The European Commission revised the Code of Best Practices for the conduct of State aid control procedures. The revised Code opens a pathway for NGOs to challenge State aid decisions on EU environmental law grounds.
To be eligible, an NGO must:
- Be an independent, non-profit legal person in accordance with a Member State's national law or practice;
- Have the primary stated objective of promoting environmental protection in the context of environmental law;
- Have been in existence for more than two years and is actively pursuing the objective of promoting environmental protection;
- Challenge a State aid subject covered by its objective and activities.
In France, where associations are very popular, there are about 60 environmental NGOs at national level, and literally thousands at local level, most of whom may qualify to challenge State aids.
NGOs will be able to challenge a State aid decision before the Commission within 8 weeks following publication of the decision in the Official Journal. They will have to demonstrate how the aided activity – or any of the aspects of the State aid measure approved by that decision that are "indissolubly linked" to the object of the aid – contravene Union environmental law. The Commission indicated it would issue guidance in Q4 2025 to clarify the notion of "indissoluble link".
This new development creates an additional risk of challenge for projects which would have an impact on the environment and benefit from State aid. This includes, for instance, certain industrial projects, decarbonation industry, recycling facilities and renewable energy.
On 12 May 2025, the European Commission has adopted amendments to its State aid rules to provide public access to justice in environmental matters in relation to EU State aid decisions. The revised rules (Implementing Regulation and Best Practices Code) set out a new mechanism which allows non-governmental organisations to request a Commission review of certain State aid decisions to establish whether they contravene EU environmental law.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
