European Community Law of State Aid

by Bacon, Kelyn

• ISBN13: 9780199543014
• ISBN10: 0199543011
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-06-01
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

This is a comprehensive work for practitioners on the Law of State Aids in the European Community, and is accessible to practitioners who do not specialize in competition law, as well as being a reference book for competition lawyers. The book discusses the substantive changes taking place under the EC's State Aid Action Plan, including the Regional Aid Guidelines, the creation of a General Block Exemption (consolidating the previous Block Exemptions for Training, SMEs and Employment, as well as extending to R&D, the Environment and Regional aspects) and the adoption of a Decision and Guidelines on the Services of General Economic Interest. Other innovations concern new Guidelines for R&D and Innovation, as well as the environment, Communications on interest rates, short term credit insurance and risk capital, modifications to the transparency directive and a new Framework on State aid to Shipbuilding. It covers the background and development of EC State Aid law, and the concept of State Aid, as well as more practical issues such as procedures for notification to the Commission and the various outcomes of the Commission's investigation, and judicial remedies in the European Courts. It also sets out the role of national courts in the enforcement of State Aid rules, and the actual application of various types of aid, including regional aids, horizontal aids and aids to specific industry sectors.

Author Biography

Kelyn Bacon is a barrister at Brick Court Chambers, where she has been a tenant since summer 1999. She practises primarily in the field of competition law, and has been instructed in many of the leading UK cases on state aids in the last 6 years (CGNU v Commrs of Customs & Excise, R v Commrs of Inland Revenue, ex p. Professional Contractors' Group Ltd, R v SS for Trade and Industry, ex p. One 2 One and BT3G and R (British Aggregates Association) v HM Treasury). She is currently instructed in Case T-289/03 BUPA v Commission, an application for annulment of a Commission state aid clearance decision, which turns primarily on the criteria for clearance of aid for the performance of public service (SGEI) obligations. In addition to her professional work, Kelyn has lectured widely in the field of competition law and state aids, including 3 years co-teaching the London LLM course in US and EC antitrust law, lectures to the Solicitors' European Group and the Government Legal Service, and seminars in London, Budapest and Zagreb to a variety of audiences including students, government lawyers and solicitors. She has been writing in the field of state aids since 1997 when she wrote her LLM thesis at the EUI on the subject of "State aids and general measures" (supervised by Professor Claus-Dieter Ehlermann). The thesis was published later that year in the 1997 Yearbook of European Law, since when she has written 3 further articles on state aids, including a chapter in The Law of State Aid in the European Union, eds Biondi, Eeckhout and Flynn (2004).

Table of Contents

General Rules

Introduction to State aid law and policy

Concept of state aid

Compatibility of aid: general principles

International agreements

Specific Types of Aid

Environmental aid

Employment and training aid

Rescue and restructuring aid

Research and development aid

Risk-capital

Small and medium-sized enterprises

Agriculture and fisheries

Transport

Media and communications

Regional aid

Enforecement and Remedies

Supervision by the Commission

Judicial remedies in the European Courts

National Court Proceedings

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