(2)

Article 3 is replaced by the following: ‘Article 3 De minimis aid 1. Aid measures shall be deemed not to meet all the criteria in Article 107(1) of the Treaty, and shall therefore be exempt from the notification requirement in Article 108(3) of the Treaty, if they fulfil the conditions laid down in this Regulation. 2. The total amount of de minimis aid granted per Member State to a single undertaking shall not exceed EUR 20 000 over any period of 3 fiscal years. 3. The cumulative amount of de minimis aid granted per Member State to undertakings active in the primary production of agricultural products over any period of 3 fiscal years shall not exceed the national cap set out in Annex I. 3a. By way of derogation from paragraphs 2 and 3, a Member State may decide that the total amount of de minimis aid granted to a single undertaking shall not exceed EUR 25 000 over any period of 3 fiscal years and that the total cumulative amount of de minimis aid granted over any period of 3 fiscal years shall not exceed the national cap set out in Annex II, subject to the following conditions: (a) for aid measures which benefit only one single product sector, the total cumulative amount granted over any period of 3 fiscal years shall not exceed the sector cap defined in Article 2(4); (b) the Member State shall have in place a national central register in accordance with Article 6(2). 4. De minimis aid shall be deemed granted at the moment the legal right to receive the aid is conferred on the undertaking under the applicable national legal regime, irrespective of the date of payment of the de minimis aid to the undertaking. 5. The de minimis ceilings and the national and sector caps referred to in paragraphs 2, 3 and 3a shall apply irrespective of the form of the de minimis aid or the objective pursued and regardless of whether the aid granted by the Member State is financed entirely or partly by resources of Union origin. The period of 3 fiscal years shall be determined by reference to the fiscal years used by the undertaking in the Member State concerned. 6. For the purposes of the de minimis ceilings and the national and sector caps referred to in paragraphs 2, 3 and 3a, aid shall be expressed as a cash grant. All figures used shall be gross, that is, before any deduction of tax or other charge. Where aid is granted in a form other than a grant, the aid amount shall be the gross grant equivalent of the aid. Aid payable in several instalments shall be discounted to its value at the moment it is granted. The interest rate to be used for discounting purposes shall be the discount rate applicable at the time the aid is granted. 7. Where the de minimis ceilings, the national caps or the sector cap referred to in paragraphs 2, 3 and 3a would be exceeded by the grant of new de minimis aid, none of that new aid may benefit from this Regulation. 8. In the case of mergers or acquisitions, all prior de minimis aid granted to any of the merging undertakings shall be taken into account in determining whether any new de minimis aid to the new or the acquiring undertaking exceeds the relevant de minimis ceilings, the relevant national cap or the sector cap. De minimis aid lawfully granted before the merger or acquisition shall remain lawful. 9. If one undertaking splits into two or more separate undertakings, de minimis aid granted prior to the split shall be allocated to the undertaking that benefited from it, which is in principle the undertaking taking over the activities for which the de minimis aid was used. If such an allocation is not possible, the de minimis aid shall be allocated proportionately on the basis of the book value of the equity capital of the new undertakings at the effective date of the split.’;