2nd Best national practice and experience from Cyprus

General information

Name of the good practice:	*"Epihirite Diadiktiaka"* (Business Online)
Name of the organisations in charge:	Ministry of Energy, Commerce and Industry/ Industry and Technology Service
Website of the organisation	http://www.go-e.mcit.gov.cy/mcit/trade/go-e.nsf/index_en/index_en?OpenDocument
E-mail of the organisation	cphotiades@mcit.gov.cy
City	Nicosia
Country	Cyprus
Year	2009
Length of the project/practice	N/A
Is the project/practice ongoing?	Yes
Link to the training program	This Programme is addressed to SMEs and aims at encouraging enterprises to take advantage of the opportunities presented by e-commerce.
Language of the practice/program	Greek/English

Presentation/Description of the method

The Ministry of Energy, Commerce, Industry and Tourism is responsible for the promotion of e-commerce in Cyprus. In this context, on the 1st of December 2009, the Ministry launched the Programme "Epihirite Diadiktiaka" (Business Online), as part of its Strategic Plan for promoting the growth of e-commerce in Cyprus.

General objectives

This program is addressed to SMEs and aims at encouraging enterprises to take advantage of the opportunities presented by e-commerce.

Why it has been selected as good practice

The program is:

Providing support to consumers and enterprises in electronic commerce and related matters.
Providing awareness to public and enterprises on the benefits of using electronic commerce and encouraging investments.
Developing of subsidy schemes under the "De Minimis Rule" for enterprises, which provides financial support to enterprises to take advantage of the electronic commerce opportunities (e.g. website development, online shop).

Final comments

SMEs receive training and consultancy services on e-Business issues. Moreover, there are online learning modules of the program "Epiheireite Diadiktiaka" (Do Business Online) offered free of charge and only registration to the "e-gnosis" (e-learning training programs) portal is required. For more information please visit the website of the "e-gnosis" portal.