State Aid Notification Procedures

Generally Member States are required to notify the Commission of any plan to grant or alter State Aid – unless it is of a type exempted from notification by a legal regulation - and they are not allowed to put such aid into effect unless and until the Commission has approved it.

Any State Aid which is granted in the absence of Commission approval or exemption by regulation is automatically classified as unlawful aid.

State Aid Notification Interactive (SANI)

In order to notify an aid project, scheme or block exemption (SME, Training Aid, Employment Aid or Regional Aid) the Commission has implemented an electronic notification form to be completed on the State Aid Notification Interactive (SANI) website - Link to SANI and submitted to the Commission for State Aid consideration via the State Aid Branch.

Applying for a SANI User Account

If you don’t have access to SANI because you are not a registered user, when in discussion with your State Aid Branch case handler and it is agreed that a State aid notification is necessary either through the Block Exemption procedure or the full/simplified  notification processes, you should request a SANI user account to be arranged for you. There is a  User’s manual of Version II of SANI available to guide you through the SANI process but your case-handler or any other colleagues within the State Aid Branch will be happy to help you through any difficulties in using the system.

Please note that the Commission expects all Member States to submit all notifications including Block Exemption summary information sheets via SANI unless there is a genuinely good reason (for example technical difficulties) not to do so.

The Block Exemption Notification Procedures are explained on the next page. Also note that there is a separate procedure for the De-minimis Regulation explained on the relative webpage.

There are separate procedures for notifying aid which satisfies the Block Exemption and De Minimis regulations.

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