On Thursday 18 February, the European Commission published a new ‘guiding template’ on State Aid that deals with ‘cloud’ and ‘edge’ data processing capabilities.
The purpose of the guiding template is to help Member States design their national recovery and resilience plans in line with EU State Aid rules.
The guiding templates provide sector-specific guidance on: - cases where State Aid is not involved, and therefore prior notification to the Commission is not required; - cases where State Aid is involved, but notification is not required because it falls under a block exemption; - cases where State Aid is involved and where notification is required, with reference to the main rules applicable to State Aid.
The Commission published 11 guiding templates for State Aid before 21 December 2020.
Under the Recovery and Resilience Facility, every national Recovery and Resilience plan will have to set aside a minimum of 20% of expenditure to support the digital transition.
Investment in ‘cloud’ and ‘edge’ computing capabilities is essential. The template covers investment projects under the ‘Scale Up’ flagship programme in the Commission’s Annual Sustainable Growth Strategy for 2021. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)