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 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 end- users 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

OLE DAMSGAARD Thank‘s for your attention