competitionlaw

By the decision delivered in Full-Scale CCS Project (decision of 17 July 2020 no. 85378), the EFTA Surveillance Authority (ESA) approved investment aid and operating aid granted by Norway to Norcem AS (Norcem), Fortnum Oslo Varme AS (FOV) and Northern Lights (NL) for the construction and operation of a full-scale project for the capture, transport and storage of CO₂ ( the CCS Project ). The legal basis on which the ESA cleared the notified financing measures of the CCS Project was Article 61(3) of the EEA Agreement. These measures were found to be compatible with the functioning of the EEA Agreement given that they met the relevant compatibility conditions in the European Environmental Aid Guidelines (EEAG). The facts of the case On 2 July 2020 Norway notified investment aid and operating aid to finance the implementation of the CCS Project over a period of 10 years. The publicly-funded CCS Project consists of three elements: a number of CO₂ capture plants ( the Capture Projects ...

In the recent Haugesund Airport and TORP Sandefjord Airport cases the EFTA Surveillance Authority (ESA) has cleared Covid-19 compensation measures granted by Norway authorities to the airports of Haugensund and Sandefjord on the legal basis of Article 61(2)(b) of the EEA Agreement. Alike Article 107(2)(b) TFEU, Article 61(2)(b) allows ‘… aid to make good the damage caused by natural disasters or exceptional occurrences …’. The Norwegian authorities made grant in the form of the payment of a lump sum of NOK 90 million and NOK 56,8 million to the operators of the airports of Haugesund and Sandefjord, respectively. The ESA considered the grants as state aid but it authorizes them because they met all the compatibility conditions set out in Article 61(2)(b) of the EEA Agreement.   i) Exceptional circumstance The ESA qualified the Covid-19 outbreak as an exceptional occurrence because it was not foreseeable and is clearly distinguishable from ordinary events, falling outside t...