Article 1.- Purpose and scope.
The purpose of this order is to establish, in accordance with the competitive tendering system provided for in Chapter I of Title I of Law 7/2005, of 18 November, on Subsidies of the Autonomous Community of the Region of Murcia, the regulatory bases for aid from the Instituto de Fomento de la Región de Murcia aimed at Technology Centres for the acquisition of infrastructure and scientific and technological equipment that is necessary for the promotion of R&D activities and for intelligent specialisation.
Article 2.- Beneficiaries.
1. Technology Centres that meet the following requirements shall be eligible for the aid established in these Bases:
a) That they are SMEs.
b) They are private business associations.
(c) they are validly constituted at the time of submission of the aid application.
d) That they carry out the subsidised actions in an open work centre in the geographical area of the Region of Murcia.
e) That they have the status of a research and knowledge dissemination body and in the existing and potential sectors of the Region of Murcia, as reflected in the Smart Specialisation Strategy (https://www.ris3mur.es/).
2. Under no circumstances may Technology Centres that are in any of the following situations be beneficiaries of the subsidies contained in this Order:
a) In a crisis situation.
(b) which are subject to an outstanding recovery order following a previous Commission decision declaring an aid unlawful and incompatible with the internal market.
(c) they are engaged in export-related activities, namely aid directly linked to the quantities exported, aid linked to the establishment and operation of a distribution network or to other current expenditure linked to the export activity, and aid contingent upon the use of domestic over imported goods.
3. If a Technology Centre operates in one of the sectors of activity excluded in these regulatory bases and also in another eligible sector, it may receive subsidies under the Order for the latter, provided that it is possible to ensure, by separating activities and distinguishing costs, that activities in the excluded sectors do not benefit in any way from the subsidies it may receive for non-excluded activities.
4. For the purposes of this Order and of the notion of beneficiaries for the calculation of the limit provided for in Article 7.4, account shall be taken of the definition of "single undertaking" set out in Article 2.2 of Commission Regulation (EU) No 1407/2013 of 18 December 2013, which coincides with the notion of related undertaking in Article 3.3 of Annex I to Commission Regulation (EC) No 651/2014 of 17 June 2014.
Article 4.- Obligations and requirements of beneficiaries and eligible activities.
1. The beneficiaries will comply with the obligations established for this purpose in Article 11 of Law 7/2005, of 18 November, on Subsidies of the Autonomous Community of the Region of Murcia, and will accredit that the applicants are not affected by the prohibitions to obtain the status of beneficiary of subsidies provided for in Article 13 of Law 38/2003, of 17 November, General Law on Subsidies.
2. Beneficiaries must adequately publicise the public nature of the financing of the actions of any type that are the object of the subsidy, and undertake, in all the information and communication measures they carry out, to recognise and express it:
a) The support of the Instituto de Fomento de la Región de Murcia, showing the emblem of the Instituto de Fomento de la Región de Murcia, as well as that of the "Estrategia de Investigación e Innovación para la Especialización Inteligente de la Región de Murcia" (RIS3Mur).
b) If the beneficiary has a website, reference must be made to the co-financing of the Instituto de Fomento de la Región de Murcia on the website, in a proportionate manner, as well as to the "Research and Innovation Strategy for the Smart Specialisation of the Region of Murcia" (RIS3Mur).
c) During the execution of the subsidised action, an A3 size poster with information about the action must be placed in a visible place accessible to the public, indicating the co-financing of the Instituto de Fomento de la Región de Murcia and with its respective emblems in the same size.
3. The beneficiaries of the aid will be obliged to submit to the control of the Instituto de Fomento de la Región de Murcia, the Intervención General de la Comunidad Autónoma de la Región de Murcia, and other audit bodies which, due to the nature and origin of the funds, are competent in the matter, as well as to provide any information they may be required to provide.
Article 5.- Financing.
1. Each call shall establish the maximum available appropriation and its budget heading.
2. The amount established in the previous paragraph may be increased provided that the corresponding declaration of appropriations deriving from the concurrence of any of the cases provided for in letter a), paragraph 2 of Article 58 of Royal Decree 887/2006, of 21 July, which approves the Regulations of the General Law on Subsidies, is published in the Official Gazette of the Region of Murcia.
Article 6.- Amount of the subsidy.
1. The maximum amount of subsidy to be provided by the Instituto de Fomento to a beneficiary may not exceed two hundred thousand euros (€200,000.00) in each call under these regulatory bases. The maximum intensity of the subsidies granted shall be 90 per cent of the subsidised investment, based on the eligible costs in accordance with the provisions of the "Aid" section of Annex I.
2. Where the award of a grant generates financial returns to the beneficiaries, these shall be applied to increase the amount of the grant awarded.
Article 7.- Compatibility of subsidies.
1. A grant awarded under these regulatory bases may not be cumulated with any other grant for the same eligible costs, if such cumulation would result in an aid intensity exceeding that laid down for the specific circumstances of each case in a block exemption regulation or in a decision adopted by the Commission. In any case, the grant awarded under these Rules may not be cumulated for the same eligible costs with any other grant covered by Commission Regulation (EC) No 1407/2013 of 18 December 2013 on de minimis aid, published in OJEU No 352 of 24 December 2013.
2. Under no circumstances may the amount of the grants be such that, in isolation or in conjunction with other grants, aid, revenue or resources for the same purpose, it exceeds the cost of the subsidised activity or project.
3. In any case, the total de minimis aid granted to a beneficiary, taking into account the definition of "single enterprise" in Article 2.4, during the two previous fiscal years and the fiscal year in progress at the time of the application made on the basis of this Order may not exceed the amount of two hundred thousand euros (€200,000) gross. If the amount of the grant to be awarded exceeds, cumulatively with other de minimis grants, the aforementioned ceiling of two hundred thousand euros (€200,000), such aid may not be granted, not even for a fraction not exceeding this quantitative limit.
Article 8.- Submission of applications.
1. Interested parties, in accordance with the provisions of Article 14.3 of Law 39/2015, of 1 October, on the Common Administrative Procedure of Public Administrations, must send their application to the Presidency of the Instituto de Fomento by submitting applications and complementary documentation by electronic means under the terms set out in the Resolution of the President of the Instituto de Fomento de la Región de Murcia of 30 January 2007, published in the BORM, no. 36 of 13 February 2007, in accordance with the model that can be found at the Internet address: https://sede.institutofomentomurcia.es/infodirecto/jsps/index.jsp
The applicant must have a qualified electronic certificate or qualified electronic signature user certificate issued by providers included in the "Trusted List of Certification Service Providers", a list of which is available at the above-mentioned Internet address.
The electronic register will issue a receipt consisting of an authenticated copy of the application, including the date and time of submission, the number of entry in the register, as well as a receipt accrediting other documents that, where appropriate, are accompanied, with an indication of the maximum period for resolving and notifying the resolution of the procedure and the effects that silence may produce.
A Technology Centre may only submit one application per call. If a centre submits different applications for the same call, the first one registered within the deadline will be considered valid, and all subsequent applications will be rejected, unless the applicant states otherwise.
Article 9.- Deadline for submission of applications.
Applications for grants may be submitted within the period specified in the publication of the extract of the corresponding public call for applications in the Official Gazette of the Region of Murcia, without prejudice to the provisions of Article 20.3.
In any case, the minimum deadline for submitting applications will be 15 calendar days from the publication of the extract of the corresponding public announcement in the Official Gazette of the Region of Murcia.
Article 10.- Granting procedure.
1. Grants shall be awarded on a competitive basis by means of a comparison of the applications submitted, applying the evaluation criteria defined in Article 11 and establishing an order of priority within the limits of the budget.
2. The Processing Department will be responsible for the investigation of the procedures derived from these Bases, and for this purpose may request any reports it deems necessary for the determination, knowledge and verification of the data on the basis of which the resolutions must be pronounced, in particular, technical reports on the projects presented to the Department responsible for the subject matter.
3. The Processing Department will carry out a pre-assessment in which it will verify compliance with the conditions imposed for acquiring the status of beneficiary in the Bases. Those applications that do not comply with the minimum conditions imposed to acquire the condition of beneficiary, after the corresponding hearing, will be rejected by means of a reasoned resolution of the Presidency of the Instituto de Fomento de la Región de Murcia.
This information is an extract from the grants. For further information, please consult: