Organisation of training and professional development courses

Business

Specific sector

The regulation in force on financial aid to improve professional qualifications and the transfer of knowledge provides for an aid scheme for the organisation of training and professional development courses.

Anyone wishing to apply must file their application with the director of the Nature and Forest Agency (Administration de la nature et des forêts), who will inform them of the Agency's decision.

Who is concerned

The aid scheme is available to:

groups of forest property owners;
associations of communes set up to manage natural park land;
associations of communes or public service institutions whose goal is to protect the natural environment.

The aid is granted for the organisation of training and professional development courses for managers, forestry workers, employees and others engaged in forestry-related activities.

Prerequisites

To be eligible for the scheme, the courses must be approved by the Minister, upon presentation of a detailed financial plan and the content of the course.

 These courses do not cover the same content as forestry studies done in secondary or higher education.

How to proceed

Filing an application

When submitting an application, the applicant must state the following on the form:

their surname and first name;
their address;
their telephone number;
their banking institution and account number;
their national identification number;
the subject of the course.

Supporting documents

The application must be accompanied by the following:

a detailed financial plan;
a description of the content of the course.

After the course, the applicant must provide a detailed account, along with all necessary information to assess and monitor the training.

Decision

The director of the Nature and Forest Agency will inform the applicant of the Agency's decision, and the measures to be taken to receive a subsidy.

Amount of aid

The degree of aid is set at 50% of the total cost of the expenses authorised by the Minister, including VAT.

The aid is designed to cover the following expenses:

trainer's fees, including travel expenses;
the cost of renting premises for the training;
organisational expenses;
the cost of printing documents for the training sessions;
the cost of renting teaching materials;
where applicable, participants' bus fares to attend the training.

Repayment of aid

Any aid paid out must be repaid to the State Treasury when:

it was obtained by means of knowingly false or incomplete representations on the part of the applicant;
the beneficiary has failed to comply with the conditions to which the granting of the aid was subject. In that event, the beneficiary must also pay interest on the amount given, at the legal base rate, calculated as from the day of payment to the day of repayment.

If a false declaration is found to have been made through gross negligence or through failure to adhere to the principles of good forestry practices, the beneficiary is precluded from receiving aid for the year in question.

If they make a deliberate misrepresentation, they are excluded for the following year as well.