Regional investment aid under regional operational plans for 2014-2020

Aim: The implementation of numerous EU projects in the period 2014-2020 is bound to require that they are compliant with EU law, domestic law, relevant guidelines, programming documents, and the content of an agreement on co-financing a project. It is in this context that the issue of public aid should be examined. On the grounds that some EU projects are subject to the regime mentioned, what becomes vital is to comply with all binding regulations in this respect. It is in this delineated form that the legal form of regional investment aid should be considered. The aim of this paper is to examine individual material elements of which the legal construction mentioned above is composed - while taking into account existing legislation. Research methods: The method that was adopted involves an analysis of the sources of law, case-law and literature. Conclusions: (1) The problem of regional investment aid should be considered in terms of the Treaty definition of public aid. At the same time, one has to take into account the legal regime set by the TFEU on state aid. As a rule, this aid is prohibited; still, the EU legislator allows for a number of exemptions. (2) This, in turn, means that it is necessary to develop, by issuing other normative acts (but also soft-law regulations), the Treaty provisions which allow for providing legally benefits covered by state aid. (3) The legal form at issue here should be considered in the context of the need to ensure that beneficiaries will be implementing projects in accordance with the rules of EU law, domestic law, relevant guidelines, programming documents and the content of an agreement on co-financing a project. Value of the paper: The set of issues examined is the subject addressed by case-law and literature. The value of the paper is that it systematizes all the elements discussed. The paper is addressed to the beneficiaries of EU projects, institutions participating in the system for managing and controlling EU resources and to administrative courts.