Council Regulation (EU) 2015/1588 (2) empowers the Commission to declare by means of regulations that certain specified categories of aid to undertakings operating in different sectors, such as aid in favour of environmental protection, are compatible with the internal market and are not subject to the notification requirements of Article 108(3) of the Treaty (‘notification requirements’). However, Regulation (EU) 2015/1588 does not cover, among others, aid to support transport by rail and inland waterway or multimodal transport as defined in Regulation (EU) No 1315/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council (3). Those sectors have become increasingly relevant at Union level in the context of the European Green Deal and of the Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy set out by the Commission in its communications, respectively, of 11 December 2019 and 9 December 2020.
(2)
According to Article 93 of the Treaty, aid in relation to rail, inland waterway and multimodal transport is deemed compatible with the Treaties if it meets the needs of coordination of transport or if it represents reimbursement for the discharge of certain obligations inherent in the concept of a public service.
(3)
The Commission has applied Article 93, Article 107(1) and Article 108 of the Treaty in numerous decisions concerning certain categories of State aid to undertakings active in the rail, inland waterway and intermodal transport sectors and has developed guidelines for the purpose of assessing certain categories of State aid that are deemed to meet the needs of transport coordination. In the Commission’s experience, such aid does not give rise to any significant distortion to competition, provided that it is granted based on open, transparent and non-discriminatory procedures and that clear compatibility conditions can be established on the basis of the experience acquired.
(4)
Therefore, with a view to simplifying administration in cases where distortion to competition is limited to a minimum, the Commission should be empowered to declare by means of regulations that aid for the coordination of transport or reimbursement for the discharge of certain obligations inherent in the concept of a public service as referred to in Article 93 of the Treaty is compatible with the internal market and is not subject to the notification requirements.
(5)
State aid representing reimbursement for the discharge of public service obligations in relation to public passenger transport services is already covered by Regulation (EC) No 1370/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council (4), including where a Member State decides to apply that Regulation to public passenger transport by inland waterways and national sea waters. Public service compensation concerning public passenger transport should therefore be excluded from the scope of this Regulation.
(6)
When adopting regulations declaring certain categories of aid not subject to the notification requirements pursuant to this Regulation, the Commission should specify: the purpose of the aid; the categories of beneficiaries; the thresholds limiting the aid; the conditions governing the cumulation of aid and the conditions of monitoring, and should attach any further detailed conditions in order to ensure the compatibility with the internal market of aid covered by this Regulation.
(7)
It is important for all parties to be able to check whether an aid is granted in compliance with the applicable rules. Transparency of State aid is therefore essential for the correct application of Treaty rules and leads to better compliance, greater accountability, peer review and ultimately more effective public spending. For that reason, each Member State should be required to provide summaries of information concerning aid implemented by it which is covered by a regulation adopted pursuant to this Regulation. In order to ensure the transparency of the measures adopted by each Member State, those summaries should be published by the Commission.
(8)
Pursuant to Article 108(1) of the Treaty, the Commission is to keep under constant review all existing systems of aid, in cooperation with Member States. For that purpose and in order to ensure the largest possible degree of transparency and adequate control, each Member State should record and compile information about the application of the regulations adopted pursuant to this Regulation. At least once a year, each Member State should also provide the Commission with a report on the application of such regulations. The Commission should make those reports accessible to all the other Member States.
(9)
Before adopting regulations pursuant to this Regulation, the Commission should enable all interested persons and organisations to submit their comments in order to gather feedback which is as comprehensive and as representative as possible. For that purpose it should publish drafts of such regulations.
(10)
The Advisory Committee on State aid established by Regulation (EU) 2015/1588 should be consulted at the same time as the publication of a draft regulation pursuant to this Regulation. However, in the interest of transparency, that draft regulation should also be made public on the website of the Commission at the same time.
(11)
The control of the granting of aid involves factual, legal and economic issues of a very complex nature and great variety in a constantly evolving environment. The Commission should therefore regularly review the categories of aid which should not be subject to the notification requirements. To that end, it should submit an evaluation report on the application of this Regulation to the European Parliament and the Council every 5 years,
