§ Mr. MoateTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what progress is being made on the implementation of the EC directive on small and medium-sized company accounts.
§ Mr. RedwoodMy Department has today issued a consultation document inviting comments on draft regulations to implement the EC directive on small and medium-sized company accounts.
These draft regulations, and our decision to bring the directive into force well in advance of the required date, give a clear indication of the Government's commitment to continue to reduce the regulatory burden on small companies.
The directive enables EC member states to reduce accounting requirements, and to increase the maximum financial limits defining small and medium-sized companies by 25 per cent.
In addition to implementing the directive, the regulations would exempt small companies from a number of existing accounting requirements, as foreshadowed in the current programme of work under the deregulation initiative, which I announced on 18 December 1990.
Copies of the consultation document have been placed in the Library. Views are invited by 19 March.