In appointing the auction platforms and the clearing system or settlement system connected to them, account should be taken of the solutions offered by candidates to provide for cost-efficiency, full, fair and equitable access to bid in the auctions for small and medium-sized enterprises and access for small emitters, and robust auction supervision including the provision of an extra-judicial dispute resolution mechanism.

The Commission has applied Articles 87 and 88 of the Treaty in numerous decisions and gained sufficient experience to define general compatibility criteria as regards aid in favour of SMEs, in the form of investment aid in and outside assisted areas, in the form of risk capital schemes and in the area of research, development and innovation, in particular in the context of the implementation of Commission Regulation (EC) No 70/2001 of 12 January 2001 on the application of Articles 87 and 88 of the EC Treaty to State aid to small and m ...[+++]edium-sized enterprises , and as regards the extension of the scope of that Regulation to include aid for research and development, the implementation of Commission Regulation (EC) No 364/2004 of 25 February 2004 amending Regulation (EC) No 70/2001 , the implementation of the Commission communication on State aid and risk capital and the Community guidelines on State aid to promote risk capital investments in small and medium-sized enterprises , as well as the implementation of the Community framework for State aid for research and development and innovation

As European payment orders may concern small claims within the meaning of the European Small Claims Regulation, the Commission has proposed to make it possible, after opposition in a European order for payment procedure, to transfer the case also to the European Small Claims procedure, to the extent that this procedure may apply.

The following resolution was adopted at the end of the conference. The European Conference on Craft Industries and Small Businesses: 1) Welcomes the adoption by the Commission of the action programme for small and medium-sized businesses (7 August 1986); 2) Hopes that all possible resources will be used to put into effect the actions described in the programme, as concerns both the business environment and greater flexibility and access to finance; 3) Considers that, since small businesses are those most handicapped by the non-tariff barriers which have persisted in the common market for 30 years, priority should be given to eliminating these obstacles to the completion of the internal market, and to reducing and simplifying administrativ ...[+++]e, tax and technical procedures as much as possible; ../.- 2 - 4) Considers that a special effort will have to be made to assist craft industries, including policies : a) to promote enterprise and the important role of the self-employed entrepreneur; b) to educate and inform craftsmen on the new technologies so that they are introduced into existing businesses; c) to encourage young people and the unemployed to set up their own craft industry businesses; d) to provide training in the new technologies and materials as early as the apprentice stage; e) to preserve craft skills; f) to simplify the procedures for making use of and protecting inventions. 5) Calls on the Community's financial institutions and Funds to introduce the kind of specific financing measures in favour of small businesses and craft industries that are easy to implement and cover the whole range of operations from grants and loans to special support and venture capital operations; 6) Welcomes the Commission's plans for providing information in the form of a "Community window for small businesses"; 7) Addresses this resolution to the Commission, Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the governement of the Member States.

For that year only, it was agreed that Member States experiencing particular administrative or technical difficulties could be authorized to grant the aid to small producers in the form of compensation for the levy payable by them.

The Commission, following a favourable decision by the European Development Fund (EDF), has taken to a decision on the financing of the following projects, in the form of grants, under the Lomé Convention: * NIGER: ECU 16 000 000 - Small-scale irrigation in the lower Tarka valley * CILSS: ECU 9 997 868 - Regional food security * JAMAICA: ECU 3 000 000 - Trade promotion * SÃO TOMÉ and PRINCÍPE: ECU 1 300 000 - Road works * * * NIGER Small-scale irrigation in the lower ECU 16 000 000 Tarka valley Grant PHASE II This project follows on from operations undertake ...[+++]n in the programme "Small-scale irrigation in the lower Tarka valley", which received 6th EDF financing in the period 1988 to 1993 (February).