Barbara BRANDTNERHead of Unit, Enforcement and Procedural ReformDG Competition

Brussels, 6 March 2012

Session 3 : Procedural reform

State aid procedures : background (I) Legal Framework • Council Regulation 659/99 of 22 March 1999

(the « Procedural Regulation »)• Commission Regulation 794/2004 of 21 April 2004

(the « Implementing Regulation »)

1st step: The Simplification Package of 2009• Best Practices Code• Notice on a Simplified Procedure

Average inflow of cases 2008-2011

Pre-notification

Notification

Existing aid

Complaint

Non-notified

Formal investigation

• Pending cases: almost half complaints (but still more decisions

on notifications)

State aid procedures : background (II)

Pre-notif ication

Notification

Monitoring cases

Complaints

Average duration of decided cases and age of pending cases

Duration of decided cases Age of pending cases

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 August 2011

Pre-notifications (PN) Duration 5,9 6,3 4,1 5,1 5,9 Age 6,1

Notified cases (N) Duration 5,8 7,5 4,9 5,0 4,8 Age 5,4

C preceded by N Duration 14,4 20,8 18,1 27,1 28,0 Age 13,9

Cas présumés (CP) Duration 14,9 13,9 16,1 14,2 17,3 Age 20,4

Non-notified cases (NN) Duration 11,4 9,3 22,4 16,6 11,4 Age 21,5

C preceded by NN Duration 27,7 22,7 37,4 35,2 37,5 Age 32,8

Objectives of the reform Reinforce the efficiency of State aid procedures• Need for faster, more transparent and more predictable

procedures• Need to gather the appropriate information within business

relevant deadlines Better set priorities: • More focus on State aid issues which matter at the level of

the EU• Simplify the treatment of aid measures that have little impact

on the functioning of the Internal market

How to improve complaints handling ?

Should filters be introduced to improve the quality of the information received from the complainants; e.g. mandatory complaints form?

How should the investigation of a complaint be closed? Is a Commission decision needed in all cases?

Could the role of the national authorities be reinforced? How could the workload of the Member States, the

Commission and third parties be reduced?

How to access to complete information within a relevant timeframe and at lower

cost ? How could the necessary information be gathered more

quickly to speed up procedures? How could the administrative burden on Member States

of providing information be reduced? Should the Commission be able to obtain faster/more

reliable information from market participants and, if so, under which conditions?

When would this be most appropriate?