OFT guidance on public subsidies
OFT/HM Treasury guidance (32 pages, PDF) on how to assess the competition effects of public subsidies. This is described as a supplement to HM Treasury's Green Book.
The Government endorsed this analysis in May 2006. This competition assessment is to be used for all subsidies irrespective of whether EU State aid rules apply.
The document also states that:
Aid providers should find that it becomes easier to persuade the Commission to approve aid, if the aid requires notification to Brussels, if a competition assessment has been done in line with this guidance.
Timeline: The relevant page on the OFT website does not properly disclose the steps that have preceded this document. They were:
- In January 2006, the OFT published a consultancy report containing proposals for a competition analysis of subsidies.
- In May 2006, the Government (through DTI) endorsed this approach.
- In January 2007, the above report was published. By then HM Treasury had apparently become the relevant Government department instead of the DTI or Department for Business (where the State aid branch is still located).
For further information or advice please contact Franck Latrémolière.
Filed under Guidance, HM Treasury, OFT, State aid.
