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

Under Regulation No 651/2014, regional aid is designed to promote the economic, social and territorial cohesion of Member States and the Union as a whole. More particularly it tends to develop the most disadvantaged regions by supporting investment and job creation in a sustainable context, the setting-up of new establishments, the extension of existing establishments, the diversification of the o …

Principle

Under Regulation No 651/2014, regional aid is designed to promote the economic, social and territorial cohesion of Member States and the Union as a whole. More particularly it tends to develop the most disadvantaged regions by supporting investment and job creation in a sustainable context, the setting-up of new establishments, the extension of existing establishments, the diversification of the output into new additional products or a change in the production of an existing undertaking (Regulation No 651/2014, recital 31). An aid which complies with the map approved by the Commission for each Member State for the granting of regional aid is compatible with the internal market and is not submitted to the notification requirement.

Guidelines set the criteria applied by the Commission to assess the compatibility of regional aid over a limited period . They apply to every sector of activity apart from the fisheries sector and the coal industry. Compatible regional aid is generally granted in the form of a multi-sectoral aid scheme as part of a regional development strategy which pursues clearly defined objectives. The total population coverage of assisted regions in the Union must be substantially less than that of unassisted regions.

Regulation No 651/2014 distinguishes between several categories of regional aid: regional investment aid granted for an initial investment or an initial investment in favor of a new economic activity (Article 14), regional operating aid which reduces an undertaking's current expenditure that is not related to an initial investment including cost categories such as personnel costs, materials, contracted services, communications, energy, maintenance, rent, administration, etc., but excludes depreciation charges and the costs of financing (Article 15), regional urban development aid which is implemented via urban development funds in assisted areas, is co-financed by the European Structural and Investment Funds, and supporting the implementation of an “integrated sustainable urban development strategy” (Article 16) .

Regional investment aid is granted for an investment in material and immaterial assets relating to (i) the setting up or extension of an establishment; (ii) the diversification of the output of an establishment into new products; (iii) a fundamental change in the overall production process of an existing establishment and the acquiring of assets directly linked to the acquired establishment even though it has closed or would have closed had it not been purchased, and is bought by an investor unrelated to the seller. Immaterial assets relate to the transfer of technology through the acquisition of patent rights, licenses, know-how or unpatented technical knowledge. For regional investment aid granted in favor of large investment projects , the aid should not exceed the reduced intensity. The intensity of the aid is calculated on the basis of a gross grant equivalent of the total eligible investment costs or wage costs declared by the beneficiary at the time of the aid application. The intensity of the aid must be adapted to take account of the nature and intensity of the regional problems that are being addressed. The ceiling is less high in regions qualifying for exemption under Article 107(3)(c) than in those qualifying under Article 107(3)(a) .

Regional operating aid covers the additional transport costs of goods produced or processed in areas eligible for operating aid and those incurred as a direct effect of one or several of the permanent handicaps not related to transport, provided that, for the additional costs related to transport, the beneficiaries have their economic activity in that area and the aid is objectively quantifiable in advance, and for costs other than transport costs, that the annual aid amount per beneficiary under all operating aid schemes does not exceed 15% of the gross value added annually created by the beneficiary in the outermost region concerned, or 25% of the annual labor costs incurred by the beneficiary in the outermost region concerned, or 10% of the annual turnover of the beneficiary realised in the outermost region concerned. In any event the aid intensity must not exceed 100 % of the eligible additional costs.

See Guidelines on national regional aid for 2014-2020, OJ C 209 of 23 July 2013, applicable from 1 July 2014.

Urban development fund managers are selected through an open, transparent and non-discriminatory call.

Meaning "an initial investment with eligible costs exceeding EUR 50 million, calculated at prices and exchange rates on the date of granting the aid" (Art. 2(52)).

See Guidelines for national regional aid for 2014-2020 at pts 172 to 176, for the list of ceilings. Those ceilings are increased by 20% for small enterprises and 10% for medium-sized enterprises. For the other regions, the aid intensity has decreased by 5.

European Competition Law

406. Principle

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Les notions juridiques connexes

406. Principle

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Sous parties

Les notions juridiques connexes

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