Technical assistance on assessing the effectiveness of the implementation of the definition of small and medium-sized enterprises for the purposes of Article 8(4) of the Energy Efficiency Directive

The Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) places an obligation on Member States to promote the availability to final customers of high-quality cost-effective energy audits and includes the requirement that such audits for enterprises that are not SMEs be carried out every four years (within Article 8(4) of the EED). During the first years of implementation of the audits provisions, MSs faced difficulties in identifying the national companies in scope of Article 8(4). The purpose of the study is to analyse the current implementation of the non-SME definition and assess alternatives.