1. Anna NYKIEL-MATEO Policy Officer DG COMP A3 27/11/2012
Public Consultation on The General Block Exemption Regulation (the GBER)
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Anna NYKIEL-MATEO
Policy Officer
DG COMP A3
27/11/2012

2. General block exemption Regulation (the GBER)
- Exemption from the notification obligation
- 26 measures in GBER as compared to 10 in
previous BERs – all can be provided to SMEs

3. Measures covered by the GBER
- Regional aid
- SME investment and employment aid
- Aid for female entrepreneurship
- Aid for environmental protection
- Aid for consultancy in favour of SMEs and SME participation in fairs

4. Measures covered by the GBER
- Aid in the form of risk capital
- Aid for R&D&I
- Training aid
- Aid for disadvantaged and disabled workers

5. GBER in 2010 (State Aid Scoreboard 2011)
- 66% of all EU newly introduced aid measures were block exempted
- 21% of total aid to industry and services amounts granted under the GBER

6. Public consultation on the GBER
Consultation period
from until
Target group
institutions, public authorities, citizens, companies and organisations

7. The purpose of the public consultation
to offer the opportunity to Member States and stakeholders to provide comments in the context of the review of the GBER which expires on
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8. Questionnaire » stock taking exercise - questions on:
- general GBER policy
- use and effectiveness of block exempted aid in different Member States
- more detailed questions on the experience with the application of the common and the specific provisions of the GBER

9. Submissions received:
- total: 85
- within which 34 from central and regional authorities
Replies received are published on DG COMP website:

10. General conclusions:
GBER considered a good instrument due to: - reduction of red tape - raising competitiveness of enterprises and stimulating their growth - increase in investments and employment - increase in legal certainty

11. Calls for:
- further clarification and simplification, in particular as regards certain definitions, transparency of aid, incentive effect and specific conditions applicable to investment aid
- increase in thresholds and aid intensities
- inclusion of new aid categories – but some respondents underline the need for a restrictive approach

12. The most used instruments: - grants, loans
Very limited use of fiscal measures under the GBER

13. The most used aid categories:
- regional aid
- aid for R&D&I
- aid for environmental protection
- aid for consultancy in favour of SMEs
- training and employment aid – associations of social enterprises point out the importance of the GBER for aid for disadvantaged and disabled workers

14. GBER review
constitutes an important part of State Aid Modernisation (SAM)
» SAM Communication of main objectives of the reform:
- foster growth in a strengthened, dynamic and competitive internal market
- focus enforcement on cases with the biggest impact on the internal market
- streamlined rules and faster decisions