“Support for investments in the processing/marketing and/or development of agricultural products”: Pre-publication of the 1st call for applications

Eany type of business is eligible that has an obligation to keep B or C category books, with the exception of businesses that operate in the form of a society, a civil law company and a joint venture.

4. Eligible Budget

The budget of support applications can range from 400,001.00 euros up to 5,000,000.00 euros.

The Intervention “Support for investments in the processing/marketing and/or development of agricultural products” is co-financed by the European Union (European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development – E.G.T.A.A.) and by the Greek State (Public Investment Program – P.D.E.).

5. Intensity of support – Funding of support applications

a) Support intensity

The support intensity is determined as follows:

• Ionian, Crete and small Aegean islands: 65%
• Regions of Peloponnese, Western Greece, Central Greece, Thessaly, Epirus, Central Macedonia, Western Macedonia, Eastern Macedonia and Thrace: 50%
• Region of Attica: 40%

The intensity of support varies in the Ionian, Crete, North and South Aegean Regions due to the increased transport costs.

For the cases of investment expenses aimed at reducing the consumption of energy, water, greenhouse gas emissions, reducing the use of waste, by one percent or more, as this will be determined in the context of implementing the intervention, an increase in their support rate by 10% is foreseen.

b) Funding of support applications

Within the Intervention “Support for investments in the processing/marketing and/or development of agricultural products” the financing of the implementation of the support requests is covered by Public Aid and Private Participation. The Public Support is determined on the eligible budget based on the intensity of support and is granted in the form of a capital grant from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) and the Hellenic State (P.D.E.).

The private participation is covered by the beneficiary of the support application with equity and/or bank loans and is determined as the difference between the total budget of the support application and the Public Aid.

Public Aid is granted on account, i.e. after the implementation of the eligible costs, and their certification by the competent Bodies as they will be determined in the institutional framework.

In order to facilitate the financing of the implementation of support requests, it is foreseen:

• the granting of an advance payment, which is granted after the issuance of the integration decision and cannot exceed 50% of the remaining Public Aid at any given time. The receipt of an advance payment is subject to the establishment of a bank guarantee by the beneficiary corresponding to 100% of the amount of the requested advance payment
• the receipt of Financial Instruments of the Strategic Plan of the Common Agricultural Policy (SS CAP)

In the case of a combination of Financial Instruments and a grant, the total support intensity, calculated as the quotient of the sum of the Grant Gross Equivalent (A.I.E.) Grant and the Grant (E) to the total budget of the support application (S.PAS) ((A.I.E.+E)/S.P.A.S), does not exceed the support intensity specified in article 73, paragraph 4 of Regulation (EU) no. 2021/2115.

6. Selectable Fields – Actions

In the context of Intervention P3-73-2.3:

• support applications from beneficiaries who process/process as raw material products (agricultural products) of Annex I of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union for the production of finished products also belonging to said Annex I (agricultural products)

The raw material and finished products may belong to the following sectors:

• Meat (sheep, goats, cattle, pork, poultry, rabbits)
• Milk
• Eggs
• Honey
• Feeds
• Cereals
• Oil Products
• Fruits and vegetables
• Wine
• Vinegar
• Flowers
• Medicinal and Aromatic Plants
• Seeds & Propagation Material

The actions foreseen in the above sectors concern mainly foundations, modernizations, expansions, relocations, production units and storage areas, mergers of units, by-product management units as will be specialized in the institutional framework according to the sector.

In particular it is clarified that:

• unit relocations and mergers are necessarily accompanied by their modernization
• mill establishments are not supported
• slaughterhouses for sheep, goats, cattle and pigs are not supported, with the exception of island regions where slaughterhouses with an annual capacity of up to 400 tons of meat can be supported
• poultry slaughterhouses are not supported with the exception of mountainous and island regions with no annual capacity limitation

7. Eligibility criteria

Support applications are eligible for support:

• submitted by non-problem businesses
• submitted by entities for which no imputation decision has been issued for violations of the obligations arising from their inclusion in previous co-financed or non-co-financed programs and no proof of payment of the imputed amount has been provided
• related to sustainable investments
• relating to investments at the level of wholesale trade
• concerning investments that have not been physically completed or fully implemented prior to their submission regardless of whether all payments have been made by the beneficiary.
• relating to the processing of non-genetically modified products (except animal feed)
• submitted by beneficiaries of Sub-Measure 4.2 of Measure 4 of the PAA 2014-2020 on the condition that on the date of finalization of the support application at OPSKE, the approved eligible physical and financial object of the support application implemented by the beneficiary under Sub-Measure 4.2 will have been completed and the control request for the payment of the final installment of the approved will have been finalized at OPSKE Public Aid

8. Selection Criteria

Investment projects will be selected based on selection criteria based on the following principles and priorities:

• Installation in areas affected by the effects of phenomena due to climate change such as floods and fires
• Use of innovation and new technologies
• Processing of organic raw materials or raw materials produced by environmentally friendly methods
• Production of quality products (such as PDO, PGI)
• Protection of the environment, contribution to mitigation and adaptation to climate change (such as energy saving and use of RES)
• Water saving
• Maturity of investment plan
• Business extroversion
• Preserving existing and increasing jobs.
• Size of the business

9. Eligible and ineligible expenses

a) In the framework of the Intervention “Support for investments in the processing/marketing and/or development of agricultural products” the following costs are eligible for support:

• mechanical processing, packaging and refrigeration equipment
• equipment of laboratories to serve the operation of the unit
• equipment to produce energy from renewable sources for the needs of the business not as an individual action but as part of the overall productive investment
• water saving equipment, not as an isolated action but as part of the overall production investment
• energy saving equipment not as an isolated action but as part of the overall production investment
• waste treatment equipment not as an isolated action but as part of the overall productive investment
• office equipment and computerization, such as the supply of telephone facilities, intercom networks, computers and peripheral machines, photocopiers, facility security systems, fire protection and fire extinguishing systems, etc.

• trucks – bulk flour transport silos
• isothermal tanks necessary to transport the milk to the standardization – processing area
• tanker cars for the transport of oil kernels and liquid waste from olive mills
• car refrigerators exclusively for wholesale products
• vehicles for the transport of animal by-products to the inactivation units, with specifications in accordance with the current legislation

b) In the context of Intervention Π3-73-2.3 the following costs are not eligible for support:

1. Χρηματοδοτική μίσθωση οικοπέδου, κτιριακών εγκαταστάσεων ή μηχανολογικού εξοπλισμού
2. Μίσθωση παλαιών ή καινούργιων κτιριακών εγκαταστάσεων, ανεξάρτητα από την προηγούμενη χρήση τους
3. Έργα οδοποιίας εκτός των ορίων του οικοπέδου εγκατάστασης της μονάδας.
4. Έργα πρασίνου και διακόσμησης (δενδροφυτεύσεις, γκαζόν, πέργκολες κ.λπ.)
5. Έργα συντήρησης κτιριακών εγκαταστάσεων, υπό την έννοια των μεμονωμένων επιδιορθώσεων που ανακύπτουν από τη λειτουργία της επιχείρησης
6. Δαπάνες αποξήλωσης και καθαίρεσης κατά τη βελτίωση/εκσυγχρονισμό των κτιριακών εγκαταστάσεων
7. Δαπάνες για τον καθαρισμό της αρχικής θέσης σε περιπτώσεις μετεγκατάστασης και κόστος αποξήλωσης και μεταφοράς του παλαιού εξοπλισμού ή μέρος αυτού στη νέα θέση
8. Προσωρινά έργα μη αμέσως συνδεόμενα με την εκτέλεση της πράξης (πχ προσωρινό υπόστεγο για την φύλαξη υλικών, κ.λπ.).
9. Έργα συντήρησης και ανακατασκευής μηχανολογικού εξοπλισμού.
10. Προμήθεια μεταχειρισμένου εξοπλισμού
11. Δαπάνες που αφορούν σε ιδιοκατασκευή μηχανολογικού εξοπλισμού
12. Δαπάνες για απλή αντικατάσταση μηχανολογικού εξοπλισμού, παρόμοιας κατηγορίας, μεγέθους ή δυναμικότητας, ακόμη και όταν γίνεται με εγκατάσταση καινούργιου, εφόσον ο εξοπλισμός που αντικαθίσταται δεν έχει αποσβεστεί.
13. Προμήθεια εξοπλισμού αναψυχής (όπως εξοπλισμός αναπαραγωγής ήχου και εικόνας κ.λπ.).
14. Προμήθεια εξοπλισμού γραφείου εκτός των αναφερομένων στην παράγραφο 9.α.4 της παρούσας (γραφομηχανές, αριθμομηχανές, έπιπλα κ.λπ.).
15. Προμήθεια μεταχειρισμένων οχημάτων εξωτερικής και εσωτερικής μεταφοράς
16. Προμήθεια υλικών αποσβέσιμων σε διάρκεια μικρότερη του έτους
17. Πάσης φύσεως έξοδα, εισφορές, φόροι, τέλη, δημοσιονομικές επιβαρύνσεις, ΦΠΑ που ανακτάται, αποζημιώσεις, ασφάλιστρα υπέρ τρίτων
18. Επενδυτικές δαπάνες των υποβαλλόμενων αιτήσεων στήριξης που χρηματοδοτούνται από άλλο επενδυτικό πρόγραμμα
19. Επενδυτικές δαπάνες που αφορούν τον πρωτογενή τομέα.
20. Δαπάνες που πραγματοποιήθηκαν νωρίτερα της ημερομηνίας της υποβολής της αίτησης στήριξης με εξαίρεση τις δαπάνες της παραγράφου 9.α.9 της παρούσας
21. Δαπάνες, η υλοποίηση των οποίων δεν εγκρίθηκε κατά τον διοικητικό έλεγχο αξιολόγησης της αίτησης στήριξης ή κατά τον διοικητικό έλεγχο αξιολόγησης αιτήματος τροποποίησης
22. Υπερβάσεις κόστους εκτός από τις περιπτώσεις που έχουν γίνει αποδεκτές στο πλαίσιο αξιολόγησης αιτήματος τροποποίησης του δικαιούχου
23. Αμοιβές προσωπικού, συμπεριλαμβανομένων των επιβαρύνσεων της κοινωνικής ασφάλισης, πληρωτέες από τον δικαιούχο στο προσωπικό του, εκτός εάν αυτό προσελήφθη για να εργασθεί αποκλειστικά για την υλοποίηση της επένδυσης και να απολυθεί με την ολοκλήρωσή του. Η εκπαίδευση του προσωπικού δεν υπολογίζεται για ενίσχυση εκτός της περίπτωσης που αφορά πιστοποιητικά (πχ HACCP) σε νέες τεχνολογίες
24. Δαπάνες που αφορούν την αύξηση της δυναμικότητας σε τομείς όπου υπάρχει περιορισμός στην παραγωγή από την ΚΟΑ γεωργικών προϊόντων
25. Δαπάνες που αφορούν την κατασκευή ιστοσελίδας και της δημιουργίας εντύπου διαφημιστικού υλικού της μονάδας

10. Obligations of Beneficiaries

Beneficiaries undertake the commitments that will be specified in the institutional framework of the intervention P3-73-2.3.

11. Period and method of submitting support applications, evaluation and selection of beneficiaries

By decision of the General Secretary of Union Resources and Infrastructure a public invitation is issued for the submission of support applications in the framework of the intervention P3-73-2.3 “Support for investments in the processing/trading and/or development of agricultural products” which specifies the period for submitting support applications and the total amount of public aid available.

The submission of support applications is carried out electronically through the Integrated Information System of State Aids (OPSKE) on the website www.opske.gr.

The selection and inclusion of beneficiaries is done by comparative evaluation and grading of each application. Support applications that meet the eligibility criteria are evaluated based on the selection criteria defined in the institutional framework of Intervention Π3-73-2.3 and are ranked in absolute descending order. Applications that have received a score greater than or equal to the base of each category are selected for support until the available credits are covered.