The Development Agency of Serbia has published a public call for participation in the Competitiveness Development Support Program in 2022

The Development Agency of Serbia (hereinafter: the Agency) in cooperation with the Ministry of Economy (hereinafter: the Ministry) has developed the Financial Support Program - Program to Support the Development of Competitiveness in 2022 (hereinafter: the Program).

The general goal of the Program is to improve competitiveness, safety and quality of products and services on the market, facilitate access to markets and increase competitiveness, primarily of small and medium-sized enterprises, and thus of the economy as a whole.

The program will contribute to increasing the level of use of standards in production and business organization, product certification, management systems and increasing the use of other services in the field of quality infrastructure.

PURPOSE OF GRANT FUNDS

Eligible project activities:

In his application, the applicant states the project activities he plans to implement if he is granted financial resources by the Agency.

Eligible project activities within this program are:

1. Implementation of conformity assessment procedures (examination, control, certification, etc.) of products with the requirements of Serbian and foreign (primarily European) technical regulations and/or fulfillment of the conditions for marking with the prescribed signs (CE, 3A, eco-label, OEKO-TEX standard 100, etc.) including assessment of the safety of cosmetic products and creation of dossiers on cosmetic products with a report on the safety of cosmetic products; implementation of the procedure of voluntary assessment of compliance with Serbian standards, including the possibility of acquiring other Serbian standards - from the Institute for Standardization of Serbia (hereinafter: ISS) in printed or electronic form;
2. Arrangement of business in accordance with the requirements of internationally recognized management system standards (preparation/implementation of standards with the first certification or recertification of one of the systems, or integrated management systems - in the field of quality, environmental protection, food safety, etc., including the possibility of acquiring other Serbian standards - at ISS in printed or electronic form in the field of management systems.

Costs related to the "procurement of Serbian standards" can only be accepted with the activity "Implementation of conformity assessment procedures" or with the activity "Regulation of business in accordance with the requirements of internationally recognized standards of the management system". and other publications, as well as about height fee for services performed by ISS in the performance of work in the field of standardization.

Project activities that are not acceptable:

1. Project activities aimed at: the tobacco industry, primary agricultural production, the organization of games of chance, the production and sale of weapons and military equipment, as well as the production and trade of any product that is considered prohibited according to domestic regulations or international conventions;
2. Project activities related to political parties;
3. Project activities focused on donations for charitable purposes.

AMOUNT OF GRANTS

Available funds are approved individually to users, with a refund as co-financing in the amount of up to 40% or up to 60% of the amount of justified expenses without value added tax (hereinafter: VAT), for each project activity.

Co-financing in the amount of up to 60% is provided for micro, small and medium-sized companies and entrepreneurs, and up to 40% for large business entities, except for:

- implementation and certification of the SRPS EN ISO 50001 standard where co-financing in the amount of up to 60% is provided for all business entities regardless of their size.

The maximum total amount of funds approved for reimbursement is 1,000,000.00 dinars that one user can realize for one or more activities.

The minimum amount of funds approved for reimbursement is 100,000.00 dinars that one user can realize for one or more activities.

The sum of justified costs for reimbursement for all project activities must be in the range of the specified minimum and maximum amount.

The total budget of the Program is 100,000,000.00 dinars.

The funds are allocated to the beneficiary in accordance with Article 4 of the Regulation on the rules and conditions for granting de minimis aid, as state aid of low value. In accordance with Article 4 of the aforementioned regulation, the amount of de minimis state aid awarded to the beneficiary may not exceed 23,000,000.00 dinars in any period during three consecutive fiscal years, including all incentive funds allocated in that period. Agency.

The program will co-finance project activities that were started no later than June 1, 2022, and were not completed before the publication of the public call.

GENERAL CONDITIONS FOR PARTICIPATION IN THE PROGRAM

The right to participate and use grants is granted to the applicant who meets the following conditions cumulatively:

1. that at the time of submitting the application, he has been registered in the Agency for Business Registers (hereinafter: APR) for at least two years (in the Register of Business Companies or Entrepreneurs);
2. that he no bankruptcy or liquidation proceedings have been initiated;
3. that he has settled his obligations based on taxes and contributions;
4. that he has not been banned from performing activities in the last two years;
5. that the applicant and his responsible persons have not been convicted of economic crimes, and that the members of the applicant and responsible persons within the applicant have not been convicted of criminal offenses against the economy;
6. yes for the same justified expenses for which apply, has not used in the last two years stimulus funds that come from the budget of the Republic of Serbia, the budget of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina and the budget of local self-government units;
7. that it is not in difficulties according to the definition contained in the Regulation on the rules for granting state aid;
8. that the applicant's activity is in the field of: production, processing or services of the IT industry (except if the applicant's activity code does not correspond to the mentioned fields, the burden of proof is on the applicant);
9. that the applicant's activity is not in the field of: production and trade of tobacco products, primary agricultural production, production of weapons and military equipment, shoelaces, production and trade of any product that according to domestic regulations or international conventions and agreements are considered prohibited.

SPECIAL CONDITIONS FOR PARTICIPATION IN THE PROGRAM

The applicant must meet special conditions regarding the competences of the service provider. Service providers can be business entities specialized in performing the service in question. When it is about cosmetic product safety assessors and the creation of cosmetic product dossiers, service providers can also be natural persons.

The service provider engaged by the user must meet the following conditions related to all acceptable project activities, i.e. possess the following documentation:

1. act on the accreditation of the service provider, when it comes to compliance assessment services and when applicable;
2. reference list with a minimum of three recommendations;
3. evidence that the service provider has at least three employees or other engaged persons;
4. evidence of the qualifications and competences of the engaged persons;
5. the user must not be a person related to the service provider,
6. the person responsible for the safety of the cometic product must have a public document in the field of higher education, in the field of pharmacy, medicine, toxicology or similar equivalent disciplines or education.

DOCUMENTATION TO BE SUBMITTED

Each applicant is obliged to enter all required data on the Agency Portal for:

1. Form 1 - Application for participation in the Program - The application is created within the Agency portal and must be electronically signed.

as well as submit the following documentation:

1. Form 2 - Statement on the fulfillment of the conditions of the Program, on the granted de minimis state aid and acceptance of the conditions for participation in the Program - The statement is issued under full material and criminal liability and must be electronically signed;
2. Statement that the applicant and his responsible persons have not been convicted of economic crimes, as well as that the members of the applicant and responsible persons in within the scope of the applicant, they were not convicted of criminal offenses against of the economy - The statement is issued under full material and criminal responsibility and must be electronically signed;
3. A copy of the certificate of the competent authority of the Tax Administration that the applicant has settled all due obligations based on taxes and contributions, which must not be older than 30 days from the date of submission of the application;
4. Offer/pre-order/invoice of the selected supplier/s for various project activities. The offer/estimate/invoice should contain a clearly defined subject and scope of activities, the deadline for implementation and the price expressed in dinars with VAT shown. In the event that the price on the offer is expressed in foreign currency, it is converted according to the middle exchange rate of the National Bank of Serbia on the day of issuing the offer/payment of the invoice;
5. Documentation which proves the competencies of the service provider namely:

1) certificate of accreditation of the supplier (when it comes to certification or other conformity assessment activities), if applicable. The act on the accreditation of certification bodies for management systems should include at least two standards;

2) a reference list with a minimum of three recommendations (not older than three years) on the client's letterhead with a detailed description of the type of service and the period of execution that prove the competence to provide the service in question;

3) the service provider must have at least three employees or other engaged persons (evidence - e.g. an extract from the CROSO register on 31 December 2021, a certified copy of the contract on hiring persons, etc.), if applicable;

4) List of hired persons who will implement project activities and prove the following for each one individually:

• qualifications and competences;
• work experience of at least three years in the subject area for which he is hired (proof: employer's confirmation on a letterhead with a job description or a contract on engagement in the provision of services to the user by which they prove their competence to provide the service in question or other evidence that proves the fulfillment of the conditions).

5) For a cometic product safety assessor, it is necessary to have a public document in the field of higher education, in the field of pharmacy, medicine, toxicology or similar equivalent disciplines or education.

The commission reserves the right to ask the applicant to submit additional documentation, clarifications or a meeting via the Internet before making a decision on the grant award, with an indication of the deadline by which it must be submitted the requested documentation, and in order to determine with certainty that it meets all the requirements of the Program.

REGISTRATION METHOD AND APPLICATION DEADLINE

Applications are submitted electronically, by creating a user account at the link https://priyave.ras.gov.rs/standardi and verifying the internet address.

Creating a user account opens the page for data entry, as well as for the entry of accompanying documentation, all within Form 1 - Application for participation in the Program. After entering the data and completing the documentation, the user of the account confirms that the application is complete, which means that the application is received electronically. Each applicant can submit one application.

The application link is available until the end of the public call, after which it is no longer possible to submit an application.

Public call opened from December 30, 2022 and will last until funds are used up, and at the latest until December 31, 2023.

The agency reserves the right to temporarily suspend the submission of applications, if there is an assessment that with the number of applications received that are still being processed, the budget allocated for this project would be exceeded. After it is determined that the funds have not been fully spent, it will be possible to resubmit applications.

The Agency will publish a notice on its website about the temporary suspension of applications.

The public call, the Program and all accompanying forms are available on the Agency's website: www.ras.gov.rs, the website of the Ministry of Economy: www.privreda.gov.rs and the portal of the Sector for Quality and Product Safety of the Ministry of Economy: https://tehnis.privreda.gov.rs.

For additional information you can contact the Agency electronically at the address: standardi@ras.gov.rs; as well as to the Ministry at the address: dragana.puzic@privreda.gov.rs.

Program to support the development of competitiveness in 2022 with implementation instructions

Documentation published with a public call:

1. Form 1 - Application for participation in the Program;
2. Form 2 - Statement on the fulfillment of the conditions of the Program, on the granted de minimis state aid and acceptance of the conditions for participation in the Program;
3. Report on the implementation of project activities;
4. Form 3 - Request for payment (refund) of approved funds;
5. Draft statement that the applicant and his responsible persons have not been convicted of economic crimes.