COUNCIL RESOLUTION of 17 June 1992 on Community action to support enterprises in particular small and medium-sized enterprises, including craft industry enterprises (92/C 178/04)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Council resolution of 27 May 1991 on the action programme for small and medium-sized enterprises, including craft industry enterprises (1),

Having regard to Council Decision 89/490/EEC of 28 July 1989 on the improvement of the business environment and the promotion of the development of enterprises, and in particular small and medium-sized enterprises, in the Community (2),

Having regard to Council Decision 91/319/EEC of 18 June 1991 revising the programme for the improvement of the business environment and the promotion of the development of enterprises, and in particular small and medium-sized enterprises, in the Community (3),

Having regard to the Commission communication entitled: 'Industrial policy in an open and competitive environment: guidelines for a Community approach',

Taking note of the most recent Commission communications, discussion of which will continue in the Council, and in particular:

- the second report on the implementation of Decision 89/490/EEC,

- the Commission report to the Council on the definitions of small and medium-sized enterprises used in the context of Community activities,

- Commission communication on the role of mutual guarantee systems in the financing of small and medium-sized enterprises in the European Community,

- Commission communication on a European market in subcontracting,

acknowledging the importance of an environment favourable to initiative and to the development of all Community enterprises, and in particular small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs),

recognizing the importance of the existing measures designed to ensure the conditions necessary for the competitiveness of Community enterprises, including small enterprises and craft industry enterprises.

1. emphasizes the importance of regular consultation of the enterprise sector, in particular that of SMEs, more particularly with a view to consolidating the Community legislative process following full completion of the internal market,

notes the role which may be played in this context by a mechanism for evaluating the impact of Community texts likely to affect enterprises;

2. confirms the undertaking it entered into in Decision 91/319/EEC to support the consolidation of the action taken to help enterprises, and welcomes the launch of the procedure for evaluating Community action,

emphasizes the importance of preparing enterprises to participate in completing the internal market and of the action undertaken to this end by the Commission,

recommends the Commission to press ahead with, in compliance with the principle of subsidiarity, developing the action necessary to create an environment favourable to the competitiveness of enterprises, in particular SMEs, and to back up their integration into the single market after 1992;

3. requests the Commission to continue studying action which will encourage initiative and development on the part of enterprises, in particular SMEs, and to submit to it before the end of 1992, in the light of the evaluation made, any proposals it deems necessary to guarantee continuity of the policy towards enterprises, including the general financing aspects and the strategies for the Europeanization and internationalization of enterprises:

4. would like to have the Council discuss the problem of the definition of SMEs.

(1) OJ No C 146, 5. 6. 1991, p. 3.

(2) OJ No L 239, 16. 8. 1989, p. 33.

(3) OJ No L 175, 4. 7. 1991, p. 32.