On Monday 16 July, the European Commission adopted a new Best Practices Code concerning controls on state aid, in order to improve the efficiency and transparency of these controls and the predictability of procedures.
The adoption of this document comes in the framework of the work to update state aid controls undertaken by the Commission in 2012 (see EUROPE 10611) aiming in particular to streamline the institution's work in this area. It will give the member states the option to award targeted state aid quickly and ensure that the control activities of the Commission focus on cases that are actually liable to distort competition within the EU.
The Best Practices Code provides guidelines on how the Commission, the member states and stakeholders should work together in the framework of controls on state aid. More specifically, the document provides indications about the contacts between the Commission and the member states before a measure is notified, priorities for the processing of cases or the institution's information-gathering activities when examining cases.
In a press release, the Commission stated that the work to draft the Code had involved discussions with contributions from the member states and stakeholders. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)