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Publication - Advice and guidance

Subsidy control: guidance

Last updated
20 December 2024 - see all updates
Directorate
Economic Development Directorate
Topic
Public sector

Guidance to help public sector bodies to understand and comply with subsidy control.

Supporting documents

EU state aid

State aid is a European Commission (EC) term which refers to forms of public assistance given on a discretionary basis which have the potential to distort competition and affect trade between Member States of the European Union.

The state aid rules are set by the EC and comprise various articles of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), as well as regulations, frameworks and guidelines, which set out what aid can be given and under which circumstances.

You can find more information on State aid rules on the EC website as well as by visiting our archived state aid pages.

Although State aid rules ceased to apply in the UK after 31 December 2020 they may still be relevant when:

  • a measure contains an element of EU funding e.g. ESF, ESIF
  • funding will be subject to the Northern Ireland Protocol

Funding bodies may wish to reference State aid regulations if seeking to align their grant schemes with EU rules.

For further guidance on State aid procedures please contact: subsidycontrol@gov.scot.

Contact

subsidycontrol@gov.scot

First published
22 September 2022
Last updated
20 December 2024 - show all updates

  1. Text updates throughout and Commercial Market Operator Principle section added.

  2. Updated wording for transparency requirement, threshold information.

  3. Updated transparency reporting template, notification of scheme template and MFA and SPEIA transparency reporting spreadsheet.

  4. Text updates throughout, added new pages 'subsidy schemes' and 'challenging subsidy decisions', updated transparency reporting template, notification of scheme template and added scheme document template.

  5. Updated 'Overview', 'Minimal Financial Subsidies' and 'The Subsidy Control Act'.

  6. Updated 'Subsidy control - guidance: transparency reporting template' and 'Subsidy control - guidance: MFA and EPEIA transparency reporting spreadsheet'.

  7. Updated all pages and all supporting documents to reflect the new Subsidy Control Regime going live.

  8. Updated Subsidy Control Act to reflect the new permanent UK Subsidy Control regime, which will commence 4 January 2023.

  9. Updated Determining if a subsidy and Transparency requirements. Removed Transparency reporting guidance.

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