Public call for participation in the support program for companies to enter the supplier chains of multinational companies

The Development Agency of Serbia (hereinafter: RAS) through the implementation of a multi-year program of support for companies to enter the supply chains of multinational companies (hereinafter: the Program) aims to support companies in production activities to meet the requirements to become suppliers of multinational companies (hereinafter: MNC) through the improvement of their business performance.

CONDITIONS FOR PARTICIPATION IN THE PROGRAM

Applicants the application must meet all the following general conditions:

1. That they are registered in the APR of the Republic of Serbia;
2. That they are registered no later than January 1, 2016;
3. That they are privately owned;
4. That the registered activity of the applicant is production and processing in the automotive industry sector - devices and components for the automotive industry (plastics, tires, machines/equipment); the sector of machinery and equipment for other purposes; wood processing and furniture production sector; metal processing sector; rubber and plastic sector; the sector of production of household appliances and parts of household appliances; sector of electrical and electronic systems and elements of electrical and electronic systems;
5. That the applicant's products are in the group of direct materials[1] that are procured by MNCs, i.e. they are part of the finished MNC product;
6. That they are not in difficulties according to the definition contained in the Regulation on the rules for granting state aid;
7. That the person is not related to the buyer/potential buyer (in the sense of the Regulation on the rules for granting state aid);
8. That they have not been subject to bankruptcy proceedings, bankruptcy proceedings or previous proceedings liquidation;
9. That in the previous 12 months from the date of submission of the application, they were not blocked continuously for more than 14 days or a total of 30 days;
10. That they settled all obligations based on taxes and contributions;
11. That they have at least 15 employees, for an indefinite period, on 31.12.2018. year;
12. That they have realized business income in 2018 of at least 400,000.00 euros, in dinar equivalent value;
13. That the value of their fixed assets is at least 500,000.00 euros, in dinar equivalent value in the balance sheet in 2018;
14. That they have implemented an ISO quality system 9001.

PURPOSE OF GRANT FUNDS

The program co-finances the activities of companies on the preparation and implementation of improving their performance in accordance with the requirements of MNC. The program will co-finance the following groups of activities:

• Investment in the tangible assets of the Program Beneficiaries, which means the extension and reconstruction of production facilities - RAS will co-finance this activity in the amount of up to 40% of the total value of the justified costs;
• Investment in the tangible assets of the Program Beneficiaries, which means the purchase of production equipment (up to 3 years old) - the RAS will co-finance this activity in the amount of up to 60% of the total value of the justified costs of costs;
• Investment in tangible assets of the Program User, which means the purchase and installation of equipment for automation/digitalization of production processes - RAS will co-finance this activity in the amount of up to 70% of the total value of justified costs;
• Consulting support for the modernization of production lines - RAS will co-finance this activity in the amount of up to 80% of the total value of justified costs;
• Consultant support for the establishment of serial production - RAS will co-finance this activity in the amount of up to 80% of the total value of justified costs;
• Consulting support for the optimization of production processes according to the requirements of the target sectors - RAS will co-finance this activity in the amount of up to 80% of the total value of justified costs;
• Consulting support for improving the quality control of finished products - RAS will co-finance this activity in the amount of up to 60% of the total value of justified costs;
• Consulting support for quality system certification according to the requirements of the standards of specific industries - RAS will co-finance this activity in the amount of up to 50% of the total value of justified costs;
• Consulting support for the introduction or improvement of corporate governance - RAS will co-finance this activity in the amount of up to 50% of the total value of justified costs.

Each applicant under this program can submit one application, with the fact that he can apply for several previously defined activities up to the maximum amount of the intervention.

AMOUNT GRANT FUNDS

For the implementation of this first public call within the Program, a budget in the amount of 463,000,000.00 dinars has been determined.

Through this program, RAS supports the implementation of defined activities through the co-financing of justified costs of project activities.

The maximum amount per Program Beneficiary is 23,000,000.00 dinars, which is the threshold for awarding "de minimis" state aid. If the same company was already a beneficiary of state aid in the current and previous 2 years, the amount of approved grants will be reduced by that amount.

Depending on the type of approved project activities, RAS will co-finance the projects of Program Beneficiaries through:

• Refunding of grants in full amount after the completion of project activities for consulting services (in terms of this program);
• Payment of advances in the amount of maximum 30% of the approved amount and the refund of the remaining amount of grants after the completion of project activities for investment in tangible assets (in the sense of this program).

Public call for participation in the Program has been announced 13. May 2019 and will last 30 days with the possibility of re-opening if the entire grant amount is not spent.

How to apply, as well as all the necessary documentation, you can find at HERE.