How can a company know in which category of enterprises it belongs for the purposes of state aid rules?
Annex I of the General Block Exemption Regulation provides the definitions of micro, small and medium sized enterprises. According to this Annex: A micro-enterprise is an enterprise that has fewer than 10 employees and has neither an annual turnover nor a balance-sheet total exceeding €2 million. A small enterprise is an enterprise that has fewer than 50 employees and has neither an annual turnover nor a balance-sheet total exceeding €10 million. A medium-sized enterprise is an enterprise that has fewer than 250 employees and has neither an annual turnover exceeding €50 million nor a balance-sheet total exceeding €43 million. SMEs can keep the possibility of receiving state aid as SMEs for a transitional period of two years after having crossed the thresholds cited above.
