Section 8January 24, 1991, Sec./Art. 8

Powers and Functions. — The Small and Medium Enterprise Development (SMED) Council shall have the following powers, duties and functions:

(a) to help establish the needed environment and opportunities conducive to the growth and development of the small and medium sector;

(b) to recommend to the President and the Congress all policy matters affecting small and medium sale enterprises;

(c) to formulate a comprehensive small and medium enterprise development plan to be integrated into the National Economic and Development Authority Development Plans;

(d) to coordinate and integrate various government and private sector activities relating to small and medium enterprise development;

(e) 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;

(f) 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;

(g) 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;

(h) 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;

(i) 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;

(1) provision of business training courses, technical training for technicians and skilled laborers and continuing skills upgrading programs;

(2) provision of labor-management guidance, assistance and improvement of the working conditions of employees in small and medium-sized firms;

(3) provision of guidance and assistance regarding product quality/product development and product diversification;

(4) 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;

(5) 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.;

(6) intensification of assistance and guidance to enable greater access to credit through a simplified multiagency financing program; to encourage development of other models of financing such as leasing and venture capital activities; to provide effective credit guarantee systems, and encourage for formation of credit guarantee associations, including setting up of credit records and information systems and to decentralize loan approval mechanisms;

(7) 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;

(8) 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 disaster;

(9) intensification of information dissemination campaigns and entrepreneurship education activities;

(10) easier access to and availment of tax credits and other tax and duty incentives as provided by the Omnibus investment Code and other laws;

(11) provision of support for product experimentation and research and development activities as well as access to information on commercialized technologies; and

(12) provision of more infrastructure facilities and public utilities to support operations of small and medium enterprises;

(j) 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 sectors activities;

(k) to assist in the establishment of modern industrial estates outside urban centers; and

(l) generally, to exercise all powers and functions necessary for the objectives and purposes of this Act.