Estonia revises land, cost and procurement terms in fisheries aid

The terms for investment support for processing fishery and aquaculture products under the 2021–2027 European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund programme have been amended in several places that applicants and beneficiaries need to apply.

Land tenure gets easier: where a building is constructed, the building and the land beneath it must be owned by the applicant, or a building right (hoonestusõigus) must be set in the applicant's favour for at least three years from PRIA's payment of the last support instalmentRiigiteataja — previously five yearsRiigiteataja. Where the applicant uses the underlying land on the basis of a building right that is not apparent from the land register, the application must now include the building-right establishment contract (new item 21 in the document list)Riigiteataja. Where equipment or a device to be acquired is installed in a building, immovable or a fishing vessel of fleet segment 4S3, or used there, that building, immovable or vessel must be in the applicant's direct possession on a real-right or contractual basis for at least three years from PRIA's last paymentRiigiteataja (new item 22: a copy of the proving documentRiigiteataja).

The ineligible-cost list changes: contractual penalties and late interest (leppetrahv ja viivis) are now expressly ineligibleRiigiteataja, customs duty is removed from the listRiigiteatajaRiigiteataja, and the fringe-benefit item now refers to tax paid on fringe benefits within the meaning of § 48(4) of the Income Tax ActRiigiteataja rather than fringe-benefit tax generallyRiigiteataja.

Procurement discipline changes in both directions. When requesting quotations the applicant must avoid conflicts of interest, now defined broadly: any situation where the applicant or a person acting on its behalf — including an employee, board member or other competent representative involved in preparing or organising the purchase procedure or otherwise able to influence its outcome — has financial, economic or other personal interests that could be seen as impairing impartiality and independenceRiigiteataja. Tender conditions set at announcement in the public procurement register may no longer be changed without granting an additional deadline of at least half the original quotation-submission periodRiigiteataja; previously no change at all was allowed after the deadlineRiigiteataja.

Payment claims follow the cost form: the annual PRIA payment-claim procedure with invoices, payment orders, transfer-acceptance documents and contracts now applies expressly where costs were incurred in the form of Article 53(1)(a) of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060Riigiteataja, and separate accounting of support-related costs and documents is required in that caseRiigiteataja. Proof that renewable-energy generation equipment meets requirements is now due with the last payment claim at the latestRiigiteataja, and it drops out of the general two-year implementation documentation dutyRiigiteataja.

Beneficiary duties around the three-year purposeful-use period running from the last payment are re-pointed: the duties kept to the end of that period now cover the applicant requirements of § 6(2) points 7, 8, 11 and 12Riigiteataja, while points 9 and 10 must be met for five years from the last paymentRiigiteataja, and points 3–6 only until the last paymentRiigiteataja. Transitional rules apply the procurement-register threshold to applicants that had submitted neither an application nor started a register procedure before entry into forceRiigiteataja; a register procedure already started is finished under the rules in force when the application is submittedRiigiteataja.

Legal basis: the amended Estonian regulation on support for 2021–2027 fishery and aquaculture product processing investments (a measure of the 2021–2027 European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund programme), operating within the framework of Regulation (EU) 2021/1139 and Regulation (EU) 2021/1060Riigiteataja.