Subject of the call for tenders
The subject of the call for proposals is the co-financing of the presentation of SME products and/or services at international fairs in the years 2024-2028 in order to strengthen the international competitiveness of SMEs and/or the possibility of introducing products/services on foreign markets and/or to increase the possibilities of business cooperation of SMEs with foreign partners.
Target groups/beneficiaries
The target group/end beneficiaries are SMEs (size is determined in accordance with the provisions of Annex I of Regulation 651/2014/EU):
- wishing to diversify their business into foreign markets and/or
- expand existing activities in foreign markets and/or
- present your products/services to potential foreign partners.
An SME must be engaged in economic activity in the Republic of Slovenia and organised as:
- a company or an independent entrepreneur in accordance with the Companies Act (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, No. 65/09 – official consolidated text, 33/11, 91/11, 32/12, 57/12, 44/13 – Decree of the US, 82/13, 55/15, 15/17, 22-19 – ZPos S, 158/20 – ZintPK-C, 18/21, 18/23 – ZDU-1O and 75/23; hereinafter referred to as “ZGD-1”),
- a cooperative with limited liability or a cooperative without liability in accordance with the Act on Cooperatives (Official Journal of the RS, No 97/09 – officially consolidated text and 121/21; hereinafter referred to as the Act).
More information on the conditions can be found here.
Indicative funds available for the call for proposals
The total indicative amount of funds available for the call for proposals is up to EUR 9 562 500.00. The funds are distributed among the individual submission deadlines, the cohesion region and the location of the fairs. More information can be found here.
Amount of co-financing – lump sum
Up to a maximum of EUR 18 043,00.
The lump sum depends on the size of the stand rented at the selected fair.
Deadlines for submission of applications
| No of the deadline | Period during which the application can be delivered* | Deadline applies to trade fair appearances to be completed on or before** |
| 1st year | from the date of publication of the call for proposals until 4. 9. 2024 | 30. 9. 2025 |
| 2nd year | from 5. 9. 2024 to 8. 1. 2025 | 30. 9. 2025 |
| 3rd year | from 9. 1. 2025 to 14. 5. 2025 | 30. 9. 2025 |
| 4th year | from 15. 5. 2025 to 10. 9. 2025 | 30. 9. 2026 |
| 5th year | from 11. 9. 2025 to 7. 1. 2026 | 30. 9. 2026 |
| 6th year | from 8. 1. 2026 to 13. 5. 2026 | 30. 9. 2026 |
| 7th year | from 14. 5. 2026 to 9. 9. 2026 | 30. 9. 2027 |
| 8th year | from 10. 9. 2026 to 6. 1. 2027 | 30. 9. 2027 |
| 9th year | from 7. 1. 2027 to 12. 5. 2027 | 30. 9. 2027 |
| 10th year | from 13. 5. 2027 to 8. 9. 2027 | 1. 10. 2028 |
| 11th year | from 9. 9. 2027 to 5. 1. 2028 | 1. 10. 2028 |
| Year 12 | from 6. 1. 2028 to 10. 5. 2028 | 1. 10. 2028 |
* The applicant must not have completed the fair before the date of submission of the application to this call for proposals (see also the provisions of condition No 4 in section 7.3 of the call for proposals).
** In the event that the date of the fair is postponed after the submission of the applicant’s application to this call for tenders, the provisions of Condition 5 of Section 7.3 of the call for tenders shall apply.
Additional information
Further information on the preparation of the application and explanations to the call and the call documentation is available to the applicant upon written request to sejmi2428@spiritslovenia.si.
Questions must be received at the e-mail address indicated in the preceding paragraph no later than five (5) working days before the closing date of each submission deadline (the closing date of the submission deadline shall not count towards this five-day period). No new questions shall be accepted by the Agency during the period from four working days before the closing date of each submission deadline up to and including the closing date of each submission deadline. The Agency will publish the answers to the questions no later than one (1) working day before the expiry of each submission deadline, provided that the questions have been submitted in time for that submission deadline. The Agency reserves the right to answer the same questions once. Invalid questions will not be considered. The published answers to the questions will become part of the tender documents. The questions and answers will be made publicly available on the Internet at www.spiritslovenia.si.
The questions and answers will be published on the website, so applicants should be careful not to disclose any personal data, business secrets or other information that should not be made public when asking questions.
Prospective applicants will be informed of any changes on https://www.spiritslovenia.si/razpis/422.
Source:SPIRIT Slovenia