Country Profile: Finland
Author | Naldini, Andrea; Pompili, Marco; Peruccacci, Eleonora |
Pages | 154-162 |
154
11.COUNTRY PROFI LE: FI N LAND
11.1.Sect ion 1-National r ules for t he evaluation ofSt ate aidschemes
11.1.1.Obligat ion or lack ther eof to evaluat e
General obligations t o ev aluat e any discretion ary govern ment transf er are la id down in
theAct on Discretionary Government Transfers (688/2001, Section 36): “State aid
auth orit ies must in a suitable m anner m onit or the ef fect iven ess an d ap propriat eness of
the use of discretionary Government transfers granted bythem and the effect of
transfers on competition and the status of different population groups and their
environmental and other impact. State aidauthorities must periodically assess the
necessity for discretionary Governm ent t ransfers and the need to dev elop them . State
aidau tho rit ies shall pr ovi de e ach o th er w it h as sista nce to thi s en d.” 144The Act 68 8/ 200 1
does not specify when and how the evaluation should be carried out but leaves to t he
Aut hor ities t he discretionary power to evaluate.
As a lexspecialisin re lation to t he Act 688/ 2001, th e Act on t he General Req uire men ts
for Granting Supp ort for Economic Activity (4 29/ 2016)came int o force on 1 July 2016 ,
introducing new obligations on State aidevaluation compared tothe previous acton
St ate aid. The Act cover s al l sect or s except pr im ary agr icul tur al and fores try pr odu ctio n
and fisheries. The new legislation was initiated to harmonise and enhance the
effect ive ness of financi al su ppor t gran ted for eco nom ic act ivities and to ensure nat ional
ex-ante assessment of the financial support with the EU State aidrules on the side of
the com pliant .
Act 42 9/ 201 6 ( Sect ion s 6-7 ) s pecif ies t he resp onsib ilit ies of t he Advisor y Commi tt ee on
Business Subsidyin terms of the ex-ante assessment. I n addition, the responsibilities
of the Committee include the development of the entire national business subsidy
system and the promotion of cooperation bet ween administrative branches within the
Minist ries and public adm inist rat ion on t he nat ional and region al levels, the subm issi on
of proposals and initiatives to competentauthorities for developing legislation and
administrative practices, as well as following national and international regulation,
pr actices and deve lopm ent s in it s sector.
Under Act429/2016, responsibility for following the State aidprocedures defined in
Sections 3-7 remains within thegr anting authority, including ex-ant e assessment and
evaluation practices. Section 5 on the evaluation of effectiveness states that the
granting authority must periodically, at latest prior t o renewing a State aidscheme or
an individual support, evaluate the effectiveness, efficiencyand performance of the
sup por t g ran ted in or der t o acq uir e in for mat ion on the r elev ance of th e su ppor t and the
needs for its future improvements. The Act does not however specify how the
evaluations should be carried out, as the methodology t o be applied is decided by the
gr anting aut hor ity, as is also t he case in r espect of Act 688/ 2001.
I n t he aft erm at h o f t he 20 08 fin ancia l cr isis , si nce 201 1, Gov ern me nt Pro gra mm es hav e
included Business Subsidy Reform as one of the targets to reduce budget deficits and
t o in crea se t he eff icien cy of t he sup por t pro vid ed i n a ccord ance wi th ene rgy an d c lim ate
targets, including simplifying the complexsystemof Business subsidies and reducing
adm in ist rat ive cost s. Whi le t he am oun t o f p ubli c fi nan ces t arg ete d t o B usin ess su bsid ies
144Unof ficia l t ransl atio n av ailab le at : https://www.finlex.fi/en/laki/kaannokset/2001/en20010688.pdf. The
te rm Stat e aid does not refe r her e to St ate aid as un derst ood under the EU r ules b ut to any discret ionary
gov ernm ent tr ansfe r.
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