EU Intelligence » The ESBA Bulletin » ESBA Bulletins 08
ESBA BULLETIN of 14 July 2008 – Volume 10 – Number 5
Headlines
ESBA / Annual Exhibition and Event: “European SMEs Team-Up against Red Tape”
EU/SBA: ESBA welcomes EC’s proposals for a Small Business Act
EU /VAT: Commission revises VAT Directive on value added tax
In Brief
EU/State aid: EU adopts measures to ease state aid for SMEs
EU/ Presidency: French Presidency 2008
Publications
Ø “OECD Employment Outlook 2008”
Consultations
NEW:
Ø Online Consultation on Combating Late Payments in Commercial Transactions
ONGOING:
Ø Online consultation on Administrative Burdens Reduction
COMING UP
Headlines:
ESBA / Annual Exhibition and Event: “European SMEs Team-Up against Red Tape”
On 9-12 June, ESBA held an exciting exhibition and event to mark its 10th
anniversary in Brussels. The goal was to support the European Commission's
efforts to reduce admin burdens on businesses by 25% in 2012. ESBA’s
exhibition and event, which brought together policy-makers, the SME
community and media, presented and discussed real life case studies
describing red tape and its impact on entrepreneurs. The collection
focused on bureaucraticproblems arising from national and EU law.
Given that SMEs represent 99.8% of all enterprises, new recommendations
on how and why the EU & its Member States should 'Think Small First'
were formulated. Improving the regulatory environment for SMEs by cutting
red tape in existing and future initiatives will boost EU growth and jobs.
ESBA OPINION
ESBA backs the ambitious 25% reduction target and aims at further
supporting the Commission’s Action Programme. Research carried
out by the UK FSB, an ESBA Member, shows that SMEs spend on
average over 7 hours each week filling in forms. In addition to
a cost of €150 billion across the EU, this is time that entrepreneurs,
the backbone of the economy, could spend on developing their
business, training, supporting the community and achievinga better
work-life balance. ESBA will issue a report based on the collection
of real life case studies across the EU. ESBA urges small businesses
to take part in the Commission's online consultation, which invites
entrepreneurs to identify unnecessary red tape (open until 21.11. 2008).
To access the online consultation, please go to:
A5B5B/EU_Intelligence/Test_an_SME_Tool_.aspx
To read more about ESBA’s 10th Anniversary Event and Exhibition, please go to:
0A130/Coaching/ESBA_Annual_Event/2008.aspx
To view the collection of real life red tape case studies, please go to:
A851C/Coaching/ESBA_Annual_Event/2008/10th_Anniversary_Red_Tape_Case_Studies.aspx
EU/SBA: ESBA welcomes EC’s proposals for a Small Business Act
On 25 June, the European Commission published the Small Business Act
for Europe (SBA). Günter Verheugen, Vice President and Commissioner for
Enterprise and Industry, attending ESBA’s 10th Anniversary earlier this month,
outlined the Commission’s proposals and emphasised the importance of the
SBA as a means to fully unlock the growth and jobs potential of small
businesses. The SBA is composed of a set of ten principles, which will
help to design and implement policies Member States and EU level.
The second part of SBA includes a set of new legislative proposals,
such as the General Block Exemption Regulation on State Aids (GBER),
Regulation providing for a Statute for a European Private Company (SPE)
and Directive on reduced VAT rates. Finally, the third part comprises
a set of policy measures created to implement the ten principles.
The SBA is expected to be adopted by the end of 2008 under
the French Council Presidency.
ESBA OPINION
ESBA supports the Commission’s proposal for a SBA for Europe.
The Commission’s communication touches upon most of the demands
presented by ESBA during the public consultations phase. ESBA’s
campaign to reduce administrativeburdens and ESBA’s research
have a good reflection in the SBA, which puts the “Think Small First”
Principle at the forefront of economic policies. The SME Test proposed
by the Commission should be at the core of any new legislation across
the EU. Special attention should also be given to the proposed principles
regarding access to public procurements, which, if properly implemented
at national level, will give wider access to contracts worth as much as
16% of EU GDP.
EU /VAT: Commission revises VAT Directive on value added tax
On 7 July, László Kovács, European Commissioner for Taxation unveiled
details of a proposal to revise VAT Directive 2006/112/EC on the common
system of value added tax. The Commission’s proposed plans would enable
all Member States to apply reduced VAT rates of not less than 5% in
a large number of labour-intensive sectors on a permanent basis.
The proposal is one of the elements of the Small Business Act,
published 25 June 2008. The new legislation would introduce changes
to the current tax system, enabling all Member States to apply reduced
VAT rates for instance on restaurant services, which currently are
applicable only in 11 countries. Other categories would include
cleaning and maintenance services, care services and personal-care
services, such as hairdressing and gardening. The proposal contains
also important changes for the construction sector, in which the
reduced VAT would no longer be limited only to social housing but
could also be applied to the supply and construction of all housing
and related services.
ESBA OPINION
ESBA welcomes the Commission’s initiative as a good step towards
the normalisation of the currently distorted tax regime. All sectors
concerned are dominated by small and medium size enterprises.
ESBA believes that the revision proposed would have a significant
impact on the SME sector, enabling local businesses to improve their
economic performance significantly. ESBA also considers that VAT
on ‘green’ goods and services could be cut to promote their production
and consumption.
To read more about the Commission’s proposal to revise VAT Directive on
the common system of value added tax, please go to:
http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/resources/documents/taxation/vat/COM(2008)428_en.pdf
In Brief:
EU/State aid: EU adopts measures to ease state aid for SMEs
On 7 July, the Commission adopted new measures to ease state aid
requirements for Member States. Under the new regulation, Member
States are entitled to automatically approve a wide range of aid measures
for small businesses without prior notification to the Commission. It allows
Member States to grant aid towards the goal of creating jobs, boosting
competitiveness and improving the environment. The new General Block
Exemption is in line with the Small Business Act and will allow for state
aid in a wide array of areas in favour of SMEs.For example, categories of
aid authorized by the new legislation will incorporate: SME investment and
employment, research, innovation, measures promoting entrepreneurship,
small enterprises newly created by female entrepreneurs, training, and young
innovative enterprises. The Regulation will come into force in the course
of the coming weeks.
To read more about the Commission Regulation on state aid, please go to:
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/08/482&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en
EU/ Presidency: French Presidency 2008
On 1 July 2008, France took over the Presidency of the Council
of the European Union for a term of six months.In its Presidency
Programme, the French Government has set ambitious targets
in order to prepare the EU for the challenges of the 21st Century.
During its presidential term, France will stress in particular highly
political topics such as climate change and energy, immigration,
agricultural policy, European defense and research. The French
presidency is expected to take a dynamic approach towards
SME policy. In their joint letter, President Nicolas Sarkozy
and Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged the EU to do more to
support small businesses and called, in particular, on the EU to
boost SMEs access to finance. Access to funding for innovative
SMEs, the protection of industrial property rights and the promotion
of entrepreneurship will be at the heart of the French presidency’s
SME policy. The expected adoption of the recently published
Small Business Act is expected to be one of the highlights
of SME policy under the French presidency this year.
To read more about the objectives of the French presidency,
please go to:
http://www.ue2008.fr/PFUE/lang/en/accueil
Publications:
Ø OECD: OECD Employment Outlook 2008
The OECD report on labor markets sheds light on recent labor
market developments and offers an in-depth analysis of the
effects of various policy measures and prospects through 2009.
The analysis includes coverage of the youth labor market in OECD
countries; informal employment and undeclared work;labor market
discrimination and policies to combat it; the link between job stress
and mental health problems; and the pay and working conditions
offered by multinational firms. The report calls on the OECD
countries to improve labor market performance.
To purchase the publication, please go to:
http://www.oecdbookshop.org/oecd/display.asp?sf1=identifiers&st1=812008091P1&lang=EN
Consultations:
NEW:
Ø Online Consultation on Combating Late Payments in Commercial Transactions
The Commission has launched an online consultation on
combating late payments in commercial transactions. Its aim
is to explore possibilities to propose better and more effective
rules to combat late payments between businesses or between
public authorities and businesses within the EU. The questionnaire
seeks to gather views from small businesses on problems with late
payment under the current Directive 2000/35/EC on late payments,
and on possible means of ensuring more timely payment in
commercial transactions within the EU.
To access the online consultation, please go to:
http://ec.europa.eu/yourvoice/ipm/forms/dispatch?form=Latepayment&lang=en
Closes 31 August 2008
ONGOING:
Ø Online consultation on Administrative Burdens Reduction
The European Commission has launched an online consultation
on the reduction of administrative burdens.Inspired by examples
of Best Practice in Belgium and the Netherlands, the consultation
invites entrepreneurs to identify unnecessary red tape in order to
help the EU improve the quality of its legislation. The consultation
is part of the Action Programme to reduce admin burdens on businesses
in the EU by 25% in 2012.
To access the online consultation, please go to:
A5B5B/EU_Intelligence/Test_an_SME_Tool_.aspx
Closes 21 September 2008
COMING UP
EU Institutions: Important dates
14-17 July 2008 Committees in the EP, Brussels
Other SME related events
24-25 July 2008
The New Zealand Small Business Summit 2008 "Engaging the Key Players"; organised
by the Independent Business Foundation; taking place in Auckland, New Zealand;
for more information, please go to: http://www.smallbusinesssummit.org.nz/
15-16 September 2008
Conference on “Consolidating Research and Innovation for European SMEs”,
Paris; organised by the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union;
for more information, please go to: http://www.fp7.cz/dokums_raw/sme-days-2008-paris-908_2158.pdf
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