Lead Partner responsibilities in
relation to State aid rules
Ole Damsgaard
Why all this talk about State aid?
• The Programme has opened for private
partners and SMEs
• New EU-legislation that shall make it easier to
involve SMEs
What is State aid?
“Any aid granted by a Member State…which
distorts competition by favouring certain
undertakings or the production of certain goods
shall…be incompatible with the internal market”
EU Treaty, Article 107
What is an undertaking?
Undertakings are entities engaged in an
economic activity, regardless their legal status
and the way they are financed:
• Charities, clubs or associations, public bodies,
universities, social enterprises, private firms…
• It does not matter whether the entity aims to
generate profits
• An undertaking can be engaged in economic and
non-economic activities at the same time
What is an economic activity?
‘any activity consisting in offering goods or
services on a given market’
Also the case where the activity could, in
principle, be carried out by a private body in
order to make profit!
Can any of the partners be labelled as
undertakings?
• Public organisations dealing with both
economic and non-economic activities (e.g.
research institutes)
• Charities and non-profit organisations (The
share of the economic activities in relation to the
non-economic activities, where are the project
activities related)
Can any of the project’s
activities/products/services have the character
of direct aid to SMEs?
• Identify the flows of resources from the
Programme through the Project to SMEs (end
beneficiaries) if not negligible then State aid
• Is the aid given to individual SMEs or has it a
broad character ( e.g. a tool that can be downloaded
from the project web site)
Which State aid tool to use?
Two main stream options
• De minimis has a maximum threshold of EUR
200.000 and a grant rate of 100% (However: all
kind of national public support has to be included,
SME within agriculture, fishery and transport sectors
not included)
• GBER Art.20 has no threshold but a grant rate
on 50% (However: SMEs within agriculture and
fishery sector might be included)
The Lead Partner’s responsibilities
• To ensure that all information about partners and endusers is correct
• To inform end-user about the value of the aid when De
minimis rule is used
• To deliver a self declaration from all receivers of De
minimis aid + information to the programme when GBER
is used
• To deliver a self declaration from all undertakings
involved in the project that they are not in difficulty
What happens if the rules not are
kept?
• “The MA is entitled, in whole or in part, to
terminate this Grant Contract and/or to
demand repayment of amounts already paid
to the LP from the co-financing, in full or in
part..”
Programme Manual
Remember!
• It is an objective to involve SMEs as much as
possible
• It gives lots of prestige for the Project and the
Programme
• The Secretariat will support you
So, please be pro-active!
• Be aware of your responsibilities as Lead Partner
• Ensure all and correct information about partners from
the very beginning
• Identify the flows of resources through your project to
the end-users and discuss your findings with the
Secretariat
• It is easier to ask for declarations from private partners
before start than when the project is closed down
Thank‘s for your attention
OLE DAMSGAARD
[email protected]