You can now have a real influence on EU policy and legislation which affects your business.

For example, if you are encountering difficulties with the EU tendering process or if you have any comments or suggestions to make, Enterprise Europe is your direct line for feedback to the European Commission.

After coming in for some heavy criticism in the past from businesses and employers’ organisations, the European Union has begun to take steps in the last few years to try to reduce the bureaucracy and red tape which many firms still encounter when doing business in Europe’s Single Market.

But it is clear that there is still some way to go. The European Commission has recognised this, beginning in 1996 with the Simpler Legislation for the Single Market Initiative (SLIM). Currently, working with industry and experts, it is seeking to collect and analyse feedback from businesses in order to examine existing laws and make them more effective.  At the same time, it is interested to have the views and comments of businesses on any planned new legislation (see the Consultation List on the right for any current opportunities to submit your opinions).

In this country, the Government has set up a special department, Action Single Market, designed to help UK companies who find they are still facing difficulties or discrimination when trying to sell their goods and services in other Member States.

In Yorkshire, companies have access to another service to get feedback on trading problems right to the heart of the European Commission. Via Enterprise Europe's participation in the SME Feedback Initiative, any company encountering problems in the European market, whether it is being asked for extra testing by a customer or simply coping with the complexity of rules and regulations, can contact us and we will feed back details to the Commission via a dedicated electronic system (whilst keeping company details confidential). The feedback may not solve the problem overnight, but it will help the Commission to identify problems and try to simplify EU rules.

If you have encountered any difficulties with European legislation or have experienced problems in carrying out your business in other Member States, please contact us.