When is the support from the Research Council state aid?
Project support from the Research Council is normally regarded as state aid when it is awarded to an undertaking. An undertaking is an actor that carries out economic activity by supplying goods or services on a market. This applies regardless of the actor's organisational form and whether it is intended to make a profit.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries' guide on state aid elaborates on the concept of an enterprise, and this may be helpful when assessing whether an enterprise is to be regarded as an enterprise in the sense of state aid law:
"The beneficiary normally carries out economic activity if the entity supplies goods and services in a market. Where the public sector participates in a market and offers goods and services in competition with private and other public actors, the service will normally be regarded as an economic activity. Thus, the rules on state aid do not apply to aid given to private individuals, to public bodies that exercise authority or to public administration, unless they act as undertakings."
- More about the concept of "economic activity", with useful examples, can be found in the guide's chapter 15.1 (pdf).
- There is also guidance on the term enterprise in the European Commission's document "The Notion of State Aid, chapter 2 (pdf).
Some actors may engage in both economic and non-economic activity. This applies, for example, to public actors and many research organisations.
Messages at time of print 6 September 2026, 06:41 CEST
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