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Micro businesses exempted from burdensome EU accounting rules

December 13 2011

The European Small Business Alliance very much welcomes today's vote in the European Parliament
Plenary on amending Council Directive 78/660/EEC on the annual accounts of certain types of
companies as regards micro-entities, otherwise known as the Lehne Report.

The proposal, which
exempts micro-businesses from having to draw up heavy annual accounts has been one of the
European Commission's flagship initiatives in its efforts to reduce administrative burdens for SMEs.
Put forward by the High Level Group on the Reduction of Administrative Burdens, the initiative is an
important step towards helping micro-companies stay afloat and put the EU economy back on track.
ESBA has been an active supporter of this initiative throughout the policy cycle. The Parliamentary
report, drawn up my rapporteur Klaus-Heiner Lehne, faced a deadlock in the European Council
through several presidencies. However, though difficult trialogue negotiations between Council,
Commission and Parliament, the Institutions have finally managed to come to agreement and
decided to give the exemption their green light.
ESBA President Tina Sommer said:
Today's decision by the European Parliament is an important one as this proposal is the first real
concrete measure exempting micro-entities from disproportionally burdensome rules and
regulations. In an ideal world, the Think Small First principle would be applied perfectly and microbusinesses
would be taken as a vantage point for any new piece of regulation, making exemptions
obsolete. However, in the real world this is not the case and Europe's smallest businesses continue
to suffer. This is where exemptions need to be seen as a valid and justified means to alleviate
unnecessary burdens. Today's decision has been an important step towards acknowledging this
fact. We congratulate Mr. Lehne on this success.

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