(18)

The following Section 16 is inserted after Article 56c: ‘Section 16 Aid involved in financial products supported by the InvestEU Fund Article 56d Scope and common conditions 1. This Section shall apply to aid involved in financial products supported by the InvestEU Fund that provide aid to implementing partners, financial intermediaries and/or final beneficiaries. 2. The aid shall be compatible with the internal market within the meaning of Article 107(3) of the Treaty and shall be exempted from the notification requirement of Article 108(3) of the Treaty, provided that the conditions laid down in Chapter I, this Article, and either Article 56e or Article 56f are fulfilled. 3. The aid shall comply with all applicable conditions laid down in the [InvestEU Fund] Regulation [reference] and the InvestEU Investment Guidelines [reference]. 4. The maximum thresholds laid down in Articles 56e and 56f shall apply to the total outstanding financing, in so far as that financing contains aid, provided under any financial product supported by the InvestEU Fund. The maximum thresholds shall apply: (a) per project in the case of aid covered by Article 56e(2) and (3), Article 56e(4)(a)(i), Article 56e(5) and (6), Article 56e(7)(a) and (b) and Article 56e(8); (b) per final beneficiary in the case of aid covered by Article 56e(4)(a)(ii) and (iii), Article 56e(7)(d), Article 56e(9) and Article 56f. 5. Aid shall not be granted in the form of refinancing of or guarantees on existing portfolios of financial intermediaries. Article 56e Conditions for aid involved in financial products supported by the InvestEU Fund 1. Aid to the final beneficiary under a financial product supported by the InvestEU Fund shall comply with (a) the conditions set out in one of paragraphs 2 to 9; and (b) in case the financing is provided in the form of loans to the final beneficiary, it shall have an interest rate that corresponds at least to the base rate of the reference rate applicable at the time of the granting of the loan. 2. Aid for trans-European digital connectivity infrastructure shall comply with the following requirements: (a) General cumulative conditions: (i) The project is a project of common interest in the area of digital connectivity infrastructure under the Regulation (EU) [...]/[...] (CEF2 Regulation); (ii) The nominal amount of total financing provided to any final beneficiary per project under the support of the InvestEU Fund shall not exceed EUR 100 million; (iii) The beneficiary provides a financial contribution of at least 25 % of the eligible costs through its own resources or by external financing in a form that is exempted of any public financial support. Alternatively when such external financing is provided via an investment platform combining different sources of financing, this condition is replaced by the presence in such a platform of 30 % of private investment; (iv) Only eligible investment costs under the Regulation (EU) [...]/[...] (CEF2 Regulation) for the deployment of the infrastructure are eligible for aid; (v) The project is selected in compliance with the Regulation (EU) [...]/[...] (CEF2 Regulation): i) by an independent financial intermediary appointed by the European Commission on the basis of commonly agreed investment guidelines; ii) by the European Commission through a competitive bidding process based on clear, transparent and non-discriminatory criteria; or iii) by independent experts appointed by the European Commission; (vi) The project enables connectivity capabilities going beyond the requirements relating to any existing legal obligations, such as those included in a spectrum license; (vii) The project ensures third party open wholesale access including unbundling under fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory conditions in line with Article 52(5) and (6); for the purposes of this Article, a project may offer equivalent virtual unbundling instead of physical unbundling if the virtual access product is recognized as equivalent to physical unbundling by the national regulatory authority of a Member State or by the Commission; (viii) The project falls under one of the categories of projects specified under subparagraph (b) below and fulfils the relevant specific conditions. (b) Specific conditions: (i) The following cumulative specific criteria shall apply for investments in networks capable of providing symmetric download and upload speeds of at least 1Gbps: — The project aims to connect socioeconomic drivers as defined in article 8.3.(a) of the Regulation (EU) [...]/[...] (CEF2 Regulation) that are public or private undertakings entrusted with the operation of services of general economic interest in the areas of education, social services including health, public administration, transport, postal services, culture, as referred to in Article 106(2) of the Treaty and in line with the Commission Decision 2012/21/EU or subsequent legal acts replacing said decision;; — The project is based on an identified market failure verified by available appropriate mapping or, when such mapping is not available, by a public consultation; — Eligible socioeconomic drivers can only be connected to the project infrastructure if they do not have access to infrastructure existing or credibly planned in the next three years or within the same time frame of the planned supported intervention that is capable of providing symmetric download and upload speeds of at least 200 Mbps or a download speed of at least 500 Mbps. — The project demonstrates a step change, in that if, as a result of the subsidised intervention, (i) a significant new investment in the broadband network is undertaken and (ii) the subsidised infrastructure brings significant new capabilities to the market in terms of broadband service availability and capacity, speeds and competition compared to infrastructure existing or credibly planned in the next three years or within the same time frame of the planned supported intervention. For a project to be considered to bring significant new investments, these investments must go beyond marginal investments related merely to the upgrade of the active components of the network. With regard to the demonstration of significant new capabilities to the market in terms of broadband service availability and capacity, speeds and competition, the subsidised infrastructure shall (i) ensure at least a doubling of download and upload speeds compared to existing and/or planned infrastructure and (ii) be capable of providing symmetric download and upload speeds of at least 1Gbps. — Aid shall not be granted for projects that include areas where two NGA/NGN networks are present or are credibly planned in the next three years or within the same time frame of the planned supported intervention or that include areas where at least one very high-capacity network capable of providing symmetric download and upload speeds of at least 1Gbps is present or is credibly planned within the next three years or within the same time frame of the planned supported intervention. (ii) The following cumulative specific criteria shall apply to cross-border investments in the deployment of 5G corridors along major transport paths: — The project ensures uninterrupted cross-border coverage in a 5G corridor along major transport routes, including roads, rail and inland waterways, as defined in the Regulation (EU) [...]/[...] (CEF2 Regulation); — The project consists of a cross-border section as defined under the Regulation (EU) [...]/[...] (CEF2 Regulation) which (i) involves at least two Member States by crossing the border between two or more Member States, or (ii) crosses the border of at least one Member State and a European Economic Area country; — The project ensures a significant new investment in the broadband network going beyond marginal investments related merely to the upgrade of the active components of the network. — The project supports the deployment of new passive infrastructure only if existing passive infrastructure cannot be reused. (iii) The following cumulative specific criteria shall apply to cross-border terabit backbone projects interconnecting certain computing facilities, supercomputing facilities and data infrastructure as defined below: — The project supports the interconnection with unconstrained end to end connectivity of a minimum of 1Tbps, either by direct connection or by deploying those elements necessary to join a pan-European backbone, of at least two computing facilities, supercomputing facilities or data infrastructures i) that participate in the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking established under Council Regulation (EU) 2018/1488 (Council Regulation (EU) 2018/1488 of 28 September 2018 establishing the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking ST/10594/2018/INIT, OJ L 252, 8.10.2018, p. 1–34), research infrastructures, research flagships and missions defined under Regulation (EU) […]/[…] (Horizon Europe Regulation) and Council Regulation (EC) No 723/2009 of 25 June 2009 on the Community legal framework for a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) (OJ L 206, 8.8.2009, p. 1.); and ii) which are located in at least two EU Member States or an EU Member State and a member of the European Research Area; — The project ensures a significant new investment in the broadband network going beyond marginal investments, such as investments related to mere software upgrades or licensing; — The project is implemented through the purchase of capacity and/or equipment carried out through public procurement; — The project supports the deployment of new passive infrastructure only if existing passive infrastructure cannot be reused. (iv) The following cumulative specific criteria shall apply to cross-border cross backbone networks projects interconnecting cloud infrastructures: — The project interconnects the cloud infrastructures of socioeconomic drivers as defined in article 8.3.(a) of the Regulation (EU) [...]/[...] (CEF2 Regulation) that are public or private undertakings entrusted with the operation of services of general economic interest in the areas of education, social services including health, public administration, transport, postal services, culture, as referred to in Article 106(2) of the Treaty and in line with the Commission Decision 2012/21/EU (*9) or subsequent legal acts replacing said decision; — The project consists of the deployment of new cross-border backbone networks or a significant upgrade of existing ones that (i) involve at least two Member States by crossing the border between two or more Member States or (ii) cross the border between at least one Member State and a European Economic Area country; — The project covers at least three entities among eligible socioeconomic drivers operating in a different Member State than the others; — The project ensures a significant new investment in the broadband network going beyond marginal investments, such as investments related to mere software upgrades or licensing. The project shall be capable of providing symmetric download and upload speeds of at least multiples of 10Gbps; — The project supports the deployment of new passive infrastructure only if existing passive infrastructure cannot be reused. (v) The following cumulative specific criteria shall apply to investment in cross-border submarine cables: — The project consists of cross-border sections as defined under the Regulation (EU) [...]/[...] (CEF2 Regulation) which (i) involve at least two Member States by crossing the border between two or more Member States, or (ii) cross the border of at least one Member State and a European Economic Area country. Alternatively, the supported infrastructure is a wholesale only network and improves the connectivity of European outermost regions or overseas territories, even within a single Member State. — Aid shall not be granted for projects in routes served already by two existing or planned backbone infrastructures. — The project ensures a significant new investment in the broadband network, by rolling-out a new submarine cable or connection to an existing submarine cable, addressing redundancy issues and going beyond marginal investments. The project shall be capable of providing symmetric download and upload speeds of at least 1Gbps. — The project supports the deployment of new passive infrastructure only if existing passive infrastructure cannot be reused. 3. Aid for energy generation and energy infrastructure shall comply with the following requirements: (a) aid shall only be granted for investments in energy infrastructure in gas and electricity that is subject to third party access, tariff regulation and unbundling in line with the internal energy market legislation for the following categories of projects: (i) as regards energy storage, projects included in the Union list of Projects of Common Interest in Annex VII of Regulation (EU) No 347/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council (*9); (ii) as regards energy infrastructure projects other than storage: — smart grids; — projects, which fulfil any of the criteria laid down in Article 4(1)(c) of Regulation (EU) No 347/2013; — projects included in the Union list of Projects of Common Interest in Annex VII to Regulation (EU) No 347/2013; — projects in assisted areas; (b) investment aid for generation of energy from renewable energy sources shall comply with the following requirements: (i) aid shall only be granted for new installations selected on a competitive, transparent, objective and non-discriminatory basis; (ii) aid shall not be granted for hydropower installations that do not comply with the conditions laid down in Directive 2000/60/EC (*10); (iii) in case of installations producing biofuels, aid shall only be granted for installations producing sustainable biofuels other than food based biofuels. (c) The nominal amount of total financing provided to any final beneficiary per project referred to in point (a) of this paragraph under the support of the InvestEU Fund shall not exceed EUR 150 million. The nominal amount of total financing provided to any final beneficiary per project referred to in point (b) of this paragraph under the support of the InvestEU Fund shall not exceed EUR 75 million. 4. Aid for social, educational, cultural and natural heritage infrastructure and activities shall comply with the following requirements: (a) the nominal amount of total financing provided to any final beneficiary under the support of the InvestEU Fund shall not exceed: (i) EUR 100 million per project for investments in infrastructure used for the provision of social services, for education or for cultural purposes and activities set out in Article 53(2), including natural heritage; (ii) EUR 30 million for the activities related to social services and culture; (iii) EUR 5 million for education and training. (b) aid shall not be granted for training aimed at complying with mandatory national training requirements. 5. Aid for transport and transport infrastructures shall comply with the following requirements: (a) aid for infrastructure, except ports, shall be provided only to the following projects: (i) projects of common interest as defined in point (a) of Article 3 of Regulation (EU) No 1315/2013, except for projects concerning port or airport infrastructure; (ii) connections to Trans-European transport network urban nodes; (iii) rolling stock only for the provision of rail transport services not covered by a public service contract within the meaning of Regulation (EC) No 1370/2007 (*11), provided the beneficiary is a new entrant; (iv) urban transport; (v) alternative fuel infrastructure or zero/low emission mobility infrastructure. (b) aid for port infrastructure projects shall comply with the following requirements: (i) aid may only be provided for investments in access infrastructure and port infrastructure that are made available to interested users on an equal and non-discriminatory basis on market terms; (ii) any concession or other entrustment to a third party to construct, upgrade, operate or rent aided port infrastructure shall be assigned on a competitive, transparent, non-discriminatory and unconditional basis; (iii) aid shall not be granted for investments in port superstructures. (c) The nominal amount of total financing provided under points (a) or (b) of this paragraph to any final beneficiary per project under the support of the InvestEU Fund shall not exceed EUR 150 million. 6. Aid for other infrastructures shall comply with the following requirements: (a) aid shall be provided only to the following projects: (i) investment in water supply and waste water infrastructure for the general public; (ii) investment in waste recycling and preparation for re-use in line with Article 47(1) to (6) of this Regulation, insofar as it is aimed at managing waste generated by other undertakings; (iii) investment in research infrastructure; (iv) investment in the construction or upgrade of innovation cluster facilities; (b) the nominal amount of total financing provided to any final beneficiary per project under the support of the InvestEU Fund shall not exceed EUR 100 million. 7. Aid for environmental protection, including climate protection, shall comply with the following requirements: (a) aid shall be provided only to the following projects: (i) investments enabling undertakings to remedy or prevent damage to physical surroundings (including climate change) or natural resources by a beneficiary’s own activities, insofar as the investment goes beyond Union standards for environmental protection or increases the level of environmental protection in the absence of Union standards or constitutes an early adaptation to future Union standards for environmental protection; (ii) measures improving the energy efficiency of an undertaking, insofar as the energy efficiency improvements are not undertaken to ensure that the undertaking complies with Union standards already adopted, even if they are not yet in force; (iii) remediation of contaminated sites, insofar as no legal or physical person liable for the environmental damage under the applicable law is identified in line with the “polluter pays” principle as referred to in Article 45(3); (iv) environmental studies; (v) enhancement and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems where that activity contributes to protecting, conserving or restoring biodiversity and to achieving the good condition of ecosystems, or to protecting ecosystems that are already in good condition. (b) insofar as the aid measure relates to measures improving the energy efficiency in residential buildings and buildings dedicated to the provision of activities related to social services, it may also be granted for measures that simultaneously improve the energy efficiency of the residential building and integrate installations generating renewable energy on-site the residential building concerned by the energy efficiency aid measure, subject to the following conditions: (i) the integrated on-site renewable energy generating installation relates to production of electricity and/or heat; it may be combined with storage equipment; (ii) the output of the installation generating renewable energy on-site shall not exceed by more than 20 % the overall aggregated consumption demand of the building residents; (iii) the installed capacity of the installation generating renewable energy shall not exceed 500 kW; (iv) the final beneficiary of the aid may be either the owner of the building or a tenant; (c) the nominal amount of total financing provided to any final beneficiary per project referred to in points (a) and (b) of this paragraph under the support of the InvestEU Fund shall not exceed EUR 50 million; (d) aid for measures that improve the energy efficiency of buildings may also relate to the facilitation of energy performance contracts subject to the following conditions: (i) the nominal amount of total financing provided per final beneficiary under the support of the InvestEU Fund does not exceed EUR [30] million; (ii) the support takes the form of loan or guarantee; (iii) the support is provided to SMEs or small mid-caps; (iv) the support is provided only for energy performance contracting within the meaning of Article 2(27) of Directive 2012/27/EU on energy efficiency (*12). 8. Aid for research, development, innovation and digitalisation shall comply with the following requirements: (a) aid may be granted for: (i) fundamental research; (ii) industrial research; (iii) experimental development; (iv) process or organisational innovation for SMEs; (v) innovation advisory services and innovation support services for SMEs; (vi) digitalisation for SMEs; (b) for projects falling under points (i), (ii) and (iii) of point (a) of this paragraph, the nominal amount of total financing provided to any final beneficiary per project under the support of the InvestEU Fund shall not exceed EUR 75 million. For projects falling under points (iv), (v) and (vi) of point (a) of this paragraph, the nominal amount of total financing provided to any final beneficiary per project under the support of the InvestEU Fund shall not exceed EUR [30] million. 9. SMEs or small mid-caps may, besides compatibility grounds provided for in paragraphs (2) to (8) of this Article, also receive aid in the form of financing supported by the InvestEU Fund provided that: (a) the nominal amount of total financing provided per final beneficiary under the support of the InvestEU Fund does not exceed EUR 15 million and is provided to: (i) microenterprises; (ii) SMEs that have not yet been operating in any market or have been operating for less than 7 years following their first commercial sale; (iii) SMEs entering a new product or geographical market, where the initial investment for entering into a new product or geographical market must be higher than 50 % of the average annual turnover in the preceding 5 years; (iv) innovative enterprises; (v) SMEs or small mid-caps whose principal activities are located in assisted areas provided that the financing is not used for relocation of activities as defined in Article 2(61a); or (b) the nominal amount of total financing provided per final beneficiary under the support of the InvestEU Fund does not exceed EUR 2 million. Article 56f Conditions for aid involved in commercially-driven financial products supported by the InvestEU Fund 1. Financing to the final beneficiaries shall be provided by commercial financial intermediaries which shall be selected in an open, transparent and non-discriminatory way based on objective criteria. 2. The commercial financial intermediary that provides financing to the final beneficiary shall retain a minimum risk exposure of 20 % of each financing transaction. 3. The nominal amount of total financing provided to each final beneficiary by the commercial financial intermediary shall not exceed EUR 7,5 million. (*9) Regulation (EU) No 347/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2013 on guidelines for trans-European energy infrastructure and repealing Decision No 1364/2006/EC and amending Regulations (EC) No 713/2009, (EC) No 714/2009 and (EC) No 715/2009 (OJ L 115, 25.4.2013, p. 39)." (*9) Regulation (EU) No 347/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2013 on guidelines for trans-European energy infrastructure and repealing Decision No 1364/2006/EC and amending Regulations (EC) No 713/2009, (EC) No 714/2009 and (EC) No 715/2009 (OJ L 115, 25.4.2013, p. 39)." (*10) Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy (OJ L […]. […], p. […])." (*11) Regulation (EC) No 1370/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2007 on public passenger transport services by rail and by road and repealing Council Regulations (EEC) Nos 1191/69 and 1107/70 (OJ L 315, 3.12.2007, p. 1)." (*12) Directive 2012/27/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 on energy efficiency, amending Directives 2009/125/EC and 2010/30/EU and repealing Directives 2004/8/EC and 2006/32/EC (OJ L 315, 14.11.2012, p. 1).’"