Author: SME Chamber

On the 18^th of December
2013, the EU28's Permanent Representatives agreed to a compromise reached
between the European Parliament and the Council with regards an update of rules
concerning periodic roadworthiness tests for motor vehicles, roadside
inspections of commercial vehicles and vehicle registration documents.

The
scope of these increasingly harmonised rules is to enhance road safety, reduce
emissions caused by poorly maintained motor vehicles and ensure fair
competition for commercial vehicles. It is hoped that the Roadworthiness
Package will help in achieving the EU target of halving road mortalities by 50%
by the year 2020. The European Commission anticipates that these revisions will
save 1,200 lives annually and avoid at least 36,000 accidents a year linked to
technical failure.

The Roadworthiness Package
constitutes three separate factors: periodic roadworthiness tests, technical
roadside inspections of commercial vehicles and vehicle registration. The
current rules, stipulated under Directive 2009/40/EC, outline the minimum
requirements for the periodic roadworthiness tests of motor vehicles – in Malta
these would be Transport Malta's Vehicle Roadworthiness Test (VRT). Despite the
fact that this Directive applies to passenger cars, coaches, buses, trailers
and heavy goods vehicles, it does not apply to motorbikes and scooters.

The Roadworthiness Package proposes
that roadworthiness tests should also be extended to the group of road users
that are at the highest risk. These are the powered two or three wheelers –
mopeds and motorcycles – and light trailers that are under 3.5 tonnes.
Additionally, the proposal clarifies the limits of the scope of the exemptions
from testing Member States may grant to certain motor vehicles. This refers to,
for instance, agricultural vehicles that possess a speed of less than 40km/h
and are not used in intercommunity traffic. When it comes to the frequency of
vehicle testing, the two factors that are considered are age and yearly
mileage. Thus, older cars shall have more frequent tests, whilst high mileage
vehicles shall be subject to annual testing, as is already the case for
ambulances and taxis. The current frequency of periodic inspections for some
categories of vehicles is considered to be too low to ensure that they are
roadworthy.

The Roadworthiness Package proposal
increases the minimum standards for frequency of PTI (periodic technical
inspection) for three categories of vehicles, namely: cars would require a
first inspection after 4 years, then after 2 years, and subsequently require
annual testing (this is a change from the current 4-2-2 minimum standard to a
proposed 4-2-1 minimum standard); cars and light commercial vehicles that weigh
up to 3.5 tonnes that upon reaching the date of first inspection (after 4
years) have a mileage exceeding 160,000 km must be inspected annually after the
first test (a change from the existing 4-2-2 to a proposed 4-1-1). In Malta,
testing for scooters and motorcycles will be introduced with this package.

For commercial road-haulage tractors
with a maximum speed in excess of 40km/h, and commercial vehicles such as
trucks and buses of at least 3.5 tonnes (3,500 kg), on-the-spot roadside checks
shall be conducted in addition to periodic inspections. Thus, this refers to
M2, M3, N2, N3, O3, O4 and T5 vehicles. Light commercial vehicles, such as
pick-up trucks (N1 – below 3.5 tonnes) are notably not within the scope of this
directive. Therefore, Member States have the freedom of deciding whether or not
they wish to perform roadside checks on light commercial vehicles. Transport
Malta in its 2004 Subsidiary Legislation 65.19 on Motor Vehicles (Carriage of
Goods by Road) Regulations highlights the fact that it has already implemented
on-the-sport roadside checks for goods vehicles (minimum gross weight 3.5
tonnes) in accordance with Directive 2006/22/EC. During these checks authorised
inspecting officers shall make use of equipment that is capable of downloading
and analysing data from the vehicle unit and driver card of the digital
tachograph (a device fitted to a vehicle that automatically records its speed
and distance). Furthermore, Transport Malta is following the EU's insistence on
"risk profiling" that enable authorised inspectors to spot actions that conjure
up a higher risk of defects in order to check these undertakings more often
when considered appropriate. In fact, Subsidiary Legislation 65.19 states that
"the Authority shall introduce a risk rating system for undertakings for the
purposes of Article 9 of Directive 2006/22/EC".

Businesses must take note of the
introduction of these roadside checks due to their random nature and should use
them as an incentive to ensure that all company vehicles are roadworthy. It is
estimated that annually at least 5% of all registered vehicles in the EU will
undergo roadside inspections. Moreover, this package also deals with mileage
fraud, where proposals were made so that roadworthiness test results are stored
in national registers so as to identify mileage fraud more efficiently.

Europe's 400
million Internet users face a geographic lottery regarding the price, speed,
and range of choice of broadband, according to latest EU data release. Four
studies published show there is virtually no pattern or coherence in broadband
markets across the EU.

For 10 years
the EU Rapid Information system (RAPEX) has been guarding European consumers
against un-safe non-food products. In 2013 a total of 2,364 measures were taken
by EU Member States. This figure indicates a 3.8% rise in alerts compared to
2012 and continues the increasing trend which has been apparent since the
establishment of RAPEX in 2003.

At the
end of October last year the number of foreigners on full-time and part-time
work in Malta totalled 15,094, of whom 9,670 came from the EU and 5,424 from
outside.

Employment
Minister Evarist Bartolo gave the information in reply to a parliamentary
question by Labour MP Etienne Grech.

Matul il-laqgħa li saret tal-Kunsill
Malti għall-Iżvilupp Ekonomiku u Soċjali ġie diskuss il-futur tal-MEPA u kif
din se tkun qiegħda tinqasam f'parti li tħares l-ambjent u parti
għall-iżvilupp.

Il-Ministru għad-Djalogu Soċjali,
Affarijiet tal-Konsumatur u Libertajiet Ċivili Dr Helena Dalli fetħet il-laqgħa
u qalet li hemm bżonn bilanċ bejn l-iżvilupp, l-ekonomija u l-ħarsien
tal-ambjent, filwaqt li għandha tingħata importanza lis-sostenibbiltà.

Is-Segretarju Parlamentari għall-ippjanar u
Simplifikazzjoni
Amministrattiva Michael Farrugia semma li l-għan prinċipali ma kienx
biss
it-twaqqif ta' dawn l-awtoritajiet imma li jiġu simplifikati l-proċessi
tal-applikazzjonijiet għal żvilupp billi tinħoloq one stop shop u li
l-klijent ikun moqdi b'servizz aħjar u mhux joqgħod jiġri minn
post għall-iehor.

Issemma wkoll
il-kunċett ta' fast
track għal
dawk l-applikazzjonijiet li jkunu konformi mal-policies, pjanijiet
lokali u numru ta' kundizzjonijiet oħra stipulati f'dan il-process.

Għall-ewwel darba fuq il-planning board se jkun hemm rappreżentant tal-Awtorità
tal-Ambjent u Riżorsi, rappreżentant tal- NGOs u f'kazijiet ta' żvilupp ta'
ċertu entità l-Kunsill Lokali ta' dik il-lokalità jkun rapprentant u jkollu vot.

L-entitajiet kollha konsultattivi
fil-proċess tal-applikazzjinjiet se jkollhom id-dritt illi jappellaw quddiem
Tribunal Indipendenti minn deċiżjonijiet tal-Planning Board jew Planning
Commision.

Leo Brincat, Ministru ghall-izvilupp sostenibbli, l-ambjent u
t-tibdil fil-klima – Meta dalgħodu
il-Ministru għall-Iżvilupp Sostenibbli, l-Ambjent u t-Tibdil fil-Klima kien qed
jindirizza u jwieġeb interventi li sarulu waqt laqgħa tal-MCESD dwar il-pjan
tal-Gvern biex jkun hemm qasma bejn il-MEPA kif nafuha llum u l-ħolqien ta'
żewġ awtoritajiet; dik tal-Ambjent u R-Riżorsi u oħra dwar l-Iżvilupp u
l-Ippjanar, il-Ministru Leo Brincat fisser għaliex ir-riforma fil-MEPA se
ssaħħaħ is-settur ambjentali.

Il-Ministru
Brincat fisser li bħala Awtorità awtonoma hija tkun tista' tieħu pożizzjoni fuq
proposti jew deċiżjonijiet li jittieħdu minn entitajiet oħra fuq l-istess
livell u mhux kif inhi illum – li tibqa' 
entità sempliċiment b'miri u funzjonijiet differenti u xi kultant
diverġenti.

Rigward
l-Ippjanar u l-Iżvilupp, l-Awtorità l-ġdida dwar l-Ambjent u r-Riżorsi se
jkollha rappreżentant fuq il-Bord tal-Ippjanar, se tkun entità li bilfors trid
tiġi kkonsultata b'mod statutorju u se jkollha dritt tappella fuq deċiżjonijiet
tal-Ippjanar u l-Iżvilupp.

L-Awtorità
nnifisha jkollha wkoll id-dritt li ssemma leħinha uffiċjalment u  pubblikament bħala Awtorità fuq issues li
jkollha riservi serji dwarhom.

In 2013, average hourly labour costs
in the whole economy (excluding agriculture and public administration) were
estimated to be €23.7 in the EU28 and €28.4 in the euro area (EA17). However,
this average masks significant differences between EU Member States, with the
lowest hourly labour costs recorded in Bulgaria (€3.7), Romania (€4.6), Lithuania (€6.2) and Latvia (€6.3), and the
highest in Sweden (€40.1), Denmark (€38.4), Belgium (€38.0), Luxembourg (€35.7) and France (€34.3).

Within the
business economy, labour costs per hour were highest in industry (€24.6 in the
EU28 and €31.0 in the euro area), followed by services
(€23.9 and €28.0 respectively) and construction (€21.0 and €24.5). In the
mainly non-business economy (excluding public administration), labour costs per
hour were €23.2 in the EU28 and €27.7 in the euro area.

Labour costs
are made up of wages & salaries and non-wage costs such as employers'
social contributions. The share of non-wage costs in the whole economy was
23.7% in the EU28 and 25.9% in the euro area, varying between 8.0% in Malta and
33.3% in Sweden.

These
preliminary estimates for 2013, published by Eurostat, the statistical office
of the European Union, cover enterprises with 10 or more employees and are
based on the 2008 Labour Cost Survey and the Labour Cost Index.

GRTU has last
week written to Hon Joe Mizzi Minister for Transport and Infrastructure asking
for a meeting to clarify the recent revisions of the CVA. Upon introduction of
the new revisions to the CVA scheme announced in the Budget 2014 speech GRTU
and its members immediately came out supporting the revision. We, our members
and many others however were under the impression that this would mean that no
CVA would be charged after 14.00hrs.

Three
months from the introduction of the revision, GRTU is receiving various
complaints from shop owners, employees, etc… saying they are still being
charged CVA after 14.00 hrs. After having enquired GRTU learned that only those
parking into Valletta after 14.00 are not charged, while those that came in an
hour or so earlier are charged normally for the rest of the day.

Do we
want to force people that are parked in Valletta to go out of the CVA zone and
in again at 14.00 to benefit from the waiver? One reason why we were pleased
with the change was that people could come in and have lunch or a snack and
spend time in Valletta shopping after. This was the change we were in favour of
to really boost business and encourage people to come in. 

GRTU
stated that we feel people have been misled and something needs to be done to
address this.