Was published the call for he call for support under establishment and existing, very Small and Small Businesses of the South Aegean.

You can find more information about the action here.

Budget of the Action

The total Public Expenditure of the actions for the support of enterprises under this call for proposals amounts to 4.000.000€.

The call budget is broken down by business category as follows:

• 50% for start-ups and start-ups without profit distribution
• 50% for existing businesses

If the allocated budget is not absorbed by one category, there will be a proportional transfer to the other.

The Action is part of the Regional Operational Program "SOUTH AEGEAN" of the NSRF 2014 - 2020 and in particular from Axis 04, "Human Resources Development, Promotion of Social Inclusion and Combating Poverty and Discrimination".

Objective of the Action

The main objective of the Action is to promote investments to support and enhance self-employment, entrepreneurship and the creation of new businesses or business initiatives in new markets/sectors, in particular Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, through the improvement of corporate structures and capacities.

The main objectives of the action are:

• The creation of new dynamic small or micro business units that will contribute to increasing the added value of the production base towards highly competitive goods and services by integrating knowledge
• The reorientation of local businesses into organizational and operational structures that facilitates the development of business partnerships at an international level
• The creation of new jobs as well as the upgrading of human resources

Who it concerns

The submitted investment plans indicatively concern the following strategic priority areas of the Regional Operational Programme "SOUTH AEGEAN":

• Agri-Nutrition
• Tourism of experience
• Technologies and applications for the Environment
• Information and Communication Technologies ICT

Beneficiaries eligible for public funding under this Action are the following categories of bodies:

New Existing Enterprises without profit distribution

Any unit, regardless of its legal form, engaged in an economic activity.

The basic conditions for the participation of the companies that will submit a proposal are the following:

• Not be listed on the stock exchange
• Be small or micro enterprises
• Five years have not elapsed since their registration at the time the aid was granted;
• Not have been formed by merger
• Not have taken over the activity of another business
• Be incorporated after 1/1/2018
• Have not made a distribution of profits in accordance with Article 22 of the Regulation. 651/2014
• Have the declared Nace Code(s) available before submitting the investment proposal
• They must not be bankrupt, wound up or administered by the court or have their administration pending recovery of aid following a previous Commission decision declaring aid illegal and incompatible with the internal market
• Not to have imposed fines that have acquired final & binding force, for violations of labor legislation and in particular:
  • Violation of "high" or "very high" severity (3 fines/ 3 checks),
  • Undeclared work (2 fines/ 2 checks), for the reasons set out in Art. 39, par. 1, of L. 4488/2017

This category will be financed according to ar. 22 of Rule EE 651/2014 with a minimum total spending budget of 25.000€.

Strengthening of existing businesses

Any unit, regardless of its legal form, engaged in an economic activity.

The basic conditions for the participation of the companies that will submit a proposal are the following:

• Have the declared Nace Code(s) available before submitting the investment proposal
• They must not be bankrupt, wound up or administered by the courts, and they must not be subject to the recovery of aid following a previous Commission decision declaring aid illegal and incompatible with the internal market
• Not to have been fined that have acquired final & binding force, for violations of labor law and in particular:
  • Violation of "high" or "very high" severity (3 fines/ 3 checks),
  • Undeclared work (2 fines/ 2 checks), for the reasons set out in Art. 39, par. 1, of L. 4488/2017

This category will be financed according to Rule. ΕΕ 1407/2013 (de minimis) with a minimum public expenditure limit of € 50,000.

Aid for Business Start-ups

Any unit, regardless of its legal form, that will carry out an economic activity.

The basic conditions for the participation of the companies that will submit a proposal are the following:

• allocate the Nace Code of the investment for installation within the South Aegean Region before the first disbursement including the advance payment
• By recommending them to meet the conditions of Ar. 22 of Rule ΕΕ 651/2014 i.e.
  • Not be listed on the stock exchange
  • Be small or micro enterprises
  • Not have been formed by merger
  • Not have taken over the activity of another business

This category will be financed according to ar. 22 of Rule EE 651/2014 with a minimum total spending budget of €25,000.

General conditions for the aid

The above potential beneficiaries should comply with the following general conditions:

• be active or active (in accordance with the above) in the eligible sectors of activity (Nace Codes)
• be active orto activate and implement the investment plan in the South Aegean Region
• operate or operate exclusively in one of the following forms: enterprises of corporate / commercial nature (Société Anonyme, Limited Liability Company, General Partnership, Limited Partnership, P.C.) and sole proprietorships
• be included in small or micro enterprises
• not be a member of a franchised network
• keep B' or C' category books
• not be liable for recovery following a prior decision of the European Commission or the CJEU declaring an aid illegal and incompatible with the internal market.
• commit that their investment project or part of it as well as the costs it includes have not been financed, integrated and will not be submitted for funding approval in another programme financed by national or Community resources;
• submit up to one investment proposal per VAT number.
• submit an investment plan, as well as all the necessary supporting documents and forms, as defined by this notice

The following shall not be entitled to submit a proposal:

• public undertakings
• public bodies or public bodies and/or their subsidiaries, as well as undertakings assimilated to them;

Expenditure eligible for aid

Cat. Expenditure 1: Buildings, facilities and surroundings

The investment costs of Category 1 concern the construction, upgrade, configuration of building infrastructure, necessary for the operation of the business

The costs of building facilities include:

1. Constructions, configurations, extensions, layouts to facilitate accessibility for people with disabilities
2. Small-scale interior design
3. Building interventions for the protection of the Environment and Energy Saving, Water and waste treatment
4. Storage areas if they are part of the investment
5. Special landscaping

The costs of construction, upgrade, configuration of building facilities must comply with the necessary approvals and permits, as defined by the applicable legislation, otherwise they will be considered ineligible. An indicative table of reasonable costs for these works is set out in the Annex.

It is necessary to have ownership or concession of use or lease or legal establishment of usufruct on the property in force at the time of the expenditure and for a period of at least six (6) years. The six-year period shall be calculated from the date of adoption of the decision to integrate the investment. Ownership, lease, usufruct or concession of use should be demonstrated with the request for certification and before the payment of the public grant.

Please note that costs of renovation, decoration and other similar design costs are not eligible in this Category.

Cat. Expenditure 2: Purchase/leasing of machinery & equipment

Category 2 investment costs relate to the supply or leasing of mechanical and other equipment necessary for the operation of the business
Machinery and equipment costs include:

• Supply of new modern machinery and other equipment
• Financial leasing of equipment
• RES equipment (photovoltaics and wind turbine)
• Equipment for the Protection of the Environment and Energy Saving
• Automation systems and special information systems
• Machinery, their components, scientific instruments and tools used exclusively and permanently to serve research activity
• Means of transport for use within the company

Machinery and equipment must be of modern technology, new and unusable.

Procurement costs include the cost of transportation and installation, configuration and training for the use of the equipment.

The costs of maintenance, repair and replacement of equipment already in use by the undertaking shall not be eligible.

The costs of supplying spare parts are eligible if they are accessories to the main components of the equipment supplied, i.e. they form an integral part of it for its smooth operation in accordance with the conditions for the supply of the equipment offered by the supplier. Accessories should not be standard consumables.

The cost of leasing equipment shall be considered as eligible expenditure only where the lessor may conclude leasing contracts in accordance with the provisions of the Law. 1665/1986 (Government Gazette 194 A'), as in force. The equipment leasing contract should provide for ownership of the items to pass to the operator of the investment at the end of the contract.

If the leasing contract expires after the final date by which payments under the subsidised operation are taken into account, only the costs of the rents due paid by the lessee up to the final date of the payments under the subsidised operation shall be considered eligible.

Means of transport concern only those intended for the movement of goods within the boundaries of the undertaking. It is not allowed to acquire road freight transport vehicles.

Cat. Expenditure 3: Software and software services

The investment costs of Category 3 concern the supply and installation of software for the needs of the business and specifically may include the following:

• automation of production and business and economic processes
• quality control of the products produced
• interconnection of enterprises with national or international networks
• Development of e-business, e-marketing and e-commerce activities
• Connecting to e-marketplaces
• digital web projection applications (e.g. search engine optimizations, accelerators, etc.)
• development of social networking applications
• development of social networking applications
• development and implementation of INTRANET and EXTRANET support systems;
• development and implementation of specialized customer or personnel management programs of the company (type ERP, CRM, HRMS)
• document management and process support
• Electronic Information Security software (Back – up / Data Recovery, script, encryption software, failure detection and processing software
• Costs of adopting cloud computing services
• Other functions of the enterprise

The cost for the installation and any configuration of the software as well as the cost of training the staff is eligible. These costs shall be eligible up to 20% of the cost of purchasing the respective software.

The supplied software must be new and the company must be the legal owner of it.

Software license or service agreement costs are eligible until the end of the implementation period.

The provision of support services is eligible up to one year from the time of supply.

In case of purchase of application software, aimed at a customer audience, care should be taken to serve the needs of people with disabilities in accordance with the international standard Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), version 2.0 at AA level (conversion costs are eligible).

Cat. Expenditure 4: Supply of a means of transport / commercial vehicle

It concerns the supply of one (1) small commercial vehicle with a subsidized cost of up to € 15,000, necessary for the operation of the business, which clearly contributes to its goal, according to the submitted business plan. The acquisition of road freight transport vehicles is not permitted

Cat. Expenditure 5: Depreciation of other business equipment (<1500€/item)

The investment costs of Category 5 refer to depreciation of fixed equipment (tangible and intangible) that will be used for the needs of the Act.

It is clarified that the eligible expenses are full (100%) depreciation of fixed assets which
according to current legislation they can be fully depreciated within the year in which they were acquired (purchase value per piece below €1,500 excluding VAT).

Depreciation costs of fixed assets are considered eligible when the following conditions are cumulatively met:

a) the fixed assets are used for the execution of the operation
b) no public subsidies, Community or national, have been used for their purchase
c) are calculated with the appropriate accounting rules and recorded in the accounting system maintained by the beneficiary
d) the amount of the expenditure is accompanied by invoices or documents of equivalent evidentiary value
e) the depreciation costs relate exclusively to the period of implementation of the transaction and in particular to the time period when the fixed assets are used for the purposes of the transaction.

In order for the equipment and depreciation category expenses to be eligible, the subsidized fixed assets (tangible and intangible) must have been registered in the company's fixed asset register in accordance with the provisions of the Greek Accounting Standards and the depreciation must be carried out on the basis of the national tax legislation (K .F.E.).

Cat. Expenditure 6: Salary costs of newly recruited staff

Personnel investment costs must be relevant to the objectives of the investment plan and are carried out within the eligible period of its implementation, and in particular the following apply:

• NTHE's wage costs include all legal deductions and employer contributions. This cost cannot exceed €15,000 per EME and the duration of completion of an EME can extend from the start date of eligibility of costs up to the maximum duration of the implementation of the business plans as defined in this Call.
• The completion of an EME can be carried out by one or more employees.
• Salary costs of newly hired staff that concern a fraction of EME, may be subsidized.
• The newly hired worker must be unemployed, registered in the PES unemployment registers on the date of employment.
• The NTHE expense is not eligible if the employee is a spouse or relative up to the 2nd degree of the employer beneficiary of the business plan. In case of setting up a legal entity, this condition applies to all partners.
• The recruitment must represent a net increase in the number of employees of the company concerned, compared to the average of the year preceding the entry into the Action.
• In particular, the annual work units (AMU) of the subsidized period must be additional (i.e. add up) to the AMU of the company in the year 2021. Existing EMEs (EME 2021) cannot be reduced during the subsidized period.
• The company does not undertake to maintain the new position(s) after the date of completion of the investment.
• During the implementation period, the company undertakes to maintain the new position/jobs for as long as is necessary to cover the score, which it has received according to the criterion "B.1 Creation of new jobs calculated in annual units full-time salaried employee (E.M.E.)

Cat. Expenditure 7: Beneficiary's insurance contributions

Subsidy of the costs of the insurance contributions of the partners of the startups or very small businesses, exclusively and only for the eligibility period of the business plan.

The cost of previous debts to the insurance company cannot be covered by the Action.

It is clarified that the insurance contributions that can be certified must be verified and cleared, based on the net taxable results of the previous tax year, in accordance with the provisions of Law. 4387/2016, as applicable.

Cat. Expenditure 8: Training of staff/partner

Education / training of staff (existing and new) as well as partners in matters important to the operation of the business as well as Organization and support in general of extroverted actions and activities (coaching – mentoring), which clearly contribute to its goal according to the submitted business plan .

The training should be carried out by certified education / training institutions and accompanied by the corresponding certificates.

The maximum eligible cost per hour of training is €20.

Cat. Expenditure 9: Expenditure on visibility - promotion - networking

The investment costs of Category 9 concern the promotion of the business and its products/services as well as its networking, which clearly contribute to its goal according to the submitted business plan and in particular the following apply:

• Expenses for participation in Commercial or Professional Exhibitions at home or abroad

Expenses for participation in Commercial or Professional Exhibitions at home or abroad

Travel, accommodation and food expenses of participants (partners/shareholders or company employees) are eligible up to €3,000 per exhibition

Product / service promotion expenses

• Design and production of printed information material
• Design and production of printed information material The cost of using Mass Media (e.g. buying time on radio/television media) is not an eligible expenditure.
• Advertising expenses on online social / professional networking and other modern media
• Short-term events (up to 3 days) held in its stores
• Creation-construction of a new website (website) OR upgrade of an existing website and adaptation to serve people with disabilities, up to the amount of €1,500
• Logo and corporate identity design

Cat. Expenditure 10: Costs of advisory support for investment project support

The investment costs of Category 10 concern the support of the business, to receive services that clearly contribute to its goal according to the submitted business plan and in particular include the costs for:

• the drafting of the funding application
• providing investment monitoring and management services

The cost of providing drafting, monitoring and administration services of the investment plan is eligible for up to €3,000.

Expenditures that do not contribute to the main purposes of the proposed project such as fire protection studies, environmental impact studies, obtaining a license to operate the business or legal exemption from it, as well as for occupational risk studies and similar studies are not eligible.

Cat. Expenditure 11: Operating costs of the enterprise

The investment costs of Category 11 concern costs of electricity, fixed and mobile business telephony, internet, water supply, heating, as well as other common costs (excluding those borne by the owner) that are exclusively in the business area.

Accounts issued in the company's name are eligible.

Please note that the cost of connecting to electricity, water, sewerage, telephone, etc. service providers is not eligible.

Expenditure for renting business premises owned by relatives up to the 2nd degree (by blood and by blood) of partners or affiliated or cooperating companies is not eligible.

It is pointed out that it is expressly forbidden to sublease the business space, which is subsidized in the context of this Action, to third parties.

Cat. Expenditure 12: Supply of consumables & supplies materials

The investment costs listed schematically in Table 1 concern the company's costs for the supply of consumables, raw materials and intermediate products related to the production process, which clearly contribute to its goal according to the submitted business plan.

Expenditures for consumables for which the necessity of their acquisition is not consistent with the level of the beneficiary's logistical infrastructure and the nature of the business plan are not eligible (e.g. expenditures for the purchase of toner when the business does not have a printer).

Cat. Expenditure 13: Expenditure on design, development and/or certification of original product/service, quality assurance

Includes costs to support the design and development and implementation of the prototype of new products/services to be sampled and demonstrated as well as the acquisition of the necessary certifications and/or the installation of certified quality assurance systems in accordance with the
submitted business plan:

• Kertifica Ofa Qualiti Asurans ed Environmental Managimen Systems
• Costs of obtaining validation and protection of intellectual property
• Product/service development services
• Other costs for product/service certification and testing services
• Cost of materials, supplies and related products for prototype development

Intangible assets, such as software or patents, rights, etc., are eligible for the calculation of investment costs, as long as they meet the following conditions:

a) must be used exclusively in the business establishment that receives the aid,
b) must be depreciable,
c) must be purchased in accordance with the terms of the purchase from third parties unrelated to the buyer,
d) must be included in the assets of the company to which the aid is granted and remain connected to the project for which the aid is granted for at least three (3) years from the end date of the investment project.