No L 223/28 Official Journal of the European Communities 8. 8. 92 COMMISSION COMMISSION DECISION of 31 July 1992 on the granting of aid to steel undertakings by the Danish and Dutch Governments (Only the Danish and Dutch texts are authentic) (92/411/ECSC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community, and in particular Article 95 (1) and (2) thereof, Having consulted the Consultative Committee and with the unanimous assent of the Council, Whereas : In order to help protect the environment by reducing carbon dioxide emissions and improving energy effici- ency, the Danish and Dutch authorities have decided to introduce a specific additional tax on carbon dioxide and energy coupled with arrangements providing reliefs for firms. In Denmark, the reliefs consist in particular of : — a system of progressive refund of part of the tax paid : " the amount of the refund increases in parallel with the proportion of the firm’s value added accounted for by the tax, — a grant where the tax accounts for more than 3 % of the firm’s value added, eligibility for the grant being subject to the carrying out of an energy expert’s report and to the implementation of the energy-saving measures advocated in the report. The grant comes on top of the progressive refund so as to cover the amount of the tax still payable, except for Dkr 10 000 (ECU 1 260) which the firm must pay itself. In the Netherlands, the reliefs relate to the part of the tax that is based on energy consumption (the other half of the tax being based on the carbon dioxide content of fuels) and consist of a reduced rate of taxation for firms whose natural gas consumption exceeds a threshold of 10 million m?® a year. In both countries, firms subject to the tax will therefore incur additional costs despite these reliefs. The Commis- sion, to which these tax arrangements were notified in accordance with Article 93 of the EEC Treaty, took the view that the relief measures comprised aid elements since they favoured certain undertakings in the two Member States. It concluded that the aid was compatible with the common market since its object was to limit the loss of competitiveness of the recipient firms, as a result of their being subject to the tax, as compared with their competi- tors in countries which had not introduced such a tax, and since it did not jeopardize the positive effects which the introduction of the tax was likely to have in terms of environmental protection. In April 1992, thereof, the Commission decided not to oppose the granting of the aid, though it stipulated that, if Community legislation were subsequently introduced in this area, the Danish and Dutch Governments would have to bring their taxes and therefore the related aid measures into line with it. However, the Commission excluded ECSC steel underta- kings from eligibility for the aid. This is because the aid is not included amongst the types of aid authorized by Commission  Decision No  3855/91/ECSC  of 27 November 1991 establishing Community rules for aid to the steel industry (*). The granting of the aid is conse- quently prohibited under Article 4 point (c) of the ECSC Treaty. However, the additional costs incurred by Danish and Dutch firms as a result of their being subject to the tax will affect their competitiveness compared with their competitors inside and outside the Community. The goal of not impeding the competitiveness of steel undertakings contributes to achievement of the objectives laid down in () OJ No L 362, 31. 12. 1991, p. S7.