Grants for agricultural producers affected by drought (2)

The above mentioned applications and documents shall be submitted within 20 working days from the date of receipt of the European Commission’s decision approving the State aid.

The application for aid, accompanied by the required documents, can be sent to the DAJ by fax or post or electronically by e-mail.

The documents submitted/transmitted in copy by the beneficiary will bear the phrase “in conformity with the original”, will be dated and signed by the legal representative of the beneficiary.

DAJ requests the Agency for Payments and Intervention for Agriculture, hereinafter referred to as APIA, and it provides DAJ with the data and information resulting from the query of the APIA database with the single applications for payment 2022, by beneficiaries, crops and declared areas related to them.

DAJ requests the Agency for Rural Investment Financing, hereinafter referred to as AFIR, and it provides DAJ with the data and information resulting from the AFIR database query with the beneficiaries of measure 17.1 of the National Rural Development Plan 2014-2020 for the drought insurance premium; it also requests information from the insurance companies on the amount of the total amounts, per crop and hectare, received/received by the beneficiaries and communicates, where appropriate, to the beneficiaries the amounts they are obliged to reimburse.

On the basis of the declarations made by the beneficiaries on the amounts received from the insurance companies according to the section Declarations and commitments in the Grant Application Form, the DAJ shall establish the amounts to be reimbursed, where applicable, and shall communicate in writing to the beneficiaries the decision with their obligations regarding the amounts to be reimbursed, calculated according to the provisions of Article 6.

The DAJ shall determine the amounts and the beneficiaries of the scheme, draw up and send to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development – General Directorate for Budget-Finance and European Funds the centralised statement with the eligible beneficiaries and the grant amounts to be awarded to the beneficiaries of the scheme.

In the event of non-compliance by the beneficiaries with the conditions laid down in Article 6 OUG 50/2023, as well as in the event of certification by the beneficiaries of incorrect data or situations on the documents relating to the state aid or of violation in any way of the provisions of this emergency ordinance, the beneficiaries of the state aid scheme are obliged to repay the amount of state aid received, plus interest and late payment penalties calculated from the day immediately following the due date until the date of full recovery, in accordance with the provisions of Law no. 500/2002 on public finance, as amended and supplemented, and Law No. 207/2015 on the Tax Procedure Code, as amended and supplemented.

The amounts representing undue state aid represent budgetary claims, for their recovery the provisions of Law no. 207/2015, as amended and supplemented, and of Law no. 500/2002, as amended and supplemented, shall apply accordingly.

Please note that all documents submitted in order to apply for state aid granted under this emergency ordinance are kept at the DAJ for a period of 10 fiscal years from the date on which the state aid was granted.

All documents certifying the State aid due are kept by the beneficiaries of State aid for a period of 10 fiscal years from the date of receipt of the amount due.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development ensures that the principles set out in points 112-114 of the EU Guidelines are respected with regard to the transparency of the scheme, i.e. by publishing on its website www.madr.ro both the text of the state aid scheme and the information on beneficiaries whose amounts received as compensation exceed EUR 10,000.

The information is published after the decision to grant state aid has been taken, is kept for at least 10 fiscal years and is made available to all interested parties, without restrictions, in compliance with the legal provisions on the protection of personal data.

After the date of receipt of the European Commission’s decision approving the granting of state aid under this scheme, the eligibility of the beneficiary is established and the obligation to pay this state aid is established.

APPENDIX 1: APPLICATION for a grant to agricultural producers who established crops in the spring of 2022 and were affected by the soil drought from March to September 2022 (model)

I.Identification data of the applicant

REGISTERED OFFICE PJ/PFA/II/IF

PF’S ADDRESS

AUTHORIZED (for cases where the application is signed by an authorized representative)

1. Data on the affected crops and amount requested

Taking into account the data mentioned in the Report on the finding and assessment of damage to agricultural crops no. …………… of …………………., concluded by the Commission for the finding and assessment of damage to agricultural crops for the land/lands within the administrative-territorial radius of the UAT ……………/locality …………………………,

pursuant to the provisions of Government Emergency Ordinance No 50/2023 for the establishment of a state aid scheme in the form of a grant to agricultural producers for some agricultural crops established in the spring of 2022 and affected by soil drought in the period March-September 2022, I request the grant of ……………………… lei, as follows:

NOTE:

– Column 2 is to be completed according to the report on the finding and assessment of damage to agricultural crops (column 4 of the report).

– Column 3 is to be completed according to the report on the finding and assessment of damage to agricultural crops (column 6 of the report). The area in column 3 must not exceed the area in column 2.- Column 4 is to be completed according to the report on the finding and assessment of damage to agricultural crops (column 5 of the report).

– Column 6 is calculated by multiplying the values in column 3 by column 4 and column 5 and dividing the result by 100.

NOTE:

– Check YES/NO for all documents submitted.

– Columns (2) and (3) are to be completed by the beneficiary.

– Columns (4) and (5) are to be filled in by the DAJ official who took over the application.

III. Declarations and commitments

The undersigned, …………………………………, CNP/CUI …………….., administrator/legal representative of …………………. (name of legal entity or authorised natural person/individual enterprise/family business),

knowing that false statements are punishable under the provisions of Article 326 of Law No. 286/2009 on the Criminal Code, as amended and supplemented, I declare the following:

– I am aware of the conditions and modalities for granting state aid according to national and European regulations, which I undertake to respect;

– I undertake to notify the DAJ in writing, within 10 working days, of any change concerning the information declared in the aid application, attaching the supporting documents for these changes;

– I am aware that the DAJ may ask the beneficiary for any additional supporting documents at any time;

– I am aware of the possibility of a proportional reduction of the amount of the grant applied for by the undersigned, which may be made if the total amount of state aid required exceeds the financial resources allocated to the state aid scheme.

I hereby declare and undertake as follows:

– I declare that the data entered in the application form and the attached documents are true, correct, complete and perfectly valid;

– I undertake to provide any supporting documents that may be requested and to submit to any on-the-spot checks/verifications;

– to reimburse at the simple request of the DAJ the state aid received, with interest and penalties calculated from the date of receipt of the aid;

– |_| I am not in difficulty within the meaning of point 33(63) of the EU Guidelines, i.e. I am not in reorganisation, liquidation or bankruptcy according to the records of the National Trade Register Office;

– |_| I am in difficulty and I prove that the financial difficulties were caused by the 2022 drought, by having a report of the damage to corn and/or sunflower and/or soybean and/or pea crops, which shows the percentage of damage of more than 30% and up to and including 100% at the date of the application for aid;

– I declare and notify the DAJ of the following:

|_| I am/|_| not a beneficiary of a drought insurance contract concluded with the insurance company ………………………., for the crop(s)(*) ……………….., in the area of ……………. ha(**);

|_| I am/|_| not a beneficiary of measure 17.1 – Insurance premiums for crops, animals and plants of the National Rural Development Plan 2014-2020 for drought insurance premium, for crop(s)(*) …………………………., in the area of …………… ha(**);

|_| we have received/|_| we have not received the amount of ………………………. lei from the insurance company ……………………….., representing …………………. lei/ha drought compensation from the insurance company …………………., calculated for crop(s), ………………………., in the area of ……………………. ha(**);

– if I receive the amount of drought compensation for crop/crop(*) …………………….. from the insurance company ……………………. after the submission of this application for payment, I undertake to notify the DAJ of the amount received within 15 days of receipt, in order to apply Article 6 of Government Emergency Ordinance No 50/2023.

I agree that the data in the application will be entered into the database, processed and verified for the purpose of calculating the payment and transmitted to the responsible authorities for the purpose of statistical studies and economic evaluations, in compliance with the legal provisions on the processing of personal data and the free movement of such data.

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(*)Maize and/or sunflower and/or soybean and/or pea crops.

(**)Area under maize and/or sunflower and/or soya and/or peas, as appropriate.

Legal basis:

OUG 50/2023 on the establishment of a State aid scheme in the form of a grant to agricultural producers for certain agricultural crops established in the spring of 2022 and affected by the soil drought in the period March-September 2022.