The state aid scheme for HoReCa companies has been rectified and promulgated.
Beneficiaries of the state aid intended for HoReCa firms will be required to maintain their activity for at least 6 or 12 months, rather than 1 or 2 years as previously stipulated by the Government. Additionally, organizers of events, conferences, fairs, and exhibitions will be eligible for funding, and the eligibility of expenses and the verification of their link to the activity for which they are applying will be eliminated from the criteria for obtaining state aid.
At the same time, commercial banks may be selected by the authorities as partners in the program, in the hope that they will be able to grant additional loans from their own sources to the scheme’s beneficiaries.
All these changes have been promulgated by President Klaus Iohannis.
Adopted at the end of 2020, the compensation scheme for losses suffered by the HoReCa industry following the coronavirus pandemic was modified by emergency ordinance in February, imposing new obligations on companies and reducing the Government’s responsibilities.
Thus, the Executive had provided that beneficiaries, verified by ANAF (National Agency for Fiscal Administration), were obliged to maintain activity for up to 2 years instead of at least 6 months, while the duration for signing financing contracts and the payment deadline for grants were extended.
Upon reaching the debate of senators in the specialized committees, the emergency ordinance was modified with several provisions aimed at facilitating the granting of state aid. The most important change concerns the removal of expense eligibility and their link to the activity for which a company applies from the registration stages for obtaining aid. Furthermore, the implementation procedure of the state aid scheme will detail the method and launch date of the call for projects, the registration, verification, contracting, payment, and monitoring procedures, but not the eligible expenses.
In order to grant state aid, only the following will continue to be verified:
- a) fulfillment of the eligibility conditions provided in the implementation procedure of the state aid scheme;
- b) the existence of the accounting expertise report, electronically signed by the chartered accountant, or the audit report, electronically signed by the financial auditor;
- c) the correspondence between the annual calculation base obtained from the eligible activity for the years 2019 and 2020, declared on their own responsibility by the applicant in the registration form, with the values calculated, certified, and assumed by the chartered accountant or the financial auditor;
- d) that they do not record outstanding tax obligations and other budgetary claims administered by the central fiscal body as defined according to art. 1, point 31 of Law 207/2015 on the Fiscal Procedure Code, with subsequent amendments and completions.
In this regard, the state aid provider will automatically extract fiscal certification certificates through the PATRIMVEN IT application. If such outstanding obligations are recorded, the beneficiary undertakes to pay them from the aid granted under the program.
For a “much faster payment process” within the state aid scheme, another amendment allows applicants to opt for receiving the grant in accounts opened at commercial banks that will be selected as partners in the program, based on a transparent and non-discriminatory procedure.
Now, the ordinance provides for direct payment of the aid from the budget, but also establishes that: “If the total value of the approved financing applications exceeds the value of the commitment or budgetary credit allocated for this purpose, the commitment, respectively the payment to the beneficiary, will be made proportionally, by reporting the amount approved for each beneficiary to the total amount of approved financing applications.” Therefore, it is possible that the authorities are offering banks the option to finance the difference in the very likely case that the scheme’s budget will not match the demand.
The state aid scheme for compensating losses in the HoReCa and tourism industry has been supplemented with organizers of events, conferences, fairs, and exhibitions (NACE 8230). Deputies also modified the estimated number of beneficiaries in the scheme from 73,211 to 74,000, thus including funding for nearly 6,800 event organizers.
According to the Government’s latest ordinance, beneficiaries of amounts greater than EUR 200,000 were obliged to maintain activity for 24 months from the date of payment, while for beneficiaries of smaller amounts, the obligation was 12 months. However, the deputies decided to return to the initial terms of the aid scheme, 6 and 12 months, arguing that the specifics of certain seasonal tourist accommodation or public catering units on the coast or in the mountains, which did not have activity outside the season even before the Covid-19 pandemic, must be taken into account.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the new activity maintenance requirements for HoReCa aid?
Beneficiaries must now maintain activity for 6 or 12 months, depending on the grant size, instead of the previously proposed 1-2 years, to accommodate seasonal businesses.
Who else is eligible for the state aid scheme?
The scheme has been expanded to include organizers of events, conferences, fairs, and exhibitions (NACE code 8230).
How will payments be handled if the budget is exceeded?
If the total value of approved applications exceeds the allocated budget, payments to beneficiaries will be made proportionally based on the available funds.