Block exemption regulation

The support granted by the Foundation is government aid that falls under the EU’s Treaty, Article 107, and the decision by the EU Commission on 26 November 2008 concerning subsidies for the Finnish film industry (Commission regulation (EU) 651/2014), later block exemption regulation (BER). Support granted by the Foundation must fulfil conditions listed in the BER’s Articles 1–9 (general regulations) and Article 54 (aid schemes for audiovisual works).

According to the BER, support must be directed to a cultural product and can be granted for the production of audiovisual works, pre-production and distribution. According to section 3 of the act on the promotion of film, support may be granted for the production and distribution of films if the film can be considered an independent work of art, its content is based on cultural values originating in cultural identity and the film involves a significant artistic contribution by creators and performers whose wages and salaries form a
significant portion of the production costs.

According to the BER’s Article 53 (aid for culture and heritage conservation), the support may be granted for festivals and other similar cultural activities. According to the Article, support may take the form of either operating or investment aid.

According to the BER’s general regulations, the support should not be applied to cases where the recipient would execute their project with or without the support, government support that has conditions or financing methods that do not follow EU legislation and especially support measures where the recipient is required to operate mainly from or in the country granting the support. However, the requirement that the recipient has a place of business or a subsidiary in the country granting the support is permissible.

An unconditional requirement is that the support cannot be granted to a corporation which is subject to an outstanding recovery order following a previous Commission decision declaring the aid illegal and incompatible with the internal market (BER, Article 1, Section 4 a).