Eligibility Criteria
Check if your company meets the eligibility conditions for the N-Spark program
To participate in the program, your company must meet all eligibility criteria listed below.
General Requirements
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Legal Status
Must be commercial entities within the meaning of the Commercial Act or the Cooperatives Act.
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Enterprise Size
Must be enterprises that constitute a micro, small, or medium-sized enterprise (SME) according to the Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Act (SMEA).
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Location
Must carry out business activities in one or more of the districts in Northern Bulgaria.
The districts falling within the three regions of Northern Bulgaria — Northwest (NWR), North Central (NCR), and Northeast Region (NER) — are:
- Vidin
- Vratsa
- Montana
- Pleven
- Lovech
- Gabrovo
- Veliko Tarnovo
- Ruse
- Razgrad
- Targovishte
- Silistra
- Dobrich
- Shumen
- Varna
Financial and Regulatory Requirements
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Public Obligations
Must be enterprises that have no public obligations to the state under Art. 162, para. 2, item 1 of the Tax and Social Insurance Procedure Code (TSIPC).
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Eligible Economic Activities
Must be enterprises that perform a primary and/or secondary economic activity that does NOT fall within the restrictive regimes under Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 June 2021 and Regulation (EU) 2021/1058 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 June 2021 on the European Regional Development Fund and on the Cohesion Fund.
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Other Publicly Funded Support
Must be enterprises that have not received services similar to the specialized services under this procedure—namely personalized services for SMEs in the Northern regions of Bulgaria in various key areas related to their development and growth, such as marketing, strategic planning, organization and management, market access, etc.—which have already been funded by other public sources within the last 12 months.
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De minimis
Must be enterprises that do not fall within the restrictive regimes of Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/2831 of 13 December 2023 on the application of Articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to de minimis aid.
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Cumulation of Aid
Must be enterprises for which the total amount of aid provided under the project for the respective "single undertaking," combined with the aid received by the recipient, corresponds to the permissible cumulative amount under the applicable de minimis regulation depending on the funded activities, not exceeding €300,000 over a period of three previous years (starting from the date the aid is granted).
Additional Conditions
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Sector of Activity
Must not receive specialized services under this project that relate to activities in the field of primary production and processing of agricultural products and of fishery and aquaculture products (i.e., economic activities falling within Sector A "Agriculture, forestry and fishing" according to the NSI Classification of Economic Activities).