
Article 1 
This Regulation applies to training aid in all sectors, including the activities relating to the production, processing and marketing of products listed in Annex I of the Treaty, with the exception of aid falling within the scope of Council Regulation (EC) No 1407/2002.
Article 2 
For the purpose of this Regulation:

((a)) ‘aid’ shall mean any measure fulfilling all the criteria laid down in Article 87(1) of the Treaty;
((b)) ‘small and medium-sized enterprises’ shall mean enterprises as defined in Annex I to Commission Regulation (EC) No 70/2001;
((c)) ‘large enterprises’ shall mean enterprises not coming under the definition of small and medium-sized enterprises;
((d)) ‘specific training’ shall mean training involving tuition directly and principally applicable to the employee's present or future position in the assisted firm and providing qualifications which are not or only to a limited extent transferable to other firms or fields of work;
((e)) ‘general training’ shall mean training involving tuition which is not applicable only or principally to the employee's present or future position in the assisted firm, but which provides qualifications that are largely transferable to other firms or fields of work and thereby substantially improve the employability of the employee. Training shall be considered ‘general’ if, for example,

— it is jointly organised by different independent enterprises, or if employees of different enterprises may avail themselves of the training,
— it is recognised, certified or validated by public authorities or bodies or by other bodies or institutions on which a Member State or the Community has conferred the necessary powers.
((f)) ‘aid intensity’ shall mean the gross aid amount expressed as a percentage of the project's eligible costs. All figures used shall be taken before any deduction for direct taxation. Where aid is awarded in a form other than a grant, the aid amount shall be the grant equivalent of the aid. Aid payable in several instalments shall be discounted to its value at the time of granting. The interest rate to be used for discounting purposes and for calculating the aid amount in a soft loan shall be the reference rate applicable at the time of grant;
((g)) ‘disadvantaged worker’ shall mean:

— any young person under 25 who has not previously obtained his first regular paid employment,
— any person with serious disabilities which result from physical, mental or psychological impairments and yet capable of entering the labour market,
— any migrant worker who moves or has moved within the Community or becomes resident in the Community to take up work and who needs professional and/or language training,
— any person wishing to re-enter working life after a break of at least three years, and particularly any person who gave up work on account of the difficulty of reconciling his working life and family life, for the first six months after recruitment,
— any person older than 45 who has not attained an upper secondary educational qualification or its equivalent,
— any long-term unemployed person, i.e. any person who was without work for 12 consecutive months, for the first six months after recruitment.
Article 3 

1. Individual aid outside any scheme, fulfilling all the conditions of this Regulation, shall be compatible with the common market within the meaning of Article 87(3) of the Treaty and shall be exempt from the notification requirement of Article 88(3) of the Treaty provided that it contains an express reference to this Regulation, by citing its title and publication reference in the Official Journal of the European Communities.
2. Aid schemes fulfilling all the conditions of this Regulation shall be compatible with the common market within the meaning of Article 87(3) of the Treaty and shall be exempt from the notification requirement of Article 88(3) of the Treaty provided that:
(a) any aid that could be awarded under such scheme fulfils all the conditions of this Regulation;
(b) the scheme contains an express reference to this Regulation, by citing its title and publication reference in the Official Journal of the European Communities.
3. Aid granted under the schemes referred to in paragraph 2 shall be compatible with the common market within the meaning of Article 87(3) of the Treaty and shall be exempt from the notification requirement of Article 88(3) of the Treaty provided that the aid granted directly fulfils all the conditions of this Regulation.
Article 4 

1. Aid schemes and individual aid for training must fulfil the conditions laid down in paragraphs 2 to 7.
2. Where the aid is granted for specific training, its intensity shall not exceed 25 % for large enterprises and 35 % for small and medium-sized enterprises.These intensities shall be increased by five percentage points for enterprises in areas which qualify for regional aid pursuant to Article 87(3)(c) of the Treaty and by 10 percentage points for enterprises in areas which qualify for regional aid pursuant to Article 87(3)(a) of the Treaty.
3. Where the aid is granted for general training, its intensity shall not exceed 50 % for large enterprises and 70 % for small and medium-sized enterprises.These intensities shall be increased by five percentage points for enterprises in areas which qualify for regional aid pursuant to Article 87(3)(c) of the Treaty and by 10 percentage points for enterprises in areas which qualify for regional aid pursuant to Article 87(3)(a) of the Treaty.
4. The maximum intensities referred to in paragraphs 2 and 3 shall be increased by 10 percentage points if the training is given to disadvantaged workers.
5. In cases where the aid project involves both specific and general training components which cannot be separated for the calculation of the aid intensity, and in cases where the specific or general character of the training aid project cannot be established, the intensities applicable to specific training pursuant to paragraph 2 shall apply.
6. Where the aid is granted in the maritime transport sector, it may reach an intensity of 100 %, whether the training project concerns specific or general training, provided that the following conditions are met:
(a) the trainee shall not be an active member of the crew but shall be supernumerary on board, and
(b) the training shall be carried out on board ships entered on Community registers.
7. The eligible costs of a training aid project shall be:
(a) trainers' personnel costs,
(b) trainers' and trainees' travel expenses,
(c) other current expenses such as materials and supplies,
(d) depreciation of tools and equipment, to the extent that they are used exclusively for the training project,
(e) cost of guidance and counselling services with regard to the training project,
(f) trainees' personnel costs up to the amount of the total of the other eligible costs referred to in (a) to (e). Only the hours during which the trainees actually participate in the training, after deduction of any productive hours or of their equivalent, may be taken into account.The eligible costs shall be supported by documentary evidence, which shall be transparent and itemised.
Article 5 
The exemption shall not apply if the amount of aid granted to one enterprise for a single training project exceeds EUR 1 000 000.
Article 6 

1. The aid ceilings fixed in Articles 4 and 5 shall apply regardless of whether the support for the project is financed entirely from State resources or is partly financed by the Community.
2. Aid exempted by this Regulation shall not be cumulated with any other State aid within the meaning of Article 87(1) of the Treaty, or with other Community funding, in relation to the same eligible costs, if such cumulation would result in an aid intensity exceeding that fixed by this Regulation.
Article 7 

1. On implementation of an aid scheme, or grant of individual aid outside any scheme, exempted by this Regulation, Member States shall, within 20 working days, forward to the Commission, with a view to its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities, a summary of the information regarding such aid scheme or individual aid according to the model laid down in Annex II.
2. Member States shall maintain detailed records regarding the aid schemes exempted by this Regulation, the individual aid granted under those schemes, and the individual aid exempted by this Regulation that is granted outside any existing aid scheme. Such records shall contain all information necessary to establish that the conditions for exemption, as laid down in this Regulation, are fulfilled. Member States shall keep a record regarding an individual aid for 10 years from the date on which it was granted, and regarding an aid scheme, for 10 years from the date on which the last individual aid was granted under such scheme. On written request, the Member State concerned shall provide the Commission, within a period of 20 working days or such longer period as may be fixed in the request, with all the information which the Commission considers necessary to assess whether the conditions of this Regulation have been complied with.
3. Member States shall compile an annual report on the application of this Regulation in accordance with the implementing provisions concerning the form and content of annual reports which are laid down pursuant to Article 27 of Council Regulation (EC) No 659/1999.Until such provisions enter into force, Member States shall compile an annual report on the application of this Regulation in respect of the whole or part of each calendar year during which this Regulation applies, in the form laid down in Annex III, also in computerised form. Member States shall provide the Commission with such report no later than three months after the expiry of the period to which the report relates.
Article 7a 
Aid schemes implemented before the date of entry into force of this Regulation, and aid granted under such schemes, in the absence of a Commission authorisation and in breach of the notification requirement of Article 88(3) of the Treaty, shall be compatible with the common market within the meaning of Article 87(3) of the Treaty and shall be exempt if they fulfil the conditions laid down in Article 3(2)(a) and Article 3(3) of this Regulation.
Individual aid outside any scheme granted before the date of entry into force of this Regulation, in the absence of a Commission authorisation and in breach of the notification requirement of Article 88(3) of the Treaty, shall be compatible with the common market within the meaning of Article 87(3) of the Treaty and shall be exempt if it fulfils all the conditions of this Regulation, except the requirement in Article 3(1) that express reference be made to this Regulation.
Any aid which does not fulfil these conditions shall be assessed by the Commission in accordance with the relevant frameworks, guidelines, communications and notices.
Article 8 

1. This Regulation shall enter into force on the 20th day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.It shall apply until 30 June 2008.
2. At the end of the period of validity of this Regulation, aid schemes exempted under this Regulation shall remain exempted during an adjustment period of six months.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
ANNEX I

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ANNEX II

ANNEX III
Member States are required to use the format below for their reporting obligations to the Commission under group exemption regulations adopted on the basis of Council Regulation (EC) No 994/98.
The reports should also be provided in computerised form.
 1.  2.  3. 
Separate figures have to be provided for each aid instrument within a scheme or individual aid (e.g. grant, soft loans, etc). The figures have to be expressed in euro or, if applicable, national currency. In the case of tax expenditure, annual tax losses have to be reported. If precise figures are not available, such losses may be estimated.

These expenditure figures should be provided on the following basis:

for the year under review indicate separately for each aid instrument within the scheme (e.g. grant, soft loan, guarantee, etc.):


3.1. amounts committed, (estimated) tax losses or other revenue forgone, data on guarantees, etc. for new assisted projects. In the case of guarantee schemes, the total amount of new guarantees handed out should be provided;
3.2. actual payments, (estimated) tax losses or other revenue forgone, data on guarantees, etc. for new and current projects. In the case of guarantee schemes, the following should be provided: total amount of outstanding guarantees, premium income, recoveries, indemnities paid out, operating result of the scheme under the year under review;
3.3. number of new assisted projects;
3.4. estimated overall number of jobs created or maintained by new projects (if appropriate);
3.5. estimated overall amount of investment aided by new projects;
3.6. regional breakdown of amounts under point 3.1 either by regions defined at NUTS level 2 or below or by Article 87(3)(a) regions, Article 87(3)(c) regions and non-assisted regions;
3.7. sectorial breakdown of amounts under point 3.1. by beneficiaries' sectors of activity (if more than one sector is covered, indicate the share of each):

— agriculture
— fisheries and/or aquaculture
— coalmining
— manufacturing
of which:
 steel
 shipbuilding
 synthetic fibres
 motor vehicles
 other manufacturing (please specify)
— services
of which:
 maritime transport services
 other transport services
 financial services
 other services (please specify)
— other sectors (please specify)
 4. 