28.6.2014 Official Journal of the European Union L 190/45 COMMISSION REGULATION (EU) No 717/2014 of 27 June 2014 on the application of Articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to de minimis aid in the fishery and aquaculture sector THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION, Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 108(4) thereof, Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 994/98 of 7 May 1998 on the application of Articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to certain categories of horizontal State aid (), Having published a draft of this Regulation (3), After consulting the Advisory Committee on State Aid, Whereas: (1)  State funding meeting the criteria in Article 107(1) of the Treaty constitutes State aid and requires notification to the Commission by virtue of Article 108(3) of the Treaty. However, under Article 109 of the Treaty, the Council may determine categories of aid that are exempted from this notification requirement. In accordance with Article 108(4) of the Treaty, the Commission may adopt regulations relating to those categories of State aid. By virtue of Regulation (EC) No 994/98 the Council decided, in accordance with Article 109 of the Treaty, that de minimis aid could constitute one such category. On that basis, de minimis aid, being aid granted to a single under- taking over a given period of time that does not exceed a certain fixed amount, is deemed not to meet all the criteria laid down in Article 107(1) of the Treaty and is therefore not subject to the notification procedure. (2)  The Commission has, in numerous decisions, clarified the notion of aid within the meaning of Article 107(1) of the Treaty. The Commission has also stated its policy with regard to a de minimis ceiling below which Article 107(1) of the Treaty can be considered not to apply, initially in its notice on the de minimis rule for State aid (°) and subsequently in Commission Regulations (EC) No 69/2001 (%) and (EC) No 1998/2006 (). In view of the special rules which apply in the fishery and aquaculture sector and of the risks that even low levels of aid could fulfil the criteria laid down in Article 107(1) of the Treaty, the fishery and aquaculture sector was excluded from the scope of those Regulations. The Commission has already adopted a number of Regulations providing rules on de minimis aid granted in the fishery and aquaculture sector, the latest of which was Regulation (EC) No 875/2007 (). By virtue of that Regulation, the total amount of de minimis aid granted to one single under- taking active in the fisheries sector was regarded as not meeting all the criteria laid down in Article 87(1) of the EC Treaty where it did not exceed EUR 30 000 per beneficiary over any period of three fiscal years and below a cumulative amount laid down for each Member State representing 2,5 % of annual fisheries output. In the light of the experience gained in applying Regulation (EC) No 875/2007, it is appropriate to revise some of the condi- tions laid down in that Regulation and to replace it. (3) It is appropriate to maintain the ceiling of EUR 30 000 as the amount of de minimis aid that a single undertaking may receive per Member State over any period of three years. That ceiling remains necessary to ensure that any measure falling under this Regulation can be deemed not to have any effect on trade between Member States and not to distort or threaten to distort competition where the total amount of such aid granted to all undertakings in the fishery and aquaculture sector over three years is below a cumulative amount laid down for each Member State representing 2,5 % of the annual fisheries turnover i.e. of catching, processing and aquaculture activities (the national cap). 1 OJL142,14.5.1998,p. 1. 0J C92,29.3.2014,p. 22. Commission notice on the de minimis rule for State aid (O] C 68, 6.3.1996, p. 9). Commission Regulation (EC) No 69/2001 of 12 January 2001 on the application of Articles 87 and 88 of the EC Treaty to de minimis aid (OJL 10, 13.1.2001, p. 30). () Commission Regulation (EC) No 1998/2006 of 15 December 2006 on the application of Articles 87 and 88 of the EC Treaty to de minimis aid (O] L 379, 28.12.2006, p. 5). (®) Commission Regulation (EC) No 875/2007 of 24 July 2007 on the application of Articles 87 and 88 of the EC Treaty to de minimis aid in the fisheries sector and amending Regulation (EC) No 1860/2004 (OJ L 193, 25.7.2007, p. 6). () () () v