Slovak Financial Law News 2004

Amendment to the Act on State Aid

Act No. 203/2004 Coll., amending and supplementing Act No. 231/1999 Coll. on State Aid, as amended and amending certain other acts

The new legal regulation harmonises the conditions of the state aid provision with articles Nos. 87, 88, 89 of the Treaty on Establishment of the European Communities and Regulation of the Council of the European Union No. 659/1999 stipulating the detailed rules for exercise of article No. 93 of the Treaty on Establishment of the European Communities and repeals the Office for State Aid concurrently.

Regarding the fact that the regulations are directly applicable in the Slovak Republic since its accession to the European Union, some of the provisions of this act were released.

The amendment expressly prohibits the state aid provision which is capable of violation or violation threatening of the economical competition in the way of favourising of some of the entrepreneurs or production of some goods or services provision. This applies only if the state aid provision affects adversely the conditions of market among the member states of the Community.

The provisions on which aid were not considered to be a form of the state aid, were repealed. However, the amendment stipulates the exemptions from the prohibition which are so-called minimal aid and so-called state aid provided in compliance with the legal regulations of the community on group exemptions, e.g. the state aid provision for small and middle entrepreneurs, in the field of state aid for education and employment, etc. The state aid may be provided either according to the schemes of the state aid or as an individual state aid.

The European Commission is competent to approve the state aid provision since the date of accession of the Slovak Republic to the European Union. The Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic (the ``ministry'') acts as an coordinator of the state aid in relation to the state aid providers in the Slovak Republic and in relation to the European Union an applicant submits an application for the state aid approval to the ministry and the ministry reviews the compliance with the respective legal regulation of the community. The applicant submits the information to the ministry, current and summary reports in the determined scope and term in order to allow the ministry to assure the assignment resulting from the respective legal regulations of the community for the state aid for the Slovak Republic as a member state of the EU. The ministry is concurrently entitled to execute the control at the state aid provider.

This Act came into force on 1 May 2004.

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