24.12.2013 Official Journal of the European Union L 352/9 COMMISSION REGULATION (EU) No 1408/2013 of 18 December 2013 on the application of Articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to de minimis aid in the agriculture 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 (?), 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 undertaking 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 () O] L 142, 14.5.1998, p. 1. () 0] C 227, 6.8.2013, p. 3. 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 agriculture sector and of the risk that even low levels of aid could fulfil the criteria laid down in Article 107(1) of the Treaty, the agriculture sector or parts of it were 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 agriculture sector, the latest of which was Regulation (EC) No 1535/2007 (). In the light of the experience gained in applying Regulation (EC) No 1535/2007, it is appropriate to revise some of the conditions laid down in that Regulation and to replace it. (3)  In the light of the Commission’s experience in applying Regulation (EC) No 1535/2007, the maximum amount of aid to a single undertaking over a period of 3 years should be increased to EUR 15 000 and the national cap increased to 1% of annual output. Those new ceilings still 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. () For the purposes of the rules on competition laid down in the Treaty an undertaking is any entity engaged in an economic activity, regardless of its legal status and the way in which it is financed (7). The Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled that all entities which are controlled (on a legal or on a de facto basis) by the same entity should be considered as a single undertak- ing (%). For the sake of legal certainty and to reduce the administrative burden, this Regulation should provide an exhaustive list of clear criteria for determining when two or more enterprises within the same Member State are to be considered as a single undertaking. The Commission has selected from the well-established criteria for defining (®) 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 (O] L 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 1535/2007 of 20 December 2007 on the application of Articles 87 and 88 of the Treaty to de minimis aid in the sector of agricultural production (O] L 337, 21.12.2007, p. 35). (7) Case C-222/04 Ministero dell’Economia e delle Finanze v Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze SpA et al. [2006] ECR 1-289. (®) Case C-382/99 Netherlands v Commission [2002] ECR I-5163.