Drone Regulations
36. What are the main principles of the stated aid rules applicable to the UAS sector?
Bahamas
There are no applicable general state aid rules.
Bolivia
This is not detailed in the regulation.
Brazil
Not applicable.
Canada
N/A.
Colombia
Is not possible for us answer this question with certainty because state policies regarding UAS are not publicly available.
Costa Rica
The government authorized the exception in the payment of the certification fees to PYMES that operate with drones, with the intention to support their commercial activity.
El Salvador
There is not an express regulation on this matter.
Germany
The main principles of EU State aid law are incorporated in articles 107 and 108 TFEU. Under article 107 TFEU, any aid granted by an EU Member State or through public resources of an EU Member State in any form whatsoever which distorts or threatens to distort competition by favouring certain undertakings or the production of certain goods shall, in so far as it affects trade between Member States, be incompatible. There are numerous exemptions to this rule, such as State aid granted for Research and Development. Such exemptions must either be notified one by one to the EU Commission or fall under a general notified aid scheme. If a Member State fails to notify and aid measure, the Member State granting the aid has to recover the aid amount.
In the field of Research and Development (which may currently be considered the most relevant for UAS), the EU Commission has acknowledged a general need to grant aid under certain conditions, which are incorporated in particular in the EU Commission’s General Block Exemption Regulation (Regulation 651/2014) and in the Commission’s R&D Framework.
Section 44 of the BHO and the guidelines issued for its implementation (and the mostly identical rules at State level) govern how financial support can be granted at the federal level in general. Applicable core principles are that (i) formally, the appropriate use of the received funds has to be demonstrated by the recipients and (ii) substantially, financial support needs to be economically reasonable for a specific purpose of public interest. Financial support for R&D efforts is often granted under notified R&D support programs, e.g. the “Zentrales Innovations program Mittelstand” (“Central Innovational Program for SMEs”) of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy.
Guatemala
There is not an express regulation on this matter.
India
Presently no state aid rules are applicable in India to the UAS sector.
Israel
Pursuant to Section 1 of the Innovation Law, its objectives include:
a. creating jobs and absorbing scientific and technological manpower;
b. creating excess return to the economy resulting from research and development (R&D);
c. development of a science-intensive industry while utilizing and expanding the existing technological and scientific infrastructure and human resources;
d. encouraging growth, increasing productivity and promoting technological innovation in the Israeli industry, including in the Negev and the Galilee; and
e. improving the balance of payments of the country by manufacturing and exporting science-intensive products developed in Israel,
all of the above, by encouraging R&D.
In addition, according to the information available on the IA’s website, the criteria for assessing applications for benefits include:
a. From a technological aspect – the level of technological innovation and the technological challenge, the level of functional innovation, intellectual property and patents.
b. From an economic aspect – the size and pace of market growth, competitive positioning, market validation, marketing strategy and the excess return to the economy.
c. The ability of the company and the team – including from a technological, financial, managerial and business perspective.
d. Quality of cooperation – in the case of international cooperation programs, the level and scope of cooperation and their contribution to Israeli society will be examined and evaluated having regard to both the technological and business aspects.
Italy
N/A
Kenya
There are no state aid rules applicable to the UAS Sector. There are also no state aid rules generally in Kenya.
Mexico
N/A.
Nicaragua
There is not an express regulation on this matter.
Norway
Any state aid falling within the scope of EU/EEA regulations on state aid must be reported to the Ministry of Trade, which will decide whether state aid will be contrary to any Norwegian or international regulations on state aid.
Pakistan
N/A.
Panama
Please refer to our answer to question 35.
Philippines
Not applicable since the PCAR does not provide for any general or sector-specific state aid rules.
Portugal
N/A.
Puerto Rico
There is no state legislation covering this in Puerto Rico.
Romania
There are no special state aid rules in this field.
As a general rule, the state aid must comply to art. 107 of TFEU.
South Africa
N/A.
Spain
The principles of the organizations mentioned above are to foster feasible and innovative business projects. In case of CDTI, it is necessary that the project could be implemented to develop the process or service in the industrial sector.
Switzerland
State aid rules exist both on a federal and a state level. The main principles are that there is a public interest, which is not sufficiently pursued by the private sector and which may not be satisfied sufficiently by the state.
Turkey
There are no specific rules for UAS sector. State aid for investments in general are under the control of the Ministry of Finance.
United Kingdom
N/A
United States of America
Please see response to Question 35, above.