Commission seeks to expand BC-NET
New members of the Business Cooperation Network (BC-NET) are being sought by the European Commission, with a view to enlarging the network in Member States. BC-NET was developed by the Commission as part of its drive to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) become stronger through transnational agreements. Today the network comprises 200 members encompassing private and public organisations. Their role is to help SMEs identify potential partners and establish transnational cooperation links with other enterprises by providing advice and assistance. Members sign an annually renewable contract with the Commission and undertake to adhere to a code of professional conduct. They also pay an annual membership fee of 1000 euro. Selection of new members will take into account an enterprise's experience in international cooperation, staff qualifications, the type of services provided for enterprises and the methodology applied for business partner search. To be able to take full advantage of the system members should be equipped with a Pentium PC with Windows 95 and a modem. Requests for application forms should be addressed to: BC-NET Secretariat Rue de Genève 1 B-1140 Brussels Fax +32-2-2962904 Applications must be received before 31 December 2001. They should be marked 'Request for BC-NET application form' and should include the following information: - name and full address of organisation - name of contact person - telephone and facsimile numbers of the organisation.