Certification and monitoring procedure for non-reimbursable programs

Order of the Ministry of Education and Research MECT no.1363 / 2021 on the approval of the Certification and Monitoring Procedure for non-reimbursable funding programs implemented at the Ministry of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Tourism through agencies for SMEs, investment attraction and export promotion, as well as through partner credit institutions, necessary to be applied in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic was published in the Official Gazette no. 882 of September 14, 2021.

Thus, the provisions included in this normative act complete the implementation procedures and de minimis aid schemes for 2017 and 2018, in order to comply with the regulations in force, in the context in which, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the certification and monitoring activities of The funded SMEs were affected in terms of field visits to the beneficiaries’ location.

The mentioned document stipulates that until the lifting of the restrictions and the return to the working conditions prior to the establishment of the state of emergency / alert on the Romanian territory, the certification and monitoring of the beneficiaries within the national programs will be performed online without moving agency employees, of the export (AIMMAIPE) or of the partner credit institutions at the place of implementation of the beneficiary’s project. Thus, the certification and monitoring activities will be carried out through electronic means both of the members of the monitoring, control and reporting unit (UMCR) / banks, and of the beneficiaries financed within the project (for example, e-mail, software applications, etc.).

It is important to specify that the certification and field monitoring of the beneficiaries within the national programs will be performed on a sample basis.

The sample will be calculated as a percentage of 10% of the total number of SMEs (IMM) financed under each financing program.

In order to achieve the online certification, the representatives of the partner credit institutions will carry out the following activities:

  • announcing the beneficiaries regarding the initiation and the manner of carrying it out through a letter of notification sent by e-mail.The representatives of the partner credit institutions will request (by telephone and / or by electronic correspondence) the beneficiary to confirm electronically, through a reply / reply, the receipt of the letter of notification;
  • checking the functionality of the website to the beneficiaries who received financing for the creation of the web page;
  • the verification of the existence, functionality and use for the intended purpose of the tangible and intangible assets acquired within the project must reveal:
  • the place of implementation of the financed project;
  • verification of the existence and functionality of the tangible assets financed within the program, according to the declaration on own responsibility submitted by the beneficiary together with the request for reimbursement / payment – video and printscreen with the equipment / machinery / installations / devices purchased through the project and for which they received financial aid (AFN);
  • checking the series and / or the inventory number of the financed assets, as well as their correspondence with the series from the guarantee certificate – video and printscreen / copies according to the document with series / no. license (as appropriate) and printscreen program / application opened on the computer, in case of programs / applications for which funding was received; verification of the existence and functionality (as the case may be) of intangible assets.

If, following the certification activity, it is found that the beneficiaries have made incomplete and / or inconsistent statements to obtain the de minimis aid or have changed its destination or it is found that the conditions provided in the financing agreement are no longer met or in the de minimis aid scheme, the members of the certification team will record this in the certification report.

Upon completion of the certification activity, according to this procedure, the documents related to each certified beneficiary will be the following:

– certification report electronically signed / handwritten by the members of the certification teams and beneficiaries;

– printscreen web page (if it was financed within the project);

– printscreen location with GPS enabled;

– printscreen and / or video images with the tangible assets financed within the program, with series / no. readable inventory;

 – printscreen / copy of the document with series / no. license (as applicable) and printscreen program / application open on the computer for programs / licenses / software applications;

– printscreen / copy of the proof of registration with the competent body in Romania or in the country of origin of patents, franchises, ecological labels, etc .;

– printscreen / copy after proof of payment of the royalty and continuity / existence of the franchise contract.

In order to carry out the online monitoring, the UMCR members within AIMMAIPE will carry out the following activities:

▪ drawing up the monitoring plan for the beneficiaries of the financing schemes;

▪ verification of the authorization of the CANE code for which the financing was requested at the place of project implementation: the ONRC database is interrogated and the updated ascertaining certificate is attached to the file of documents afferent to each beneficiary;

▪ checking the functionality of the website to the beneficiaries who received funding to create the web page (printscreen after the first page or after the page with the contact information of the site; the site address is filled in the column “Observations” – minutes of monitoring / control); if the functionality of the beneficiary’s website cannot be verified by accessing the site’s address online, the monitoring teams will contact the beneficiary by phone or e-mail and will request clarifications;

▪ announcing the beneficiaries regarding the initiation of the monitoring and the manner of carrying it out through a letter of notification sent by e-mail. UMCR members will request (by phone and / or by electronic mail) the beneficiary to confirm electronically, through a reply, the receipt of the notification letter;

▪ verification by the members of UMCR of all the documents requested in the letter of notification and sent by the beneficiary and the request for clarifications, as the case may be.

If, following the certification / monitoring activity, it is found that the beneficiaries have made incomplete and / or inconsistent statements to obtain the de minimis aid or have changed its destination or it is found that the conditions provided in the financing agreement or in the de minimis aid scheme, the members of UMCR will inform the management of AIMMAIPE / the ministry regarding the start of the partial / total recovery procedure, as the case may be, of the de minimis aid granted.

Upon completion of the monitoring activity according to this procedure, the documents related to each monitored beneficiary will be the following:

  • monitoring report;
  • the ascertaining certificate of the beneficiary;
  • fixed assets depreciation sheet;
  • register of inventory objects;
  • the insurance policy assigned in favor of AIMMAIPE / the bank, with the mention of renewal / extension;
  • REVISAL history (employees register), reports per employee, employment contracts, extract from the General Register of Employees (REGES), as the case may be;
  • proof of maintaining the type of newly created jobs (unemployment certificate, diploma / graduate certificate or document certifying the classification in the category of disadvantaged persons for the employed persons following the vacancy of a job created by the project within 30 days);
  • printscreen web page (if it was financed within the project);▪ printscreen location with GPS activated;
  • photos and / or video images with the tangible assets financed within the program, with series / no.inventory readable in photography;
  • photos / copy of the document with series / no.license (as applicable) and printscreen program / application open on the computer for programs / licenses / software applications;
  • copy of the proof of registration with the competent body in Romania or in the country of origin of the patents, franchises, ecological labels, etc .;
  • copy of the proof of payment of the royalty and continuity / existence of the franchise contract.

All documents representing video images, photos, printscreens, copies of original documents will be kept and archived.

In addition, all documents submitted by the beneficiaries must be electronically / holographically signed by them, except for those representing video images and photographs with tangible and/or intangible assets.

Legal basis:

MECT Order 1363/2021 on the approval of the Certification and Monitoring Procedure for non-reimbursable financing programs implemented at the Ministry of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Tourism through agencies for SMEs, investment attraction and export promotion, as well as through partner credit institutions, needed to be applied in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.