1 Investment grants and subsidies shall be awarded to undertakings eligible for the provisions of this law by decision as stipulated in paragraph 2, article 7, a summary of which, containing data concerning the investor, the percentage and amount of the grant and subsidy, shall be published in the Government Gazette. It is not necessary to publish in the Government Gazette a summary of the decisions concerning extensions of time limits stipulated for the completion of investments or amendments of decisions that do not alter the amount of the grant or subsidy.
Any change to the terms of the decision may be made only with the consent of the investor.
By virtue of his decisions, the Minister of National Economy may assign the right of signature of decisions making investments eligible for the benefits of this law, decisions revoking such eligibility and decisions refunding a part or all of the grant and interest subsidy vis-a-vis investments under the present law or Law 1262/1982, which investments are examined by the regional advisory committees and the advisory committees of EOMMEX and the Agricultural Bank of Greece in accordance with article 8, to the regional secretaries general or prefects in the seat of the regional development departments or to the competent local prefects, provided such investments are realized within the administrative authority of their departments or prefectures, or to the president of EOMMEX or to the Governor of the Agricultural Bank of Greece respectively, subject to the procedure stipulated by this law.
2 The technical and financial data which must accompany investment applications seeking eligibility for the provisions of this law shall be prescribed by decision of the Minister of National Economy published in the Government Gazette.
3 The procedure for the disbursement of the grant and the necessary supporting documents shall be prescribed by joint decisions of the Ministers of National Economy and of Finance published in the Government Gazette.
4 In order to grant loans to undertakings which have submitted applications seeking eligibility for the provisions of the present law, banks must take into consideration, over and above their own criteria and the development criteria, as set out in article 7 of this law, the relevant decision of the Minister of National Economy and justify any rejection within a reasonable period of time.
5 The disbursement of the grant by the State shall be made in instalments in accordance with the progress of the investment works and following verification by the competent monitoring bodies of paragraph 2, article 8, provided it has been ascertained that the investor has complied with the terms and conditions of the act of approval in combination with paragraph 3, article 5.
Such verification shall be completed within three months from submission of the relevant application.
The grant is paid directly to the investor and its disbursement to third parties is prohibited. By way of exception, the grant may be disbursed to banks for the purpose of their providing a short-term loan equal to the amount of grant so disbursed to be used for the realization of the investment.
In the event that the terms and conditions of the act of approval are not adhered to, the payment of the instalments shall be suspended and the Minister of National Economy, after considering the recommendation of the competent advisory committee, shall revoke the act of approval or may decide that a part or all of the grant and interest subsidy disbursed must be refunded (increased by the legal interest calculated as of each such disbursement).
The relevant receipts evidencing payment by the State of the grant and interest subsidy constitute proof of the amount owed as far as the Public Revenue Department is concerned. For the purpose of collecting such debts, the provision of the last subparagraph of paragraph 2, article 11, Law 542/1977 (Government Gazette issue 41/A/77) shall be applicable, mutatis mutandis. The application of this provision also extends to the administrators of personal enterprises, limited liability companies and co-operatives as well as to the liquidators of legal persons. (1)
(1) "Persons having the capacity of managing or executive director in the respective accounting period shall be jointly and severally liable together with the corporation (societe anonyme) for the tax due on concealed profits and the force of the tax assessment certificate issued against the corporation shall also apply against such persons."
6a The applications of undertakings to have their investments made eligible for the benefits of this law shall be submitted, according to the case in question, to the competent Private Investment Department of the Ministry of National Economy, to EOMMEX and the Agricultural Bank of Greece in duplicate, during two periods of the year as follows:
between 1 May and 15 June (first period) and between 1 November and 15 December (second period). The process of assessing and deciding whether to make an investment eligible shall be completed prior to 30 November and 31 May respectively.
6b Applications submitted to the competent department to have an investment made subject to the provisions of the present law shall be accompanied by a receipt proving payment of a sum of money, the amount of which shall be set by joint decisions of the Ministers of National Economy and of Finance. The total cost of the investment being submitted for approval will be taken into consideration in determining the amount of money to be paid.
The aforemenentioned amount (as per case) shall be paid:
a. to EOMMEX or the Agricultural Bank of Greece respectively, in the case of investments falling within their competence, and the amounts so collected by the two organisations shall constitute revenue for meeting part of their operating expenditures, incurred as a result of the implementation of the incentives of the present law.
b. to the Public Revenue Department, in the case of investments within the competence of the Ministry of National Economy (Central and Regional Services), and the amounts so collected shall constitute State revenue.
According to Ministerial Decision 49573/90 (Government Gazette 555/B/90), the amounts thus paid to the Public Fund, which constitute State revenue, range from 10,000 drachmas and 200,000 drachmas according to the size of the productive investment in question.
7 Productive investments by craft industries up to the amount of 120 million drachmas shall be examined directly by EOMMEX and shall be made subject to the provisions of the present law by decision of the Minister of National Economy, subject to the opinion of the competent advisory committee of article 8. The limit of 120 million drachmas may be readjusted by a similar decision.
Productive investments up to 300 million drachmas(1), carried out by:
agricultural, forestry, livestock and fishery (aquaculture) undertakings using modern technology
undertakings of agricultural or agro-industrial co-operatives
undertakings engaged in the drying, freezing or dehydration of agricultural, livestock or fish products
shall be examined directly by the Agricultural Bank of Greece and shall be made subject to the provisions of the present law by decision of the Minister of National Economy subject to the opinion of the competent committee of article 8. This limit of 300 million dr. may be readjusted by a similar decision(2). ,p> (1)/(2) By virtue of decision 43324/94 of the Alternate Minister of National Economy, this limit was increased to 500 million drachmas.
The provisions of instance 6b of the present article shall be applicable, mutatis mutandis, with respect to the submission of applications seeking eligibility to the Agricultural Bank of Greece and EOMMEX. Productive investments up to 500 million drachmas which are carried out within the boundaries of the regions of the country shall be examined directly by the Regional Development Directorates or Offices of the National Economy Ministry, and shall be made subject to the provisions of the present law by decision of the Minister of National Economy subject to the opinion of the competent Regional Advisory Committee of article 8. This limit of 500 million dr. may be readjusted by a similar decision.
In the case of the Advisory Committee of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, the limit was increased to 2.5 billion drachmas by virtue of Ministerial Decision
The carrying out of the aforementioned investments (provided the applications to have them made subject to the present law were submitted to EOMMEX or to the Agricultural Bank of Greece and were examined by these agencies) shall be monitored by the officers of these agencies according to the relevant subparagraph of paragraph 2, article 8 of the present law.
The payment of grants and interest subsidies for investments covered by this paragraph shall be made by EOMMEX or by the Agricultural Bank of Greece, which agencies draw funds from accounts opened in their names, from the expenditure provided (in the following paragraph) at the expense of the State.
8 The expenditure scheduled for each financial year at the expense of the State for the payment of investment grants and interest subsidies under the present law shall be entered in the Public Investments Budget. Investment grants and interest subsidies disbursed under the provisions of the present law shall be exempt from all taxes, stamp duties or fees or any other charge in favour of the State or third parties.
Decisions of the Minister of National Economy, issued in January, shall set the total amount of investment grants approved annually. By virtue of the same decision, assistance may be provided to certain sectors or branches of economic activity and specific geographical regions. In addition, also by virtue of the same decision, the aforementioned amount shall be allocated between the Ministry of National Economy and the agencies to which the right has been conferred to sign decisions in accordance with paragraph 1 of the present law.
In exceptional cases and in the case of particularly important investments, the Minister of National Economy may, by virtue of similar decisions, revise the above amount during the course of the year.
Decisions of the Minister of National Economy shall determine the countries, and the specific areas of those countries, for which the provision of paragraph 4 of article 2 is applicable, as well as the maximum size, in each case, of productive investment or part thereof, for which a grant is awarded, notwithstanding the size provided in paragraph 1 of article 4.
The same decisions will also determine the total size of grants approved annually for each country.
By virtue of the same decisions, certain sectors or branches of economic activity may be declared ineligible for the incentives of the present law.
9 Refers to special cases under earlier laws, concerning amendments related to the extension of time limits for the completion of investments and increases/decreases in the motive power of mechanical installations.
REVISION OF COST
10 The cost of a productive investment which has already been approved may be revised at the request of the investor, provided 50% of the productive investment has been realized. Price increases and divergences which may have arisen with regard to the individual cost items of the investment during the course of its realization are taken into consideration in determining the amount by which the cost of the productive investment may be increased. It is not possible to gain approval for a revised investment cost which is 25% higher than the cost of the productive investment initially approved.
A reasoned recommendation from the competent Control and Disbursement Service, submitted to the advisory committee, is required in order for the provisions of this paragraph to be implemented.
TIME LIMITS FOR INVESTMENT COMPLETION
11 The time limit for investment completion stipulated in the initial act of approval making the investment eligible for the provisions of the law may be extended for a maximum of 2 years on the condition that prior to the date of submission of the relevant application at least 50% of the approved investment project has been completed.
By way of exception, in cases where work has been interrupted or delayed due to force majeure which can be adequately substantiated, the time limit for investment completion may be extended for a further period of time equal to that of the interruption or delay. In the event that the force majeure arose during the time limit for completion stipulated in the initial act of approval, the relevant application may be submitted and considered without fulfilment of the prerequisite requiring completion of 50% of the investment project.
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