A new bill has been submitted to the Parliament entitled: "Exercise of outdoor commercial activities, modernization of the Chamber of Commerce Legislation and other provisions", which includes all the changes to the development laws with which provisions of the Development Laws are amended-completed.

Changes in development laws

(a) The remaining amount of investment aid or the last instalment paid, which may be paid once or added to the previous instalment respectively, shall be increased from EUR 20 000 to EUR 300 000.

b. It is possible, by ministerial decision, to merge in one or more instalments the instalments paid for the completion of the investment project (from the 3rd to the 7th) based on the size of the company and the amount of the remaining amount of aid (according to the current rules; the possibility of merger exists for the 5th, 6th and 7th for investment projects whose implementing bodies are not Large Enterprises and the remaining amount of aid does not exceed EUR 500 000).

c. It is possible to convert short-term borrowing into long-term in the case of investment projects of laws 3299/2004 and 3908/2011.

d. It defines the way of determining the compensation of the members of the Investment Plan Evaluation Committees, the members of the Appeals Committee as well as the President, members, secretaries and evaluators-rapporteurs of the Unitary Committee of the Ministry of Interior (Macedonia-Thrace).

henceforth participates in the advisory committees of article 27 of law 4399/2016. on the withdrawal and repayment of aid, etc. and the Legal Advisor or Associate of the Legal Council of the State of the body concerned. (Article 106)

Explanatory statement

The proposed provisions of paragraph 1 of article 106 make the necessary clarification that companies whose exports occupy more than 85% of their turnover are presumably considered extroverted, so that they are not obliged to document an increase in their extroversion in order to be included in the special categories of increased aid provided for in article 12 of the development law 4399/2016.

The proposed provision in Article 106(2) concerns the modification of arrangements concerning the partial payment of the grant for investment projects subject to the law on the most favourable to the investment public. 3299/2004 and 3908/2011.

The proposed provisions of Article 106(3) are deemed necessary in order for investment vehicles whose investment projects have been subject to n. They have made use of the possibility of assigning the amount of the grant to banks to provide short-term lending, to be able to convert this short-term lending into a long-term loan, in accordance with the provisions of Regulation (EC) No 3299/2004 and 3908/2011.

Paragraph 4 of Article 106 regulates the issue of compensation to the members of the Investment Project Evaluation Committee and the Appeals Examination Committee of the Development Law 4399/2016, whose work is crucial for the rapid and effective evaluation of investment projects submitted under the aid schemes of the Development Law.

The regulation of paragraph 5 of Article 106 is considered necessary in order to ensure that the Special Advisory Committee of Experts established by case e of paragraph 15 of Article 7 of Law 3299/2004 continues to operate in order to issue the necessary opinions for the classification of services or products as highly advanced technology, the designation of products or services as new, etc., in the context of investment projects that have been included in the investment law 3299/2004.

The provisions of paragraphs 6 and 7 of Article 106 are necessary in order to harmonise the existing institutional framework regarding the control of compliance with the long-term obligations of investors with the implementation of the State Aid Information System, and to exempt investment vehicles from the obligation to submit through the State Aid Information System the declarations of compliance with long-term obligations for the period during which it was not technically possible to submit them electronically.

The regulation of paragraph 8 of article 106 introduces a necessary legislative correction regarding the correct number of the JMD that remained in force until the adoption of the joint ministerial decision of paragraph 3 of article 80.

With the regulation of paragraph 9 of article 106, the necessary clarification is made that in the composition of the Advisory Committees of article 27 of the development law 4399/2016, the Legal Advisor or Associate of the Legal Council of the State of the relevant Body participates in any case, for the sake of the better functioning of the above Committees.

The following is the aforementioned article 106, as presented in the Draft Law:

Article 106: Amendments to development laws

1. At the end of the case. a' of Article 12 of the Law. The following sentence is added to Regulation (EC) No 4399/2016 (A' 117): 'or without the condition of increasing their extroversion, if their exports occupy more than 85% of their turnover in the third year preceding the year in which the application for inclusion of the investment project is submitted.'
2. a. The case d' of para. 4 of Article 77 of the Law. Regulation (EU) No 4399/2016 is replaced by the following:
   "4.d. If in the decision to complete and start the productive operation of the investment a remaining amount of aid of less than three hundred thousand (300,000) euros is specified or in the payment of the last installment there is an amount remaining up to the limit of three hundred thousand (300,000) euros, it is paid once or added to the previous installment by way of exception to the term of para. 1.»

b. The case e' of para. 4 of Article 77 of the Law. Regulation (EU) No 4399/2016 is replaced by the following:
"4.e. By decision of the Minister of Economy and Development, the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th instalments may be merged into one or more instalments based on the size of the enterprise and the amount of the remaining amount of aid."

c. The case f' of para. 4 of Article 77 of the Law. Regulation (EU) No 4399/2016 is replaced by the following:
'f. For investment projects implemented aa) in the areas of cases i' and j' of article 12 hereof, bb) in areas affected by natural disasters as defined by a joint decision of the Ministers of Finance, Interior and Infrastructure and Transport issued by delegation of the provision of the second paragraph of article 10 of Law 2576/1998 (A ' 25) and subject to adequate documentation of their direct influence by the natural disasters caused, upon the adoption of the decision to complete and start the productive operation of the investment, the total amount of the third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh tranches shall be paid.'

3. At the end of Article 78 of the Law. Regulation (EC) No 4399/2016 is added para. 8 as follows:
   "8. In the case of investment projects that have been subject to the provisions of Laws 3299/2004 (A' 261) and 3908/2011 (A' 8) and short-term lending has been used in accordance with para. 5 of article 8 of law 3299/2004 and para. 4 of article 1 of Presidential Decree 35/2011, short-term borrowing can be converted into a long-term loan."
4. In Article 80 of the Law. Paragraph 4 of paragraph 4 is added to Regulation (EC) No 4399/2016 as follows:

«4. For the compensation of the members of the Investment Plan Evaluation Committees and the members of the Appeals Committee of para. Article 15(2) shall apply mutatis mutandis to the members of the Management Committee for Records and Control of Procedures referred to in Article 26. For the allowances of the President, the Members, Secretaries and evaluators - rapporteurs of the Advisory Committee of the Ministry of Interior (Macedonia-Thrace), the provisions for the Advisory Committee of the Ministry of Economy and Development of article 27 apply mutatis mutandis.
The provisions of Article 2 of No. 26226/3-3-2017 joint decision of the Ministers of Economy and Development and Finance (YODD 117) fee for the evaluation of investment projects is divided as follows: 20% for the completeness check, 40% for the legality check and 40% for the evaluation of reasonable costs and the control of scoring indicators. By decision of the Minister of Economy and Development, these quotas may be reformed. The provisions of this paragraph shall take effect from the date of publication of n. 4399/2016».

5. The case e' of para. 15 of Article 7 of the Law. Regulation (EC) No 3299/2004 (Government Gazette A' 261) is replaced by the following: '(e) Special Advisory Committee of Experts of the General Secretariat for Strategic and Private Investments of the Ministry of Economy and Development. By decision of the Minister of Economy and Development, a Special Advisory Committee of Experts is established in the General Secretariat for Strategic and Private Investments (G.G.S.I.E.) of the Ministry of Economy and Development, which advises on the characterization of:
   (a) services as highly advanced technology or as new;
   (b) products as highly advanced technology or as new;
   (c) investments as software development investments;
   (d) investments as applied industrial laboratories, energy , mining , agricultural , livestock and aquaculture research,
   (e) investments as investments in technology development;
   (f) investments as investments in the production of innovative products and/or in the introduction of innovations in the production process. Members of the Special Committee

Experts are the Secretary General of Strategic and Private Investments as president, the Secretary General for Research and Technology, the General Secretary for Industry, one (1) specialized in technology issues executive of the General Secretariat for Research and Technology (G.G.E.T.), one (1) representative of the General Secretariat for Industry (G.G.B.) of the Ministry of Economy and Development specialized in technology issues, one (1) external expert coming from university or research institutions or laboratories and one (1) external expert appointed by the S.E.B. In the decision establishing the Special Committee of Experts, issued by the Minister of Economy and Development, the responsibilities, the mode of operation and any other necessary detail for the work of the Committee are specified."

6. The second paragraph of the case. a' of para. 10 of Article 85 of the Law. Regulation (EU) No 4399/2016 is replaced by the following:
   'The arrangements referred to in the first subparagraph shall apply from 1 November 2017 to decisions on the completion and entry into production of investments issued after that date. For decisions on the completion and commencement of productive operation of investments issued by October 31, 2017 the period of two (2) months referred to in the first subparagraph shall start on 1 November 2017 and in any event the investment vehicle shall be obliged to submit the information before the disbursement of the approved aid made after that date.'
7. At the end of the case. a' of para. 10 of Article 85 of the Law. The following subparagraph is added to Regulation (EC) No 4399/2016: 'If the final date for its submission within the time limit
   declaration of each year of compliance with long-term obligations is prior to 1/1/2013, it is not required to submit it through the State Aid Information System".
8. The para. 17 of Article 85 of the Law. Regulation (EC) No 4399/2016 is replaced, after its entry into force, as follows:
   "17. Until the adoption of the joint ministerial decision of para. 3 of Article 80, as well as paras. 4 of Article 24, 4 of Article 25 and 2 of Article 27, no. 2/88585/0022/21-12-2012 joint ministerial decision of the Ministers of Finance and Development, Competitiveness, Infrastructure, Transport and Networks (YODD 592)".
9. At the end of para. 1 of Article 27 of the Law 4399/2016, a paragraph is added as follows: "The Legal Advisor or Associate of the Legal Council of the State of the relevant Body participates in the Committees, without the right to vote".