State of play, main conclusions, outlook

The Commission’s State aid practice with regard to health and social services of general economic interest (SGEI)  mainly focuses on ensuring that SGEI compensation finances genuine SGEIs and that there is no overcompensation of the SGEI services and no potentially cross-subsidising of possible commercial services of the SGEI provider.

Measures for health and social services that can be considered to be aid and are designed as an SGEI are subject to the 2012 SGEI package (SGEI Communication¹, SGEI Decision², SGEI Framework³ and SGEI de minimis Regulation⁴). Compensation measures for health and social services – to the extent that they constitute State aid and exceed the (SGEI) de minimis threshold of EUR 500 000 over any period of three fiscal years – usually fall under the SGEI Decision, regardless of the aid amounts involved. The cap of EUR 15 million in the SGEI Decision does not apply to health and social services. State aid measures brought in line with the SGEI Decision do not need to be notified. The Commission may declare State aid measures that do not fulfil the requirements of the SGEI Decision compatible with the internal market under the SGEI Framework, subject to prior notification.

The current rules applicable to health and social SGEIs have already been in place for more than ten years and Member States seem to use them frequently, some more than in others.

Considering the time that has elapsed since 2012 and the possible challenges stakeholders might have faced since then, the Commission considered it important to verify whether, the objectives defined in the 2012 Package have been met with regard to health and social SGEIs.

Estimated savings and benefits

As regards health and social services the 2012 SGEI package aimed at simplifying compatibility criteria and reducing the administrative burden for Member States which compensate undertakings entrusted to provide such services to the (vulnerable part of the) population at affordable conditions. In this context the 2012 SGEI package acknowledged that health and social services have specific characteristics that need to be taken into consideration. A larger amount of compensation for health and social services was thus not necessarily considered to produce a greater risk of distortions of competition. Accordingly, compensation for health and social services was, under certain conditions, exempted from the notification obligation under Article 108 TFEU, irrespective of the amounts. In addition, under the SGEI de minimis Regulation compensation for a broad range of SGEIs which does not exceed EUR 500 000 over any period of three fiscal years was deemed no aid.

The evaluation published on 1 December 2022 verified how the 2012 SGEI Package has functioned.

The evaluation concluded that the existing rules have contributed to reducing the administrative burden for the authorities entrusting the SGEIs.

At the same time, the evaluation revealed that certain adjustments may be needed to even further (i) simplify and clarify the existing rules, and (ii) reduce the administrative burden for Member States when compensating companies discharging SGEIs.

In relation to the rules on SGEI de minimis aid, the evaluation concluded that there may be a need to increase the ceiling under which small aid amounts to companies entrusted with SGEIs are deemed not to constitute State aid, and to align the SGEI de minimis Regulation with the general de minimis Regulation.

¹ OJ C 8, 11.1.2012, p. 4.

² OJ L 7, 11.1.2012, p. 3.

³ OJ C 297, 29.11.2005, p. 4.

⁴ OJ L 114, 26.4.2012, p. 8.