The De Minimis Regulation

The De minimis Regulation covers small amounts of aid within a predetermined threshold (€200,000 over a 3 (fiscal) year) period which do not count as State aid in the sense of Article 87(1) and are therefore exempt from the notification requirements of the competition rules.

While there is no requirement to notify or register de minimis funding with the Commission (as it is not actually State aid), there is a need to comply with the Regulation, with stringent administrative requirements to adhere to.  In particular where an aid provider grants de minimis aid, it must:

• inform the recipient about the de minimis character of the aid and the level of aid, making express reference to the de minimis regulation;
• obtain from the recipient a declaration about other de minimis aid received during the current and previous two fiscal years;
• only grant new de minimis aid after having checked that this will not raise the total amount of de minimis aid received during the relevant period of three fiscal years to a level that exceeds the €200,000 limit (€100,000 for undertakings in the road transport sector).

The full De minimis Regulation can be accessed here: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2006:379:0005:0010:EN:PDF.

Frequently asked questions about de minimis can be viewed on the right under 'Related links'.