11 Amendments of Derk Jan EPPINK related to 2012/0342(NLE)
Amendment 17 #
Recital 1
(1) In the context of a thorough modernization of State aid rules to contribute both to the implementation of the Europe 2020 strategy for growth27 and to budgetary consolidation, Article 107 of the Treaty should be applied effectively and uniformly throughout the Union. Council Regulation (EC) No 659/1999 of 22 March 1999 codified and reinforced the Commission's previous practice to increase legal certainty and to support the development of State aid policy in a transparent environment. However, in the light of the experience gained in its application and of recent developments such as enlargement and the economic and financial crisis, certain aspects of that Regulation should be amended in order to enablequip the Commission to be more effectivewith streamlined and more effective State aid control and enforcement instruments.
Amendment 20 #
Recital 1 a (new)
(1a) It is important that the Commission focuses its attention on State aid cases with a real impact on the internal market. That aim is consistent with the Commission's communication of 8 May 2012 on EU State Aid Modernisation (SAM) and was endorsed by the European Parliament in its resolution of 17 January 2013. The Commission should however be very careful not to exempt too many activities from State aid scrutiny.
Amendment 23 #
Recital 4
(4) The Commission should be able to enforce compliance with requests for information addressed to any undertaking or association of undertakings, as appropriate, by means of proportionate fines and periodic penalty payments, taking due account of the specific circumstances of each case and the compliance costs incurred by each adressee of a request for information, in particular for small or medium-sized enterprises. The rights of the parties requested to provide information should be safeguarded by giving them the opportunity to make their views known before any decision imposing fines or periodic penalty payments. The Court of Justice of the European Union should have unlimited jurisdiction with regard to such fines and periodic penalties pursuant to Article 261 of the Treaty.
Amendment 24 #
Recital 9
(9) The Commission may, on its own initiative, examine information from whatever source on unlawful aid, in order to ensure compliance with Article 108 of the Treaty, and in particular with the notification obligation and standstill clause laid down in Article 108(2) of the Treaty, and to assess their compatibility with the internal market. In that context, complaints are an essential source of information for detecting infringements of Union State aid rules. It is therefore important not to impose too many or too formal restrictions on the filing of complaints. In particular, individual citizens should retain the right to file complaints through an easily accessible and user-friendly procedure.
Amendment 25 #
Recital 9 a (new)
(9 a) It is important that Member States have an incentive to notify State aid measures and that they are not penalized unduly if the Commission takes excessive time to examine notified State aid. If, therefore, a Member State notifies an aid measure and subsequently puts it into effect after more than six months of Commission inactivity on the measure concerned, any future recovery decision concerning that aid should demonstrate that the notification was incomplete and that the Member State did not respond adequately to information requests.
Amendment 28 #
Recital 11
(11) Complainants should be required to demonstrate that they are interested parties within the meaning of Article 108(2) TFEU and of Article 1(h) of Regulation 659/99. They should also Commission should avoid too narrow an interpretation of the term "interested party". All complainants should be required to provide a certain minimum amount of information in an easily accessible and user-friendly form that the Commission should be empowered to define in an implementing provision.
Amendment 31 #
Recital 13
(13) In order to ensure that the Commission addresses similar issues in a consistent manner across the internal market, it is appropriate to complete the existing powers of the Commission by introducing a specific legal basis to launch investigations into sectors of the economy or into certain aid instruments across several Member States. The Commission should have the sole competence to decide to start a sector inquiry. For reasons of proportionality, sector inquiries should be based on a prior analysis of publicly available information pointing to the existence of State aid issues in a particular sector or concerning the use of a particular aid instrument in several Member States, for example, that existing aid measures in a particular sector or based on a particular aid instrument in several Member States are not, or no longer, compatible with the internal market. Such inquiries would enable the Commission to deal in an efficient and transparent way with horizontal State aid issues.
Amendment 34 #
Article 1 – point 2
Regulation (EC) No 659/1999
Article 6 a – paragraph 1
Article 6 a – paragraph 1
1. After the initiation of the formal investigation procedure provided for in Article 6, the Commission may, if it considers it to be relevant and proportional, require an undertaking, an association of undertakings or another Member State to provide all information necessary to enable it to complete its assessment of the measure at stake, if the information available to it is not sufficient.
Amendment 39 #
Article 1 – point 2
Regulation (EC) No 659/1999
Article 6 b – paragraph 3
Article 6 b – paragraph 3
3. In fixing the amount of the fine or periodic penalty payment, regard shall be had to the nature, gravity and duration of the infringement, to whether the undertaking or an association of undertakings can be considered to be an interested party or a third party in the investigation, and to the principle of proportionality, in particular as regards small and medium-sized enterprises.
Amendment 41 #
Article 1 – point 4 a (new)
Regulation (EC) No 659/1999
Article 14 – paragraph 1a (new)
Article 14 – paragraph 1a (new)
(4a) In Article 14 the following paragraph is inserted: "1a. Where unlawful aid was previously notified to the Commission and was put into effect after more than six months of Commission inactivity on the measure in question pursuant to Articles 2, 4 or 5 during that time, the Commission shall demonstrate in any decision under paragraph 1 of this Article that the notification was incomplete and that the Member State did not provide all necessary information requested by the Commission in due time."
Amendment 44 #
Article 1 – point 10
Regulation (EC) No 659/1999
Article 20 a – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1
Article 20 a – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1
1. Where the information available suggests that State aid measures in a particular sector or based on a particular aid instrument may restrict or distort competition within the internal market in several Member States, or that existing aid measures in a particular sector or based on a particular aid instrument in several Member States are not, or no longer, compatible with the internal market, the Commission may conduct its inquiry into the sector of the economy or the use of the aid instrument concerned across various Member States. The Commission has the sole competence to decide to start a sector inquiry. In the course of that inquiry, the Commission may request the Member States, or the undertakings or associations of undertakings concerned to supply the necessary information for the application of Articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty, taking due account of the principle of proportionality.