We advise companies applying for, receiving and defending public funding from Bulgarian and EU programmes: eligibility and structure before you apply, the agreements once you win, and compliance and disputes afterwards. We do not write grant proposals.
For start-ups, SMEs and groups using grants, public equity or EU programmes, and for foreign companies looking at Bulgaria.
Whether your company is really an SME once partner and linked enterprises are counted, start-up age limits, sector exclusions, and the evidence the managing authority will ask for.
Adding up aid you have already received, the €300,000 de minimis ceiling over three years, block-exemption conditions and the incentive effect: the rules that can cost you a grant after it is awarded.
Which entity should apply, a Bulgarian subsidiary or branch for foreign founders, and how group structure affects eligibility for Bulgarian and EU calls.
Horizon Europe, Eurostars and Digital Europe projects: consortium agreements, ownership of results and access rights, and the obligations you accept in the grant agreement.
Investment from the EIC Fund and from venture funds backed by the Fund of Funds: term sheets, shareholder agreements and investor rights, negotiated like any other round.
Selecting contractors under the rules for beneficiaries, audits and checks, and challenging financial corrections and refusals before the administrative courts.
We handle the legal questions that decide whether funding is won and kept: eligibility, structure, state aid, agreements, compliance and disputes. We do not write proposals, budgets or business plans. We work alongside the grant consultant you choose, or can suggest one.
YARD Law is an independent law firm. We have no affiliation with any managing authority or funding body and cannot guarantee eligibility or approval.
A fixed-fee review for companies that have found a programme and want to know where they stand before investing time in an application.
The fee is agreed before we start and is credited against our fees if you instruct us on the application or the agreements. Start with the request form on the funding dashboard.
Directly managed EU programmes (Horizon Europe, the European Innovation Council, Digital Europe, EuroHPC) are governed by the same EU rules in every Member State. We advise companies from Bulgaria and elsewhere in the EU on eligibility, consortium and grant agreements and EIC investment.
Bulgarian programmes under shared management, such as the Competitiveness and Innovation in Enterprises Programme, and the Bulgarian stage of Eurostars, follow Bulgarian law and procedure. National programmes of other Member States follow their own law: there we work with local counsel.
Bulgaria is a Widening country under Horizon Europe. Some EU calls are reserved for companies established in Widening countries, the EIC Pre-Accelerator among them, and others encourage their participation. For foreign founders, a Bulgarian company can open those calls, provided it has real activity in Bulgaria. A company set up only to qualify is a risk to the project and to the founders.
No. YARD Law advises on the legal side of funding: eligibility and SME status, state aid, company structure, consortium and grant agreements, beneficiary procurement and disputes. Proposals, budgets and business plans are prepared by grant consultants, and we work alongside the consultant the client chooses.
The online checker compares your answers with the conditions recorded for each programme. A funding fit review by YARD Law reads the call documents, calculates SME status including linked and partner enterprises, adds up state aid already received, checks whether the planned costs are eligible and identifies what could exclude the application.
Under Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC, the figures of linked enterprises (control, usually above 50%) are added in full and those of partner enterprises (25% to 50%) in proportion to the holding. An SME has fewer than 250 staff and either turnover of up to €50 million or a balance-sheet total of up to €43 million.
Under Regulation (EU) 2023/2831, de minimis aid to a single undertaking may not exceed €300,000 over any period of three years. A single undertaking includes companies linked by control, so aid received by group companies counts towards the same ceiling.
Yes, for directly managed EU programmes such as Horizon Europe, the EIC, Digital Europe and EuroHPC, whose rules are the same in every Member State. National programmes of other Member States follow that country's law, and YARD Law works with local counsel on them.
In Bulgaria a financial correction is imposed by a decision of the managing authority, which can be appealed before the administrative court. The deadline to appeal is short, generally 14 days from notification, so the decision should be reviewed as soon as it arrives.
Public funding, with the legal side covered
Eligibility and structure before you apply, agreements once you win, compliance and disputes afterwards.