STATE AID : SERVICES OF GENERAL ECONOMIC INTEREST: GUIDE UPDATED.

"SGEI, SSGI, compensation, de minimis threshold": the jargon used in EU legislation on public services can be hard to understand at national level. For that reason, on 18 February, the European Commission published a new version of the guide explaining how EU state aid rules apply to services of general economic interest (SGEI). Initially published in 2010, the document of just over 100 pages has been updated in the light of the Almunia package' (named after the competition commissioner - see box), which introduces new rules for subsidies granted to SGEIs. It is meant to be a tool for better understanding and application of rules for SGEIs (rules on state aid and some respects of public procurement rules).

The guide takes the form of simple and comprehensive answers to the questions asked most frequently by public...