The Export Market Development Grants (EMDG) scheme
The Export Market Development Grants (EMDG) scheme is an Australian Government financial assistance program for aspiring and current exporters.
EMDGs encourage small and medium sized Australian businesses to develop export markets. They also provide businesses the opportunity to enter and embed themselves in the global value chains that encompass 80 percent of global trade.
What can you claim?
The EMDG scheme provides up to eight grants to each eligible applicant and supports the following nine categories of promotional activities:
- Overseas representatives;
- Marketing consultants;
- Marketing visits (only 65% of first class travel may be claimed);
- Communications (removed from 1 July 2017);
- Free samples (limited to $15,000 from 1 July 2017);
- Intellectual Property registration and related insurance;
- Trade fairs, seminars, in-store promotions;
- Promotional literature and advertising; and
- Overseas buyers.
Eligibility
If you are an Australian individual, partnership, company, association, cooperative, statutory corporation or trust carrying on business in Australia you may apply providing you:
- Had an annual income of not more than $50 million;
- Spent at least $15,000 on eligible export promotions;
- Own the product you are promoting and the goods are made in Australia (some exclusions apply).
As the EMDG scheme is designed to assist export marketing, it does not support expenses incurred for product development, production, distribution or certification.
Grant criteria
In order to be able to claims for any of the above activities you must:
- Have spent the funds to seek out, create or increase demand for your product in an export market.
- Be the intended principal in the export transaction.
- Have legitimate evidence of the expense and it must have been taken up in the year in which you are claiming.
Financial thresholds
The EMDG scheme reimburses up to 50% of eligible export promotion expenses above $5,000 to a maximum grant size of $150,000. If you are undertaking your first grant application, you may combine expenses incurred over the last two years.
Please note if you a member of a group, the other members of that group may also apply for an EMDG grant. The combined total of all grants payable is however is limited to $250,000 per annum.
In cases where the total grant entitlements for the group as a whole exceed $250,000, payment to each member is apportioned appropriately.
Application dates?
EMDG applications for the 2015-16 grant year, lodged by consultants approved under the EMDG Consultant Quality Incentive Program, are open from 1 July 2016 to mid-night (Australian Eastern Daylight Time) on 28 February 2017. If you lodge your application through Matthews Steer we will connect you with an approved consultant to guide you through your application.
For further information
For more information on the EMDG scheme and support in applying for this program please contact Nidal Mazloum at Matthews Steer on (03) 9325 6300.
Click here to read more information on the EMDG scheme.