State aid and de minimis

State aid

State aid means any aid granted by the State or through State resources in any form whatsoever, which distorts or threatens to distort competition by favouring certain undertakings or certain production sectors, and if it affects trade between Member States. Aid meeting the above criteria is incompatible with the common market and therefore forbidden. An exemption from the general ban on providing State aid may be permitted on the basis of so-called block exemptions or based on a decision of the European Commission.

De minimis

De minimis aid has no impact on competition and does not affect trade among European Union Member States (due to its limited size), and therefore is not considered State aid if all the provisions set out in the relevant Commission Regulation are met.

De minimis aid represents aid which, together with other de minimis aids granted to a single beneficiary over the period of three years, must not exceed the amount of EUR 200,000. The three-year period means the fiscal years used for tax purposes. The aid is monitored cumulatively for all entities legally or factually controlled by one entity for a period of three years within one State – a so-called single undertaking.

To convert the de minimis aid amount from EUR to CZK, use the exchange rate of the European Central Bank valid on the date of the Grant Decision. For exchange rates from the European Central Bank, see this link.

The de minimis aid provider is obligated, before granting the aid, to inform the undertaking in writing of the intended amount of aid, to point out the nature of the aid and to request from the undertaking a declaration about any other de minimis aid received during the previous two fiscal years and the current fiscal year. De minimis aid providers are obligated to record data on the granted aid in the central de minimis register. De minimis aid beneficiaries can search for information about small-scale aid they have received since 01.01.2010 on the website of the Ministry of Agriculture eAGRI here.

For more information switch to the Czech version of the website.