Author: SME Chamber

Nowadays, many
organisations are striving to become more eco-friendly as society becomes more
aware of the environmental repercussions of its actions. When looking through a
list of some very successful organisations, a common denominator of proactive
environmental-friendliness is evident. Being green has been fashioned into a
stamp of approval that encourages consumer confidence and sends out a caring
message of sustainability.

The
European Commission established the EU Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS)
with the aim of helping companies to evaluate, report and enhance their
environmental performance. The EMAS is a management tool that is available to
all types of organisation and is applicable worldwide. At the moment at least
4,500 organisations and 7,800 sites are registered for the EMAS, and include
public authorities as well as both multinational companies and smaller
enterprises.

The
foundation of the EMAS scheme is known as the continuous improvement circle.
This starts with an initial environmental review, which is a broad analysis of
the negative environmental impacts caused by the company's activities. Legal
requirements are then pinpointed, whilst benchmarks are set so as to measure
the viability of reducing these impacts. The second stage consists of a
development in the organisation's environmental policy and programme, whereby
the company addresses the main environmental issues identified in the initial
environmental review and prepares specific targets to tackle these issues.
Additionally, the company should also commit to comply with legal requirements
and improve its environmental performance.

Organisations
are then required to train their staff on environmental awareness and carry out
an internal environmental audit, through which they can assess the extent to
which staff members uphold the operating procedures. Organisations must also
develop an environmental statement that highlights their environmental efforts
and achievements in addition to the requirements for continuous environmental
improvements. Finally, an independent environmental verifier ensures that the
organisation's environmental policy, Environmental Management System and
environmental audit fulfil the EMAS Regulation provisions. After this
industrious process, organisations are rewarded by being listed in the EMAS
Register and can make use of the exclusive EMAS logo. The EMAS Register is an
online database hosted by the European Commission that lists all EMAS
registered sites and organisations.

The
EMAS, therefore, brings with it a great deal of benefits. Along with cutting
costs related to resources and waste management, it has potential to give
companies an edge over their competitors and improve relations with
stakeholders.

Who will become
this year's most successful European Web Entrepreneur? Applications are open
until 31 August for the Europioneers 2014 Web Entrepreneur of the Year awards.

To follow in the footsteps of last year's winners, the hot tech up-and-comers
Alexander Ljung & Eric Wahlforss (Soundcloud) and Jon Reynolds (Swiftkey)
visit http://www.europioneers.eu/apply/ to apply. Europioneers exists to
celebrate the successes of web entrepreneurs in the EU and to provide a
platform for them to connect with each other and with investors.

To nominate your solution kindly
click on this link and

complete a short application
: 

<http://www.mca.org.mt/ebiz-awards>

The Minister
for the Economy, Investment and Small Business, Dr Chris Cardona had a formal
discussion on Female Entrepreneurship with Ms Zita Gurmai PES Women President
and Former MEP.

Minister Cardona said that the
story in Malta is a similar one to many countries; the position of women has
advanced in recent years but there is still a lot to do.

 "The active
participation of women in the world of work and entrepreneurship is an
essential ingredient to meet our objective of creating economic growth that reaches
everyone. If we don't harness the skills of women we, as a society, as an
economy, are under performing" said
Minister Cardona.

Dr Chris Cardona said that the
Government is now designing a national platform to promote female
entrepreneurship. He stressed that this needs to be a continuous strategy,
consistent and coordinated, not just sporadic initiatives taken once in a
while.

Minister Cardona stated that
initiatives encouraging women to enter the work force have also been
acknowledged by Standard & Poor's as one of the elements helping the
Maltese economy to continue growing: "A recent report by Standard & Poor's
affirmed that the Maltese economy is stable and expected to continue growing in
the coming years and this is in part due to the reforms the current government
has been implementing such as initiatives aimed at encouraging women to enter
the work force."

A Mission for
Growth to Turkey (Ankara and Istanbul) will be led by Commissioner Fernando
Nelli Feroci, which will take place in the second half of October 2014

 The Missions for Growth is an initiative to
stimulate growth and competitiveness of European industry. The objectives of
this visit are the following:

the setting up of an EU-Turkey business roundtable which will, in
the future, advise governments on both sides on enterprise and industry
policies;

the signing of an agreement to integrate Turkey in the programme
for Competitiveness of Enterprises and Small and Medium Sized Enterprises
(COSME)

If you
are interested kindly send an email at by 10 September
2014.

This week Philip Fenech, GRTU Deputy President and President
of the Tourism and Hospitality Section met MTA's new CEO Mr Paul Bugeja in a
very cordial and informal meeting. Mr Fenech discussed the theme of the next
World Tourism Day that will next September focus on Community Tourism.

GRTU President, Deputy President and CEO have this week met
Dr Alfred Sant, who was recently elected as a Maltese MEP. Dr Sant gave an
overview of what Committees and working groups he is involved in and stated
that he wants to represent Malta's interest on the EP.

He in fact specified
that the most important item he is seeing on the Agenda is the Banking Union
where he expressed his concern on the very bureaucratic procedures the banks
will be required to go through in line with the EU planned intensive
surveillance. Dr Sant said that this would result in a significant cost for the
banks which they will pass on to their clients. GRTU President Paul Abela also
expressed his concerns in this regard saying that SMEs cannot sustain any more
costs from the banks and that acquiring funds is already amongst the costliest
in the EU.

GRTU also argued that the Maltese banks say that
Malta's banking system is very particular and therefore the banks should have
carried out an independent assessment of how it will affect their model.

GRTU has today
met Mr Ronald Mizzi, Energy Permanent Secretary and Enemalta CEO, Ing Fredrick
Azzopardi and discussed the way forward following GRTU's call for compensation
to business for the electricity outage. Following the last week's meeting with
the Minister is was evident that compensation for business was off the table
but more discussions to make up for the issue would be held. 

Today
GRTU requested that a Charter would be introduced, similar to the situation in
the UK whereby the Energy supplier would be automatically required to pay an
established compensation and or take other measures to compensate for the power
outage specifically for businesses and consumers. GRTU argued that the time has
passed where businesses where no longer able to seek redress for lost business.
If through its action an Authority/Agency causes loss in businesses that
Authority/Agency should be liable for damages. The Ministry has committed
itself publicly that it will be working on these lines.

The
Ministry and Enemalta also confirmed that they are handling customers that have
dues better and GRTU's request of having a section at arms dealing solely with
business clients was not ruled out. Both the Ministry and Enemalta said they
would welcome an opportunity to deal directly with enterprises experiencing
problems related to water and electricity. GRTU will be calling a meeting for
members who have such concern and open discussions with the Authorities. 

In the upcoming days GRTU
Deputy Vice President Philip Fenech will be attending numerous tourism zone
meeting.

The Technical
Regulations Division at the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority
(MCCAA)  would like to inform you that it
is now in the phase of amending L.N. 28 of 2003:

Two or Three-Wheel Motor
Vehicle (EC Type-Approval) (Amendment) Regulations, 2003 by transposing
Directive 2013/60/EU of 27 November 2013 amending for the purposes of adapting
to technical progress, Directive 97/24/EC of the European Parliament and
of  the Council on  certain components  and characteristics of  two  or
three-wheel motor vehicles, Directive 2002/24/EC of the European Parliament and
of the Council relating to the type-approval of 
two  or three-wheel  motor 
vehicles  and Directive  2009/67/EC of 
the European Parliament and of the Council on the installation of
lighting and light-signalling devices on two- or three-wheel motor vehicles.

You are
encouraged to send your comments/feedback/queries to by the 28th August 2014