Competition
policy
Article 92 (1) of the EC Treaty, which stipulates that 'any aid granted
by a Member State or through State resources in any form whatsoever which
distorts or threatens to distort competition by favouring certain undertakings
or the production of certain goods shall, in so far as it affects trade between
Member States, be incompatible with the common market'.
The Commission Communication on
Guidelines on Aid to
Employment details a number of employment-policy measures that are not
caught by Article 92 (1) of the EC Treaty because they constitute aid to
individuals that does not favour certain undertakings or the production of
certain goods. In so far as such measures apply automatically to individuals
on the basis of objective criteria and without favouring certain undertakings
or the production of certain goods, they do not constitute if they are
designed:
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to improve the personal situation of workers o4n the labour market or to make it possible for them to find work or become socially integrated, in particular by way of vocational training or apprenticeships,
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to supplement the income of certain workers,
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to encourage the employment of women in occupations traditionally carried on by men or the employment of individuals from ethnic minorities,
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to foster mobility of workers, the creation of self-employed activities or the recruitment of certain categories of worker having to contend with temporary socio-vocational disadvantages,
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to promote the employment of persons with physical or mental disabilities.
