EASPD has submitted its contribution to the European Commission’s public consultation on the draft revision of the General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER). The GBER is a key element of EU State Aid law that allows Member States to provide support to companies and organisations employing people with disabilities.

read our contribution

Context

Despite progress in recent years, employment outcomes for people with disabilities remain significantly lower than for the general population in the EU.

GBER is one of the mechanisms that supports the employment of people with disabilities by providing public support for wages, training and assistance, reasonable accommodation, transportation, rehabilitation, and infrastructure improvements. This is highly relevant for many EASPD members, who run employment services with the support of GBER or other State aid mechanisms.

EASPD's key messages

While welcoming several positive elements in the draft revision, EASPD identified several issues of how GBER can better support the employment of people with disabilities:

• Clarifying employment models, namely sheltered and supported employment, to align them with the existing practices and international standards and to avoid further legal uncertainty;
• Ensuring adequate aid intensities (or maximum subsidy rates) that reflect the real costs and specific economic nature of entities employing people with disabilities;
• Increasing notification thresholds, which are the ceilings beyond which aid must be pre-approved by the EU, to reflect the inflation rate and encourage organisations to expand employment opportunities to employ people with disabilities;
• Better recognition of non-profit organisations, which are particularly relevant for disability support services.

Citation:

EASPD. (2026). EASPD public consultation contribution to the draft revised General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER).

Author: 

Lyzaveta Drannikova, Policy and Project Officer, EASPD  

lyzaveta.drannikova@easpd.eu

Date:

Brussels, April 2026