What does it mean that the Government is going to declare the areas devastated by DANA as “seriously affected”?

The President of the Government, Pedro Sanchezannounced this Saturday in an institutional statement from Moncloa that the places most affected by DANA this Tuesday will be declared in the next Council of Ministers as severely affected area.

But what does this mean? The declaration of a seriously affected area is the name they received before the ‘catastrophic zones’, which used to be given to places especially affected by a large-scale natural disaster. This declaration corresponds to the central Government, and its conditions and implications are included in Chapter V of Law 17/2015 of the National Civil Protection System.

Can the autonomous communities request it?

The standard specifies that “said declaration may be requested by public administrations “In these cases,” says the law, “and prior to its declaration, the Government may request a report from the affected autonomous community or communities.”

For the declaration to go ahead, it must be proven that “personal or material damage has occurred resulting from an incident that seriously disrupt living conditions of the population in a certain geographical area or when the paralysis occurs, as a consequence, of all or some of the essential public services.” This is the case, obviously, of Valencia.

Applicable measures

The declaration allows various measuressuch as:

Fiscal measures

Fiscal measures may also be granted, such as exemption from the Real Estate Tax (IBI) fee “corresponding to the budget year in which the emergency occurred that affects homes, industrial, tourist and commercial establishments, agricultural, livestock and forestry operations, work premises and similar, when they have been damaged.”

Likewise, there are reductions in the Tax on Economic Activities (IAE) for “industries of any nature, commercial, tourist and professional establishments, whose business premises or property used for that activity have been damaged”, and other aid such as reductions in the Traffic rate to process cancellations of affected cars (a particularly abundant in this DANA).

Labor measures

The law also contemplates labor measures such as those derived from “the terminations or suspensions of employment contracts or temporary reductions of the work day that have their direct cause in the emergency”.

Thus, for example, “the General Treasury of Social Security may exempt the employer from payment of Social Security contributions and for joint collection concepts while the suspension period lasts” and for the worker, the SEPE may consider that unemployment “is not computed for the purposes of consuming the established maximum collection periods.”

Likewise, companies and workers will be able to obtain “a moratorium of up to one year without interest in the payment of Social Security contributions”, as stated in the law.

Where to ask for help and within what period

To request these aid or exemptions, “the applications will be submitted, using the standardized models determined by regulation by the Ministry of the Interior, in the Delegation or Subdelegation of the Government (…) within one month, counted from the day following the date of termination of such events”, although this period may vary depending on the severity of the event.

The standard specifies that “the requests must be accompanied by the documents which, likewise, are determined by regulation by the Ministry of the Interior, for each type of aid and beneficiary.”