8.1.2 Impact of the 2013 Banking Communication

One of the most important changes introduced in the 2013 Banking Communication concerns the procedure of the compatibility-assessment. Under the 2008 Banking Communication, recapitalisation measures and asset relief measures were temporarily approved as rescue aid, while the in-depth analysis of the aid measures was postponed to the restructuring stage. In the 2013 Banking Communication, the Commission departed from this approach. Under these new rules, the Commission will authorise recapitalisation measures and asset relief measures as restructuring aid only after an agreement on the restructuring plan has been reached.1 With respect to these aid measures, the Commission thus starts immediately with the second stage of the compatibility- assessment. In other words: the two-stage compatibility-assessment has been abandoned for a one-stage compatibility-assessment. There is, however, one exception: point 50 of the 2013 Banking Communication provides for the possibility to grant rescue aid in the form of recapitalisation and impaired asset measures.2 This means that in exceptional circumstances, recapitalisation and impaired asset measures can be authorised as rescue aid before a restructuring plan is approved. In such cases, there is thus still a two-stage compatibility- assessment.