Compatibility of the aid. 5.2.1. Application of Article 107(3)(b) TFEU
Compatibility of the aid. (28) The Commission must assess the continuation of all emer gency aid measures as restructuring aid, on the basis of the submitted restructuring plan and against the conditions of the Restructuring Communication (2).
(1) Defined as a high likelihood that the borrower cannot repay the loan, or if the payments are more then 90 days overdue. Taking into account the lower payment morale in some of the markets where HGaa operates, the bank has replaced the 90 days criterion with a 180 days criterion in some countries.
(2) Commission Communication on the return to viability and the assessment of restructuring measures in the financial sector in the current crisis under the State aid rules (OJ C 195, 19.8.2009, p. 9).
Compatibility of the aid. 4.2.1. The legal basis for the compatibility assessment of the aid
Compatibility of the aid. In the Authority's view, the aid measures do not comply with any of the exemptions provided for under Article 61(2) or (3)(a), (b) and (d) of the EEA Agreement. Therefore, it needs to be assessed whether the aid could be justified under Article 61(3)(c) of the EEA Agreement. Under this provision aid may be declared compatible if ‘it facilitates the development of certain economic activities or of certain economic areas, where such aid does not adversely affect trading conditions to an extent contrary to the common interest’. The Authority has doubts whether the conditions of this provision, which are to be read in conjunction with the Authority's Environmental Guidelines, are fulfilled. The Authority's 2001 Environmental Guide- lines required the EFTA States to bring their environmental aid schemes into line with these guidelines before 1 January 2002. The Norwegian authorities accepted this commitment by letter dated 6 July 2001 (39). In the following assessment, the Authority will make a distinction between the Energy Fund system as noti- fied to the Authority and applied since 1 January 2002 (see section II 3.1 of this Decision) and the future changes envisaged by the Norwegian authorities which intend to make the support compatible with the EEA State aid provisions (see section II 3.2. of this Decision).
3.1. The system as notified and applied since 1 January 2002
3.1.1. Support for production of renewable energy sources
Compatibility of the aid. On the basis of the information currently available, the Commission has therefore formed the view that the measure as currently applied appears to constitute an operating aid in the meaning of Article 87(1) of the EC Treaty. This measure allows a company or registered branch holding the status of exempt company to be liable to taxation at a lower level than that applied to other companies.
Compatibility of the aid. The Norwegian authorities have argued that the transactions do not contain aid, and have not put forward arguments concer- ning compatibility. However, after assessing the likelihood that State aid may be involved in the transactions described above, it has to be considered whether any aid involved in the transac- tions could be compatible with the EEA Agreement under Article 61(3)(a)-(c) EEA. In the case of the sale of title numbers 1/152, 1/301 and 1/630 to Grunnsteinen, the information available to the Authority does not seem to indicate that any aid was granted to promote the economic development of areas where the standard of living is abnormally low or where there is serious underemployment, to promote a project of common European interest or to facilitate the development of certain economic activities. More- over, any aid granted to the sports club would not seem to promote cultural development. Against that background, Article 61(3)(a)-(c) appears to be inapplicable. For the same reasons, any possible aid involved in the sale of title number 4/165 to Bryne Industripark and the sale of title numbers 2/70 and 2/32 to Bryne FK does not seem to be compatible with the functioning of the EEA Agreement by virtue of Article 61(3)(a)-(c).