Invest Europe

Position on the Undertaking in Difficulty (UID) definition

Positions & consultation responses

01 Sep 2026

As the European Commission reviews the definition of Undertakings in Difficulty (UID) under its State aid framework, including the General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER) as well as its Rescue and Restructuring Guidelines, the draft rules continue to misclassify healthy, investor-backed companies as financially distressed, delaying and restricting access to public support for innovative businesses in sectors critical to Europe's competitiveness. Invest Europe is advocating for a targeted reform that will avoid false positives, supporting companies at precisely the moment they need support to scale.