An authority may act as an investor, lender or provide guarantees, but how do you know that the measure does not constitute state aid? The key is to assess whether the State could be considered to act as a market operator in a similar situation. The assessment eventually boils down to performing a market operator test.
The market operator test can in some cases be performed directly by assessing the specifications of the transaction. When this is not possible, the specifications need to be assessed through comparison to other, market transactions.
On the back of this, Copenhagen Economics was asked by The National Agency for Public Procurement in Sweden to provide a calculation support for assessing the existence of aid. The purpose is to provide clarity and practical guidance to Swedish municipalities and regions on how state aid rules are implemented by the Commission when they investigate if an investment constitutes aid. In the guidance paper we describe how commonly used accounting concepts are applied when assessing the existence of State aid.
The study is commissioned by The National Agency for Public Procurement in Sweden.
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