Amendments to the Guidelines on national regional aid (Text with EEA relevance)
Date: 2000-09-09
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: State aid, aid system, control of State aid, regional aid

9.9.2000

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 258/5

Amendments to the Guidelines on national regional aid

(2000/C 258/06)

(Text with EEA relevance)

Points 3.10.4, 4.15, 4.16 and 4.17 of the Guidelines on national
reginal aid (1) are hereby replaced by the following text:

(cid:145)3.10.4. Regions with a low population density and the

outermost regions:

(cid:151) subject

to the ceiling for each Member State
mentioned at point 3.9, regions with a population
less than 12,5 inhabitants per square
density of
kilometre (19) and the outermost
regions may
also qualify for the derogation in question.

Operating aid

4.15.

Regional aid aimed at
expenses (operating aid) is normally prohibited.

reducing a firm’s current

Exceptionally, however, such aid may be granted in
regions eligible under
the derogation in Article
87(3)(a) (*) of the Treaty provided that it is justified
in terms of its contribution to regional development
is proportional to the
and its nature and its level
the
handicaps
Member State to demonstrate the existence of any
handicaps and gauge their
importance. Operating
aid must be limited in time and progressively reduced.

to alleviate (36).

seeks

for

is

It

it

4.16.

Exceptionally, operating aid which is not both
progressively reduced and limited in time may be
authorised provided that
set out
below are met.

the conditions

4.16.1.

In the outermost regions qualifying for exemption
under Article 87(3)(a) and (c) of the Treaty, and in
the regions of low population density qualifying for
exemption either under Article 87(3)(a) or under
87(3)(c) on the basis of the population density test
referred to at point 3.10.4, aid which is not both
progressively reduced and limited in time and is
transport
intended to offset
in part
costs (37) may
special
conditions (38). It is the task of the Member State to
prove that such additional costs exist and to determine
their amount.

authorised

additional

under

be

4.16.2. Moreover,

in the outermost regions qualifying for
exemption under Article 87(3)(a) and (c) of
the
Treaty, aid which is not both progressively reduced
and limited in time may be authorised in so far as
it is intended to offset the additional costs arising in
the pursuit of economic activity from the factors
identified in Article 299(2) of
the
permanence
and combination of which severely
restrain the development of such regions (remoteness,
insularity, small size, difficult topography and climate,
and economic dependence on a few products). It is the
task of the Member State to determine the amount of
the additional costs and to prove that they are linked
to the factors identified in Article 299(2).

the Treaty,

The proposed aid will have to be justified in terms of
its contribution to regional development, and its
nature; its level will have to be proportional to the
additional costs it is intended to offset.

The level of compensation for additional costs will
also be examined on the basis of the level of devel-
opment achieved by the region.

Lastly, the aid will be authorised by the Commission
for a period which will come to an end at the latest
on expiry of the period of validity of the national
the time of
regional aid maps
the
in force at
Commission’s approval of
the scheme in order to
ensure that regular re-evaluation of the aid-level guar-
antees its long-term relevance to the situation of the
region concerned.

4.17.

Operating aid intended to promote
between Member States is not allowed.

exports (39)

(*) New numbering follows Amsterdam Treaty.(cid:146)

The Commission shall apply these amendments, as from the
date on which the decision is notified to the Member States, to
new State aid notifications and to those notifications on which
it has taken no decision by that date.

All (cid:145)unlawful aid(cid:146) within the meaning of point (f) of Article 1 of
Council Regulation (EC) No 659/1999 (2) shall be appraised in
accordance with the rules and guidelines prevailing at the time
when the aid is granted.

(1) OJ C 74, 10.3.1998, p. 9.

(2) OJ L 83, 27.3.1999, p. 1.