Press Release: State aid: Commission report highlights benefits to Member States of block exemption Regulations

The European Commission has published an evaluation report of the first five years of operation of the block exemption Regulations for state aid. The report concludes that the experience has been largely successful. Member States have been able to take more than 1600 state aid measures without prior notification to the Commission to support investment, and research and development (R&D) activities of small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) as well as to boost employment and training. Based on the experience gained and as envisaged in the State Aid Action Plan (see IP/05/680), the Commission intends to build on these benefits, simplify and re-group the existing block exemption Regulations into one general Regulation and to widen its scope to include in particular certain types of environmental aid. As of 1 January 2007, a new block exemption Regulation for regional investment aid (see IP/06/1453) and new rules for aid for the production, processing and marketing of agricultural products (see IP/06/1697) have also come into force.