DBIS publishes guidance on core elements of revised State Aid rules

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has published guidance on the core elements of new State Aid rules.

The move comes as the revised General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER) came into force on 1 July.

The changes to the GBER are intended to allow more State Aid measures and higher amounts to be given without them having to be notified to the European Commission for prior authorisation.

The DBIS guidance, which can be viewed here, covers regional aid, research, development and innovation (RD&I) and the most commonly used sections of the new GBER.

In particular it covers significant changes such as access to finance for SMEs.

The Department said further guidance on the GBER and on other new state aid rules would be published later in 2014.

For a summary of the changes, see also: State aid and the revised General Block Exemption Regulation by Jonathan Branton and Jay Mehta