The amendment of the Law for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (LSME) is set to harmonise the Bulgarian SMEs legislation with the European norms on categorisation and enterprise interdependencies, regulated by the arm‘s length principle, defined in Recital 89 of the Commission Regulation (EU) No 651/2014.
The current text of Art. 4, Para. 7 LSME allows an exemption from the EU State Aid rules, particularly Commission Regulation (EU) No 651/2014. There is also a contradiction in the definitions of interdependencies between SMEs, based on a recommendation from the Commission from the 6th May 2003 comprising the definition of micro-enterprises, small, and medium-sized enterprises. As a consequence, this inconsistency also affects the correct adoption of funding under the European structural and investment funds.
The Public Consultation on the draft amendment will continue until the 9th October 2016. It is open for participation from all interested parties affiliated with the business sector. The actual draft amendment alongside it’s motivation is available under the following link, where a form for participation is at the dispose of everyone, willing to express a concern or opinion (Available in Bulgarian Language only).
In this line of thought, get to know the opportunities provided by LIBRe Foundation through the Framework Initiative for SMEs Development which started this January. We would love to hear from you at office@libreresearchgroup.org and through our Contacts page.