Country Profile: Cyprus

• Author: Naldini, Andrea; Pompili, Marco; Peruccacci, Eleonora
• Pages: 112-117

112

4.COUNTRY PROFI LE: CYPRUS

4. 1. Sect ion 1-National rules fort he evaluat ion of State aidschemes

4.1.1.Obligation or lack ther eof to evaluate

I n Cyp rus t here are no provi sions for a ge neral obl igat ion to eval uate all public policies,

but, in m any cases, ev aluations do t ake place, par tly following specific po licy initi atives

(e.g. educat ional policy) , part ly following the ESIF obligations and the monitoring and

evaluation mechanism developed in the context of the Economic Adjustment

Programme105.

There are no prov isions for the ex-post ev aluat ion of State aid. The national legislation

only foresees the obligation to carry out an ex-ante compatibilit y assessment of State

aidschemes based on Laws 30(I)/2001, 122(I)/2001, 139(I)/2002, 10(I)/2003,

80(I)/ 2003, 14 4(I )/ 20 04, 177(I )/2005, 9( I) /2007, 82(I )/ 20 07, 108(I) /2009.

4.1.2.Procedu res to en force the o bligation

Under the above-mentioned legislation each Competent Authority is obliged to notify

any State aidmeasure to the Commissioner for State aidControl (see below) for

app ro val or opi nio n a s ap pro pri ate , w hil e i f n ecessa ry , it s hou ld a lso not ify t he Euro pean

Commission aboutthe measure. No State aidmeasure may enter into force in the

country without previous approval by the Commissioner for State aidControl or the

European Com mission .

I n t he case th at th e Com mi ssion er beco mes awa re, fo llow ing a c omp lain t or inf orm at ion

fromany person, that a State aidmeasure has entered into force without his/her

approval or opinion or without previous notification of the measure to the European

Commission, she/ h emay, by a duly substantiated decision published in the Official

Gazette of the Republic, order the suspension of the measure, the term ination of the

unlawfulness and the recovery of any grants received in breach of the Law plus the

law ful in terest . Also,t he Comm issioner for State aidCont rol has th e regulat ory contr ol

ov er t he effecti ve imp lem entation of th e de cision s of t he Europ ean Com mission , in case

recovering unlawf ul State aidis needed.

4.2.Section 2- Nat ional auth orities responsible for the evaluat ion of State aid

4.2.1.Nat ional organ isation for State aid

In Cyprus there are two authorities Responsible for State aid. In both cases the

authorities are creat ed to respond to compliance assessm ent s:

−The Office of t he Commissioner forSt ate aidControl ( Cent ralised)

−The Directorate General forEuropean Programmes, Coordination and

105In May 20 13, an Econom ic Ad jus tm ent Progr amm e w as ag reed bet wee n t he Eur ope an Com mi ssion, t he

European Cent ral Bank (ECB), the I nter natio nal Monet ary Fund (IMF) and the Republic of Cyp rus, aiming

to add ress t he financi al, f iscal and stru ctur al ch allen ges f acing th e econ omy and allo w Cyp rus to r etu rn t o

a sustainable growth path. It covers the period 2013- 2016. The financial package will cover up to €10

billion, including €1 billion from the IMF. The key objectives and measures of the Programm e were laid

do wn in a Mem or and um of Un der stan din g ( MoU) w ith th e Eur opea n Com m ission (o n b ehal f of th e Eur opea n

Stability Mechanism - ESM) and a Mem orandum Of Econom ic and Finan cial Policies (MEFP) with t he I MF.

The rev iew of t he im plem en tat ion of t he Progr am me fo llow s a st anda rd pr ocedu re th at t akes pla ce q uart erly

and is applicable to the Member States which are subject to similar programs.

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