Procedure. By letter dated 7 May 2007 from the Icelandic Ministry of Finance, forwarded by the Icelandic Mission to the EU, received and registered by the Authority on the same date (Event No 420581), the Icelandic authorities notified, pursuant to Article 1(3) of Part I of Protocol 3 to the Surveillance and Court Agreement, amendments to the Icelandic Harbour Act, with a view to including damage compensation for ship lifts. They also notified an envisaged application of that new provision in support of the repair of the Westman Islands Port ship lift faci- lity. By letter dated 14 May 2007 (Event No 421158), the Authority informed the Icelandic authorities that it considered the notifica- tion to be incomplete as, in particular, the notification form had not been submitted. On 19 June 2007, the Icelandic Mission to the EU forwarded a letter from the Icelandic Ministry of Finance, received and regis- tered by the Authority on the same date (Event No 425880), by which the Icelandic authorities submitted the notification form and provided further information on the notified measures.
(1) Hereinafter referred to as ‘the Authority’.
(2) Hereinafter referred to as ‘the EEA Agreement’.
(3) Hereinafter referred to as ‘the Surveillance and Court Agreement’.
(4) Guidelines on the application and interpretation of Articles 61 and 62 of the EEA Agreement and Article 1 of Protocol 3 to the Surveillance and Court Agreement, adopted and issued by the EFTA Surveillance Authority on 19 January 1994, published in OJ L 231, 3.9.1994, EEA Supplement No 32, 3 September 1994. The Guidelines were last amended on 31 May 2007. Hereinafter referred to as ‘the State Aid Guidelines’. By letter dated 4 July 2007 (Event No 427442), the Authority requested additional information, which the Icelandic authorities provided on 10 August 2007 (Event No 433162). The Confederation of Icelandic Employers (Samtök atvinnulífsins) filed a complaint with the Authority by way of a letter dated 31 August 2007, claiming that the additional funding for the Harbour Improvement Fund constitutes State aid which cannot be justified under the EEA State aid provisions. The Association refers, in particular, to the fact that aid under the Harbour Act is only available to publicly owned, but not to privately owned, harbours. By letter dated 19 September 2007 (Event No 441678), the Authority forwarded the above complaint to the Icelandic authorities for comment and requested further information, which was provided by the...
Procedure. By letter dated 13 October 2006, Varmeprodusentenes Fore- ning (5) (the Association of heat producers) filed a complaint against The Kingdom of Norway (Ministry of Petroleum and Energy). The letter was received and registered by the Authority on 16 October 2006 (Event No 393383). Supplementary infor- mation was submitted by letter from the Complainant dated 19 October 2006. The letter was received and registered by the Authority on 26 October 2006 (Event No 395451). By letter dated 9 November 2006, the Authority forwarded the complaint to the Norwegian authorities for comments. The Norwegian authorities responded by letter, dated 15 January 2007, enclosed in a letter from the Norwegian Mission to the European Union, dated 17 January 2007, both received and registered by the Authority on 17 January 2007 (Event No 406849).
(1) Hereinafter referred to as ‘the Authority’.
(2) Hereinafter referred to as ‘the EEA Agreement’.
(3) Hereinafter referred to as ‘the Surveillance and Court Agreement’.
(4) Guidelines on the application and interpretation of Articles 61 and 62 of the EEA Agreement and Article 1 of Protocol 3 to the Surveillance and Court Agreement, adopted and issued by the EFTA Surveillance Authority on 19 January 1994, published in OJ L 231, 3.9.1994, EEA Supplement No 32, 3 September 1994. The Guidelines were last amended on 3 May 2007, by College Decision No 154/07/COL. Herei- nafter referred to as ‘the State Aid Guidelines’.
(5) Hereinafter referred to as ‘the Complainant’. By a letter dated 21 February 2007, the Complainant commented on the letter supplied by the Norwegian authorities. The letter was received and registered by the Authority on 23 February 2007 (Event No 411186). Supplementary informa- tion which included a report from ECON and a letter was submitted by the Complainant dated 2 May 2007. The letter and the report were received and registered by the Authority on 3 May 2007 (Event No 419979 and Event No 419977). By email dated 14 November 2007, the supplementary informa- tion submitted by the Complainant was forwarded to the Norwegian authorities. The Norwegian authorities have not presented any comments as regards the Complainant's supple- mentary information.
Procedure. The Authority learned about the sale of the Lista air base by way of a report issued by the Office of the Auditor General which concludes that the Norwegian Defence Estates Agency (hereinafter the ‘NDEA’) is unable to produce reliable evidence documenting that Lista air base was sold at market value (5). On 14 September 2005, the Authority sent a letter to the Norwegian authorities requesting information regarding the sale of Lista air base located in the municipality of Farsund in Sout- hern Norway (Event No 332322). By letter dated 28 October 2005 from the Norwegian Mission to the European Union, forwarding two letters, respectively dated 26 October 2005 from the Ministry of Modernisation and 24 October 2005 from the Ministry of Defence, the Norwegian authorities replied to the questions raised by the Authority. This letter was received and registered by the Authority on 29 October 2005 (Event No 348525). By letter dated 28 March 2007 (Event No 414743), the Autho- rity requested that the Norwegian authorities communicate additional information. By letter dated 4 May 2007 (Event No 420179), received and registered by the Authority on the same day, the Norwegian authorities provided further information.
(1) Hereinafter referred to as ‘the Authority’.
(2) Hereinafter referred to as ‘the EEA Agreement’.
(3) Hereinafter referred to as ‘the Surveillance and Court Agreement’.
(4) Guidelines on the application and interpretation of Articles 61 and 62 of the EEA Agreement and Article 1 in Protocol 3 to the Surveillance and Court Agreement, adopted and issued by the EFTA Surveillance Authority on 19 January 1994, published in OJ L 231, 3.9.1994, p. 1, EEA Supplements No 32, 3.9.1994. The Guidelines were last amended on 3 May 2007. Hereinafter referred to as ‘the State Aid Guidelines’.
(5) Report No 3:7 (2004-2005), The Auditor General' s study of the sale of Lista air base.
Procedure. On 3 March 2007, the Authority received a complaint from an association named Aksjonsgruppa ‘Ta vare på trivelige Bryne’ (hereinafter referred to as ‘Aksjonsgruppa’), concerning the sales of property numbers 1/152, 1/301, 1/630, 4/165 in Time municipality by the municipal authorities to two different private entities, as well as the sale of title number 2/70 (Xxxxx xxxxxxx which also includes title No 2/32) by Bryne fotballk- lubb, previously given to the club by the municipality, to a private investor (Event No 414270). By letter dated 9 May 2007, the private investor Mr Gunnar Oma sent a complaint to the Authority concerning the sale by Time municipality of one of the abovementioned properties, i.e. number 4/165. Mr Xxx claimed that the sale had taken place without prior value assessment and without an uncondi- tional tendering procedure (Event No 421805). By letter dated 25 May 2007 (Event No 1080978), the Authority invited the Norwegian authorities to comment on the complaints and requested additional information. In addition to the property numbers mentioned above, the Authority also asked questions concerning the purchase by Time Municipality of a property to be used for the construction of a new high school (title numbers 1/125, 2/277, 2/278 and 2/284), next to
(1) Hereinafter referred to as the EEA Agreement.
(2) Hereinafter referred to as the Surveillance and Court Agreement.
(3) Procedural and Substantive Rules in the Field of State Aid — Guidelines on the application and interpretation of Articles 61 and 62 of the EEA Agreement and Article 1 of Protocol 3 to the Surveillance and Court Agreement, adopted and issued by the EFTA Surveillance Authority on 19 January 1994, published in OJ L 231, 3.9.1994, EEA Supplement No 32, 3 September 1994, last amended by the Authority's Decision No 154/07/COL, hereinafter referred to as the State Aid Guidelines.
Procedure. According to an Article published in the regional Norwegian newspaper named Telen on 26 March 2007, the municipality of Notodden in Southern Norway had a power sales agreement, which was about to expire, with Becromal, an aluminium manu- facturing company having a plant at Notodden. According to the Article, in order to safeguard Xxxxxxxx'x establishment at Notodden, the prices under the expiring agreement were set equal to the municipality's own costs in purchasing certain amounts of power, see further below. However, the municipality was considering selling the power volumes on the open market. On the basis of that Article, the EFTA Surveillance Authority (hereinafter ‘the Authority’), on 30 May this year, sent a letter to Norway requesting additional information on the municipality's sale of power to Becromal, (Event No 422613). By letter dated 19 July 2007, received and registered by the waterfall exploitation every year. The system of concession power is laid down in Section 2(12) of the Industrial Licensing Act and Section 12(15) of the Waterfalls Regulation Act (3). According to these provisions, which are identical in wording, counties and municipalities in which a power plant is located are entitled to receive up to 10 per cent of a plant's yearly production at a price determined by the State. With respect to concessions granted prior to 1959, such as the concession in the case at hand, the price is based on the so-called ‘individual costs’ of the plant, unless a lower price is agreed on (4). Thus, the price of concession power will normally be lower than the market price. Each municipality's entitlement to concession power is decided on the basis of its ‘general electric power supply needs’. Accor- ding to the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate, this includes electric power for industry, agriculture and house- holds, but not power for power intensive industries and wood conversion (5). From 1988 Notodden municipality had been entitled to approximately 3,9 GWh from the Tinfos power plant located in Notodden, which appears to have been raised to 7,114 GWh in 2002 (6). In addition to the concession power volumes that the municipality was entitled to under the regulations on concession power, Notodden municipality appears to have had rights of use of the waterfall Sagafoss in Notodden. This right of use was, however, exploited by Tinfos AS and not by the municipality itself. In return, the municipality was entitled to additional volumes...
Procedure. By letter dated 5 March 2002 (Doc. No 02-1733-A), the Authority received a complaint alleging that state aid had been granted by Norway through the Research Council of Norway (hereinafter: ‘the RCN’) to various research projects in connection with the development of the software programme Turborouter. The Authority requested information from the Norwegian authorities by letter dated 26 April 2002 (Doc. No 02-2605-D). The Ministry of Trade and Industry replied by letter dated 3 June 2002 (Doc. No 02- 4177-A), which included RCN's comments on the so-called Turborouter project. In October 2002, a meeting between representatives from the Authority and the Norwegian authorities took place in Oslo in order to clarify some technical aspects. On 28 February 2003, the Authority requested further clarification and documentation on certain aspects raised during the above-mentioned meeting (Doc. No 03-1159-D). The required information was supplied by the Norwegian authorities by letter dated 11 April 2003 (Doc. No 03-2338 A) and completed by letter of 20 June 2003 (Doc. No 03-4083-A).
(1) Hereinafter referred to as ‘the Authority’.
(2) Hereinafter referred to as ‘the EEA Agreement’.
(3) Hereinafter referred to as ‘the Surveillance and Court Agreement’.
(4) Hereinafter referred to as ‘Protocol 3’.
(5) Procedural and Substantive Rules in the Field of State Aid, Guidelines on the application and interpretation of Articles 61 and 62 of the EEA Agreement and Article 1 of Protocol 3 to the Surveillance and Court Agreement, adopted and issued by the EFTA Surveillance Authority on 19 January 1994, published in OJ 1994 L 231, EEA Supplements
Procedure. (1) By letter dated 23 March 2011 (Event No 591767) the Authority received a complaint (‘the complaint’) from the Norwegian bus company Xxxxxxxxxxxx.xx (‘the complainant’) alleging that unlawful State aid is involved in the contracts awarded by Aust-Agder County, Norway (‘Aust- Agder’) to several bus operators for the supply of local bus transport services in Aust-Agder.
(2) Furthermore, the complaint alleges breaches of the EEA procurement rules. That aspect of the complaint is dealt with by the Authority’s Internal Market Affairs Directorate as Cases No 69656 and 69548. On 12 October 2011, the Authority issued a letter of formal notice to Norway for failure to comply with the principles of non-discrimination and transparency laid down in Articles 4 and 48 of the EEA Agreement by allowing Aust-Agder to award, and prolong bus transport concessions without any form of publication (Event No 607316). On the same grounds, on 22 June 2012, the Authority delivered a reasoned opinion to Norway (Event No 620449).
(3) The present decision only covers the State aid part of the complaint which has been investigated by the Authority’s Competition and State aid Directorate.
(4) By letter dated 10 November 2011 (Events Nos 612071 and 614791), the Authority informed the Norwegian authorities that the complainant also alleges that unlawful State aid is involved in the award of the contracts for local bus transport services, and sent a request for information. By letter dated 9 December 2011 (Event No 618202), the Norwegian authorities replied to the Authority’s request. Additional requests for information were sent to the Norwegian authorities on 13 March 2012 (Event No 624061) and on 17 October 2012 (Event No 648686), to which the Norwegian authorities replied by letters dated 10, 11 May 2012 (Events Nos 634034 and 634269) and 15 November 2012 (Event No 653639), respectively. By email dated 15 January 2013 (Event No 659645), the Authority asked for additional information, to which it received replies by emails dated 17, 22, 23, 24 January and 30 January 2013 (Events Nos 660036, 660348, 660467, 660486, 660960, 661258 and 661576).
(5) On 19 December 2012 the Authority adopted its Decision closing the formal investigation into potential aid to AS Oslo Sporveier and AS Sporveisbussene. This case concerned an existing aid scheme in local public transport that was governed by the same legislative framework as the present case. In the view of the Authority, it was necessary to ...
Procedure. (1) By electronic notification registered on 16 May 2018, the Hungarian authorities notified to the Commission their intention to grant regional investment aid in favour of Samsung SDI Magyarország Zrt (hereinafter ‘Samsung SDI’).
(2) By letters of 13 July 2018, 12 September 2018, 13 November 2018, 6 February 2019, and 1 April 2019 the Commission requested supplementary information which was submitted by letters registered at the Commission on 7 September 2018, 14 September 2018, 11 December 2018, 20 December 2018, 8 March 2019, and 31 May 2019. Substantial information was also provided by the Hungarian authorities during a meeting in Göd, Hungary, on 2 July 2018 at the beneficiary's premises. Further information was provided via emails on 25 and 28 January 2019. By letter of 7 December 2018, the Hungarian authorities agreed to have the present decision adopted and notified in the English language and by letter of 7 May 2019, the Hungarian authorities agreed to an extension of the deadline for the adoption of the present decision until 15 October 2019.
Procedure. (1) On 14 October 2019, the Commission adopted a decision (hereinafter ‘the Opening Decision’) (1) to initiate the formal investigation procedure in relation to a regional investment aid measure (hereinafter ‘the measure’ or ‘the notified measure’) in favour of Samsung SDI Magyarország Zrt (hereinafter ‘Samsung SDI’ or ‘the beneficiary’).
(2) Hungary submitted comments on the Opening Decision on 30 January 2020, presented its observations on third party comments on 9 July 2020, and replied on 3 November 2020 to a request for information from the Commission dated 25 August 2020. Samsung SDI submitted comments on the Opening Decision on 3 May 2020.
Procedure. By letter dated 5 February 2007, the Authority received a complaint regarding a sale of land by the Municipality of Våler. The letter was received and registered by the Authority on 22 February 2007 (Event No 427226). By letters dated 25 May 2007 and 14 November 2007 (Event No 422506 and Event No 449988), the Authority requested information from the Norwegian authorities. By letters dated 6 July 2007 and 21 December 2007 (Event No 428521 and Event No 458787 respec tively), the Norwegian authorities replied to the information requests. Various mail correspondence has also taken place with the complainant.