Press Release: State aid: Commission endorses €1.6 million training aid for DHL in Leipzig-Halle and rejects €6.1 million operating aid

The European Commission endorsed €1.6 million of training aid at DHL's new site in Leipzig-Halle, Germany, but rejected a further €6.1 of aid which would have acted as an illegal operating aid. The Commission's decision followed an in-depth investigation under EC Treaty state aid rules launched in June 2007. The Commission concluded that the €1.6 million would genuinely lead to additional training which goes beyond legal requirements and operational needs, and therefore complied with the EU state aid rules on training aid. However, the Commission rejected as incompatible a further €6.1 million of funding that would have served to finance training activities that DHL would have carried out anyway, even without aid, and concluded that the aid would be used finance ordinary operating costs of DHL. Such operating aid would have given DHL an unfair advantage over its competitors, who don't receive such aid, and so seriously distorted competition.