A UOKiK report shows that the de minimis aid granted in Poland in 2013 exceeded 6 billion zl, with the majority of the funds going to micro enterprises.

De minimis aid is state support given to entrepreneurs that doesn’t require the European Commission to be notified. Pursuant to the Roman law rule of de minimis non curat lex (the law cares not for small things), small aid does not constitute infringement of competition on the market. However, the total value of the de minimis aid a single beneficiary may receive within the period of three fiscal years cannot exceed 200 thousand Euro, while the figure for entrepreneurs from the road transport of goods sector cannot exceed 100 thousand Euro.

At 6.14 billion zł, the de minimis aid granted in 2013 was 40 percent higher than the 4.32 billion zł given out in 2012. 244,000 beneficiaries took advantage of the support. The most frequent forms of aid given to entrepreneurs were various types of subsidies and tax breaks. Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises also took advantage of the guarantees issued by the Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego (Poland's only state-owned bank) as collateral for repayment of loans taken to finance current operations or investment operations.

Beneficiaries

Because the rules for granting de minimis aid are straightforward, it is smaller entities that most often apply for it. Indeed, 70 percent of the 2013 de minimis aid (4.24 bn zł) went to micro enterprises, 17 percent (1.02 bn zł) to small enterprises, and approximately 4 percent (231 m zł) to large enterprises.

Aid granting institutions

In 2013, self-government entities provided the biggest de minimis aid (2.18 bn zł), mostly to co-finance employment of individuals directed to employers by employment offices, or to finance the training of young employees. The municipalities often applied tax breaks and remissions or allowed overdue tax to be paid in instalments. Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego (BGK) also stands out for providing 933 m zł in loan repayment guarantees under its entrepreneurship support programme.

Voivodships

The last several years have seen the biggest de minimis aid consistently go to the same few voivodships. 2013 was no different, with the largest amounts granted to entrepreneurs from the Masovian (1.018 bn zł), Greater Poland (724.3 m zł), Silesian (587.9 m zł) and Lesser Poland (470.2 m zł) voivodships. Entrepreneurs receiving the least amount of aid were from the voivodships of Podlaskie (159.8 m zł), Opole (142.2 m zł) and Lublin (141.4 m zł).

Powers of the UOKiK President

While there is no requirement to notify the European Commission of de minimis aid, the UOKiK President does monitor how it is granted. The aid scheme project for granting de minimis aid must be submitted to and okayed by the UOKiK President.

Additional information for the media:

Małgorzata Cieloch, Spokesperson for the UOKiK
Plac Powstańców Warszawy 1
00-950 Warsaw, Poland
Phone: +48 22 827 28 92, +48 22  55 60 106, +48 22 55 60 314
Fax: +48 22 826 11 86
E-mail: [SCODE]bWFsZ29yemF0YS5jaWVsb2NoQHVva2lrLmdvdi5wbA==[ECODE]