On June 2, 2020, the Directorate General for Competition (DG COMP) of the European Commission published on its website four comprehensive reports on the ex post assessment of existing State aid rules on: regional aid, risk finance aid, operating aid for airports, and aid for environment and energy.
A dedicated team* of the Brussels office of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP, led by partners Jacques Derenne and Robert Klotz, prepared these reports over the last 18 months, in close cooperation with several economic consultancies and academic institutions under a multiannual Framework Agreement with the European Commission (the partners are E.CA Economics, DIW Berlin, Lear and the University of East Anglia).
In January 2019, DG COMP had launched an ex post evaluation of the current EU State aid rules, which were all adopted as part of the 2012-2014 State aid Modernisation. The evaluation takes the form of a “fitness check” to provide a basis for decisions, to be taken by the Commission in the future, about whether to extend or update the rules. The following reports have been published thus far:
- Retrospective evaluation of the regional aid framework
- Evaluation support study on the EU rules on State aid for access to finance for SMEs
- Support study for the evaluation of the rules for operating aid under the EU aviation framework
- Retrospective evaluation support study on State aid rules for environmental protection and energy
* The members of the Sheppard Mullin team who worked on the various reports were: Ciara Barbu-O’Connor, Julien Blanquart, Catalina Chilaru, Jacques Derenne, Marie Lagrue, Mirjana Maric, Santos Miguel Leyva Rubio, Robert Klotz, Michael Hofmann and Dimitris Vallindas.