In the Official Gazette (Part I) no.105 of 7 February 2023 was published M.A.T. Order no.330 approving the de minimis aid scheme for the participation of tourism enterprises in exhibitions, in national pavilions, specialized stands or mini-exhibitions in which the Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Tourism participates abroad.
Thus, the Government approved the inclusion in the fiscal-budgetary and financial policies of the Romanian state of the de minimis aid scheme for the participation of tourism enterprises in exhibitions, in national pavilions, specialized stands or mini-exhibitions abroad, at which the Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Tourism (MAT) will be present.
According to a press release from MAT, the programme aims to generate an incentive effect for the beneficiaries, through subsidies granted for the promotion of tourism products and services on foreign markets.
The aid scheme applies to aid granted to enterprises whose activity has an impact on the tourism sector and/or to enterprises carrying out activities in the tourism sector, established under the legislation mentioned in Article 4, as provided for by the Romanian national economic activity codes (CAEN).
The total estimated amount of aid that may be granted under this scheme is 7,400,000 lei in 2023, from national funds, within the limit of budgetary and commitment appropriations approved annually by the state budget law.
The estimated number of beneficiaries under this scheme is 200 exhibitors per year.
Beneficiaries of de minimis aid:
According to the recently approved normative act, enterprises that cumulatively meet the following eligibility conditions may benefit from the de minimis aid measures provided for in this scheme:
a) are registered and operate on the basis of one of the following normative acts:
– Law No 31/1990 on companies, republished, as subsequently amended and supplemented;
– Law No 1/2005 on the organisation and functioning of cooperatives, republished, as subsequently amended;
– Government Emergency Ordinance no. 6/2011 for stimulating the establishment and development of microenterprises by entrepreneurs starting their business, as amended and supplemented, and meet the conditions for inclusion in the category of small and medium enterprises, according to the provisions of Law no. 346/2004, as amended and supplemented;
– are authorized natural persons, sole proprietorships and family businesses registered in the trade register and authorized according to the Government Emergency Ordinance no. 44/2008 on the conduct of economic activities by authorized natural persons, sole proprietorships and family businesses, approved with amendments and additions by Law no. 182/2016, with subsequent amendments and additions, which carry out activities in the field of handicrafts, especially traditional crafts and in the field of folk arts and crafts;
– are enterprises established according to Law no. 219/2015 on social economy, as amended and supplemented, namely cooperative societies of the first degree, credit cooperatives, associations or foundations, mutual aid houses of employees, mutual aid houses of pensioners, federations and unions of legal persons, any other categories of legal persons;
b) hold a tourism licence or classification certificate, as the case may be;
c) have in their object of activity tourism or/and activity with impact in the field of tourism or/and related to tourism, as they are provided for by the codes of national economic activities in Romania (CAEN);
d) markets and promotes, within the exhibition events in which they participate, packages, services and tourism products exclusively from Romanian destinations (declaration on their own responsibility);
e) does not benefit, for the fair or international exhibition organised abroad to which it applies, from funding from other providers of state aid / de minimis to cover the same categories of eligible expenses (declaration on own responsibility);
f) have wholly private share capital;
g) persons who are partners/shareholders or directors in more than one company may apply under this scheme only with one company (declaration on their own responsibility);
h) are registered with the Trade Register Office, have a registered office/workplace and carry out their activity on the Romanian territory;
i) they have no debts to the general consolidated budget, both for the registered office and for all work points, at the time of the administrative and eligibility verification. Applicants who have staggered debts are not eligible to access the scheme (declaration on their own responsibility);
j) is not in a state of dissolution, judicial reorganization, liquidation, enforced execution, operational closure, insolvency, bankruptcy or temporary suspension of activity (declaration on own responsibility);
k) were not the subject of a decision issued by the European Commission, another state aid provider, the Competition Council or the court, to recover a state aid/de minimis or, if they were the subject of such a decision, this has already been executed and the claim fully recovered, with the related penalties (declaration on own responsibility);
l) have not benefited in the last 2 fiscal years and in the current fiscal year, from sources of the state budget or local authorities, of de minimis aid which, cumulatively with the amount requested under this scheme, exceeds the equivalent in lei of 200,000 of euros (declaration on own responsibility);
m) applied and were selected to participate in the exhibition.
Procedure for granting de minimis aid:
The aid granted under this scheme consists of financial support from the state budget to cover the following categories of eligible expenditure:
a) 50% of the expenditure representing the price of external transport, not exceeding the equivalent in lei of 500 euros, calculated on the date of signing the final act on the provision of de minimis aid for 1 representative/economic operator;
b) 50% of the expenses representing the price of the first night’s accommodation, for one participant from each exhibiting economic operator, at the level of the scales established for category 1 public institutions;
c) 100% of the expenses for:
(i) participation fee;
(ii)rental of stand space from the organisers;
(iii) personalisation, furnishing and decoration of the stand.
The calculation for the rental, customization, fitting out and decoration of the 3 sqm area for each exhibitor will be made by MAT and sent to the beneficiary of the de minimis aid immediately after MAT has received the invoices for the rental and customization of the space.
The expenses referred to in point c) (ii) and (iii) will be calculated for a strict surface of 3 square meters per exhibitor, beneficiary of the de minimis aid, regardless of the surface of the stand.
Of the total stand area rented by the Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Tourism, a maximum area of 70% will be allocated to tourism enterprises.
The remaining 30% will be allocated to the participation of non-commercial entities (local/county public authorities, tourism promotion associations, etc.), whose participation is not covered by this scheme.
Cumulation of de minimis aid:
The total value of the de minimis aid granted to a single enterprise (defined in article 7 letter h) cannot exceed the amount of 200,000 euros during three financial years (three consecutive fiscal years, calculated as the two previous fiscal years and the current year) .
These can be cumulated with de minimis aid granted in accordance with other de minimis regulations within the limit of the mentioned limit .
The limit s are applied regardless of the form of the de minimis aid or the objective pursued and regardless of whether the aid is granted from national or European funds. If the total value of the de minimis aid granted to a single enterprise over a period of three consecutive fiscal years, combined with the value of the financial allocation granted in accordance with the provisions of this scheme, exceeds the de minimis limit s mentioned in the first paragraph, the requesting economic operator may benefit from the provisions of the scheme, only if the enterprise chooses between reducing the value of the requested aid so that it falls within the limit and the total or partial reimbursement of the previously obtained aid, in order to comply with the de minimis limit .
De minimis aid is cumulated with state aid granted for the same eligible costs, provided that such cumulation does not lead to exceeding the intensity or the relevant maximum value of the aid, established for the specific conditions of each case by a regulation or a decision category exemption adopted by the European Commission. If the amount exceeds the respective intensity or maximum value, the de minimis aid cannot be granted.
De minimis aid that is not granted for specific eligible costs or is not linked to specific eligible costs may be cumulated with other state aid granted pursuant to a category exemption regulation or a decision adopted by the Commission.
If an enterprise is divided into two or more separate enterprises, the de minimis aid granted before the separation is allocated to the enterprise that benefited from it, namely, in principle, to the enterprise that takes over the activities for which the de minimis aid was used .
If such an allocation is not possible, the de minimis aid is allocated proportionally based on the accounting value of the social capital of the new companies on the date when the separation takes effect. De minimis aid can be cumulated with de minimis aid granted in accordance with other de minimis regulations within the limit of 200,000 euros equivalent in lei.
Application period
This scheme shall apply from the date of publication in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, until 31 December 2023, in accordance with the duration of validity of Regulation (EU) No 1407/2013 of 18 December 2013, with the possibility of extension until 31 December 2024.
Given that the provisions in force of Regulation (EC) No 1407/2013 are valid until 31.12.2023, the provider of the scheme is obliged to update this scheme in accordance with the European regulations on de minimis aid, in force after 31.12.2023, and to request in advance the opinion of the Competition Council on these changes. All de minimis aid granted to beneficiaries under this scheme will comply with the conditions laid down in the European regulations on de minimis aid applicable at that time.
Legal basis:
-MAT Order no.330/2023 approving the de minimis aid scheme for the participation of tourism enterprises in exhibitions, national pavilions, specialized stands or mini-exhibitions attended abroad by the Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Tourism.