Order MIPE no.1290 for the approval of the State aid scheme – Support for SMEs in order to overcome the economic crisis generated by the COVID-19 pandemic – productive investments was published in the Official Gazette (Part I) no. 1111 of November 22, 2021.
According to the document, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that have a deficit or lack liquidity will soon be able to access grants of up to one million euros. The state aid, which is available through the Competitiveness Operational Program 2014 – 2020, will be accessible for productive investments in areas such as construction, trade, HoReCa, transport or health.
It is important to note that the scheme runs until December 31, 2021, but it could be extended later until June 30, 2022.
The total allocated budget is the equivalent in lei of the amount of 358,384,803.64 euros, of which 300,000,000.00 euros REACT-EU FEDR through POC 2014-2020 and 58,384,803.64 euros of funds from the state budget.
The euro / leu exchange rate used in this scheme is the INFOREURO exchange rate valid in October 2021.
The state aid is to be granted in the form of grants for investments, and the maximum value per beneficiary will be one million euros (equivalent in lei).
Specifically, the beneficiaries may be micro, small or medium-sized enterprises operating in areas such as construction, wholesale or retail trade, transport and storage, HoReCa, health and social work.
The beneficiaries of the measure are SMEs that meet the following eligibility criteria:
- were not in difficulty on December 31, 2019;
- there are no decisions against them to recover a state aid that have not been executed and fully recovered;
- are not subject to preventive settlement, liquidation, insolvency or bankruptcy proceedings;
- are established until December 31, 2018;
- they registered an operational profit from the current activity, respectively from the exploitation activity in one 2019;
- undertakes to ensure the sustainability of the project, ie to ensure the development of the activity for a period of at least three years after the expiration of the project implementation period.
The State aid intensity of the eligible expenditure is:
– 95% for micro-enterprises;
– 90% for small enterprises;
– 85% for medium-sized enterprises.
The money given by the state can be used, in essence, for:
- expenses with the realization / acquisition of constructions;
- expenses for systematization and territorial arrangement of the land;
- expenses with the connection of the utilities necessary for the objective;
- expenses for design and technical assistance;
- expenses for the acquisition of installations, equipment, technological and functional equipment with and without assembly, including IT&C, software technologies;
- intangible assets;
- electric or hybrid means of transport2 (cars, buses, minibuses, elevators, loaders, vans and special purpose vehicles);
- consulting expenses for the preparation and implementation of the project within the limit of 10% of the eligible value of the project;
- expenses with the obligatory activities of publicity and information related to the project
The estimated number of beneficiaries is a maximum of 4,000.
Please note that the following sectors / types of aid will not be supported under the measures described in this State aid scheme:
– activities related to the manufacture of alcohol, tobacco, weapons products;
– gambling and betting activities.
he aid granted to undertakings active in the processing and marketing of agricultural products is conditional on not being sent in part or in full to primary producers and is not fixed on the basis of the price or quantity of products purchased from primary producers or placed on the market by the undertakings concerned.
If an enterprise is active in several sectors to which different maximum amounts apply, the beneficiaries will ensure through appropriate means, such as the separation of accounts, for each of these activities, that the relevant ceiling is respected and that the maximum amount possible it is not exceeded in total.
The final beneficiaries are Romanian SMEs active in the following eligible sectors:
– class C – Manufacturing industry (without codes 11 manufacture of beverages, 12 manufacture of tobacco and 254 manufacture of armament and ammunition);
– class F – Constructions;
– class G – Wholesale and retail trade; Repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles;
– class H – Transport and storage;
– class I – Hotels and restaurants;
– class M – Professional, scientific and technical activities;
– class N – Administrative service activities and support service activities;
– class P – Education;
– class Q – Health and social assistance;
– class R – Performing, cultural and recreational activities;
– class S – Other service activities.
Registrations will be made through the MySMIS platform, where a funding application will be submitted together with the necessary documentation:
– technical documentation and business plan in simplified format, which will include financial projections that support the justification of the return on investment;
– the declaration on the beneficiary’s own responsibility regarding the fact that he / she is not in difficulty on 31.12.2019; that he no longer received State aid for the same eligible costs mentioned in point 6.6; that there are no decisions against the recovery of a state / de minimis aid that have not been executed or recovered;
– statement regarding the cumulation of the obtained state aids;
– the beneficiary’s own responsibility statement that:
- is not resident for tax purposes or is not incorporated under the laws of the jurisdictions on the EU list of non-cooperating jurisdictions;
- is not controlled, directly or indirectly, by the shareholders of the jurisdictions that belong to the EU list of non-cooperating jurisdictions, depending on the beneficial owner, as defined in art.3 point 6 of Directive (EU) 2015/849;
- does not control, directly or indirectly, its own subsidiaries or permanent units in the jurisdictions listed on the EU list of non-cooperating jurisdictions;and
- does not share ownership with undertakings in jurisdictions on the EU list of non-cooperating jurisdictions;
– statement regarding the classification of the enterprise in the SME category;
– declaration regarding the VAT eligibility related to the expenses that will be made within the project proposed for financing from structural instruments;
– consent regarding the processing of personal data.
The evaluation and selection process consists in going through the following stages:
– the stage of verifying the administrative compliance and the eligibility of the applicant and the project;
– the stage of technical and financial evaluation of the project proposal, in accordance with the criteria from point 6.3;
– the stage of selection of the project proposals that will benefit from non-reimbursable financial support, in accordance with the evaluation and selection procedure;
– the contracting stage of the projects.
The selected companies will sign the financing contracts until December 31, 2021.
The registration period, the selected beneficiaries and other details related to the state aid can be followed on the MIPE website.
Legal basis:
MIPE Order 1290/2021 for the approval of the State Aid Scheme – Support for SMEs in order to overcome the economic crisis generated by the COVID-19 pandemic – productive investments;