The European Commission published an updated guide to explain how EU rules in the fields of state aid, public procurement and the internal market apply to services of general economic interest (SGEI). For instance, under the new rules, a public service compensation of an amount below €500,000 per undertaking over three years is deemed free of state aid.

The guide, which provides detailed explanations on the scope of member states to define services of general economic interest (SGEI), the requirements for the legal act that entrusts the provider with the SGEI and the rules on how the provider can receive compensation for the provision of the SGEI, has been published by the European Commission. This European Institution highlighted that the document provides useful guidance for the provision of social services, in addition to other SGEI.

In particular, the Commission has published an updated guide to explain how EU rules in the fields of state aid, public procurement and the internal market apply to services of general economic interest (SGEI). Under the new rules, which were adopted in April 2012, a public service compensation of an amount below €500,000 per undertaking over three years is deemed free of state aid. In addition, social services are exempted from the obligation of prior notification to the Commission, regardless of the amount of the compensation they receive. All other SGEIs are exempted provided the compensation amount is less than €15 million a year.

The rules also foresee a more thorough scrutiny for compensations of a large amount where the aid has a higher potential to distort competition in the Single Market. Particularly, the Commission checks whether EU rules on public procurement are respected, in order to ensure the best quality at the cheapest cost for taxpayers. Whenever possible, public authorities should foresee incentives for an efficient provision of the service.