December 2004

Background

The acquis currently in force under this chapter heading, covers the area of enterprise policy, distributive trades, tourism and social economy, and consists largely of decisions setting up consultation procedures and Community programmes, or of recommendations. These do not require transposition into the national legal order of the candidate countries nor implementation and enforcement measures. The only exception is a Directive on tourism statistics (95/57/EC).

However, the subject of this chapter is important in the context of economic development and the capacity to withstand competitive pressure. Three areas are of particular importance:

(a) overall Enterprise/SME Policy formulation and implementation
(b) the general business environment in the country
(c) the adoption and application of the SME definition.

The policy issues of particular importance to small enterprises are set out in the "European Charter for Small Enterprises", which was adopted in June 2000. The candidate countries endorsed this charter at a meeting in Mariborg (Slovenia) in April 2002.

Chapter 16 has been closed with the ten candidate countries who concluded accession negotiations at Copenhagen on 13 December 2002. It has also been closed with Bulgaria and Romania in December 2004.

The latest assessment of each candidate country’s compliance with the acquis under this chapter heading, can be found in the 2004 Regular Reports and in the Comprehensive Monitoring Reports, available at:
http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/archives/key_documents/reports_2004_en.htm.

• Chapter opened: May 2000
• Status: closed in December 2004 (provisionally closed in May 2000)
• Transitional arrangements: none

Cyprus (New Member State)

• Chapter opened: October 1998
• Status: Closed December 2002 (provisionally closed in November 1998)
• Transitional arrangements: none

Czech Republic (New Member State)

• Chapter opened: October 1998
• Status: Closed December 2002 (provisionally closed in November 1998)
• Transitional arrangements: none

Estonia (New Member State)

• Chapter opened: October 1998
• Status: Closed December 2002 (provisionally closed in November 1998)
• Transitional arrangements: none

Hungary (New Member State)

• Chapter opened: October 1998
• Status: Closed December 2002 (provisionally closed in November 1998)
• Transitional arrangements: none

Latvia (New Member State)

• Chapter opened: May 2000
• Status: Closed December 2002 (provisionally closed in closed May 2000)
• Transitional arrangements: none

Lithuania (New Member State)

• Chapter opened: May 2000
• Status: Closed December 2002 (provisionally closed in May 2000)
• Transitional arrangements: none

Malta (New Member State)

• Chapter opened: May 2000
• Status: Closed December 2002 (provisionally closed in May 2000)
• Transitional arrangements: none

Poland (New Member State)

• Chapter opened: October 1998
• Status: Closed December 2002 (provisionally closed in November 1998)
• Transitional arrangements: none

• Chapter opened: May 2000
• Status: closed in December 2004 (provisionally closed in May 2000)
• Transitional arrangements: none

Slovakia (New Member State)

• Chapter opened: May 2000
• Status: Closed December 2002 (provisionally closed in May 2000)
• Transitional arrangements: none

Slovenia (New Member State)

• Chapter opened: October 1998
• Status: Closed December 2002 (provisionally closed in November 1998)
• Transitional arrangements: none