Ochrona Ziemi (OZ)

Purpose

Energy, environment, infrastructure

R&D relevance

0 of 3

Poland eligible

Yes

Country limit

Poland

Region

Any

Consortium

Unclear

Readiness level (TRL)

—

Topics

• Land protection
• Soil protection

Machine-classified from the call text; check eligibility at the source. 23 Oct 2026

Typed facts extracted from the source documents by Scindu's grant-data review. Each value keeps its own conditions. Unknown means unstated, not zero or unlimited.

Applicant type

Legal persons, legally capable organizational units, business individuals, authorized public administration units, individuals via bank agreements/separate programmes, local-government units, unions and subordinate units.

Application restrictionGeneric WFO loan application data requested from borrower

The application asks for crediting period/grace, preliminary repayment dates and installment amounts, and proposed security; those are applicant-proposed terms, not a promise of acceptance.

Final term, grace, installment schedule and security are set only through Fund decision/contract and applicable Board limits.

Application restriction

OZ insert section3 requests ecological outcome indicators (population count/percentage, waste mass and treatment/collection/recovery capacity in Mg/year, reclaimed area in ha, landfill capacity in thousand m³ and area), studies/opinions, other environmental effects and verification method/institution. Sections4–5 request available project documentation/audit/cost estimates; necessary administrative decisions, agreements and their issuers/dates; and supplier/contractor selection procedures. Blank units are information fields, not grant values, required beneficiary numbers, employment or compensation.

Application restriction

OZ insert sections1–2 request existing condition, task description and selected technology/technical solutions; unit investment costs for landfill hectare, collected/recovered tonne, hazardous-waste treatment tonne, installation-throughput tonne, reclaimed hectare and other relevant units; physical progress with reference date; and disposition of waste arising from the project. These are blank applicant-supplied fields, not Fund unit-cost ceilings or minimum performance targets.

Application restrictionBoard Rules 2025 §5, physical p.4 / printed p.3; Fund-standing condition for assistance.

A condition of assistance is compliance with obligations to pay fees and penalties that are Fund revenue and with other obligations owed to the Fund.

This states a condition, not an assertion that any applicant has arrears or has failed it.

Application restriction

Continuous intake until funds exhausted; applications for investment tasks must be submitted by the end of October in the relevant year, except tasks financed from NFOŚiGW-provided funds. Current remaining balance is not shown.

Application restrictionBoard Rules 2025 §4(1)–(2), physical p.4 / printed p.3; procurement commitment before agreement.

Before the grant or loan agreement is signed, the applicant must undertake that Fund-funded supplies, services or works will be procured under applicable Public Procurement Law; where that law does not apply, Fund resources must be spent under equal-treatment, fair-competition and transparency principles.

This is a pre-agreement undertaking and applies to Fund-supported purchases; it is not supplied by the application insert’s request to describe procurement procedure.

Application restrictionApplication dossier and aid-classification path for the generic WFO financial-support form; no applicant aid status assigned

Current route links an undated generic loan application whose attachments identify Annex D as mandatory for all applicants. If the requested aid is classified as public aid, the form directs either to E1/E2 for de minimis or F1/F2 for other aid; these are conditional alternative branches, not a universal requirement to file all five forms. The attached templates cite historical legal instruments; current legal validity is not certified.

The current route links legacy generic forms and does not establish which legal aid branch applies to a future applicant. Preserve their vintage and verify current law during individual assessment.

Eligible project scope

The currently route-linked OZ insert asks whether the task matches three priority classes: investment arising from current waste-management plans including biodegradable-waste collection/treatment; waste prevention and recovery, disposal or economic use including hazardous waste and especially asbestos removal/disposal; reclamation of closed waste landfills/dumps. This is the actual application insert classification alongside the route’s investment summary; it does not itself establish that any specific project is approved.

Eligible project scope

Waste management investments: sorting lines, separate collection points, thermal treatment, composting and landfill cells. Project must concern an installation included in the current Voivodeship Waste Management Plan.

Other conditionSpecific WFO-funded cost lines in the generic application budget

The generic application states that line items financed from WFOŚiGW cannot be financed again from other public sources. The restriction is stated for those specific WFO-financed positions; it is not a blanket bar on EU cofinancing, which the OZ route expressly contemplates with a cost-gap loan.

Interpret by product and cost line; distinguish double financing from route-level EU cofinancing.

Other conditionGeneric WFO application timing versus product-specific bridge-loan clause

For ordinary (non-bridge) loan applications, costs incurred before agreement may be financed only if incurred after the relevant Fund resolution and included in the task financial schedule. The bridge subtype has a distinct pre-resolution exception restricted to costs reimbursed under awarded EU support.

Do not treat either rule as a universal project-start date; retain separate standard/non-bridge and EU bridge scopes.

Other conditionBoard Rules §3(7)–(11), application, annual allocation and award-decision stages.

Applications are considered in the filing calendar year (except state-budget-unit applications under §21), subject to available funds and the approved annual financial plan; investment applications are accepted through October except tasks financed from NFOŚiGW-provided funds. Assistance requires a resolution of the competent Fund body; the resolution may provide for loss of effect if its stated conditions are unmet, and the Fund may offer a different form of financing after reviewing the application.

A resolution is the required award instrument; an October cut-off applies to investment tasks with the stated NFOŚiGW source exception. This does not confirm live availability or an award.

Other conditionBoard Rules §3(3)–(4), application assessment stage.

The Fund may request additional information needed to assess an application; the supplement deadline is agreed by the parties, and failure to supplement within that agreed time is treated as withdrawal. In justified cases the Fund Management Board may condition review on an expert opinion about task purpose or technical-economic effectiveness.

A supplement request and expert opinion are discretionary; no fixed general response period or requirement to procure an opinion is stated.

Other conditionBoard Rules §§7–8, post-award disbursement and financial-document stage.

Financial assistance may be paid once or in instalments, with method and timing specified in each agreement. Each disbursement is based on financial documents issued to the borrower, grant beneficiary or task-performing unit; originals of contractor/supplier invoices or bills must be made available to the Fund for inspection. State-budget-unit advances follow a distinct budget-account procedure.

Instalments, schedules, payment recipient and documentation depend on the executed agreement and applicant type; the state-budget-unit advance branch is not presumed for this loan route.

Other conditionBoard Rules §6, agreement execution after award resolution.

A loan or grant agreement must be signed within three months of the award resolution for non-investment tasks and within four months for investment tasks, but in either case no later than year-end in the year the resolution was adopted; after the applicable period, the resolution ceases to be effective. State-budget-unit task agreements have their separate end-of-resolution-year deadline.

The three- and four-month windows have different task classifications and are capped by the end of the resolution year; the state-budget-unit branch is separate and not assumed for this OZ applicant.

Other conditionBoard Rules §15, loan contract terms, drawdowns, protective refusal and termination.

The loan agreement must set the task name, principal and interest, planned physical cost/completion/effects and proof-submission date, disbursement method/time, repayment and interest dates, Fund inspection/security rights and security, and consequences for improper performance. A later loan tranche depends on payment of due interest; the Fund may refuse further disbursement if the borrower’s financial condition has deteriorated so repayment is doubtful and this was unknown at signing, and may terminate for non-start/abandonment, misuse, missing outcomes, over-three-month payment arrears, late completion, supervisory suspension/invalidity of the award resolution or breach of other contract conditions.

These are statutory/Board contract requirements and possible Fund powers; they do not determine the wording or occurrence of a particular borrower’s agreement or default.

Other conditionBoard Rules §§10–11, eligible task cost valuation and financing/servicing charges.

For costs in the agreement schedule, the Board Rules state net-of-input-VAT funding unless VAT is itself a task cost, and exclude penalties and interest charges. Charges and fees connected with granting or servicing a loan or grant, or transferring funds to a state-budget unit, are borne by the borrower, grant beneficiary or state-budget unit respectively.

VAT treatment is conditional on whether VAT constitutes a task cost; the applicant remains responsible for the specified financing charges and fees.

Other conditionBoard Rules §§18–20, 25–26 contrasted with the current OZ loan products.

The Board Rules organize grant provisions separately from the standard/EU-loan sections and separately describe support for bank-credit interest subsidies or partial principal repayment. The current OZ route describes Fund loans, not a route-specific grant or bank-credit subsidy, so those other product clauses are not imported as loan conditions. Board §26 permits departures only with Supervisory Council consent expressed by resolution; it is not a general waiver.

Classification follows the products actually stated on the current OZ page. No grant branch or subsidized bank-credit product is inferred from the generic multipurpose application. A §26 exception requires a case-specific Supervisory Council resolution.

Other conditionBoard Rules §9; ordinary loan pre-contract expenditure versus the separate application statement and EU bridge subtype.

Board Rules permit the Fund to cover costs incurred before the financing agreement only when incurred on or after the Fund application date, for the task identified in the agreement’s financial-and-physical schedule; the rule excludes the specified Article 101 accident-waste-management costs. This Board condition is kept distinct from the current generic application’s narrower statement requiring ordinary pre-agreement costs to be after the award resolution, and from the EU bridge exception for reimbursed EU-financed costs before resolution.

The Board provision and generic current form use different temporal anchors; do not collapse or treat §9 as overriding the application statement. The Article 101 exception is expressly excluded from §9, and EU bridge terms are separately governed by §17.

Other conditionAll Białystok WFOŚiGW loan products relevant to this OZ route

Borrower creditworthiness and establishment of appropriate loan-repayment security are required. Board rules enumerate possible instruments but leave selection to the Fund according to borrower financial circumstances; the application asks the borrower to propose a form, which is not proof of acceptance.

Final accepted security and credit assessment are applicant-specific; do not infer approval from the application form.

Other conditionBoard Rules §17(2)(a)–(f),(i) and §17(3), EU bridge-loan application and drawdown branch.

For an EU-funded task, a Fund bridge loan may finance temporary costs pending EU reimbursement. Entry into the bridge agreement requires the borrower’s EU-support contract; the bridge principal may not exceed the amount in the contract for the EU-financed task; the Fund sets repayment timing by the EU grant terms, while detailed conditions are in the Fund agreement and disbursement follows submission of proper financial documents. The standard Board §3(6) unfinished-before-application condition does not apply to bridge loans. Pre-resolution bridge funds may cover only costs that are reimbursed under awarded EU funds.

Applies only to a bridge loan for a task benefiting from EU funding; principal scope is limited to the EU task agreement amount, and the special pre-resolution rule is restricted to EU-reimbursed costs. Not a blanket exception for standard loans.

Other conditionGeneral Board admission conditions incorporated by current OZ loan route

The applicant must present a plan for full financing of task costs; Fund aid is for a task not completed before application.

Task completion status, full financing plan and project facts are applicant-specific.

Other conditionDistinguishes general WFO grant rules from the financing instruments actually described in the current Ochrona Ziemi route.

The route currently describes standard, EU-cofinanced and EU-refund bridge loan products, not a route-specific grant. Board §19 is a list of expenses not financed by grants (dotowaniu), so those grant-specific exclusions do not govern the route’s loan products absent a separate controlling source establishing a grant branch. The generic application’s grant checkbox alone does not establish one.

Do not apply §19 grant-only exclusions to loan products; do not infer a grant merely from a generic multipurpose application template.

Other condition

Current WFOŚiGW general rules state loans granted by the Fund from 1 January 2016 are not remitted. This excludes remission for 2026 loans despite earlier general remission clauses elsewhere in the rules.

Grace period, maximumEU-cofinanced OZ loan

12 month after task completion

EU-cofinanced loan only; grace is counted after task completion, unlike standard-loan grace counted from signing.

Grace period, maximumStandard loan

18 month

Grace is counted from agreement signature.

Interest margin over the reference rate, fixed (basis points)EU-cofinanced payment/bridge loan pending reimbursement

115 basis points added to WIBOR 3M

Floating WIBOR 3M margin is +115 bp; separately total annual interest cannot be below 3%; rate set for calendar year by prior year last working day WIBOR and loan is due within seven days after reimbursement.

Interest margin over the reference rate, fixed (basis points)EU-cofinanced project loan excluding the payment/bridge subtype

0 basis points added to WIBOR 3M

Source rate formula states WIBOR 3M without an added margin; represented as zero added basis points while retaining the separate 2% annual total-rate floor and other §17 conditions.

Interest margin over the reference rate, fixed (basis points)Standard WFOŚiGW environmental loan, calculated from outstanding principal

20 basis points added to WIBOR 3M

Floating WIBOR 3M margin is +20 bp; separately the total annual interest rate cannot be below 2.5%; quarterly/yearly fixing rule stated in §13.

Loan interest, minimumEU refund bridge loan

3 %

Bridge loan to temporarily finance eligible costs pending EU reimbursement: variable WIBOR 3M +115 basis points, minimum 3% per year. The route does not state a maximum bridge-loan term. The 115-basis-point spread is separately represented in oz-bridge-interest-margin.

Loan interest, minimumEU-cofinanced OZ loan

2 percent per year

Variable WIBOR 3M, floor 2% p.a.; no 20bp spread is stated for this EU co-financed loan.

Loan interest, minimumStandard loan

2.5 %

Variable interest WIBOR 3M +20 basis points, minimum 2.5% per year, charged on outstanding principal; annual rate remains fixed during each calendar year based on WIBOR 3M on the last working day of prior year. The 20-basis-point spread is separately represented in oz-standard-interest-margin.

Loan principal, maximum shareEU-cofinanced OZ loan

100 percent of eligible task cost gap

For tasks supported by EU funds, principal may cover up to the difference between total task outlays and EU assistance; do not read as 100% of total outlays in addition to EU support.

Loan principal, maximum shareStandard national-financing OZ loan

100 percent of eligible costs

Maximum loan principal is 100% of eligible costs for the task; no absolute PLN principal ceiling appears on the route. Distinct EU-cofinanced and bridge subtypes have their own terms below.

Loan term, maximumLoan for tasks cofinanced by EU funds

180 month

EU co-financed loan, term calculated from contract signature; grace may run up to 12 months after task completion.

Loan term, maximumStandard loan

120 month

Repayment period excluding grace; standard loan. EU co-financed loan has a different 15-year term stated separately in route text.

• application

  wfosigw.bialystok.pl

• WFOŚiGW Białystok rules for financial aid, changes 2025

  wfosigw.bialystok.pl

• ecological-effect-calculation

  wfosigw.bialystok.pl

• financial-schedule

  wfosigw.bialystok.pl

• oz-insert-2017

  wfosigw.bialystok.pl

• public-aid-D

  wfosigw.bialystok.pl

• public-aid-E1

  wfosigw.bialystok.pl

• public-aid-E2

  wfosigw.bialystok.pl

• public-aid-F1

  wfosigw.bialystok.pl

• public-aid-F2

  wfosigw.bialystok.pl

• WFOŚiGW Białystok Ochrona Ziemi (OZ)

  wfosigw.bialystok.pl

Opens

—

Provider

WFOŚiGW w Białymstoku

Source

wfosigw.bialystok.pl

Checked

24 Oct 2026

Review status

Partial review

Independent QA

No published hold

Reviewed

24 Oct 2026