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Small and medium enterprises / SME
Definition
The category of small and medium enterprises (SME) is made up of enterprises that employ fewer than 250 people and have an annual turnover of less than 50 million euro or a balance sheet total not exceeding 43 million euro.
Note
This category of enterprise is defined by the Application Decree (n°2008-1354) of Article 51 of the Law on Modernisation of the Economy, relating to the criteria for determining the category of an enterprise for the purposes of statistical and economic analysis.
This definition requires the values of three variables (headcount, turnover, total balance sheet) for enterprises (defined by Article 1 of the Decree, and includes "profiled enterprises") and will be introduced gradually in business statistics. As indicated in Article 4 of the Decree, a definition allowing a close approximation of the category may be used and must be included with the data that is published.
