New EU State Aid Rules Make Clearer that Support can be Used when Leasing - Leaseurope Further Calls for the Specificities of Leasing to be Considered in EU Rules

In June 2025, the European Commission adopted a new State aid framework supporting the Clean Industrial Deal, to enable Member States to push forward the development of clean energy, industrial decarbonisation and clean technology. The new Clean Industrial State Aid Framework (CISAF) sets out how Member States can design State aid measures to support objectives related to the Clean Industrial Deal. CISAF applies as of 25 June 2025, and remains in force until 31 December 2030.

The framework aims to simplify State aid rules in five main areas:

i. the roll-out of renewable energy and low-carbon fuels;

ii. temporary electricity price relief for energy-intensive users to ensure the transition to low-cost clean electricity;

iii. decarbonisation of existing production facilities;

iv. the development of clean tech manufacturing capacity in the EU, and;

v. the de-risking of investments in clean energy, decarbonisation, clean tech, energy infrastructure projects and projects supporting the circular economy.

Building on its work on “Access to EU Funding for leasing”, Leaseurope had contributed to the Commission’s targeted consultation on the draft Framework in April 2025. Leaseurope broadly supports incentives for investments to achieve the ambitions of the Clean Industrial Deal. Leasing has a key role to play in supporting businesses, particularly SMEs, to transition to become more sustainable. However, it is observed that too often State aid rules include unintended barriers to the use of leasing, which at the stage of national implementation can limit policy effectiveness.

Leaseurope’s calls for equal treatment of leasing services compared to other financial products in order to give recipients the choice to decide which instrument is more appropriate for them. Leaseurope’s main message is that the new EU State aid rules should be focused on asset usage rather than legal ownership. In addition, EU State aid rules or guidance should ensure that the specificities of leasing services are given proper consideration so that the legal provisions are actually applicable at national level and so that they work for businesses that choose to lease their assets.

Leaseurope’s Accounting and Taxation Committee worked with the Legal Committee to respond to the consultation with a particular focus on accelerated tax depreciation rules. Following Leaseurope’s input, the Commission revised the Framework to clarify that accelerated depreciation may be offered for leasing of eligible assets as well as acquisition. A requirement in the draft that assets must be purchased from ‘third parties unrelated to the buyer’, that could have excluded captive finance, was also changed to instead refer to purchases made under market conditions. According to the CISAF, eligible assets must be (i) new, (ii) used by the beneficiary for at least five years, (iii) depreciable, (iv) be purchased or leased under market conditions, and (v) be included in the assets of the beneficiary.

Furthermore, in mid July 2025 the European Commission launched a consultation to seek input on the scope and content of the review of the General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER). The GBER (Regulation (EU) No 651/2014) declares specific categories of State aid compatible with the internal market if they fulfil certain conditions (limiting the distortion of competition). Such aid is exempt from the requirement of prior notification to, and approval by the Commission, so that Member States can quickly provide aid. In the current GBER, lease of assets must contain

an obligation for the beneficiary of the aid to purchase the asset upon expiry of the term of the lease. This in practice creates obstacles for leasing, as typically in lease contracts there is no such requirement to purchase, but only an option to purchase, and as a result there is the risk that leasing is excluded from the scope of the aid at national level. Leaseurope will respond to this consultation and will ask to remove this requirement from the GBER in order not to unreasonably differentiate lease contracts or exclude certain types of leases. Finally, the specificities of leasing services should be given proper consideration in the EU legal texts so that the EU legal provisions are actually applicable at national level and leasing is not indirectly excluded.

Leaseurope will keep monitoring the EU funding and state aid rules and raising awareness of the importance of leasing for a competitive and sustainable EU economy.