Barcelona-Commerce Promotion and Support Plan 2013-2016

Commerce represents one of the main job-creating economic activities in Barcelona, but its social, urban and territorial contributions also need to highlighted.

The Full City Council Meeting of 31 May 2013 approved the Barcelona-Commerce Promotion and Support Plan.

The Plan includes 43 measures and 185 actions that opt for the continued establishment of a local-based commercial and professional model with a pluralistic, dynamic and innovative diversity of commercial offers.

It is worth highlighting some aspects of this plan:

  • It aims to contribute towards establishing the bases and mechanisms for strengthening the dynamism, innovation and ongoing adaptation in the world of commerce, by backing entrepreneurship, boosting shopkeepers' knowledge and training and promoting ongoing adaptation of the regulations to give a rapid response to the world of commerce's needs and priorities at any time.
  • It aims to contribute towards laying the ground for establishing an interrelationship between commerce and other activities (tourism, culture, mobile technologies, fashion, design, etc.) that help to attract and capitalise to the full on the spending associated with these sectors. It promotes the strengthening of the association and participation model launched in Barcelona that has become a outstanding, unique and acknowledged model and helped to establish a local-based commercial model. The City and Commerce Forum is being promoted and strengthened as a participatory body.
  • It provides for mechanisms for assessing investment returns, subsidies and grants from public funds.

 

Notable specific actions include: implementing district commercial plans; recognising commerce; strengthening the Christmas campaign programme; promoting the international expansion of local businesses; a plan for promoting the occupation of empty premises; a support plan for emblematic and solidarity commerce, boosting training and quality and improving the markets' competitiveness.

The timescale for implementing the whole plan is three years (May 2013 to May 2016) although many of the measures are expected to continue after that.