Commission Regulation (EU) No 702/2014 of 25 June 2014 declaring certain categories of aid in the agricultural and forestry sectors and in rural areas compatible with the internal market in application of Articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union

• Published date: 10 July 2017
• Official Gazette Publication: Gazzetta ufficiale dell'Unione europea, L 193, 1o luglio 2014,Diario Oficial de la Unión Europea, L 193, 1 de julio de 2014,Journal officiel de l'Union européenne, L 193, 1er juillet 2014

02014R0702 — EN — 12.03.2019 — 002.001

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►B COMMISSION REGULATION (EU) No 702/2014 of 25 June 2014 declaring certain categories of aid in the agricultural and forestry sectors and in rural areas compatible with the internal market in application of Articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (OJ L 193 1.7.2014, p. 1)

Amended by:

		Official Journal
		No	page	date
►M1	COMMISSION REGULATION (EU) 2017/1084 of 14 June 2017	L 156	1	20.6.2017
►M2	COMMISSION REGULATION (EU) 2019/289 of 19 February 2019	L 48	1	20.2.2019

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▼B

COMMISSION REGULATION (EU) No 702/2014

of 25 June 2014

declaring certain categories of aid in the agricultural and forestry sectors and in rural areas compatible with the internal market in application of Articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union

TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER I:	COMMON PROVISIONS
CHAPTER II:	PROCEDURAL REQUIREMENTS
CHAPTER III:	CATEGORIES OF AID
Section 1:	Aid in favour of SMEs active in primary agricultural production, the processing of agricultural products and the marketing of agricultural products
Section 2:	Aid for investments in favour of conservation of cultural and natural heritage located on agricultural holdings
Section 3:	Aid to make good the damage caused by natural disasters in the agricultural sector
Section 4:	Aid for research and development in the agricultural and forestry sectors
Section 5:	Aid in favour of forestry
Section 6:	aids in favour of SMEs in Rural Areas co-financed by the EAFRD or granted as additional national financing to such co-financed measures
CHAPTER IV:	TRANSITIONAL AND FINAL PROVISIONS

CHAPTER I

COMMON PROVISIONS

Article 1

Scope

1. This Regulation shall apply to the following categories of aid:

(a)aid in favour of micro, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs):

(i)active in the agricultural sector, namely primary agricultural production, the processing of agricultural products and the marketing of agricultural products, with the exception of Articles 14, 15, 16, 18 and 23 and Articles 25 to 28 which shall only apply to SMEs active in the primary agricultural production;

(ii)for activities falling outside the scope of Article 42 of the Treaty insofar as such aid is granted in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 1305/2013 and is either co-financed by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) or granted as additional national financing for such co-financed measures.

(b)aid for investments for the conservation of cultural and natural heritage located on agricultural holdings;

(c)aid in favour of making good the damage caused by natural disasters in the agricultural sector;

(d)aid for research and development in the agricultural and forestry sectors;

(e)aid in favour of forestry.

2. Where Member States deem it appropriate, they may choose to grant aid referred to in paragraphs 1(a), 1(d) and 1(e) of this Article under the conditions and in compliance with Regulation (EU) No 651/2014.

3. This Regulation shall not apply to aid in favour of:

(a)the forestry sector which is not co-financed by the EAFRD or granted as additional national financing for such co-financed measures, with the exception of Articles 31, 38, 39 and 43;

(b)SMEs for activities falling outside the scope of Article 42 of the Treaty which is not co-financed by the EAFRD or granted as additional national financing for such co-financed measure.

4. This Regulation shall not apply to:

(a)aid schemes provided for in Articles 17, 32 and 33, Article 34(5)(a) to (c), and Articles 35, 40, 41, and 44 of this Regulation, if the average annual State aid budget exceeds EUR 150 million, from six months after their entry into force. The Commission may decide that this Regulation shall continue to apply for a longer period to any of these aid schemes after having assessed the relevant evaluation plan notified by the Member State to the Commission, within 20 working days from the scheme's entry into force;

(b)any alterations of schemes referred to in paragraph 4(a) of this Article, other than modifications which cannot affect the compatibility of the aid scheme under this Regulation or cannot significantly affect the content of the approved evaluation plan;

(c)aid to export-related activities towards third countries or Member States, namely aid directly linked to the quantities exported, to the establishment and operation of a distribution network or to other current costs linked to export activity;

(d)aid contingent upon the use of domestic over imported goods.

5. With the exception of Article 30, this Regulation shall not apply to:

▼M2

(a)aid schemes which do not explicitly exclude the payment of individual aid in favour of an undertaking which is subject to an outstanding recovery order following a previous Commission decision declaring an aid granted by the same Member State illegal and incompatible with the internal market;

(b)ad hoc aid to an undertaking referred to in point (a).

▼B

6. This Regulation shall not apply to aid to undertakings in difficulty with the exception of:

(a)aid to make good the damage caused by natural disasters in accordance with Article 30, aid for the costs of the eradication of animal diseases in accordance with Article 26(8) and aid for removal and destruction of fallen stock in accordance with Article 27(1)(c), (d) and (e);

(b)aid for the following events provided that the undertaking became an undertaking in difficulty due to losses or damages caused by the event in question:

(i)to compensate for losses caused by an adverse climatic event which can be assimilated to a natural disaster in accordance with Article 25;

(ii)aid for the costs of the eradication of plant pests and for making good the damage caused by animal diseases and plant pests in accordance with Article 26(8) and (9);

(iii)aid for the restoration of damage to forests from fires, natural disasters, adverse climatic events which can be assimilated to a natural disaster, other adverse climatic events, plant pests, catastrophic events and climate change related events in accordance with Article 34(5)(d).

7. This Regulation shall not apply to aids which entail, by themselves, by the conditions attached to them or by their financing method a non-severable violation of Union law, in particular to:

(a)aid where the grant of aid is subject to the obligation for the beneficiary to have its headquarters in the relevant Member State or to be predominantly established in that Member State;

(b)aid where the grant of aid is subject to the obligation for the beneficiary to use nationally produced goods or national services;

(c)aid restricting the possibility for the beneficiaries to exploit the research, development and innovation results in other Member States.

Article 2

Definitions

For the purpose of this Regulation the following definitions shall apply:

(1)‘aid’ means any measure fulfilling all the criteria laid down in Article 107(1) of the Treaty;

(2)‘SME’ or ‘micro, small and medium-sized enterprises’ means undertakings fulfilling the criteria laid down in Annex I;

(3)‘agricultural sector’ means all undertakings active in primary agricultural production, processing and marketing of agricultural products;

(4)‘agricultural product’ means the products listed in Annex I to the Treaty, except the fishery and aquaculture products listed in Annex I to Regulation (EU) No 1379/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council (1);

(5)‘primary agricultural production’ means the production of products of the soil and of stock farming, listed in Annex I to the Treaty, without performing any further operation changing the nature of such products;

(6)‘processing of agricultural products’ means any operation on an agricultural product resulting in a product which is also an agricultural product, except on-farm activities necessary for preparing an animal or plant product for first sale;

(7)‘marketing of agricultural products’ means holding or display with a view to sale, offering for sale, delivery or any other manner of placing on the market, except the first sale by a primary producer to resellers or processors and any activity preparing a product for such first sale; a sale by a primary producer to final consumers is considered as marketing of agricultural products if it takes place in separate premises reserved for that purpose;

(8)‘agricultural holding’ means a unit comprising of land, premises and facilities used for primary agricultural production;

(9)‘natural disasters’ means earthquakes, avalanches, landslides and floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions and wild fires of natural origin;

(10)‘aid scheme’ means any act on the basis of which, without further implementing measures being required, individual aid awards may be made to undertakings defined within the act in a general and abstract manner and any act on the basis of which aid which is not linked to a specific project may be granted to one or several undertakings for an indefinite period of time and for an indefinite amount;

(11)‘evaluation plan’ means a document containing at least the following minimum elements: the objectives of the aid...