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EC Shipbuilding Aid Approved

01 Sep 2005

The European Commission has approved a 27m scheme in Germany to provide innovation aid to shipbuilding. The scheme is the first of its kind to be approved after the entry into force on 1 January 2004 of the Commission’s framework on state aid to shipbuilding, which introduced revised rules on aid in support of innovation in the shipbuilding sector.

Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said, ‘Economic growth and higher employment will only result if we can improve innovation in all areas of the Single Market. The aid proposed here by the German Government is exactly the kind of focussed, innovation based aid that can bring real benefits to the European economy.’

Under Germany’s new scheme for innovation aid to shipbuilding, shipbuilders will be able to benefit from state aid in support of the industrial application of products and processes whose implementation carry a risk of technological or industrial failure, and which are technologically new or represent a substantial improvement over the state of the art in the EU’s shipbuilding industry. The aid can be up to 20% of the expenditure related to the innovative part of the project.

MJ Information No: 21031

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