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Law 2/2005, 15 March, By Which Adopt Urgent Measures To Repair The Damage Caused By Fires And Floods That Occurred In The Autonomous Communities Of Aragon, Catalonia, Andalucia, La Rioja, Comunidad Foral De Navarra And Community...

Original Language Title: Ley 2/2005, de 15 de marzo, por la que se adoptan medidas urgentes para reparar los daños causados por los incendios e inundaciones acaecidos en las Comunidades Autónomas de Aragón, Cataluña, Andalucía, La Rioja, Comunidad Foral de Navarra y Comu...

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TEXT

JUAN CARLOS I REY OF SPAIN

To all who present it and understand it.

Sabed: That the General Courts have approved and I come to sanction the following law.

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

In the months of July and August, and after a series of adverse circumstances of different nature were brought together, they occurred in the Valencian Community and the Autonomous Community of Andalusia, just as in the second half of the year. September took place in Catalonia (Torroella de Montgri-Ulrara which, not being able to be controlled, acquired great dimensions, with consequent consequence of damages, mainly on forest masses and agricultural and livestock farms, and risk to people's lives, which forced the evacuation of numerous stocks. Various municipal infrastructure, forestry infrastructure, rural roads, secondary irrigation networks, and different sections of rivers and streams corresponding to the public hydraulic domain were also affected.

In the first half of September, there have been serious floods in the Autonomous Communities of Aragon, Catalonia, La Rioja, the Community of Navarra and the Valencian Community, which have caused serious flooding. significant damage to public and private property. Similar consequences also had the heavy rains and floods produced last March in the province of Malaga. Unfortunately, in both cases there has been a loss of human life. The magnitude of the facts and their consequences require, from the constitutional principle of solidarity and the application of equality and equal treatment in relation to previous situations, the action of the public authorities and the In the case of the affected areas, the adoption of a set of palliative and remedial measures agreed with those previously adopted on similar occasions, in order to promote the restoration of services, the repair of the damage caused and the return to normality of the areas affected by the fires and floods. The aim, therefore, is to approve a catalogue of measures which affect several ministerial departments and cover very different aspects, as some are aimed at reducing the tax burden, others, such as the granting of Privileged loans are intended to alleviate the impact on businesses and individuals affected. On the other hand, the production losses caused by the aforementioned fires and floods in the forest masses, the crops and territories affected make up, due to the magnitude of the damage caused, a situation comparable to that of the disaster natural, in the terms laid down in the Community guidelines on State aid to the agricultural sector. In view of the fact that these contingencies do not have complete coverage under the combined agricultural insurance, appropriate mitigating measures are necessary, in line with the nature and impact of the damage caused by the the production of the territories concerned and the incomes of the farmers.

Article 1. Scope of application.

1. The measures provided for in this Law shall apply to the repair of the damage caused by the floods in March and the first half of September 2004, and to the fires in July, August and September. of the same year. The municipal and population centres affected by the Autonomous Communities of Aragon, Catalonia, Andalusia, La Rioja, Comunidad Foral de Navarra and Comunidad Valenciana to which the measures referred to in particular are applicable shall be determined by the Minister of the Interior. 2. For the purposes of such remedial actions, it shall also be understood to include those other municipal terms or population centres in which, in order to ensure the proper execution of the necessary works, the actions of the competent ministerial departments.

Article 2. Damage to municipal infrastructure and road network of provincial deputies or, where appropriate, belonging to the extinca provincial diputations in the territories of the Autonomous Community of La Rioja and the Community of Navarra.

To projects implemented by local authorities in the municipal and population centres referred to in the previous article, relating to the repair or restoration of infrastructure, (a) equipment or facilities and services of a municipal property included in Article 26.1 (d) of Law 7/1985, of 2 April, Regulatory of the Bases of the Local Regime, and in the road network of the provincial deputies or, where appropriate, belonging to the extinct provincial diputations in the territories of the Autonomous Community of La Rioja and the Community Foral de Navarra, will be applied for emergency processing, being able to grant them a grant of up to 50 percent of the cost.

Article 3. Damage to other public infrastructure.

The holders of the relevant ministerial departments are empowered by reason of the matter to declare the affected areas special area of action, in order to ensure that these departments, their autonomous bodies and entities They are dependent on the public, and they are dependent on the public. For the purposes indicated, the works to be carried out by such departments to repair damage caused by State-owned infrastructure, as well as the actions for the restoration of forest within its meaning, are declared as emergency. field of competence.

Article 4. Compensation for damage to agricultural and livestock production.

The damage caused by the fires and floods on agricultural and livestock farms which, with policies in force covered by the combined agricultural insurance plan for the year 2004, will be compensated for. incurred losses in respect of their production not covered by the combined agricultural insurance lines. However, in the case of productions which have not entered the period of employment of the insurance concerned on the dates of the accident, they may also receive the previous compensation, provided that the insurance has been contracted corresponding to those productions in the preceding financial year. Compensation for damage caused by production not covered by the current annual insurance plan may also be levied, except that the production concerned is guaranteed by insurance not included in the agricultural insurance system. combined. Those allowances shall be made to the holders of holdings which, in the area referred to in Article 1, have suffered losses exceeding 20% or 30% of production, whether or not in the area (a) the European Union, in accordance with the criteria laid down by the European Union in this respect. The damage to apiculture holdings may be subject to compensation under the conditions laid down in this Article.

Article 5. Tax benefits.

1. The exemption from the duty on immovable property in respect of the financial year 2004 affecting housing, industrial and commercial establishments, agricultural and forestry holdings, working premises and the like is granted. damaged as a direct result of fires and floods, when it is established that both persons and property in them have had to be rehoused in whole or in part in other different dwellings or premises up to the repair of damage to or damage to crops in the form of non-covered claims by no public or private assurance formula. 2. A reduction in the Tax on Economic Activities for the financial year 2004 is granted to industries of any kind, commercial establishments and professionals whose premises of business or property affects that activity have been damaged as a direct result of the fires and floods, provided that they have had to be rehoused or there has been damage which would cause the temporary closure of the activity. The indicated reduction shall be proportional to the time elapsed from the day on which the cessation of the activity has occurred until its restart under normal conditions, either on the same premises or on other persons authorised for that purpose, without prejudice to consider, where the gravity of the damage produced from origin to it, the assumption of the cessation of the damage resulting from the exercise of that damage, which shall have effect from 31 December 2003. 3. The exemptions and reductions in quotas in the taxes referred to in the preceding paragraphs shall include those of surcharges which are legally authorised. 4. Taxpayers who, having the right to the benefits provided for in the preceding paragraphs, would have satisfied the receipts corresponding to that tax year may request the refund of the quantities entered. 5. They shall be exempt from the rates of the Central Command of Traffic the processing of the casualties of vehicles requested as a result of the damage caused by the fires and floods and the issue of duplicates of permits of circulation or of driving destroyed or lost by those causes. 6. The decrease in local tax revenues that the previous paragraphs of this article will produce in the provincial councils and deputies will be compensated by the General Budget of the State, in accordance with the established in Article 9 of the recast text of the Local Law Regulatory Law, approved by the Royal Legislative Decree of 5 March. 7. They shall be exempt from the Tax on the Income of the Physical Persons the exceptional aids for personal damages referred to in Article 9 of this Law.

Article 6. Special tax reductions for agricultural activities.

For holdings and agricultural activities carried out in areas determined by the order in accordance with Article 1 of this Law and in accordance with the provisions of Article 35 (4) of this Law. Regulation of the Income Tax of the Physical Persons, approved by Royal Decree 1775/2004, of July 30, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, in the light of the report of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, may authorize, with exceptional character, the reduction of the net yield rates to which the Order refers HAC 3313/2003, of November 28, which develops for the year 2004 the regime of objective estimation of the Tax on the Income of the Physical Persons and the simplified special regime of the Tax on the Value Added.

Article 7. Labour and social security measures.

1. The cases of employment regulation which have their cause in the damage caused by the fires and floods shall be taken into account as a result of a situation of force majeure, with the consequences arising from Articles 47 and 51. of the recast text of the Law of the Workers ' Statute, approved by the Royal Legislative Decree 1/1995 of 24 March. The General Treasury of Social Security may exempt the employer from the payment of the contributions to the Social Security in the first case for the duration of the suspension period, with the condition of that period remaining as effectively listed by the worker. In the event of termination of the contract, the workers ' compensation shall be borne by the Salarial Guarantee Fund, subject to the legally established limits. In cases where the suspension of contracts or the temporary reduction of the working day on the basis of exceptional circumstances is resolved, the employment authority may authorise the time when the contract is to be paid unemployment benefits, regulated in Title III of the recast text of the General Law on Social Security, adopted by the Royal Legislative Decree 1/1994 of 20 June, which will bring their immediate cause in the fires and floods, compute for the purpose of consuming the established maximum periods of perception. It may also authorise unemployment benefits to be granted to workers included in those files which do not have the necessary periods of contribution to be entitled to them. 2. Businesses and self-employed persons, including in any social security scheme, may apply for and obtain, on the basis of the damage suffered, a moratorium of one year without interest in the payment of the contributions to the Social security corresponding to the three calendar months immediately prior to the production of the disaster. 3. Social Security contributors who, having the right to the benefits provided for in the preceding paragraphs, have satisfied the quotas corresponding to the exemptions or the moratorium in question, may request the return of the the quantities entered, including, where applicable, the corresponding surcharges and costs. If the person who has the right to the refund is liable to the Social Security for other periods, the credit for the refund shall be applied to the payment of outstanding debts with the same in the form that is legally applicable. 4. In order to carry out the repair of damage caused, public administrations and non-profit entities may request from the competent public employment service the posting of workers who are recipients of the unemployment benefits for social partnership work, in accordance with the provisions of Article 213.3 of the recast text of the General Law on Social Security.

Article 8. Arrangements for procurement.

1. For the purposes of Article 72 of the recast text of the Law on Public Administration Contracts, approved by the Royal Legislative Decree 2/2000 of 16 June, they will have the consideration of works, services, acquisitions or emergency supplies for the repair or maintenance of the infrastructure and equipment service, as well as the replacement works of goods damaged by the disaster, whichever is the same. 2. To these same effects, in any case, the water infrastructure, the forest, the roads and, in general, any that has been affected by the fires and floods, are included. 3. The occupation of the goods affected by the expropriations resulting from the performance of the works referred to in this article is declared urgent for the purposes laid down in Article 52 of the Law on Compulsory Expropriation, 16 of December, 1954. 4. In the processing of the procurement files not included in Article 129.2 of the recast of the Law on Public Administrations Contracts, it shall be exempt from the prior requirement for the availability of land, without prejudice to its effective occupation is not done until the occupation act is formalised.

Article 9. Exceptional aid for personal injury.

1. Aid is granted, in the terms set out below, in order to compensate for the personal damage caused by the disasters to which this Law relates. 2. Aid for personal injury may be:

(a) The amount to be awarded in the event of death shall be EUR 18,000 for each deceased person. The same amount shall be granted in cases of permanent incapacity, where such incapacity would have been caused by the same facts.

(b) In addition, the hospitalization costs of the persons concerned shall be paid as long as they are not covered by any public or private health care system.

3. Persons who fulfil the conditions set out below shall be beneficiaries of such aid for indirect victims, in the case of death and with reference to the date of death:

(a) The spouse of the deceased, if not legally separated, or the person who has been living with the deceased permanently, with a similar affectivity to that of the spouse, for at least the two years prior to the date of death, unless they had offspring, in which case the mere coexistence is sufficient.

(b) The minor children of the deceased or of the other persons referred to in paragraph (a) of this paragraph and the older children if they have suffered material economic injury, duly (a) in relation to its economic situation prior to the disaster. (c) In the absence of the persons mentioned above, the parents of the deceased person shall be beneficiaries, in the same case of economic damage as provided for in the preceding paragraph. (d) In the absence of the persons referred to in paragraphs (a), (b) and (c), the siblings of the deceased person shall be the beneficiaries if they prove their economic dependence.

4. If several beneficiaries are awarded for indirect victims, the distribution of the amount to which the aid amounts shall be made as follows:

a) The quantity will be divided into two halves. It shall be for the spouse or the person who has been living with the deceased under the terms of subparagraph (a) of the previous paragraph. The other half shall be for the children referred to in subparagraph (b) of the previous paragraph, and shall be distributed among them by equal parties.

(b) If the parents of the deceased are beneficiaries, the amount to which the aid amounts shall be divided equally between them. (c) If the deceased's siblings are beneficiaries, the amount to which the aid amounts shall be divided equally between them.

5. Applications for the granting of such aid will be submitted within one month, starting from the entry into force of Royal Decree-Law 6/2004 of 17 September, which takes urgent measures to make good the damage caused by the damage caused by the damage caused by the fires and floods in the Autonomous Communities of Aragon, Catalonia, Andalusia, La Rioja, Comunidad Foral de Navarra and Comunidad Valenciana.

Article 10. Exceptional housing aid.

1. Aid for damage to the continent of housing will only be granted if they exceed 20% of their value and, in any case, will have a ceiling of EUR 24,000. 2. The assessment of the damage shall be carried out by the Insurance Compensation Consortium, and shall relate to the actual value of the damage actually caused on the housing continent, with a distinction between the amount which, if any, corresponds to the compensation the Consortium in accordance with the rules governing its activity and the amount it provides for aid under this Law. 3. The specific financing of these aids will be made by 50% by the General Administration of the State and, the rest, by the territorial administrations, according to the agreements reached between them in the agreements signed by the effect.

Article 11. Special arrangements for the application of ordinary aid for personal and material damage.

1. In the case of aid provided for in the two preceding Articles, the aid scheme referred to in the Order of the Ministry of the Interior of 18 March 1993, as amended, in part, by the Order of 30 July 1996, will not apply. 2. The aid to be granted under the two preceding Articles shall be financed from appropriations 16.01.223A.482, "For the purposes of any order arising out of claims, disasters or other recognised urgency ", and 16.01.223A.782, "For the purposes of any order motivated by claims, catastrophes or other of recognized urgency ", endowed, in character of extendable, in the current budget of the Ministry of the Interior.

Article 12. Preferential lines of credit.

The Institute of Official Credit (ICO), as a state financial agency, is instructed to implement a loan line of 20 million euros, which can be extended by the Ministry of Economy and Finance on the basis of the assessment of the damage and the associated demand, using the mediation of the financial institutions with implementation in the Autonomous Communities concerned, by signing the appropriate collaboration agreements with them. These loan lines, which will be used to finance the repair or replacement of industrial and commercial installations and equipment, agricultural, forestry, livestock and irrigation, automobiles, motorcycles and mopeds for particular use, commercial vehicles, agricultural machinery and working premises of professionals who have been damaged as a result of the fires and floods, shall be carried out on loan operations granted by those financial institutions, whose Features will be:

(a) Maximum amount: the damage assessed by the Delegation or Subdelegation of the Government of the province concerned or, where appropriate, by the Insurance Compensation Consortium, discounted, where appropriate, the amount of credit that they have (i) the right to subscribe to preferential credit lines established at the initiative of the respective Autonomous Communities.

(b) Deadline: that established between the parties, with the limit of five years, including one of absence. (c) Interest: the type of transfer by the ICO to the financial institutions will be 1.50 percent, with a maximum margin of intermediation for the same of 0.50 percent. As a result, the maximum final rate for the borrower will be 2.00 per cent SAD. (d) Processing: applications shall be submitted to the financial institution, which shall decide on the granting of the loan, the risk of the operation being borne by it. e) Vigency of the line: the deadline for the provision of funds will end on 31 December 2004.

The instrumentation of the line of loans referred to in this Article shall be carried out by the Institute of Official Credit, in the performance of the functions referred to in the additional provision sixth, two, 2, paragraph (a), On 28 December, the Royal Decree-Law 12/1995 of 28 December 1995 of urgent measures in budgetary, tax and financial matters, and, in its virtue, it has broken the fact that for the ICO the differential between the market cost of obtaining the resources and the The aforementioned rate of 1.50 percent will be covered by the General State Budget.

Article 13. Cooperation with local authorities.

The holder of the Ministry of Public Administration is empowered to propose the payment of the grants referred to in Article 2, in the part financed by the General Administration of the State, up to a maximum amount of 15 EUR million, with a view to the credit that will be made available for these purposes, with the character of the incorporation, in the budgets of that department. In accordance with Article 50 (b) of Law 47/2003 of 26 November, General Budget, the credit to be provided shall be financed from the Contingency Fund for which the Ministry of Economy and Finance shall be authorised. Similarly, the holder of the Ministry of Public Administrations is empowered to establish the procedure for the granting of the said grants, as well as their monitoring and control, in the framework of the economic cooperation of the State to investments by local authorities.

Article 14. Inter-ministerial committee.

1. An Inter-Ministerial Commission is hereby established for the implementation of the measures provided for in this Law, coordinated by the Directorate General for Civil and Emergency Protection and composed of representatives of the Ministries of Economy and Finance, of the Internal, Development, Labour and Social Affairs, Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, the Presidency, Public Administrations and the Environment, as well as Government Delegates in the Autonomous Communities concerned and by a representative of the Insurance Compensation Consortium. 2. Monitoring of the measures provided for in This Law shall be carried out by the Commission referred to in the previous paragraph, in coordination with the authorities of the Autonomous Communities concerned, through the Government Delegations.

Article 15. Insurance Compensation Consortium.

1. The Government delegates in the affected Autonomous Communities may request the Insurance Compensation Consortium, for a more correct assessment of the damages, the corresponding assessments provided for in this Law provided they do not affect property of public ownership. 2. The Insurance Compensation Consortium shall be entitled to the payment by the General Administration of the State of the work of assessment in accordance with the scale of professional fees that the Consortium has approved for its experts. insurance appraisers. 3. In order to facilitate the processing of aid and the assessment of damage, the competent authority and the Insurance Compensation Consortium may transmit the data on beneficiaries of the aid and compensation they grant, their the respective amounts and the goods concerned.

Article 16. Agreements with other public administrations.

The General Administration of the State may conclude with the Autonomous Communities and with other public administrations the collaboration agreements required by the application of this Law. These agreements will have as a priority the restoration of forest in the affected areas.

Additional disposition first. Powers of the Autonomous Communities concerned.

What is established in this Law is without prejudice to the powers that correspond to the Autonomous Communities under the provisions of its Statute of Autonomy.

Additional provision second. Limits of the aid.

The value of the aid granted under this Law, as far as material damage is concerned, cannot in any event exceed the difference between the value of the damage produced and the amount of other aid or (a) to be declared compatible or complementary, which may, by the same concepts, be granted by other public, national or international bodies or be in accordance with the existence of insurance policies.

Additional provision third. Budget appropriations.

Reparation for damages in state property and in the communities of regants, as well as the compensation granted for damages in agricultural and livestock production, will be financed from the the budgets of the respective ministerial departments, for the purposes of which the necessary credit transfers are to be made, without the limitations contained in Article 52 (a) of Law 47/2003 being applied. November 26, General Budget, with respect to the realization of credit transfers from capital operations to current operations.

Additional provision fourth. Damage to public infrastructure owned by regant communities.

For the purposes set out in Article 3, the works executed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to repair the damage caused to public infrastructure by the communities of the (a) the rules governing the competition. The repair of these damages will be financed from the budget of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, up to a maximum amount of six million euros.

Additional provision fifth. Advances in aid linked to certain loans for the improvement and modernisation of agricultural structures.

In the municipal terms affected by the fires and floods, in preference, the advance payment of the total amount of the aid for the repayment of the principal of the principal of the loans under Royal Decree 613/2001 of 8 June for the improvement and modernisation of the production structures of agricultural holdings, of the dossiers for which the corresponding final certification of the farm is available compliance with commitments and implementation of investments.

Final disposition first. Powers of development.

The Government and the various ministers of the ministerial departments, within the scope of their powers, shall make the necessary arrangements and set the time limits for the implementation of the provisions of this Law.

Final disposition second. Entry into force.

This Law shall enter into force on the day of its publication in the Official Gazette of the State.

Therefore,

I command all Spaniards, individuals and authorities, to keep and keep this law. Madrid, 15 March 2005.

JOHN CARLOS R.

The President of the Government, JOSÉ LUIS RODRÍGUEZ ZAPATERO