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

Current text a fecha 2023-01-01

Article 1

Scope

This Regulation applies to aid granted to undertakings in the fishery and aquaculture sector, with the exception of:

(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 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;

(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 vessel or equipment increasing the ability of a vessel to find fish;

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

(h) aid to the temporary or permanent cessation of fishing activities unless specifically provided for in the Regulation (EU) No 508/2014;

(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.

Article 2

Definitions

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

(a) ‘undertakings in the fishery and aquaculture sector’ means undertakings active in the production, processing and marketing of fishery and aquaculture products;

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

(c) ‘processing and marketing’ means all operations, including handling, treatment, production and distribution, performed between the time of landing or harvesting and the end-product stage.

‘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) the loan is secured by collateral covering at least 50 % of the loan and the loan amounts to either EUR 150 000 over five years or EUR 75 000 over 10 years; if a loan is for less than those amounts and/or is granted for a period of less than five or 10 years respectively, the gross grant equivalent of that loan shall be calculated as a corresponding proportion of the ceiling laid down in Article 3(2); 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:

(b) 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 five years or the amount guaranteed does not exceed EUR 112 500 and the duration of the guarantee is 10 years; if the amount guaranteed is lower than these amounts and/or the guarantee is for a period of less than five or 10 years respectively, the gross grant equivalent of that guarantee shall be calculated as a corresponding proportion of the ceiling laid down in Article 3(2); 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

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 2023.

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

ANNEX

(EUR)
Member State	Maximum cumulative amount of de minimis aid granted per Member State in the fishery and aquaculture sector
Belgium	11 240 000
Bulgaria	1 270 000
Czech Republic	3 020 000
Denmark	51 720 000
Germany	55 520 000
Estonia	3 930 000
Ireland	20 820 000
Greece	27 270 000
Spain	165 840 000
France	112 550 000
Croatia	6 260 000
Italy	96 310 000
Cyprus	1 090 000
Latvia	4 450 000
Lithuania	8 320 000
Luxembourg	0
Hungary	975 000
Malta	2 500 000
Netherlands	22 960 000
Austria	1 510 000
Poland	41 330 000
Portugal	29 200 000
Romania	2 460 000
Slovenia	990 000
Slovakia	860 000
Finland	7 450 000
Sweden	18 860 000
United Kingdom	114 780 000