The E-Commerce funding scheme which finances a €4800 lump sum to businesses registered in Malta has been one of the most sought after finance plans for online shops in recent years. The scheme underwent a serious of re-branding and minor policy tuning however the bottom line always remained the same. If you have a business registered in Malta, are tax compliant, are not accepting online payments via a website, and never benefited from EU funds before then you are most likely eligible.
Here’s how the branding of Malta’s E-Commerce funding scheme changed in the past 3 years:
2022
2023
2024
Why we’re dedicating the time to provide this information? We noticed that sometimes business owners who wish to apply are asking to apply with reference to the older terminologies (ERDF E-Commerce Grant Scheme or SME Digitalisation Grant Scheme) only to be informed by the competent bodies that these applications are currently closed – which is rightfully so! However as they always say, the devil is in the detail and sometimes the part of the information being looked after is the easiest detail to miss…. E-Commerce Grants are still available in 2024 under the Digitalise your Business scheme, as part of the Recovery and Resilience (RRP) Program.
With that explained, there still remains one question to tackle….
What if my 2023 application was not evaluated by the time the clock turned 2024?
In all fairness, this is a good question and very relevant at this time of year. If your application was submitted in late 2023 under the SME Digitalisation Grant Scheme, you will be asked by the Measures and Support division whether or not you wish to proceed with the evaluation of your application under the 2024 guidelines, in other words the Digitalise your Business Scheme. If you have no objection and simply reply to the email requesting that the evaluation proceeds, the Measures and Support division simply proceed with the evaluation. It’s their duty to ask whether or not you wish to proceed simply because of their policy changes.
This transition process has been buttery smooth so far, so hats off to the measures and support division for that. Let’s keep in mind that both the SME Digitalisation Grant Scheme of 2023 and the Digitalise your Business Scheme of 2024 are part of the same plan – Recovery and Resilience Programme. This means the newly rebranded scheme is simply a minor revision of the previous but the same concepts and evaluation criteria apply that is why it is a good choice to proceed with your evaluation instead of re-submitting a completely new application.
EU's General Long Term Vision
These plans and online shop funding schemes are for the long run and it’s most likely we’ll keep seeing them coming possibly under new names. Back in 2021 the DIGITAL Europe Programme was announced making it crystal clear what EU’s long term goals are, therefore it seems that Malta’s E-Commerce Grant is here to stay!