Positions for the draft of Commission Regulation amending Commission Regulation (EU) No 1408/2013

Suur-Ameerika St. 1 / 10122 Tallinn/Estonia / +372 625 6101 / [email protected] / www.agri.ee

Register code 70000734

European Commission

Directorate-General for Competition

[email protected]

17 July 2024 N° 5.4-2/3432-1

Positions for the draft of Commission Regulation amending Commission

Regulation (EU) No 1408/2013

Dear sir/madam find below our positions,

On the 10th of July 2024, the Advisory Committee meeting on State Aid took place. The

Commission informed the participants during that meeting that Member States could submit

feedback until 21.07.2024 on the draft of Commission Regulation amending Commission

Regulation (EU) No 1408/2013 on the application of Articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty

on the Functioning of the European Union to de minimis aid in the agriculture sector.

We are generally in support of the draft. We submit the following questions as feedback:

- Our first question is regarding the amended Article 6 paragraph 3, where it states that

Member States have an obligation to keep records of the registered information for ten

years. In the current regulation in Article 6 paragraph 4 there is a broader obligation to

record and compile all information regarding the application of Regulation (EU) No

1408/2013 for 10 fiscal years. Does this change mean that we no longer need to keep

all documentation relating to granting of aid and it is enough that only data listed in the

article 6 paragraph 1 of the draft Regulation is available in the register?

- Our second question is regarding the new paragraph 2a of the amended article 5. The

new paragraph states that “de minimis aid granted in accordance with this Regulation

may be cumulated with de minimis aid granted in accordance with Commission

Regulation (EU) 2023/2832 (SGEI) up to the ceiling laid down in that Regulation…”.

In the new horizontal de minimis Regulation (EU) 2023/2831 there is article 5 paragraph

1 which allows that horizontal de minimis can just be cumulated with SGEI de minimis.

We don’t agree with the new paragraph 2a in the draft Regulation as it is a different

approach from the horizontal de minimis Regulation. We would like the Commission to

explain why the approach for de minimis aid in the agriculture sector is different from

the horizontal de minimis aid regulation?

Yours sincerely,

2 (2)

Olavi Petron

Head of the Regional Development Department

(e-signed)

Pirkko-Liisa Meius

625 6534 [email protected]