State Aid Rules, Pre-Accession Requirements And National Sovereignty
Presented by: Prof. Dr. POPOVIĆ
Date: 11 – 13 January 2025
Legal Framework
- Stabilization and Association Agreement with the EU, modelled upon Europe.
Agreements
- Aims: market economy, political stability, approximation of laws.
- Serbia signed the SAA in 2008 and was granted EU candidate status in 2012.
- Art. 73 SAA: ...any state aid which distorts or threatens to distort competition by
favoring certain undertakings or certain products, as they may affect trade between the
Community and the [associated country], shall be incompatible with the proper
functioning of the Stabilization and Association Agreement...
- Similarly: Art. 21 CEFTA, Art. 18 EnCT
State Aid Rules
- The Republic of Serbia adopted its first State Aid Control Act (Official Journal 51/2009)
and established the Commission for State Aid Control in 2009.
- Ten years later, the National Assembly adopted the new State Aid Control Act (Official
Journal 73/2019), which is still in force.
- The differences between two legal systems pertain as to the by-laws, which are either
not fully aligned or not yet adopted in Serbia.
- Example:
• Regulation on regional aid
Interpretation Of State Aid Rules
- SAA: national state aid rules are interpreted on the basis of criteria arising from the
application of the competition rules applicable in the EU.
- This requirement is aimed at all cases involving trade between EU and Serbia.]
- Different interpretation of this requirement in purely internal cases
Temporary Institutional Framework
- SAA requirement: operationally independent authority.
- Institutional design of the Serbian state aid authority changed in 2019.
- The new institutional design positively influenced the track record.
- National framework is of a temporary character.
