Emergency ordinance no. 120/2024 on the establishment of a state aid scheme in the form of a grant to agricultural producers for agricultural crops affected by the soil drought from September 2023 to August 2024 was published in the Official Gazette, Part I no. 1034 of October 15th, 2024.

By this emergency ordinance, the pedological drought manifested on extensive agricultural areas nationally between September 2023 and August 2024 is recognized as an unfavorable meteorological phenomenon assimilated to a natural calamity, and a state aid scheme in the form of a grant is established, named hereinafter Scheme, with the objective of granting compensation to agricultural producers who cultivated areas with agricultural crops that were affected by the pedological drought in agriculture.

The scheme provided above is not cumulated with other state aid or de minimis aid with the same identifiable eligible costs.

Beneficiaries, eligibility criteria, the method of calculating the amounts representing the grant

The beneficiaries of this scheme are the agricultural producers who established agricultural crops in the fall of 2023 and/or in the spring of 2024, perennial plants, fruit plantations, vineyards, provided in annex no. 1, and who have records of ascertainment and assessment of damages for crops/agricultural areas that were affected by the pedological drought in percentages greater than 30% and up to 100% inclusive, respectively:

a) agricultural producers natural persons;

b) agricultural producers, authorized natural persons, individual businesses and family businesses established according to the provisions of Government Emergency Ordinance no. 44/2008 regarding the conduct of economic activities by authorized natural persons, individual businesses and family businesses, approved with amendments and additions by Law no. 182/2016, with subsequent amendments and additions;

c) agricultural producers, legal entities, regardless of their legal status or their way of organization, agricultural companies organized in accordance with the provisions of Law no. 36/1991 regarding agricultural companies and other forms of association in agriculture, with subsequent amendments and additions, commercial companies organized in accordance with the provisions of the Companies Law no. 31/1990, republished, with subsequent amendments and additions, groups and organizations of producers recognized according to Government Ordinance no. 37/2005 regarding the recognition and functioning of producers' groups and organizations, for the marketing of agricultural and forestry products, approved with amendments and additions by Law no. 338/2005, with subsequent amendments and additions, agricultural cooperatives organized in accordance with the provisions of the Agricultural Cooperation Law no. 566/2004, with subsequent amendments and additions.

The scheme does not apply to beneficiaries who have previously obtained illegal aid declared incompatible with the internal market by a decision of the European Commission, as long as the illegal aid is not reimbursed or paid into a special purpose account, representing the total amount and interest related to the illegal aid and incompatible with the internal market.

Beneficiaries are eligible under the Scheme if:

a) have a record of damage assessment and evaluation, drawn up according to the model provided in the Regulation on the management of emergency situations generated by dangerous meteorological phenomena resulting in pedological drought, approved by the Order of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Minister of Internal Affairs no. 97/63/2020, with subsequent amendments and additions, for agricultural crops and areas affected by soil drought from September 2023 to August 2024;

b) the surface area of the affected crop represents a percentage of calamity greater than 30% and up to 100% inclusive of the area related to the crop declared in the eligible application 2024;

c) are registered in the records of the Payments and Intervention Agency for Agriculture, hereinafter referred to as APIA, with the payment request 2024;

d) are not in difficulty in the sense provided for in art. 3 letter d), with the exception of the beneficiaries whose difficulty is caused by the pedological drought manifested in the period September 2023-August 2024 and is proven by the minutes provided for in letter a), with calamity percentages higher than 30% and up to 100% inclusive.

For the agricultural crops affected by the pedological drought from September 2023-August 2024, the affected area for which the grant is awarded, mentioned in the record of ascertaining and assessing the damage, cannot be greater than the area of the same crop declared to APIA in the request for payment 2024.

The grant of 1,000 lei/ha that is offered under the Scheme represents a percentage value between 14.53% and 24.31% of the eligible expenses provided for in the Framework Technologies for crops for the 2023-2024 harvest and corresponds to the requirements of point (356) letter b), (357) and (358) of the EU Guidelines.

The eligible expenses for the main agricultural crops affected by the pedological drought, according to the calamity minutes, included in the Framework technologies for crops for the 2023-2024 harvest made by the Research Institute for Agricultural Economy and Rural Development, are:

Procedural rules for granting state aid

Beneficiaries who meet the eligibility conditions submit/transmit to the DAJ, in whose administrative-territorial range the agricultural lands that were the subject of the 2024 campaign payment request, submitted to the Payments and Intervention Agency for Agriculture, a request for the grant, whose model is provided in annex no. 2 of this emergency ordinance, which shows the bank coordinates of the account opened at the commercial bank/State Treasury, provided that the existing bank coordinates of the eligible application 2024 submitted to APIA are not maintained.

The request for the grant is accompanied, as appropriate, by the copy of the declaration of multiplication submitted with the registration number to the territorial inspectorates for the quality of seeds and planting material (ITCSMS) or to the Central Laboratory for the Quality of Seeds and Planting Material (LCCSMS) and copy of the field inspection report of the multiplying agent, for the lucerne culture - seed batch.

The request for the grant, accompanied by the documents provided above, can be sent to DAJ also by fax or mail or in electronic format by e-mail.

The documents submitted in duplicate by the beneficiary will bear the phrase "in accordance with the original", will be dated and appropriated by the beneficiary's signature.

IMPORTANT! The request for the grant is submitted within a maximum of 10 working days from the date of entry into force of this emergency ordinance.

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