Commission plans update state aid rules for multimodal transport

25 July 2024

New guidelines (LMTG) and a transport block exemption regulation (TBER)

The new Land and multimodal transport guidelines (LMTG) will provide guidance on the assessment under Article 93 of the Treaty on state aid measures that are not exempted from prior notification.

The transport block exemption regulation (TBER) will block exempt operating aid and investment aid from the notification obligation laid down in Article 108(3) of the Treaty under conditions mirroring in principle those of the draft LMTG with notification thresholds.

State aid has to fulfil conditions such as contribution to the needs of transport coordination, necessity of the aid, appropriateness, incentive effect (change and beyond EU standards), proportionality, avoidance of negative effects on competition and trade between Member States, compliance with EU law, cumulation limits and transparency. In addition, the conditions for the TBER are stricter because of the block exemption; this state aid must follow an open, transparent and non-discriminatory procedure and must be designed as schemes with exception of multimodal freight terminals where ad-hoc aid is justified by the nature of the investment.

The new state aid guidelines are expected to be adopted and published by the Commission by the end of 2025.

EC proposed state aid ceilings are too low

INE welcomes that certain types of operating and investment aid will be exempt from notification which will provide faster access to funding for undertakings engaging in positive policy behaviour which is hampered by market failure. However, a number of aid ceilings are set too low. Given stretched human resources, authorities will not engage in the burden of lengthy notification procedures when aid ceilings are set too low or framework conditions too heavy, which would unfortunately negatively affect modal shift perspectives.

INE calls upon the Commission to take account of the realities on the ground. INE advocates more flexibility and higher aid ceilings combined with competitive bidding.

Detailed overview of INE’s recommendations