What changed, Commission Regulation (EU) No 651/2014 of 17 June 2014 declaring certain categories of aid…

− 1. This Regulation shall apply to the following categories of aid:
− (a) regional aid;
− (b) aid to SMEs in the form of investment aid, operating aid and SMEs' access to finance;
− (c) aid for environmental protection;
− (d) aid for research and development and innovation;
− (e) training aid;
− (f) recruitment and employment aid for disadvantaged workers and workers with disabilities;
− (g) aid to make good the damage caused by certain natural disasters;
− (h) social aid for transport for residents of remote regions;
− (i) aid for broadband infrastructures;
− (j) aid for culture and heritage conservation;
− (k) aid for sport and multifunctional recreational infrastructure;
− (l) aid for local infrastructures;
− (m) aid for regional airports; and
− (n) aid for ports.
− 2. This Regulation shall not apply to:
− (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 …
− (b) any alterations of schemes referred to in Article 1(2)(a), other than modifications which cannot affect the compatibility of the aid scheme under this Regulation or cannot significantly affect the content of the approved evaluation plan;
− (c) aid to export-related activities towards third countries or Member States, namely aid directly linked to the quantities exported, to the establishment and operation of a distribution network or to other current costs linked to the export activity;
− (d) aid contingent upon the use of domestic over imported goods.
− 3. ►M1 This Regulation shall not apply to:
− (a) aid granted in the fishery and aquaculture sector, as covered by Regulation (EU) No 1379/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council (1) with the exception of training aid, aid for SMEs' access to finance, aid in the field of research and development, innovation aid for SMEs, aid for disa…
− (b) aid granted in the primary agricultural production sector, with the exception of regional investment aid in outermost regions, regional operating aid schemes, aid for consultancy in favour of SMEs, risk finance aid, aid for research and development, innovation aid for SMEs, environmental aid, tr…
− (c) aid granted in the sector of processing and marketing of agricultural products, in the following cases: (i) where the amount of the aid is fixed on the basis of the price or quantity of such products purchased from primary producers or put on the market by the undertakings concerned; (ii) where …
− (d) aid to facilitate the closure of uncompetitive coal mines, as covered by Council Decision 2010/787/EU (2);
− (e) the categories of regional aid referred to in Article 13.** ◄ **
− 4. This Regulation shall not apply to:
− (a) aid schemes which do not explicitly exclude the payment of individual aid in favour of an undertaking which is subject to an outstanding recovery order following a previous Commission decision declaring an aid granted by the same Member State illegal and incompatible with the internal market, wi…
− (b) ad hoc aid in favour of an undertaking as referred to in point (a);
− (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. Howev…
+ **1.** This Regulation shall apply to the following categories of aid:(a) regional aid;(b) aid to SMEs in the form of investment aid, operating aid and SMEs' access to finance;(c) aid for environmental protection;(d) aid for research and development and innovation;(e) training aid;(f) recruitment an…
+ **2.** This Regulation shall not apply to:▼M2(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 int…
+ **3.** ►M1 This Regulation shall not apply to:(a) aid granted in the fishery and aquaculture sector, as covered by Regulation (EU) No 1379/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council (1) with the exception of training aid, aid for SMEs' access to finance, aid in the field of research and deve…
+ **4.** This Regulation shall not apply to:▼M1(a) aid schemes which do not explicitly exclude the payment of individual aid in favour of an undertaking which is subject to an outstanding recovery order following a previous Commission decision declaring an aid granted by the same Member State illegal …
+ **5.** This Regulation shall not apply to State aid measures, which entail, by themselves, by the conditions attached to them or by their financing method a non-severable violation of Union law, in particular:(a) aid measures where the grant of aid is subject to the obligation for the beneficiary to…
+ **1.** This Regulation shall not apply to aid which exceeds the following thresholds:(a) for regional investment aid: the ‘adjusted aid amount’ of aid, as calculated in accordance with the mechanism defined in Article 2, point 20 for an investment with eligible costs of EUR 100 million;(b) for regio…
+ **2.** The thresholds set out or referred to in paragraph 1 shall not be circumvented by artificially splitting up the aid schemes or aid projects.
+ **1.** This Regulation shall apply only to aid in respect of which it is possible to calculate precisely the gross grant equivalent of the aid *ex ante* without any need to undertake a risk assessment (‘transparent aid’).
+ **2.** The following categories of aid shall be considered to be transparent:(a) aid comprised in grants and interest rate subsidies;(b) aid comprised in loans, where the gross grant equivalent has been calculated on the basis of the reference rate prevailing at the time of the grant;(c) aid compris…
+ **1.** This Regulation shall apply only to aid which has an incentive effect.
+ **2.** Aid shall be considered to have an incentive effect if the beneficiary has submitted a written application for the aid to the Member State concerned before work on the project or activity starts. The application for the aid shall contain at least the following information:(a) undertaking's na…
+ **3.** Ad hoc aid granted to large enterprises shall be considered to have an incentive effect if, in addition to ensuring that the condition laid down in paragraph 2 is fulfilled, the Member State has verified, before granting the aid concerned, that documentation prepared by the beneficiary establ…
+ **4.** By way of derogation from paragraphs 2 and 3, measures in the form of tax advantages shall be deemed to have an incentive effect if the following conditions are fulfilled:(a) the measure establishes a right to aid in accordance with objective criteria and without further exercise of discretio…
+ **5.** By way of derogation from paragraphs 2, 3 and 4, the following categories of aid are not required to have or shall be deemed to have an incentive effect:▼M1(a) regional operating aid and regional urban development aid, where the relevant conditions laid down in Articles 15 and 16 are fulfille…
+ **1.** For the purposes of calculating aid intensity and eligible costs, all figures used shall be taken before any deduction of tax or other charge. The eligible costs shall be supported by documentary evidence which shall be clear, specific and contemporary. ►M1 The amounts of eligible costs may b…
+ **2.** Where aid is granted in a form other than a grant, the aid amount shall be the gross grant equivalent of the aid.
+ **3.** ►M1 Aid payable in the future, including aid payable in several instalments, shall be discounted to its value at the moment it is granted.** ◄ ** The eligible costs shall be discounted to their value at the moment the aid is granted. The interest rate to be used for discounting purposes shall…
+ **5.** Where aid is granted in the form of repayable advances which, in the absence of an accepted methodology to calculate their gross grant equivalent, are expressed as a percentage of the eligible costs and the measure provides that in case of a successful outcome of the project, as defined on th…
+ **6.** Where regional aid is granted in the form of repayable advances, the maximum aid intensities established in a regional aid map in force at the moment the aid is granted may not be increased.
+ **1.** In determining whether the notification thresholds in Article 4 and the maximum aid intensities in Chapter III are respected, the total amount of State aid for the aided activity or project or undertaking shall be taken into account.
+ **2.** Where Union funding centrally managed by the institutions, agencies, joint undertakings or other bodies of the Union that is not directly or indirectly under the control of the Member State is combined with State aid, only the latter shall be considered for determining whether notification th…
+ **3.** Aid with identifiable eligible costs exempted by this Regulation may be cumulated with:(a) any other State aid, as long as those measures concern different identifiable eligible costs,(b) any other State aid, in relation to the same eligible costs, partly or fully overlapping, only if such cu…
+ **4.** Aid without identifiable eligible costs exempted under Articles 21, 22 and 23 of this Regulation may be cumulated with any other State aid with identifiable eligible costs. Aid without identifiable eligible costs may be cumulated with any other State aid without identifiable eligible costs, u…
+ **5.** State aid exempted under this Regulation shall not be cumulated with any de minimis aid in respect of the same eligible costs if such cumulation would result in an aid intensity exceeding those laid down in Chapter III of this Regulation.
+ **6.** By way of derogation from paragraph 3(b), aid in favour of workers with disabilities, as provided for in Articles 33 and 34 may be cumulated with other aid exempted under this Regulation in relation to the same eligible costs above the highest applicable threshold under this Regulation, provi…
+ **7.** By way of derogation from paragraphs 1 to 6, in determining whether the ceilings for regional operating aid in outermost regions, as set out in Article 15(4), are respected, only regional operating aid in outermost regions implemented under this Regulation shall be taken into account.
+ **1.** The Member State concerned shall ensure the publication on a comprehensive State aid website, at national or regional level of:(a) the summary information referred to in Article 11 in the standardised format laid down in Annex II or a link providing access to it;(b) the full text of each aid …
+ **2.** For schemes in the form of tax advantages, and for schemes covered by Article 16 and 21 (23) the conditions set out in paragraph 1(c) of this Article shall be considered fulfilled if Member States publish the required information on individual aid amounts in the following ranges (in EUR milli…
+ **3.** For schemes under Article 51 of this Regulation, the publication obligations laid down in this article shall not apply to final consumers.
+ **4.** The information referred to in paragraph 1(c) of this Article shall be organised and accessible in a standardised manner, as described in Annex III, and shall allow for effective search and download functions. The information referred to in paragraph 1 shall be published within 6 months from …