and regional) overlap of 20 % of the population in the case of England.
(12) These measures are in the field of employment and income, health, education and skills, access to services, crime, housing and physical regeneration.
(13) Case C-303/88 Italy v. Commission (1991) ECR I-1433, paragraph 27.
(14) See footnote 4.
(15) Case T-55/99 Confederación Española de Transporte de Mercancías (CETM) v. Commission (2000) ECR II-3207, paragraph 92.
(16) OJ L 10, 13.1.2001, p. 30.
(17) Case C-169/95 Kingdom of Spain v. Commission (1997) ECR I-135. See also C-730/79 Philip Morris v. Commission (1980) ECR I-2671.
(18) Commission Regulation (EC) No 70/2001 of 12 January 2001 on the application of Articles 87 and 88 of the EC Treaty to State aid to small and medium-sized enterprises, OJ L 10, 13.1.2001, p. 33.
(19) Community Guidelines on State aid for rescuing and restructuring firms in difficulty, OJ C 288, 9.10.1999, p. 2.
(20) Community Framework for State aid for research and development, OJ C 45, 17.2.1996, p. 5.
(21) Commission Regulation (EC) No 68/2001 of 12 January 2001 on the application of Articles 87 and 88 of the EC Treaty to training aid, OJ L 10, 13.1.2001, p. 20.
(22) Guidelines on aid to employment, OJ C 334, 12.12.1995, p. 4.
(23) Community Guidelines on State aid for environmental protection, OJ C 37, 3.2.2001, p. 3.
(24) Nomenclature of Statistical Territorial Units
(25) By letter SG (2000) D/106293 of 17 August 2000, the Commission approved the regional aid map for the period 2000-2006 (N265/2000).
(26) See footnote 8: the Guidelines expired five years after publication.
(27) The Commission notice on the expiry of the Guidelines for undertakings in deprived urban areas was published in OJ C 119, 22.5.2002, p. 21.
(28) An OECD report provides that one of the obstacles to promoting the development of brownfield sites is the inflexibility of policy and legislation. See OECD report, "Urban Brownfields", 1998, DT/UA (98)8.
(29) Points 3 and 6 of the Commission notice on the expiry of the Guidelines for undertakings in deprived urban areas.
(30) The declarations of these European Councils are gathered in the Communication from the Commission to the Council entitled, "Progress report concerning the reduction and reorientation of State aid", Brussels 16 October 2002, COM(2002) 555 final. In addition, the Commission has maintained that a harmonious development of Community territory takes place against a background of greater economic integration: "this is the case for the interventions of the Structural Funds, notably through their assistance to urban development in an integrated regional approach and to rural development in its double role of contributing to the European agricultural model and to economic and social cohesion." See Commission Communication concerning the Structural Funds and their coordination with the Cohesion Fund - Guidelines for programmes in the period 2000 to 2006, OJ C 267, 22.9.1999, p. 2.
(31) OJ L 161, 26.6.1999, p. 1 (amended by Regulation (EC) No 1447/2001 (OJ L 198, 21.7.2001, p. 1)).
(32) Part 3 entitled "Urban and rural development and their contribution to balanced territorial development", of the Commission Communication concerning Structural Funds and their coordination with the Cohesion Fund: see footnote 30.
(33) See the Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, "The programming of the structural funds 2000-2006: an initial assessment of the Urban Initiative", Brussels, 14 June 2002, COM (2002) 308 final. In addition, in its conclusions the Commission has held that the approach developed under Urban and other Community initiatives have many potential lessons for the future of European policy, including "a focus on relatively small areas which maximises impact, as well as value for money" (see page 6).
(34) Communication of 14 June 2002, page 7.
(35) Commission notice to the Member States of 14 April 2000 "laying down guidelines for the Community initiative for rural development (Leader+)", OJ C 139, 18.5.2000, p. 5 (point 14.1 on the areas concerned).
(36) See point 2.1 of the Communication.
(37) See the Fourth KfK/TNO Symposium on Remediation of Contaminated Sites, Berlin 1993. In accordance with these data, United Kingdom has an estimated number of contaminated sites of 100000 and 30000 sites requiring remediation. The highest was Germany due to the specific regeneration problems prevailing in the new Länder.
(38) See OECD document in supra, note 28.
(39) See Expert Group on the European Environment: Towards a More Sustainable Urban Land Use: Advice for the European Commission for Policy and Action, 2001.
(40) See the OECD report, "Urban brownfields", 1998. Other definitions are: "any land or premises that have been previously used or developed and is not currently fully in use, although it may be partially occupied or utilised. It may also be vacant, derelict or contaminated. Therefore, a brownfield site is not necessary available for immediate use without intervention." More generally, brownfield has been defined as "a land and/or buildings, urban or rural that have previously been developed, but are not currently in use. It can also be partially occupied, contaminated or derelict". See Journal of Environmental Planning and Management. V43 (1), pp 49 to 69: January 2000.
(41) This encompasses, inter alia, measures in the field of reclamation of derelict sites and contaminated land as well as renovation of buildings to accommodate economic and social activities in a sustainable and environmentally friendly manner.
(42) Under heading C: "Areas with particular potential: environment, tourism and culture, social economy".
(43) State aid N 82/2001 - English Cities Fund: OJ C 263, 19.9.2001, p. 5, at p. 11.
(44) See page 21 of the OECD document entitled "Urban regeneration" (1998).
(45) Point E.1.8: "Rehabilitation of polluted industrial sites".
(46) Accessing private finance: the availability and effectiveness of private finance in urban regeneration, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, 2002.
(47) See in particular the OECD report entitled "Urban Regeneration", 1998.
(48) See point 6 of the notice: "The Commission recognises that, in some instances, market forces alone appear to be inadequate to resolve or alleviate the social and economic problems of deprived areas" (see footnote 27). This was also pointed out by the former Deprived Urban Area Guidelines in point 1.
(49) By the same token, the European Parliament in its resolution Urban II, "stresses the need for an integrated approach to urban policy as currently this looks to be the only way to address economic, social and environmental problems in urban zones." A particular concern of the Parliament was that, "immigrants, refugees and ethnic minorities are often particularly affected by social exclusion." See OJ C 339, 29.11.2000, p. 47.
(50) Communication from the Commission to the Member States of 28 April 2000 laying down guidelines for a Community initiative concerning economic and social regeneration of cities and of neighbourhoods in crisis in order to promote sustainable urban development (URBAN II): OJ C 141, 19.5.2000, p. 8.
(51) See footnote 50. Emphasis added.
(52) See the OECD document entitled "Urban Brownfields", 1998.
(53) OJ C 74, 10.3.1998, p. 6.
(54) See footnote 4.

Cite this act