Recently adopted state aid rules are to accelerate research related to coronavirus research and development. The Temporary Framework was adopted in mid-March 2020 to enable Member States to accelerate research, testing and production of products related to coronavirus.

The European Commission has now announced that projects working on COVID-19 with the Seal of Excellence will be affected by this rule change, meaning that they will not have to verify, at Member State level, their relevance to COVID-19 again.

Such projects are now eligible for aid intensities that are far high than regular state aid rules. The five specific types of aid affected by this rule change are:

• Support for coronavirus related research and development
• Support for the construction and upscaling of testing facilities
• Support for the production of products needed to tackle the outbreak
• Targeted support in the form of deferral of tax payments and/or suspensions of social security contributions
• Targeted support in the form of wage subsidies for employees. 

The amended Temporary Framework will be in place until the end of December 2020. Read more here.