WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1689/96 by Amedeo AMADEO to the Commission. European Observatory for SMEs
Date: 1996-06-24
Institutions: AMADEO, European Parliament
Subjects: EU financial instrument, shareholding, size of business, small and medium-sized enterprises













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91996E1689

WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1689/96 by Amedeo AMADEO to the Commission. European Observatory for SMEs  


Official Journal C 356 , 25/11/1996 P. 0084 





WRITTEN QUESTION E-1689/96 by Amedeo Amadeo (NI) to the Commission (24 June 1996)Subject: European Observatory for SMEsThe Observatory's first annual report concentrated on the structure of SMEs and their fields of operation, the second reviewed developments in the SME sector; the third report also concerns developments affecting SMEs and in particular the effects of completion of the internal market. It also makes a specific study of the administrative burdens on SMEs and the producer services sector.Economic operators in this sector are not satisfied with the definition of SMEs currently applied and on which national legislation tends to be based. Will the Commission examine this matter, which must be settled if the proper economic policy options are to be applied?Answer given by Mr Papoutsis on behalf of the Commission (16 September 1996)The Commission shares the views of the Honourable Member regarding the need for clear guidelines in defining small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as an essential reference point to ensure that policies in favour of SMEs are more consistent, visible and effective. For this reason, the Commission adopted on 4 April 1994 a recommendation on the definition of SMEs ((OJ L 107 of 30 April 1996. )) which, for the first time, lays down a set of precise rules for defining SMEs in Community programmes and instruments as well as those of the Member States. Whereas in the past, some measures in favour of SMEs adopted a threshold of 500 employees or were not subject to any specific criteria and could therefore sometimes benefit large enterprises, the definition contained in the recommendation helps limit these measures to enterprises with fewer than 250 employees - i.e. those that really need them. In doing so, this type of measure is made all the more effective.In order to be classified as an SME, an enterprise must also comply with certain financial thresholds (either the annual turnover must not exceed ECU 40 million or the annual balance-sheet total must not exceed ECU 27 million) and an independence criterion. This independence criterion excludes enterprises which can benefit from the support of a large enterprise, by dint of a stake held by the latter, and are thus not really SMEs. The recommendation also established lower thresholds concerning the number of employees (50 and 10), which allow the Commission and the Member States to target some of their policies more accurately. The Commission is convinced that this recommendation should enable measures in favour of SMEs to be concentrated on enterprises which experience difficulties on account of their size, and should lead to greater consistency between Community and national measures.