State Aid: The General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER) Has Entered Into Force In Norway
On 6 August 2008, the Commission Regulation (EC) No 800/2008 declaring certain categories of aid compatible with the common market in application of Articles 87 and 88 of the Treaty (General Block Exemption Regulation - "GBER") was adopted for the EU countries.
21/11/2008
::
On 7 November 2008, GBER was made part of the EEA Agreement and on 14 November 2008 it was introduced into the Norwegian legislation. This means that GBER now applies to state aid in the entire EU/EEA area and thus Bulgarian, Romanian and Norwegian undertakings may benefit from the exemptions as laid down in GBER when applying for grants under the bilateral programmes. GBER is meant to ease the procedures in granting state aid, and in particular, small and medium-sized enterprises will benefit from the Regulation. The aim of GBER is to increase the competitiveness in the EU/EEA countries, to create employment opportunities and to improve environment.