Tallinn, Stenbock House, 27 April 2020 – The government approved the regulations necessary for the application of measures prescribed by the COVID-19 supplementary budget. The regulations at the ministerial level had to be approved by the government to avoid the duplication of benefits and to ensure the purposeful use of the funds. The government also approved the general conditions for granting and using the benefits, which must be observed both when enacting a regulation or directive of the minister responsible for the field and when the support measure is implemented with a contract under public law.
The general conditions for the implementation of the support measure had to be laid down to make sure that the use and allocation of public funds are clear, transparent, based on equal grounds, and comprehensible to the public. It must also be ensured that the funds are used for the purpose and to the extent provided for in the COVID-19 supplementary budget. In order to make the application for and the allocation of the benefits transparent, the legal person recipients of the benefits will be disclosed.
The principle of equal treatment must be followed in the allocation of benefits, under which the measure must be available to all persons in compliance with the same conditions until the funds are exhausted.
The general conditions also provide the obligation to comply with state aid rules, which take into account that due to the crisis, the European Union has permitted more lenient conditions under the temporary framework of state aid, but that the granting of state aid requires the authorisation of the European Commission.
In the COVID-19 crisis, the state can only aid those who have been tax-compliant. Therefore, the benefits will only be paid if the applicant has no state tax arrears as at 12 March 2020 or they have been deferred. Additionally, the applicant cannot have non-submitted tax returns or annual reports as at the set term.
Today, the government approved the following draft regulations of ministers:
1) Regulation of the Minister of Education and Research “Support measures in the field of education and youth for alleviating the crisis related to the spread of the coronavirus which causes the COVID-19 disease”;
2) Regulation of the Minister of Culture “Emergency aid due to the COVID-19 outbreak for the field of culture and sport”;
3) Regulation of the Minister of Culture “Amendment to Regulation No. 9 of the Minister of Culture of 26 November 2014 “Conditions for granting benefits for coach labour, including requirements for sports federations, sports clubs, and sports schools and their co-payments, training groups, and coaches, and the procedure for the amount, allocation, repayment, and recovery of the benefits””;
4) Regulation of the Minister of Rural Affairs “Amendment to Regulation No. 84 of the Minister of Agriculture of 8 October 2014 “Benefits for the replacement of an agricultural producer””;
5) Regulation of the Minister of Population “Conditions and procedure for applying for and allocation and use of the benefits for alleviating the economic difficulties of religious associations in the COVID-19 emergency situation”;
6) Regulation of the Minister of Public Administration “Conditions and procedure for the allocation and use of benefits for local government units for investments, demolition, and repair activities in the COVID-19 emergency situation”;
7) Regulation of the Minister of Foreign Trade and Information Technology “Benefits for the partial compensation of damage borne by small businesses negatively affected by the outbreak of the coronavirus, which causes the COVID-19 disease”;
8) Regulation of the Minister of Foreign Trade and Information Technology “Benefits for the partial compensation of the damage borne by entrepreneurs in the field of tourism that were caused by the outbreak of the coronavirus, which causes the COVID-19 disease”;
9) Regulation of the Minister of Foreign Trade and Information Technology “Conditions and procedure for the support measure for the establishment of the second phase of the next-generation electronic communications access network”;
10) Regulation of the Minister of Foreign Trade and Information Technology “Conditions and procedure for granting benefits for integration with electronic communications networks allowing for high-speed broadband service”.
The ministers must ensure that the regulations are in compliance with the general regulation. The regulations enter into force after being signed and published pursuant to general procedure.
ANNEX: Measures known at the time of enacting the general conditions regulation:
