Companies may receive national bailout

All Polish small- and medium-sized enterprises that want to gain foreign certificates may receive a national bailout.

The government will reimburse the costs of consultative offers as well as the preparing and translation of the technical documents, the daily newspaper Rzeczpospolita reports.
Businessmen who operate on the foreign markets know that having the valid certificates improves the position of the company and its prestige. In some countries, Polish certificates aren’t in force; in such situations a company has to have a foreign certificate to legally function abroad.

“Having the certificates that are valid on the foreign markets is an indispensable condition of exporting anything on those markets,” said Malgorzata Starczewska-Krzysztoszek, a director from the Department of Economic Analysis PKPP Lewiatan. “A certificate can be a great advantage for small and medium companies as a guarantee of a product’s high quality.”

According to the new Ordinance of the Councils of Ministers, the financial support is available only for companies in small and medium categories. They also have to fulfill other conditions. The most important is to not exceed the limit for de minimis help.

De minimis help is provided under European Commission regulations. Small amounts of government aid to enterprises are judged not to significantly affect trade or competition in the Common Market. Such amounts are regarded as falling outside the category of state aid that is banned by the EC Treaty, and they can be awarded without notification to or clearance by the EC.
If an enterprise has received 200,000 euro or more in de minimis aid in three years from a state or semi-state agency, it will not be eligible for a training subsidy for foreign certificates.

Financial support for a foreign certificate will be given only when the company supplies documentary evidence of all its costs, especially for: consultative offers, preparing and translating technical documentation, transport and insurance of the samples, examining, and finally for the issuance of a certificate. Half of the costs can be reimbursed by the government. However during one year’s time, a company cannot collect more than 50,000 zloty. Experts say there is also a need for financial help to obtain information about export possibilities to foreign markets and the list of certificates that are required abroad.

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