Annex B: Case Studies

AuthorMichie, Rona; Wishlade, Fiona; Mendez, Carlos
Pages243-273
Fact-finding study on the GBER transparency re quirement
243
ANNEX B: CASE STUDIES
1. CZECHIA189
1.1. National context
In Czechia the Office for the Protection of Competition (OPC) provides guidance for the fulfilment
of the transparency obligations. However, in legal and practical terms reporting in the TAM is the
responsibility of awarding bodies. Guidance is sent to awarding bodies when they notify the
coordinators of their intention to introduce measures involving State aid. There is no national
register for State aid generally, but there is a de minimis register, which is partially publicly
available, and accessible in its entirety to registered users.
1.2. Experience with current reporting requir ements
The coordinating bodies (the OPC and the Ministry of Agriculture) set up organizational guidelines
for the registration and notification of measures in TAM system in the ‘Transparency
Methodology’190. This also sets out the basic administrative and technical requirements for the
obligation of transparency, including the recommendations of the coordinating bodies in
individual areas.
Issues encountered by users include:
problems logging into TAM via EU login account,
issues related to what counts towards the €500,000 threshold
questions and uncertainties regarding one State Aid measure offered by multiple awarding
bodies (more precisely, a provider and entity/entities that administer/pay financial resources),
questions regarding entry into force of the provisional act and subsequent periods for recording
in TAM
questions related to the register itself, how to register and approve aids and how to enter new
users into TAM.
There are also interpretation problems in the cumulation of support for the same supported
activity. OPC recommends that aid providers comply with at least the minimum requirements of
the European Commission, namely the cumulation of acts gr anting aid to the same beneficiary
and for the same eligible costs for the same objective within the same project.
189 Based on interviews with the State a id units in the Office of Competition Protection and the M inistry for Agriculture.
190 See: Ú     M    M    
      E 
http://eagri.cz/public/web/file/518245/Metodika_k_plneni_povinnosti_tra nsparentnosti.pdf .
http://www.uohs.cz/download/Sek ce_VP/VP_update/Metodika_k _plneni_povinnosti_transparent nosti_leden-
2019.pdf
There is no perceived added value from the reporting requirements since the State aid
Coordinating bodies do not handle data in any way and are not aware of the possible handling of
data by other ministries of state administration or self-government.
1.3. Perspectives on the harmonisation of transparency requirements
The obligation of transparency is stated across the various rules in the field of state aid. The
Communication on transparency 191 and especially the lack of a full text of the rules following the
amendments, may make transparency requirements confusing for some awarding bodies. The
inconsistency of the limit of the amount of support (based for example on a particular regulation
or sector), which must be registered in the TAM system, does not help with coherence.192 To
rationalise the approach, it is suggested:
To publish the full text of the regulations, including the revision made by the above
communication.
To unify the limits for individual regulations in line with the GBER (except for the lower limits
for aid in the field of agriculture and fisheries).
To tie the aid ceiling only to aid granted to the same beneficiary for the same eligible costs and
to the same objective within the project.
In short, the obligation of transparency should be stated uniformly in all existing regulations
(taking into account the aid ceiling and the revised wording). It would also be appropriate for
there to be a single Methodological Guide to the obligation of transparency, whic h would
further interpret the obligation in detail. However, due to the specific nature of the regulations,
the Czech State aid coordinating bodies do not recommend the obligation of transparency to
apply to Short-term export credits, aid for railways, banking or public service broadcasting.
For SGEI rules, the existing transparency requirements set out in the 2012 SGEI Commission
Decision are conside red to be sufficient.
1.4. Removal of reporting thresholds
The selection of awards over the threshold does not represent a signific ant administrative
burden compared to the removal of the threshold for notifying aid to the TAM system
altogether.
Removal of the threshold would result in a significant increase in the registration of aid in the
TAM system and an increase in the administrative burden for all aid providers. Awarding bodies
would probably not be able to cover this from existing resource requir ement, which would be
particularly difficult in the current economic situation.
191 Commission Communication amendi ng the Commission Communication on EU guidelines on th e application of State
aid rules in relation to rapid deplo yment of broadband networks, on the Regional State Aid Gui delines 2014-2020, on
State aid to films and other audiovisua l works, Guidelines on State aid for risk finance inve stments and on Guidelines on
State aid to airports and airlines (2014 / C 198/02)
192 See Transparency Methodology pp17 -18.

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