Regulation 2004/1860 - Application of Articles 87 and 88 of the EC Treaty to de minimis aid in the agriculture and fisheries sectors - Main contents

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 325/4

Regulation (EC) No 994/98 empowers the Commission to set out in a regulation a threshold below which aid measures are considered not to meet all the criteria of Article 87(1) of the Treaty and therefore do not fall under the notification procedure provided for in Article 88(3) of the Treaty.

The Commission has applied Articles 87 and 88 of the Treaty and has in particular clarified, in numerous decisions, the notion of ‘aid’ within the meaning of Article 87(1) of the Treaty. The Commission, most recently in Regulation (EC) No 69/2001 (3), has also stated its policy with regard to a de minimis ceiling, under which Article 87(1) can be considered not to apply. In view of the special rules which apply in the agriculture and fisheries sectors, and of the risks that even low levels of aid could fulfil the criteria of Article 87(1) of the Treaty in these sectors, Regulation (EC) 69/2001 does not apply to these sectors.

In the light of the experience acquired by the Commission, especially since the entry into force of Council Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 of 17 May 1999 on support for rural development from the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) and amending and repealing certain Regulation (4), and the Community guidelines for state aid in the agriculture sector (5), it can be affirmed that very low levels of aid granted in the agriculture sector do not fulfil the criteria of Article 87(1) of the Treaty, provided that certain conditions are met. This is the case where both the amount of aid received by individual producers remains small, and the overall level of aid granted to the agriculture sector does not go above a small percentage of the value of production. Agricultural production in the Community is normally characterised by the fact that every commodity is produced by a large number of very small producers, producing largely interchangeable goods within the framework of common organisations of the market. For this reason, the impact of small amounts of aid granted to individual producers over a given period of time should be related to the value of agricultural production at sectoral level over the same period of time. A ceiling in the form of an amount per Member State established on the basis of the value of output in the agriculture sector allows a consistent approach in all Member States, based on an objective economic reference value.

In the light of the experience of the Commission in the assessment of State aid in the fisheries sector, especially since the entry into force of the Community guidelines for the examination of state aid to fisheries and aquaculture (6), and of Council Regulation (EC) No 2792/1999 of 17 December 1999 laying down the detailed rules and arrangements for Community structural assistance in the fisheries sector (7), it can be affirmed that very low levels of aid granted in the fisheries sector do not fulfil the criteria of Article 87(1) of the Treaty, provided that certain conditions are met. Given the similarities of the production patterns in the fisheries sector and the agriculture sector, this is the case where both the...