State to Support Employment in the Moravia-Silesia and Ústí Regions

23 Jan. 2014 | CzechInvest | From February investors can receive CZK 200,000 per each new job in selected regions.

The Czech Republic has a new tool for bringing investments to the country’s five districts that are most adversely affected by unemployment. Investors that locate their projects in Most, Bruntál, Ústí nad Labem, Karviná or Chomutov and apply for investment incentives will receive from the state CZK 200,000 for each newly created job instead of the previous CZK 50,000. In its decree, in the formulation of which the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs participated, the Government of the Czech Republic gave life to a proposal originated by CzechInvest. The decree will come into force on 1 February 2014.

“We are convinced that this is an opportunity that will draw investors’ attention to regions where it is necessary to stimulate the economy and mainly to create more jobs. The measure ensued from the efforts of a working group that is systematically addressingthe current situation in the Moravia-Silesia and Ústí regions,” says outgoing Minister of Industry and Trade Jiří Cienciala.

“The larger amount of tangible aid for each newly created job can be claimed by companies that submit their applications for investment incentives after 1 February 2014,” adds Marian Piecha, CEO of CzechInvest. “This pertains to firms in the areas of manufacturing, technology centres and business support services centres,” Piecha emphasises.

The decree, which amends Government Decree No. 515/2004 Coll., on tangible aid for job creation and tangible aid for training and retraining of employees in connection with investment incentives, was entered into the Collection of Laws on 21 January 2014.

Another major change awaits investors throughout the Czech Republic later this year. New rules issued by the European Commission, which reduce the state-aid intensity for large enterprises, will come into force in July 2014. In connection with these new rules, the government is formulating an amendment to the Act on Investment Incentives in which it wants to include, for example, a reduction of the contribution from aggregate wages and a property-tax exemption, as well as simplified administration.