The European Commission has adopted Regulation (EU) No. 2026/562 (TBER), which allows Member States to grant certain types of public aid in rail, inland waterway and multimodal transport without prior notification, in order to simplify and accelerate support for sustainable land transport, while maintaining separate rules for public service obligations under Regulation (EC) No. 1370/2007; it sets specific thresholds and aid intensities for operating and investment aid (with caps varying by category), excludes certain types of aid (including to undertakings in difficulty or lacking incentive effect), requires publication of awards above EUR 100,000, and will apply until 31 December 2034.
Introduction
The European Commission has approved the new Regulation (EU) No. 2026/562 of 16 March 2026, which declares certain categories of aid in the rail transport, inland waterway transport and multimodal transport sectors compatible with the internal market (the Transport Block Exemption Regulation, or TBER).
The new rules aim to simplify and speed up the implementation of public support for operating and investment measures granted in the sustainable land transport sectors.
The Regulation allows Member States to grant public support without having, under the Treaty rules, to notify the aid to the European Commission and await its subsequent approval. The TBER applies only to aid that meets the needs of transport coordination in land transport. Conversely, State aid linked to the discharge of public service obligations in the land transport sectors continues to be governed by Regulation (EC) No. 1370/2007 of 23 October 2007.
Applicable public support thresholds
The summary table below reflects a significant part of the new thresholds and maximum public funding intensities which, by aid category, result from the TBER.
|
Type of funding |
Maximum public funding |
Maximum aid intensity |
|
Operating aid to launch new commercial connections granted under a scheme |
EUR 15 million per connection |
|
|
Aid to reduce the external costs of transport |
|
60% of the difference in external costs per passenger-km, tonne-km or vehicle-km, as applicable
|
|
Investment aid scheme concerning railway service facilities, inland waterways facilities and rail or inland waterways multimodal transport facilities |
EUR 30 million per project |
- Net Present Value of the investment; or - 50% of eligible costs.
|
|
Ad hoc investment aid for the construction, upgrade and renewal of rail or inland waterways freight terminals |
EUR 10 million per project |
|
|
Individual investment aid granted under a scheme for private sidings |
EUR 4 million per project |
- Net Present Value of the investment; or - 50% of eligible costs.
|
|
Investment aid for the acquisition of vehicles for rail or inland waterway transport and for equipment for sustainable multimodal transport |
|
The guarantee may not exceed 80% of the underlying loan and must be limited to a maximum of 15 years. Public guarantees must be granted against a fee of at least 50 basis points where the sovereign debt rating of the Member State granting the aid is AAA–A. |
|
Investment aid scheme for the acquisition of Intermodal Loading Units or cranes on board of vessels |
|
Between 20% and 40%, depending on the type of investment |
|
Investment aid for interoperability and technical adaptation and modernisation |
|
Between 50% and 90%, depending on the type of investment |
|
Aid for technical adaptation and modernisation in the sustainable land transport sectors |
|
30% |
Aid categories not covered by the TBER
The TBER does not apply to several categories of aid, including: (i) aid schemes that do not explicitly exclude the payment of individual aid to undertakings subject to an outstanding recovery order; (ii) aid granted to undertakings in difficulty; (iii) aid for the discharge of public service obligations in passenger or freight transport; (iv) aid for port infrastructure and access infrastructure to ports; and (v) as a general rule, aid that does not comply with the incentive effect requirement.
Transparency of aid granted
Member States are also required to publish, in the European Commission’s State Aid Transparency Public Search database, or on a comprehensive State aid website at national or regional level, the information referred to in Annex III to the TBER, in respect of each individual aid award exceeding EUR 100,000.
The TBER applies until 31 December 2034.
The Competition Law team at Morais Leitão is available for any clarification on this matter.
