Translation of "corporate services administration bulletin " (English → French) :

Member States should continue to improve the business environment by modernising public administrations, improving corporate governance, removing remaining barriers to the internal market, eliminating unnecessary administrative burdens and avoid unnecessary new burdens by applying smart regulation instruments, including by developing further interoperable e-government services, removing tax obstacles, supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), improving their access to the Single Market in line with the ‘Small Business Act ...[+++]for Europe’ and the ‘Think Small First’ principle, ensuring stable and integrated financial services markets, facilitating access to finance, improving conditions for promoting access to and protecting intellectual property rights, supporting internationalisation of SMEs and promoting entrepreneurship, including female entrepreneurship.

Member States should continue to improve the business environment by modernising public administrations, improving corporate governance, removing remaining barriers to the internal market, eliminating unnecessary administrative burdens and avoid unnecessary new burdens by applying smart regulation instruments, including by developing further interoperable e-government services, removing tax obstacles, supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), improving their access to the Single Market in line with the ‘Small Business Act ...[+++]for Europe’ and the ‘Think Small First’ principle, ensuring stable and integrated financial services markets, facilitating access to finance, improving conditions for promoting access to and protecting intellectual property rights, supporting internationalisation of SMEs and promoting entrepreneurship, including female entrepreneurship.

Moves in this direction include the European private company statute, the initiatives to create companies in 48 hours, to reduce administrative costs by 25% by 2012, the creation of a one-stop scheme for VAT and reduced VAT rates for labour-intensive and locally supplied services, and a common consolidated corporate tax base.

4. Reduce administrative burdens and promote entrepreneurship Building on the Small Business Act, and in order significantly reduce administrative burdens on business, promote their cash flow and help more people to become entrepreneurs, the EU and Member States should: Ensure that starting up a business anywhere in the EU can be done within three days at zero costs and that formalities for the hiring of the first employee can be fulfilled via a single access point; Remove the requirement on micro-enterprises to prepare annual accounts (the estimated savings for these companies are € 7bn per year) and limit the capital requirements of the European private c ...[+++]ompany to one euro; Accelerate the adoption of the European private company statute proposal so that from early 2009 it can facilitate cross border business activities of SMEs and to allow them to work under a single set of corporate rules across the EU; Ensure that public authorities pay invoices, including to SMEs, for supplies and services within one month to ease liquidity constraints and accept e-invoicing as equivalent to paper invoicing (this could deliver cost reductions of up to 18 € Bn); any arrears owed by public bodies should also be settled; Reduce by up to 75% the fees for patent applications and maintenance and halve the costs for an EU trademark.

4. Reduce administrative burdens and promote entrepreneurship Building on the Small Business Act, and in order significantly reduce administrative burdens on business, promote their cash flow and help more people to become entrepreneurs, the EU and Member States should: Ensure that starting up a business anywhere in the EU can be done within three days at zero costs and that formalities for the hiring of the first employee can be fulfilled via a single access point; Remove the requirement on micro-enterprises to prepare annual accounts (the estimated savings for these companies are € 7bn per year) and limit the capital requirements of the European private c ...[+++]ompany to one euro; Accelerate the adoption of the European private company statute proposal so that from early 2009 it can facilitate cross border business activities of SMEs and to allow them to work under a single set of corporate rules across the EU; Ensure that public authorities pay invoices, including to SMEs, for supplies and services within one month to ease liquidity constraints and accept e-invoicing as equivalent to paper invoicing (this could deliver cost reductions of up to 18 € Bn); any arrears owed by public bodies should also be settled; Reduce by up to 75% the fees for patent applications and maintenance and halve the costs for an EU trademark.

the following point (ea) is inserted: " (ea) "road infrastructure concession" means an act (a contract or unilateral act) delegating a general interest service by which an administrative authority authorises a private-law corporation to take charge of designing, constructing, financing and operating a road infrastructure (road, motorway, tunnel, bridge) for a long and specified period, while being reimbursed for the debt incurred and the capital invested by the revenues obtained by operating a toll system".