Online tools and services for smaller businesses

Services for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)

• The Enterprise Europe Network is the world's largest support network for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) with international ambitions. It has 3,000 experts across 600 member organisations in more than 60 countries. Member organisations include chambers of commerce and industry, technology centres, and research institutes.
• Trade Defence SME Helpdesk The Helpdesk offers importers and exporters easily accessible personal advice in case they are affected by Trade Defence Instruments, i.e. as anti-dumping or anti-subsidy measures, imposed in the EU) or elsewhere in the world.
• Online course on Trade Defence Instruments for SMEs The course describes the essential aspects that SMEs should know for their daily business.
• Intellectual Property Helpdesk The Intellectual Property Helpdesks support European Union (EU) SMEs to both protect and enforce their Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in the partner country, through the provision of free information and services (China, Latin America, South-East Asia, India and Africa)
  • China IPR SME Helpdesk
  • Latin America IP SME Helpdesk
  • South-East Asia IP SME Helpdesk
  • India IP SME Helpdesk
  • Africa IP SME Helpdesk
• Your Europe - Business provides multilingual information and online government services for companies looking for business opportunities inside and outside Europe (click on the map, select a EU country to find out the Member States business support activities).
• Entrepreneurship and SMEs provides an overview what the EU does for SMEs.
• The eTranslation service is free of charge and will help you save time and money to translate your documents and text between any two official EU languages, and more!
• The Due Diligence Helpdesk on EU Sanctions for EU SMEs dealing with Iran supports EU companies that trade with Iran, by providing them with free-of-charge due diligence verifications regarding their businesses’ compliance with EU restrictive measures (sanctions). The reports reassure EU SMEs and their financial partners regarding the legitimacy of their intended business projects, while highlighting any potential compliance risks.
• EU funded business support projects provide EU business with support services such as export market information, market access assistance, advice on regulatory issues and guidance on intellectual property rights
  • EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation
  • EU SME Centre in China
  • European ASEAN Business Centre(EABC), Thailand
  •  ASEAN Trade Repository, ASEAN’s gateway to trade-related regulatory transparency for all ASEAN Member States
  • Support to European business in South East Asia markets (SEBSEAM )
    • Indonesia
    • Malaysia
    • Vietnam
    • Laos
    • Cambodia
    • Myanmar

Call for Proposals for the Small Business Champions Competition

• The Call for Proposals for the Small Business Champions Competition has been jointly organised by the MSME Group, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the International Trade Centre (ITC). The Small Business Champions competition provides an opportunity for business support organisations to propose innovative, practical ways of helping small businesses play a more active role in world trade.

• As the urgency for addressing climate change increases, this year's annual competition aims to support small businesses to reduce their carbon footprint and benefit from sustainability innovations, so they can play a pivotal role in achieving the UN sustainability targets and helping our transition to a low-carbon economy.

• The deadline for submissions is August 15 2022 at 23.59 CEST. More information can be found at this link

Information on trade fairs

• AUMA trade fair database Information on Trade Fairs in Germany and worldwide provided by AUMA, the Association of the German Trade Fair Industry, offering details on the events such as the dates, distribution data, statistics and information how to contact the trade fairs and event organisers.

Small and Medium Sized Chapters in Trade Agreements

All new trade agreements will contain a SME Chapter, if the partner country agrees. This would allow a better information exchange on market access issues, as well as a fruitful cooperation between the Commission and the partner country when addressing SMEs-related-issues in the trade agreement.

• EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA)

• EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA)

Besides, on 26 September 2018, the Joint Committee of the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic & Trade Agreement (CETA) agreed in a specific SMEs Recommendation that each Party provides online information to SMEs of the other Party about CETA and market access, and that a SME Contact Point on each side work together to tackle SMEs specific issues.

Regional trade helpdesks

Regional helpdesks have been designed and implemented to provide SMEs in specific region with tailored trade information to support their needs to trade within the region and the EU. The regional helpdesks aim to support users with the information such as export market information, market access assistance, advice on regulatory issues, guidance on region-specific trade specificities in order to better help businesses in their effort to internationalise and their endeavours in various regions globally.

Eastern Partnership Trade Helpdesk

Access the Eastern Partnership Trade Helpdesk to identify trade opportunities, find information on market access conditions, and contacts of potential partners in five Eastern Partnership countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine). Traders can employ the platform to grow their exports and expand into additional markets.

The Eastern Partnership Trade Helpdesk is an EU-funded project under EU4Business initiative, designed and implemented by the International Trade Centre to boost trade competitiveness of the micro, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) of the Eastern Partnership countries within the region and the European Union.

Euromed Trade Helpdesk

Access the Euromed Trade Helpdesk to identify trade opportunities, find information on market access, and contacts of potential partners in 10 Euromed countries (Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Tunisia and Türkiye). Traders can use it to grow their exports and expand into additional markets. It also provides trade in services statistics and foreign direct investment flows.

The Euromed Trade Helpdesk is an EU-funded initiative, designed and implemented by the International Trade Centre to boost trade competitiveness of the micro, small and medium sized enterprises of the Euromed countries within the region and the European Union.

Contact us

You can address specific queries related to SMEs, market access and information on this website via the contact form.