The Ministry of Economy, Energy and Business Environment published to public consultation the draft emergency ordinance for the opening of 3 funding schemes. The beneficiaries will be micro-enterprises, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and PFAs affected by the COVID-19 pandemic . Several needs of entrepreneurs were identified, which is why the proposed financial aids were classified into 3 types:
● investment grants - necessary for companies that want to create new production capacities, carry out new activities or implement investment projects, so as to adapt to consumer requirements;
● working capital grants - necessary for the payment of current debts, the creation of stocks of raw materials, goods, consumables, the purchase of medical protection equipment, etc.;
● micro-grants for companies and PFAs - including the individual medical offices (CMI) that could not benefit from the medical incentive according to GEO 43/2020, considering their form of organization.
The deadline for granting state aid, respectively for concluding contracts with SMEs, is December 31, 2020.
Investment grants (50.000-200.000 euros)
Investment grants will be awarded on the basis of a project submitted by the beneficiary company and approved by the Ministry of Economy, through the Agencies for Small and Medium Enterprises, Investment Attraction and Export Promotion (AIMMAIPE). The beneficiary company will have to come up with its own contribution to the eligible expenses of at least 15%. This contribution is 30% for companies from Bucharest and Ilfov county.
The beneficiaries there will be companies from the following fields: food industry (production of milling products, production of bread, cakes and fresh pastry products, production of ice cream, production of biscuits and cookies, etc.), textile and clothing manufacturing, wood processing, paper manufacturing, metal construction industry, etc. (see the full list of fields of activity in Appendix 3). 
Working capital grants (2.000-150.000 euros)
These grants will have a variable* value, as a percentage of the 2019** turnover of the eligible companies:
a) Grant of 2.000 euros for SMEs with a turnover between 5.000 - 13.500 euros;
b) Grant of 15% of turnover for SMEs with turnover between 13.501 - 1.000.000 euros;
c) Grant of 150.000 euros for SMEs with a turnover of over 1 million euros.
* The amount of the grant is calculated at the INFOREURO exchange rate of the month of approval of the Financing Guide.
**The turnover for 2019 is evaluated in euros at the exchange rate provided in the Applicant's Guide.
The beneficiaries will be companies operating in the following fields: restaurants, hotels, cafes (HORECA), transport services, travel agencies, publishing houses/bookstores/libraries, event organizers (see the full list of fields of activity in Appendix 2). The estimated number of beneficiaries is a maximum of 65.000.
Among the conditions for granting financial aid, the criterion that the applicant company has an emergency situation certificate (CSU) is maintained. These certificates could be requested from the Ministry of Economy until June 15, 2020.
NEW!
SMEs can apply for emergency certificates until September 15, 2020. Read HERE more details.
Microgrants for companies and PFA (2.000 euros)
The microgrants will be awarded in the form of a lump sum amounting to 2.000 euros each and will be correlated with maintaining the beneficiary's activity for at least 6 months. The beneficiaries there will be SMEs that do not have employees, as well as PFAs that work as doctors or in the artistic, creative, cinematographic, magazine/newspaper publishing, etc. (see the full list of fields of activity in Appendix 1).
Funding applications submitted within the project calls will be selected for funding based on the first-come-first-served principle, respectively eligibility criteria established on the basis of the developed Applicant's Guide. The estimated number of beneficiaries of state aid is a maximum of 50.000.
The draft emergency ordinance for the opening of the 3 funding schemes was published for public consultation on WEBSITE Ministry of Economy, Energy and Business Environment (MEEMA). Here you can download the following documents: substantiation note, GEO project details, complete lists with the fields of activity of eligible companies (Annexes 1, 2, 3), selection criteria for investment projects (Annex 4).
All amendment proposals or observations can be sent to the e-mail address: dezbateri_publice@economie.gov.ro within a maximum of 10 days from the date of publication (July 10, 2020).
The support from non-reimbursable external funds will be granted by the Ministry of European Funds (MFE), within the Competitiveness Operational Program (POC) 2014-2020.
