European Competition Law provides a wide-ranging review of the European rules relating to competition: restrictive agreements, abuse of a dominant position, impact of intellectual property rights, procedure, merger control, State aid.

European Competition Law

Aid schemes, individual aid and any ad hoc aid which fulfils all the conditions of the regulation are exempted, without prior notification, provided they contain an express reference to the regulation, by citing its title and publication reference in the Official Journal of the European Union (Regulation No 651/2014, Article 3). The conditions for exemption are divided into two categories: conditi …

Conditions for exemption

Aid schemes, individual aid and any ad hoc aid which fulfils all the conditions of the regulation are exempted, without prior notification, provided they contain an express reference to the regulation, by citing its title and publication reference in the Official Journal of the European Union (Regulation No 651/2014, Article 3). The conditions for exemption are divided into two categories: conditions common to all aid and conditions specific to various categories of aid.

The regulation applies only to transparent aid, such as grants and interest rate subsidies, loans, guarantee schemes, under certain conditions, fiscal measures providing for a cap. Capital injections and risk capital measures are not concerned (Regulation No 651/2014, Article 5). It lays down individual notification thresholds for each individual or ad hoc aid (Article 4). Where the grant equivalent exceeds that threshold, the regulation cannot be applied. In determining whether the threshold is reached, account is taken of the total amount of public support measures for the aided activity or project, regardless of the sources. Maximum aid amounts are defined in terms of aid intensities in relation to a set of eligible costs. All figures used are taken before any deduction of tax or other charges (Article 7). The cumulation of aid with any other aid compatible with the internal market which has been exempted by another regulation or authorized by the Commission is possible as long as those measures concern different identifiable eligible costs. In the event of partial or total overlapping, such cumulation is  allowed up to the highest aid intensity or aid amount applicable to that aid under the regulation (Article 8). The regulation only exempts aid which has an incentive effect (Article 6) . Fiscal measures have no incentive effect where they establish a legal right to aid in accordance with objective criteria and without further exercise of discretion by the Member State and are adopted before work on the aided project or activity has started.

The benefit of the block exemption may be withdrawn by the Commission where a Member State grants aid allegedly exempted without fulfilling the conditions set out in Regulation No 651/2014 (Article 10). However, aid granted to an undertaking in accordance with the general block exemption regulation cannot be withdrawn solely on the ground that that undertaking has been subject to collective insolvency proceedings subsequent to the date on which that aid was granted to it .

An aid has an incentive effect where, before work on the project or activity has started, the beneficiary has submitted an application for the aid to the Member State concerned. An aid granted to larger enterprises is considered to have an incentive effect if, in addition, the member State has verified, before granting the individual aid concerned, that documentation prepared by the beneficiary establishes that one or more criteria are fulfilled, such as a material increase in the size of the project-activity, in its scope, in its total amount, in the speed of completion; for regional investment aid, the fact that the project would not have been carried out in the assisted region concerned in the absence of the aid.

Case C-245/16 Nerea SpA, Judgment of 6 July 2017, LawLex201700001184JBJ.

European Competition Law

402. Conditions for exemption

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402. Conditions for exemption

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Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

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au contenu exclusif Livv – juristes d’entreprise