Aid to make good the damage caused by natural disasters
Article 49
1. Aid to make good the damage caused by natural disasters fulfilling the conditions laid down in Chapter I of this Regulation shall be compatible with the internal market within the meaning of Article 107(2), point (b), TFEU and shall be exempted from the notification requirement of Article 108(3) thereof provided that: (a) the competent authority of the Member State has formally recognised the character of the event as a natural disaster; and (b) there is a direct causal link between the natural disaster and the damage suffered by the undertaking. 2. Member States may, where appropriate, establish criteria in advance on the basis of which the formal recognition referred to in paragraph (1), point (a) of this Article is deemed to be granted. 3. Aid shall be paid directly to the undertaking concerned or to a producer group or organisation of which that undertaking is a member. Where the aid is paid to a producer group and organisation, the amount of aid shall not exceed the amount of aid to which that undertaking is eligible. 4. Aid schemes related to a specific natural disaster shall be established within three years from the date of the occurrence of the natural disaster. The aid shall be paid out within four years from that date. 5. The eligible costs may be the damage incurred as a direct consequence of the natural disaster, as assessed either by a competent public authority, by an independent expert recognised by the granting authority or by an insurance undertaking. That damage may include the following: (a) material damage to assets such as buildings, equipment, machinery, stocks and means of production; or (b) loss of income due to the full or partial destruction of fishery or aquaculture production or the means of such production not exceeding six months from the occurrence of the disaster. 6. The calculation of the material damage shall be based on the repair cost or economic value of the affected asset before the disaster. It shall not exceed the repair cost or the decrease in fair market value caused by the natural disaster, namely the difference between the asset’s value immediately before and immediately after the disaster. 7. The loss of income shall be calculated by subtracting: (a) the result of multiplying the quantity of the fishery and aquaculture products produced in the year of the natural disaster, or in each following year affected by the full or partial destruction of the means of production, by the average selling price obtained during that year; from (b) the result of multiplying the average annual quantity of fishery and aquaculture products produced in the three-year period preceding the natural disaster, or a three year average based on the five-year period preceding the natural disaster, excluding the highest and lowest entry, by the average selling price obtained. 8. The damage shall be calculated at the level of the individual undertaking. Where an SME was set up less than three years from the date of the occurrence of the event, the reference to the three-year periods in paragraph 7, point (b), shall be understood as referring to the turnover generated or quantity of fishery and aquaculture products produced and sold by an average undertaking of the same size as the applicant, namely a micro enterprise or a small enterprise or a medium enterprise, respectively, in the national or regional sector affected by the adverse climatic event which can be assimilated to a natural disaster. 9. The aid granted and any other payments received to compensate the damage, including payments under insurance policies, shall be limited to 100 % of the eligible costs.