Scope
1. This Regulation shall apply to the following categories of aid:
(a)
aid in favour of micro, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs):
(i)
active in the agricultural sector, namely primary agricultural production, the processing of agricultural products and the marketing of agricultural products, with the exception of Articles 14, 15, 16, 18, 23 and 25 to 31, which shall only apply to SMEs active in primary agricultural production;
(ii)
active in non-agricultural activities in rural areas falling outside the scope of Article 42 of the Treaty, insofar as such aid is granted in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2021/2115 and is either co-financed by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (‘EAFRD’) or granted as additional national financing for such co-financed measures. By derogation, this Regulation shall apply to aid to municipalities benefiting directly or indirectly from CLLD projects, pursuant to Articles 60 and 61 of this Regulation;
(b)
aid for environmental protection in agriculture as referred to in Articles 33, 34 and 35, which shall only apply to undertakings active in primary agricultural production;
(c)
aid for investments for the conservation of cultural and natural heritage located on agricultural holdings and in forests;
(d)
aid in favour of making good the damage caused by natural disasters in the agricultural sector;
(e)
aid for research, development and innovation in the agricultural and forestry sectors;
(f)
aid in favour of forestry.
2. Where Member States deem it appropriate, they may choose to grant aid referred to in paragraph 1, points (a), (e) and (f), in compliance with Commission Regulation (EU) No 651/2014 ( 17 ) .
3. This Regulation shall not apply to:
(a)
aid schemes referred to in Articles 14, 17, 41 to 44 and 46, aid schemes referred to in Articles 49 and 50, if they fulfil the conditions of Article 12, from six months after their entry into force. However, the Commission may decide that this Regulation shall continue to apply to an aid scheme for longer than six months, after having assessed the relevant evaluation plan notified by the Member State to the Commission. When submitting the evaluation plans, Member States shall also submit all the information necessary for the Commission to carry out an assessment of the evaluation plans and to take a decision;
(b)
any alterations of schemes referred to in point (a) other than modifications which do not affect the compatibility of the aid scheme under this Regulation or do not significantly affect the content of the approved evaluation plan;
(c)
aid to export-related activities towards third countries or Member States, namely aid directly linked to the quantities exported, to the establishment and operation of a distribution network or to other current costs linked to export activity;
(d)
aid contingent upon the use of domestic over imported goods.
4. This Regulation shall not apply to:
(a)
aid schemes which do not explicitly exclude the payment of individual aid in favour of an undertaking which is subject to an outstanding recovery order following a previous Commission decision declaring an aid granted by the same Member State illegal and incompatible with the internal market, with the exception of:
(i)
aid schemes to make good the damage caused by natural disasters in accordance with Article 37;
(ii)
aid schemes for community-led local development (‘CLLD’) or European Innovation Partnership for agricultural productivity and sustainability (‘EIP’) Operational Group projects in accordance with Articles 40 and 61;
(b)
ad hoc aid to an undertaking referred to in point (a).
5. This Regulation shall not apply to aid to undertakings in difficulty with the exception of aid granted:
(a)
for information actions in the agricultural and forestry sectors in accordance with Articles 21 and 47;
(b)
for promotion measures in the form of publications aimed at raising awareness of agricultural products among the wider public in accordance with Article 24(2), point (b);
(c)
to compensate for the costs of the prevention, control and eradication of animal diseases and plant pests in accordance with Article 26(8) and (9);
(d)
to cover the costs of the removal and destruction of fallen stock in accordance with Article 27(2), points (c), (d) and (e);
(e)
for disadvantages related to Natura areas 2000 in accordance with Article 33;
(f)
to make good the damage caused by natural disasters in accordance with Article 37;
(g)
for undertakings participating in or benefitting from CLLD projects and EIP Operational Group projects, in accordance with Articles 40 and 61;
(h)
in the following cases, provided that the undertaking became an undertaking in difficulty due to losses or damages caused by the event in question:
(i)
to make good the damage caused by an adverse climatic event which can be assimilated to a natural disaster in accordance with Article 25;
(ii)
to make good the damage caused by animal diseases and plant pests in accordance with Article 26(9) and Article 26(10);
(iii)
to make good the damage caused by protected animals in accordance with Article 29;
(iv)
for the restoration of damage to forests in accordance with Article 43(2), point (d).
6. This Regulation shall not apply to aid which entails, by itself, by the conditions attached to it or by its financing method, a non-severable violation of Union law, in particular:
(a)
aid where the grant of aid is subject to the obligation for the beneficiary to use nationally produced goods or national services;
(b)
aid restricting the possibility for the beneficiaries to exploit the research, development and innovation results in other Member States.
7. This Regulation shall not apply to aid in favour of agricultural products within the meaning of Annex 1 to the WTO Agreement on Agriculture ( 18 ) , which constitutes an export subsidy as defined by that Agreement. Likewise, it shall not apply to aid in favour of such products, which constitutes export financing support provided by a government or any public body within the scope of the WTO Ministerial Decision on Export Competition of 19 December 2015 ( 19 ) , if it does not comply with the relevant requirements of paragraph 15 of that Decision on maximum repayment term and self-financing.
Definitions
For the purpose of this Regulation the following definitions shall apply:
(1)
‘ad hoc aid’ means aid not granted on the basis of an aid scheme;
(2)
‘adverse climatic event which can be assimilated to a natural disaster’ means unfavourable weather conditions such as frost, storms and hail, ice, heavy or persistent rain or severe drought which destroy, in the case of agriculture, more than 30 % of the average production calculated on the basis of the preceding three-year or four-year period or a three-year average based on the preceding five- or eight-year period, excluding the highest and the lowest entry; in the case of forestry, more than 20 % of the forestry potential;
(3)
‘advice’ means complete advice given in the framework of one and the same contract;
(4)
‘agricultural activity’ means an activity as determined by a Member State in its CAP Strategic Plan in accordance with Article 4(2) of Regulation (EU) 2021/2115;
(5)
‘agricultural area’ means any area as determined by a Member State in its CAP Strategic Plan in accordance with Article 4(3) of Regulation (EU) 2021/2115;
(6)
‘agricultural holding’ means a unit comprising of land, premises and facilities used for primary agricultural production;
(7)
‘agricultural product’ means the products listed in Annex I to the Treaty, except the fishery and aquaculture products listed in Annex I to Regulation (EU) No 1379/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 20 ) ;
(8)
‘agricultural sector’ means all undertakings active in primary agricultural production, processing and marketing of agricultural products;
(9)
‘agroforestry systems’ means land use systems where trees are grown in combination with agriculture on the same land;
(10)
‘aid’ means any measure fulfilling all the criteria laid down in Article 107(1) of the Treaty;
(11)
‘aid granted in the framework of a CAP Strategic Plan’ means support granted in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2021/2115 either as aid co-financed by the EAFRD or as additional national financing to such co-financed aid;
(12)
‘aid intensity’ means the gross aid amount expressed as a percentage of the eligible costs, before any deduction of tax or other charge;
(13)
‘aid scheme’ means any act on the basis of which, without further implementing measures being required, individual aid awards may be made to undertakings defined within the act in a general and abstract manner and any act on the basis of which aid which is not linked to a specific project may be granted to one or several undertakings for an indefinite period of time and for an indefinite amount;
(14)
‘arm’s length’ means that the conditions of the transaction between the contracting parties do not differ from those which would be stipulated between independent undertakings and contain no element of collusion. Any transaction that results from an open, transparent and unconditional procedure is considered as meeting the arm’s length principle;
(15)
‘biosecurity measures’ means management and physical measures designed to reduce the risk of introduction, development and spread of diseases to, from and within the following:
(a)
an animal population;
(b)
an establishment, zone, compartment, means of transport or any other facilities, premises or location;
(16)
‘breeding book’ means book as provided for in Article 2, point (12), of Regulation (EU) 2016/1012 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 21 ) ;
(17)
‘CAP Strategic Plan’ means CAP Strategic Plan as referred to in Article 1(1), point (c), of Regulation (EU) 2021/2115;
(18)
‘capitalised works’ means works, undertaken by a farmer personally or by the farmer’s workers on the farm, that create an asset;
(19)
‘carbon farming schemes’ means aid schemes related to land management practices resulting in the increase of carbon storage in living biomass, dead organic matter and soils by enhancing carbon capture and/or reducing the release of carbon to the atmosphere;
(20)
‘catastrophic event’ means an unforeseen event of biotic or abiotic nature caused by human action that leads to important disturbances of forest structures, eventually causing important economic damage to the forest sectors;
(21)
‘date of granting the aid’ means the date when the legal right to receive the aid is conferred on the beneficiary under the applicable national legal regime;
(22)
‘control and eradication measures’ means measures regarding animal diseases for which a competent authority of the Member State has formally recognised an outbreak, or regarding plant pests or invasive alien species for which a competent authority has formally acknowledged their presence;
(23)
‘evaluation plan’ means a document covering one or more aid schemes and containing at least the following aspects: the objectives to be evaluated, the evaluation questions, the result indicators, the envisaged method to conduct the evaluation, the data collection requirements, the proposed timing of the evaluation including the date of submission of the interim and of the final evaluation reports, the description of the independent body that will carry out the evaluation or the criteria that will be used for its selection and the modalities for making the evaluation publicly available;
(24)
‘fallen stock’ means animals which have been killed by euthanasia with or without a definite diagnosis or which have died, including stillborn and unborn animals, on a farm or on any premises or during transport, but which have not been slaughtered for human consumption;
(25)
‘fast growing trees’ means a short rotation forest, where the minimum time before felling is set to be not less than 8 years and the maximum time before felling is set not to exceed 20 years;
(26)
‘fiscal successor scheme’ means a scheme in the form of tax advantages which constitutes an amended version of a previously existing scheme in the form of tax advantages and which replaces it;
(27)
‘fixed costs arising from participation in quality scheme’ means the costs incurred for entering a supported quality scheme and the annual contribution for participating in that quality scheme, including, where necessary, expenditure on checks required to verify compliance with the specifications of the quality scheme;
(28)
‘food based biofuel’ means a biofuel produced from food and feed crops, as defined in Directive (EU) 2018/2001;
(29)
‘foodstuffs’ means foodstuffs which are not agricultural products and which are listed in Annex I to Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 22 ) ;
(30)
‘gross grant equivalent’ means the amount of the aid if it had been provided in the form of a grant to the beneficiary, before any deduction of tax or other charges;
(31)
‘individual aid’ means:
(a)
ad hoc aid;
(b)
awards of aid to individual beneficiaries on the basis of an aid scheme;
(32)
‘intangible assets’ means assets that do not have a physical or financial embodiment such as patents, licences, know-how or other intellectual property;
(33)
‘investments to comply with a Union standard’ means investments made to comply with a Union standard after the expiry of the transitional period provided for in Union legislation;
(34)
‘large enterprises’ means undertakings not fulfilling the criteria laid down in Annex I;
(35)
‘marketing of agricultural products’ means holding or displaying with a view to sale, offering for sale, delivery or any other manner of placing on the market, except the first sale by a farmer to resellers or processors and any activity preparing a product for such first sale; a sale by a farmer to final consumers is considered as marketing of agricultural products if it takes place in separate premises or facilities reserved for that purpose;
(36)
‘mutual funds’ means a scheme accredited by a Member State in accordance with its national law for affiliated farmers to insure themselves, whereby compensation payments are made to affiliated farmers who experience economic losses;
(37)
‘Natura 2000 areas’ means special agriculture or forest areas as referred to in Article 3 of Directive 92/43/EEC and in Article 3 of Directive 2009/147/EC;
(38)
‘natural disasters’ means earthquakes, avalanches, landslides and floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions and wild fires of natural origin;
(39)
‘non-productive investment’ means investment which does not lead to a significant increase in the value or profitability of the holding;
(40)
‘operations prior to industrial processing’ means felling, dismembering, stripping, cutting up, storage, protective treatment and drying of wood and all other working operations prior to the industrial sawing of wood at a sawing mill; as well as sawmilling where the maximum processing capacity is 20,000 m 3 roundwood input for sawmilling per year;
(41)
‘other adverse climatic events’ means unfavourable weather conditions which do not fall within the definition of adverse climatic event which can be assimilated to a natural disaster;
(42)
‘outermost regions’ means the regions referred to in Article 349, first paragraph, of the Treaty;
(43)
‘plant pest’ means: any species, strain or biotype of plant, animal or pathogenic agent injurious to plants or plant products;
(44)
‘primary agricultural production’ means the production of products of the soil and of stock farming, listed in Annex I to the Treaty, without performing any further operation changing the nature of such products;
(45)
‘processing of agricultural products’ means any operation on an agricultural product resulting in a product which is also an agricultural product, except on-farm activities necessary for preparing an animal or plant product for first sale;
(46)
‘producer group or organisation’ means a group or organisation set up for the purpose of one of the following:
(a)
adapting the production and output of producers who are members of such producer groups or organisations to market requirements;
(b)
jointly placing goods on the market, including the preparation for sale, centralisation of sales and supply to bulk buyers;
(c)
establishing common rules on production information, with particular regard to harvesting and availability;
(d)
other activities that may be carried out by producer groups or organisations, such as the development of business and marketing skills, the organisation and facilitation of innovation processes, joint management of the members’ land, the use of environmentally sound cultivation practices and production techniques, sound animal welfare practices and techniques;
(47)
‘protected animal’ means any animal protected either by Union or by national legislation, including animal species for which national legislation provides for specific rules to preserve the population;
(48)
‘regional aid maps’ means the list of areas designated by a Member State in line with the conditions laid down in the Guidelines on regional State aid ( 23 ) and approved by the Commission;
(49)
‘repayable advance’ means a loan for a project which is paid in one or more instalments and the conditions for the reimbursement of which depend on the outcome of the project;
(50)
‘research and knowledge-dissemination organisation’ means an entity, irrespective of its legal status or way of financing, whose primary goal is to independently conduct fundamental research, industrial research or experimental development, or to widely disseminate the results of such activities by way of teaching, publication or knowledge transfer;
(51)
‘smaller Aegean islands’ means the smaller islands referred to in Article 1(2) of Regulation (EU) No 229/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 24 ) ;
(52)
‘SME’ or ‘micro, small and medium-sized enterprises’ means undertakings fulfilling the criteria laid down in Annex I;
(53)
‘start of works on the project or activity’ means the earlier of either the start of the activities or the construction works relating to the investment, or the first legally binding commitment to order equipment or employ services or any other commitment that makes the project or activity irreversible; buying land and preparatory works such as obtaining permits and conducting feasibility studies are not considered start of works or activity;
(54)
‘subsidised services’ means a form of aid, where the aid is granted to the final beneficiary indirectly, in kind, and is paid to the provider of the service or activity in question;
(55)
‘tangible assets’ means assets consisting of land, buildings and plant, machinery and equipment;
(56)
‘transaction cost’ means an additional cost linked to fulfilling a commitment, but not directly attributable to its implementation or not included in the costs or income foregone that are compensated directly; and which can be calculated on a standard cost basis;
(57)
‘Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy (‘TSE’) and Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (‘BSE’) test costs’ means all costs, including those for test kits and for the taking, transporting, testing, storing and destruction of samples necessary for sampling and laboratory testing in accordance with Chapter C of Annex X to Regulation (EC) No 999/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 25 ) ;
(58)
‘trees for short rotation coppicing’ means tree species of CN code 06 02 9041 to be defined by Member States that consist of woody, perennial crops, the rootstock or stools of which remain in the ground after harvesting, with new shoots emerging in the following season and with a maximum harvest cycle to be determined by the Member States;
(59)
‘undertaking in difficulty’ means an undertaking fulfilling the criteria laid down in Article 2, point (18), of Regulation (EU) No 651/2014;
(60)
‘Union standard’ means mandatory standard laid down in Union legislation setting the level which individual undertakings must achieve, in particular as regards the environment, hygiene and animal welfare; however, standards or targets set at Union level which are binding for Member States but not for individual undertakings are not deemed to be Union standards;
(61)
‘young farmer’ means a farmer as determined by a Member State in its CAP Strategic Plan in accordance with Article 4(6) of Regulation (EU) 2021/2115.
Conditions for exemption
Aid schemes, individual aid granted under aid schemes and ad hoc aid shall be compatible with the internal market within the meaning of Article 107(2) or (3) of the Treaty and shall be exempted from the notification requirement of Article 108(3) of the Treaty provided that such aid fulfils all the conditions laid down in Chapter I of this Regulation, as well as the specific conditions for the relevant category of aid laid down in Chapter III of this Regulation.
Notification thresholds
1. This Regulation shall not apply to any individual aid, the gross grant equivalent of which exceeds the following thresholds:
(a)
aid for investments in agricultural holdings linked to primary agricultural production as referred to in Article 14: EUR 600 000 per undertaking per investment project;
(b)
aid for investments concerning the relocation of a farm building resulting in the modernisation of facilities or in an increase in production capacity as referred to in Article 16(4): EUR 600 000 per undertaking per investment project;
(c)
aid for investments in connection with the processing of agricultural products and the marketing of agricultural products as referred to in Article 17: EUR 7,5 million per undertaking per investment project;
(d)
aid for animal welfare commitments, as referred to in Article 31: EUR 500 per livestock unit per year;
(e)
aid for disadvantages related to Natura 2000 areas as referred to in Article 33: EUR 500 per hectare per year in the initial period of maximum five years and EUR 200 per hectare per year thereafter;
(f)
aid for agri-environmental-climate commitments as referred to in Article 34: EUR 600 per hectare per year for annual crops, EUR 900 per hectare per year for specialised perennial crops and EUR 450 per hectare per year for other land uses;
(g)
aid for organic farming as referred to in Article 35: EUR 600 per hectare per year for annual crops, EUR 900 per hectare per year for specialised perennial crops and EUR 450 per hectare per year for other land uses;
(h)
aid for investments in favour of the conservation of cultural and natural heritage located on agricultural holdings or in forests as referred to in Article 36: EUR 600 000 per undertaking per investment project;
(i)
aid for research and development in the agricultural and forestry sectors as referred to in Article 38: EUR 7,5 million per project;
(j)
aid for costs incurred by undertakings participating in EIP Operational Group projects as referred to in Article 39: EUR 2 million per undertaking, per project;
(k)
limited amounts of aid to undertakings benefitting from EIP Operational Group projects as referred to in Article 40: EUR 500 000 per EIP Operational Group project;
(l)
aid for afforestation and the creation of woodland as referred to in Article 41: EUR 7,5 million per establishment project;
(m)
aid for agroforestry systems as referred to in Article 42: EUR 7,5 million per agroforestry system establishment project;
(n)
aid for investments improving the resilience and environmental value of forest ecosystems as referred to in Article 44: EUR 7,5 million per investment project;
(o)
aid for area-specific disadvantages resulting from certain mandatory requirements as referred to in Article 45: EUR 500 per hectare per year in the initial period not exceeding five years and EUR 200 per hectare per year thereafter;
(p)
aid for forest-environmental-climate services and forest conservation as referred to in Article 46: EUR 200 per hectare per year, with exception of aid referred to in Article 46, paragraph 8;
(q)
aid for advisory services in the forestry sector as referred to in Article 48: EUR 200 000 per undertaking and per year;
(r)
aid for investments in infrastructure related to the development, modernisation or adaptation of the forestry sector as referred to in Article 49: EUR 7,5 million per investment project;
(s)
aid for investments in forestry technologies and in processing, in mobilising and in marketing of forestry products as referred to in Article 50: EUR 7,5 million per investment project;
(t)
aid for investments for basic services and infrastructure in rural areas as referred to in Article 55: EUR 10 million per investment project;
(u)
aid for costs incurred by SMEs participating in CLLD projects, designated as LEADER local development under EAFRD referred to in Article 60: EUR 2 million per undertaking, per project;
(v)
limited amount of aid to SMEs benefitting from CLLD projects as referred to in Article 61: EUR 200 000 per CLLD project.
2. The thresholds set out in paragraph 1 shall not be circumvented by the artificial splitting up of the aid schemes or aid projects.
Transparency of aid
1. This Regulation shall apply only to transparent aid.
2. Aid shall be considered to be transparent if it is possible to calculate precisely the gross grant equivalent ex ante without need to undertake a risk assessment.
3. For the purpose of this Regulation, the following forms of aid shall be considered to be transparent aid:
(a)
aid comprised in grants, interest rate subsidies and subsidised services;
(b)
aid comprised in loans, where the gross grant equivalent has been calculated on the basis of the reference rate prevailing at the time of the grant;
(c)
aid comprised in guarantees where one of the following applies:
(i)
the gross grant equivalent has been calculated on the basis of safe-harbour premiums laid down in a Commission notice;
(ii)
before the implementation of the aid, the methodology to calculate the gross grant equivalent of the guarantee has been accepted on the basis of the Notice on Guarantees, following notification of that methodology to the Commission under any State aid regulation adopted by the Commission applicable at the time, and the approved methodology explicitly addresses the type of guarantee and the type of underlying transaction at stake in the context of the application of this Regulation;
(d)
aid in the form of tax advantages, where the measure provides for a cap ensuring that the applicable threshold is not exceeded;
(e)
aid in the form of repayable advances, if the total nominal amount of the repayable advance does not exceed the thresholds applicable under this Regulation or if, before implementation of the measure, the methodology to calculate the gross grant equivalent of the repayable advance has been accepted following its notification to the Commission;
(f)
aid in the form of the sale or the lease of tangible assets below market rates where the value is established either by an independent expert evaluation prior to the transaction or by reference to a publicly available, regularly updated and generally accepted benchmark.
4. For the purpose of this Regulation, the following forms of aid shall not be considered to be transparent aid:
(a)
aid comprised in capital injections;
(b)
aid comprised in risk finance measures.
Incentive effect
1. This Regulation shall apply only to aid which has an incentive effect.
2. Aid shall be considered to have an incentive effect if the beneficiary has submitted a written application for the aid to the Member State concerned before work on the project or activity has started. The application for the aid shall contain at least the following information:
(a)
undertaking’s name and size;
(b)
description of the project or the activity, including its start and end dates;
(c)
location of the project or the activity;
(d)
list of eligible costs;
(e)
type (grant, loan, guarantee, repayable advance or other) and amount of public funding needed for the project/activity.
3. Ad hoc aid granted to large enterprises shall be considered to have an incentive effect if, in addition to ensuring that the condition laid down in paragraph 2 is fulfilled, the Member State has verified, before granting the ad hoc aid concerned, that documentation prepared by the beneficiary establishes that the aid will result in one or more of the following:
(a)
a material increase in the scope of the project or activity due to the aid;
(b)
a material increase in the total amount spent by the beneficiary on the project or activity due to the aid;
(c)
a material increase in the speed of completion of the project or activity concerned;
(d)
in the case of investment ad hoc aid, that the project or activity would not have been carried out as such in the rural area concerned or would not have been sufficiently profitable for the beneficiary in the rural area concerned in the absence of the aid.
These requirements do not apply to municipalities that are autonomous local authorities with an annual budget of less than EUR 10 million and fewer than 5 000 inhabitants.
4. By way of derogation from paragraphs 2 and 3, measures in the form of tax advantages shall be deemed to have an incentive effect if both of the following conditions are fulfilled:
(a)
the measure establishes a right to aid in accordance with objective criteria and without further exercise of discretion by the Member State;
(b)
the measure has been adopted and is in force before work on the aided project or activity has started, except in the case of fiscal successor schemes where the activity was already covered by the previous schemes in the form of tax advantages.
5. Moreover by way of derogation from paragraphs 2, 3 and 4 the following categories of aid are not required to have or shall be deemed to have an incentive effect:
(a)
aid schemes for land consolidation where the conditions laid down in Article 15 or Article 53 are fulfilled and where:
(i)
the aid scheme establishes a right to aid in accordance with objective criteria and without further exercise of discretion by the Member State; and
(ii)
the aid scheme has been adopted and is in force before eligible costs under Article 15 or Article 53 are incurred by the beneficiary;
(b)
aid for information actions in the agricultural sector in compliance with Articles 21 and 22, which consists of making available the information to an undefined number of beneficiaries;
(c)
aid for promotion measures in the form of publications aimed at raising awareness of agricultural products among the wider public where the conditions laid down in Article 24(2), point (b), are fulfilled;
(d)
aid to compensate for losses caused by adverse climatic event which can be assimilated to a natural disaster where the conditions laid down in Article 25 are fulfilled;
(e)
aid to compensate for the costs of the prevention, control and eradication of animal diseases and plant pests and for losses caused by those animal diseases or plant pests where the conditions laid down in Article 26 are fulfilled;
(f)
aid to cover the costs of the removal and destruction of fallen stock where the conditions laid down in Article 27(2), points (c), (d), (e) and (f), are fulfilled;
(g)
aid to make good the damage caused by protected animals where the conditions laid down in Article 29 are fulfilled;
(h)
aid for disadvantages related to Natura 2000 areas as referred to in Article 33;
(i)
aid for investments in favour of the conservation of cultural and natural heritage located on agricultural holdings or in forests where the conditions laid down in Article 36 are fulfilled;
(j)
aid to make good the damage caused by natural disasters in the agricultural sector where the conditions laid down in Article 37 are fulfilled;
(k)
aid for research, development and innovation in the agricultural and forestry sectors where the conditions laid down in Article 38 are fulfilled;
(l)
aid for the restoration of damage to forests in accordance with Article 43(2), point (d), where the conditions laid down in Article 43 are fulfilled;
(m)
aid for information actions in the forestry sector in compliance with Articles 47 and 48, which consists of making available the information to an undefined number of beneficiaries;
(n)
aid for conservation of genetic resources in forestry where the conditions laid down in Article 51 are fulfilled;
(o)
aid for the participation of farmers in quality schemes for cotton and foodstuffs where the conditions laid down in Article 58 are fulfilled;
(p)
aid for undertakings participating in or benefitting from CLLD projects and EIP Operational Group projects, if the relevant conditions in Articles 39, 40, 60 and 61 are fulfilled.
Aid intensity and eligible costs
1. For the purposes of calculating the aid intensity and the eligible costs, all figures used shall be taken before any deduction of tax or other charge. The eligible costs shall be supported by documentary evidence which shall be clear, specific and contemporary. The amounts of eligible costs may be calculated in accordance with the simplified cost options set out in Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 and Regulation (EU) 2021/2115, provided that the operation is at least partly financed through the EAFRD and that the category of costs is eligible according to the relevant exemption provision.
2. Aid amounts for the measures or types of operations referred to in Articles 31, 33, 34, 35, 41, 45 and 46 may be fixed on the basis of standard assumptions of additional costs and income foregone. In such cases, Member States shall ensure that the calculations and the corresponding aid contain only elements that are verifiable, are based on figures established by appropriate expertise, indicate clearly the source of the figures used, are differentiated to take account of regional or local site conditions and actual land use, where applicable and do not contain elements linked to investment costs.
3. Value added tax (VAT) shall not be eligible for aid, except where it is not recoverable under national VAT legislation.
4. Where aid is granted in a form other than a grant, the aid amount shall be the gross grant equivalent of the aid.
5. Aid payable in the future, including aid payable in several instalments, shall be discounted to its value at the moment it is granted. The eligible costs shall be discounted to their value on the date of granting the aid. The interest rate to be used for discounting purposes shall be the discount rate applicable on the date of granting the aid.
6. Where aid is granted by means of tax advantages, the discounting of aid tranches shall take place on the basis of the discount rates applicable at the various times the tax advantage takes effect.
7. Where aid is granted in the form of repayable advances which, in the absence of an accepted methodology to calculate their gross grant equivalent, are expressed as a percentage of the eligible costs and where the measure provides that in the case of a successful outcome of the project, as defined on the basis of reasonable and prudent hypothesis, the advances shall be repaid with an interest rate at least equal to the discount rate applicable on the date of granting the aid, the maximum aid intensities laid down in Chapter III may be increased by 10 percentage points.
Cumulation
1. In determining whether the notification thresholds provided for in Article 4 and the maximum aid intensities and maximum aid amounts laid down in Chapter III are respected, the total amount of State aid for the aided activity or project or undertaking shall be taken into account.
2. Where Union funding is centrally managed by the institutions, agencies, joint undertakings or other bodies of the Union that is not directly or indirectly under the control of the Member State is combined with State aid, only the latter shall be considered for determining whether notification thresholds and maximum aid intensities and ceilings are respected, provided that the total amount of public funding granted in relation to the same eligible costs does not exceed the most favourable funding rates laid down in the applicable rules of Union law.
3. Aid with identifiable eligible costs, exempted from the notification requirement of Article 108(3) of the Treaty under this Regulation, may be cumulated with:
(a)
any other State aid, as long as those measures concern different identifiable eligible costs;
(b)
any other State aid, in relation to the same eligible costs, partly or fully overlapping, only if such cumulation does not result in exceeding the highest aid intensity or aid amount applicable to this aid under this Regulation.
4. Aid without identifiable eligible costs exempted under Articles 18, 19, 40 and 61 may be cumulated with any other State aid with identifiable eligible costs.
Aid without identifiable eligible costs may be cumulated with other State aid without identifiable eligible costs, up to the highest relevant total financing threshold fixed in the specific circumstances of each case by this or another block exemption regulation or decision adopted by the Commission.
5. State aid exempted under Sections 1, 2 and 3 of Chapter III of this Regulation shall not be cumulated with payments referred to in Article 145(2) and Article 146 of Regulation (EU) 2021/2115 in respect of the same eligible costs if such cumulation would result in an aid intensity or aid amount exceeding those laid down in this Regulation.
6. State aid granted under Articles 31, 34 and 35 shall not be cumulated with payments referred to in Article 31 of Regulation (EU) 2021/2115 in respect of the same eligible costs if such cumulation would result in an aid intensity or aid amount exceeding those laid down in this Regulation.
7. State aid exempted under this Regulation shall not be cumulated with any de minimis aid in respect of the same eligible costs if such cumulation would result in an aid intensity or aid amount exceeding those laid down in Chapter III.
8. Aid for investments aimed at the restoration of agricultural production potential as referred to in Article 14(3), point (d), shall not be cumulated with aid for compensation for material damage as referred to in Articles 25, 26, 28 and 37.
9. Start-up aid for producer groups and organisations in the agricultural sector as referred to in Article 19 of this Regulation shall not be cumulated with aid for the setting-up of producers groups and organisations in the agricultural sector as referred to in Article 77 of Regulation (EU) 2021/2115.
10. Start-up aid for young farmers and start-up aid for agricultural activities as referred to in Article 18 of this Regulation shall not be cumulated with the support for the installation of young farmers or for rural business start-up as referred to in Article 75 of Regulation (EU) 2021/2115 if such cumulation would result in an aid amount exceeding those laid down in this Regulation.
Publication and information
1. The Member State concerned shall ensure the publication in the Commission’s transparency award module ( 26 ) or on a comprehensive State aid website at national or regional level of:
(a)
the summary information referred to in Article 11 or a link to it;
(b)
the full text of each aid referred to in Article 11, including any amendments, or a link providing access to the full text;
(c)
the information referred to in Annex III on each individual aid award exceeding the following:
(i)
EUR 10 000 for beneficiaries active in the primary agricultural production sector;
(ii)
EUR 100 000 for beneficiaries active in the sector of the processing of agricultural products, the marketing of agricultural products, the forestry sector or for activities falling outside the scope of Article 42 of the Treaty.
2. For aid schemes in the form of tax advantages, the conditions set out in paragraph 1 shall be considered fulfilled if Member States publish the required information on individual aid amounts in the following ranges in EUR million:
(a)
0,01- 0,1 only for primary agricultural production;
(b)
0,1- 0,5;
(c)
0,5-1;
(d)
1 to 2;
(e)
2 to 5;
(f)
5 to 10;
(g)
10 to 30;
(h)
30 and more.
3. The information referred to in paragraph 1 shall be organised and accessible in a standardized manner, as set out in Annex III and shall allow for effective search and download functions. The information referred to in paragraph 1, point (c), shall be published within six months from the date the aid was granted or, for aid in the form of tax advantages, within one year from the date the tax declaration is due, and shall be available for at least 10 years from the date of granting the aid.
4. The full text of the aid scheme or of the ad hoc aid referred to in paragraph 1 shall include, in particular, an explicit reference to this Regulation, by citing its title and publication reference in the Official Journal of the European Union and to the specific provisions of Chapter III concerned by that act, or where applicable, to the national law which ensures that the relevant provisions of this Regulation are complied with. The aid scheme or the ad hoc aid shall be accompanied by its implementing provisions and its amendments.
5. The publication obligations laid down in paragraph 1 shall not apply to aid granted to EIP Operational Group projects and CLLD projects under Articles 39, 40, 60 and 61.
6. The Commission shall publish on its website:
(a)
the summary information referred to in paragraph 1;
(b)
the links to the State aid websites of all Member States referred to in paragraph 1.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
