Article 3
This Decision is addressed to the Federal Republic of Germany Done at Brussels, 21 December 2000. For the Commission Mario Monti Member of the Commission (1) OJ C 338, 6.11.1998, p. 4. (2) OJ C 338, 6.11.1998, p. 4. (3) The Court of Justice has stated: "In competition law, the term 'undertaking' must be understood as designating an economic unit... even if that economic unit consists of several persons natural or legal" (Case 170/83 Hydrotherm v Andreoli [1984] ECR 2999); similarly Case T-234/95 DSG Dradenauer Stahlgesellschaft, judgment of the Court of First Instance of 29 June 2000, at paragraph 124 (not yet reported). (4) Parts of this text have been edited to ensure that confidential information is not disclosed; those parts are enclosed in square brackets and marked with an asterisk. (5) See Community guidelines on State aid for small and medium-sized enterprises, OJ C 213, 23.7.1996, p. 4. (6) The figures for 1998 and 1999 are based on the company records as testified by independent auditors. (7) See page 57, "Statistisches Handbuch für den Maschinenbau" Ausgabe 1997, prepared by the Verband Deutscher Maschinen- und Anlagenbau e.V. (8) See the Commission Decision of 17 August 1999 in Merger Case No IV/M.1594 - Preussag/Babcock Borsig - recital 16. (9) OJ C 368, 23.12.1994, p. 12. A new version of the Guidelines was published in 1999 in OJ C 288, 9.10.1999, p. 2. The new Guidelines are not applicable here, since the aid measures were implemented before the new Guidelines were published (see section 7 of the 1999 Guidelines). (10) See the Commission decision regarding aid case N 464/93. (11) SG (91) D/17825, 26.9.1991. (12) The Treuhand-Regime NN 108/91 covers loans and guarantees granted to companies by the Treuhand as a first step towards their privatisation and does not provide for any thresholds. (13) The Treuhand-Regime NN 108/91 states that "The waiving of claims on companies dating from before 1 July 1990 and which are the result of arbitrariness in the previous planned economy does not constitute State aid". (14) Investment grants (Investitionszuschüße) granted under the joint Federal Government/Länder programme for improving regional economic structures (Gemeinschaftsaufgabe zur Verbesserung der regionalen Wirtschaftsstruktur). Measures under that scheme are deemed to be regional investment aid and have been approved under the derogation in Article 87(3)(a) of the EC Treaty. (15) SG (92) D/17613, 8.12.1992. (16) Point four of the Treuhand-Regime E15/92 states: "It is the Commission's opinion that negative prices may involve a grant with which the buyer can (...) cover losses of the company in question". (17) Point three of the Treuhand-Regime E15/92 says that awards of loans and guarantees had to be notified, in the case of privatisations of companies at a negative price, when the undertaking employed more than 1000. The information provided by Germany states that the company had a workforce of 718 in 1992. The measures were thus covered by this scheme.