Part 3: Exemptions Chapter 2: Minimal and SPEI financial assistance Section 38: Services of public economic interest assistance
Subsection (1) sets out the exemption for SPEI assistance. Subsidies given through the exemption do not have to apply the subsidy control requirements if the total amount of minimal or SPEI financial assistance received by the intended beneficiary does not exceed £725,000 over a three financial year period.
	However, under subsection (4) the transparency requirements do apply to subsidies given as SPEI assistance where the amount of subsidy is more than £100,000.
	The definition of ‘minimal or SPEI financial assistance’ is set out at section 42(8). The three-year period is calculated as the two previous financial years and the elapsed part of the current financial year.
	A public authority giving a subsidy through this exemption must confirm they are doing so to the subsidy recipient. A subsidy given through the SPEI assistance exemption must be given to an enterprise that is delivering a particular task in the public interest.
	For subsidies given as cash, it is the gross cash amount that determines the value of the subsidy. Where a subsidy is given within this exemption through another means, such as a loan, the value of the subsidy must be expressed as a gross cash equivalent. The methodology for determining the gross cash equivalence of a subsidy may be set out in regulations, as provided for in section 82.
	Subsidies relating to goods awarded through this exemption are not exempt from the prohibitions on subsidies contingent on export performance (section 16) and on use of domestic goods or services (section 17).