Entering data on de minimis aid in the European register

This applies to agents and operators responsible for entering data on de minimis aid, either in direct grants to beneficiaries, or via aid schemes (intermediaries redistributing aid indirectly to beneficiary companies).

Roles in the European de minimis aid register

The European register is based on a hierarchical organisation of roles. Each level has specific responsibilities regarding account creation, access management and aid registering.

• The National Office Belgium is the national authority. It is responsible for creating accounts for the Regional Offices of Belgium’s federated entities, amending beneficiary details and overseeing the overall coordination of the register at national level.

• The RW Regional Office (the Regional Office of the Walloon Region) is responsible for creating accounts for the granting authorities, creating Sectoral Offices and managing access. For the Walloon Region, the administrator role of the RW Regional Office is taken up by the Contact point for State Aid of the Wallonia Public Service (SPW).
• The Sectoral Office is an intermediate and optional level in the organisation of the register. In practice, this level is generally bypassed and the granting authorities are created directly to avoid additional layers of administration. In certain specific circumstances, however, a Sectoral Office can be maintained. A Sectoral Office then has an administrator responsible for creating and managing the granting authorities within its scope.
• The granting authority plays a central role in the register. It must have one or more administrators, who may:
• create beneficiaries;
• grant and register de minimis aid;
• assign the roles of a data entry operator and/or approver;
• approve and publish aid.

Advice: To avoid blocking issues due to a lack of notification, it is advisable to assign the administrator role to all those who need to make changes to the register.

• The data entry operator can only register aid. The data entry operator cannot create any beneficiaries.
• The approver validates and publishes entries submitted by the data entry operators. The approver ensures that the data are accurate before publication.

PLEASE NOTE: The system does not send any automatic notification when an entry is awaiting validation.

Data entry deadline

Any de minimis aid data must be entered in the European register within 20 working days from the date on which the aid was granted. Consequently, there can be a time lag between the granting of aid and its appearance in the register.

Legal liability: If a ceiling is exceeded, the last granting authority is obliged to recover the excess aid from the beneficiary, even if the granting authority has complied with its data entry obligations.

Registering aid

There are two possible scenarios:

1. Aid is granted directly: The public body granting aid enters the details of the aid in the register itself.
2. Aid is granted through an aid scheme: There are two options:
• the public body registers the aid on the scheme’s account,
• the public body gives you access to the register and you enter the data on the redistributed aid.

Information to be registered

For each beneficiary, the following details must be registered:

• Beneficiary identification: company registration [BCE] number and company name.
• Amount of the de minimis aid (use the Anglo-Saxon form: using a decimal point).
• Granting authority (select from the drop-down list).
• Support tool (type of aid: direct grant, loan, guarantee, repayable advance, etc.).
• NACE code: if more than one code is applicable, select the one that best describes the activity concerned.

Creating an EU Login account

• Please go to the EU Login website
• Click on ‘Create account’
• Follow the instructions on screen

Access the European register

For public authorities:

• Request access to the Contact point for State Aid of the SPW (the ‘Contacts’ section in this form).
• Log in to the eAidRegister

For aid schemes:

• Ask the Granting Authority to create a ‘data entry operator’ account in the register.

The data entry operator role allows you to register aid, but not to create beneficiaries. You will therefore need to send your granting authority a list of the beneficiary companies so that it can add them to the register.

• Log in to the eAidRegister

Granting access to an aid scheme

The administrator of the competent authority must:

• enter all aid scheme beneficiaries;
• assign the scheme data entry operator and/or approver roles;
• if necessary, approve the registered aid itself.

Registering de minimis aid

The register allows:

• manual data entry (aid-by-aid);
• batch data entry via an Excel file.

User manuals and tutorial videos are available under ‘Aid’.

Manual data entry

Please populate all fields with the required information (see ‘Information to be registered’ under ‘Conditions’)

Batch data entry via an Excel file

• Prepare the file: Use the templates provided by the system without modifying them. Populate all the required fields as instructed.
• Download the file: Select your file and click on ‘Submit’.
• Pre-validation: The system checks the format, structure, size, number of lines, and structure of columns, etc.

If there is an error, a message will indicate the corrections to be made. Correct the issues and resubmit the file.

• Processing: The valid lines are processed whereas the incorrect lines must be corrected and resubmitted.
• Tracking: Via the ‘My reports’ page, you can:
• track the progress of the file;
• download the processed file;
• retrieve the file with the errors to correct them.

 Important technical points:

• The templates are case and space-sensitive.
• The tab names must be exactly the same as in the template.
• All fields must be in text format.
• Beneficiaries already registered will generate an error message, without blocking the import of other lines.

 Changing aid data

The register allows:

• aid amounts to be changed;
• the recovery of any unduly granted aid.

These operations can be carried out in batches via a template, using the same procedure as for batch data entry.

Searching for a beneficiary and checking beneficiary ceilings

Under ‘Beneficiaries’, you can filter your search by a reference number, name, ID or identifier type using the menu on the left of the screen.

By clicking on the beneficiary’s name, you have an overview of the amounts of aid granted, broken down by regulation (general, SGEI or AGRI).

Aid must be entered in the system within 20 working days of being granted.

Data are retained in the register for 10 years. However, they are only taken into account to calculate the ceiling over a rolling three-year period.

• Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/2831 of 13 December 2023 on the application of Articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to de minimis aid