SRD13 Investments in the processing and marketing of agricultural products 1st call

Intervention description

The intervention is aimed at promoting the economic growth of rural areas through action to strengthen productivity, profitability and competitiveness on the markets of the agricultural, agri-food and agri-industrial sector while improving its climatic and environmental performance.

This general aim is pursued through support for tangible and intangible investments by enterprises operating in the processing and/or marketing of agricultural products listed in Annex I to the TFEU, excluding fishery and aquaculture products. The final product obtained from the processing and/or marketing process may not fall under the list in the aforementioned Annex I.

For the purposes of this intervention, processing and marketing processes means one or more of the following processes: sorting, processing, preservation, storage, packaging, processing, packaging, marketing of the products of the agro-industrial chain.

For anything not expressly provided for in this notice, please refer to CSR, PSP and the Community regulations in force.

Objectives

The intervention contributes to the achievement of the general objectives (b) and (c) of Article 5. of Regulation (EU) 2021/2115 and of the following objectives of Article 6 of Regulation (EU) 2021/2115

• SO4: contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation, including by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and enhancing carbon sequestration, and promote sustainable energy.
• SO8: promote employment, growth, gender equality, including women's participation in agriculture, social inclusion and local development in rural areas, including the circular bio-economy and sustainable forestry.

This assistance is implemented throughout the territory of the Province of Trento.

Areas outside the provincial territory are not eligible.

Eligibility conditions for applicants

On the date of submission of the aid application, each applicant is required to set up and update their own electronic farm file in accordance with Presidential Decree No 503/99 ss.mm. and ii. The farm file is the set of information declared by the farm, checked and verified and unambiguously ascertained through the IACS. The information on the farm file and the user manual are available on the website of the Provincial Paying Agency - APPAG, at the following link: https://www.provincia.tn.it/Servizi/Fascicolo-aziendale-agricoltori2

At the time of submitting the aid application, the applicant must have suitable title deeds to the land parcels or buildings concerned in order to ensure compliance with any constraints on the financed investments. In particular, the applicant must be the owner of the building and/or land on which he/she intends to carry out the investment for which the aid is granted; an initiative involving a property (building/land) that is the subject of a sale/purchase agreement is also eligible for aid, with a requirement that the applicant must purchase the property before the aid can be paid. Initiatives involving immovable property at the disposal of the beneficiary by virtue of a right in rem or on the basis of a registered contract of the same duration as the intended use of the initiative as indicated in point 12 of Resolution No 2457/2023 of the criteria are also eligible for funding. This real estate must appear in the farm file in accordance with the rules in the APPAG manual.

Aid may not be granted to undertakings that have been the recipients of recoveries of aid granted under the 2007-2013 and 2014-2022 RDPs and the current PSP and then withdrawn, without the aid having been repaid.

The lack of any of the eligibility requirements determines ineligibility for support.

Types of interventions envisaged

The following investment operations are eligible under the specific purposes provided for in the SRD13 intervention sheet in the CSR:

Eligibility criteria for operations

Operations that pursue one or more of the above-mentioned aims are eligible for support.

The eligible sectors are: fruit and vegetables, wine, dairy.

Limited to the setting up of farm sales outlets aimed at promoting and enhancing the value of quality products, eligible beneficiaries are those operating in sectors other than those mentioned above, provided that they fall within the sectors listed in Annex I to the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, excluding fishery and aquaculture products, and that they qualify for the score provided for in point 7.1 of Decision No 2457/2023 entitled 'Holdings operating mainly in the short supply chain'.

The lack of any of the project requirements results in ineligibility for support.

General eligible expenditure is set out in point 5.3 of Criteria Decision No 2457/2023.

Eligible and specific expenditure by measure and by type of sector (dairy, fruit and vegetables, wine and other sectors) is set out in points 5.4 and 5.4.1 of Decision No 2457/2023.

Ineligible expenditure

The following types of expenditure are not eligible

1. purchase of agricultural production rights
2. purchase of payment entitlements
3. purchase of land for an amount exceeding 10% of the total eligible expenditure of the operation concerned;
4. the purchase of animals and the purchase of annual plants and related planting costs;
5. interest expenses, with the exception of those relating to subsidies granted in the form of interest subsidies;
6. large-scale infrastructure investments not covered by community-led local development strategies as referred to in Article 32 of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060, with the exception of investments in broadband and investments in flood and coastal protection aimed at reducing the consequences of likely natural disasters, adverse weather conditions or catastrophic events,
7. afforestation investments not consistent with environmental and climate objectives in line with the principles of sustainable forest management as elaborated in the Pan-European Afforestation and Reforestation Guidelines
8. routine maintenance, operating and operating costs;
9. expenditure on investments aimed merely at complying with the regulations in force, without prejudice to the specificities provided for under the individual intervention sheets in Section 5.3 of the PHP;
10. expenses related to after-sales service of capital goods;
11. value added tax (VAT) and other taxes and duties;
12. investments for offices and service accommodation;
13. purchases of second-hand plant, machinery and equipment;
14. leasing of real estate, new plant, machinery and equipment;
15. bank and legal fees, legal consultancy fees, notary fees, financial consultancy fees, current account fees;
16. expenses for contributions in kind and work in kind;
17. demolition work;
18. expenses for surety guarantees;
19. consumables, including parts or spare parts for machinery and equipment, signs, nameplates, signs;
20. expenses for planning and work supervision when entrusted to members of the boards of directors of applicant companies;
21. expenses for initiatives already financed to cooperative structures and requested by members belonging to new companies established following their departure from their original cooperative
22. working capital;
23. investments allocated in non-provincial territories;
24. expenses relating to investment operations (types of works and purchases) for which a request for waiver or revocation has been submitted after the grant has been awarded under the 2014-2022 RDP, the current SPP, in order to optimise the effective use of resources, ineligibility exists even in the presence of forfeiture or failure to report within the prescribed time limits of the investment operations.
25. With regard to the objective (h) 'opening up new markets' provided for in point 5.1, current expenses such as, for example but not limited to, participation in conferences, trade fairs, overnight stays, train/airplane/ship tickets, etc., eligible expenses on the COM in fruit and vegetables and advertising expenses are not eligible.

Form and amount of support and intervention expenditure limits

1. Support is granted in the form of a capital contribution.
2. The level of support of the capital contribution on eligible expenditure is 40%.
3. In order to be eligible for financing, the minimum amount of expenditure required for each individual application must be at least € 70,000.00.
4. The maximum eligible expenditure is €2,500,000.00.
5. For the construction of sales outlets, the maximum eligible expenditure is € 500,000.00.

Compatibility and cumulation with other supports and facilities

With regard to demarcation, expenditure eligible for funding under the Fruit and Vegetable CMO, the Wine CMO and intervention SRD01 of the PHP 2023-2027 is not eligible under this call for proposals.

Expenditure financed under this measure is not eligible for any other financing through EU financial instruments.

The amount of the expenditure must be duly justified by invoices (style sheet) made out in the name of the beneficiary and duly receipted or by documents with equivalent probative value to invoices.

The expenses must be paid by the beneficiary by means of a bank or postal transfer or by means of an RIBA, to an account in the name of the beneficiary (current account dedicated, even if not exclusively, to the investment operation). Limited to the purchase of structures/land, payment by registered bank draft is also permitted, with proof of debiting.

It is mandatory to quote the Unique Project Code (CUP) on all invoices and in all payments. The code is assigned by the Agricultural Service prior to the decision to grant the contribution. The CUP must always be present in the documents supporting the expenditure (invoices and payment documents) issued after the CUP has been notified.

Expenditure supported by documents (invoices and payments) without a CUP code will not be eligible for funding.

For documents issued prior to the communication of the CUP code, reconciliation is permitted by reporting the CUP manually on the invoice (PdF style sheet) and attaching a separate declaration by the applicant, indicating the invoice details, the amount and type of initiatives carried out linked to the invoice and the CUP code assigned for these initiatives. In the case of an invoice paid, please also indicate the details of the payment made and its tracking details. Reconciliation is also allowed, in the same manner as explained above, in the event a mistake is detected in the typing of the CUP code, which must in any case be written on all documents evidencing expenditure (invoices and payment certificates).

In the case of payments made by bank drafts, the eligibility of which is reserved only for the purchase of structures and land (as provided for in point 5.4 of the Resolution of the Criteria No. 2457/2023), the preliminary purchase and sale deed must indicate the CUP code and the serial code of each bank draft. For the purposes of the obligation of traceability of the expenditure, the sale documents must be in the form of a public deed or certified private deed.

OBLIGATIONS

The beneficiary of an investment operation undertakes to

1. implement the operation in accordance with the terms defined in the granting decision of the Agricultural Service, without prejudice to any variations and extensions;
2. subject to cases of force majeure and exceptional circumstances, ensure the stability of the supported investment operation for a minimum period of time of

• 5 years from the date of final payment to the beneficiary for movable property and equipment;
• 10 years from the date of the final payment to the beneficiary for immovable property, building works, including fixed equipment.

Obligations are verified by ex-post controls, in accordance with the relevant regulations. Sample checks will also be carried out, in accordance with the relevant regulations in force, on the declarations in lieu of affidavits and certifications.

In order to comply with the information and publicity obligations for the investment operations supported by the EAFRD, the provisions of Regulation (EU) No. 2022/129 and of the provisions issued by the Managing Authority shall apply. The provisions on publicity and information obligations for each individual operation are available at the following link https://www.provincia.tn.it/FEASR .

SANCTIONS AND REDUCTIONS

In the event of the detection of sanctions and non-compliance with commitments, obligations and eligibility conditions provided for the Interventions, as per Chapter 7.3.2 of the Italian PSP, the provisions of Legislative Decree No. 42 of 17 March 2023, regarding the reduction and exclusion of aid, shall apply. The implementing decrees of Legislative Decree No. 42 of 17 March 2023 are currently being issued, which provide the general rule for the implementation of reductions, determining their severity, extent, duration and repetition. Pending the implementation of these decrees, the following applies with regard to these criteria:

1. in the event of non-compliance with the obligations set out in paragraph 12(1)(b) (5 and 10 years), the contribution shall be withdrawn and recovered in proportion to the period of non-compliance

2. in the event of non-compliance with the maximum reporting deadline referred to in point 9 for the submission of the application for final payment of the grant with the relevant documentation, the sanctions established for non-compliance with the final deadline by the Provincial Council Resolution no. 1980 of 14/09/2007 shall apply, which provide that

• in the event that the documentation for the final payment of the grant is submitted after the deadline, but in any case before the measure of total forfeiture is adopted, the grant shall be reduced by 5%;
• otherwise the total forfeiture of the aid will be ordered, with recovery of any advance payment.

3. The sanctions of this point 14 shall also apply in the event of an application for amnesty for a variant under point 10, after the relevant works have been carried out.

4. In the case of omissions of the CUP on invoices and documents evidencing expenditure and related payment documents, the invoice itself shall be ineligible without prejudice to the provisions of point 5.3.4.

5. If during the final liquidation inquiry it is found that the selection requirements set out in section 7.1 that contributed to the scoring of the ranking list have been lost, the final liquidation checklist (acceptance) shall specify whether or not the reduction in the score is relevant to the eligibility of the grant; if it is relevant, the grant shall be withdrawn and any advance shall be recovered.

6. Where sums are recovered, they shall be increased by statutory interest from the sixty-first day from the date of registration of the communication of the recovery order, in accordance with Article 27 of Regulation (EU) No 908/2014.

7. In the event of non-compliance with the award procedures, non-compliance with the provisions on the procedures for awarding the works shall result in the recalculation and withdrawal of the grant at the rate of 30%, applied only to the amount of the grant provided for the type of work affected by the non-compliance.

Applicants

Individual or associated enterprises operating in the processing and/or marketing of agricultural products listed in Annex I to the EU Treaty, excluding fishery and aquaculture products, are eligible for support.

In the case of beneficiaries who are also producers of agricultural raw materials, the processing and/or marketing activity must mainly concern raw materials purchased/supplied by third parties. The general legal principle of prevalence is set out in the definition of an agricultural entrepreneur in Article 2135 of the Civil Code, which applies, for the purposes of admitting a beneficiary to the aid set out in this measure, as follows

• in the case of undertakings with only one production and sales sector (e.g. wine or milk), prevalence is assessed in terms of quantity (litres or kg), regardless of whether the individual lots produced or purchased are more or less qualified, with reference to the last financial year (tax period) completed
• in the case of enterprises with several production or sales divisions (e.g. production of apples and purchase of both apples and pears), the valuation is in terms of monetary value. The quantities of each product must be valued by applying the average market price as the average insurance value of the previous year.

Limited to the creation of farm sales outlets aimed at promoting and enhancing the value of quality products, beneficiaries are eligible if they also operate in sectors other than fruit and vegetables, wine and dairy products, provided that they fall within the sectors listed in Annex I to the EU Treaty, excluding fishery and aquaculture products, and are eligible for the score provided for in point 7.1 of the Decision on criteria No 2457/2023 entitled 'Holdings operating mainly in the short supply chain'.

The application may be submitted by the legal representative of the enterprise( a consultant may be used to enter the application in SRTrentoonly ).

The application must be submitted online by accessing the provincial agricultural information system SRTrento at https://srt.infotn.it which can also be reached from the portal https://a4g.provincia.tn.it/ by the deadline of 31 July 2024.

Access to the reserved area of SRTrento is allowed only to registered users; therefore, each user must first be accredited according to the procedures indicated in the manual on the home page of the SRTrento website and as specified on this web page https://www.provincia.tn.it/Servizi/Sistema-Informativo-Integrato-Agricoltura-della-Provincia-autonoma-di-Trento. Applications submitted must be signed using a valid digital signature. The application must be digitally signed by the person entitled to sign the document, otherwise it will be inadmissible. For any assistance in accessing and enabling the portal, please contact helpdesk.srtrento@provincia.tn.it.

Only one application may be submitted per call for proposals. Only beneficiaries who in the last three years have carried out merger operations involving the aggregation of several businesses may submit two aid applications per call.

The following constitute conditions for the inadmissibility of an application

1. failure to meet the deadline for submitting applications;
2. the absence of elements that enable the applicant to be unequivocally identified;
3. failure of the legal representative to sign the application;
4. the submission of applications using methods other than those described above;
5. applications signed by a person other than the legal representative or a person expressly delegated or without a signature.

COMPULSORY DOCUMENTATION TO BE ATTACHED TO THE AID APPLICATION UNDER PENALTY OF NON-ADMISSIBILITY:

1. In the case of cooperatives, consortia and companies, a simple copy of the minutes or extract thereof with which the statutorily competent body approves the initiative; in the case of sole proprietorships and companies without a collegiate body, it is sufficient for the application for aid to be signed by the legal representative and/or all the partners of the company.

2. The Investment Project aimed at providing elements for the assessment of the consistency of the operation for the achievement of the purposes of the SRD13 intervention. In particular, this Investment Project, signed by the legal representative and by a technician enrolled in a professional register, consists of a report containing

• useful data to illustrate the existence of the selection criteria indicated in point7.1, of the criteria resolution No. 2457/2023 referring to available databases or official documents (e.g. company balance sheet)
• overall description of the company, highlighting the technical/organisational situation prior to the implementation of the investment, where emphasis must be placed on the technical, organisational, economic and/or social and/or environmental situations that characterise the company (pre-investment);
• reasons for and detailed description of the investment, where emphasis must be given to the technical characteristics of the publicly funded intervention, its purpose and overall cost;
• if the scores relating to energy efficiency and/or water saving are valued, it is necessary to attach adequate technical documentation to support the efficiency and savings resulting from the initiative; it is necessary to indicate the correct sizing of the plant in relation to the company's needs (with particular reference to the average annual consumption in kWh in the three-year period prior to the date of submission of the application); indication of the percentage of coverage of the applicant's energy needs - also considering other plants already installed or being installed - through the construction of the plant that constitutes the intervention. In the case of interventions on existing plants, the initiative being financed shall result in an improvement in energy performance of at least 50% with respect to pre-existing plants;
• in the case of applicants who are also producers of agricultural raw materials, in order to demonstrate that the processing and/or marketing activity relates mainly to raw materials purchased/supplied by third parties, the Investment Project must include the data as described in point 4.1 of Resolution No 2457/2023;

3. The economic evaluation and financial sustainability of the investment, understood as the capacity to meet the charges resulting from the investment itself with its own means or with those of third parties without jeopardising its equity situation, financial autonomy and income capacity. The impact of the investment must be assessed with respect to the most recently approved financial statements prior to the date of submission of the application where this is present; the assessment must provide precise and explicit information on the higher or lower costs and/or higher or lower revenues resulting from the investment and in any case highlight the economic reasons justifying its implementation. This assessment must be signed by the legal representative of the applicant company, by the trade association if the applicant company is a member, by the chairman of the internal control body, if appointed, and by the statutory auditor, if appointed, or otherwise by a registered auditor. In the case of sole proprietorships and companies that do not have an internal control body and are not required to appoint a statutory auditor, the report must be accompanied by a positive evaluation by a credit institution of the granting of a loan or medium-term financing for at least 50% of the requested expenditure(so-called bankability). This document will only be requested from beneficiaries who are placed in a position eligible for funding in the merit list and if the initiative envisages a budgeted expenditure of more than €300,000.00.

LIST OF COMPULSORY DOCUMENTATION TO BE ATTACHED BY TYPE OF INTERVENTION

FOR NEW CONSTRUCTIONS, RENOVATIONS, EXTENSIONS OF BUILDING STRUCTURES:

1. Technical report by the designer;

2. declaration by the designer

• certifying the congruity of the prices shown with reference to the provincial price list or, for items not included in the price list, to the estimate criterion followed;
• certifying the possible subjection of the project to safety regulations and therefore to the preparation of the "Safety Project";

3. project drawings complete with map extract of the parcels of land;

4. estimated metric calculation of the works (gross amounts); this calculation must be used by the beneficiary when awarding the works

5. indication of the details of the building permit required by the regulations in force for the works covered by the application

6. indication of the parcel(s) or structure(s) directly concerned with the initiative or subject to a purchase and sale agreement.

FOR THE PURCHASE OF LAND

1. Simple copy of the duly registered preliminary purchase and sale agreement;

2. map extract of the plot(s) to be purchased

3. plain copy of the certificate of urban destination of the land purchased

4. certification by a registered professional engineer showing that the purchase price is not higher than the actual market value

5. declaration signed by the legal representative of the existence of a direct link between the purchase of the land and the objectives of the transaction.

FOR THE PURCHASE OF BUILDINGS OR STRUCTURES

1. Simple copy of the preliminary purchase and sale contract (drawn up in the form of a public deed or certified private deed), duly registered;

2. map extract of the plot(s) to be purchased

3. certification by a professional registered engineer showing that the purchase price is not higher than the market value and that the property complies with the urban planning regulations in force, or specifying the elements of non-compliance, in cases where the operation provides for their regularisation by the final beneficiary

4. declaration signed by the legal representative certifying that the property has not benefited, in the ten years prior to the time of submission of the application, from public financing; this limitation does not apply if the granting Administration has withdrawn and totally recovered the subsidies

5. declaration signed by the legal representative of the existence of a direct link between the purchase of the property and the objectives of the operation.

FOR THE PURCHASE AND SUPPLY OF SPECIALISED MACHINERY, EQUIPMENT AND FACILITIES:

1. List of machinery, equipment, plant with the respective amounts indicated;

2. three cost estimates, for each single asset, detailed, comparable and competitive with respect to market prices, issued by 3 different suppliers, independent and in competition with each other;

3. a technical and economic report drafted and signed by a professional registered technician justifying, on the basis of technical and economic elements, the estimate chosen from those provided by the competing companies; this report is not required if the amount of the supply does not exceed €15,000.00 and the lower estimate is to be chosen; this circumstance must be declared by the legal representative of the beneficiary. It is forbidden to split the supply of the good in order to fall within this case;

4. in the case of acquisitions of highly specialised goods and in the case of investments to complete pre-existing supplies, for which it is not possible to find or use several competing firms, a technician enrolled in a professional register must prepare a declaration stating that it is impossible to identify other competing firms capable of supplying the goods to be financed, attaching a specific technical supporting report, regardless of the value of the goods or supplies to be purchased.

COMPULSORY DOCUMENTATION TO BE SUBMITTED FOR AID APPLICATIONS WITH BUDGETED EXPENDITURE EXCEEDING €300,000.00

1. Declaration by a bank or leasing company certifying that financing has been granted to the applicant in relation to the investment subject of the application for an amount at least equal to 50% of the planned expenditure.

2. In the event that the beneficiary intends to finance the investment without the granting of financing, or for an amount of less than 50% of the planned expenditure, the presentation of a declaration detailing the methods of financing with own resources signed by the legal representative of the applicant and by the representative of the trade association, if the applicant is a member, is required, certifying the beneficiary's capacity to support the investment. As an alternative to submitting a specific declaration, it is possible to detail the financing arrangements within the economic and financial assessment provided for in point 7.5 of the criteria resolution No 2457/2023.

The procedure for granting or refusing the grant is structured as follows:

1. procedure of approval, by determination of the manager, of a merit ranking of the applications submitted within 45 days starting from the day after the deadline for submission of applications;

2. notification to the applicant by the person in charge of the procedure, of the position in the ranking list eligible for funding and any request for regularisation or supplementation of documentation for the purposes of the preliminary investigation

3. alternatively, a notice will be sent to the applicant of the position in the ranking list ineligible for funding

4. the procedure concludes with a determination by the Director of the Agricultural Service within 120 days from the approval of the ranking list (days of expiry of the administrative procedure) granting or not granting the contribution to the applicant. The act granting the contribution may impose conditions and constraints in relation to the specific investment project;

5. notice of grant award/denial of the grant.

Time limits and deadlines for reporting on operations

The reporting deadlines are set for all the initiatives related to the different operations investment operations in 24 months from the date of the decision to grant the contribution. All the documentation required for the payment of the grant must be submitted by the reporting date.

In cases where the financial statements are submitted within the deadline but the work or intervention has been partially carried out and if the Agricultural Service deems the work or intervention to be functional, functional and in line with the purposes for which the financing was granted, the financing will be reduced proportionally.

A maximum of two reasoned requests for extension submitted within the reporting deadline established by the grant will be accepted.

Extensions may be granted for a maximum period of 12 months.

With regard to extensions and suspensions of deadlines, for all matters not detailed in this point, please refer to the provisions of Provincial Council Resolution No. 1980 of 14/09/2007 and subsequent amendments and additions.

In any case, deadlines may not be established or deferred beyond the 31 March 2029, time limit necessary to allow the payment to the final beneficiaries of the facilities to be concluded by APPAG by 31.12.2029.

The extension will have to be evaluated and approved by a determination of the Agricultural Service.

Variants

The variant application is signed by the beneficiary with a digital signature certificate and submitted through the online portal https://srt.infotn.it/ also accessible via the portal https://a4g.provincia.tn.it/

The following are considered variants: change of beneficiary, change of investment location, substantial technical changes to approved works/purchases, change in the type of approved works/purchases.

Variants resulting in an increase in the amount granted are not permitted.

In the overall assessment of the variants, it is verified that the eligibility requirements and those that led to the approval of the project under the selection criteria are maintained. Approvable variants are all changes to the original project that do not entail modifications to the objectives and parameters that made the investment operation eligible for financing, such as to jeopardise its eligibility.

Variants to the original project are not considered to be changes of detail or improved technical solutions, such as changes in the estimate, provided that the possibility of identifying the asset is guaranteed and without prejudice to the expenditure admitted at the preliminary stage.

Variants must be requested in advance, with respect to the execution of the relative works.

The Agricultural Service, after assessing the variant proposals, orders their approval or refusal, notifying the beneficiary.

Payment applications

As regards applications for payment, a distinction can be made between applications for advance payment and applications for balance payment.

Applications for payment of the grant are signed by the beneficiary with a digital signature certificate and submitted through the online portal https://srt.infotn.it/ which can also be accessed via the portal https://a4g.provincia.tn.it/ to which the documents set out in point 11.2 of the Decision on Criteria No 2457/2023 concerning the advance payment and those set out in point 11.3 of the Decision on Criteria No 2457/2023 concerning the balance payment must be attached.

The Agricultural Service, in order to comply with the physical and financial objectives set by the PHP, may request from the beneficiary the data relating to the physical progress of the financed intervention.

The results of the examination of the payment applications are set out in a check list signed by the officer in charge on the basis of which the amount due is disbursed.