Commission Regulation (EU) No 651/2014Show full title

Article 4 Notification thresholds

1. This Regulation shall not apply to aid which exceeds the following thresholds:

(a) for regional investment aid: the ‘adjusted aid amount’ of aid, as calculated in accordance with the mechanism defined in Article 2, point 20 for an investment with eligible costs of EUR 100 million;

(b) for regional urban development aid, EUR 20 million as laid down in Article 16(3);

(c) for investment aid to SMEs: EUR 7,5 million per undertaking per investment project;

(d) for aid for consultancy in favour of SMEs: EUR 2 million per undertaking, per project;

(e) for aid to SMEs for participation in fairs: EUR 2 million per undertaking, per year;

(f) for aid to SMEs for cooperation costs incurred by participating in European Territorial Cooperation projects: EUR 2 million per undertaking, per project;

(g) for risk finance aid: EUR 15 million per eligible undertaking as laid down in Article 21(9);

(h) for aid for start-ups: the amounts laid down per undertaking in Article 22(3), (4) and (5);

(i) for aid for research and development:

(i)

if the project is predominantly fundamental research: EUR 40 million per undertaking, per project; that is the case where more than half of the eligible costs of the project are incurred through activities which fall within the category of fundamental research;

(ii)

if the project is predominantly industrial research: EUR 20 million per undertaking, per project; that is the case where more than half of the eligible costs of the project are incurred through activities which fall within the category of industrial research or within the categories of industrial research and fundamental research taken together;

(iii)

if the project is predominantly experimental development: EUR 15 million per undertaking, per project; that is the case where more than half of the eligible costs of the project are incurred through activities which fall within the category of experimental development;

(iv)

if the project is a Eureka project or is implemented by a Joint Undertaking established on the basis of Article 185 or of Article 187 of the Treaty, the amounts referred to in points (i) to (iii) are doubled.

(v)

if the aid for research and development projects is granted in the form of repayable advances which, in the absence of an accepted methodology to calculate their gross grant equivalent, are expressed as a percentage of the eligible costs and the measure provides that in case of a successful outcome of the project, as defined on the basis of a reasonable and prudent hypothesis, the advances will be repaid with an interest rate at least equal to the discount rate applicable at the time of grant, the amounts referred to in points (i) to (iv) are increased by 50 %;

(vi)

aid for feasibility studies in preparation for research activities: EUR 7,5 million per study;

(j) for investment aid for research infrastructures: EUR 20 million per infrastructure;

(k) for aid for innovation clusters: EUR 7,5 million per cluster;

(l) innovation aid for SMEs: EUR 5 million per undertaking, per project;

(m) for aid for process and organisational innovation: EUR 7,5 million per undertaking, per project;

(n) for training aid: EUR 2 million per training project;

(o) for aid for the recruitment of disadvantaged workers: EUR 5 million per undertaking, per year;

(p) for aid for the employment of workers with disabilities in the form of wage subsidies: EUR 10 million per undertaking, per year;

(q) for aid for compensating the additional costs of employing workers with disabilities: EUR 10 million per undertaking, per year;

(r) for aid for compensating the costs of assistance provided to disadvantaged workers: EUR 5 million per undertaking, per year;

(s) for investment aid for environmental protection, excluding investment aid for the remediation of contaminated sites and aid for the distribution network part of the energy efficient district heating and cooling installation: EUR 15 million per undertaking per investment project;

(t) for investment aid for energy efficiency projects: EUR 10 million as laid down in Article 39(5);

(u) for investment aid for remediation of contaminated sites: EUR 20 million per undertaking per investment project;

(v) for operating aid for the production of electricity from renewable sources and operating aid for the promotion of energy from renewable sources in small scale installations: EUR 15 million per undertaking per project. When the aid is granted on the basis of a competitive bidding process under Article 42: EUR 150 million per year taking into account the combined budget of all schemes falling under Article 42;

(w) for investment aid for the district heating or cooling distribution network: EUR 20 million per undertaking per investment project;

(x) for investment aid for energy infrastructure: EUR 50 million per undertaking, per investment project;

(y) for aid for broadband infrastructures: EUR 70 million total costs per project;

(z) for investment aid for culture and heritage conservation: EUR 100 million per project; operating aid for culture and heritage conservation: EUR 50 million per undertaking per year;

(aa) for aid schemes for audiovisual works: EUR 50 million per scheme per year;

(bb) for investment aid for sports and multifunctional infrastructures: EUR 15 million or the total costs exceeding EUR 50 million per project; operating aid for sport infrastructure: EUR 2 million per infrastructure per year; and

(cc) for investment aid for local infrastructures: EUR 10 million or the total costs exceeding EUR 20 million for the same infrastructure.

2. The thresholds set out or referred to in paragraph 1 shall not be circumvented by artificially splitting up the aid schemes or aid projects.