Final guide – 29.08.2023

Objective

OS 1.3 Intensification of sustainable growth and increasing the competitiveness of SMEs and job creation within SMEs, including through productive investments

OS 1.4 Developing skills for smart specialization, industrial transition and entrepreneurship

Action 1.4 Growth of SMEs through investments, industrial modernization, technological advance and a sustainable economy

The type of call

Competitive, with deadline

Call opening date: 12.10.2023 at 12:00

Call closing date: 12.12.2023 at 12:00

The allocated budget

81,016,706 euros

Eligible beneficiaries

The applicant is a registered company, at the earliest until the time of payment of the aid based on Companies Law no. 31/1990, republished, with subsequent amendments and additions, or based on Law 1/2005 on the organization and operation of the cooperative, with subsequent amendments and additions, which fall into the category of micro-enterprises or small or medium-sized enterprises.

The place of implementation of the project must be located in localities in the Central Region, Romania, as follows:

• in the case of small and medium-sized enterprises – in the urban or rural environment
• in the case of micro-enterprises - in the urban environment

Minimum eligibility criteria

• The applicant carried out activity for a period corresponding to at least one full fiscal year, did not have the activity temporarily suspended at any time in the current year of submitting the financing request and in the previous fiscal year and recorded a net profit or operating profit (>0 lei) in the year fiscal year prior to submitting the funding request or in 2019

• a) The applicant registered an average number of employees of at least 3, in the fiscal year prior to the submission of the financing application

or

• b) The applicant has at least 3 full-time employees for an indefinite period, on the date of submitting the financing application

• The applicant, as well as his legal representatives, who exercise their legal duties, meet the eligibility conditions, respectively, they do NOT fall into the exclusion situations presented below starting from the date of submission of the funding application:
  • in a state of bankruptcy/insolvency
  • is the subject of a recovery order
  • is in trouble
  • And so on

• The applicant has rights over the property (building and/or land), object of the project, which gives him the right to make the investment starting from the date of submitting the financing application
  • For investments that include construction works that are subject to authorisation, applicants must prove the existence of one of the following rights over the property (land and building): private property right; right of concession over an asset belonging to the public property; surface right over the land on which a construction object of the project is to be built.

• For investments that do not include construction works that are subject to authorization, applicants must prove the existence of one of the following rights over the property (land and building): private property right; right of concession; surface right over the land on which a construction is built; right of usufruct; right of use resulting from a contract for the loan of use (commodate) or rental/lease contract.

• The applicant will have to prove that he can ensure the sustainability of the investment in accordance with art. 65 of the Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council no. 1060/20217

• The applicant has the financial capacity to provide
  • own contribution of at least 25% from the eligible costs
  • financing of all costs, including ineligible but necessary costs related to the project
  • the financial resources necessary for the optimal implementation of the project under the conditions of the subsequent reimbursement of the eligible expenses, from the Union funds
  • operating and maintenance expenses related to the project that include investments in infrastructure or productive investments, in order to ensure their financial sustainability, throughout the duration of the financing contract.

Minimum and maximum eligible/non-reimbursable value of a project

250,000 euros – 1,500,000 euros

The funding percentage

	Maximum State aid intensity (%)
SME TYPE	white	Braşov	Covasna	Snort	Mures	Sibiu
Micro / Small	70	60	60	60	70	60
MEDIUM	60	50	50	50	60	50

For the eligible expenses financed by de minimis aid, in this call for projects the intensity of the de minimis aid is 100%.

Eligible investments

Projects that make an initial investment in the Central Region are supported, through:

• Construction, expansion or modernization of production or service premises
• Equipping with equipment, technologies, machines, including innovative technologies, and investments in the production spaces/providing related services, in order to improve the technical capacities of SMEs;
• Integrating new technologies into manufacturing processes, such as IoT, automation, robotics, artificial intelligence, micro/nanoelectronics, nanotechnologies, photonics, advanced materials, industrial biotechnology and advanced manufacturing technologies, etc.;
• Integration of new technologies in order to improve services;
• Adoption and use of advanced production techniques

Within the initial investment and directly related to it, activities aimed at supporting ecological production processes and the efficient use of resources in SMEs can be financed.

IMPORTANT!

To score, the project involves investments in green production processes and efficient use of resources (digitized criterion) to the extent of 25% or more.

The innovative character of the proposed investment is ensured through product/service and process innovation/diversification.

The investment provides for the increase in the average number of employees as a result of the investment and the maintenance of this increase during the entire monitoring period of the project - more than 5 new employees - to obtain the maximum score.

PR Centru finances investments only in eligible fields of activity (CAEN classes), as listed in Annex 3 to the Applicant's Guide and only if the applicant operates or wishes to expand into one of the areas of smart specialization identified in the Region's Smart Specialization Strategy Center for the period 2021-2027.