In these Regulations—

• “compensation” shall be construed as aid in any form whatsoever, including grant or support in accordance with F2Article 107(1) of the Treaty;

• F1“contract” shall be construed as any agreement linking a public authority—

  1. a

     to a public undertaking in respect of compensation; or

  2. b

     to an undertaking which is either—

     1. i

        granted a special or an exclusive right, or

     2. ii

        entrusted with any service of general economic interest and receives public service compensation, in any form whatsoever, in relation to that service.

• “entrusted” shall be construed in accordance with F3Article 106(2) of the Treaty;

• “exclusive right” means any right granted by a public authority to an undertaking through any legislative, regulatory or administrative means, reserving to it the right to provide a service or undertake an activity within a geographical area;

• “Financial Transparency Directive” means Commission Directive 2006/111/ECM1 of 16 November 2006 on the transparency of financial relations between Member States and public undertakings as well as on financial transparency within certain undertakings F4(as that Directive applies to the United Kingdom under Article 10 of the Northern Ireland Protocol);

• F5“Northern Ireland Protocol” means the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland in the EU withdrawal agreement;

• “public authority” includes the Crown and any regional, local or other territorial authority;

• “public undertaking” means any undertaking over which a public authority may exercise, directly or indirectly, a dominant influence by virtue of its ownership of it, its financial participation in it, or the rules which govern it; a dominant influence is presumed when a public authority, directly or indirectly, in relation to an undertaking—

  1. a

     holds the major part of the undertaking's subscribed capital;

  2. b

     controls the majority of votes attaching to shares issued by the undertaking; or

  3. c

     can appoint more than half the members of the undertaking's administrative, managerial or supervisory body;

• “public undertaking operating in the manufacturing sector” means any public undertaking which has at least 50% of its total annual turnover arising from operations which are included in Section D of the Annex to Council Regulation (EEC) No 3037/90 of 9 October 1990 on the statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community F6(as that Regulation had effect in EU law immediately before IP completion day)M2;

• “services of general economic interest” shall be construed in accordance with F7Article 106(2) of the Treaty;

• “share” shall be construed in accordance with section 540 of the Companies Act 2006 M3;

• “special right” means any right that is granted by a public authority through any legislative, regulatory or administrative means, which, within a geographical area and otherwise than in accordance with objective, proportional and non-discriminatory criteria—

  1. a

     limits to two or more the number of undertakings authorised to provide a service or undertake an activity;

  2. b

     designates several competing undertakings as being authorised to provide a service or undertake an activity; or

  3. c

     confers on any undertaking any legal or regulatory advantages which substantially affect the ability of any other undertaking to operate the same activity in the same geographical area under substantially equivalent conditions;

• “Treaty” means the Treaty F8on the Functioning of the European Union ; and

• “undertaking” means any entity engaged in an economic activity, regardless of the legal status of the entity or the way in which it is financed.

These Regulations do not apply where F9Article 346(1) of the Treaty applies to a contract.

In these Regulations a reference to Article 106(2), Article 107(1) or Article 346(1) of the Treaty is a reference to that Article as it applies to the United Kingdom under Article 10 of the Northern Ireland Protocol.