Commission Regulation (EU) No 717/2014 of 27 June 2014 on the application of Articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to de minimis aid in the fishery and aquaculture sector

Article 1

Scope

This Regulation applies to aid granted to undertakings active in the primary production of fishery and aquaculture products, with the following exceptions:

(a) aid the amount of which is fixed on the basis of price or quantity of products purchased or put on the market;

(b) aid granted to export-related activities towards third countries or Member States, namely aid directly linked to the quantities exported, to the establishment and operation of a distribution network or to other current expenditure linked to the export activity;

(c) aid contingent upon the use of domestic over imported goods;

(d) aid for the purchase of fishing vessels;

(e) aid for the modernisation or replacement of main or ancillary engines of fishing vessels;

(f) aid to operations increasing the fishing capacity of a fishing vessel or equipment increasing the ability of a fishing vessel to find fish;

(g) aid for the construction of new fishing vessels or importation of fishing vessels;

(h) aid to the permanent or temporary cessation of fishing activities with the exception of aid that meets the conditions laid down in Articles 20 and 21 of Regulation (EU) 2021/1139 of the European Parliament and of the Council (¹);

(i) aid to exploratory fishing;

(j) aid to the transfer of ownership of a business;

(k) aid to direct restocking, unless explicitly provided for as a conservation measure by a Union legal act or in the case of experimental restocking.

For the purposes of the application of this Regulation, points (d) to (g) of paragraph 1 shall not apply to undertakings located in the Union’s outermost regions referred to in Article 349 of the Treaty in respect of vessels of an overall length of less than 12 metres.

Article 2

Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation the following definitions shall apply:

(a) ‘fishery and aquaculture products’ means the products defined in Article 5, points (a) and (b), of Regulation (EU) No 1379/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council (⁴);

(b) ‘primary production of fishery and aquaculture products’ means all operations relating to the fishing, rearing or cultivation of aquatic organisms, as well as on-farm or on-board activities necessary for preparing an animal or plant for the first sale, including cutting, filleting or freezing, and the first sale to resellers or processors;

(c) ‘processing and marketing of fishery and aquaculture products’ means all operations, including handling, treatment and transformation, performed following the time of landing – or harvesting in case of aquaculture – that result in a processed product, as well as distribution thereof;

(d) ‘undertakings located in the Union’s outermost regions referred to in Article 349 of the Treaty’ means undertakings that have their main place of registration in an outermost region referred to in Article 349 of the Treaty and are active in that region.

‘Single undertaking’ includes, for the purposes of this Regulation, all enterprises having at least one of the following relationships with each other:

(a) one enterprise has a majority of the shareholders' or members' voting rights in another enterprise;

(b) one enterprise has the right to appoint or remove a majority of the members of the administrative, management or supervisory body of another enterprise;

(c) one enterprise has the right to exercise a dominant influence over another enterprise pursuant to a contract entered into with that enterprise or to a provision in its memorandum or articles of association;

(d) one enterprise, which is a shareholder in or member of another enterprise, controls alone, pursuant to an agreement with other shareholders in or members of that enterprise, a majority of shareholders' or members' voting rights in that enterprise.

Enterprises having any of the relationships referred to in points (a) to (d) of the first subparagraph through one or more other enterprises shall also be considered to be a single undertaking.

Article 3

De minimis aid

Aid payable in several instalments shall be discounted to its value at the moment it is granted. The interest rate to be used for discounting purposes shall be the discount rate applicable at the time the aid is granted.

Article 4

Calculation of gross grant equivalent

Aid comprised in loans shall be considered as transparent de minimis aid if:

(a) the beneficiary is not subject to collective insolvency proceedings nor fulfils the criteria under its domestic law for being placed in collective insolvency proceedings at the request of its creditors. In case of large undertakings, the beneficiary shall be in a situation comparable to a credit rating of at least B-; and

(b) for measures in accordance with Article 3(2), the loan is secured by collateral covering at least 50 % of the loan and the loan amounts to either EUR 150 000 over 5 years or EUR 75 000 over 10 years, or, for measures in accordance with Article 3(2a), the loan is secured by collateral covering at least 50 % of the loan and the loan amounts to either EUR 200 000 over 5 years or EUR 100 000 over 10 years; if a loan is for less than those amounts or is granted for a period of less than 5 or 10 years respectively, the gross grant equivalent of that loan shall be calculated as a corresponding proportion of the de minimis ceilings laid down in Article 3(2) or (2a); or

(c) the gross grant equivalent has been calculated on the basis of the reference rate applicable at the time of the grant.

Aid comprised in guarantees shall be treated as transparent de minimis aid if:

(a) the beneficiary is not subject to collective insolvency proceedings nor fulfils the criteria under its domestic law for being placed in collective insolvency proceedings at the request of its creditors. In case of large undertakings, the beneficiary shall be in a situation comparable to a credit rating of at least B-; and

(b) for measures in accordance with Article 3(2), the guarantee does not exceed 80 % of the underlying loan and either the amount guaranteed does not exceed EUR 225 000 and the duration of the guarantee is 5 years or the amount guaranteed does not exceed EUR 112 500 and the duration of the guarantee is 10 years, or, for measures in accordance with Article 3(2a), the guarantee does not exceed 80 % of the underlying loan and either the amount guaranteed does not exceed EUR 300 000 and the duration of the guarantee is 5 years or the amount guaranteed does not exceed EUR 150 000 and the duration of the guarantee is 10 years; if the amount guaranteed is lower than those amounts or the guarantee is for a period of less than 5 or 10 years respectively, the gross grant equivalent of that guarantee shall be calculated as a corresponding proportion of the de minimis ceilings laid down in Article 3(2) or (2a); or

(c) the gross grant equivalent has been calculated on the basis of safe-harbour premiums laid down in a Commission notice; or

(d) before implementation: (i) the methodology used to calculate the gross grant equivalent of the guarantee has been notified to the Commission under another Commission Regulation in the State aid area applicable at that time and accepted by the Commission as being in line with the Guarantee Notice, or any successor Notice, and (ii) that methodology explicitly addresses the type of guarantee and the type of underlying transaction at stake in the context of the application of this Regulation.

Article 5

Cumulation

Article 6

Monitoring

Where a Member State grants aid in accordance with Article 3(2a), it shall have in place a central register of de minimis aid containing complete information on all de minimis aid granted by any authority within that Member State. Paragraph 1 shall cease to apply from the moment the register covers a period of three fiscal years.

Article 7

Transitional provisions

Article 8

Entry into force and period of application

This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 July 2014.

It shall apply until 31 December 2029.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

ANNEX