It was published S. 4887/2022, the New Development Law of the Ministry of Development and Investments entitled "Development Law - Greece Strong Development", which defines the eligibility conditions as well as the framework for the establishment of regimes for the granting of state aid.

The purpose of this programme is to promote the economic development of the country by providing incentives to specific activities and sectors in order to achieve the digital and technological transformation of businesses, the green transition, the creation of economies of scale, the support of innovative investments and those seeking to introduce new technologies of "Industry 4.0", robotics and artificial intelligence, the strengthening of employment with skilled personnel, the support of new entrepreneurship, the strengthening of less favoured regions of the country and regions included in the Fair Development Transition Plan (FDP), the further strengthening of tourism and the improvement of competitiveness in high value-added sectors.

In order to achieve these goals, regulations are introduced to speed up all the evaluation, approval, control and certification procedures of the investment projects that fall under the regimes of this law.

Development Law: The introduction of thirteen new aid regimes is envisaged which will allow the business community to plan, develop and implement its initiatives with significant and modern forms of investment in all sectors of the Greek economy.

The aim of the law is to provide a complete framework of incentives with the main objective of creating business initiatives to companies that intend to make an initial investment in one of the eligible sectors of the law.

Αντικείμενο είναι η θέσπιση καθεστώτων για τη χορήγηση κρατικών ενισχύσεων σε επενδυτικά σχέδια, τα οποία μπορούν να εμπίπτουν στις ακόλουθες κατηγορίες:

• Digital and technological transformation of businesses
• Green transition - Environmental upgrading of businesses
• New Business
• Regime of Just Developmental Transition
• Research and applied innovation
• Agri-food - primary production and processing of agricultural products - fisheries and aquaculture
• Manufacturing - Supply chain
• Business extroversion
• Strengthening tourism investments
• Alternative forms of tourism
• Big investments
• European value chains
• Entrepreneurship 360º

Content of investment plan Development Law - Character of initial investment

• Create a new unit.
• Capacity expansion of an existing unit.
• Diversification of a unit's output into products that have never been produced or services that have not been provided by it provided that the aided expenditures exceed by at least two hundred percent (200%) the book value of the assets being reused, such as this value has been recorded in the tax year preceding the application for inclusion of the investment plan.
• Fundamental change of the entire production process of an existing unit. On large enterprises, it is also required that the aided investment expenses exceed the depreciation of the assets, which are related to the activity to be modernized and occurred during the three (3) previous tax years. If the depreciation associated with the activity is not clearly recorded, it is considered that the above condition is not met.

Development Law - Eligible forms of enterprises

Eligible are companies that are established or have a branch in Greek territory at the time of commencement of the investment project and have one of the following forms:

• sole proprietorship
• commercial company
• partnership
• Social Cooperative Enterprises (Coun.S.Ep.) of N. 4430/2016 (A 2015)), Agricultural Cooperatives (AS), Producer Groups (OP), Agricultural Partnerships (AES) of N. 4384/2016 (A' 78)
• companies under establishment or under merger, with the obligation to have completed the publicity procedures before starting work on the investment plan,
• επιχειρήσεις που λειτουργούν με τη μορφή κοινοπραξίας με την προϋπόθεση καταχώρησής τους στο ΓΕΜΗ
• public and municipal enterprises and their subsidiaries, provided that:
  • they are not assigned to serve a public purpose
  • they have not been assigned by the state exclusively to offer services
  • their operation is not subsidized with public funds for the period of compliance with the long-term obligations of article 21

Development Law - Programme Budget

The grants, leasing subsidies and wage cost subsidies provided for herein are covered by the Public Investment Budget, in which the relevant projected expenditure is entered for each financial year and come from national resources or European Structural and Investment Funds ( EDET) or from other financial organizations, in accordance with national and EU legislation.

The body's participation in the total eligible costs of the investment project can be done either through own funds or through external financing, provided that twenty-five percent (25%) of it does not contain any state aid, public support or provision (Article 14 par. 14 G.A.K.).

The same participation can also consist of external funding. The alternative ways of covering equity capital are:

• Increase in share or company capital from new cash contributions
• Capitalization of existing taxable reserves and retained earnings
• Use of existing taxable reserves and retained earnings
• Asset disposal
• Bank loan

Expenses subsidized

The investment projects covered herein may receive aid for eligible costs:

• Regional in nature for initial investment, either independently or in combination with non-regional aid from the other sections of the G.A.K. and other European Union Regulations or
• exclusively of a non-regional nature from the other departments of the G.A.K. and other Regulations of the European Union, in regimes provided for in Part B'

Regional investment aid

Regional aid is granted in accordance with the Regional Aid Charter for:

• Initial investment:
  • The investment in tangible and intangible assets in connection with the creation of a new business establishment, the expansion of the capacity of an existing business establishment, the diversification of the production of a business establishment into products that have never been produced in it, or the fundamental change of the entire production process of an existing business establishment.
  • The acquisition of assets belonging to a business establishment that has closed or would have closed had it not been purchased and which is purchased by an investor unrelated to the seller and excludes a simple acquisition of the shares of a business.

• Initial investment for new economic activity:
  • The investment in tangible and intangible assets related to the creation of a new business establishment, or the diversification of the business establishment's activity, provided that the new activity is not the same or similar to that previously carried out in the establishment.
  • The acquisition of the assets belonging to a closed business establishment which is purchased by an investor unrelated to the seller, provided that the new activity to be carried on using the acquired assets is not the same or similar to that practiced in the business establishment prior to the purchase.

Eligible expenditures of regional aid: Development Law

Tangible assets

Tangible assets

• Construction, expansion, modernization of building facilities and special and auxiliary building facilities and the shaping of the surrounding area. Cumulatively cannot exceed 45% of all eligible costs. For investment projects in the tourism sector, the rate is set at 60% for building costs, for investments in the Logistics sector in 70% also for the building costs of the investment projects in question, while in investment projects for plant production in greenhouses the coefficient amounts to 60%. Finally, for buildings which are classified as preserved, the factor in question amounts to 80%.
• Purchase of all or part of the existing fixed assets, such as buildings, machinery and other business establishment equipment, under the following conditions, which must be cumulative:
  • the business establishment is closed,
  • the purchase is made by the entity of the investment plan, which is not related to the seller of the business establishment of approx. i unless it is a small business, which is acquired by an employee of the original owner,
  • the relevant transaction is carried out under normal market conditions. The cost of assets which have previously been granted or subsidized through development laws or other aid schemes prior to their purchase shall be deducted from such eligible expenditure.
• Purchase and installation of new modern machinery and other equipment, technical installations and means of transport that move within the area of ​​the integrated unit
• Leases for financial leasing of new modern machinery and other equipment
• Modernization of special non-building facilities and mechanical facilities

Intangible assets

• Transfer of technology, purchase of intellectual property rights, licenses, patents, know-how and unproprietary know-how
• Quality assurance systems, certifications, software supply and installation and business organization systems

For large enterprises, the subsidized costs for intangible assets cannot exceed thirty percent (30%) of the total subsidized regional aid costs. For SMEs, the maximum percentage is set at fifty percent (50%).

Wage cost

The wage costs of new jobs created as a result of the implementation of the investment plan are subsidized, calculated for a period of two (2) years from the creation of each position.

Conditions for wage cost support

1. Mandatory net increase in the number of Annual Work Units (ATUs) compared to the ATUs of the previous twelve months from the date of submission of the application for membership
2. The jobs should be filled within 3 years from the date of completion and start of production
3. Each job created through the investment is maintained in the specific supported facility for a period of at least five (5) years for large, four (4) years for medium-sized enterprises and three (3) years for small enterprises, from the date of its first payment .

Eligible expenses other than regional aid: Development Law

• Consulting fees for SMEs Supported only for new small and medium-sized enterprises and for an amount up to 50,000 euros (up to 5% of the total supported cost)
• Start-up costs for newly established & under-established small and very small businesses They refer to costs for the start of the business activity, such as legal and accounting services, organizational studies, etc. They are eligible for up to 20% of the supported cost with a maximum limit of 200,000 euros For innovative small and very small businesses the limits are doubled
• Expenses for research and development projects (expenses for personnel, buildings, instruments, equipment, etc.)
• Innovation costs for SMEs Applies to a budget of up to 20% of the total supported cost and up to 200,000 euros
• Expenditures for procedural and organizational innovation Budget up to 10% of the total supported cost and up to 100,000 euros
• Expenditures for the protection of the environment
• Investment costs for energy efficiency measures
• Investment costs for co-production of high efficiency energy from RES
• Expenditures for energy production from RES
• Costs for installing efficient district heating and district cooling systems
• Costs for remediation of contaminated sites
• Costs for waste recycling and reuse
• Vocational training expenses
• Expenses for media participation in trade fairs
• Aid for disadvantaged workers

See detailed information on the published Development Law here.

See the full text of the Law in the Gazette here.

See the full draft law here.