CELEX: 
Language: en
Date: 2020-07-02 00:00:00
Title: COMMISSION REGULATION (EU) …/… amending Regulation (EU) No 1407/2013 as regards its prolongation and amending Regulation (EU) No 651/2014 as regards its prolongation and relevant adjustments

EUROPEAN
                        COMMISSION
                                                 Brussels, 2.7.2020
                                                 C(2020) 4349 final
                     COMMISSION REGULATION (EU) …/…
                                     of 2.7.2020
   amending Regulation (EU) No 1407/2013 as regards its prolongation and amending
   Regulation (EU) No 651/2014 as regards its prolongation and relevant adjustments
                             (Text with EEA relevance)
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 ---pagebreak---                               COMMISSION REGULATION (EU) …/…
                                                  of 2.7.2020
       amending Regulation (EU) No 1407/2013 as regards its prolongation and amending
       Regulation (EU) No 651/2014 as regards its prolongation and relevant adjustments
                                         (Text with EEA relevance)
   THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,
   Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular
   Article 108(4) thereof,
   Having regard to Council Regulation (EU) 2015/1588 of 13 July 2015 on the application of
   Articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to certain
   categories of horizontal State aid1, and in particular points (a) and (b) of Article 1(1) and
   Article 2 thereof,
   After consulting the Advisory Committee on State Aid,
   Whereas:
   (1)     A number of the State aid rules adopted as part of the 2012 ‘State Aid
           Modernisation’initiative are due to expire by the end of 2020. In particular,
           Commission Regulations (EU) No 1407/20132 and (EU) No 651/20143 will expire on
           31 December 2020.
   (2)     To provide predictability and legal certainty, while preparing for a possible future
           update of the State aid rules adopted as part of the State Aid Modernisation initiative,
           the Commission should take action in two phases.
   (3)     First, the Commission should extend the period of application of State aid rules which
           would otherwise expire by end 2020. Second, in line with the Commission's Better
           Regulation Guidelines4, the Commission should evaluate those rules together with the
           other State aid rules, which were adopted as part of the State Aid Modernisation
           initiative. The Commission launched the evaluation of those rules on 7 January 2019
           in the form of a “fitness check”. In the context of the European Green Deal5 and the
           European Digital Agenda, the Commission has already announced its intention to
   1
           OJ L 248, 24.9.2015, p. 1.
   2
           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).
   3
           Commission Regulation (EU) No 651/2014 of 17 June 2014 declaring certain categories of aid
           compatible with the internal market in application of Articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty (OJ L 187,
           26.6.2014, p. 1).
   4
           Commission Staff Working Document ‘Better Regulation Guidelines’ of 7 July 2017, SWD (2017) 350.
   5
           Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the European Council, the
           Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions ‘The
           European Green Deal’ (COM(2019)640 final).
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 ---pagebreak---            revise a series of guidelines by the end of 2021. On that basis, the Commission will
           decide whether to further prolong or update the rules.
   (4)     Considering the broad scope of the fitness check and the fact that the results of the
           evaluations will not be available before late 2020, a policy decision on the design of
           the State aid rules post 2020 cannot be taken in time to ensure legal certainty and
           stability for the stakeholders as regards the applicable rules post 2020. A prolongation
           is therefore necessary to allow a proper assessment of the State aid rules and ensure
           predictability and stability of those rules for the Member States.
   (5)     Therefore, the period of application of Regulations (EU) No 1407/2013 and (EU) No
           651/2014 should be extended by three years until 31 December 2023.
   (6)     Regulations (EU) No 1407/2013 and (EU) No 651/2014 should therefore be amended
           accordingly.
   (7)     As a consequence of the extension of the period of application of Regulation (EU) No
           651/2014, some Member States may wish to extend the validity of aid measures
           exempted under that Regulation and about which summary information has been
           provided in accordance with point (a) of Article 11 of that Regulation. In order to
           provide transparency, Member States should communicate to the Commission the
           updated summary information regarding the extension of those measures.
   (8)     Schemes set up under Sections 1 (with the exception of Article 15), 2, 3, 4, 7 (with the
           exception of Article 44) and 10 of Chapter III of Regulation (EU) No 651/2014,
           having an average annual State aid budget exceeding EUR 150 million, which have
           been exempted for longer than six months pursuant to a decision by the Commission
           and which the respective Member State wishes to extend for the period after 31
           December 2020, should continue to be exempted until 31 December 2023, provided
           Member States have provided the Commission with the updated summary information
           and have submitted a final evaluation report in line with the evaluation plan approved
           by the Commission.
   (9)     In view of the economic and financial consequences that the COVID-19 outbreak has
           on undertakings and in order to ensure consistency with the general policy response
           adopted by the Commission, especially in the period 2020-2021, Regulation (EU) No
           651/2014 should be amended accordingly. In particular, undertakings which became
           undertakings in difficulty as a consequence of the COVID-19 outbreak should remain
           eligible under Regulation (EU) No 651/2014 for a limited period of time. Likewise,
           undertakings, which have to temporarily or permanently lay off staff due to the
           COVID-19 outbreak, should not be deemed to have breached relocation commitments
           given before 31 December 2019 at the time of receiving regional aid. Those
           exceptional provisions should apply for a limited period from 1 January 2020 to 30
           June 2021.
   (10)    Regulations (EU) No 1407/2013 and (EU) No 651/2014 should therefore be amended
           accordingly.
   HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
                                                 Article 1
   In Article 8 of Regulation (EU) No 1407/2013, the second paragraph is replaced by the
   following:
   “It shall apply until 31 December 2023”.
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 ---pagebreak---                                                 Article 2
   Regulation (EU) No 651/2014 is amended as follows:
   1.       Article 1 is amended as follows:
            (1)   in paragraph 2, point (a) is replaced by the following:
            “(a) schemes under Sections 1 (with the exception of Article 15), 2, 3, 4, 7 (with the
            exception of Article 44), and 10 of Chapter III of this Regulation, if the average
            annual State aid budget exceeds EUR 150 million, from six months after their entry
            into force. The Commission may decide that this Regulation shall continue to apply
            for a longer period to any of those aid schemes after having assessed the relevant
            evaluation plan notified by the Member State to the Commission, within 20 working
            days from the scheme's entry into force. Where the Commission has already
            extended the application of this Regulation beyond the initial six months as regards
            such schemes, Member States may decide to extend those schemes until the end of
            the period of application of this Regulation, provided that the Member State
            concerned has submitted an evaluation report in line with the evaluation plan
            approved by the Commission. However, regional aid granted under this Regulation
            may be extended, by derogation, until the end of the period of validity of the relevant
            regional aid maps;”;
            (2)   in paragraph 4, point (c) is replaced by the following:
            “(c) aid to undertakings in difficulty, with the exception of aid schemes to make good
            the damage caused by certain natural disasters, start-up aid schemes and regional
            operating aid schemes, provided those schemes do not treat undertakings in difficulty
            more favourably than other undertakings. However, this Regulation shall apply by
            derogation to undertakings which were not in difficulty on 31 December 2019 but
            became undertakings in difficulty in the period from 1 January 2020 to 30 June
            2021.”
   2.       in Article 2, point (27) is replaced by the following:
            ‘(27) “assisted areas” means areas designated in an approved regional aid map
            approved in application of Articles 107(3)(a) and (c) of the Treaty for the period
            from 1 July 2014 to 31 December 2021 for regional aid granted until 31 December
            2021 and areas designated in an approved regional aid map approved in application
            of Articles 107(3)(a) and (c) of the Treaty for the period from 1 January 2022 to 31
            December 2027 for regional aid granted after 31 December 2021;’;
   3.       Article 11 is replaced by the following:
                                               “Article 11
                                               Reporting
   1. Member States, or alternatively, in the case of aid granted to European Territorial
   Cooperation projects, the Member State in which the managing authority, referred to in
   Article 21 of Regulation (EC) No 1299/2013, is located, shall transmit to the Commission:
            (a)   via the Commission's electronic notification system, the summary information
                  about each aid measure exempted under this Regulation in the standardised
                  format laid down in Annex II, together with a link providing access to the full
                  text of the aid measure, including its amendments, within 20 working days
                  following the entry into force of the aid measure;
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 ---pagebreak---             (b)   an annual report, pursuant to Commission Regulation (EC) No 794/2004*, in
                  electronic form, on the application of this Regulation, containing the
                  information indicated in Regulation (EC) No 794/2004, in respect of each
                  whole year or each part of the year during which this Regulation applies.
   2. Where, as a consequence of the extension of the application period of this Regulation until
   31 December 2023 by Commission Regulation (EU) No XX/XX**, a Member State plans to
   extend measures in respect of which the summary information was submitted to the
   Commission in accordance with paragraph 1 of this Article, that Member State shall update
   that summary information regarding the extension of those measures and communicate that
   update to the Commission within 20 working days following the entry into force of the act
   which extends the respective measure by the Member State.
   *       Commission Regulation (EC) No 794/2004 of 21 April 2004 implementing Council
   Regulation (EU) 2015/1589 laying down detailed rules for the application of Article 108 of
   the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (OJ L 140, 30.4.2004, p. 1).
   **      Commission Regulation (EU) No [XX].”;
   4.       in Article 14, paragraph 16, the following sentence is added:
            “With regard to commitments given prior to 31 December 2019, any loss of jobs, in
            the same or similar activity in one of the initial establishments of the beneficiary in
            the EEA, occurring between 1 January 2020 and 30 June 2021, shall not be
            considered a transfer within the meaning of Article 2(61a) of this Regulation.”
   5.       in Article 59, the second paragraph is replaced by the following:
            “It shall apply until 31 December 2023.”
                                               Article 3
   This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in
   the Official Journal of the European Union.
   This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in the Member States.
   Done at Brussels, 2.7.2020
                                                 For the Commission
                                                 The President
                                                 Ursula VON DER LEYEN
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