THE LEVEL PLAYING FIELD IN CRISIS MODE 69 the Commission approved the measure directly under Article 107(3)(b), with reference to the principles of the Temporary Framework in general152. The SA.60521153 case involved such a scheme for Austrian package travel organisers and “facilitators of linked travel services”. The issue to be handled through the scheme was that due to the pandemic and the associated loss of revenue, Austrian travel organisers did not have access to the bank guarantees necessary to secure the insurance coverage they legally needed to run their business. Through the temporary measure, a state guarantee limited in time, these businesses could regain access to the insurance they required and their customers were protected against their bankruptcy. The key difference between Temporary Framework rules and the scheme was the extent of the state guarantee, which was 100% of the liability of package travel organisers and facilitators of linked travel services (under Section 3.2 of the Temporary Framework, guarantees are capped at 90% of the secured loans). In its decision, however, the Commission recognised that this scenario is not perfectly analogous with the typical scenario of Section 3.2 of the Temporary Framework, when a State guarantee is taken out as collateral to a bank loan for liquidity purposes), and as all the remaining relevant conditions of Section 3.2 of the Temporary Framework were met (including pricing, undertaking in difficulty exclusion etc.), the Commission consented to the measure. 6.3. Aid Approved under Article 107(3)(c) TFEU Article 107(3)(c) TFEU has also been used by the Commission in some cases to approve aid to businesses whose issues were at least partly caused by COVID-19 measures. Article 107(3)(c) allows the Commission to authorise aid “to facilitate the development of certain economic activities or of certain economic areas, where such aid does not adversely affect trading conditions to an extent contrary to the common interest”. As this legal basis is used to address market failures and not to handle crises, it has only been invoked four times154 by the Commission so far 152 From April 2020 up until 31 March 2021, 23 decisions were adopted by the Commission, a small fraction Temporary Framework based decisions. Source: https://ec.europa.eu/competition/state_aid/what_is_ne w/State_aid_decisions_TF_and_107_2b_107_3b_107_3c.pdf. 153 Commission decision C(2021) 849 final of 4 February 2021 (SA.60251 (2020/N) COVID-19: State guarantee to package travel organisers and facilitators of linked travel services). 154 Source: https://ec.europa.eu/competition/state_aid/what_is_new/State_aid_decisions_TF_and_107 _2b_107_3b_107_3c.pdf.
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