TOURISM AND STATE AID 113 authorises the given measure. This obviously can create headaches when a measure needs to be put in effect quickly or within a certain timeframe5. As the duration of State aid procedures is usually long6, and the decisional practice of the Commission has evolved, the Commission proposed the application of solutions of granting aid without notification. Since the early 2000s, the Commission, based on the empowerment of the Council7, started to introduce and apply the concept of block exemptions in the domain of State aid law. The State aid architecture still remains driven and controlled by the Commission but if in the last twenty years the Member States tend to grant in a higher and higher portion aid via these block exemptions8. The application of the block exemption regulation is easy: the Commission adopts the regulation with all the general and specific compatibility conditions for certain categories of State aid (like regional, environmental, research, employment aid, etc.) and the Member States can grant the aid based on this regulation if they fully comply with all conditions and the aid is compatible with the internal market9, not having the need for an ex-ante notification. This is obviously a good solution to save capacities for the more complex cases, but it also has its pitfalls, since the Member States have to be very careful and prudent when applying the provisions of block exemption regulations, otherwise, beneficiaries can face the risk of repayment (called recovery) of incompatible aid paid to them. State aid Law and its application is based on the main questions whether a measure is State aid in the sense of Article 107(1) TFEU, and if yes, is it compatible under any of the options provided by the EU regulations, decisions or the soft law designed by the Commission. 5 State aid rules also apply to the disbursement of European Structural and Investment Funds, which have a seven-year programming period. The funds allocated to the Member States needs to be spend during this period plus three years (the so-called N+3 rule). Funds not spent within this period will be reallocated to the EU general budget. 6 As a positive estimate, one can say that a not complex case is decided within 8-10 months. Albeit when the Commission has to open formal investigation procedure under Article 108(2) TFEU, it can last easily two or more years. 7 The current empowerment from the Council is to be found in Council Regulation (EU) 2015/1588 of 13 July 2015 on the application of Articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to certain categories of horizontal State aid (OJ L 248, 24.09.2015, pp. 1-8.). 8 Recent State aid Scoreboard shows that 96% of the new measures is granted under the block exemption. See: https://ec.europa.eu/competition/state_aid/scoreboard/index_en.html. 9 This strict approach has been constantly confirmed by the Court of Justice in the following recent judgments: C-493/14 Dilly’s Wellnesshotel GmbH v Finanzamt Linz (ECLI:EU:C:2016:577), C-349/17 Eesti Pagar AS v Ettevõtluse Arendamise Sihtasutus and Majandus- ja Kommunikatsiooniministeerium (ECLI:EU:C:2019:172), C-654/17 P Bayerische Motoren Werke AG v European Commission (ECLI:EU:C:2019:634).
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