We responded to the European Commission's public consultation on the review of the SME definition.
We commented that the criteria used in the EU recommendation 2003/361 to define SMEs in the EU are appropriate, we strongly encourage the European Commission to revise the thresholds so that an SME is defined as any small and medium-sized enterprise that satisfies any two of the following criteria:
- staff headcount of under 500,
- turnover of equal to or less than €200 million, or
- a balance sheet total equal to or less than €100 million.
Furthermore, we also encouraged the European Commission to establish a bespoke definition of a small and mid-size quoted company – with an overarching individual upper market capitalisation threshold of €500 million, which would sit alongside the revised thresholds for all SMEs – to enable focussed, proportionate regulations affecting these companies. We did however acknowledge that EU Member States should have the flexibility to adjust the upper limit for their own individual markets.
