SMEs in the EU

Latest news about Small and Medium-sized Enterprises policy in the European Union

Small Business Act for Europe — 01 May 2008, 17:52 CET

The European Commission has proposed in the Community Lisbon Programme the preparation of a Small Business Act for Europe whose main aim will be to set principles and concrete measures to improve the framework conditions for European SMEs, while taking full account of their diversity.

British, French leaders push EU to help small business — 30 April 2008, 22:41 CET

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy wrote to EU chiefs on Wednesday to urge them to help small businesses cope with the global credit crunch.

Mediation in civil and commercial matters - guide — 23 April 2008, 23:58 CET

Rulings of the European Court of Justice and other legal issues concerning the EU

Mediation in civil and commercial matters - summary — 23 April 2008, 23:54 CET

Rulings of the European Court of Justice and other legal issues concerning the EU

Europe launches first procurement for ITER — 16 April 2008, 23:06 CET

Fusion for Energy (F4E), the agency responsible for Europe's contribution to the international experimental thermonuclear reactor (ITER), is expected to unlock new business opportunities for industry with the launch of its first ever procurement.

Antitrust: EC policy paper on compensating consumer and business victims of competition breaches - guide — 03 April 2008, 14:44 CET

Latest news, background information and web links about consumer policy and the rights of consumer in the European Union.

EU proposes allowing antitrust victims to sue for damages — 03 April 2008, 16:05 CET

The European Commission unveiled plans on Thursday to give consumers and businesses greater powers to sue companies caught running illegal cartels or abusing their market power.

Panel urges tighter rules for EU lobbyists — 02 April 2008, 11:27 CET

A panel of Members of the European Parliament called on Tuesday for tougher rules for the thousands of lobbyists that gravitate around the EU institutions.

Women and men in decision-making — 06 March 2008, 13:24 CET

This website on women and men in decision-making gives an insight into the relative numbers of women and men participating in the decision-making process and taking up leadership positions in the European Institutions, the 27 Member States of the European Union, the EEA countries (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway), and two of the EU candidate countries (Croatia and Turkey). The website contains data and indicators that cover decision-making in political, public and juridical and social and economic domains both on European and national level. For the political domain only, decision-making at regional level is also covered.

EUROSTARS grants must be 'transparent and non-bureaucratic': Euro-MPs — 29 February 2008, 21:27 CET

Grants to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) under the EUROSTARS programme must be transparent and non-bureaucratic, MEPs have said. The European Parliament's Industry Committee was voting on amendments to the European Commission's proposed EUROSTARS programme on 28 February.

New Internal Market Package for Goods — 21 February 2008, 16:59 CET

This new package of measures from the European Commission is intended to boost the intra-community trade in industrial goods. The measures (described below) will ensure that the internal market becomes a reality for all manufacturers and producers, and will make it easier for companies, especially SMEs, to trade their products in the European Union. High quality safe products continue to be the goal, whilst ensuring market access for goods.

Common framework for the marketing of products - guide — 21 February 2008, 23:10 CET

News, background information and web links about the trade policy of the European Union.

EU eases internal trade restrictions — 21 February 2008, 17:08 CET

Members of the European Parliament have approved plans to sweep away the last few obstacles to the free flow of goods in the EU by easing internal trade restrictions.

EU innovation performance converges — 15 February 2008, 19:02 CET

The convergence of innovation performance across the EU is continuing apace, while five Member States have retained their positions as world innovation leaders, according to the 2007 European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS).

PRO INNO Europe — 15 February 2008, 19:00 CET

PRO INNO Europe is a new initiative of the European Commission's Directorate General Enterprise and Industry which aims to become the focal point for innovation policy analysis, learning and development in Europe, with the view to learning from the best and contributing to the development of new and better innovation policies in Europe.

SMEs to benefit from new Eurostars programme, MEPs told — 28 January 2008, 21:04 CET

Promising small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Europe are set to gain from the new Eurostars funding programme, which is dedicated to helping them quickly develop and market new products and services, speakers at a mini-hearing on the Eurostars programme told MEPs on 24 January.

Harmonised European credit transfer system launched — 31 January 2008, 18:22 CET

The European Commission and the European Central Bank have launched the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), a plan to facilitate and harmonise European financial transfers.

Supplementary pension schemes and mobility in Europe: studies — 24 January 2008, 18:55 CET

Latest news, background information and web links about the employment policies of the European Union.

InnoSME: identifying innovative SMEs in the new EU Member States — 10 January 2008, 17:26 CET

For years the EU has been looking at ways to increase the participation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and researchers from the newer EU Member States in its funding programmes. Now the InnoSME project is combining the two, identifying potentially innovative SMEs from the 12 countries that have joined the EU since 2004 and increasing their chances of winning funding contracts, particularly in the area of information and communication technologies (ICT).

EU court rules against union in Swedish wage-dumping case — 19 December 2007, 12:11 CET

Europe's top court has ruled against a Swedish trade union that tried to force a Latvian company to pay its staff higher rates, in a widely-watched wage-dumping test case.

Commission launches debate on public procurement for R&D — 18 December 2007, 01:00 CET

Pre-commercial procurement in the research and development domain is being underutilised, according to the European Commission. A new communication published on 14 December 2007 seeks to launch a debate on how to encourage more public spending on R&D and the development of technology.

Unfair commercial practices Directive - guide — 13 December 2007, 13:21 CET

News, background information and web links about European Union policies on SMEs (small businesses).

Opening public procurement to SMEs — 29 November 2007, 16:36 CET

The public procurement market in the EU – covering all levels of government and public agencies – is estimated to be worth around one-sixth of total GDP in the EU. This represents a huge market, and one from which Europe’s SMEs ought to be deriving a significant share. Yet although SMEs are not specifically excluded, the procedures and practices used in many tenders have the effect of disadvantaging SMEs over larger competitors. This situation is expected to improve with the ongoing implementation by Member States of the 2004 Directives reforming public procurement rules. The European Commission is further contributing to the process by pooling Member States and stimulating the exchange and dissemination of SME friendly practices.

New Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV) — 29 November 2007, 01:30 CET

This EU Regulation updates the Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV), which is the EU-wide classification system for public procurement contracts - Commission Regulation adopted on 28 November 2007 amending Regulation (EC) N° 2195/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV) and Directives 2004/17/EC and 2004/18/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on public procurement procedures, as regards the revision of the CPV.

Public procurement: new classification system to provide EU businesses with easier access to public contracts — 29 November 2007, 01:32 CET

News, background information and web links about European Union policies on SMEs (small businesses).