State aid granted in 2011 exceeded PLN 21 billion as revealed the latest report  by the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection. The money was mostly given to undertakings from Mazowieckie, Śląskie and Łódzkie voivodeships

The President of UOKiK is responsible for state aid monitoring and drawing up annual reports. The latest report clearly demonstrates that the total value of aid granted in 2011 was PLN 21.47 billion, compared to PLN 24.09 billion in 2010. In 2011 the aid granted to transport constituted over PLN 4 billion (approx. 70% of the value was earmarked for railway companies). The report presents the analysis of aid granted excluding the funds in transport and this press release was also elaborated based on this concept.

Most frequent aid forms were (similarly to the years 2005-2010) tax concessions and grants (97.3% of aid value). Among aid donors in 2011 the Chairman of the State Fund for Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons ranked first (PLN 2.75 billion); the President of the Management Board of the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management (PLN 2.12 billion) with value almost three times as much as in the year 2010. The aid awarded by marshals of voivodeships - PLN 1.69 billion (compared to PLN 4.66 billion in 2010), fiscal  and customs bodies - PLN 2.01 billion (compared to PLN 2.86 billion in 2010), or the Chief Executive Officer of the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development - PLN 1.69 billion (compared to PLN 3.28 billion in 2010), was visibly lower.

Over PLN 5.6 billion was distributed under the horizontal aid, compared to PLN 6.22 billion in 2010. Greatest amounts were earmarked for employment (PLN 2.80 billion, in 2010 - PLN 2.98 billion), environmental protection (PLN 1.07 billion, in 2010 - PLN 1.48 billion), trainings (PLN 0.70 billion, in 2010 – PLN 0.45 billion).

As regards the sectoral aid, the level of funding remained unchanged -  PLN 3.39 billion in 2010, and PLN 3.43 billion in 2011. The highest support (PLN 982 mln more) was granted to energy sector, where aid was given to entities as a compensation for their voluntary termination of long-term agreements on power and electric energy sale (PLN 1.89 billion).

The regional aid totalled PLN 6.43 billion, in 2010 – PLN 10.72 billion. Most of it – PLN 1.58 billion – was granted by the marshals of voivodeships. The Minister of Economy allocated  PLN 1.40 billion to support undertakings, with emphasis on investments in the production of electric energy or heat from renewable energy sources as well as investments of great significance to the economy.

Aid and voivodeships

Undertakings from Mazowieckie with PLN 2.95 billion (in 2010 - PLN 4.77 billion), Śląskie – PLN 2.34 billion (in 2010 - PLN 3.16 billion) and Łódzkie – PLN 1.92 billion (in 2010 - PLN 1.64 billion) were in the lead. The lowest aid value was granted to undertakings from the following voivodeships: Świętokrzyskie (PLN 371.3 mln), Lubuskie (PLN 431.6 mln), and Warmińsko-Mazurskie (PLN 435.9 mln). The significant aid value in some voivodeships stems from the fact that many undertakings decide to register their offices in big cities.

Aid and beneficiaries

Like in the previous years, the aid beneficiaries in 2011 of over a half of aid granted were large businesses. The most significant aid beneficiary (including the aid in transport sector) was PKP Intercity (PLN 1.25 billion) and PGE Górnictwo i Energetyka Konwencjonalna (PLN 1.18 billion). Przewozy Regionalne ranked second with PLN 1.04 billion; next aid beneficiaries were as follows: Polskie LNG – PLN 440.9 mln, Polskie Sieci Elektroenergetyczne Operator – PLN 396.5 mln, Krakowski Holding Komunalny – PLN 377.0 mln, Spółka Restrukturyzacji Kopalń – PLN 371.5 mln, PKN Orlen – PLN 322.7 mln, Międzygminny Kompleks Unieszkodliwiania Odpadów ProNatura – PLN 318.0 mln, Południowy Koncern Energetyczny – PLN 239.4 mln, PGE Elektrownia Opole – PLN 235.3 mln, Zakład Unieszkodliwiana Odpadów – PLN 222.1 mln and Telewizja Polska – PLN 205.4 mln.

Decrease in aid value

The year 2011, compared to 2010, witnessed a fall in total aid value in the amount of PLN 2.62 billion. It resulted mostly from the fact that in 2010 many EU grant procedures were decided, and thus more agreements were concluded. Furthermore, there was a decrease in aid allocated by marshals of voivodeships under regional operational programmes (approx. PLN 3 billion), and by the Chief Executive Officer of the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development (pl. PARP) within the framework of Innovative Economy Operational Programme (approx. PLN 1.7 billion).

Reporting

Under the law all aid providers are obliged to draw up reports on the state aid granted and not granted within the reporting period, and sumbit them to the President of UOKiK via the SHRIMP application (System for Scheduling, Registration and Monitoring of State Aid) or using the Excel form (reports starting from 2013 can be submitted only by means of the application). SHRIMP is the application which allows for on-line data insert on state aid granted directly by the aid donor.

Additional information for the media:
Małgorzata Cieloch, Spokesperson for UOKiK
Department of International Relations and Communication
Pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warszawa
Tel.: +48 22 827 28 92, 55 60 106, 55 60 430
Fax: +48 22 826 11 86
E-mail: [SCODE]bWFsZ29yemF0YS5jaWVsb2NoQHVva2lrLmdvdi5wbA==[ECODE]