L 161/114
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
16.6.2022
163.
In addition, when assessing the positive effects of risk finance aid to be weighed against its negative effects on competition and trade, the Commission may take into account, where relevant, the circumstance that the aid produces other positive effects, in addition to its contribution to the provision of risk finance.
That may be the case where it is established that, in addition to enabling companies to grow or to develop new activities, and generating economic growth, the risk finance investment contributes substantially in particular to the digital transition or transition towards environmentally sustainable activities, including low carbon, climate neutral or climate-resilient activities, to resilient value chains, or to the development of assisted areas.
In the assessment of the positive effects to be taken into account, the Commission will where applicable pay particular attention to the criteria for environmentally sustainable economic activities set out in Article 3 of Regulation (EU) 2020/852, including the ‘Do no significant harm’ principle, or other comparable methodologies (58).
164.
To allow the Commission to duly assess the expected positive effects of the aid in terms of development of the activities concerned, the Member State should set out a clear and specific objective (or a series of objectives) addressing the market failure or other relevant obstacle identified by the ex ante assessment.
The size and duration of the measure should be adequate for those objectives.
Furthermore, the Member State must also define relevant performance indicators, based on the results of the ex ante assessment, to allow the Commission to measure the expected effects of the aid with regard to the objectives pursued.
The performance indicators may include: (a) the required or envisaged private sector investment; (b) the expected number of final beneficiaries to be invested in, including the number of start-ups and new SMEs; (c) the estimated number of new undertakings to be created during the implementation of the risk finance measure and as a result of the risk finance investments; (d) the number of jobs to be created in the final beneficiary undertakings between the date of the first risk finance investment under the risk finance measure and the exit; (e) where appropriate, the proportion of investments to be made in conformity with the market economy operator test; (f) milestones and deadlines within which certain predefined amounts or percentage of the budget are to be invested; (g) returns or yield expected to be generated from the investments; (h) where appropriate, patent applications to be made by the final beneficiaries, during the implementation of the risk finance measure; (i) where appropriate, strengthening resilience of critical supply chains (e.g. health, electronics, aerospace, dual use and defence sectors), and furthering technological development.
165.
The indicators referred to in paragraph 164 are relevant to demonstrate that the risk finance aid is expected to deliver the positive effects in line with the objectives that have been set.
In particular, the indicators allow assessment of the effectiveness of the measure and the validity of the investment strategies drawn up by the financial intermediary in the context of the selection process.
166.
Where a risk finance measure is used, partially or entirely, to support undertakings that have recently been acknowledged/awarded for innovativeness in accordance with the criteria set in CASSINI activities or have been awarded a Seal of Excellence quality label by the EIC, or to co-invest with the EIC Fund or to provide follow-on investment with respect to the Accelerator Programme (59), the Commission may accept that the Member State uses the same Key Performance Indicators as respectively CASSINI or the EIC do.
3.2.5.2.
N e gativ e ef fe c t s t o b e ta k en i n to a cc ou n t
167.
The State aid measure must be designed in such a way that it limits distortions of competition and trade within the internal market.
In the case of risk finance measures, the potential negative effects have to be assessed at each level where aid may be present: the investors, the financial intermediaries and their managers, and the final beneficiaries.
(58) For measures which are identical to measures within Recovery and Resilience Plans as approved by the Council, this condition is considered fulfilled, since their compliance with the ‘Do no significant harm’ principle has already been verified.
(59) In accordance with Article 48 of Regulation (EU) 2021/695 (see footnote 26).