This document is an excerpt from the EUR-Lex website
Micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises: definition and scope
SUMMARY OF:
Commission Recommendation – the definition of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises
SUMMARY
WHAT DOES THIS RECOMMENDATION DO?
It sets out the criteria for identifying whether a company is a micro, small or medium-sized enterprise (SME). These different categories, based on the number of a company's employees and its turnover or balance sheet, determine its eligibility for EU and national financial and support programmes. The definitions came into effect on 1 January 2005.
KEY POINTS
BACKGROUND
SMEs represent 99 % of all businesses in the EU. They are the backbone of its economy. They generate 2 out of every 3 jobs. In 2013, over 21 million SMEs provided almost 90 million jobs throughout the EU. They stimulate a sense of entrepreneurship and innovation, helping to foster European competitiveness, economic growth and employment.
ACT
Commission Recommendation of 6 May 2003 concerning the definition of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (notified under document number C(2003) 1422) (OJ L 124, 20.5.2003, pp. 36–41)
last update 11.01.2016