The Trade Appeals Tribunal (CBp) has issued a number of statements in proceedings relating to the TOGS and the TVL (the emergency assistance schemes). The CBp is the court of last instance in these cases.
TOGS
The TOGS is the €4,000 grant that business owners affected by the coronavirus crisis were eligible to receive for the period from 16 March to 15 June 2020. To be eligible, businesses must be registered in the commercial register at the Chamber of Commerce with an SBI code designated for the TOGS (SBI stands for Standard Business Classification).
The CBp has decided that the SBI code under which the applicant is registered in the commercial register as at 15 March 2020 is decisive. This applies even if it is established that the applicant’s activities fall under a different SBI code that does qualify for the TOGS scheme. Business owners are responsible for ensuring their company is correctly registered in the commercial register.
TVL
The TVL is the successor to the TOGS. The first tranche of the TVL, like the TOGS, was open to business owners whose (main) activity was designated for this purpose. The second tranche of the TVL has now been opened up to all sectors (applications for the subsidy period of the second tranche of the TVL can still be submitted to RVO until 29 January 2021).
The amount of the grant to be received under the TVL scheme depends, amongst other things, on the company’s main activity. In this regard, RVO bases its assessment on the SBI code listed first by the Chamber of Commerce.
The CBp has ruled that, if the applicant disputes that this is the company’s main activity, RVO may not disregard this without providing further justification. Entrepreneurs who believe that the first-mentioned SBI code does not represent their main activity would be well advised to raise this with RVO. This can also be done when submitting the application for final determination of the TVL. Naturally, this is only worthwhile if it results in a higher grant amount.