Chapter III, Article 20 · Commission Regulation (EU) 2026/562

Contents

Article 20Evaluation#

1.This Regulation shall only apply to aid schemes that are subject to an ex post evaluation in accordance with paragraph 2, for a period up to six months from their entry into force, or for such longer period as the Commission may decide after having assessed the evaluation plan drawn up for a given scheme, as referred to in paragraph 8.

10.The final evaluation report shall be submitted to the Commission at the latest nine months before the expiry of the scheme. That period may be reduced for schemes triggering the evaluation requirement in their last two years of implementation. The precise scope of and arrangements for each evaluation shall be set out in the Commission’s decision approving the evaluation plan. The notification of any subsequent aid measure with a similar objective shall describe how the results of the evaluation have been taken into account.

2.Aid schemes shall be subject to an ex post evaluation if they have a State aid budget or accounted expenditure over EUR 150 million in any given year or EUR 750 million over their total duration. The total duration shall be the combined duration of the scheme and any predecessor scheme covering a similar objective and geographical area starting from 30 March 2026. Ex post evaluations shall only be required for aid schemes of which the total duration exceeds three years starting from 30 March 2026.

3.The ex post evaluation requirement may be waived for aid schemes that are an immediate successor of a scheme covering a similar objective and geographical area that has been subject to an evaluation and for which a final evaluation report was delivered in compliance with an evaluation plan approved by the Commission and contains no negative findings. Where the final evaluation report of a scheme is not in compliance with the approved evaluation plan, that scheme shall be suspended with immediate effect. Any successor of such a suspended aid scheme shall not be block exempted.

4.The evaluation plan shall contain at least the following elements: (i) the objectives of the aid scheme to be evaluated; (ii) the evaluation questions; (iii) the result indicators; (iv) the envisaged methodology to conduct the evaluation; (v) the data collection requirements; (vi) the proposed timing of the evaluation (including the date of submission of the interim and the final evaluation reports); (vii) the description of the independent body conducting the evaluation or the criteria that will be used for its selection; and (viii) the modalities for ensuring the publicity of the evaluation.

5.The aim of the ex post evaluation shall be to verify whether the assumptions and conditions underlying the compatibility of the scheme have been confirmed, in particular the necessity and the effectiveness of the aid measure in the light of its general and specific objectives. The ex post evaluation shall also assess the impact of the scheme on competition and trade.

6.The ex post evaluation shall be carried out on the basis of an evaluation plan approved by the Commission.

7.Member States shall notify to the Commission a draft evaluation plan for aid schemes subject to the evaluation requirement pursuant to paragraph 2:

(a)within 20 working days from the scheme’s entry into force, if the State aid budget of the scheme exceeds EUR 150 million in any given year or EUR 750 million over its total duration;

(b)within 30 working days following a significant change that increases the budget of the scheme to over EUR 150 million in any given year or EUR 750 million over the total duration of the scheme;

(c)within 30 working days following the recording in official accounts of expenditure under the scheme in excess of EUR 150 million in any year.

8.The draft evaluation plan shall be in accordance with the common methodology for State aid evaluation adopted by the Commission. The Commission may decide to extend the initial maximum period of six months in the decision approving the evaluation plan. Member States shall publish the evaluation plan approved by the Commission.

9.The ex post evaluation shall be carried out by an expert independent from the aid-granting authority on the basis of the evaluation plan. Each evaluation shall include at least one interim and one final evaluation report. Member States shall publish both reports.

Defined terms · 45

Show every defined term

access infrastructure
means any type of infrastructure necessary to ensure access and entry from land or sea and river by users to a rail or inland waterways multimodal transport facility or unimodal railway service facility or inland waterways facility, such as roads, rail tracks, channels and locks;
ad hoc aid
means aid not granted on the basis of an aid scheme;
adjacent market
means the market for a product or service situated directly upstream or downstream of the relevant market.
aid intensity
means the gross aid amount expressed as a percentage of the eligible costs, before any deduction of tax or other charges;
aid scheme
means any act on the basis of which, without further implementing measures being required, individual aid awards may be made to undertakings defined within the act in a general and abstract manner, and any act on the basis of which aid which is not linked to a specific project may be granted to one or several undertakings for an indefinite period of time and/or for an indefinite amount;
dedicated infrastructure
means infrastructure that is built for ex ante identifiable undertaking(s) and tailored to their needs;
equipment for sustainable multimodal transport
means equipment instrumental to sustainable multimodal transport, such as cranable semitrailers, with the exception of equipment used for the facilities;
equity investment
means the provision of capital to an undertaking, invested directly or indirectly in return for the ownership of a corresponding share of that undertaking;
European vehicle register
means a register pursuant to Articles 22(1) and 47(5) of Directive (EU) 2016/797 of the European Parliament and of the Council.
external costs of transport
means costs generated by transport users and not borne by them but by society as a whole, notably costs related to greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution, injuries and fatalities, noise and congestion;
fiscal successor scheme
means a scheme in the form of tax advantages which constitutes an amended version of a previously existing scheme in the form of tax advantages and which replaces it;
freight terminal
means a structure equipped for transhipment and temporary storage of freight;
individual aid
means (i) ad hoc aid;
inland waterways facility
means a service facility (for example, a freight terminal, or a maintenance or storage facility) and its access infrastructure (including the physical or digital equipment necessary for its functioning), located within the Union and used to carry out inland waterways transport, with the exception of facilities or equipment that are related to the pursuit of non-transport activities;
inland waterways vessel
means a vessel for passenger or freight transport intended solely or mainly for navigation on inland waterways or in waters within or closely adjacent to sheltered waters, including vessels specially built to propel a pushed convoy;
Intermodal Loading Unit
means a container, swap body or semi-trailer/freight road motor vehicle or vehicle combination used for intermodal transport;
intermodal transport
means the movement of freight in one and the same intermodal loading unit by successive modes of transport without the handling of the freight itself when changing modes;
land transport
means the carriage of freight or passengers by rail, inland waterways and road transport;
multimodal transport
means the carriage of freight or passengers by at least two different modes of transport;
new commercial inland waterways freight connection
means a commercial connection that concerns new scheduled inland waterways freight operations between at least two freight terminals that have not been directly connected by scheduled inland waterways freight services for at least three years prior to the start of operations on the given connection;
new commercial rail freight connection
means a commercial connection that concerns new scheduled rail freight operations between at least two freight terminals that have not been directly connected by scheduled rail freight services for at least three years prior to the start of operations on the given connection;
new entrant
means a railway undertaking as defined in Article 3(1) of Directive 2012/34/EU that fulfils both of the following conditions:
non-transport activities
means commercial services not related to sustainable land transport, including ancillary services to passengers, freight forwarders or other service providers, such as the renting out of offices, shops and hotels;
operating losses
means a negative difference between the revenues and the operating costs incurred in respect of the connection concerned, as well as the operating costs of the works related to and preceding the launch of the new commercial connection.
port superstructure
means surface arrangements (such as for storage), fixed equipment (such as warehouses and terminal buildings) and mobile equipment (such as cranes) located in a port to provide of transport-related port services, as long as the superstructure in question is located in a multimodal transport facility with a rail or inland waterways connection;
private siding
means a privately owned and operated piece of rail infrastructure, including rail tracks and any other installations or equipment necessary to make it functional, connecting to the public rail network loading facilities that do not qualify as service facilities under Annex II to Directive 2012/34/EU, as well as any dedicated infrastructure serving a privately owned and operated piece of rail infrastructure;
quasi-equity investment
means a type of financing that ranks between equity and debt, having a higher risk than senior debt and a lower risk than common equity and whose return for the holder is predominantly based on the profits or losses of the underlying target undertaking and which are unsecured in the event of default.
rail or inland waterways freight terminal
means a freight terminal between two different rail systems or between at least two transport modes, one of which is rail or inland waterways, and its access infrastructure (including the physical or digital equipment necessary for its functioning), located within the Union„ such as freight terminals in inland or maritime ports, along inland waterways or in airports or multimodal logistics platforms, with the exception of facilities or equipment related to the pursuit of non-transport activities;
rail or inland waterways multimodal transport facility
means a service facility, including port superstructure and rail or inland waterways freight terminals, and its access infrastructure (including the physical or digital equipment necessary for its functioning), located within the Union and needed to provide rail or inland waterways transport in combination with other modes of transport, with the exception of facilities or equipment related to the pursuit of non-transport activities;
railway service facility
means a service facility (for example, rail freight terminals, or a maintenance or storage facility) and its access infrastructure (including the physical or digital equipment necessary for its functioning), located within the Union and referred to in Annex II to Directive 2012/34/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council, with the exception of facilities or equipment related to the pursuit of non-transport activities;
railway undertaking
means a railway undertaking as defined in Article 3(1) of Directive 2012/34/EU;
rolling stock
means any of the following:
sea-going vessel
means a vessel other than those which navigate solely or mainly in inland waterways or in waters within, or closely adjacent to, sheltered waters;
short-sea shipping
means the movement of cargo and/or passengers by sea between ports situated in geographical waters of one or several Member States or between a port situated in waters of Member States and a port situated in waters of an adjacent third country having a coastline on the seas bordering waters of one or several Member States;
SMC
means an undertaking fulfilling the criteria laid down in Annex IV to this Regulation.
SME
means an undertaking that fulfils the conditions laid down in Annex I to this Regulation;
start of works
means the earlier of either the start of construction works relating to the investment or the first legally binding commitment to order equipment or, in the case of takeovers, the moment of acquiring the assets directly linked to the acquired establishment;
sustainable land transport
means the carriage of freight or passengers by rail, inland waterways or sustainable multimodal transport;
sustainable land transport sectors
means the railway sector, the inland waterways sector and sustainable multimodal transport in the land transport sector;
sustainable multimodal transport
means carriage of freight or passengers by at least two different modes of transport where at least one of the used transport modes is rail or inland waterways, or where multimodal transport combines land transport with short-sea shipping;
telematics applications for freight services
means applications such as information systems (real-time monitoring of freight and trains), marshalling and allocation systems, reservation, payment and invoicing systems, and applications that manage connections with other modes of transport and that produce electronic accompanying documents;
transport operator
means an undertaking carrying passengers or freight in the sustainable land transport sectors;
transport organiser
means an undertaking organising the transport of freight and thus making the choice between modes of transport;
undertaking in difficulty
means an undertaking in difficulty as defined in Article 2, point (18), of Regulation (EU) No 651/2014;
vehicle for rail or inland waterways transport
means: