The amendment of the Implementation Act is intended to facilitate the use of EU grants. New regulations simplify the process of applying for funding and reduce red tape. They also form the institution of the Ombudsman for European Funds, which will take care of the interests of beneficiaries of EU funds. The change will benefit mainly from local governments and entrepreneurs who make the most use of EU funds.

The Cohesion Policy Policy Implementation Act of the current 2014-2020 financial perspective is a positive signal. It introduces some important simplifications for the beneficiaries. These are simplification checks, as well as the appeal procedure, the ability to enforce your rights while applying for funds

At the end of May, the government adopted an amendment to the so- Implementing Act, which deals with the implementation of cohesion policy programs up to 2020. This is part of the Business Constitution, a package of laws that will fundamentally reform the economic law. The report, signed by the president in July, has a much simplified procedure for the use of EU funds. It will mainly benefit entrepreneurs and local governments, ie beneficiaries of EU funds.

From the point of view of the financial environment, the most important simplification introduced by this law is to facilitate access to bridging loans. This is a loan that facilitates the beneficiary to raise funds for the duration of the project, which has not yet received a refund.

So far, regulations have blocked the possibility of financial protection for entrepreneurs thanks to the assets acquired from the EU project. This resulted in numerous cases of bank loan applications being rejected.

The amendment also reduced the number of documents used for the project. So far, applicants have had to apply for about 100 different documents (guidelines, recommendations, instructions, detailed descriptions of priority axes). This burden has disappeared – from the moment the contract is signed, the beneficiary must apply only to the guidelines of the Minister for Development and Finance without analyzing the stack of documents.

Applicants have also been exempted from the obligation to provide documents that the institution can obtain on their own, such as certificates from the National Court Register, ZUS or the treasury. Importantly, the amendment makes it possible to amend the grant application if it does not meet the formal criteria (instead of automatically refusing it).

Another important change is the appointment of the Ombudsman for European Funds, which will take care of the interests of beneficiaries of EU funds. This will create an additional opportunity for settling disputes and gaining institutional support in dialogue with an institution distributing public funds.

At the moment, a large proportion of EU-funded investment projects with entrepreneurs are launched and banks are important partners in the process. With this amendment you will be able to use external financing on much easier terms than ordinary, commercial ones.