Brussels, 28/04/2003 (Agence Europe) - The European Association of Craft, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (UEAPME) has just launched its "Business Programme II", a project supported by the European Commission, which aims to help SMEs and craft undertakings in the accession countries of Central and Eastern Europe to get to grips with changes resulting from the accession of their countries to the EU. UEAPME believes that this programme is all the more important as knowledge of the Community acquis in these countries "still seems lacking" one year before the enlargement planned for 1 May 2003. "This situation is the result of forty years of non-existent private-sector business-mindedness in most CEECs, which has left very little time for the SME sector to get organised and put strong intermediate structures into place", they state in a press release. "Business Programme II" is based on two main pillars: 1) information and awareness of SMEs about the acquis in the areas of standardisation, certification, management quality, safety in the workplace, the environment and social affairs; 2) the establishment of an institutional framework to strengthen organisations representing small businesses.