As has been customary since the declaration of the state of alarm caused by the Covid-19 health crisis and given the adverse effects this situation has struck on the economic activity, the legal authorities are trying to mitigate such effects by granting diverse types of financial aids.
For this purpose, on March 2nd 2021, Decree Law 2/2021, of March 1, was published in the Canarian Official Gazette or BOC, which regulates the direct granting of subsidies aimed at maintaining the activity of self-employed workers as well as small and medium-sized companies, of those sectors most affected by the crisis.
As we are dealing with a direct subsidy, speed becomes an essential factor, thus meaning those meeting the requirements should proceed immediately. These funds shall be distributed in a first come first served basis or, in other words, once the budget has been allocated, new applications will be automatically discarded.
The most relevant aspects to take into account would be the following:
- Beneficiaries: self-employed persons as well as small and medium-sized companies in the sectors most affected by the crisis operating in the Canary Islands in any of the activities indicated in the regulation, according to their registration in the Economic Activities Tax (see annex 3 of the regulation after error correction).
- Object of the subsidy: maintenance of the activity, essentially meeting the needs of working capital so that it can operate and meet operating expenses.
- Obligations of the beneficiaries: in general, these include transparency obligations with the administration, being up to date in their tax and Social Security obligations, as well as being subject to the control of the subsidy.
- Amount: a single payment resulting from the application of a formula contained in the standard, with a maximum limit of 25,000 euros.
- Application deadline: 20 business days starting on March 10th 2021, that is, until April 8th 2021.
- Procedure: online application in accordance with annexes 1 and 2 of the standard together with the required documentation (registrations and certificates for tax purposes, self-assessments, labour documentation, accounting, etc.) and the corresponding declaration of responsibility. A vast amount of documentation may seem to be required, but fairly easy to access and gather for applicants. There is also an existing possibility of modifying the request, such not altering the given period.
- Notification: on the notice board of the electronic headquarters of the Public Administration of the autonomous community and the Canary Islands Employment Service. An administrative silence may be understood as a rejection, that is, no notifications after 3 months of the request.
- Being subject to a wide range of rules relating to subsidies and public aid, whose analysis exceeds the purpose of this content.
In addition to the usual rules of subsidy control which the beneficiaries are subjected to, it is worth highlighting the obligation to maintain the activity for at least 6 months. In general, this subsidy is compatible with other aids and subsidies.
In short, it is a simple yet agile mechanism for obtaining the corresponding subsidies, which is why it is recommended that those who are interested take a short glance at the list of activities included and analyse their possibility of undertaking the application without further delay, in order to avoid being left out of such beneficial aid.
Ana Montesdeoca
Lawyer. Litigation Department
