Creation of a Small and Medium Enterprise Development Council.
SEC. 6. Creation of a Small and Medium Enterprise Development Council. - To effectively spur the growth and development of small and medium enterprises throughout the country, and to carry out the policy declared in this Act, a Small and Medium Enterprise Development (SMED) Council is hereby created. The Council shall be attached to the Department of Trade and Industry and shall be duly constituted within sixty (60) days after the approval of this Act. The Council shall be the primary agency responsible for the promotion, growth and development of small and medium enterprises in the country by way of facilitating and closely coordinating national efforts to promote the viability and growth of small and medium enterprises, including assisting relevant agencies in the tapping of local and foreign funds for small and medium enterprise development, as well as promoting the use of existing guarantee programs.
Composition.
SEC. 7. Composition. - The Council shall be headed by the Secretary of Trade and Industry as Chairman. The members shall be the following:
Director General of the National Economic and Development Authority;
Secretary of Agriculture;
Secretary of Labor and Employment;
Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources;
Secretary of Science and Technology;
Chairman of Small Business Finance and Guarantee Corporation;
Chairman of the small and medium enterprises promotion body which the President shall undertake to establish under this Act; and
Three (3) representatives from the private sector, all Filipino citizens, to represent Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao to be appointed by the President, one of whom shall come from the banking industry.
Cabinet-rank ex officio members of the Council shall designate an undersecretary or assistant secretary as their permanent representative in case they fail to attend meetings of the Council.
The private sector members of the Council shall initially receive per diem of One thousand pesos (P1,000.00) per meeting.
The Department of Trade and Industry shall allocate Five million pesos (P5,000,000.00) out of its savings for the initial operating expenses of the Council, after which the Council's budget shall be included in the annual appropriation of the Department of Trade and Industry.
The Council may, from time to time, call upon the participation any government agency or association of local government officials in its deliberations especially when such agency is directly or indirectly concerned with and/or affecting the growth and development of small and medium enterprises in any particular area or manner.
Powers and Functions.
SEC. 8. Powers and Functions. - The Small and Medium Enterprise Development (SMED) Council shall have the following powers, duties and functions:
to help establish the needed environment and opportunities conducive to the growth and development of the small and medium enterprise sector;
to recommend to the President and the Congress all policy matters affecting small and medium scale enterprises;
to formulate a comprehensive small and medium enterprise development plan to be integrated into the National Economic and Development Authority Development Plans;
to coordinate and integrate various government and private sector activities relating to small and medium enterprise development;
to review existing policies of government agencies that would affect the growth and development of small and medium enterprises and recommend changes to the President and/or to the Congress whenever deemed necessary. This shall include efforts to simplify rules and regulations as well as procedural and documentary requirements in the registration, financing, and other activities relevant to small and medium enterprises;
to monitor and determine the progress of various agencies geared towards the development of the sector. This shall include overseeing, in coordination with local government units and the Department of Local Government as well as private sector groups/ associations, the developments among small and medium enterprises, particularly the cottage and micro-sized firms;
to promulgate implementing guidelines, programs, and operating principles as may be deemed proper and necessary in the light of government policies and objectives of this Act;
to provide the appropriate policy and coordinative framework in assisting relevant government agencies, in coordination with the National Economic and Development Authority and the Coordinating Council for the Philippine Assistance Program, as may be necessary, in the tapping of local and foreign funds for small and medium enterprise development;
to promote the productivity and viability of small and medium enterprises by way of directing and/or assisting relevant government agencies and institutions at the national, regional and provincial levels towards the:
provision of business training courses, technical training for technicians and skilled laborers and continuing skills upgrading programs;
provision of labor-management guidance, assistance and improvement of the working conditions of employees in small and medium-sized firms;
provision of guidance and assistance regarding product quality/product development and product diversification;
provision of guidance and assistance for the adoption of improved production techniques and commercialization of appropriate technologies for the product development and for increased utilization of indigenous raw materials;
provision of assistance in marketing and distribution of products of small and medium scale enterprises through local supply-demand information, industry and provincial profiles, overseas marketing promotion, domestic market linkaging and the establishment of common service facilities such as common and/or cooperative bonded warehouse, grains storage, agro-processing and drying facilities, ice plants, refrigerated storage, cooperative trucking facilities, etc.;
intensification of assistance and guidance to enable greater access to credit through a simplified multi-agency financing program; to encourage development of other modes of financing such as leasing and venture capital activities; to provide effective credit guarantee systems, and encourage the formation of credit guarantee associations, including setting up of credit records and information systems and to decentralize loan approval mechanisms;
provision of concessional interest rates, lower financing fees, which may include incentives for prompt credit payments, arrangements tying amortizations to business cash flows, effective substitution of government guarantee cover on loans for the borrower's lack of collateral;
provision of bankruptcy preventive measures through the setting up of a mutual relief system for distressed enterprises, and the establishment of measures such as insurance against extraordinary disasters;
intensification of information dissemination campaigns and entrepreneurship education activities;
easier access to and availment of tax credits and other tax and duty incentives as provided by the Omnibus investment Code and other laws;
provision of support for product experimentation and research and development activities as well as access to information on commercialized technologies; and
provision of more infrastructure facilities and public utilities to support operations of small and medium enterprises;
to submit to the President and the Congress a yearly report on the status of small and medium enterprises in the country, including the progress and impact of all relevant government policies, programs and legislation as well as private sector activities;
to assist in the establishment of modern industrial estates outside urban centers; and
generally, to exercise all powers and functions necessary for the objectives and purposes of this Act.
Designation of the Bureau of Small and Medium Business Development as Council Secretariat.
SEC. 9. Designation of the Bureau of Small and Medium Business Development as Council Secretariat. - The Bureau of Small and Medium Business Development of the Department of Trade and Industry, in addition to its current activities and functions, is hereby designated to act as the Council Secretariat. The Secretariat shall have the following duties and functions:
to prepare, in coordination with local government units and/ or associations of local government officials, and recommend annual as well as medium-term small and medium enterprise development plans for approval of the Council;
to coordinate the preparation of position papers and background materials for discussion or approval during Council meetings;
to assist the Council in coordinating and monitoring small and medium enterprise policies and programs and activities of all government agencies with respect to small and medium enterprises;
to prepare, collate and integrate all inputs to the Council's yearly report on the status of small and medium enterprises in the country.
to submit periodic reports to the Council on the progress and accomplishment of its work programs; and
to perform ad hoc functions as authorized by the Council.
