Author: SME Chamber

Computer and Internet Usage – Results showed high levels of
computer use throughout all enterprise size classes and economic activities.
The construction industry recorded the lowest usage rate, and stood at 89.8 per
cent. On the other hand, wholesale and retail trade recorded the highest rate
at 99.4 per cent.

In 2013, 95.5 per cent of
enterprises made use of the internet for business purposes. This figure
remained almost unchanged when compared with 2012. The number of employees
using internet reached 29,104, up by 2.0 per cent over the previous year.

Most enterprises (87.9 per
cent) made use of a DSL internet connection, and 66.6 per cent of enterprises
were also connected via mobile broadband (Chart 1). Results showed that DSL was
the most popular connection among small and medium-sized enterprises, while
mobile broadband was mostly popular with large enterprises.

The rate of e-government usage
decreased marginally over 2012 to 92.6 per cent. On the other hand, enterprises
owning a website or homepage increased by 5.1 per cent. Over half of
enterprises' websites included a ‘product catalogue and pricelist' (54.6 per
cent), with 48.2 per cent of these websites also displaying a ‘privacy policy
statement'

Results showed that 19.3 per
cent of enterprises using the internet also carried out sales via e-commerce.
Similarly, purchases via e-commerce were carried out by 22.2 per cent of
enterprises.

Mobile
Internet Users

The survey showed that 69.3
per cent of enterprises provided mobile devices to some of their employees for
business purposes, an increase of 27.5 per cent over 2012. Provision of mobile
devices to employees increased among all enterprise size classes and economic
activities. In total, 7,751 employees made use of a mobile device for work
purposes. This represents an average of nine mobile devices per enterprise.

Social
Media

The 2013 survey also included
an ad-hoc module on the use of social media among enterprises. Results showed
that 711 enterprises (57.8 per cent) using internet also used social media.
Nearly 80 per cent used social media to develop their corporate image whereas
58.3 per cent used it to obtain customer feedback

Further information on this report can be found at:

http://www.nso.gov.mt/statdoc/document_file.aspx?id=3930

Following discussions with Perit Charles Buhagiar Chairman of
the Building Industry Consultative Council to tackle issues hindering the
quarry sector, GRTU this week met its members quarry owners.

GRTU heard
the many problems this sector has, which include:

Quarry operators say
their work in the quarry business has become impossible. A committee was
nominated to accompany GRTU in discussions with Perit Buhagiar.

OHSA-Malta in
collaboration with the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work has
produced 13 roll-up posters related to various aspects of Health and
Safety.  The inauguration of this project took place on the  21^st  of
November 2013 at the offices of the Authority in Pieta and since then it has
been exhibited in various places around Malta and Gozo.

The
Agricultural Directorate is organising a seminar on the Policy for Agricultural
Products in Malta on Monday the 24^th of February 2014.

This proposal
for regulation enables information provision and promotion measures necessary
for the agricultural sector to be able to rise to the many challenges it faces
in a context of growing competition and opening-up of markets to be implemented
on the internal market and in third countries.

The success of
European agriculture depends on its ability to increase its market shares and
enable the highly competitive food industry sector to maintain an important
position in the EU's trade and economy.

Kindly Note
that attendance to the seminar is on a first-come-first-served basis and
therefore you are kindly being requested to call 2292 4260 to reserve your
place.

GRTU is calling for members to bring forward suggestions,
complaints, etc with the idea of improving Malta's attractiveness to tourists
and improving our tourism product for their business and locality.

We would like to inform members that Government has set
up three Tourism Zone Committees; south, central and north and these are
managed by a main Committee. GRTU together with other stakeholders, such as
residents and local councils, is involved at all levels and is seeking to
involve its members as much as possible, both through their suggestions and
direct involvement.

The idea behind these Committees is to discuss the
subject of tourism holistically, including the management within localities and
further product development. The Committees met for the first time this week
and a chairman and co chairman was elected for every zone. GRTU Tourism and Hospitality Sector
President Philip Fenech is GRTU's main representative of the main Committee and
is seeking to involve members in this project.

Mr Fenech also attended a public consultation this week on
tourism where the Minister for Tourism Karmenu Vella and the Parliamentary
Secretariat for Local Government and Culture Hose Herrera covered a number of
issues. It was explained that tourism is developing through further
accessibility and development of the different segments that our tourism
product is offering. They also spoke about Airmalta and its strategic
importance, the enactment of a national aviation policy and plans related to
increasing the potential of the cruise liner industry. Emphasis was also made
on the importance to maintain and better manage our historical sites which are
only second after those in Rome and should be treated and regarded as such.

In his intervention during the public consultation Mr Fenech
thanked Minister Vella for the initiative in enacting the tourism zones and for
involving GRTU at all levels. He highlighted that GRTU would like to see the
zones managed in a centralized manner and that when an issue arises within a
locality that might impact negatively on our tourism product we could have a
central helpline to tackle issues immediately. Minister Vella responded
positively to this suggestion and said he will set up such single point of
contact within the Ministry of Tourism 
and the details will be made available shortly.

Members interested to participate in these discussions and
put forward their suggestions should call GRTU on 21 232 881/3 or
. Mr Fenech can be contacted directly on 99493534.

GRTU strongly
believes that the role of the European Parliament is very important. The
European Parliament is a very strong decision making body that decides on
something that affects you as an EU citizen or an EU business on a daily basis.

The question is how will these individuals we have elected to represent our
interest decide? The reality is they can decide in favour of your interest but
they can also decide against when the decision they make might not be a very
informed one.

The
European Parliament elections are now approaching and GRTU has learned a lot
from past experience. We have learned that MEPs can be a very important tool to
get the views of our members across and mould EU law in a way that protects
their interests. We are therefore at this important stage leading to the
European Parliament Elections heavily emphasizing with all contesting
candidates that we expect them to stay close to us as SME representatives and
keep the communication channel active so that they can make informed decisions on
the interests of Maltese SMEs. 

GRTU meets MEP Metsola

During
an event organized by the European Parliament representation office in Malta in
view of the next upcoming EP elections on 24th May 2014, GRTU expressed its
disappointment with the level of communication with the current MEPs and GRTU
President Paul Abela invited current and future MEPs to start involving GRTU in
their work.

Following
this current MEP Roberta Metsola immediately made contact with GRTU in order to establish a
steady communication channel. GRTU met MEP Metsola and we explained the work we
do and discussed how we could start working together. Roberta Metsola also
explained the issues she is currently dealing with in the committees in which
she is a member.

GRTU expressed
to MEP Metsola its wish that the new elected candidates would coordinate
together to ensure they cover the committees that are most important especially
those that are more likely to impact SMEs. Malta's MEPs are only six which is
very little compared to the number of MEPs of other Member States and therefore
it is even more important for them to coordinate for the best of those they
represent.

MEP Metsola
said that she has taken due note of the interest of GRTU and will be
collaborating closely with the organization on the reports that fall within the
committees in which she is a member and do her best to lobby other MEPs in
order to gain support on issues of importance to SMEs.

MEP Mizzi supports SMEs in vote related to interchange fees for card-based
payment transactions

GRTU has this
week written to MEP Marlene Mizzi asking her to support our position in favour
of SMEs and consumers during a vote that was taken this week on the 20th
February at the ECON Committee where she is Vice Chair.

MEP Mizzi was
more than happy to support our position and contribute to the adoption of a
favourable report. She explained that as a business person as well as a
consumer, she is aware of the burdens of fees and expenses linked to card based
payments.

GRTU congratulates
the Parliament's ECON Committee on the adoption of a report which maintains and
improves most of the Commission's original proposals, setting caps on credit
and debit cards at a reasonable level across Europe but allowing member states
to set even lower caps.

This is a great
result. Once adopted, lower interchange fees would lead to better prices for
consumers across Europe. We are especially pleased at the Parliament's
inclusion of commercial cards in the caps and their acceptance that the ‘Honour
all cards rule' should be prohibited.

We very much
hope that the report from Mr Zalba Bidegain will be maintained at the Plenary
as it was voted today. We also call on the Council to follow the same line; the
reforms in this regulation, and in the revised Payment Services Directive, are
essential for more transparent and competitive payments in Europe.

Of course, this
is just the first step: we have a long way to go yet. But we trust this vote
will send a strong message to the Parliament as a whole and to the member
states in Council that Europe needs forward-looking legislation which will
bring great benefits to Europe's merchants and consumers.

Protection of undisclosed know-how and business information

GRTU has this week drafted a position paper on this Commission proposal
and circulated it also to our MEPs.

The proposal of
protection of trade secrets / business know how is welcomed as a step into the
right direction to protect companies and in particular SMEs from
misappropriation of trade secrets / business know how in cross border trade.
This however can only be done if the Directive is as precise as possible and if
a real harmonisation of rules is reached.

The protection
of trade secrets / confidential business information at EU level is very delicate
as it would be touching national labour and civil and criminal law. Such an
initiative must be taken in a way that ensures that the existing balance
between those areas of law at national level is well maintained.

Moreover,
raising awareness of the risk relating to non-protection of trade secrets /
confidential business information at national, European and international level
for companies – but especially for SMEs – is crucial for the acceptance of an
EU action by companies.

With e-commerce
development, consumer reviews have become widespread, in particular in the
travel and hotel sector, and may considerably influence consumers' choices. In
the last years however malpractices have been found of biased presentation of
user-reviews and posting of fake reviews. 

The aim of this study is to map the on-line hotel reviews market, its
business models, the type and scope of misleading practices, the influence they
may have on consumers and the actions that are undertaken to improve the
transparency and trustworthiness of reviews and address possible fake reviews.
This study complements the Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue on Comparison Tools and
the general study on comparison tools and third-party verification schemes. The
study results expected in the first half of 2014 will help to assess the need
for further action. 

A short
questionnaire is now open for contributions on the experience you may have
regarding misleading on-line hotel reviews practices and/or fake review.  The Questionnaire can be found on:

Deadline
for submitting contributions is 28 February,
2014.

www.rpaltd.co.uk/news-hotels.shtml

A Commission Recommendation on a coordinated control plan to
carry out a series of DNA tests in EU Member States was endorsed yesterday by
experts meeting at the Standing Committee on the Food Chain. This is the second
time the Commission is coordinating such a control plan to find out if
horsemeat is still being fraudulently added to products labelled as beef.

The EU's app
sector has gone from zero to digital superhero in less than five years. By 2018
it could employ 4.8 million people and contribute €63 billion to the EU
economy, figures released today reveal. The app economy employs 1 million
developers, and 800,000 people in marketing and support posts.