State Aid control
Services of general economic interest (public services)
Services of general economic interest (SGEI) are economic activities that public authorities identify as being of particular importance to citizens and that would not be supplied (or would be supplied under different conditions) if there were no public intervention. Examples are transport networks, postal services and social services.
State aid rules and compensation for services of general economic interest
State aid control comes into play when these services are provided by a company and financed through public resources, in particular because overly generous compensation could enable the service providers to cross-subsidise their other commercial activities, and thereby distort competition.
In its 2003 Altmark judgement, the European Court of Justice held that public service compensation does not constitute State aid
when four cumulative conditions are met:
- the recipient undertaking must have public service obligations and the obligations must be clearly defined;
- the parameters for calculating the compensation must be objective, transparent and established in advance
- the compensation cannot exceed what is necessary to cover all or part of the costs incurred in the discharge of the public service obligations, taking into account the relevant receipts and a reasonable profit;
- Where the undertaking which is to discharge public service obligations is not chosen pursuant to a public procurement procedure which would allow for the selection of the tenderer capable of providing those services at the least cost to the community, the level of compensation needed must be determined on the basis of an analysis of the costs of a typical well-run company.
Where at least one of the Altmark conditions is not fulfilled, the public service compensation will be examined under State aid rules.
(This page contains the legislation currently in force as well as public consultations on the revision of the rules and the previous legislative package.)
The new State aid package for SGEI
- DG Competition presentation – Powerpoint presentation en fr de es it
 - PDF version en fr de es it 
- Overview table of the changes in the new SGEI package en
- Analysis tree en
Frequently asked questions on the application of State aid rules to SGEIs
Guide to the application of the European Union rules on state aid, public procurement and the internal market to services of general economic interest, and in particular to
social services of general interest
bg
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sv (7.12.2010)
An information service is also available to answer further questions on the application of EU rules to SGEIs.
Disclaimer: Please note that the State aid rules for SGEI have been revised. The new package of rules adopted on 20 December 2011 entered into force on 31 January 2012. As a result, some questions dealt with in the Guide may have become obsolete. You are welcome to send any questions you may have through the interactive information service.
Related links
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