2. Covid-19 Act: State support measures / state aid

1.1
Federal law on special support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SME support law)

A key policy objective is to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). To this end, various support measures are available for SMEs from inter alia:

• the Austria Wirtschaftsservice Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung (aws): assumes liabilities and
• the Österreichische Hotel- und Tourismusbank Gesellschaft m.b.H. (ÖHT): assumes guarantees or grants loans.

However, these funding agencies in turn require security if liabilities are incurred or loans cannot be (fully) repaid. This security is provided by the fact that the state (BMF) assumes a contractual default liability towards aws and ÖHT.

Until now, this deficiency liability was capped to the extent that the BMF was only allowed to assume obligations up to a total outstanding liability (plus interest and costs) of EUR 750 million for aws and EUR 375 million for ÖHT.

With the current amendment to the law, the Federal Ministry of Finance, as part of the COVID-19 crisis management measures, is authorised to increase this total exposure by decree for a period of three months.

1.2
Federal Act on the Establishment of a Hardship Fund (Hardship Fund Act)

With this Act, the state creates a safety net for hardship cases in one-person companies (EPU), freelancers, non-profit organisations (NPO) and micro-enterprises. The funding volume amounts to EUR 1 billion, with the money coming from the COVID-19 crisis management fund. The support programme is handled by the Austrian Chamber of Commerce (WKÖ).

The Austrian Minister of Finance will issue a guideline for the handling of the Hardship Fund on the basis of the KMU Promotion Act (KMU-Förderungsgesetz) and regulate the following points, among others: Legal bases, aims; the object of the funding; calculation of the amount of funding; the personal and material requirements for obtaining funding; the extent and type of funding; the procedure; application (type, content and equipment of documents); decision; mode of payment; reporting (rights of control); discontinuation and reclaiming of funding; period of validity; evaluation.

Funding is provided in the form of a grant. Corresponding applications can be submitted online to the WKÖ.

Further information can be found at https://www.wko.at/service/haertefall-fonds-epu-kleinunternehmen.html.

Please note: This newsletter merely provides general information and does not constitute legal advice of any kind from Binder Grösswang Rechtsanwälte GmbH. The newsletter cannot replace individual legal consultation. Binder Grösswang Rechtsanwälte GmbH assumes no liability whatsoever for the content and correctness of the newsletter.