The European Commission adopted on 25 April 2012 a de minimis regulation for services of general economic interest for compensation of public service missions up to 500.000 EUR per company over a three years period.
At the end of last year, the European Commission revised its regulatory package adopted in 2005 on the financing of services of general economic interest. In December 2011, the Commission adopted:
- a communication clarifying the basic concept of state aid, such as the notion of aid, the distinction between economic and non-economic activities, the conditions of the Altmark jurisprudence, etc. ;
- a decision that exempts certain categories of public service compensation from a notification to the Commission under precise conditions;
- a framework, interpreting the conditions applied in order for the Commission to authorise large compensation claims following a notification.
In this context, the Commission had also proposed a regulation aimed at exempting from notification public compensation for services of general economic interest below EUR 150.000 per year when granted by local authorities (with below 10.000 inhabitants) to beneficiaries with an annual turnover below EUR 5 million.
The draft had been largely criticised for its too strict conditions. Therefore, the Commission reviewed in-depth its draft regulation and adopted on 25 April 2012 a de minimis regulation for services of general economic interest.
According to this new de minimis regulation, a support granted to providers of services of general economic interest does not constitute state aid within the meaning of article 107 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union if the amount does not exceed 500.000 EUR over a three-year period. The Commission withdrew the conditions relating to local authorities and the turnover of the beneficiaries of public service compensation.
Except for the control of this threshold by public authorities prior to the granting of compensation, the regulation reduces the administrative burden in comparison with the decision mentionned above.
The de minimis regulation will be in force until 31 December 2018.
