The UEAPME Administrative Council took place in Rome, Italy, on 7 July 2006. The Council was attended by more than 80 representatives of UEAPME member organisations coming from 19 different countries, and was organised in collaboration with the four Italian UEAPME members Confartigianato, CNA, CONFAPI and Confesercenti.

The meeting dealt with administrative issues but also with policy issues such as the specificities of craft enterprises, the new EU rules on State Aid and the implementation by SMEs of international accounting standards (IAS).

Mr François Moutot, from the French UEAPME member APCM, spoke about craft-type enterprises with a corporate culture (CCEs). The need to develop a more favourable policy for these enterprises calls for a better definition of CCEs. Mr Moutot suggested the following characteristics: the acquisition and progressive accumulation of human and technological know-how, the aim to produce goods and services, proximity, and the role of the entrepreneur as the sole guide of the enterprise.

A specific working group on CCEs has been set up by UEAPME, and will meet for the first time on 5 September 2006 in Brussels. During the meeting, reflections on CCEs should be continued using previous undertakings, such as the work of the ECOSOC and Academy Avignon, and the advise and expertise of all UEAPME member organisations.

 Mr François Moutot, APCM: “Enterprise culture for skilled craft businesses”: first reflections (also available in de, fr, it)

Prof. Jan Verhoeye, from the Belgian UEAPME member UNIZO, spoke about "The future International Accounting Standards for SMEs". There are two main accounting schools in Europe at the moment: the "Continental" school, led by France and Germany, and the "Anglo-Saxon" school, led, needless to say, by the United Kingdom. The differences between the two systems are quite important, especially when it comes to evaluating assets such as shares based on their "historical" value rather than on their "fair" value. These differences co-existed under the so-called "Fourth Directive", which allowed the use of either system.

In 2000, at the Lisbon European Council, the Commission proposed to implement in Europe the International Accounting Standards for the consolidated accounts of multinational listed companies - there is no obligation for the annual accounts to be prepared in conformity with the IAS standards. The International Accounting Standards Board, an independent, private-sector body that develops and approves International Financial Reporting Standards, the new name for the IAS standards, would like to extend the IAS-IFRS framework to SMEs. Is this really the way to go, or should SMEs’ accounts stay within the framework of the Fourth Directive? According to Prof. Verhoye, adapting IFRS standards would be an unnecessary complication for SMEs.

 Prof Jan Verhoeye, UNIZO: The future International Accounting Standards for SMEs (also available in de, fr,, it)

Mr Gerhard Huemer, UEAPME Director for Economic and Fiscal Policy, highlighted the main features of the ongoing State Aid Reform as suggested by the European Commission, aiming at making these rules more coherent and bringing them in line with the Lisbon Strategy. The Commission has finalised only its work on regional aid so far. At the moment three other documents, which are very important for SMEs, are under consultation.

The new regulation on "De minimis aid" caused concerns about the exclusion of the so-called "non-transparent aid" from the scope of the regulation. This proposal may damage credit guarantee schemes and mutual guarantee schemes, which used the de minimis rule for receiving any form of state aid in the past.

The main shortcoming of the new "Community Guidelines on State Aid and Risk Capital to Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises" is their exclusive focus on risk capital. Most SMEs, which have difficulties in access to finance, are not looking for venture capital but for credit and loans.

Advisory services for SMEs, which are crucial for innovation, are endangered by clauses allowing state aid only at the level of the single beneficiary under the revised “Community Framework for State Aid for Research and Development and Innovation”.

 Mr Gerhard Huemer, UEAPME: The new EU rules for State Aid: advantages and bottlenecks for SMEs (also available in de, fr, it)