Doing Business in the Netherlands 2012 - American Chamber of ...

than highly industrialized western nations, for instance all countries in
Asia (except for Japan), Central and Eastern Europe (except for EUmember
states), Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. Some
restrictions may apply to United Nation-sanctioned countries,
depending on the nature of the sanctions.
In order to obtain the subsidy, the applicant must draft a short
description of the project and the budget. The project cannot include
market research and acquisition of individual companies. The
Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation pays 50%
of the project costs, up to a maximum of EUR125,000.
21.2.3 PSI
The Private Sector Investment program or PSI (Private Sector
Investeringsprogramma), divided into PSI Regular and PSI Plus, is a
subsidy program of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign
Affairs/Development Cooperation that supports innovative investment
projects in emerging markets. It replaced the old Program for
Cooperation in Emerging Markets (Programma Samenwerking
Opkomende Markten or PSOM).
A PSI project is an investment project implemented by a Dutch (or
foreign) company together with a local company in one of the eligible
developing countries. If this investment meets the criteria, it can be
eligible for a grant by PSI. The project of the joint venture must be
economically viable and have a positive effect on the local economy
to qualify. Furthermore the investing partners must prove that they
have a good reputation with regard to CSR and will not employ child
and/or forced labor. Several additional criteria may apply, depending
on the investment.
The subsidy for the PSI Regular program is limited to 50% of the
investment cost with a maximum of EUR750,000, whereas the entire
budget for the project may not exceed EUR1,500,000.
228 Baker & McKenzie