Brussels, 20/09/2006 (Agence Europe) - As previously announced, the Commission has adopted a new version of its proposal modifying the rules on de minimis aid (EUROPE 9267). This version will be put to the Member States and other interested parties for consultation, with a view to the formal adoption of the text in late November or early December, the spokesperson to the Competition Commissioner confirmed on Wednesday. In March, the Commission planned to raise the threshold below which aid does not need to be notified from 100,000 EUR to 150,000 EUR per company over a period of three years (EUROPE 9148). Under the new proposal, and in line with the guidelines of the European Council, this threshold will finally be set at 200,000 EUR. In the same way, the Commission is now to provide that guarantees will be covered as long as the sum total of the underlying loan does not exceed 1.7 million EUR. The Commission's proposal gives more specific indications on what is to be understood by loans, capital injections, capital investments and guarantees. "We now propose creating a safe harbour tailor-made for guarantee schemes for small and medium-sized enterprises. This should allow Member States to boost the competitiveness of such companies without adversely affecting competition. However, in order to avoid abuses, non-transparent forms of aid must remain excluded from the Regulation", Neelie Kroes explains in a press release.
Delighted with the new threshold and the fact that guarantee mechanisms have been taken into account, Hans-Werner Müller of the European Union for Craft, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (UEAPME), said that "the new text will cover the vast majority of existing schemes for SMEs, allowing them to benefit from substantial government loan guarantees without facing burdensome notification requirements". Christoph Leitl, President of SME UNION, takes the same view, describing the proposal as "a first step in the right direction", adding however that a greater increase in the threshold of 200,000 EUR would not run counter to the European single market.