Commission Regulation (EU) 2020/972 of 2 July 2020 amending Regulation (EU) No 1407/2013 as regards its prolongation and amending Regulation (EU) No 651/2014 as regards its prolongation and relevant adjustments (Text with EEA relevance)

Article 1

In Article 8 of Regulation (EU) No 1407/2013, the second paragraph is replaced by the following: ‘It shall apply until 31 December 2023 ’.

Reporting

Article 2

Regulation (EU) No 651/2014 is amended as follows: (1) Article 1 is amended as follows: (1) in paragraph 2, point (a) is replaced by the following: ‘(a) schemes under Sections 1 (with the exception of Article 15), 2, 3, 4, 7 (with the exception of Article 44), and 10 of Chapter III of this Regulation, if the average annual State aid budget exceeds EUR 150 million, from six months after their entry into force. The Commission may decide that this Regulation shall continue to apply for a longer period to any of those aid schemes after having assessed the relevant evaluation plan notified by the Member State to the Commission, within 20 working days from the scheme’s entry into force. Where the Commission has already extended the application of this Regulation beyond the initial six months as regards such schemes, Member States may decide to extend those schemes until the end of the period of application of this Regulation, provided that the Member State concerned has submitted an evaluation report in line with the evaluation plan approved by the Commission. However, regional aid granted under this Regulation may be extended, by derogation, until the end of the period of validity of the relevant regional aid maps;’; (2) in paragraph 4, point (c) is replaced by the following: ‘(c) aid to undertakings in difficulty, with the exception of aid schemes to make good the damage caused by certain natural disasters, start-up aid schemes and regional operating aid schemes, provided those schemes do not treat undertakings in difficulty more favourably than other undertakings. However, this Regulation shall apply by derogation to undertakings which were not in difficulty on 31 December 2019 but became undertakings in difficulty in the period from 1 January 2020 to 30 June 2021.’; (2) in Article 2, point (27) is replaced by the following: ‘(27) “assisted areas” means areas designated in an approved regional aid map approved in application of Articles2020-2021, 107(3)(a) and (c) of the Treaty for the period from 1 July 2014 to 31 December 2021 for regional aid granted until 31 December 2021 and areas designated in an approved regional aid map approved in application of Articles 107(3)(a) and (c) of the Treaty for the period from 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2027 for regional aid granted after 31 December 2021;’; (3) Article 11 is replaced by the following: ‘Article 11 Reporting 1.   Member States, or alternatively, in the case of aid granted to European Territorial Cooperation projects, the Member State in which the managing authority, referred to in Article 21 of Regulation (EU) No 1299/2013, is located, shall transmit to the Commission: (a) via the Commission’s electronic notification system, the summary information about each aid measure exempted under this Regulation in the standardised format laid down in Annex II, together with a link providing access to the full text of the aid measure, including its amendments, within 20 working days following the entry into force of the aid measure; (b) an annual report, pursuant to Commission Regulation (EC) No 794/2004  ( *1 ) , in electronic form, on the application of this Regulation, containing the information indicated in Regulation (EC) No 794/2004, in respect of each whole year or each part of the year during which this Regulation applies. 2.   Where, as a consequence of the extension of the application period of this Regulation until 31 December 2023 by Commission Regulation (EU) 2020/972  ( *2 ) , a Member State plans to extend measures in respect of which the summary information was submitted to the Commission in accordance with paragraph 1 of this Article, that Member State shall update that summary information regarding the extension of those measures and communicate that update to the Commission within 20 working days following the entry into force of the act which extends the respective measure by the Member State. ( *1 )   Commission Regulation (EC) No 794/2004 of 21 April 2004 implementing Council Regulation (EU) 2015/1589 laying down detailed rules for the application of Article 108 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union ( OJ L 140, 30.4.2004, p. 1 )." ( *2 )   Commission Regulation (EU) 2020/972 of 2 July 2020 amending Regulation (EU) No 1407/2013 as regards its prolongation and amending Regulation (EU) No 651/2014 as regards its prolongation and relevant adjustments ( OJ L 215, 7.7.2020, p. 3 ).’;" (4) in Article 14, paragraph 16, the following sentence is added: ‘With regard to commitments given prior to 31 December 2019, any loss of jobs, in the same or similar activity in one of the initial establishments of the beneficiary in the EEA, occurring between 1 January 2020 and 30 June 2021, shall not be considered a transfer within the meaning of Article 2(61a) of this Regulation.’; (5) in Article 59, the second paragraph is replaced by the following: ‘It shall apply until 31 December 2023.’

Article 3

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union .