L 167/6
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
30.6.2023
(22)
It is necessary to include in the scope of Regulation (EU) No 651/2014 compatibility conditions for aid in the form of environmental tax or levy reductions.
Environmental taxes or parafiscal levies are imposed in order to increase the costs of environmentally harmful behaviour, thereby discouraging such behaviour and increasing the level of environmental protection.
Where environmental taxes or parafiscal levies could not be enforced without putting the economic activities of certain undertakings at risk, granting a more favourable treatment to some undertakings may allow to achieve a higher general level of contribution to the environmental taxes or parafiscal levies.
Accordingly, in some circumstances, reductions in environmental taxes or parafiscal levies can indirectly contribute to a higher level of environmental protection.
(23)
It is appropriate to apply the same conditions for aid in the form of reductions and exemptions in environmental taxes across all economic sectors unless special rules apply.
Therefore, aid in the form of tax reductions for inland fishing and piscicultural works adopted by Member States pursuant to Article 15(1), point (f), and Article 15(3) of Council Directive 2003/96/EC (25) should fall within the scope of Regulation (EU) No 651/2014 from 1 July 2023, as Commission Regulation (EU) 2022/2473 (26) will no longer apply to them.
(24)
With regard to investment aid for district heating and/or cooling systems, the compatibility conditions laid down in Article 46 of Regulation (EU) No 651/2014 on support for investments in district heating and/or cooling systems that are based on fossil fuels, notably on natural gas, as well as investments in or upgrades to distribution networks, should be adjusted to take into account the European Green Deal and the European Climate Law objectives, and in particular the Sustainable Europe Investment Plan (27).
(25)
With regard to investments in energy infrastructure, the scope of Regulation (EU) No 651/2014 should include block exemptions for supporting investments not located in assisted areas.
Furthermore, the compatibility conditions of that Regulation on support for energy infrastructure investments, for natural gas, need to be adjusted to take into account the European Green Deal objectives and to ensure compliance with the 2030 and 2050 climate targets.
(26)
Given the specificities of funding for projects in the defence industry, where demand comes almost exclusively from Member States, which also control all acquisition of defence-related products and technologies, including exports, the functioning of the defence sector is unique and does not follow the conventional rules and business models that govern more traditional markets.
In view of the sector specificities and of the rules under the European Defence Fund established by Regulation (EU) 2021/697 of the European Parliament and of the Council (28) and the European Defence Industrial Development Programme established by Regulation (EU) 2018/1092 of the European Parliament and of the Council (29), where maximum funding rates are set not to limit the overall public funding but to attract co-funding from Member States, the financial contributions made by Member States to those co-funded projects should be considered, under certain conditions, compatible with the internal market and exempted from the notification requirement.
In particular, such co-funding can be declared compatible beyond the possibilities of the general provisions on aid for research and development projects, provided that beneficiaries pay a market price for any use for non-defence applications of the intellectual property rights or prototypes resulting from the project.
In such situations it should, in addition, not be necessary to reassess eligibility conditions already assessed at transnational level in accordance with the European Defence Fund or the European Defence Industrial Development Programme rules by the Commission assisted by independent experts prior to a research and development project's selection.
Finally, Article 8 of Regulation (EU) No 651/2014 should be amended to allow for combinations of Union centrally managed funding and State aid of up to the total project costs.
(27)
Regulations (EU) No 651/2014 and (EU) 2022/2473 should therefore be amended accordingly,
(25) Council Directive 2003/96/EC of 27 October 2003 restructuring the Community framework for the taxation of energy products and electricity (OJ L 283, 31.10.2003, p. 51).
(26) Commission Regulation (EU) 2022/2473 of 14 December 2022 declaring certain categories of aid to undertakings active in the production, processing and marketing of fishery and aquaculture products compatible with the internal market in application of Articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (OJ L 327, 21.12.2022, p. 82).
(27) Commission Communication - Sustainable Europe Investment Plan European Green Deal Investment Plan, COM(2020) 21 final.
(28) Regulation (EU) 2021/697 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2021 establishing the European Defence Fund and repealing Regulation (EU) 2018/1092 (OJ L 170, 12.5.2021, p. 149).
(29) Regulation (EU) 2018/1092 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 July 2018 establishing the European Defence Industrial Development Programme aiming at supporting the competitiveness and innovation capacity of the Union's defence industry (OJ L 200, 7.8.2018, p. 30).