Order EMT/158/2026 provides flexibility for productive investment grants

The Department of Enterprise and Labour has published Order EMT/158/2026, of August 25, which modifies the regulatory bases of the grant line for productive investment projects in Catalonia. The regulation, signed by Minister Miquel Sàmper i Rodríguez, appears in the Official Gazette of the Generalitat de Catalunya (DOGC) no. 9740, of August 28, 2026, with the official reference CVE-DOGC-A-26238015-2026, and enters into force the day after its publication.

The order reforms Order EMT/42/2024, of March 7, which approved the regulatory bases of this aid line and was published in DOGC no. 9121, of March 13, 2024. The changes directly affect companies applying for these grants, as they concern the execution period of the projects and the calculation of aid reductions when the final cost of the activity is lower than budgeted.

Execution period decoupled from the call

The modification of base 2 of annex 1 decouples the execution period from the year of publication of the call. With the new wording, subsidized activities must be executed from the first business day of the year of the call to which the application is submitted and up to a maximum of 18 months from the date of publication of said call.

• The term must comply with the European Union state aid regulations applicable to each application, in accordance with base 29.
• The objective is to provide more temporal flexibility to the beneficiary companies.

Partial revocations with clearer calculation

Bases 8.3 and 28.5 of annex 1 are reformed to avoid ambiguous interpretations when calculating the amount of partial revocations. The minimum expenditure of 50% of the eligible investment or the initially budgeted amount is maintained to consider the purpose of the grant fulfilled.

• If this minimum percentage is not reached, the grant is revoked entirely.
• If the minimum is met but the final verified cost is lower than budgeted, the amount of the aid is reduced according to the amount that would have corresponded to the activity actually carried out and justified.
• For beneficiaries with aid limited by the maximum amount of 500,000.00 euros or by state aid regulations, the partial revocation only affects the proportional part subject to the grant, and the excess remains exempt from the reduction.

Application to current calls

The transitional provision establishes that the order applies to the calls already open for the years 2024, 2025, and 2026, through resolutions EMT/842/2024, of March 14; EMT/810/2025, of March 5, and EMT/634/2026, of March 3. The text specifies that the modifications do not entail any restriction of rights nor violate the principles of equality and non-discrimination.

An administrative appeal may be filed against the order before the Administrative Chamber of the High Court of Justice of Catalonia within two months from the day following its publication.

The reform provides legal certainty to the companies accessing this line of aid by clarifying when the project must be executed and how the amount reductions are calculated, a key aspect for the planning of productive investments in Catalonia.

Source: Official Gazette of the Generalitat de Catalunya (DOGC), no. 9740, August 28, 2026, General Provisions section (official reference: CVE-DOGC-A-26238015-2026).