The Competition Council (CC) will decide whether to suspend or penalize aid if it is likely to cause serious damage to a competitor. In case of non-compliance with the decision, the CC will be able to apply to the court. The beneficiary will be given two months to ensure that the money can be recovered and four months to complete the recovery procedure.
To this end, it is proposed to expand the powers of the Competition Council. The institution will be able to decide on the temporary recovery of illegally granted aid pending the completion of an assessment of the compatibility of the measure. It will also be able to approve evaluation plans for large state aid schemes and monitor them afterwards.
Such provisions are contained in the draft of the new Law on State Aid. The document was drafted by the Ministry of Economic Development and Digitalization in order to harmonize the national legal framework with EU norms. It has been submitted for public consultations, which will last until December 7.
The basic element of control will be the Automated Information System “Register of State Aid” (SIA RAS). Its structure will be supplemented with a new link – the Central Register of low-value aid (de minimis). The authorities need to budget funds for its creation and support.
Beneficiaries will be obliged to enter and update data on low-value aid within 5 working days of its provision. This will reduce the risks of exceeding legal limits and ensure better control over the accumulation of funds.
An advance notification procedure, long used in the EU, is also being introduced. Beneficiaries will be able to initiate prior confidential consultations with the IC to clarify the status of the measure or the level of risk of incompatibility. This assessment is not mandatory and should not exceed six months.
For schemes with an average annual budget of more than €150 million, a mandatory ex-post assessment will be introduced, which providers will carry out in accordance with methodologies approved by the IC. The assessment of the compatibility of aid provided without specific regulations will be carried out in a manner similar to the procedure applied in the EU, by comparing negative effects on competition and positive effects of general interest.
The draft pays special attention to transparency. An obligation to publish notifications, investigation decisions and final decisions of the Competition Council is introduced. Information on state aid exceeding 500 thousand euros must be published on the website of the Competition Council and the data must be stored for at least 10 years in a publicly accessible mode.
Beneficiaries will be obliged to report annually, by April 30, on all existing types of aid through SIA RAS, and the IC will be obliged to ensure continuous monitoring of state aid, to conduct on-site inspections if there are serious suspicions regarding compliance with authorization conditions, etc.
