The review of the “Small Business Act” has been one of the topics discussed at the Competitiveness Council meeting held on 30 May. Among the conclusions, the Council stressed the importance of a simplified, lighter, clear and consistent regulatory and Council administrative environment where SMEs operate on the basis of smart regulation principles.

The Council based its conclusions on the communication from the Commission entitled "Review of the 'Small Business Act for Europe (SBA)'", adopted on 23 February 2011, which presents an overview of the progress achieved since the adoption of the SBA on 25 June 2008 and sets out new actions to respond to challenges resulting from the economic crisis and proposes ways to improve the uptake of the implementation of the SBA.

The importance of SMEs as main drivers of growth, job creation and cohesion in the EU is clear. Providing two out of three private sector jobs and contributing to 58% (with €14 trillions of turn-over) of the total value-added created by businesses in the EU, thus having a significant potential to contribute to a joint effort towards full employment and towards the EU employment rate target of 75% by 2020. Therefore, the Council highlighted the need for further strengthening the application of the ‘SME test’ by the Commission in its integrated impact assessments and for continuing to 'think small first' by identifying and removing unnecessary burdens on SMEs during ex-post evaluation and fitness checks. In addition, it invited the Member States to apply the ‘SME test’ rigorously, while taking into account the differences in the sizes of the enterprises and to apply the “Think Small First” principle not only to legislation but also to administrative procedures affecting SMEs.

On the other hand, the ministers stated the importance of reinforcing and streamlining financial instruments, promoting venture capital by bringing together public and private sector investments and making EU funding programmes more accessible are of utmost importance for SMEs. They called on the Commission to actively promote and to continue the use of the financial instruments within the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP), the 7th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development and the Structural Funds, in order to ensure a visible, stable and sustainable financial framework specifically for SMEs. Moreover, they stressed the need to help SMEs to have enhanced access to capital markets and welcomed the Commission's intention to include measures targeted at SMEs in the forthcoming reviews of the financial services regulation. With regard to boost the trade, the Council supports the Commission proposal to pursue systematic efforts to eliminate non-tariff barriers in Free Trade Agreements and thus improve the accessibility of third country markets for SMEs and help them to reinforce the protection of IPR, in line with the renewed trade policy.

In its conclusions, the Council encouraged the Commission to help SMEs to take up the challenge of a resource-efficient economy, as well as to explore the business opportunities with regard the implementation of the new Energy Efficiency Plan and the implementation of the Eco-innovation Action Plan. The ministers also highlighted the need to stimulate entrepreneurship by improving the skills and promoting the creativity and innovative potential of entrepreneurs, as well as removing barriers, including for young and women entrepreneurs, to bring ideas to market as set out in the Flagship initiative ‘Innovation Union’ and invited the Commission to evaluate the ‘Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs’ programme which offers on-the-job training to nascent and new entrepreneurs.

The Council considered that to ensure the implementation of the preceding actions, the SBA's governance should be strengthened through a strong partnership between the Commission and the Member States and the small business community.