Regulatory basis

Laki alueiden kehittämisestä ja rakennerahastohankkeiden rahoittamisesta (8/2014), 11§ (“section 11 of the act on regional development and the financing of structural fund projects (8/2014)”; the act remains untranslated)
*Commission Regulation (EU) No 1407/2013 of 18 December 2013 on the application of Articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to de minimis aid.

De minimis aid

De minimis aid refers to aid within the meaning of the Commission Regulation (EU) No 1407/2013*. De minimis aid is public aid granted from the funds of the state, a municipality or a joint municipal authority, regardless of the form of the aid, for example in the form of a direct grant, an underpriced service, a loan, a guarantee or an interest subsidy. Public aid may come partly or wholly from EU funds. The aid is granted in accordance with the Commission Regulation (EU) No 1407/2013 of 18 December 2013 on the application of Articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to de minimis aid. (Published in the OJ L 352 24.12.13.)

General de minimis aid may be granted to a single undertaking up to a maximum amount of EUR 200,000 over a period of three tax years. The applicant is obliged to declare any de minimis aid that the applicant has previously received when applying for new aid granted under the de minimis Regulation.

Group or a ”single enterprise”

For the purposes of the de minimis Regulation, a “single undertaking” refers to enterprises having at least one of the following relationships with each other:

1. one enterprise has a majority of the shareholders’ or members’ voting rights in another enterprise;
2. one enterprise has the right to appoint or remove a majority of the members of the administrative, management or supervisory body of another enterprise;
3. one enterprise has the right to exercise a dominant influence over another enterprise pursuant to a contract entered into with that enterprise or to a provision in its memorandum, articles of association or by-laws;
4. one enterprise, which is a shareholder in or member of another enterprise, controls alone, pursuant to an agreement with other shareholders in or members of that enterprise, a majority of shareholders’ or members’ voting rights in that enterprise.

Enterprises having any of the relationships referred to in points (a) to (d) through one or more other enterprises shall also be considered to be a single undertaking.

De minimis aid in the event of mergers or demergers of undertakings

In the case of mergers or acquisitions, all de minimis aid previously paid to the merging undertakings must be taken into account when monitoring the reaching of the EUR 200,000 limit. If one undertaking is divided into two or more undertakings, the aid granted prior to the division must allocated to the undertaking that benefited from the aid, i.e., the undertaking who will carry out the activities for which the de minimis aid was granted.

Economic activity

All organisations engaged in economic activities are considered to be undertakings. In EU law, economic activity refers to the provision of goods and services in certain markets. The organisation's legal form, method of financing or whether or not the organisation is seeking a profit is irrelevant. The activities of third sector organisations, research organisations, innovation intermediaries (technology centres and business incubators) or non-profit intermediary organisations may also fall within the scope of the de minimis Regulation.

Nature of the aid

In the information field, enter whether the aid is a direct grant, a free or underpriced service or goods, a loan, a guarantee, a capital injection or a venture capital investment. If the nature of the aid is none of the above, enter the type of the aid in the information field.

Further information from the granting authority.

Procedure for granting aid

1. Before granting the aid, the undertaking must be requested to provide notification of any other de minimis aid that it has received during the current and two previous tax years. The tax year is a calendar year or, if the undertaking's accounting period is not a calendar year, it or the accounting periods that have expired during the calendar year. The notification must be in written or electronic form. The granting of new aid must not lead to the limit of EUR 200,000 being exceeded.
2. If the undertaking also receives aid other than de minimis aid for the same costs, it must be ensured that the granting of the aid does not result in the maximum intensity of this other aid being exceeded.
3. The undertaking must be notified in writing of the intended amount of the aid. At the same time, it must be stated that this is de minimis aid and the full name of the Regulation and the details of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union must be indicated.
4. All data on the application of the de minimis Regulation must be stored and compiled. The documents on the aid must be kept for a period of 10 years from the date on which the aid was granted. The documents to be kept must contain all necessary information to demonstrate compliance with the de minimis Regulation. At the request of the Commission, it must be possible to provide information on the aid within 20 working days of the request.
5. If the total amount of aid covered by the aid measure exceeds EUR 200,000, the de minimis Regulation does not apply to the aid, not even for the part not exceeding this ceiling. In other words, if an undertaking has received a de minimis aid of EUR 150,000 last year, and it will be granted EUR 100,000 this year, the obligation to recover is focused on the total amount of aid of EUR 100,000 and not only on the amount of EUR 50,000, which exceeds the maximum allowed amount will be subject to recovery.
6. Although the amount of aid should fall below the thresholds laid down in the Regulation, it must meet all the requirements of the Regulation in order to be considered as de minimis aid.