Overview   Consultation

This initiative aims to revise the guidelines on state aid in the aviation sector and align them with the objectives of the Green Deal, while preserving connectivity and supporting competition in the aviation sector.
This call for evidence is open for feedback. Your input will be taken into account as we further develop and fine-tune this initiative. Feedback received will be published on this site and therefore must adhere to the feedback rules.

The European Commission has launched today a public consultation inviting all interested parties to comment on draft Guidelines on exclusionary abuses of dominance.
Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (‘TFEU') prohibits dominant companies from engaging in abusive behaviour, including behaviour that excludes competitors from the market. Examples of such exclusionary abuses of dominance include predatory pricing, margin squeeze, exclusive dealing and refusal to supply.

Against the background of market developments and the evolution of the EU Court’s case law, on 27 March 2023 the Commission launched the process leading to the adoption of guidelines on exclusionary abuses with a Call for Evidence. The replies to the Call for Evidence have been taken into account in the preparation of the draft Guidelines.
The draft Guidelines aim at reflecting the EU courts' case law on exclusionary abuses in light of the extensive experience gained by the Commission in the enforcement of Article 102 TFEU. This will help increasing legal certainty to the benefit of consumers, businesses and the national competition authorities and national courts.
See also the EC press release.

The European Commission launched a targeted consultation to seek feedback from the business community and public authorities on a proposed new procedure aimed at enabling public access to justice for specific Commission decisions on State aid measures, for challenges based on grounds related to alleged breaches of EU environmental law.

The European Commission has launched a targeted consultation to seek feedback from the business community and public authorities on a proposed new procedure aimed to give public access to judicial procedures to challenge specific decisions on State aid measures that allegedly contravene EU environmental law. 
The Commission is seeking feedback on the impact of the proposed procedure on EU policies, as well as on investment decisions and projects implementation by the business community. The targeted consultation will also gather information on the cost implications and administrative burden of the new procedure for businesses and Member States.

From EVP Vestager's speech at DG COMP's conference "Protecting competition in a changing world",
Brussels, 27 June 2024.
[...] "We are inviting all students in the EU to take part in a student challenge. Here's what you have to do: listen to the panels of today's conference. Next, we ask you to choose one panel, pick one theme, and imagine what your contribution to this discussion would be. Ask yourself, “if I were up on that stage, what would I be saying right now?” Consider: What are the implications of the report's findings for antitrust and merger control? Are these different for State aid policy? How do changes in the state of competition impact the EU's competitiveness?
We invite students to contribute with no more than 300 words, and submit it to us before the deadline, which is September 20.
The best entries will be invited to return in October to accept the winning prize, where I will have the pleasure of meeting them and discuss their views in more detail. So, in fact, this is really a prize for me, because I get to hear from brilliant student voices, who will bring a fresh perspective to the table."

The European Commission is launching a call for tenders for a study into interoperability tools in the digital single market in the context of the Digital Markets Act (DMA).
With this study the contractor will map out the technical challenges and solutions for ensuring horizontal interoperability between number-independent interpersonal communication services with a particular focus on evaluating the merits of a potential extension of this obligation to online social networking services. The study should therefore offer practical recommendations based on the latest developments in horizontal interoperability within the context of the implementation of the DMA.

The European Commission has launched today a public consultation inviting all interested parties to comment on its draft rules for land and multimodal transport replacing the Guidelines on State aid for railway undertakings (‘Railway Guidelines') as well as on its new Transport Block-Exemption Regulation (‘TBER').
Interested parties can respond to the public consultation until 20 September 2024.

The Commission is publishing for consultation the draft Land and Multimodal Transport Guidelines (LMTG) and Transport Block Exemption Regulation (TBER).
The proposals follow the conclusions of the Fitness Check on the existing State aid rules in the field of land transport sector that showed that adjustments were needed to reflect market developments and the current EU's strategic priorities, including the European Green Deal.
See also the EC press release.

The European Commission invites expressions of interest for the International Competition Network - Non-Governmental Advisors (ICN-NGAs) role for the 2024-2025 term
DG Competition seeks to partner with various ICN-NGAs to ensure high-quality contributions based on broad stakeholder experience. Selected ICN-NGAs will actively engage with the European Commission in drafting and revising Working Group outputs, and participating in seminars, webinars, and workshops.
If you are interested in becoming an ICN-NGA and supporting the European Commission, please contact DG Competition at COMP-ICN@ec.europa.eu.

The Commission is now revising the agricultural de minimis Regulation to react to increasing inflationary pressure in the sector. It is proposing to adjust the de minimis threshold to inflation and to also increase the national caps. It also proposes to improve transparency by introducing a mandatory de minimis register, which will reduce administrative burden on farmers who currently use a self-declaration system.
All citizens, organisations and public authorities are welcome to contribute to this consultation. Contributions are particularly sought from national authorities dealing with measures covered by Commission Regulation (EU) No 1408/2013 of 18 December 2013 on the application of Articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to de minimis aid in the agriculture sector (‘agricultural de minimis Regulation’).
See also the Commission's press release.

This initiative has two parts:

1. based on the analysis of supporting evidence, it may outline a new procedure to provide access to justice in environmental matters linked to EU State aid decisions, taking into account the EU’s international environmental commitments
2. an update of procedural rules to reflect recent Commission practice and case-law developments related to handling State aid cases.

The European Commission launched a Call for evidence to seek feedback on the scope and content of its evaluation of the Motor Vehicle Block Exemption Regulation, as amended in April 2023 (‘MVBER'), and of the related Supplementary Guidelines, also as amended in April 2023 (‘SGL').
The role of both the MVBER and of the SGL is to assist companies in the automotive sector to assess the compatibility of their vertical agreements with Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The feedback obtained will help the Commission prepare a public consultation planned for the fourth quarter of 2024.
All interested parties can submit their views in any official EU language until 24 June 2024. More information on the MVBER review can be found here.

The European Commission has launched its first pre-call for tender seeking experts to support the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS / CEDEAO), thereby taking the first steps in the implementation of its €20 million Competition Policy Capacity Building Programme for Africa.

The Commission is revising State aid rules applicable to sustainable land transport through the adoption of revised Railway Guidelines and a new Transport Block Exemption Regulation (‘TBER’). The TBER should enable Member States to grant least distortive forms of aid that contribute to a modal shift towards sustainable land transport, in line with the European Green Deal, without prior notification. Together, the TBER and the revised Railway Guidelines should constitute a comprehensive and simplified rulebook for State aid law in the field of sustainable land transport.

The European Commission has launched today two calls for contributions on competition in virtual worlds and generative artificial intelligence (‘AI') and sent requests for information to several large digital players.
Interested parties are invited to submit their responses to the calls for contributions by 11 March 2024. Interested parties may contribute to one of those two calls for contributions, or to both, as they wish.
See also the Commission's press release.

The objective of this call for proposals is to co-finance projects aiming to train national judges in the context of enforcing European competition rules. This includes public and private enforcement of both the Antitrust rules and the State aid rules, thereby increasing the knowledge and know-how of national judges. The final aim is to ensure a coherent and consistent application of EU competition law by national courts.

The Commission published the template for the compliance report that designated gatekeepers will need to submit under the Digital Markets Act (‘DMA').
Designated gatekeepers will need to submit compliance reports within six months from designation and update them at least once per year. The gatekeepers designated on 6 September 2023 will need to submit the first reports by 7 March 2024. The Commission will then publish a non-confidential summary of each compliance report.

The European Commission is conducting a study to identify barriers for the participation of Demand Response to wholesale electricity markets and State Aid mechanisms in the EU27 Member States. The focus of the study is on the so-called explicit demand response, i.e., demand response services provided by consumption units directly competing with other technologies in wholesale electricity markets and SA mechanisms, either individually or through aggregators.
As part of the study, a survey is offered to collect opinions from stakeholders with respect to a number of topics.

The aim of the study is to support the supervision and enforcement of the DMA vis-à-vis the gatekeepers. This is one of the points and issues that is expected to be raised by the designated gatekeepers, in particular ones that are running a closed mobile ecosystem.