Ulrich Soltész

European State Aid Law Quarterly, Volume 22 (2023), Issue 2, Page 175 - 180

Wolfgang Weiß

European State Aid Law Quarterly, Volume 21 (2022), Issue 2, Page 132 - 142

In May 2021 the European Commission tabled a draft Third Country Subsidies Regulation which stands between trade and competition policy. This new instrument establishes a review of third country subsidies with a view to addressing the competition distortion resulting from foreign subsidies granted to undertakings economically active in the EU internal market. As the new tool complements EU State aid scrutiny with a view to foreign subsidies, the present contribution compares the general procedures and provisions of the new regulation with EU State aid law. It will be shown that despite many similarities with State aid law, considerable differences remain which can be explained by looking at the different procedural and substantive context. Keywords: third country subsidies; ex officio review; Commission discretion; procedural powers; rights of defence

Jürgen Kühling, Philipp Reinhold, Thomas Weck

European State Aid Law Quarterly, Volume 19 (2020), Issue 4, Page 403 - 417

Globalisation has contributed to an increasing number of companies from third countries, such as China, operating in the EU. In the system of a ‘socialist market economy with Chinese characteristics’, however, the Chinese State intervenes in the economy in a variety of ways, including the provision of subsidies. The growing importance of China in the global economy has led to fears that such interventions are increasingly having a negative effect on the competitiveness of European companies. Although companies in the EU receive State support as well, the provision of this support is subject to European State aid control which does not apply to aid granted by foreign States. This creates an imbalance in relation to unregulated government support in China, but also in other countries. The effects of foreign subsidies on competition are not currently addressed by other means of European competition law. European trade rules do indeed provide instruments for reacting to ‘unfair’ trade practices. However, they do not guarantee comprehensive protection of competition in the EU internal market. Moreover, current proposals to reform existing European competition and trade law sometimes go beyond the goal of a level playing field and lead to protectionism and, at worst, damage to effective competition as a central element of the internal market. According to the authors of this article, a targeted new instrument is needed instead. This new ‘Third-Country State Aid Instrument’ (TCSI) should focus on filling the existing gaps and should lead to an equal treatment in relation to Member State measures under European State aid law. Keywords: China; State capitalism; anti-subsidy rules; third-country subsidies; White Paper