The General Block Exemption Regulation was a cornerstone of the the state aid modernisation and will expire by end 2020 together with other rules. The effects of the Regulation became tangible only recently. To give the needed time to carry out a fitness check of the state aid modernisation on the basis of relevant data and to allow the Commission to decide on the design of the future rules, the Commission intends to prolong the validity of this Regulation by two years.