Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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595. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the exact procedural and legislative process at EU level between Council and Commission to make changes to the current de minimum State aid rules (details supplied). [15480/17]

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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As part of a comprehensive State Aid Modernisation Reform, on 18 December 2013 the European Commission adopted Regulation (EU) No 1407/2013 on the application of Articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to de minimis aid. The Regulation, which sets the de minimis threshold at €200,000 over a three year fiscal period, entered into force on 1 January 2014 and will apply until 31 December 2020.

Council Regulation No 2015/1588 of 13 July 2015 on the application of Articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to certain categories of horizontal State aid (codification) provides that the De Minimis Regulation may be amended only “where circumstances have changed with respect to any important element that constituted grounds for their adoption or where the progressive development or the functioning of the internal market so requires.”

If the Commission intends to adopt a Regulation, it is required to publish a draft to enable all interested persons and organisations to submit their comments to it. The Commission is also obliged to consult the Advisory Committee on State aid, composed of representatives of the Member States and chaired by a representative of the Commission, on the draft Regulation. The Commission must take the utmost account of the opinion delivered by the Committee.