Published in OJ No. 38 of Feb. 15 is the Dec. 29, 2023 Decree of the Ministry of Agriculture with criteria, methods and procedures for the implementation of financial interventions in support of enterprises in the agricultural and agribusiness sector, carried out by theInstitute of Services for the Agricultural Food Market – ISMEA , and enterprises producing fishery and aquaculture products are excluded.
1) Agricultural and agribusiness companies: aid from ISMEA in 2024
This decree regulates, in accordance with the provisions of Art. 20, of Act July 28, 2016, no. 154, the criteria, methods and procedures for the implementation of financial interventions to support enterprises in the Agricultural and Agribusiness Sector carried out by ISMEA.
Financial interventions in support of enterprises producing fishery and aquaculture products are excluded from the application of this decree.
Interventions are directed, in compliance with European Union regulations on state aid, to grant:
- (a) aid that is compatible with the internal market under Art. 107(3)(a) and (c) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, subject to the obligation to notify the European Commission under Art. 108 of the same Treaty;
- (b) aid that is compatible with the internal market under Art. 107(3)(a) and (c) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, exempted from the notification requirement;
- (c) financing on market terms.
2) Aid recipients
They are eligible for financial interventions:
- (a) corporations, including cooperatives, engaged in primary agricultural production, processing of agricultural products and marketing of agricultural products, included in Annex I of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union
- (b) corporations, including in the form of cooperatives, engaged in the production of goods produced within the scope of relevant agricultural activities, identified pursuant to Art. 32(2)(c) of the Income Tax Consolidation Act under Presidential Decree Dec. 22, 1986, no. 917;
- (c) joint stock companies at least 51 percent owned by agricultural entrepreneurs, agricultural cooperatives with prevalent mutuality and their consortia or producer organizations recognized under current regulations, or cooperatives whose members are mostly agricultural entrepreneurs, operating in the distribution and logistics, including on a computer platform, of agricultural products included in Annex I of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
3) The typology of aid
Financial interventions on concessional terms are carried out by ISMEA in the form of low-interest financing.
The subsidized loan may have a maximum term of fifteen years, including up to a maximum of five years of preamortization and up to a maximum of ten years of amortization, with semiannual instalments in arrears with constant principal.
In any case, subsidized financing cannot be provided at a rate lower than 0.50 percent.
4) The operating rules by ISMEA.
The decree specifies that ISMEA shall forward to the Ministry the outline of the implementing instructions of this decree aimed at defining the procedures for submitting applications and the procedures for granting and settling subsidized loans; in the absence of comments, within 30 days after receiving the outline, ISMEA shall adopt the implementing instructions and publish them on its institutional website.
Please refer to the full reading of the December 29, 2023 Decree for further discussion.