TOURISM AND STATE AID 141 by the State promote the tourism sector and are not directly addressed to citizens, it appears that an SGEI can only be defined in very specific circumstances, in particular those having a predominantly social character. One example could be the support for accommodation facilities aimed at hosting families with modest income. In such cases, Member States should clearly and sufficiently distinguish the service from services offered by the market”. Last but not least, the Commission lists in the document the State aid options to finance touristic projects, including infrastructure development without an ex-ante notification under Article 108(3) TFEU. Under this heading, the Commission first lists the most relevant options under the GBER, highlighting that full compliance with the general rules of the regulation is a precondition of compatibility without notification80. Without going into the details and repeating the whole text of the GBER, the Commission thinks that the following articles are relevant: Article 14 regional aid, Articles 17-19 aid for SMEs and Article 56 development of local infrastructure. As regards the latter, the document refers to the opinion of DG Competition on the interpretative questions related to the GBER, as published on its website81. The Commission’s answer confirms that Article 56 can be used for financing hotels and park and ride infrastructures and privately owned accommodation facilities. The Commission also mentions the possibility to use of the SGEI Decision82 allowing the granting of compensation for SGEI, but having in mind the limits expressed above, the practical applicability of this option is fairly limited. 6. CONCLUSIONS This article tried to shed light on the general principles of State aid law and how these are applied to the undertakings active in the tourism sector. Despite the requests from the Member States, the European Commission stands firm in that the sector does not need any specific compatibility rule as the already developed rules, such as the general block exemption regulation, cover most of the actions to be financed by the State in this area. For the rest, individual notifications are 80 See the judgments referred to in footnote 8. 81 Source: http://ec.europa.eu/competition/state_aid/legislation/practical_guide_gber_en.pdf. 82 Commission Decision 2012/21/EU on the application of Article 106(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to State aid in the form of public service compensation granted to certain undertakings entrusted with the operation of services of general economic interest (OJ L 7, 11.01.2012, pp. 3-10).
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