State aid (compatibility)

Institution Definition

Despite the general prohibition of State aid, in some circumstances government interventions is necessary for a well-functioning and equitable economy. Therefore, the Treaty leaves room for a number of policy objectives for which State aid can be considered compatible. The legislation stipulates these exemptions. The laws are regularly reviewed to improve their efficiency and to respond to the European Councils’ calls for less but better targeted State aid to boost the European economy. The Commission adopts new legislation is adopted in close cooperation with the Member States. How is State aid verified? The European Commission has strong investigative and decision-making powers. At the heart of these powers lies the notification procedure which -except in certain instances- the Member States have to follow. (...) State aid sector inquiries can be launched in situations where State aid measures may distort competition in several Member States, or where existing aid measures are no longer compatible with the regulatory framework. Aid measures can only be implemented after approval by the Commission. Moreover, the Commission has the power to recover incompatible State aid. (...) the Commission invites interested parties to submit comments through the Official Journal of the European Union when it has doubts about the compatibility of a proposed aid measure and opens a formal investigation procedure. © European Commission

Articles

Stéphane Rodrigues Droit matériel des aides d’État. Textes et commentaires, Olivier PEIFFERT and Sébastien THOMAS

February 2020

This section selects books on themes related to competition laws and economics. This compilation does not attempt to be exhaustive but rather a survey of themes important in the area. The survey usually covers publication over the last three months after publication of the latest issue of (...)

Dušan Mitrović Serbia: Reflections on the new State aid regime

February 2020

On October 10, 2019, Serbian parliamentarians have voted in favour of adopting the new State Aid Control Act. In the past ten years, the enforcement activity in the field of State aid in Serbia has been somewhat subpar. The legal community still awaits the first decision of the State aid (...)

Aymeric de Moncuit, Valérie Noël Admissibility of appeals lodged by competitors after the Montessori judgment – La possibilité d’une île

November 2019

Any person who wishes to challenge a Commission decision authorising the granting of aid to a competitor must be directly and individually concerned by such aid, in accordance with Article 263(4) TFEU. According to the case law, this is particularly the case if the market position of this (...)

Stéphane Rodrigues Aides d’État, Marianne DONY

September 2019

Anne Perrot, Paul Seabright, Christian Lambert State aids (Nasse Seminar - Paris, 14th novembre 2005)

February 2006

During the Seminar organized the 14th of november of 2005, Christian Lambert and Paul Seabright talked about state aids. The seminar was animed by Anne Perrot, vice-president of the Competition Authority. Created at the end of the 1980s within the Forecasting Department, the Philippe Nasse (...)

Benjamin Cheynel The contestation of the orders to pay issued for the recovery of illegal State aids declared incompatible by the Commission

November 2018

The orders to pay adopted by the French administration, as the most common way of recovery of illegal State aids declared incompatible by the Commission, can be reviewed by French administrative courts, as illustrated by the growing number of such actions. However, actions lodged against these (...)

Athanase Popov State Aid and the Energy Sector, Leigh HANCHER, Adrien de HAUTECLOCQUE and Francesco Maria SALERNO (dir.)

September 2018

Stéphane Rodrigues Les aides d’Etat de nature fiscale en droit de l’Union européenne, Ionna PAPADAMAKI

September 2018

Stéphane Rodrigues European State Aid Law – European Merger Control, Louis VOGEL

February 2018

Athos Pappas State aid and the principle of economic continuity: The consistency of the notion and the effective protection of the competitors and the buyers

September 2017

This article examines the notion of economic continuity which, in the field of state aid, allows the Commission to determine that the obligation of recovery should be extended to the transferee of the initial beneficiary of the aid. To that end, the analysis of the question of procedure allows (...)

Olivier Peiffert Comparisons are odious: Clarification of the state aid’s criterion of selectivity

September 2017

Pursuant to the law as it stands, the criterion of selectivity of a State aid within the meaning of Article 107 (1) TFEU remains to be clarified. This article suggests to take into account the fact that this criterion calls for a comparison of the treatments reserved for different categories of (...)

Catherine Prieto Tax rulings coping with the prohibition of state aids

May 2017

This article is a tribute to the memory of Professor Philippe Neau-Leduc. It suggests that the application of State aid law to tax rulings does not disturb tax law, but reveals a convergence of objectives and gives an impetus to a better and stronger European construction. 1. International (...)

Alain Ronzano, Bastien Thomas, Christelle Adjémian, Emmanuel Frot, Mathilde Brabant Competition journals: July - Sept. 2014

December 2014

This section of the review Concurrences selects articles and working papers on themes related to competition laws and economics, mainly, but not only, in the English and French languages. This compilation does not attempt to be exhaustive but rather a survey on themes important in the area. The (...)

Alain Ronzano, Bastien Thomas, Christelle Adjémian, Emmanuel Frot, Mathilde Brabant Competition journals : Oct. - Dec. 2013

February 2014

Jacques Derenne The recovery of the unlawful and incompatible aids : A selective overview of the european law since 2007

February 2012

For several years, the recovery of unlawful aid and aid that is incompatible with the internal market has been a priority of the European Commission’s State aid policy (the European Commission has created a dedicated recovery unit, commissioned a study on the application of State aid law by (...)

Damien Gerard EC competition law enforcement at grips with the financial crisis: Flexibility on the means, consistency in the principles

February 2009

La crise financière constitue actuellement la préoccupation majeure des dirigeants politiques et économiques en Europe et dans le monde. Elle a fait l’objet de nombreux commentaires ces derniers mois, en ce compris à propos de la contribution de l’Union européenne à la définition d’une possible (...)

Jean-Yves Chérot e-Competitions State Aids Research Program: Application of EC State aid Law by national Courts

December 2007

Dans cet article, le Professeur Jean-Yves Chérot présente les deux premières séries de résultats du programme de recherche du bulletin e-Competitions dédiés aux décisions juridictionnelles nationales en matière d’aides d’Etat. Le Professeur Chérot et son équipe de chercheurs - universitaires et (...)

Koen Van de Casteele State aid control and the defence exception

September 2007

L’article 296 du traité prévoit un régime spécifique pour le marché de l’équipement de défense. A travers une interprétation large de cette disposition, les États Membres ont de facto largement tenu éloigné le secteur de la défense du marché intérieur. Récemment, les inefficacités du marché de l’équipement (...)

Alain Alexis, Thibaut Kleiner State Aid Policy: Better economic analysis for the general interest

December 2005

Contrary to antitrust rules, the rationale of European State aid rules is not limited to the protection of competition between companies, but also covers the achievement of internal market and other policy objectives mentioned in Article 3 of the treaty. In this context, the criteria of the (...)

Events

Paul Csiszar, Andrea Collart, Pascal Belmin, Luc Gyselen Security of Supply Chains: How to address it in Covid-19 and beyond?

29 June 2020

Webinar of the "#NewAntitrust" Webinar Series organised by Concurrences, in partnership with Arnold & Porter and Avisa Partners, with Paul Csiszar (Director, Markets and cases IV: Basic industries, Manufacturing and Agriculture, DG COMP), Pascal Belmin (Head of EU regulatory affairs, Airbus), Andrea Collart (Partner, Avisa Partners) and Luc Gyselen (Partner, Arnold & Porter).

Bertrand Jéhanno, Olivier Sautel, Penelope Papandropoulos, Stéphane Hautbourg State aid and economic analysis Towards an effect based approach?

11 May 2016

Law & Economics Workshop organized by Concurrences Review in partnership with Gide Loyrette Nouel and Microeconomix.

Kai Struckmann, Laurent Eymard, Mark D. Powell, Max Lienemeyer The EC tax probe : When State Aid met tax

25 January 2016

Lunchtalk organised by concurrences in partnership with MAPP and White & Case.

Francesco Martucci, Leo Flynn, Michel Debroux The private investor principle in the recent State aid case law

17 March 2015

Workshop organized by Concurrences in partnership with Reed Smith.

Francesco Martucci, Michel Debroux The private investor in State aid Cases

13 February 2015

Leo Flynn
Michel Debroux
Francesco Martucci

David Spector, Florence Ninane, Frank Heseler Guidelines on State Aid in the energy and environmental fields

5 May 2014

Law & Economics Workshop organized by Concurrences in partnership with Allen & Overy and MAPP.

David Spector, Florence Ninane Guidelines on State Aid in the energy and environmental fields

14 April 2014

Frank Heseler
Florence Ninane
David Spector

Michel Debroux, Phedon Nicolaides, Sophie Borenstein State aids and tax measures

31 January 2014

Antitrust Procedure Workshop organized by Concurrences in partnership with Reed Smith.

Michel Debroux, Phedon Nicolaides State aids and taxation

29 January 2014

Gert-Jan Koopman, James Kavanagh, Martina Maier State Aid Modernisation: What Remains to Be Done? An Update

12 November 2013

Law & Economics workshop organized by Concurrences in partnership with McDermott Will & Emery and OXERA.

David Spector, Kai-Uwe Kühn, Martina Maier Infrastructure Financing: The case of the Aviation State Aid Guidelines

30 May 2013

Law & Economics workshop organized by Concurrences in partnership with McDermott Will & Emery and MAPP.

David Spector, Kai-Uwe Kühn, Martina Maier Infrastructure Financing - The Aviation State Aid Guidelines

22 March 2013

Kai-Uwe Kühn
Martina Maier
David Spector

Kai Struckmann, Lena Sandberg-Morch, Vincent Verouden State Aid, Energy and the Environment

12 December 2012

Law & Economics Workshop organized by Concurrences in partnership with White & Case and CompetitionRx.

Kai Struckmann, Lena Sandberg-Morch, Vincent Verouden State Aid, Energy and the Environment

11 November 2012

Kai Struckmann
Tom Hoehn

A B C D E F G H I J L M N O P R S T U V

A

Absolute territorial protection • Abuse of dominant position • Abuse of economic dependence • Access to essential facility • Access to information • Access to the file • Agency agreement • Agent • Agreement (notion) • Amicus curiae • Ancillary restraints • Annulment • Anticompetitive objet or effect • Anticompetitive practices • Applicable law • Arbitration

B

Barriers to entry • Bid rigging • Black cause • Block exemption (Regulation) • Boycott • Brand competition • Burden of proof • Business secrets • Buyer power

C

Cartel • Clearance phase I (merger) • Clearance phase II (merger) • Collecting society • Collective dominance • Collective redress (class action) • Comity • Competence • Competition policy • Competition policy • Complaint • Compliance programme • Compulsory license • Concerted practices • Concession • Concurrent jurisdiction • Consumers protection • Consumers’ associations • Control (change) • Control (notion) • Cooperation Agreement • Cooperation between competition authorities • Coordinated effects • Copyright • Corporate group • Corruption • Cost-based access • Criminal sanctions • Cross subsidisation

D

Damages • Dawn raids • De minimis notice • Direct effect • Discriminatory practices • Distribution agreement • Dominance (notion)

E

ECHR • Economic analysis • Economic efficiency • Economies of scale • Effect on trade between Member States • Effective judicial protection • Environmental protection • Essential facility • European Competition Network (ECN) • Excess prices • Exchanges of information • Exclusive distribution • Exclusive purchasing • Exclusive right (Art. 106 TFEU) • Exclusivity clause • Exhaustion • Extra-territoriality

F

Failing firm defence • Fidelity rebates • Fine • Fine mitigating • Foreign direct investment (FDI) • Franchising • FRAND

G

Geographic market • Group purchasing organization • Gun jumping

H

Hard core restrictions • Horizontal agreement

I

Individual exemption • Intellectual property right • Interim measures • International competition network (ICN) • Investigations / inquiries

J

Joint control • Joint venture • Judicial review

L

Legal privilege • Leniency • Licensing • Limitation period • Low prices

M

Mandatary (distribution) • Margin squeeze • Market economy investor • Market power • Market share • Media pluralism • Merger (notion) • Merger (prohibition) • Merger (withdrawal) • Minority shareholdings • Misinformation • Misinformation

N

Ne bis in idem • Network effect • Non-competition clause • Notification • Nullity

O

Oligopoly

R

Referral (merger) • Refusal to deal • Regulated prices • Relevant market • Remedies (antitrust) • Request for information • Resale price maintenance (RPM) • Resale-below-cost • Right against self-incrimination • Rights of defence • Rule of reason

S

Sector inquiry • Selective distribution • Services of general economic interest • Single branding • Sole control • Spill-over effects • Standard-Essential Patent (SEP) • State action defense • State aid (compatibility) • State aid (existing aid) • State aid (notification) • State aid (notion) • State aid (recovery) • State aid (tax ruling) • State aid (unlawful aid) • State measure • Sudden break of established business relationships

T

Test SIEC (merger) • Test SLC (merger) • Transfer of technology • Transfer pricing • Trustee (mergers) • Turnover threshold (merger) • Two-sided market • Tying or tied selling

U

Undertaking (notion) • Unfair competition • Universal service • Upstream market

V

Vertical agreement • Vertical restraints (or restrictions)