New General Block Exemption guidance published

2nd July 2014

On 1 July the Department for Business, Education and Skills (BIS) published new guidance on how to apply the new EU General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER). This, the first in a series of BIS guidance on the new state aid rules, covers regional aid, aid to SMEs, aid for research, development and innovation, training aid and environmental aid (which includes energy efficiency, combined heat and power and renewable energy projects, district heating and cooling, and waste recycling and re-use).

The guidance needs to be read alongside the GBER itself, as it seems to be intended to act as a summary, or aide memoire, rather than detailed guidance. As always, we recommend that you seek legal advice if you are seeking to grant, or to receive, aid for a particular project, as each case depends on its particular facts.

The text of the GBER, which came into force on 1 July 2014, is here.

The BIS Guidance can be found here.