Editorial note

In 1994, the Commission adopted the Community guidelines on State aid for environmental protection. The 1994 Guidelines expired on 31 December 1999 and the Commission extended their validity until 31 December 2000. The current Community guidelines became applicable when published in the Official Journal on 3 February 2001 and will expire on 31 December 2007 (paragraph 81).

The data in the eighth survey on State aid in the European Union in the manufacturing and certain other sectors show that between 1996 and 1998 environmental aid accounted on average for only 1.85 percent of total aid granted to the manufacturing and service sectors (paragraph 25). The Commission guidelines determine whether and under what conditions State aid may be regarded as necessary to ensure environmental protection and sustainable development without having disproportionate effects on competition and economic growth (paragraph 5). The guidelines apply to aid to protect the environment in all sectors governed by the EC Treaty, including those subject to specific Community rules on state aid (steel processing, shipbuilding, motor vehicles, synthetic fibres, transport and fisheries), but excluding state aid for research and development, training aid and the area covered by the guidelines for state aid in the agricultural sector. However, the guidelines do apply to the fisheries and aquaculture sector (paragraph 7).

The general conditions for authorising environmental aid are set out in chapter E. Paragraph 29 specifies that investment aid enabling firms to improve on the Community standards applicable may be authorised up to not more than 30 percent gross of the eligible investment costs as defined in paragraph 37.