Aid will not be granted in the following cases:

• businesses that do not themselves use the asset for which the aid is being sought;
• businesses that do not own the asset, barring exceptions provided for by law;
• businesses in difficulty;
• businesses that are subject to an outstanding recovery order;
• operators in the fishing and aquaculture sector;
• operators in the primary agriculture sector, subject to certain conditions;
• operators involved in the processing and marketing of agricultural products, when legal conditions apply;
• operators in the nuclear energy sector;
• aid for export-related activities;
• aid contingent on the use of domestic products;
• employers that have been convicted twice for undeclared or illegal employment within the 4 years preceding their application.

Whenever any state aid exceeds a certain threshold, the European Commission must be notified. To avoid having to do so, the Luxembourg government does not grant aid that exceeds whichever thresholds are lowest when those provided for in Regulation (EU) no. 651/2014 (GBER) and in the Law of 8 December 2025 are compared.

The maximum amounts are as follows:

• investment aid for the purpose of implementing environmental protection measures, including decarbonisation: EUR 30 million per business and per investment project;
• investment aid for the purpose of acquiring zero-emission road vehicles, or converting road vehicles to zero-emission vehicles: EUR 20 million per business and per project;
• investment aid for the purpose of implementing energy efficiency measures (other than in buildings): EUR 30 million per business and per project;
• investment aid for the production of renewable energy or renewable hydrogen, and for high-yield cogeneration: EUR 30 million per business and per project;
• aid for efficient heating and cooling networks: EUR 40 million per business and per investment project;
• investment aid to develop the efficient use of resources and circular economy initiatives: EUR 30 million per business and per project;
• investment aid to develop energy infrastructure: EUR 60 million per business and per investment project;
• aid for environmental studies: EUR 30 million per study.

Under no circumstances are attempts to circumvent the caps mentioned above permitted, in particular by artificially splitting up an aid scheme or a project so as to remain below the applicable limits.

Aid may be granted through 3 distinct procedures:

• the call-for-projects procedure;
• the competitive-tendering procedure; and
• the simple-application procedure.

In the call-for-projects procedure, projects are selected in chronological order until the available budget is exhausted. Budgets, technical requirements, and maximum amounts per project are set out in the project-specifications documents.

In the competitive-tendering procedure, projects are ranked based on comparison criteria, most notably the ratio between the amount of aid and a unit of environmental performance. When all the submitted projects can be financed, up to 90% of the projects can be selected if the number of eligible projects is more than 10; if the number of eligible projects is 10 or fewer, at least one project must be rejected.

The simple-application procedure is restricted to SMEs, for aid of less than EUR 100,000, where permitted by law. In this procedure, there is no competitive tendering, but applicants must satisfy all the legal eligibility criteria.

The aid may not be cumulated with any other aid covering the same admissible costs. Cumulation with European funding is permitted, subject to the maximum applicable rates.

Businesses can lose their entitlement to aid if they fail to satisfy the legal conditions.

Loss of entitlement to aid can occur in the following cases:

• if the decision to grant the aid is based on inaccurate, incomplete, or misleading information;
• if the business fails to honour the commitments it gave in return for the aid, or if it makes substantial changes to its project without the minister's prior approval;
• if the asset for which the aid was granted is disposed of, conveyed or transferred before the end of its minimum holding period, or when it is no longer used for its originally intended purpose;
• if the project is not undertaken in accordance with the conditions specified in the approved file, or if it fails to comply with applicable regulations, including European rules on state aid;
• if the business manages the project in a manner that is deemed inappropriate, or contrary to generally accepted best practices.

Some investment categories are subject to special requirements. For hydrogen, CO₂, and residual-heat infrastructure projects, changing the use of the infrastructure, transferring the infrastructure, or making substantial changes to the infrastructure at any time during the lifetime of the investment, requires the minister's prior approval. For zero-emission road vehicles, the aid will be lost if the vehicle is sold or transferred before the end of the minimum holding period provided for by law.

The loss of entitlement to aid can only be confirmed by the minister. In that case, the business must repay the amount of aid that was unduly received, plus legal interest, within 3 months, unless another time frame is specified in the decision.

In accordance with Article 496 of the Luxembourg Criminal Code, submitting intentionally false declarations in order to obtain aid can lead to criminal penalties.

Procedures

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