A new European act designed to help deal with bureacracy experienced by small and medium-sized businesses who are trading between EU member states has been unveiled.
Under the Small Business Act for Europe (SBA), the European Commission is proposing new legislation in four areas to help smaller firms do business acorss Europe.
This includes a general block exemption regulation on state aids, which is designed to simplify procedures and reduce costs; a new statute for a European Private Company, which will create a "Société privée européenne" (SPE) and eliminates the need to set up subsidiaries in every member state; a new Vat directive that will allow states to levy reduced rates on locally supplied services provided by micro-enterprises; and an amendment to the directive on late payments in 2009, which will help ensure SMEs are paid within the 30-day time limit.
Internal Market and Services Commissioner Charlie McCreevy said the SPE would be transparent, flexible and would offer a "strong label" everywhere.
The SBA also sets out 10 principles, aimed at shaping policies at EU and member state level, such as facilitating access to finance and enabling SMEs to turn environmental challenges into opportunities.
"Entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship are of enormous importance for our societies," said commission Vice-President Günter Verheugen.
"Today and even more so tomorrow small and medium sized enterprises will provide for professional education and employment opportunities. Caring about SMEs means therefore caring about present and future jobs in the EU. Therefore it is high time that an SME friendly policy becomes mainstream policy in the EU. The Small Business Act is driven by the 'Think Small First principle' and brings the full weight of EU and its Member States behind small companies."