FUNDING

The maximum amount of aid granted under pillar 1 does not exceed 500,000 EUR per group-enterprise as defined by this aid scheme, at any time, in gross sum, before deduction of taxes or other charges and is granted within the time limit imposed by the Temporary Framework Ukraine.

The maximum amount of aid granted under pillar 2 does not exceed 2 million EUR per group-enterprise as defined by this aid scheme, at any time, in gross sum, before deduction of taxes or other charges and is granted until the latest date imposed by the Temporary Framework Ukraine.

ELIGIBLE BENEFICIARIES

(1) State aid beneficiaries are tourist accommodation facilities, classified catering structures/units, and event organizers, registered for tax purposes in Romania, licensed tourism agencies and certified tour guides, conducting their activity in Romania, owned or organized as large enterprises or small and medium-sized enterprises, established under Law no. 31/1990 regarding companies, republished, with subsequent amendments and completions, Law no. 1/2005 regarding the organization and functioning of cooperatives, republished, with subsequent amendments, or Emergency Government Ordinance no. 6/2011 for the stimulation of establishing and developing micro-enterprises by business debutants, with subsequent amendments.

(2) Eligible beneficiaries must also meet the following cumulative conditions:

a) They are companies established no later than December 31, 2020, and the CAEN Rev. 2 code for which funding is eligible under the Scheme (Annex 1) and authorized on registration as of January 1, 2021, without interruption, according to Article 15 of Law no. 359/2004 regarding the simplification of formalities in the registration in the Trade Register of natural persons, family associations, and legal persons, their tax registration, as well as the authorization of legal persons, with subsequent amendments.

b) They are autonomous, partner or related enterprises, defined according to the provisions of Law no. 346/2004 regarding the stimulation of establishing and developing small and medium-sized enterprises, with subsequent amendments.

c) They are large enterprises or small and medium-sized enterprises defined according to the provisions of Article 2 and Article 4 (1) lit. a), b) or c) of Law no. 346/2004 regarding the stimulation of establishing and developing small and medium-sized enterprises, with subsequent amendments,

d) They are not subject to a decision issued by the European Commission/other provider of state aid/Competition Council for the recovery of state aid/de minimis or, if they have been subject to such a decision, it has already been executed and the entire claim recovered, with the corresponding interest;

e) They maintain the activity for which they obtained funding for at least 24 months from the date of the first payment of state aid, under the penalty of recovery of the aid granted;

f) (1) For the purpose of automatically calculating the eligible amounts under the aid scheme by the IT application, applicants are obliged, at least 5 days before the application deadline, to have submitted to the competent tax authorities the financial statements for the financial year ended 2021, under the penalty of rejection of the application for funding;

(2) Applicants are also obliged to submit to the competent tax authorities the financial statements for the financial year ended 2022 by March 31, 2023 inclusive, under the penalty of rejection of the application for funding, even if the legal deadline for submission provided for in Article 36 (1) of Law no. 82/1991, republished, with subsequent amendments and completions, has not been met;

g) Beneficiaries and/or shareholders/associates/administrators of companies who have committed financial irregularities or acts of corruption established by final court decisions are not eligible.

TYPES OF FINANCIAL AID

(1) The scheme will allow electronic registration under two pillars, namely:

a) Pillar 1 – compensation for the increase in total expenses in the period January 1 – December 31, 2022 compared to those for the same period of the year 2021, excluding expenses with electricity and/or gas, cost increases generated by the crisis of the war in Ukraine.

b) Pillar 2 – compensation with a maximum of 30% of the eligible cost increase with electricity and/or gas in the period February 1, 2022 – December 31, 2022, cost increases generated by the crisis of the war in Ukraine. Applicants will have the option to register on both pillars or only on one of the two pillars. The values compensated through both pillars do not include Value Added Tax (VAT), this tax not being eligible under the aid scheme.

(2) State aid will be automatically calculated by the IT application, at two distinct moments and in accordance with the provisions of the Temporary Framework Ukraine for each pillar separately, as follows:

a) For Pillar 1, at the time of registration, the IT application will query from the accounting balance for the financial year 2021, the total expenses for the year 2021, and the applicants will upload to the application all invoices and payment documents related to monthly costs with electricity and/or gas from the year 2021, documents based on which they will complete/edit in the registration application an overall total of these for the entire year 2021, and the application will calculate and display the difference between the two values;

b) For Pillar 1 for the financial year 2022, at the time of registration, applicants will estimate, based on expenses and invoices with electricity and/or gas issued in the first 10 months of the year, the total expenses for 2022, as well as the total annual costs with electricity and/or gas and will complete/edit them in the IT application which will display the difference between the two values;

c) The application will calculate at the time of registration, based on the above values and estimates, the total annual expenditure increase, excluding costs with electricity and/or gas, as the difference between 2022 and 2021, an increase due to the crisis generated by the war in Ukraine, hereinafter referred to as VSP1 (requested value Pillar 1);

d) For Pillar 2, at the time of registration, the application will take from Pillar 1 the total value of monthly costs with electricity and/or gas for the year 2021, as well as the estimated annual value of costs with electricity and/or gas in 2022 and will calculate and display VSP2 (requested value pillar 2) according to the following algorithm:

– 30% of the Eligible Cost (EC) representing the product of the following elements: the number of units of natural gas and electricity purchased by the enterprise from external suppliers as final consumers in the period between February 1, 2022, and December 31, 2022, at the latest, and a certain increase in the price paid by the enterprise per consumed unit (measured, for example, in EUR/MWh). This price increase is calculated as the difference between the unit price paid by the enterprise in a certain month of the eligible period and double (200%) the unit price paid by the enterprise on average in the reference period between January 1, 2021, and December 31, 2021;

Simplified calculation formula for letter d): EC = (P (t) — P (ref) * 2) * q (t) P (t) – the unit price paid by the enterprise in a certain month of the eligible period P (ref) – the unit price paid by the enterprise on average in the reference period q (t) – the number of units of natural gas and electricity purchased by the enterprise in the eligible period

(3) The maximum amount of aid granted under pillar 1 does not exceed 500,000 EUR per group-enterprise as defined by this aid scheme, at any time, in gross sum, before deduction of taxes or other charges and is granted within the time limit imposed by the Temporary Framework Ukraine.

(4) a) The maximum amount of aid granted under pillar 2 does not exceed 2 million EUR per group-enterprise as defined by this aid scheme, at any time, in gross sum, before deduction of taxes or other charges and is granted until the latest date imposed by the Temporary Framework Ukraine.

b) The maximum combined value of the aid granted under both pillars (Pillar 1 + Pillar 2) does not exceed 2 million EUR per group-enterprise, as defined by this aid scheme, at any time, in gross sum, before deduction of taxes or other charges and is granted until the latest date imposed by the Temporary Framework Ukraine.

(5) The Scheme’s budget is estimated at 550 million euros, equivalent in lei; by implementing the measure, it is estimated that state aid will be granted to an estimated number of 10,000 beneficiaries.