• Scope to award State aid
• Block Exemption Regulations
• De minimis aid
• Structural funds
• Approved schemes in Scotland
• Notifying an aid scheme

Notifying an aid scheme

If your policy or project proposals involve State aid that
cannot be awarded under the existing approved schemes or
the General Block Exemption Regulation, but scope potentially
exists to award the aid you wish to provide, you may submit a
notification to the Commission for its approval.

An outline of the stages involved in this process is provided below -
the most important of which is to make early contact with the
Scottish Government State Aid Unit - or the State aid contacts for
transport, agriculture or fisheries - to discuss the way forward.

Notification and approval procedure:

STEP 1
Consider whether a policy or project proposal involves State aid

STEP 2
Where no appropriate scheme (approved or under the General
Block Exemption Regulation) exists, make early contact with the
State Aid Unit - or the State aid contacts for transport, agriculture
or fisheries- to discuss the way forward. Notification of a new
State aid scheme or amendments to an existing scheme may be
possible

STEP 3
Prepare the formal notification (standard format) in liaison with the
State Aid Unit

STEP 4
Notification is submitted from the State Aid Unit to DBERR
(State aid is a reserved matter), onto UK Permanent Representation
in Brussels, and then to the Commission

STEP 5
Commission considers the proposals - in virtually all cases they will
seek further information

STEP 6
The aid scheme is approved or rejected
The Commission may have imposed conditions where a scheme
is approved

Key points to remember:

• Aid cannot be given until final approval has been received
  from the Commission.
  
  
• The Commission will take a minimum of 2 months
  (current average is 6 months) from initial receipt of the
  notification to make a decision. The time taken depends on
  additional information requested and the speed of response.
  Exceptionally, some approvals have taken 2 years.
  
  
• The Scottish Government State Aid Unit will provide assistance
  at each stage of this process.