EU reaches agreement to tackle foreign subsidies
July 1, 2022, Global Competition Review
Sophie Bertin was quoted by Global Competition Review in an article discussing the political agreement reached in the EU that will give the European Commission the power to investigate subsidies granted by non-EU public authorities to companies operating in the EU.
“[This is] probably the most important development in EU state aid law” since its inception, Sophie said.
According to Sophie, the new regulation essentially expands the principles of EU state aid to the world as those willing to play in the internal market will have to ensure they comply with the foreign subsidy regulation. She added that the EU will have at least 145 full-time employees dedicated to this, which will give it a lot of capacity to review and monitor foreign subsidies when they enter the internal market.
Non-EU companies will need to become aware of how to identify foreign subsidies and make sure that they don’t stand in the way of their business, Sophie said, either by repaying them or having good arguments as to why they were “good” subsidies.
The fact that the regulation also covers “all other market situations”, not only mergers and public procurement, means that companies suspecting they may have received foreign subsidies are well-advised to check that beforehand, she said.
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