Brussels, 05/12/2012 (Agence Europe) - As part of updating of state aid rules, the European Commission unveiled on 5 December (on its own initiative) a proposal to reform the 2009 state aid best practices code and a proposal to extend the Enabling Regulation (Regulation 994/98) to expand the exemptions so that the Commission can decide that various categories of aid are compatible with the single market and therefore do not need to be notified to the Commission.
State aid code of conduct. The Commission proposes to clarify the requirements for lodging a complaint and to set up a transparent and faster procedure to handle state aid complaints. It also suggests formalising the channel of cooperation between the Commission and the national judges. To effectively investigate significant cases, the Commission needs to obtain relevant market information in good time. The Commission therefore proposes to set up more efficient tools to obtain all the necessary information directly from market participants if the information at its disposal is not sufficient. It also suggests allowing the Commission to conduct inquiries about aid granted to a certain sector or a specific type of aid in several member states if it raises competition concerns.
Proposed extension of the Enabling Regulation. The Commission proposes to allow the introduction of exemptions for aid to culture, aid for compensating damages caused by natural disasters, aid for innovation, aid for forestry, aid to compensate the damage caused by adverse weather conditions in fisheries, aid for amateur sports, as well as certain types of aid for transport and for broadband infrastructure. Block exemptions allow member states to grant aid more quickly, without the Commission's prior intervention, as long as the conditions of the Block Exemption Regulation are fulfilled. They considerably simplify the granting of aid that has a limited potential to seriously distort competition in the internal market. (FG/transl.fl)