Rule changes to the EMDG program effective 01 July 2013
Amendments to the EMDG legislation are currently before parliament and expected to become effective on 01 July 2013.
Amendments include:
1) Increasing the maximum number of grants to eight – with some exclusions.
2) Excluding expenditure related to marketing into USA, Canada, and the European Union for grant years 6, 7 and 8 except for approved bodies. Companies belonging to the European Union are listed at the base of this article.
3) Applicants will no longer be able to offset payments for eligible marketing activities against loan accounts. Payments must now be made directly by the applicant or via the applicants credit card. Austrade has in the past, allowed expenses whereby a 3rd party, eg director or shareholder pay for marketing costs using their own funds and charge this as a loan against the company. This will no longer be an accepted form of acquittal and expenses paid in this manner will not be eligible. This is a significant change so please talk to us if your business operates in this manner. Expenses that are paid by a third party and reimbursed by the applicant within the grant year will be accepted as acquitted and therefore eligible
4) Joint Ventures will no longer be approved after 30 June 2013. Joint Ventures that have been approved by Austrade prior to 01 July 2013 can continue to lodge claims until the eligibility period has expired.
5) There is now some framework in place for grant amounts greater than the “initial payment ceiling or first tranche” to be paid earlier than June of the following financial year. Earlier payment may eventuate where and when it is clear to Austrade that there are sufficient funds to pay all grants in full and the second payment would therefore be 100% .
Please contact us if you wish to discuss how these changes may affect your future EMDG applications.
European Union members: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom.
