COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE EVALUATION Evaluation of the State subsidy rules for health and social services of general economic interest (“SGEIs”) and of the SGEI de minimis Regulation.
Date: 2023-02-22
Institutions: Directorate-General for Competition, European Commission
Subjects: State aid, application of EU law, control of State aid, health service, provision of services, services of general interest, social services

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  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 1.12.2022  SWD(2022) 389 final  COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE EVALUATION  Evaluation of the State subsidy rules for health and social services of general economic interest (“SGEIs”) and of the SGEI de minimis Regulation.   {SWD(2022) 388 final}  
 
 
1.  Background and objectives  

In 2012, a set of specific State aid rules for services of general economic interest (“SGEI”) –  
known as “the 2012 SGEI Package” – entered into force. The 2012 SGEI package consists of 
the  SGEI  Communication1;  the  SGEI  Decision2;  the  SGEI  Framework3;  and  the  SGEI  de 
minimis Regulation4. 

The 2012 SGEI Package aimed at clarifying basic concepts relevant for the application of the 
State  aid  rules  to  SGEIs  and  adopting  a  more  diversified  and  proportionate  approach  for  a 
large variety of SGEIs, taking into account their nature and scope and the extent to which they 
posed a serious risk of competition distortions in the internal market. In this regard, the 2012 
SGEI Package sought among others to simplify the rules for small SGEIs of a local nature and 
for social services. 

Launched in June 2019, the evaluation aims to verify to which extent the rules applicable to 
health and social services under the 2012 SGEI Package reached the objectives of clarification 
and  simplification  and  whether  the  rules  are  still  appropriate,  also  in  view  of  the  latest 
jurisprudence  of  the  Union  Courts  and  sectoral  developments  in  the  internal  and  global 
markets. The evaluation sought to analyse the effectiveness, efficiency, coherence, EU-added 
value and relevance of the SGEI rules applicable to health and social services. The evaluation 
also sought to assess how the SGEI de minimis Regulation has been applied. The Commission 
services collected evidence to understand how the rules have performed since their entry into 
force in 2012.  

2.  Methodology  

The evaluation is based on data from a number of sources. The Commission services gathered 
views  from  stakeholders  via  an  open  public  consultation  and  from  Member  States  via  a 
targeted  consultation.  An  expert  study  provided  additional  data  on  healthcare  and  social 
housing. 

In addition, the evaluation also includes the Commission services’ own analysis, based on a 
number  of  elements  such  as  existing  studies,  the  Commission’s  case  practice,  internal 
statistics and data from the SGEI reports submitted by the Member States every two years.  

3.  Findings 

Effectiveness:  The  2012  SGEI  Package  appears  to  be  effective.  Indeed,  the  2012  SGEI 
Package did allow for simplification, for instance, with the introduction of an SGEI-specific 
de minimis Regulation. It also clarified certain basic concepts relevant for the application of 

1   Communication from the Commission on the application of the European Union State aid rules to compensation granted 

for the provision of services of general economic interest, OJ C 8, 11.1.2012, p. 4. 

2   Commission Decision of 20 December 2011 on the application of Article 106(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the 
European Union to State aid in the form of public service compensation granted to certain undertakings entrusted with the 
operation of services of general economic interest, OJ L 7, 11.1.2012, p. 3. 

3   Communication  from  the  Commission  –  European  Union  framework  for  State  aid  in  the  form  of  public  service 

compensation (2011), OJ C 8, 11.1.2012, p. 15. 

4   Commission Regulation (EU) No 360/2012 of 25 April 2012 on the application of Articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty on 
the Functioning of the European Union to de minimis aid granted to undertakings providing services of general economic 
interest, OJ L 114, 26.4.2012, p. 8. 

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the  SGEI  rules.  However,  the  evaluation  seems  to  indicate  that  there  is  still  room  for 
improvement,  in  particular  to  clarify  certain  concepts  such  as  economic/non-economic 
activity,  effect  on  trade,  reasonable  profit,  market  failure  and  social  housing.  Moreover,  it 
appears that there may be a need to reconsider the SGEI de minimis ceiling and to align the 
SGEI de minimis Regulation with the general de minimis Regulation5.  

Efficiency:  The  SGEI  de  minimis  Regulation  and  the  2012  SGEI  Decision  appears  to  have 
had  a  positive  impact  on  the  reduction  of  the  administrative  burden.  However,  there  still 
seems  to  be  room  for  improvement  to  decrease  this  burden,  in  particular  with  regard  to  the 
monitoring of the SGEI de minimis Regulation and transparency requirements. The evaluation 
also  suggests that costs  associated with  the  application of the  requirements  set  by the SGEI 
rules should be reduced. 

Coherence: The State aid rules that make up the 2012 SGEI Package appear to be internally 
coherent,  although  some  potential  inconsistencies  with  other  rules  were  identified,  like  for 
example with the Notice on the Notion of Aid6. In addition, the general and the SGEI-specific 
de minimis Regulations were not fully aligned as regards the notion of “single undertaking”, 
the  provisions  on  mergers  and  acquisitions,  and  the  application  of  the  de  minimis  rules  to 
undertakings in difficulty. 

EU added value: Stakeholders acknowledged the EU added value of the SGEI rules subject to 
the evaluation and there is an overall agreement that the 2012 SGEI Package brought a better 
division of tasks between Member States and the Commission, although more methodological 
guidance from the Commission would be welcomed. Also, it results from the evaluation that 
the 2012 SGEI Package managed to provide a stable legal environment for Member States. 

Relevance:  The  objectives  of  the  2012  SGEI  Package,  to  a  large  extent,  appear  to  be 
appropriate and correspond to today’s (EU internal) market situation. However, the potential 
impact  and  the  uncertainties  brought  by  the  COVID-19  crisis  and  the  Russian  war  of 
aggression against Ukraine cannot  be fully  evaluated  yet.  The evaluation also  indicated that 
further  adaptations  may  be  considered  to  fully  meet  the  needs  of  stakeholders  such  as  the 
recognition  in  the  SGEI  rules  of  operators  active  in  the  so-called  “social  economy”  or  the 
recognition of quality services. 

4.  Conclusions  

The evaluation concludes that the 2012 SGEI Package as regards health and social services is 
broadly fit for purpose. However, it also results from the evaluation that a further clarification 
of certain concepts is desireable, either related to the notion of State aid (i.e. economic/non-
economic  activity,  effect  on  trade)  or  regarding  concepts  linked  to  the  SGEI  rules  (e.g. 
reasonable profit, market failure, etc.),. 

5   Commission  Regulation  (EU)  No  1407/2013  of  18  December  2013  on  the  application  of  Articles  107  and  108  of  the 
Treaty  on  the  Functioning  of  the  European  Union  to  de  minimis  aid,  OJ  L  352,  24.12.2013,  p. 1.  Please  note  that  the 
Commission proposes to revise the general de minimis threshold to adapt it to the current economic context and proposed 
to improve transparency requirements – these changes are currently subject to public consultation in the form of a draft 
general de minimis Regulation (see https://competition-policy.ec.europa.eu/public-consultations/2022-de-minimis_en). 
6   Commission  Notice  on the  notion  of  State  aid  as  referred  to  in Article  107(1) of  the  Treaty  on  the  Functioning of  the 

European Union, OJ C 262, 19.7.2016, p. 1. 

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In addition, the evaluation also shows that an alignment of the SGEI de minimis Regulation 
with  the  general  de  minimis  Regulation  and  an  adjustment  of  the  SGEI  de  minimis  ceiling 
could be further considered. 

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