On Tuesday 18 June, the Commission announced that it had invited interested parties to submit their comments by 20 September 2024 on the draft revision of the rules on State aid for land and multimodal transport, which is to replace the current guidelines on State aid to railway undertakings.
In these guidelines, the Commission sets out the conditions under which it will assess notified public aid for sustainable land transport that does not benefit from a block exemption.
The Commission is also consulting on its draft for a new block exemption regulation in the field of transport, which will complement the guidelines.
The draft amendment aims to extend the scope of the guidelines to all modes of land transport that are less polluting than road transport, to make the rules more flexible for aid that contributes to the green and digital transitions, and to introduce guarantees to support the entry and growth of new operators in the sustainable land transport market.
The Commission also stresses that these changes will consolidate and rationalise its practice, within the framework of these rail guidelines and Article 93 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU.
The new block exemption regulation will declare certain categories of State aid for more sustainable modes of transport compatible with the internal market, and exempt them from prior notification and approval by the Commission, provided they meet certain conditions.
Link to the consultation: https://aeur.eu/f/cpf (Original version in French by Émilie Vanderhulst)