Abstract:

The purpose of the General Block Exemption is to harmonize State aid control by simultaneously reducing the administrative burden on Member States, aid recipients, and the European Commission. It is meant to create a transparent and predictable control by reducing the number of notifications. The regulation further aims at inducing Member States to concentrate their aid programs on such measures that contribute to the creation of employment and to the strengthening of competitivity in Europe. The enumeration and the expansion of the general compatibility criteria in the General Block Exemption serve the purpose of simplification and higher efficiency of State aid control. The subject of the article is a critical analysis of the rules of State aid admissibility on the basis of the implementing regulations, adopted by the European Commission in 2008 and 2014 on State aid provided under the General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER), which releases Member States from the obligation to notify to the Commission a number of State aid measures.