State Aid: Nettbuss to pay back any unlawful aid received from the County of Aust-Agder

Following an in-depth investigation, the EFTA Surveillance Authority requires that Nettbuss Sør AS be ordered to pay back over-compensation received from the County of Aust-Agder in the period 2004–2014.

The Authority has concluded that over this period Nettbuss received payments for public service activities that it had ceased to operate or other activities that were not eligible for compensation payments under the concession contract signed with the County.

“The over-compensation received by the company over a ten year-period constitutes operating aid which conflicts with the state aid rules of the EEA Agreement. To ensure an equal playing field for competition between transport providers, the state aid rules need to be respected and enforced. Therefore, the undue economic advantages granted by the County will have to be recovered”, said Mrs Oda Helen Sletnes, President of the Authority.

The unlawful aid must be calculated and recovered by Norwegian authorities, without delay and in accordance with the procedures of national law.

In addition, the Authority has concluded that the concession contracts awarded by the County to compensate transport providers for local and scheduled school bus services have been part of an aid scheme which existed already before the entry into force of the EEA Agreement. As regards this scheme, the Authority finds that there are no ongoing problems that need to be rectified.

More information

• Fact sheet on state aid (pdf)

For further information, please contact:

Mr. Andreas Kjeldsberg Pihl
Press & Information Officer
tel. (+32)(0)2 286 18 66
mob. (+32)(0)492 900 187