State Aid and EU/EEA Law
We have a strong team of lawyers with extensive expertise in competition law, public procurement, state aid, and EU/EEA law. These are highly demanding areas of law, which have a significant impact on both the private and public sectors.
Our team of lawyers work with each of these areas of law on a daily basis, and has the experience, competence and capacity to handle any type of case.
State Aid
Wikborg Rein is a market leader in State Aid law. Our State Aid lawyers possess extensive experience with all types of State Aid cases. Several of our lawyers also have backgrounds from the EFTA Surveillance Authority (ESA) and the Attorney General of Civil Affairs (Regjeringsadvokaten).
We assist both public authorities and potential State Aid recipients in all categories of state aid cases. Out extensive experience encompasses inter alia analysing the compatibility of aid schemes under the State Aid rules, as well as conducting thorough risk assessments. We also have considerable expertise in handling all aspects of State Aid procedures – including the submission of notifications to ESA and assisting in complaints and formal investigation cases initiated by ESA. Furthermore, we offer assistance in private law disputes, such as when a private party seeks to challenge state aid granted to a competitor.
We also assist potential beneficiaries in structuring their projects to qualify for lawful State Aid, or ensure that transactions involving public authorities are carried out within the State Aid rules.
Our expertise in State Aid law spans various sectors, including major state reorganisations and real estate transactions, such as sales, leases, purchases and expropriations. Furthermore, we have extensive experience providing support in the transport sector, as well as in the climate and environmental sector.
EU/EEA Law
Wikborg Rein has one of the market's leading teams within EU/EEA law. Several of the team's lawyers have previously worked at EU/EEA institutions and the Attorney General's Office (Regjeringsadvokaten). They possess extensive experience in handling EEA cases before ESA, the EFTA Court, the European Commission, and national courts.
Our lawyers provide assistance in all types of EEA law issues, spanning areas from the regulation of financial markets to food hygiene. Often, the EEA law issues involve the interpretation of directives and regulations. In other instances, it may concern whether public regulation conflicts with the EEA Agreement's rules on the free movement of goods, services, labour and capital. In all cases, Wikborg Rein will cover the needs that arise.
We offer
State Aid:
- Assessment of whether a planned measure constitutes State Aid within the meaning of the EEA Agreement and whether the aid falls under a block exception or may be approved as compatible aid
- Assistance in drafting State Aid measures - both individual measures and aid schemes – to ensure that they are covered by an exemption or can be approved
- Assistance to the aid grantor in ESA notifications, including drafting the notification, engaging in dialogue with the Ministry of Trade and Fisheries and ESA, informal clarifications (pre-notification) and the formal notification procedure itself
- Assistance in connection with the submission of complaints to ESA
- Enforcement of the State Aid rules in civil law disputes, including national courts and arbitration processes, such as where an agreement with the public sector is alleged to involve illegal state aid
- Assistance to potential state aid beneficiaries where illegal state aid may have been granted
- Assistance in reorganisation processes in the public sector or publicly owned economic activities, with the aim of excluding state aid
EU/EEA:
- Assessments of whether national legislation and administrative practices are in accordance with the EEA Agreement
- Assessment of new EU legislation and its impact on national law, including providing guidance on what are the options available to the national authorities when implementing it
- Assistance with the interpretation of EU legal acts and national legislation that implements them
- Appeals against administrative decisions or national regulations based on EEA law
Read our articles on State Aid and EU/EEA Law
Transaction tips from our competition team: Merger referrals under Article 22 EUMR
In most instances, only transactions with an EU dimension - that is transactions where the parties involved exceed certain turnover thresholds - qualify for review by the European Commission ("the Commission") under the EU Merger Regulation ("the EUMR"). However one mechanism, found in Article 22 EUMR, allows one or more Member States to request the Commission to examine, on behalf of those Member States, any concentration that does not have an EU dimension but affects trade between Member States and threatens to significantly affect competition within the territory of the Member State(s) making the request.
The Foreign Subsidies Regulation now in force
The Foreign Subsidies Regulation ("FSR") (Regulation (EU) 2022/2560 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 December 2022 on foreign subsidies distorting the internal market) aims to expand EU/EEA state aid control to financial contributions from third countries, in order to prevent "foreign subsidies" from distorting the internal market.
Proposed amendments to the Norwegian Security Act – expansion of the FDI rules
On Friday 31 March, the Government submitted a bill proposing amendments to the Norwegian Security Act. The proposed changes may mean that far more transactions will be subject to FDI screening, and changes in the procedural rules may have a major impact on deals, not least with respect to deal timetable.
