Commissie wil onterecht gegeven subsidie aan Portugese bedrijven terugvorderen (en)

Brussels, 23 November 2011 - The European Commission has concluded that a Portuguese scheme providing short-term credit insurance, including export credit insurance, to certain companies significantly below market price was in breach of EU rules as it distorted competition with rivals in Portugal and exporters elsewhere in the EU. This means Portugal needs to recover from the beneficiaries the difference between the premium level charged under the scheme and the market price between the beginning of 2009 and the end of 2010. It shows once again the importance of obtaining clearance under the EU state aid rules prior to implementation.

"The temporary crisis state aid rules enabled Member States to tackle the effects of the credit squeeze on the real economy. But where State aid goes beyond what is necessary to address a market failure it gives an arbitrary advantage to some companies over others. The crisis cannot be used to justify unfair competition, in particular where it directly impacts intra community trade," said Joaquín Almunia, Commission Vice President in charge of competition policy.

The Commission warned a year ago that the Portuguese short-term credit insurance scheme put in place at the beginning of 2009 could be in breach of EU rules and opened an in-depth investigation (see IP/10/1395 ). The scheme, which was expected to run until the end of 2010, provided insurance cover to companies in the form of a top-up on a previously agreed credit limit provided by a private insurer. The premium charged on the top up limit amounted to only 60% of the premium charged on the base cover by the private insurer. Only companies with an existing credit insurance cover could apply.

The in-depth investigation showed that the Portuguese scheme was not in line with the export credit insurance crisis rules, put in place in 2008 (see IP/08/1993 and rules at: http://ec.europa.eu/competition/state_aid/legislation/temporary.html ).

First, Portugal failed to prove that private insurance cover was indeed unavailable in the market. Secondly, the scheme excluded companies that could not obtain base cover from a private insurer, whereas these were precisely the companies most hit by the financial crisis and supposedly more in need of the support. Thirdly, offering a premium that was below market price went beyond what was necessary to remedy the disturbance in the market, and distorted competition between those that obtained cover under the scheme and those that relied only on the market or, even worse, could not obtain it at all. Finally, the measure helped to preserve the market positions of the private credit insurers and, thus, benefitted the credit insurance sector by preventing the substitution of short-term credit insurance by other products offering credit protection such as factoring and documentary credit.

Background

Credit insurance is crucial especially for small and medium sized companies and the Commission, in 2008, put in place a temporary state aid framework that, among other things, enabled Member States to help tackle the effects of the credit squeeze on the real economy including the suspension or reduction of export-credit insurance cover on the private market. This was in line with Article 107(3)(b) of the EU Treaty which allows the granting of state support to remedy a serious disturbance in the economy of Member States (the Portuguese name of the scheme is: " Linha de apoio ao Crédito Comercial das PME, através do Seguro de Créditos para Países de OCDE, com Garantia Mútua" ).

Some 400 companies have benefitted from the scheme, according to the Portuguese authorities. The aid element arising from the difference between the premium charged and the market price is estimated to be around €1,000 per company. This is the amount to be recovered unless the Portuguese government wants to make use of de minimis rules which allow aid of up to certain amounts without requiring clearance.

The non-confidential version of the decision will be made available under the case number SA.27386 in the State Aid Register on the DG Competition website once any confidentiality issues have been resolved. New publications of state aid decisions on the internet and in the Official Journal are listed in the State Aid Weekly e-News .