THE LEVEL PLAYING FIELD IN CRISIS MODE 53 Importantly, recapitalisation aid was not available to undertakings that had already been in difficulty on 31 December 2019; those in financial difficulty before the pandemic could only be recapitalised through rescue and restructuring aid under Article 107(3)(c) TFEU69. On 13 May 2020, the Commission published a recommendation70 with State aid considerations concerning the tourism industry. The recommendation did not introduce any new aid category, but addressed a specific problem from the aspect of EU law, including State aid. The recommendation focused on vouchers offered as an alternative means of compensation to travellers with cancelled trips. It argued that organisers have limited or no new business, and the reimbursement of cancelled packages would further aggravate their situation as they may not be able to recover the price of the services they booked. If their customers accepted vouchers for future trips instead of immediate cash reimbursement, it would provide them temporary relief and prevent bankruptcies71. Beyond describing the minimum criteria of these vouchers, the recommendation included possible State aid compliance bases for state measures to make these vouchers more attractive for customers. The recommendation specified guarantees and subsidised loans (Section 3.2 and 3.3 of the Temporary Framework) as possible forms of liquidity aid to travel organisers, and also mentioned that state authorities may also provide 100% guarantees of the value of vouchers, which is not possible under Section 3.2 of the Temporary Framework rules (90% is the ceiling), but can be approved directly under the Article 107(3)(b) of the TFEU72. An example of a scheme designed also on this recommendation is the SA.59668 case73, under which the Cypriot authorities introduced a guarantee scheme to guarantee the full value of vouchers (“credit notes”) issued by package travel organisers, hotels, car rental companies and cruise lines to consumers or, in the case of hotels and cruise lines, also to package travel organisers. The guarantees, according to the decision, will be limited in time (they will expire at the end of 2021), and priced according to the Temporary 69 Point 14 of the Temporary Framework. See the cases referred to in Chapter 6.3. 70 Commission Recommendation (EU) 2020/648 of 13 May 2020 on vouchers offered to passengers and travellers as an alternative to reimbursement for cancelled package travel and transport services in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, OJ L 151, 14.5.2020. 71 Recitals 14 and 15 of the Recommendation. 72 Paragraphs 15-18 of the Recommendation. Rescue and restructuring aid can be authorised by the Commission and is assessed under Article 107(3)(c) and the rescue and restructuring guidelines, i.e. Communication from the Commission - Guidelines on State aid for rescuing and restructuring non-financial undertakings in difficulty OJ C 249, 31.7.2014. 73 Commission decision C(2021) 229 final of 1 December 2020 (SA.59668 (2020/N) COVID-19: Aid in the form of guarantees on credit notes issued for consumers and package travel organisers).
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