Background information

The aim of the measure is to provide an immediate financial support to the high number of very small businesses and self-employed persons regarding their importance for the Luxembourgish economy and who are a very vulnerable to unforeseen crises.

The legal backgrounds are:

• The declaration of a state of crisis by the law of 24 March 2020 extending the state of emergency (Loi du 24 mars 2020 portant prorogation de l’état de crise déclaré par le règlement grand-ducal du 18 mars 2020 portant introduction d’une série de mesures dans le cadre de la lutte contre le COVID-19. Mémorial A 178 du 24 mars 2020).
• The implementation of the measure by the Grand-Ducal regulation of 25 March 2020 on the establishment of a certified emergency allowance in favour of certain micro-enterprises in the context of the COVIDpandemic-19 (Règlement grand-ducal du 25 mars 2020 ayant pour objet la mise en place d’une indemnité d’urgence certifiée en faveur de certaines micro-entreprises dans le cadre de la pandémie COVID-19). Mémorial A 187 du 25 mars 2020.

Content of measure

The General Directorate for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (GDSMSE) set up an emergency found for very small business and self-employed persons. This emergency fund provides immediate, non-repayable financial assistance in the form of a grant of €5,000.

Applicants must meet the following criteria simultaneously:

• Size criteria: enterprises or self-employed persons both with a valid business permit issued by the GDSMSE and at maximum 9 fulltime employees.
• Prohibition of closure criterion: both types of businesses must have interrupted their activity following the entry into force of the Grand-Ducal regulation of 18 March 2020 introducing a series of measures to combat COVID-19.
• Turnover criterion: Applicant companies must have an annual turnover of at least €15,000.

Also, if the applicant own’s more than one business, he only can apply for aid for one business.

Use of measure

Until 19 October 2020, 6,204 eligible applications were processed for a non-refundable grant of €5,000. The total amount of support granted to micro-enterprises was €31,002,000.

The government updated the available data on the use of this measure: until 20 May 2021- 6,220 enterprises received a total of €31,100,000.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Self-employed	Solo-self-employed SMEs One person or microenterprises	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government	National funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	No involvement	No involvement
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• No involvement
• Main level of involvement: Unknown

Involvement

No involvement.

Views and reactions

No information available.

Sources

• 09 April 2020: Establishment of an emergency fund for very small businesses and self-employed person (guichet.public.lu)
• 04 January 2021: Etat des lieux au 19 octobre 2020 des aides accordées aux entreprises (gouvernement.lu)
• 20 May 2021: Ovrview on Covid-19 aids (meco.gouvernement.lu)