The Commonwealth Government has accepted Printing Industries recommendation to extend the Export Market Development Grants scheme (EMDG ) by 5 years until the end of 2010-11. 

Deputy Prime Minister and Trade Minister, Mr Mark Vaile, said the Government would legislate to extend the EMDG scheme for a further five years.

Mr Vaile said that in 2004-05, the EMDG scheme delivered 3,277 grants valued at $123.9 million to Australian businesses. Of these grants, 77 per cent went to small businesses with annual incomes of $5 million or less.

He said extending the scheme would create greater certainty for Australian exporters to plan long-term export promotion activities safe with the knowledge that the EMDG scheme would be there to help.

The Government will also make a number of changes recommended in its review and advocated by Printing Industries. These will make the scheme simpler and more accessible for small business and include increasing the overseas visit allowance from $200 to $300 per day.

Subject to the passage of necessary legislation, these changes will apply to EMDG applications lodged from 1 July 2007.

The EMDG scheme is administered by Austrade to help small and medium Australian enterprises start and develop sustainable export markets. The scheme reimburses up to half the eligible promotional costs above a threshold amount.

Key changes to the EMDG scheme (to apply from 1 July 2006 i.e. to applications lodged from 1 July 2007, subject to passage of legislation) are:

• Increase the overseas visit allowance from $200 to $300 per day.
• Amend the scheme's rules to provide flexibility in handling emerging export sector applications that do not technically meet the current principal status requirements. 
• Improve the scheme's flexibility and transparency by modifying the current Australian origin rules.
• Make eligible an applicant's expenses incurred to increase the return on the disposal of intellectual property and know-how to a related company.
• Improve risk management by: separating the overseas representatives and marketing consultants expense categories; capping overseas representatives expenses at $200,000 per annum; and capping marketing consultants expenses at $50,000 per annum.
• Revise the rule covering changes in business ownership 
• Allow Austrade to grant special approval status, including approved body status, for five years rather than three years.

Ensure that the scheme's rules clearly set out Austrade's power to disregard any unsubstantiated, unreasonable, uncommercial or non-bona fide expense claim.

Other changes include:

• The Government will legislate to limit the eligibility of cash payments made by applicants to $10,000 per claim.
• The Government will also remove the export performance test from the scheme. This will remove some anomalies and make the scheme simpler to understand and more accessible for small business.

Printing Industries Manager of Industry and Commercial Policy Hagop Tchamkertenian said the time extension  would prove very important for industry companies, however Printing Industries would continue to lobby the Government to implement other recommendation made in its submission.

"One of our recommendations calls for the inclusion of all printing, labelling and packaging costs in the category of marketing expenses," he said.

"This is because in many instances, products become more appealing to overseas customers because of the way they are presented and packaged."