Call for Project Proposals for the Small Grant Scheme “Support for Business Ideas in Latgale” - EEZ un Norvēģijas finanšu instrumenti
All
programms
Program icon
Research and Education
Program icon
Local Development and Culture
Program icon
International Police Cooperation
Program icon
Active citizens fund
Program icon
Correctional Services
Program icon
Business Development
Program icon
Climate and Environment
Program icon
Fund for bilateral relations
Program icon

Call for Project Proposals for the Small Grant Scheme “Support for Business Ideas in Latgale”

Project centests

1. Basic Information and Conditions

Call launch:1 April 2022
Call closure:1 June 2022, 23:59 EET
Call number:2
Grant to be applied for:EUR 5,000 – EUR 10,000
Maximum grant rateThe aid intensity of the Programme co-financing does not exceed 55 % of the total eligible costs of the project.
Total allocation:EUR 457 625,01  
Announced by:The Latgale Planning Region (hereinafter – the grant scheme operator)
Eligible applicants:The project applicant is any selfemployed person, who has registered as a person conducting business pursuant to the Law on State Social Insurance and conducts business in the Latgale Region, as well as a sole proprietor or a legal person conducting business at a registered office or a structural unit registered with the State Revenue Service and located in the Latgale region, if the applicant for support complies with the status of a micro-enterprise or small enterprise pursuant to the following conditions:
– the micro-enterprise is established in Latvia and a number of employees at the time of submission of the project application and during the implementation of the project does not exceed 5, and its turnover in a calendar year does not exceed EUR 40,000;
– the small enterprise is established in Latvia and a number of employees at the time of submission of the project and during the implementation of the project does not exceed 20, and its turnover in a calendar year does not exceed EUR 1,000,000;
– the share capital of a micro or small enterprise has at least 75% of the private capital shares.

When determining a number of employees and turnover of the project applicant, the affiliates of the project applicant shall also be taken into account, by establishing the group of affiliates of the project applicant pursuant to Annex 1 of the Commission Regulation No 651/2014 of 17 June 2014 declaring certain categories of aid compatible with the internal market in application of Articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty (Official Journal of the European Union, 26 June 2014, No L 187).
Project partners:The project applicant shall implement the project alone or together with one or more project partners, who are involved only in training activities to increase employee productivity, and the eligible costs do not exceed 10% of the total eligible costs of the project.
The project partner can be:
– an institution of direct administration of the Republic of Latvia or a derived public person or an institution thereof;
– an association, foundation or a merchant registered in the Republic of Latvia;
– any public or private body, commercial or non-commercial, as well as non-governmental sector organisation in the donor countries and in the beneficiary countries of the EEA FM (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Greece, Croatia, Estonia, Cyprus, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Hungary) or outside EEA if it shares a border with the Republic of Latvia, or any international organization or its agency.
Necessary documents for the applicationThe project application shall consist of the project application form in Latvian (Annex 1 to the Rules) indicating the information in English only in those sections of the project application where it is specified that the section must also be filled in in English, and the following additional documentation to be submitted:
– Completed “Form on the information to be provided for the accounting and granting of de minimis aid” or indicated the identification number of the applicant form, created and approved in the de minimis aid accounting system;
– project budget;
– cash flow schedule;
– last approved annual report of the enterprise and financial operational report (incl. Balance sheet, profit or loss statement, explanations to profit or loss statement items, explanations to balance sheet items, cash flow statement), which is not older than one month before the date of submission of the project application;
– a printout of the account turnover of the credit institution of the company, the economic activity performer for the last 12 months;
– information on the origin of capital;
– power of attorney, internal regulatory enactment of the institution or other document certifying the authorization to sign all documents related to the project application (submitted if the project application is signed by an authorized person);
– Certificate(s) signed by the project partner(s) confirming the readiness to participate in the project and to conclude a partnership agreement, if the project application will be approved, if applicable.
Rules governing this call:1. Donor States Regulation on the implementation of the European Economic Area (EEA) Financial Mechanism 2014-2021  
2. Law on the Management of the European Economic Area Financial Mechanism and the Norwegian Financial Mechanism for 2014–2021;
3. Cabinet Regulation No. 683 of 16 November 2018 “Rules for the management of the European Economic Area Financial Mechanism and the Norwegian Financial Mechanism for 2014–2021”  (hereinafter – Management Regulations);
4. Cabinet Regulation No. 66 of 28 January 2021 „European Economic Area Financial Instrument 2014–2021. Regulations for the Implementation of the Small Grant Scheme Open Project Application Competition “Support for the Implementation of Business Ideas in Latgale” of the Program “Local Development, Poverty Reduction and Cultural Cooperation” (hereinafter – Implementation Regulations);
5. Project Application Selection Rules for the Small Grant Scheme Open Project Application Competition “Support for the implementation of business ideas in Latgale” of the European Economic Area Financial Instrument 2014-2020 period program “Local Development, Poverty Reduction and Cultural Cooperation” (hereinafter – Rules), and its annexes.  

Rules, further information and documents available at: https://eeagrants.lv/regionala-attistiba-un-kultura/projektu-konkursi/.  

2. Expectations and Results Framework

The grant scheme supports projects that implement a new business idea and create at least one new job in the Latgale region, and it’s planned to achieve the following indicators of goal and outcome of the Programme:

• number of supported companies with increased operational capacity – 40

• number of new products / services developed – 40

• number of new jobs created – 40

The project application will have to indicate the achievable result and outcome indicators, listed in clause 4 of the Rules.

3. Selection Criteria

All the selection criteria are available in the Annex to the Implementation Regulations and in the Methodology for application of the criteria (Annex 2 to the Rules).

4. Eligible Activities and eligible expenditures

The activities to be supported in the project are listed in paragraphs 5-8 of the Implementation Regulations.

The conditions for eligibility of costs are set out in paragraphs 10 and 11 of the Implementation Regulations.

The term of project implementation and, accordingly, the period of cost eligibility may not exceed the term specified in the project agreement and never exceed 30 April 2024.

An audit report is submitted on the expenses of project partners registered abroad. Expenditure related to the audit may be included in the project budget. More information is in the sample project agreement (Annex 3 to the Rules).

5. Recommended Milestones and Timeframe

It is recommended that the projects comply with the following indicative timeframe:

Event/MilestoneExpected date
Call closureApril, 2022
Project Contract signedNovember, 2022

6. Selection Procedures

The evaluation commission set up by the grant scheme operator examines the compliance of project applications with the administrative, eligibility and quality criteria. Project applications that meet the administrative and eligibility criteria are reviewed by at least two independent experts who assess the compliance of project applications with the quality criteria.

The grant scheme operator, based on the conclusion provided by the evaluation commission, makes a decision on the approval, conditional approval or rejection of the project application within four months after the deadline for submission of project applications.

7. Financing and Reporting

The project promoter may request an advance payment for the implementation of the project in the amount not exceeding 40% of the Programme grant amount, if the project agreement provides the possibility to receive an advance payment.

.

Project lengthAdvance paymentFinal balance payment
Projects up to12 MonthsUp to 40 %Remaining eligible amount
Projects longer than 12 MonthsUp to 40 %Remaining eligible amount

8. Project Application Submission

The project applicant shall prepare the project application in Latvian (except for the sections of the project application form, indicated to be completed in English), all the additional documentation specified in the Rules (in Latvian or accompanied by a translation into Latvian in accordance with legal requirements) and submit only in the form of electronic document, signed with a secure electronic signature and certified with a time stamp (in accordance with the laws and regulations regarding the execution of electronic documents) to the grant scheme operator, sending it to the e-mail address: eeagrants@lpr.gov.lv. The “Subject” section of the e-mail must contain the indication “GS open call.

The project application consists of the project application form (Annex 1 to the Rules), its annexes and additional documentation to be submitted.

Each project applicant may submit only one project application in every Small Grant Scheme call.

The project application may be submitted by 1 June, 2022, 23.59 EET. The time, when the project application is received at the e-mail address eeagrants@lpr.gov.lv, is considered the moment of project submission.

9. Further Information

The grant scheme operator can be contacted for queries through e-mail: eeagrants@lpr.gov.lv no later than 3 working days prior to the project application submission deadline, indicating “About GS open call” in the e-mail “Subject” section.  Questions received by e-mail will be addressed within 3 working days.

The information seminar for the open call will take place on 26 April 2022 at 14:00 EET, using the Zoom platform. Registration is available at the www.lpr.gov.lv. Registered participants will receive access information by e-mail before the seminar. The participants must register until 24 April 2022.

The Rules and Annexes:

Share this post
Share with instagram
Share with facebook
Share with whatsapp
Send e-mail
Copy to clipboard

Subscribe to news

Receive notifications of the latest contests, news and news events in programs that are important to you!

Report Irregularities

Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway have a zero-tolerance policy on corruption and mismanagement in the EEA and Norway Grants. We strongly encourage you to share your concerns and report suspected irregularities.