Author: SME Chamber

GRTU has on Sunday 12^th January 2014 held its Sixty Fifth Annual General
Meeting. During the AGM the minutes of last year's meeting were read and
approved, GRTU's President Paul Abela gave a speech, a detailed presentation
was given of the annual report, members put forward their views, the annual
accounts were approved and the auditor was confirmed.

In his address President Abela said that like all other years
2013 was a very busy year for GRTU. GRTU was kept busy with the usual affairs
of representing our members as well as other challenges which at the same time
GRTU sees as an opportunity, including the change in Government, the first year
of implementation of the EU funded project of Europe Direct and the retirement
of Vincent Farrugia as GRTU Director General.

Mr Abela continued by saying that we already see a number of
issues that will be keeping GRTU busy during 2014 which included:

The issue of
Opening Hours

Employment
Schemes for Enterprise

Helping members
restructure to become more competitive in the scenario of increased competition
from Malta and abroad and also online shopping

Make increased
use of EU funds for GRTU and its members

Working and
insisting with Government to tackle issues related to traffic and parking

Working and
insisting with Government to take concrete action on unfair competition

Working and
insisting with Government to introduce an increased number of GRTU's proposals
for Budget 2014

Working and
insisting with Government to implement the Small Business Act in its entirety

The President also appealed to all GRTU members to take more
interest in the work of GRTU and to involve themselves in GRTU.

During the AGM the members of the GRTU Council thanked Mr
Paul Abela for ably continuing to manage the office, following the retirement
of the Director General, which has involved a large time commitment from his
side. They thanked the staff for continuing to give their best, through their
professionalism and ability, and making sure to tackle the issues faced by GRTU
and its member. The Council also thanked Vincent Farrugia for the work he has
done in favour of enterprise during the 20 years he was Director General at
GRTU.

Following interventions made by individual members present,
Mr Paul Abela invited the candidates to each briefly address the floor
and
following this he opened the possibility of voting. There were 5
individuals
from last year's Executive Council that are due for election and 4 new
candidates. From a total of 9 candidates 6 have been elected by GRTU
members.
The 18 members of the GRTU Executive Council for 2014 are the following:
Abela Paul, Azzopardi Emanuel, Borg Maurice, Camilleri Sergio, Cutajar
Patrick, Debono Mario, Desira Emanuel, Fenech Azzopardi Therese, Fenech
Philip, Galea Michael, Galea Stephen, Gauci Noel, Haber Joan,
Mizzi Marcel, Vella Josette, Vella Salvu, Zammit Karmenu u Zerafa
Joseph.

Furthermore yesterday Paul Abela was reappointed as president
of the GRTU's executive national council for 2014. The rest of the council was
also announced, and the executive roles are: Philip Fenech as deputy president;
Marcel Mizzi as vice president for finance and administration; Joan Haber as
vice president for sections; Sergio Camilleri as vice president for localities;
Michael Grech as vice president for international relations and Mario Debono as
vice president for development. 

L-Ewwel u qabel kollox nixtieq nilqaghkhom ghal-hamsa
u sittin Laqgha Generali
Annwali tal-GRTU u nenfasizza li l-GRTU tapprezza l-isforz li kull wiehed minnkom
ghamel biex ikun hawnhekk maghna illum.
L-2013 ghal darba ohra kienet sena mimlija sfidi u sena ta` xoghol bla waqfien ghall-GRTU. Kien hemm
l-isfidi tas-soltu li zammewna okkupati sew fix-xoghol taghna. Dak li
nirrapprezentaw l-interess tal-intraprizi z-zghar.

Kien hemm ukoll
tibdil fl-amministrazzjoni ta' Malta li nvolviet preparamenti u addattament min
naha taghna biex nibdew nahdmu ma' individwi li bosta minnhom qabel konna nahdmu maghhom fil-pozizzjoni li kienu jokkupaw
fl-oppozizzjoni. It-Tibdil fl-amministrazzjoni gabet nies godda, metodi ta`
hidma godda u wkoll modi godda kif jigu indirizzati l-prijoritajiet.

Il-GRTU preparat ruhha b'ricerka, laqghat ta` introduzzjoni u briefings mal-Ministri u s-Segretarji
Parlamentari godda. Jien u shabi fil-kunsill kellna laqgha tajba hafna mal-Prim
Ministru Joseph Muscat fil-bidu ta` din il-Legislatura, li fiha kien hemm ukoll l-maggoranza tal-Ministri u
s-Segretarji
Parlamentari.

It-Tibdil fl-amministrazzjoni involviet ukoll ammont
konsiderevoli ta` ittardjar sakemm ix-xoghol rega' qabad ir-ritmu
tas-soltu izda issa l-affarijiet inizzjali tlestew
u x-xoghol jinstab f'livell tajjeb.

Sfida ohra aktar tard din is-sena kienet l-irtirar tad-Direttur Generali
tal-GRTU, Vince Farrugia. Kif bosta minnkom jafu s-Sur
Farrugia okkupa l-pozizzjoni ta` Direttur Generali tal-GRTU ghal ghoxrin
sena li matulhom ghamel hafna xoghol
siewi ghall-GRTU. Semmejt il-kelma ‘sfida' ghaliex bidla ta` pozizzjoni tant
importanti go organizzazzjoni bhal taghna hi bidla kbira u tinvolvi hafna
xoghol biex il-GRTU u l-membri taghha jibqghu jigu affetwati bl-ahjar mod
possibli.

Din hi r-raguni ewlenija ghaliex bhalissa
l-pozizzjoni ta` Direttur Generali tal-GRTU ghadha ma gietx mimlija. Kif
diga ghidt din hi
pozizzjoni importanti hafna u ghaldaqstant tinvolvi hafna hsieb u
ricerka biex l-ghazla
tkun l-ahjar wahda ghall-Assoccjazzjoni u ghal membri taghha.

Filwaqt li f'isem l-Kunsill tal-GRTU u l-membri taghha nirringrazzja lil Vince Farrugia
tax-xoghol siewi li ghamel matul dawn is-snin kollha, ghandha wkoll naraw din is-sitwazzjoni
bhala opportunita' u inharsu l-quddiem b'herqa lejn dhul ta` persuna ta` kwalita gholja u li bl-ghajnuna
taghha l-GRTU u l-membri taghha jkomplu javvanzaw bl-ahjar mod possibli.

Tistaqsuni, allura x'inhu jigri bhalissa? Bhalissa jiena bhala President u
shabi l-membri tal-Kunsill dhalna aktar fix-xoghol ta` kulljum tal-GRTU li
kienet minnha innifisha esperjenza siewja hafna u li bi hsiebna nzommu dan
is-sehem anke wara li Direttur Generali gdid ikun f'postu. L-Istaff abbli u
professjonali tal-GRTU komplew jahdmu bhal ma dejjem kienu. Flimkien konna kapaci
nkomplu x-xoghol b'mod fluwidu minghajr, ma l-membri taghna ihossuhom li nqassnihom minhabba din il-kwistjoni.

Direttur Generali hu importanti u n-nuqqas tieghu jinhass. Ghaldaqstant
jien u shabi fil-kunsill qeghdin u ser inkomplu nahdmu biex din il-pozizzjoni
tintelgha bl-aktar mod adekwat.

Sfida li fl-istess hin kienet ukoll opportunita' matul is-sena 2013 hija
l-implimentazzjoni tal-ewwel sena tal-Europe Direct. Dan hu kuntratt li rbahna
mall-Kummissjoni Ewropea ghal-hames snin u li beda japplika mill-bidu tal-2013.
Dan jinvolvi xoghol fejn l-GRTU tinghata finanzi mill-Ewropa sabiex thaddem
ufficcju li jkun jopera bhala estensjoni tal-Kummisjoni Ewropea biex tilhaq
c-cittadini Ewropej b'mod dirett fuq livell reggjonali milli minn Brussell.

Sar hafna xoghol f'dan ir-rigward, u ghad li kienet l-ewwel sena ta`
implimentazzjoni, u ghaldaqstant tghallimna hafna minnha, din is-sena bi hsiebna ntejbu fuq dak li hdimna s-sena
l-ohra. Nhossni komdu nghid li l-implimentazzjoni kienet ta` success.

Dettalji tax-xoghol li ghamlet il-GRTU matul l-2013
tistghu ssibuhom
fir-rapport dettaljat li ser niprezentawlkom dalwaqt. Ahna stess qabel
ma
x-xoghol jinghaqad f'rapport wiehed ma nirrejalizzawx l-ammont ta`
xoghol li
jkun sar. Li hu zgur li bhala ufficcjali tal-GRTU kull sena f'din
l-okkazjoni nipprezentaw r-rapport annwali b'certu kburija u sens ta'
sodisfazzjon.

Din is-sena diga' qeghdin naraw numru ta` kwistjonijiet li ser ikunu
importanti hafna u li ser jirrikjedu ammont sostanzjali ta` xoghol
mill-ufficjali tal-GRTU, fosthom:

1.  Il-Kwistjoni tal-hinijiet tal-ftuh tal-hwienet

2.  It-Thaddim tal-iskemi tal-impjieg

4.  Nghinu l-membri jaghmlu aktar uzu u jiehdu vantagg minn
skemi u fondi tal-EU

6.  Nahdmu u ninsitu mal-Gvern biex insibu soluzzjonijiet
relatati mat-traffiku u n-nuqqas ta` parkegg

7.  Nahdmu u ninsistu mal-Gvern biex jiehu passi konkreti u iebsa fuq kompetizzjoni ngusta

8.  Nahdmu u ninstsu mal-Gvern biex aktar proposti li ghamlet
l-GRTU ghall-ahhar Budget jigu implimentati

9.  Sforz dejjem akbar biex lehen l-intrapriza jinstema'
dejjem aktar u b'mod aktar b'sahhtu kull fejn hu possibbli

10. Nahdmu
u ninsistu mall-Gvern biex l-Small
Business Act jigi implimentat b'mod totali u konkret u mhux biss bil-kliem

Il-Lista ma tispicca qatt u din ma tinkludix
is-sorprizi
li jinqalghu matul is-sena, pero ser naghmlu l-almu taghna bhal ma
dejjem ghamilna. Filwaqt li
nirringrazzja lilkom bhala membri taghna tal-involiment u l-interess
muri matul
l-2013, inheggigkom sabiex tinvolvu ruhkom aktar fil-kwistjonijiet li
jinteressawkhom u tinteressaw ruhkhom aktar fix-xoghol li taghmel
il-GRTU.

Kemm tiehdu mill-GRTU jiddependi minnkom u minn kemm
tridu tinteressaw u tinvolvu ruhkom. Ahna qeghdin hawn ghas-servizz taghkom
pero intom l-esperti fin-negozju taghkom u tghixu sitwazzjonijiet u problemi first hand, ghalhekk nheggukom izzommuna qrib taghkom u tigwidawna.

Inhares il-quddiem lejn sena ohra produttiva u pozittiva.
Nghaddu issa ghal prezentazzjoni tar-Rapport Aministrattiv.

The Malta-EU Steering and Action
Committee (MEUSAC), together with the Malta Environment & Planning Authority and the Ministry for Sustainable Development, the
Environment and Climate Change will be organising a consultation session on the proposed EU directive to reduce the consumption of plastic bags.

The consultation session on the ‘Proposal for a Directive of the European
Parliament and of the Council Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging
waste to reduce the consumption of lightweight plastic carrier bags' will focus on the EU's plan to tackle
environmental degradation caused by plastic littering as well as the
inefficient use of this resource. Moreover the session will discuss potential
national reduction targets, in the form of economic instruments or market
restrictions, aimed at reducing the consumption of lightweighet plastic carrier
bags.

The consultation session will be held on Wednesday, January 22nd, 2014 at 2:00 p.m. at 254, Europe
House, Valletta.

To register send an email on:

Should you be interested in attending kindly reply to
this email by not later than Tuesday,
January 21st, 2014 at noon.

Hon
Roderick Galdes, Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture, Fisheries and Animal
Welfare endorsed essential amendments to the Animal Welfare Act-

Protection of
Animals offered in Pet Shops from what has originally been proposed after
several meetings with GRTU on behalf of Pet Shop Owners and the Authorities
concerned. The L.N. 244/2013 will come into force on April 2nd 2014.
The
GRTU welcomes the new law as it will indeed mean an increase in the level of
protection of animals and as the Authorities themselves confirmed most of the
pet shops will only need to make minor amendments to facilitate inspection.

The
GRTU also welcomes this law as it will put anyone selling an animal, be it from
a pet shop, a private residence and a website in a position of breach of law
should they not follow any part of it. This will establish a level playing
field which till now is very lacking as pet shops are regularly inspected while
other individuals selling animals are most of the time ignored.

GRTU
emphasises that it is totally in favour of increased animal protection and
condemns without reservation abuse, neglect and cruelty on any species.  GRTU however felt the need to intervene as
certain aspects of the law would have heavily burdened pet shop owners making
certain aspects of their business unsustainable. The GRTU representing pet
shops has managed to convince the authorities to accept  amendments to the law without essentially
reducing the level of increased animal protection which was the aim of this law
in the first place.

The
GRTU has managed to postpone the date of the law coming into force earlier due
to the fact that discussions took long and it was practically impossible as
both from the side of the authorities and the pet shops preparations and
courses have to be undertaken.

The
most important change the GRTU has brought about relates to record keeping.
Record keeping is important as it can shed light on repetitive problems within
an establishment and provide a tracking system, should a problem with a particular
species arise. Record keeping however is burdensome therefore GRTU proposed and
its proposal was accepted to limit record keeping to the species which need it
most as some species enter and exit the pet shop too frequently to keep records
of.

In
fact purchasing records (the invoice) would be kept but when it comes to sale
records they would be kept only for cats, dogs, ferrets, horses, poultry and
all other animals included in the Registration of Exotic Animals Regulations,
2010. This diminished the bureaucratic burden significantly and maintains
record keeping where it is most needed.

Another
bureaucratic and costly burden that was alleviated was the requirement of
having a Veterinary surgeon to verify all the mortalities. This now will be
done only for mortalities
in access of 10% of individual species. Had this requirement been maintained
the Veterinary inspection would cost much more than most of the animals
themselves, jeopardising the sustainability of pet shops. One must also keep in
mind that it is in the best interest of the pet shops to keep all pets alive as
otherwise they would suffer loss of earnings .

Another
difficult requirement in the law was the long acclimatization period for all
animal species when entering the pet shop. These were considered too long and
might have involved the pet shop needing a significant amount of extra space
for quarantine.

From
seven days for any animal, acclimatization period was reduced to 2 days for
birds and others, 12hrs for fish and 0hrs for chickens. A proposal accepted was
to exclude hand reared parrots from the requirement of not selling animals that
are not weaned this because there is a specific niche market that requires
these birds before being weaned due to the bonding of the bird with its owner.

Also
accepted was the change of wording that was proposed which leads to less
stringent cleaning impositions which are now more related to need. Similarly
the working was arranged to replacing of food when needed which means that dry
food can be kept for longer periods than soft food. GRTU also claimed for and
managed to get accepted the inclusion of enclosure sizes  for other species of animals which were not
yet included.

GRTU
emphasised the need to maintain the same level of cooperation GRTU managed to
create between the public and private sector and therefore the cooperation of
pet shops should not be lost by aggressive behaviour. The approach should be
one to guide and teach. The authorities confirmed that inspectors were being
coached into this attitude.

The
GRTU together with the relevant institutions will be working on establishing
the relevant qualification requirements and ensuring that pet shops having
years of experience are treated and assessed on their experience and given the
necessary recognition.

Work
is still ongoing however GRTU would like to thank  Hon Roderick Galdes, Parliamentary Secretary
for Agriculture, Fisheries and Animal Welfare, Dr Roberto Andrea Balbo –
Director (Veterinary Regulation), Dr Duncan Chetcuti Ganado – Veterinary
Officer and Emanuel Buhagiar – Officer Animal Welfare for the support offered
from their end during a General Meeting held for pet shops on Monday 6th
January 2014.

GRTU
more specifically would like to thank all pet shops who participated in all the
discussions and  Dr Anthony Gruppetta for
the excellent consultation and openness to understand the different situations
and requirements of the sector. It is unfortunately very rare that real consultations
like this one are carried out.

This new environment also
presents challenges. One of them is for the market to continue to adapt to new
forms of distribution and use. Another one is for the legislator to ensure that
the system of rights, limitations to rights and enforcement remains appropriate
and is adapted to the new environment. This consultation focuses on the second
of these challenges: ensuring that the EU copyright regulatory framework stays
fit for purpose in the digital environment to support creation and innovation,
tap the full potential of the Single Market, foster growth and investment in
our economy and promote cultural diversity.

For SMEs intellectual
property rights are very often underestimated. Very often they are only
recognised once an actual problem occurs to their business. However, the voice
of SMEs is crucial in the debate about copyrights because they can be on both
sides, on the side of the rights holders as well as on the side of the users.
Therefore, we would like to present to the Commission the fields in which the
current copyrights does not serve the interests of the SMEs anymore or where it
could/ should be improved.

For further information on this consultation
please consult the following website:

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/consultations/2013/copyright-rules/index_en.htm

The European Commission is
organising in parallel another consultation on ways to further reduce the
regulatory and administrative burden on the sector, tourism-related public
administrations and other tourism stakeholders in the EU.

The main
objectives of this consultation are:

better
identify the key challenges and opportunities for the European tourism
industry's future;

help
revising, if necessary, the Action Plan for the sector adopted by the European
Commission in 2010 (COM(2010)352).

The questionnaire can be found:
http://ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/runner/2e7395a8-d740-3624-f4b2-7b9f3826546c

Deadline is 15th March 2014

Commission
gives notice that, unless a review is initiated in accordance with the
following procedure, the anti-dumping measures mentioned below will expire on
the date mentioned in the table below.

Product:
Tube and pipe fittings of iron or steel

Country
of Origin:

The People's Republic of China and Thailand
extended to Taiwan, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Philippines

Date
of expiry: 5.9.2014

In November the Economic
Sentiment Indicator (ESI) increased by 0.8 points in the euro area (to 98.5)
and by 0.4 points in the EU (to 102.1).