Restructuring and rescue aid guidelines

The new guidelines on the Community rules on rescue and restructuring aid replaced on 9 December 2004 the previous guidelines on the subject.

The new guidelines aim at a further limitation of state aid granted in the Member States. They provide, for instance, for more restrictive conditions regarding the required contribution from the beneficiary and further reinforcement of the one time, last time principle.

On the other hand, the new guidelines allow Member States to grant both restructuring aid and rescue aid to enterprises, which usually did not appear available in the previous guidelines.

The new guidelines will apply until 9 October 2009. Notifications of state aid measures filed with the Commission prior to 10 October 2004 will, however, still be governed by the previous guidelines.