Assessing the effectiveness of different approaches to transparency

AuthorMichie, Rona; Wishlade, Fiona; Mendez, Carlos
Pages13-29
Fact-finding studyon the GBERtransparency re quirement
13
3.ASSESSING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO TRANSPARENCY
This section explores the available data on compliance with the transparency requirements and
considers to what extent apparent differences in levels of compliance can be attributed to
different transparency systems.
This section is in three parts. It begins with an assessment of the available data, looking at how,
and how far, it can be used to measure compliance. Second, it provides an overview of patterns of
reporting delays. Last, it seeks to explainthose delays, exploring the role of transparency systems
and other pertinent criteria.
3.1.COMPLIANCE DATA
3.1.1.Background
The starting point for the analysis was the data underpinning the 2019 Compliance Report.6The
compliance report considers two dimensions:
1.Whether or not awards over the €500,000threshold were reported. This assessment links
information reported through SANI2/ISIS, TAM and annual repor ting for the State aid
scoreboard (SARI). This is analysed in 'Checks Update'.7
2.Whether the deadline for reporting was respected. Delays occur at the level of individual
awards and are tracked and assessed in 'Quality Update'.8
(i)Compliance in Reporting Aid Awards - Checks Update
This analysisoperated at the level of the aid measure.It made use of three linked datasets:
the budget and expectednumber of recipients reported in SANI2/ISIS;
reporting of awards exceeding €500,000 through TAM; and
annual expenditure reporting through SARI for the Scoreboard.
Note that SARI requires the amountpaid, but not the number of recipients. Clearly these three
datasets provide different perspectives on anticipated or actual spend, but nevertheless enable
some insights into when TAM reporting is likely to have been required.
The anticipated average amount spent per beneficiary can be calculated by combining
information from both SANI2/ISIS and SARI. If this exceeded€500,000, then some reporting
through TAM would be expected; if this was absent then the Commission sought clarification
from the MemberState. If the average award wasless than €500,000, but the amount reported in
TAM less than 25 percent of the amount reported in SARI, then clarification was alsosought from
the Member State.
6Results 2019 Compliance Checks exercise Transpare ncy (Internal Report, Unit A3 DG COMP).
7Final results - 2019 compliance checks_update 01022020 (Excel) measure-based data.
8Final results - 2019 compliance checks quality update 01022020 (Excel) award-based data.
In practice, however, Member States typicallydo not report the anticipated number of
beneficiaries in SARI(see Figure 4), so for the vast majority of measures, average awards cannot
be estimated. In these cases, the Commission also sought clarification from the Member State.
Figure 4: Availability of data on estimated number of beneficiaries per scheme
Measures
Number
Number of measures assessed in Checks Update
2401
Of which, aid schemes (not ad hoc/ individual awards)
2005
Of which measures providing estimated number of beneficiaries
148
Source: EPRC calculations from DG COMP Final result s - 2019 compliance checks_update 01022020.
The clarification process undertaken with the Member States in spring/summer 2019 resulted in
the measures examined receiving a final classificationas follows:
Direct compliance issues
No compliance issues
Not under the Transparency9
The outcomes are summarised in Figure 5 and suggest that compliance issues arose in 329 of the
measures analysed (13.7 percent of the total) and that expenditure associated with these
measures (not all of which would necessarily be implicated in the transparency requirementi.e.
some of the awards made would not meetthe reporting threshold) amounted to some €47.425
billion (26.9 percent of the total under the measures assessed).
Figure 5: Compliance issues final classification
Compliance / Measure Type
Number of
measures%
Amount
spent€m%
Direct Compliance Issues
329
13.7
47,425
26.9
Ad hoc/ individual aid
55
2.3
451
0.3
Aid schemes
274
11.4
46,974
26.6
No Compliance Issues
1643
68.4
113,185
64.2
Ad hoc/ individual aid
299
12.5
8,945
5.1
Aid schemes
1344
56.0
104,240
59.1
Not under the Transparency
429
17.9
15,759
8.9
Ad hoc/ individual aid
42
1.7
3,732
2.1
Aid schemes
387
16.1
12,027
6.8
Total
2401
100.0
176,369
100.0
Source: EPRC calculations from DG COMP Final result s - 2019 compliance checks_update 01022020.
9Some measures that may have made awards exceeding €500,000 since 1 July 2016 are not subject to the transparency
requirementbecause in the past this was not imposed in Comm ission decisions on notified measures (this is now
imposed consistently).

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