21.12.2022
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
L 327/5
(24)
As regards any ad hoc aid covered by this Regulation granted to a beneficiary which is a large enterprise, the Member State should, in addition to the conditions on the incentive effect applicable to SMEs, also ensure that the beneficiary has analysed, in an internal document, the viability of the aided project or activity with aid and without aid.
The Member State should verify that this internal document confirms a material increase in the scope of the project or activity, a material increase in the total amount spent by the beneficiary on the aided project or activity or a material increase in the speed of completion of the project or activity concerned.
It should also be possible to establish the incentive effect on the basis of the fact that the investment project or the activity would not have been carried out as such in the rural area concerned in the absence of the aid.
(25)
Automatic aid schemes in the form of tax advantages should continue to be subject to a specific condition concerning the incentive effect, in the light of the fact that the aid resulting from such aid schemes is granted automatically.
That specific condition means that those aid schemes should have been adopted before the activity or the work on the aided project/activity started.
However, this condition should not apply in the case of fiscal successor schemes provided the activity was already covered by the previous fiscal schemes in the form of tax advantages.
For the assessment of the incentive effect of successor aid schemes, the crucial moment is the moment when the tax measure was set out for the first time in the original scheme.
(26)
Regarding Natura 2000 (9) areas for agriculture, the aim is to ensure environmental performance and efficiency of undertakings active in the agricultural sector.
The aid per hectare should comply with Union legislation and with the national laws of the Member States concerned on environmental protection, the achievement of agri-envi­ ronmental-climate objectives, including biodiversity conservation status of species and habitats as well as enhancing the public amenity value of Natura 2000 areas.
(27)
As regards aid for land consolidation, aid for information actions to make information available to an undefined number of beneficiaries in agricultural and forestry sectors, promotion measures in the form of publications aimed at raising awareness of agricultural products among the wider public, aid to make good the damage caused by adverse climatic event which can be assimilated to a natural disaster and other adverse climatic events, aid to compensate for the costs of the prevention, control and eradication of animal diseases and plant pests and for losses caused by those animal diseases or plant pests, aid to cover the costs of the removal and destruction of fallen stock, aid to make good the damage caused by protected animals, aid for disadvantages related to Natura 2000, aid for research, development and innovation, aid to make good the damage caused by natural disasters and aid for investments in favour of conservation of cultural and natural heritage on the agricultural holding and in forests, aid for the restoration of damage of forests, aid for the participation of farmers in quality schemes for cotton and foodstuffs and aid for undertakings participating in or benefitting from CLLD projects and EIP Operational Groups projects, the existence of an incentive effect should not be required or should be deemed to be present if the specific conditions set out for those categories of aid in this Regulation are fulfilled.
(28)
With a view to ensuring that aid is proportionate and limited to the amount necessary, the maximum aid amounts should, whenever possible, be expressed in terms of aid intensities in relation to a set of eligible costs.
Where the maximum aid intensity cannot be set, because the eligible costs cannot be identified or in order to provide simpler instruments for small amounts, maximum aid amounts defined in nominal terms should be set out in order to ensure proportionality of the aid.
The aid intensity and the maximum aid amounts should be fixed, at a level that minimises distortions of competition in the aided sector while appropriately addressing the objective of facilitating the development of the economic activities of the beneficiaries in the agricultural sector, the rural areas, or the forestry sector.
In the interests of coherence with Union-financed rural development interventions, the ceilings should be harmonised with those set out in Regulation (EU) 2021/2115 insofar as this is in accordance with the State aid principles resulting from the application of Article 107(3), point (c), of the Treaty.
(29)
For the calculation of the aid intensity, only eligible costs should be included.
This Regulation should not exempt aid which exceeds the relevant aid intensity as a result of including ineligible costs.
The identification of the eligible costs should be supported by clear, specific and contemporary documentary evidence.
The calculation
(9) Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora (OJ L 206, 22.7.1992, p. 7).