The Office of the State Aid Controller Ms Stella Michailidou informs the public that the Central System of State Aid and De Minimis Aid Registers (hereafter referred to as "CSME") completed one year of operation, on 3 January 2023.
Phase 1 concerning de minimis aid is already operational as of 3 January 2022 and actions for the operation of Phase 2 concerning the rest of State aid have already started. This was an important objective of the Office, which has been achieved through the perseverance and continuous effort of both the Office's staff and the cooperation of all officials of the competent authorities.
It is noteworthy that the Office has been an example to follow and a "case study" for the Commission due to the implementation of the "Central Register of State Aid and de minimis aid". On this basis, on 14 December 2022, during the web application for the 1st Meeting of the Advisory Committee for the Review of Regulation (EU) 1407/2013, Ms Elena Ioannidou on behalf of the Office, presented to all Member States, as a request of the Commission, the experience of Cyprus in the creation and implementation of the de minimis system, in order to consider its implementation now mandatory by all Member States.
In Cyprus, for the year 2022, de minimis aid for which the legal right to receive the aid was granted for a total amount of €115,274,897.51 concerning seventy-two (72) Programmes and the registration was made by 227 Users from seventeen (17) different Competent Authorities.
The total amount of de minimis Aid granted in the year 2022 was allocated to three (3) of the five (5) de minimis Aid Registers as follows:
(i) General Register: €105,791,047.56
(ii) Register of Services of General Economic Interest (SGEI): €8,762,060.90
(iii) Register of Agriculture: €721,789.05
(iv) Register of Fisheries: -
(v) Register of Road Transport: -
It should be noted that, in addition to 18,000 Beneficiaries/17,000 Single Enterprises, and 10,200 de minimis aids were registered by all users of the competent authorities.
In addition, the State Aid Control Office enters in another system the cumulative amounts per three years for the Agriculture and Fisheries Registers, because for these there are national thresholds (€8,934,792 and €1,090,000 respectively), which vary per Member State.
The Office remains always at the disposal of the competent authorities, supporting the implementation and operation of the first phase of the JMC, and aims and hopes to implement the second phase of the JMC by 30 June 2024. In any case, the Office is always at the disposal of all relevant Authorities for support, guidance and training for the effective implementation and operation of the JRC.
Thanks are addressed to the Competent Authorities for their cooperation, as well as to the IT Department for their support and assistance throughout the implementation and operation of the JRC Phase 1.
(NΓ/EXP)
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