Incentive effect
Article 6
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.