EC Assesses National Enforcement Of State Aid Rules

by Ulrika Lomas, for LawAndTax-News.com, Brussels

11 April 2006

The European Commission on Friday published the findings of a study reviewing the enforcement of EU state aid rules at national level.

According to the EC, the study has confirmed that on the one hand, companies increasingly rely on state aid law to defend themselves before national courts against financial burdens imposed on them by the state.

On the other hand, however, companies rarely use state aid rules as an instrument to challenge the distortion of competition caused by unlawful subsidies granted to competitors.

The study also concluded that Member States should speed up the implementation of the Commission’s recovery decisions. All too often, excessively long administrative and judicial procedures at national level result in unacceptable delays in the recovery of illegal aid.

Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes announced that:

“National courts have an important role to play in protecting the rights of companies that suffer from the granting of illegal aid to their competitors. I very much welcome the sharp increase in the number of private actions before national courts in state aid cases.”

The findings of the study will be discussed at an international conference organised by the Academy of European Law on 22nd June 2006 in Brussels.

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