The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant economic disruption, including supply shortages, cost increases, and liquidity constraints resulting from a prolonged shutdown. As EU Member States and businesses respond to these challenges, their actions could raise potential issues under competition law.

In response to that, since March 12, the Commission has issued various antitrust and State aid measures:

  • The Commission has affirmed it will not actively pursue necessary and temporary measures to avoid a shortage of supply during the COVID-19 pandemic. It has published guidance on how it will analyze such business cooperation and has offered to provide informal guidance for specific situations if businesses request.
  • State aid. The Commission has issued four Communications to relax State aid rules and facilitate approval for COVID-19 related public support measures, and has further proposed to include corporate recapitalizations within this framework. The Commission has already cleared more than 60 Member State measures under these rules, including from France, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Belgium, and Luxembourg.

These initiatives mirror actions by national competition agencies and other enforcers globally. These developments are monitored in our COVID-19 Resource Center.

Antitrust  
European Competition Network joint statement on the application of competition law during the COVID-19 crisis (March 23, 2020) Link
Commission Communication on the Temporary Framework for assessing antitrust issues related to business cooperation in response to situations of urgency stemming from the current COVID-19 outbreak (April 8, 2020) Press Release,
Communication
DG Competition page on antitrust rules and coronavirus Link
State aid  
Commission press release on the State aid framework and use of Article 107(3)(b) TFEU to counter the economic impact of the COVID-19 outbreak (March 13, 2020) Link
Commission Communication on the Temporary Framework for State aid measures to support the economy in the current COVID-19 outbreak (March 19, 2020) Press Release,
Communication
Commission Communication amending the Annex to the Commission’s Communication on the application of Articles 107 and 108 TFEU to short-term exportcredit insurance in light of economic impact of coronavirus outbreak (March 27, 2020) Press Release,
Communication
Commission Communication on amendments to the Temporary Framework to enable Member States to accelerate production of COVID-19 relevant products and protect jobs in the current COVID-19 outbreak (April 3, 2020) Press Release,
Communication
Commission Statement on consulting Member States on proposal to further expand State aid Temporary Framework to recapitalisation measures (April 9, 2020) Link
Notification template for aid measures introduced under the Temporary Framework Link
Notification template for aid measures introduced under Article 107(2)(b) TFEU Link
DG Competition page on State aid rules and coronavirus Link
List of Member State measures approved under Article 107(2)b TFEU, Article 107(3)b TFEU and under the Temporary State Aid Framework Link