European definition of micro, small and medium enterprises as an instrument of the development policy of the enterprise sector – experience, postulates and conclusions for the future

Abstract

The subject of the article is the issue of separating micro, small and medium enterprises (SME) from the general economy which due to their small size encounter market barriers hindering their development. The basic legal instruments in this matter is the definition of the SME sector at the level of the EU regulations. The purpose of the analysis is to look for advantages and disadvantages of the existing definition, as well as to refer to the selected ideas of its modification, considering European Union case law. The main research hypothesis is: regarding the importance of SME’s definition for the EU economy, the changes that must be made in the analysed concept must take into account the existing economic conditions as well as the previously available use of the same definition by the institutions. However, it is equally important to identify the purpose for which the SMEs were separated under a specific definition. The purpose of this separation was to provide support for such SMEs, which they de facto need. The basic research method used in the article is the dogmatic and legal method. Its subject was the analysis of the content of normative acts, the EU case law, as well as reports and analyses in the field of the SME sector.

Keywords

• definition of SMEs
• development policy
• entrepreneurship