Information about support

• Information about support

  General terms of the programme:

  • Merchant is registered with the Commercial Register of the Republic of Latvia; 
  •  training is necessary for product, process, marketing or organisational innovation in the business; 
  • has not been identified as ineligible in accordance with the regulatory act implementing the activity: 

   - training in higher education programmes; 

   - training as defined in Article 31(2) of Regulation No. 651/2014; 

   - driver training courses for A1, A, B1 and M categories; 

  • Support is provided to merchants, who develop products or technologies or provide services in one of the areas of specialisation identified in the smart specialisation strategy or in a new competitive niche identified by the sector: 

   - knowledge-intensive bio-economy; 

   - biomedicine, medical technologies, pharmacy and biotechnologies; 

   - smart materials, technologies and engineering systems; 

   - smart energy; 

   - information and communication technologies. 

• Activity “Good Practice Transfer”

  Conditions for receiving support:

  - describes the research and development component in their business;

  - the justified impact of the support for the high-level training project on productivity, export capacity and the creation of high value-added products or services;

  - described motivation of the applicant to participate in the training project;

  - The applicant has implemented innovative processes in the company prior to the submission of the application, related to the development or sale of a product or service, or innovation of the organisation;

  - The applicant plans to implement innovative processes in the company after submission of the application, related to the development or sale of a product or service, or innovation of the organisation.

   

  Eligible costs:

  Taking the needs of the merchants into account, best practice transfer training to promote exportability is subject to:

  a) training fees if the training is outsourced to the beneficiary and not purchased via an affiliated or partner enterprise;

  b) the trainer’s remuneration, including the employer’s mandatory payments of State social insurance for the work hours, without exceeding the end of the training course, if the training is provided to the receiver of the support by the associated company or partner company;

  (c) staff travel (transport) costs for the use of transnational and interurban economy class public transport, including the use of a public transport vehicle as a taxi, or car rental if the training takes place abroad. Taxi or car rental is only allowed if it is used by at least three people at the same time;

  (d) payment of compensation to employees during training;

  (e) accommodation costs for employees when training takes place abroad;

  (f) costs of training consultancy and mentoring services;

  (g) training costs for automation and robotics solutions;

  (h) the cost of printed or audiovisual training materials which remain the property of employees after completion of the training;

  (i) consultancy costs for small (micro), small and medium-sized enterprises for the development of automation and robotics solutions, up to a total of 25 000 euros, and they shall only be implemented together with training within the framework of the training project. Consultation costs are eligible, if they comply with the definition of the innovation consultation services determined in Article 2(94) of Commission Regulation No. 651/2014. Upon receipt of the de minimis support, in accordance with Commission Regulation No. 1407/2013, the definition referred to in Article 2(94) of Commission Regulation No. 651/2014 shall be complied with;

  (j) equipment rental and depreciation costs for computer programs and licences for small (micro), small, medium and large enterprises as part of a training project;

  (k) daily allowance for employees if the training takes place abroad for more than one day;

  (c) lecturers’ travel (transport) costs for the use of transnational and interurban economy class public transport, including the use of a public transport vehicle as a taxi, or car rental and accommodation costs, if the training takes place in Latvia. Taxi or car rental is only allowed if used by at least three people at a time.

   

  Maximum funding intensity:

  If the de minimis support is applied (in accordance with Commission Regulation No. 1407/2013):

  • 100% for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, for the first three employees of the enterprises who apply for support, 85% for the next three employees of the enterprises who apply
  • 85% for a large merchant

  If the maximum de minimis support is exceeded (in accordance with the provisions of Commission Regulation No. 651/2014):

  •  70% for a micro and small enterprise;
  •  60% for a medium-sized enterprise;
  •  50% for a large merchant.

  Where training is provided to disabled or disadvantaged workers (as defined in Article 2(3) and (4) of Regulation No. 651/2014), the intensity may be increased by 10 percentage points.

• Other types of support

  Activity “Implementation of Training to Attract Foreign Investors”

   

  Conditions for receiving support:

  - more than 10% of the company’s ordinary shares or voting rights are directly controlled by a foreign company or an equivalent holding, and the group’s turnover exceeds EUR 5 million during the last closed reporting year;

  - create at least 15 new jobs or invest at least EUR 1 million in fixed assets within the timeframe between the submission of the training project and the completion of the training project.

   

  Eligible costs:

  Based on investors’ reasonable demand for training, it is eligible for:

  1) if the training takes place in the territory of the Republic of Latvia:

  (a) training fees if the training is outsourced to the beneficiary and not purchased via an affiliated or partner enterprise;

  (b) lecturer's salary, including the employer's mandatory state social insurance contributions for working hours, not exceeding the duration of training courses, if the training is provided to the beneficiary by an associated enterprise (as defined in Article 3(3) of Annex I to Regulation No. 651/2014) or by a partner enterprise;

  (c) staff travel (transport) costs for the use of interurban economy class public transport, including the use of a public transport vehicle as a taxi, or car rental. Taxi or car rental is only allowed if it is used by at least three people at the same time;

  (d) payment of compensation to employees during training;

  (e) the cost of accommodation for employees if the training takes place for more than one day outside the administrative territory where the employee has a declared place of residence;

  (f) costs of training consultancy and mentoring services;

  (g) training costs for automation and robotics solutions;

  (h) language training costs: Swedish, Finnish, Danish, Norwegian, French, German;

  (i) consultancy costs for medium-sized enterprises for the development of automation and robotics solutions, up to a total of 25 000 euros, and they shall only be implemented together with training within the framework of the training project. Consultation costs are eligible, if they comply with the definition of the innovation consultation services determined in Article 2(94) of Commission Regulation No. 651/2014. Upon the receipt of the de minimis support, in accordance with Commission Regulation No. 1407/2013, the definition referred to in Article 2(94) of Commission Regulation No. 651/2014 shall be complied with;

  (j) equipment rental and depreciation costs for computer programs and licences for medium and large enterprises as part of a training project;

  2) if the training takes place abroad and is provided to the merchant by an enterprise affiliated with the merchant or by a partner enterprise, the wage costs of the employees during the training;

  (a) payment of compensation to employees during training;

  (b) accommodation costs of employees;

  (c) staff travel (transport) costs for the use of interurban economy class public transport, including the use of a public transport vehicle as a taxi, or car rental. Taxi or car rental is only allowed if it is used by at least three people at the same time;

  (d) costs of training consultancy and mentoring services;

  (e) training costs for automation and robotics solutions;

  (f) daily allowance for employees if the training takes place for more than one day.

   

  Maximum funding intensity:

  At least one non-unique person is trained for every EUR 8000 of support

  Maximum funding intensity:

  If the de minimis support is applied (in accordance with Commission Regulation No. 1407/2013):

  • 100% for a medium-sized merchant;
  • 100% for a large merchant.

  If the maximum de minimis support is exceeded (in accordance with the provisions of Commission Regulation No. 651/2014):

  • 60% for a medium-sized merchant;
  • 50% for a large merchant.

  Where training is provided to disabled or disadvantaged workers (as defined in Article 2(3) and (4) of Regulation No. 651/2014), the intensity may be increased by 10 percentage points.

  Activity “High Level Training”

   

  Conditions for receiving support:

  - describes the research and development component in their business;

  - the justified impact of the support for the high-level training project on productivity, export capacity and the creation of high value-added products or services;

  - described motivation of the applicant to participate in the training project;

   

  Eligible costs:

  Taking the needs of merchants into account, the following costs shall be eligible:

  (a) the cost of outsourced training organised by LIAA within the framework of the activity is covered;

  (c) staff travel (transport) costs for the use of interurban economy class public transport, including the use of a public transport vehicle as a taxi, or car rental if the training takes place abroad. Taxi or car rental is only allowed if it is used by at least three people at the same time;

  (c) payment of compensation to employees during training;

  (d) accommodation costs for employees when training takes place abroad;

  (e) costs of training consultancy and mentoring services;

  (f) the cost of printed or audiovisual training materials which remain the property of employees after completion of the training;

  (a) daily allowance for employees if the training takes place abroad for more than one day, and expenses of remuneration of employees during the training. 

   

  Maximum funding intensity:

  If the de minimis support is applied (in accordance with Commission Regulation No. 1407/2013):

  • 100% for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, for the first three employees of the enterprises who apply for support, 85% for the next three employees of the enterprises who apply
  • 85% for a large merchant

  If the maximum de minimis support is exceeded (in accordance with the provisions of Commission Regulation No. 651/2014):

  70% for a micro and small enterprise;

  60% for a medium-sized enterprise;

  50% for a large merchant.

  Where training is provided to disabled or disadvantaged workers (as defined in Article 2(3) and (4) of Regulation No. 651/2014), the intensity may be increased by 10 percentage points.

• Process

  Procedure for the selection and granting of support for the activity “Implementation of training to attract foreign investors”: 

  https://www.liaa.gov.lv/lv/media/4865/download

  Procedure for the selection and granting of support for the activity “High level training”: 

  https://www.liaa.gov.lv/lv/media/5917/download

  Procedure for the selection and granting of support for the activity “Transfer of good practice”: 

  https://www.liaa.gov.lv/lv/programmas/atbalsts-darbinieku-apmacibam/labas-prakses-parnemsanas-apmacibas-eksportspejas-veicinasanai/apraksts-un-atlase -https://www.liaa.gov.lv/lv/media/7301/download

Additional information