New State Aid Rules Extend Block Exemption Regulation, Commission Relies More on Member States

The General Block Exemptions Regulation (GBER) is being revised and shall allow the Member States to grant the aid without prior notification to the Commission, assuming GBER conditions are met. The new draft of GBER focuses on acceleration of compatibility assessment with EU Treaties, increasing the notification limits and significant extension of the block exemption categories. Up to 90 % of State aid cases will fall under GBER and only bigger cases will have to be evaluated by the Commission ex ante.

New rules should enter into force in July 2014. According to the Commission, greater emphasis will also be put on the role of Member States during the whole process and their responsibility for the compliance of the aid granted with the new rules. Hynek Brom of the Czech Office for the Protection of Competition says State aid rules modernization will bring no essential system changes within the scope and competencies of the EC and Member States bodies. In his opinion, the revised rules will more likely CZECH TRADE PROMOTION AGENCY strengthen the monitoring and coordinating role of Member States and increase the involvement of the Commission in the supervision of public budget expenditures. Changes in the control scheme will enable the provider to get feedback, but will also mean higher costs. “Modernization also brings important changes in procedural rules helping the Commission fight a large amount of complaints on breaching State aid rules”, highlighted Ondřej Dostal from the Permanent Representation of the Czech Republic. To ensure better communication between the Commission and the Czech Republic, Josef Schwarz of DG COMPET was appointed as the new national coordinator for the Czech Republic.

Changes brought by State aid rules modernization to Czech entities were discussed during the debate co-organized by CEBRE on 27th March 2014 in the European House in Prague.