On the 18th of May 2011, the company “Digital Aid S.A.” organized in Athens a Seminar on state aid law, which was exclusively addressed to its personnel. The Seminar issues were presented by the members of the State Aid Unit of the Centre of International and European Economic Law in Thessaloniki.
The first lecturer was Mrs. E. Sgouridou, lawyer, Researcher at the Centre of International and European Economic Law (CIEEL) and Member of the State Aid Unit, who presented the notion of the state aid and analysed its four conditions. Afterwards, Mr. A. Petsetas, lawyer and member of the State Aid Unit, presented the General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER), with particular emphasis on the conditions that the latter sets out for the exemption from prior notification requirement. The next lecturer, Mr. Gatidis, lawyer and member of the State Aid Unit, dealt with the issue of state aids to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), regarding their definition as well as the specific GBER rules. Then, Mr. A. Petsetas, spoke about the “de minimis” rule, and has more specifically analysed the conditions for the granting of state aids under the relevant Regulation 1998/2006. The last presentation by Mrs. E. Mouameletzi, lawyer, Research Director of the Centre of International and European Economic Law and Coordinator of the State Aid Unit, focused on the new Temporary Framework of 2011, adopted by the Commission in order to facilitate the undertakings of the real economy to state aid funding.
After the end of the lectures a discussion took place and there was an opportunity for the speakers to clarify many of the attendees^27 questions, as well as to provide them with useful legal information on state aids.