THE AMOUNT OF THE PERMITTED DE MINIMIS AID DOUBLED

The Competition Council being the public authority in charge of the coordination of issues related to State aid subject to the European State aid rules initiated a meeting with representatives of ministries, municipalities and other institutions. In the course of the meeting the specialists of the State Aid Department of the Competition Council introduced the new provisions of the de minimis aid that came into effect on 1 January 2007.

Among major novelties in the area of regulation of the de minimis aid the most important is the provision increasing the amount of the de minimis aid from EUR 100,000 to EUR 200,000 per one beneficiary. The amount will be computed by adding up the de minimis aid granted during the current fiscal year and that granted in the course of the two previous fiscal years. It should be noted that subject to certain limitations the de minimis aid shall be also authorised to the processing of and trade in agricultural products listed in Annex I to the Treaty establishing the European Community (except fisheries products), also the transport sector. According to the provisions of the previous regulations these sectors did not qualify for the de minimis aid. The new rules also provide for certain limitations of the de minimis aid that had not been in place before. The de minimis aid will not be allowed for undertakings in difficulty. Likewise certain limitations have been introduced in respect of the forms of the provision of the de minimis aid – only transparent aid may be granted, i.e., the aid that may be accurately computed without performing the risk assessment. According to the new rules the de minimis aid will not be cumulated with the State aid granted for the same eligible costs in cases where the cumulation of the aid in each individual case would result in exceeding the individually established aid intensity threshold.

The specialists of the Competition Council responded to the questions raised by the participants of the meeting.

In the view of the ongoing reform and the amendments to numerous relevant legal acts governing State aid implemented by the European Commission, the Competition Council intends to continue holding meetings with representatives of interested authorities designed to introduce the new provisions in the area of regulation of State aid.