Taike adopts principles of EU state aid regulations: de minimis aid and the General Block Exemption Regulation
According to the EU’s state aid regulations, government support must not distort competition between Member States. The interpretations related to competition are strict, which is why the grants and subsidies awarded by Taike must also be interpreted according to these principles, even if the actual target groups are not international or the nature of operations do not meet the usual interpretation of an activity that is subject to competition.
De minimis aid limited to 300,000 euros over three years
De minimis is Latin and loosely translated means pertaining to minimal things. This mainly legal technical term is used to refer to matters that are so small from the point of view of legislation that they do not need to be taken into account separately.
De minimis aid refers to “minimal” state aid, which according to the EU applies to small discretionary government grants. An applicant can accumulate a maximum of 300,000 euros in state aid awarded on the de minimis principle over three years. This includes all de minimis aid awarded by various authorities, including funding granted by a Member State from EU funds. The limit ensures that the same applicants do not receive excessive state aid from a competitive point of view. The application of the de minimis principle does not cause any other changes for recipients of Taike subsidies.
General Block Exemption Regulation for support that exceeds the de minimis limit
At the same time, Taike has introduced the principles according to the EU’s General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER). On the basis of the GBER, larger amounts of state aid can also be awarded, and the amount accumulated over multiple years is not added up. According to the GBER, the EU limits some types of cost types are not eligible for state aid. These include, for example, support for journals and media. In addition, stricter funding conditions have been set for the publishing of music and literature than for other types of publishing. For this reason, Taike awards all general grants for cultural magazines and online publications as de minimis support.
Due these state aid regulations, applicants are asked in the application form for information about de minimis aid awarded during the past three years. In addition, the application form asks separately whether the applicant engages in music or literature publishing. Taike decides on a case-by-case basis whether support can be awarded in accordance with the de minimis principle or the GBER, and the applicant will be informed of this in the decision letter.
