Commission Regulation (EC) No 794/2004Show full title

(This format covers the agricultural sector) U.K.

With a view to simplifying, streamlining and improving the overall reporting system for State aid, the existing Standardised Reporting Procedure shall be replaced by an annual updating exercise. The Commission shall send a pre-formatted spreadsheet, containing detailed information on all existing aid schemes and individual aid, to the Member States by 1 March each year. Member States shall return the spreadsheet in an electronic format to the Commission by 30 June of the year in question. This will enable the Commission to publish State aid data in year t for the reporting period t-1(1).

The bulk of the information in the pre-formatted spreadsheet shall be pre-completed by the Commission on the basis of data provided at the time of approval of the aid. Member States shall be required to check and, where necessary, modify the details for each scheme or individual aid, and to add the annual expenditure for the latest year (t-1). In addition, Member States shall indicate which schemes have expired or for which all payments have stopped and whether or not a scheme is co-financed by Community Funds.

Information such as the objective of the aid, the sector to which the aid is directed, etc shall refer to the time at which the aid is approved and not to the final beneficiaries of the aid. For example, the primary objective of a scheme which, at the time the aid is approved, is exclusively earmarked for small and medium-sized enterprises shall be aid for small and medium-sized enterprises. However, another scheme for which all aid is ultimately awarded to small and medium-sized enterprises shall not be regarded as such if, at the time the aid is approved, the scheme is open to all enterprises.

The following parameters shall be included in the spreadsheet. Parameters 1-3 and 6-12 shall be pre-completed by the Commission and checked by the Member States. Parameters 4, 5, 13 and 14 shall be completed by the Member States.

1.

Title

2.

Aid number

3.

All previous aid numbers (e.g., following the renewal of a scheme)

4.

Expiry

Member States should indicate those schemes which have expired or for which all payments have stopped.

5.

Co-financing

Although Community funding itself is excluded, total State aid for each Member State shall include aid measures that are co-financed by Community funding. In order to identify which schemes are co-financed and estimate how much such aid represents in relation to overall State aid, Member States are required to indicate whether or not the scheme is co-financed and if so the percentage of aid that is co-financed. If this is not possible, an estimate of the total amount of aid that is co-financed shall be provided.

6.

Sector

The sectoral classification shall be based largely on NACE(2) at the [three-digit level].

7.

Primary objective

8.

Secondary objective

A secondary objective is one for which, in addition to the primary objective, the aid (or a distinct part of it) was exclusively earmarked at the time the aid was approved. For example, a scheme for which the primary objective is research and development may have as a secondary objective small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) if the aid is earmarked exclusively for SMEs. Another scheme for which the primary objective is SMEs may have as secondary objectives training and employment aid if, at the time the aid was approved the aid is earmarked for x% training and y% employment.

9.

Region(s)

Aid may, at the time of approval, be exclusively earmarked for a specific region or group of regions. Where appropriate, a distinction should be made between Objective 1 regions and less-favoured areas.

10.

Category of aid instrument(s)

A distinction shall be made between six categories (Grant, Tax reduction/exemption, Equity participation, Soft loan, Tax deferral, Guarantee).

11.

Description of aid instrument in national language

12.

Type of aid

A distinction shall be made between three categories: Scheme, Individual application of a scheme, Individual aid awarded outside of a scheme (ad hoc aid).

13.

Expenditure

As a general rule, figures should be expressed in terms of actual expenditure (or actual revenue foregone in the case of tax expenditure). Where payments are not available, commitments or budget appropriations shall be provided and flagged accordingly. Separate figures shall be provided for each aid instrument within a scheme or individual aid (e.g. grant, soft loans, etc.) Figures shall be expressed in the national currency in application at the time of the reporting period. Expenditure shall be provided for t-1, t-2, t-3, t-4, t-5.

14.

Aid intensity and beneficiaries

Member States should indicate:

• the effective aid intensity of the support actually granted per type of aid and of region

• the number of beneficiaries

• the average amount of aid per beneficiary.

(1)

t is the year in which the data are requested

(2)

NACE Rev.1.1 is the Statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community.