The complaint. In March 2002, the Authority received a complaint alleging that the RCN had granted R&D aid to ‘projects in the maritime sector that violate the EEA rules. The projects that have received state aid are commercial software programs that are marketed and sold in the international markets. We refer specifically to the software program called TURBOROUTER’. According to the complainant, the Turborouter programme is distorting the competition with other Euro- pean or international companies which develop software programmes for the maritime industry. The complainant, who has software products in the same sector, has stated to have invested important sums of money in developing mathematical algorithms, which seem to be similar to the ones used in Turborouter. The complaint concerns not only the projects that led to the development of a commercial software prog- ramme called Turborouter but also its development in several sub-projects. Although the complainant iden- tified Project 136171 Algopt and Project 144214 Optimisation routines, it explicitly stated that the comp- laint is not limited to these projects but concerns ‘all of these projects that have been targeting the development of a commercial software program called Turborouter’. The complainant mainly argued that (1) the projects that received aid were too close to the market to be eligible for R&D aid and had been marketed for sale to third companies in Norway and abroad; (2) the research results had not been disseminated but the research institute Marintek, which developed the soft- ware programme Turborouter, had received the property rights to sell the programme; (3) the maximum aid intensities had not been respected due to the fact that the own capital contribution from the concerned companies was in reality lower than stated in the application form. The complainant brought forward the following arguments to support the complaint:
The complaint. The complainant alleges that several transactions between the Port of Reykjavík (4), Dráttarbrautir Reykjavíkur ehf. and Stáltak hf. (5) (later Stálsmiðjan ehf.) involve State aid to Stáltak. The complainant considers that ever since December 1999, when Dráttarbrautir Reykjavíkur was founded as a private limited liability company established by the Port and Stáltak, the Port has directly and indirectly supported the operations of Stáltak and, on more than one occasion, unduly saved the company from financial difficulties or imminent bankruptcy. The complainant believes the aid granted amounted to several million ISK. In this manner, the complainant considers that the Port has disrupted the competitive position of enterprises that operate in the area, in particular ports that offer slipway services; dry-docking and ship repairs. The complainant has explained that only three companies, which are situated in the three largest harbours in Iceland, can offer dry-docking and ship repair slipway services. These companies are Stáltak, which operated in the Reykjavík Harbour, and two companies operating from the Hafnarfjörður Harbour and Akureyri Harbour respectively. The complainant has pointed out that through the Port of Reykjavík’s financial support, Stáltak has been able to offer the slipway services in question at a lower price than its competitors.