Background information

This measure was introduced to help Polish SME businesses to expand their services and products to international markets.

One part of the measure was a competition held in a form of competition organised by the Polish Entrepreneurship Development Agency (PARP), thus there is no other regulatory background than the PARP budget and its statutory goals.

The second part of the measure was a grant scheme run by the Ministry of Development aimed at relieving the financial pressure for SME businesses obtaining international product certificates.

Legal reference: Council of Ministers' Act of 20th December 2021 on de minimis support for obtaining required certificates for operations beyond the European Union (Dz. U. poz. 2471).

Content of measure

PARP competition was available to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), employing fewer than 250 people and whose annual turnover does not exceed €50 million, and/or the annual balance sheet total does not exceed €43 million. They had to conduct business activity in the territory of the Republic of Poland. In 2020 the businesses could receive support in the maximum amount of PLN 800,000 (€181,181) and no more than 85% of the project value, among others for the acquisition of intangible assets (including certificates) in connection with preparation for internationalisation of operations.

The projects financed by the grants included consulting and operational services related to internationalisation, participation in trade fairs, and the purchase of fixed assets.

The discontinuation of the measure could be temporary or permanent, as the measure was periodically reintroduced in the past. The reintroductions were a result of the nature of the measure, a competition, rather than a result of other reasons.

The Ministry of Development grant scheme was de minimis aid for co-financing product certificates aimed at SME enterprises. The measure covered part of the costs associated with obtaining product compliance certificates, certificates, declarations of conformity or attestations required in trade of goods on foreign markets, as well as the costs of extending their validity. The SME which planned to obtain a product certificate or extend the validity of certificates required by regulations in foreign markets could apply for a grant to cover 50% of the certification process costs. An annual grant could not exceed the amount of PLN 50,000 (€12,000) per enterprise. The latter had to cover the total cost of the certification process before being supported with a grant. The measure did not apply to certificates required by the European Single Market and its regulations.

Use of measure

The Polish Entrepreneurship Development Agency (PARP) competition on 'Internationalisation of SMEs' started to operate in 2020. In 2020 93 projects received positive decisions on funding, whilst in 2021 and 2022 the numbers were at 158 and 176 respectively. No information is available about prospective competitions, thus the measure is understood to be concluded in June 2022.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Does not apply to workers	Applies to all businesses	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government	European Funds National funds

Social partners

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

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Unknown	Unknown
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

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

• Unknown
• Main level of involvement: Unknown

Involvement

Unknown

Views and reactions

Unknown

Sources

• 01 January 2015: Wroblewski, M. (2015), Tools for support of export of Polish enterprises - current trends and problems, Research Paper (www.dbc.wroc.pl)
• 18 June 2019: PARP (2020) Internacjonalizacja MŚP [Internationalisation of SMEs] (eksport.pl)
• 20 December 2021: Regulation of the Council of Ministers of 20 December 2021 on granting de minimis aid for obtaining a product certificate required for trade in goods on markets outside the European Union (isap.sejm.gov.pl)
• 01 February 2022: MoDev information on discontinuation of export support instruments (www.gov.pl)
• 01 April 2022: Internationalization of SMEs (www.parp.gov.pl)
• 01 April 2022: PARP (2022) internationalisation competition website (www.parp.gov.pl)
• 07 October 2022: European Commission Enterprise and Industry. Small Business Act-Database of Good Practices. (ec.europa.eu)