Claudette Abela Baldacchino (S&D), in writing. - This dossier puts forward, as a matter of urgency, the need to step up efforts to ensure that SMEs, especially innovative ones, are encouraged to flourish through administrative simplification and the provision of targeted support in all policy areas. It also puts forward the need to conduct SME tests transparently and properly when developing legislation and, as a matter of urgency, to propose lighter regimes and exemptions across a wider range of legislative proposals in order to significantly reduce SMEs’ costs. Most importantly it stresses the need to simplify excessive administrative formalities, while at the same time retaining necessary provisions that ensure health, safety and protection at work or require companies to provide their staff with a suitable working environment.