Amendment to the Regional Investment Aid Act to promote climate neutrality
The Ministry of Economy of the Slovak Republic has submitted a draft amendment to Act No. 57/2018 Coll., on Regional Investment Aid (hereinafter referred to as the “amendment”), which is currently going through the interdepartmental comment procedure. This amendment is part of the implementation of the REPowerEU plan, which aims to deploy renewable energy, decarbonise industry and promote investment in sectors strategic for the transition to a climate-neutral economy (e.g. the production of batteries, solar panels, wind turbines, heat pumps, electrolysers, as well as carbon capture and storage equipment).
The amendment introduces extraordinary investment aid, which is based on the existing regional investment aid. The extraordinary investment aid is intended for strategic sectors for the purpose of transitioning to a climate-neutral economy and is granted to support the implementation of an investment plan in industrial production. It will be provided in the form of:
- subsidies for tangible and intangible fixed assets,
- income tax reliefs,
- transfer of an immovable property or lease of an immovable property for a value lower than the value of the immovable property or the value of the lease of the immovable property as determined by an expert opinion.
The eligible costs of an applicant for the extraordinary investment aid are the investment costs for the acquired tangible fixed assets in the form of land, buildings, machinery, plant, and equipment, and the investment costs for the acquired intangible fixed assets in the form of industrial rights, know-how, and licenses. The extraordinary investment aid may be cumulated with other state aid and must not exceed the maximum aid ratio calculated for the eligible costs or the maximum aid amount (max. 100% of eligible costs).
The amendment is proposed to take effect on the date of its announcement. We will follow the progress of this amendment closely and keep you informed in the next editions of our Newsletter.
