EC introduces new transparency requirements
22 May 2014 04:05 PM
As a cornerstone of its State Aid Modernisation
(SAM) initiative, the European Commission has introduced new transparency
requirements concerning state aid granted by Member States to undertakings. For
each state aid award above €500,000, Member States will be required to
publish the identity of the beneficiary, the amount and objective of the aid
and the legal basis.
Commission Vice-President in charge of competition
policy, Joaquín Almunia, said: "Transparency promotes
accountability and more effective policies. Member States will have to set up a
dedicated website so that citizens and stakeholders can see which companies
have received state aid, how much and for what purpose. This will help promote
the good use of taxpayers' money."
As
part of the State Aid Modernisation agenda, the Commission has considerably
increased the scope of exemptions from prior notification of state aid granted
to companies (see IP/14/587 and MEMO/14/369). This will significantly reduce the administrative
burden for Member States and will allow the faster deployment of aid for the
companies that receive it.
As
a complement, the Commission has introduced new transparency requirements. A
Communication adopted yesterday aligns the transparency requirements across all
the recently revised state aid rules1. Member States will publish all state
aid awards above €500,000 on a dedicated website. The information to be
made available includes the name of the beneficiary and the amount of aid
granted. It will specify whether the beneficiary is an SME or a large company,
where the beneficiary is located and in which sector it is active. It will also
concern the aid instrument, the date of granting and the legal
basis.
The
information will be published on national or regional websites within 6 months
from the granting of the aid. Full and timely publication is a condition for
the validity of the aid. Transparency extends also to fiscal aid, with specific
rules ensuring that tax confidentiality is preserved.
Member States have two years to put in place the website
and an appropriate system to collect the information.
See
also the Policy brief, for more details on state aid
transparency.
The
text of the Communication is available at:
http://ec.europa.eu/competition/state_aid/modernisation/index_en.html#
Background
State aid transparency builds on the practice already
existing under European Structural and Investment Funds or
the Common Agricultural Policy.
Transparency requirements are also already part of
certain state aid rules, such as the Broadband Guidelines (see IP/12/424), the Regional Aid Guidelines (see IP/13/569), the Cinema Communication (seeIP/13/1074), the Risk Finance Guidelines (see IP/14/21) and the Aviation Guidelines (see IP/14/172).
Following public consultations on these texts, the
Commission has now aligned the transparency requirements of those texts through
the new Communication in order to ensure proportionality, prevent the
disclosure of information not related to State aid and provide Member States
with a transitional implementation phase.
The
Energy and Environment Guidelines (see IP/14/400) are already in line with the Communication's
requirements. The same requirements will also apply to aid awarded under the
GBER (see IP/14/587) and R&D&I framework
(see IP/14/586) adopted yesterday.
Contacts :
Antoine
Colombani (+32 2 297 45 13, Twitter:
@ECspokesAntoine)
Yizhou
Ren (+32 2 299 48 89)
For
the public: Europe Direct by
phone 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 or by email
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