Aid for investments in infrastructure related to the development, modernisation or adaptation of the forestry sector
Article 49
1. Aid for investments in infrastructure related to the development, modernisation or adaptation of the forestry sector shall be compatible with the internal market within the meaning of Article 107(3), point (c), of the Treaty and shall be exempted from the notification requirement of Article 108(3) thereof where it fulfils the conditions laid down in this Article and in Chapter I of this Regulation. 2. For investment requiring an environmental impact assessment under Directive 2011/92/EU the aid shall be subject to the condition that such assessment shall have been carried out and the development consent shall have been granted for the investment project concerned before the date of granting the individual aid. The first subparagraph shall not apply to aid which is provided in the form of financial instruments. 3. Aid for large enterprises shall be conditional on the presentation of relevant information from a forest management plan or equivalent instrument in accordance with the General Guidelines for the Sustainable Management of Forests in Europe. This requirement does 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. The aid may cover investments which concern infrastructure related to the development, modernisation or adaptation of forests. If the aid is granted outside the framework of a CAP Strategic Plan it shall only include the following: (a) access to forest land; (b) land consolidation and improvement; (c) supply of sustainable energy, energy efficiency, supply and saving of water; (d) the use of livestock instead of machinery; (e) the establishment of temporary storage facilities. 5. The aid shall cover the following eligible costs: (a) the construction, acquisition, including leasing, or improvement of immovable property, with purchase of land only being eligible to an extent not exceeding 10 % of the other total eligible expenditure of the operation concerned, with the exception of land purchase for environmental conservation if the aid is granted in the framework of a CAP Strategic Plan; (b) the purchase or lease purchase of machinery and equipment including the use of the livestock instead of machinery up to the market value of the asset; (c) general costs linked to the expenditure referred to in points (a) and (b), such as architect, engineer and consultation fees, fees relating to advice on environmental and economic sustainability, including feasibility studies; feasibility studies shall remain eligible expenditure even where, based on their results, no expenditure under points (a) and (b) is incurred; (d) acquisition, development or usage fees of computer software, cloud or similar solutions and acquisitions of patents, licenses, copyrights and trademarks; (e) the costs of establishing forest management plans and their equivalent instruments. 6. Save where support is provided in the framework of a CAP Strategic Plan in the form of financial instruments, the following costs shall not be considered to be eligible: (a) costs other than those referred to in paragraph 5, points (a) and (b), connected with leasing contracts, such as lessor’s margin, interest refinancing costs, overheads and insurance charges; and (b) working capital. 7. The aid intensity shall be limited to 65 % of the eligible costs. The aid intensity may be increased to a maximum of 80 % for the following investments: (a) investments linked to one or more of the specific environmental- and climate-related objectives referred to in Article 14(3), points (e), (f) and (g); (b) investments in the outermost regions or the smaller Aegean islands. 8. The aid intensity may be increased to 100 % for non-productive investments, land consolidation land improvement and investments for forest roads which are open to the public free of charge and which serve the multifunctional aspects of the forest.