Brussels, 12/10/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 11 October, the European Commission decided not to raise any objections under EU Treaty state aid rules to the financial aid granted by France to the OSIRIS research and development (R&D) programme. The programme is coordinated by the Soufflet group in association with the company Maguin and a French research laboratory. The aim of the project is to develop new biotechnology products and processes with a view in particular to improving the use of agricultural resources in biofuels and animal nutrition. The aid amounts to approximately €31 million.
France notified its intention to grant the aid of €31 million to the OSIRIS programme on 22 June 2007. After a detailed examination, the Commission concluded that the measure satisfies the conditions laid down in the Community framework. The Commission's analysis shows that the implementation of the OSIRIS programme is not spontaneously market-driven because the research findings associated with it will inevitably be disseminated and will benefit other parties, including competitors. The knowledge disseminated will be linked in particular to advances in solid-state fermentation. This promising technology, which has hitherto been neglected because of technical difficulties, offers an alternative to liquid-state fermentation, an older and more common technique but one which has its limitations.
The Commission believes the aid granted by France is 'an effective instrument which has a genuine incentive effect on the partners in the programme, and the amount of the aid is proportionate'. The distortions caused by the aid should have only a limited impact on the competitive working of the markets concerned, given that the Soufflet group is a new entrant to these growth markets, where the resources devoted to R&D by the established players are much larger than the aid under consideration here. Nor will the Soufflet group be able to create barriers to entering the relevant markets. The OSIRIS programme mainly consists of work which is far removed from the markets and the results of which will benefit the other players too. In addition, the Commission concludes that its impact on the markets will be felt only in the long term, thus allowing competitors to react to its implementation. (ol)