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.