57.

The following section is inserted: ‘3.13 Investment support towards a sustainable recovery 88. Member States may envisage supporting private investment as a stimulus to overcome an investment gap accumulated in the economy due to the crisis. Such a stimulus could facilitate the development of certain economic activities or of certain economic areas. 89. The Commission will consider such measures compatible with the internal market under Article 107(3)(c) TFEU provided the following conditions are met: a. The aid is granted on the basis of a scheme. The maximum individual aid amount that may be granted per undertaking shall in principle not exceed 1 % of the total budget available for such a scheme except in situations that will have to be duly justified by the Member State. b. Eligible costs may include only the costs of investments in tangible and intangible assets. Costs related to purchasing land may be included only in as far as they are part of an investment for production of goods or provision of services. Financial investments are not eligible. c. Member States may limit the aid to investments that support specific economic areas of particular importance for the economic recovery. However, such limits need to be designed broadly and not lead to an artificial limitation of eligible investments or potential beneficiaries that would result in targeting only a small number of undertakings. d. The aid intensity may not exceed 15 % of the eligible costs. However, i. for investments made by small enterprises (*13), the aid intensity may be increased by 20 percentage points; ii. for investments made by other SMEs (*14), the aid intensity may be increased by 10 percentage points; or iii. for investments in assisted areas that comply with the conditions of Article 14 of the General Block Exemption Regulation, excluding Article 14(14) of the General Block Exemption Regulation, the aid intensity may be increased by the aid intensity established in the regional aid map, which is in force at the time the aid is granted in the area concerned. e. The overall aid granted under this section may not exceed EUR 10 million per undertaking in nominal terms, regardless of the specific aid instrument. However, in assisted areas, the overall aid granted under this section per undertaking may not exceed the maximum aid amount calculated in accordance with Article 14 of the General Block Exemption Regulation, with the exception of Article 14(14) of the General Block Exemption Regulation and based on the applicable regional aid map, increased by EUR 10 million, in nominal terms, regardless of the specific aid instrument. f. The aid may be granted in different forms, including non-repayable grants, tax grants or deferrals, subsidised interest rates on loans, or guarantees. In case of repayable instruments, Member States may provide for a possibility for conversion into grants under predefined conditions and on the basis of predefined criteria that must be laid down in the scheme and specified in the individual granting decisions. Repayable instruments such as loans as well as guarantees must be limited to a maximum duration of eight years. 90. In weighing the positive effects of the aid against its negative effects on competition and trade, the Commission will pay particular attention to Article 3 of the EU Taxonomy Regulation (EU) 2020/852, including the “Do no significant harm” principle or other comparable methodologies. The Commission considers that investments that do significant harm to environmental objectives (*15) are unlikely to have sufficient positive effects to outweigh their negative effects on competition and trade (*16). 91. Aid under this section may be added to notifiable regional investment aid and cumulated with other types of aid under the conditions specified in point 20 of this Temporary Framework. Under no circumstances may the total aid amount exceed 100 % of eligible costs. As a result, cumulation with other aid instruments that allow the coverage of a funding gap is excluded. 92. Aid under this section may not be granted to undertakings that were already in difficulty (within the meaning of the General Block Exemption Regulation (*17)) on 31 December 2019. This does not apply to micro and small enterprises (within the meaning of Annex I to the General Block Exemption Regulation) that were already in difficulty on 31 December 2019 provided that they are not subject to collective insolvency procedure under national law and that they have not received rescue aid (*18) or restructuring aid (*19). 93. Aid under this section may be granted until 31 December 2022. Aid for investments that predate 1 February 2020 is excluded. 94. Aid granted under this section shall be considered to have an incentive effect if the beneficiary has submitted a written application for the aid to the Member State concerned before works on the investment have started. 95. By way of derogation from point 94, measures in the form of tax advantages shall be deemed to have an incentive effect if the following conditions are fulfilled: a. the measure establishes a right to aid in accordance with objective criteria and without further exercise of discretion by the Member State; and b. the measure has been adopted and is in force before works on the investment have started. 96. Where investment support schemes exclusively provide aid in the form of guarantees or loans or similar repayable instruments, in derogation of point 89(e) the overall aid may not exceed EUR 15 million per undertaking in nominal terms and in derogation of point 89(d) aid intensities may not exceed 30 % of the eligible costs. Where the conditions of 89(d) (i), (ii), or (iii) apply, this limit may be increased in line with these provisions. Schemes under this point shall comply with points 25(a), 25(b), 25bis first and second sentence, or 27(a), 27(b), and 27bis first and second sentence respectively. Cumulation with other aid under this section is excluded. Furthermore, points 29, 30, and 31 must be respected. In case of guarantees, these may not exceed: i. 90 % of the loan principal where losses are sustained proportionally and under same conditions by the credit institution and the State; or ii. 35 % of the loan principal, where losses are first attributed to the State and only then to the credit institutions (i.e. a first-loss guarantee); and iii. in both of the above cases, when the size of the loan decreases over time, for instance because the loan starts to be reimbursed, the guaranteed amount must decrease proportionally. 97. Member States may also consider setting up or amending existing schemes under the rules applicable to environmental or research projects, namely the Environmental and Energy Aid Guidelines (*20) or the Research, Development and Innovation Aid Framework (*21) to support the sustainable recovery of the economy. The Commission considers that, in light of the objectives to facilitate the speedy recovery of the European economy, Member States may temporarily envisage setting up or amending existing schemes that would also allow to cover larger individual aid under those guidelines, without requiring individual notification of measures. The Commission will consider such aid schemes or amendments of existing schemes to be compatible where the applicable thresholds for individual notifications are exceeded by up to 50 %, provided all other provisions of the applicable guidelines are complied with, the Commission decision authorising the measure is taken before 1 January 2023, and the individual aid concerned is granted before 1 January 2024. (*13) Within the meaning of Annex I of the General Block Exemption Regulation." (*14) Within the meaning of Annex I of the General Block Exemption Regulation." (*15) Within the meaning of Article 17 of Regulation (EU) 2020/852 (OJ L 198, 22.6.2020, p. 13)." (*16) For measures which are identical to measures within Recovery and Resilience Plans as approved by the Council, compliance with the “Do no significant harm” principle is considered fulfilled, since this has already been verified." (*17) As defined in Article 2(18) of the General Block Exemption Regulation." (*18) Alternatively, if they have received rescue aid, they have reimbursed the loan or terminated the guarantee at the moment of granting of the aid under this Communication." (*19) Alternatively, if they have received restructuring aid, they are no longer subject to a restructuring plan at the moment of granting the aid under this Communication." (*20) Guidelines on State aid for environmental protection and energy 2014-2020 (OJ C 200, 28.6.2014, p. 1)." (*21) Framework for State aid for research and development and innovation (OJ C 198, 27.6.2014, p. 1).’"