Author: SME Chamber

Nearly 60% of EU internet users shop online – Clothes, travel
& holiday accommodation: most common online purchases – Internet access
in the EU28 is widespread and today people use the internet for a wide range of
activities, among others to order goods and services online.

GRTU Council
Member Patrick Cutajar attended the conference representing GRTU. European
Commission President Hose Manuel Barroso opened the conference and gave an
introduction. President Barroso emphasized that the aim of the EU is to close
gaps, and keep an eye on disparities and religious differences. 

24% of
the EU's population is at risk of poverty and the EU is asking the national
Governments to allocate 20% of Social Funds to be used to combat poverty and
improve and create jobs.

The EU
also needs to intensify social dialogue. President Barroso concluded by saying
that the ‘EU needs an enhanced social cohesion'

The
European Council President Van Rumpoy continued on Barroso saying that the
major objective of the EU is to create employment. Currently the EU has a slow
recovery growth but this is susceptible, growth alone is not enough, jobs are
important but not sufficient because it takes time, we need to find better ways
to reach the micro-society. The EU is pushing Member States to take measures to
improve youth employment. The EU 2020 objectives remain there and they should
be each nations' strategic targets. From October 2013 onwards, the Commission
will start using improved analytical tools to measure jobs, unemployment and
social trends to act faster. It is important to have long term objectives in
the socio-economic strategy.

Why does socio-economic convergence in the economic and monetary
union matter

During
this discussion it was mentioned that 10 years of EMU saw processes improved.
The EU is highly divided in fiscal terms and no fiscal cohesion exists. The
current unemployment situation is a long term issue and needs long term focus
and planning. People have lost trust in EU administration and this needs to be
re-established since that is why the reason the EU exists in the first place. A
scorecard is being created to analyse new indicators and trends. It was noted
that the most important thing is what actions will be taken when reading the
metrics.

There
are conflicts between austerity and social concerns. Austerity brought
unemployment, inequalities and exclusions within the social strata. When we
mention competitiveness we are accepting that it includes lower wages,
mentioning labour market friendly measures evolved into weaker labour
rights.  The proposed monitoring is
however unlikely to make a difference. The realisation of the social dimension
regime change is like opening a ‘Pandora's Box'. Concluding to this it was
noted that the problem we are discussing is not an EU issue but a world's
issue.

Detecting key employment and social imbalances and challenges in
the EMU

The
proposed scoreboard of key employment and social indicators relevant for the
EMU's well-functioning has been discussed. 
The EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion Mr
Andor noted that what we do not analyse we do not fix.  The scoreboard was explained. 

Social aspects in the macroeconomic imbalances

If
something occurs in one member state it will have an effect on the other member
states. This change is needed because in the issue that happened prior to year
2011, only the financial aspect was taken into consideration. Imbalances and
corrective actions should be presented and followed better by social actions
that will be known through the new indicators. 

The one-stop-shop for the GRTU PVPFScheme – GRTU will this year be participating in the October Home fair
and will be accompanied by all the GRTU Approved retailers that are
participating in the GRTU PVPFScheme, in a dedicated pavilion. This will be a
great opportunity to expose the scheme to consumers and for retailers of  renewable energy products to showcase their offers. The fair will take place
between the 24^th and 27^th of October at MFCC. 

GRTU APPROVED retailers are being offered a space in the
pavilion free of charge in return for their participation in the scheme and the
effort and improvement in standards (during the sale, installation and after
sale) this has meant. Retailers participating in the scheme have undergone a
number of inspections in order to obtain this certification. The ultimate aim
is to safeguard clients by ensuring quality, increase customer satisfaction,
improve the reputation of the sector and increase consumer confidence. The
system initiated by GRTU ensures customers the best quality when purchasing a
PV system.

Within the pavilion there will also be representatives of the
Ministry for Energy and the Conservation of Water and the Malta Resources
Authority who are jointly sponsoring the event and who will be providing
information to the general public.

The PVPFScheme is being offered with the support of Bank of
Valetta. The Scheme allows families to purchase their PV system over a period
of 3 years with no fees and at very advantageous interest rates, with the
remaining interest being paid by the retailer. This greatly increases the
affordability of a PV system by allowing the purchaser to pay the loan amount
without paying the interest and concurrently saving from electricity bills.

The PVPFS scheme may be applied when purchasing from GRTU
APPROVED retailers only.

GRTU Renewable
Energy Section President Noel Gauci has last week participated in a very
interesting  conference on Skills Needs
in Greening Economies. It was very encouraging to note that most issues we face
in Malta are similar to those in other European countries, in Malta however
these issues are more acute.

The main
issue discussed was the need for skills to be able to maintain existing jobs
and further investing in skills for green jobs. At the same time that lay-offs
were inevitably created in some countries we saw the creation of new green jobs
however individuals who were used to traditional jobs needed to be trained so
that they could fit in the newly created green jobs. Adaptation here is also a
key element, and this applies both for industry and the workforce. For instance
a diesel engine manufacturing company needed to adapt and restructure to start
manufacturing gas engines in order to remain sustainable and competitive, while
its employees needed to be trained and skilled for such a change and to
maintain their jobs. This is a case where the companies became greener and so
did the jobs in that company.

One
project presented by Jerry Van Den Berg was of particular interest for Malta.
The project addressed issues such as the target to treat all waste as a
resource by 2020. Recycling and re-use are very attractive and have multiple
benefits for any country, creating substantial job generation.

Another
project was presented from Germany called Qualergy 2020, a project funded by
Intelligent Energy Europe. This project is also of particular interest for
Malta and we encourage the undertaking of similar project. The project focused
on developing new techniques for building energy efficient buildings in every
aspect such as the construction materials used, renewable heat (in Malta's case
we can include cooling), PV electricity, Biogas/mass, etc.

The
European Commission Directorate General Education and Culture spoke about skill
shortages in the EU. These ranged from basic skills to shortages of skills
related to trades people, sales persons and engineers. The best way to tackle
this problem is for education institutions to Education institutions to partner
and work closely with industry.

During
the conference the need for governments to put tools (including funds) at the disposal
of the private sector, industry, companies was particularly stressed. This to
develop technologies and create RES related jobs.

It is
always a pity when enthusiastic individuals are not listened to and thus not
taken into consideration when governments takes decisions. Governments need to
listen more to social partners and experts in various sectors. Otherwise the
best brains are discouraged and lost.

One EU
representative very diplomatically remarked that he was surprised to see
countries participating included Latvia, Romania, Bulgaria and….. Malta! Malta
needs to work hard to be reach the levels of countries like UK, Germany and
Scandinavia.

Patrick
Itschert concluded that social partners are instrumental and essential for
successful sustainable green jobs creation. Recognition is essential for
initiatives taken by social partners. (This is a case in point for our Green MT
and GRTU APPROVED & PVPFS schemes).

Of
course change will bring consequences, but change is necessary and if we see
what happened in other countries, we realize it is not as bad and difficult as
it seems. In the end training will also prove to be key for better jobs, better
wages, and better lives. Change in lifestyle can lead to a better environment.
It is a shame that in many institutions the right hand does not know what the
left hand is doing, and Governments should put their act together. Coordination
is important, governments should listen to and involve social partners.

The Malta
Association of Family Enterprises (MAFE) 
in collaboration with Bank of Valletta has organised a ‘Family Business
Act': ‘Half-Day Seminar and Discussion Workshop' where the challenges of family
businesses were outlined and discussed in line with the incentives of the
proposed Family Business Act.

The seminar focused mainly on the launched Family
Business Act consultation process, and the manner in which it should facilitate
matters for family businesses particularly in relation to succession. Hon. Dr
Cardona, Minister for the Economy, Investment and Small Businesses said that
the new government strongly believes that family businesses are the backbone of
the Maltese economy and the catalyst for economic growth and job creation. He
announced that the government will be legislating in favour of a Family
Business Act. Hon. Chris Cardona also discussed the consultation process which
has been ongoing since work on the creation of a Family Business Act commenced
earlier this year.

Mr.
Mario Duca, President, Malta Association of Family Enterprises (MAFE) explained
that the majority of family businesses fail as a result of internal factors and
not due to business factors and how they differ substantially from those in
other companies due to the interlocking relationships between the family,
business and ownership structures. Mr Duca informed that MAFE was recently
accepted as a member of the European Family Businesses as a result for being an
active role, by voicing and lobbying such interests both on a national and
international level.

Mr
Albert Frendo, Chief Officer Credit, Bank of Valletta, spoke about the
development and transition of family businesses over time, their resilience
which is one of their key attributes and the characteristics that banks look at
for a sound banking relationship with such businesses.

Dr. Jean
Philippe Chetcuti, MAFE Secretary said that Maltese law, lacks clear
legislation and imposes financial burdens upon family businesses. He said that
legislating in favour of family enterprises would provide the structural
support that enable family enterprises to grow and flourish through
generations. He also explained how family businesses should benefit from the
same incentives as Groups of Companies in respect of stamp duty and other tax
incentives during share transfers taking place between family members.

From a
European perspective, Dr. Joanna Drake, DG Enterprise, explained how the EU
recognises the special nature of family businesses and that it strives to
actively fight for a European policy which does not negatively affect family
businesses but rather, creates a level playing field.

Mr.
Darius Movaghar, Policy Director at European Family Businesses, described
Malta's initiative as ground breaking and the Family Business Act will be a
unique piece of legislation as no other Member State of the EU has, to date,
enacted a formal law specifically addressing family businesses.

The
panel discussion also highlighted the importance of supporting the family
enterprises structures through different mediums and through the provision of
funding for further investment in training, governance and growth.

The
Seminar and Discussion Workshops were moderated by Ms. Vanessa Macdonald.

This information is already available online in
relation to "mixed waste" collection, again after this was requested by Green
MT, over two years ago.

It is very important that Local Councils can access
environmental information and be able together with Schemes to take any action
deemed necessary to increase collection figures of packaging waste.

Our request to publish information of recyclables
should have no objection by WasteServ as since Jan 01, 2013 both recovery
Schemes use the services of the same MRF facility for recovery of the grey or
green bag.

In discussions held with the new administration at
WasteServ, they state that "prima-facie" they see no problem in doing this as
the information is available and there are no IT problems of any nature.

If this is the case, we see no reason why WasteServ
should not move on and place these figures online as of January 01, 2013.

Another suggestion to the same issue would be to
change the accessibility feature on WasteServ's main website page. Currently to
access information related to mixed waster collected from Local Councils, one
has to click on "Company Statistics". This is misleading and should be changed
to "Local Councils Statistics".

We continue to strive and work hard to make sure that
environmental information is provided online for our Local Councils and
citizens across Malta & Gozo. Whilst for some, such an issue looks so
simple, it seems that through tangled bureaucracy or the lack of taking
decisions continues to grind the wheels. Let's move on.

GRTU President
Paul Abela participated at an event organized by the European Economic and
Social Committee (EESC) in Malta as one of a speaker during a panel discussion.
In his intervention Mr Abela emphasised the importance of the schemes such as
JEREMIE to help SMEs restructure, invest and innovate and come out of the
crises.

"Business
is not the problem, but rather the solution. Therefore, business has to take
centre stage in the new economic plans the EU will be proposing and possibly
introducing over the months to come." These were the concluding remarks of the
address delivered by Mr. David G. Curmi, President of the Malta Chamber of
Commerce, Enterprise and Industry.

The
objective of the conference was to initiate a frank and open debate on the
various responses to the financial and economic crisis in EU Member States and
analyse them from a business perspective. The aim was to encourage an exchange
of views, diagnoses and practices between EESC Employers' Group Members and
leading Maltese business representatives.

Two
panel discussions took place. The first dealt with questions from a national
point of view and an exchange of ideas as to how the governments and employers
were dealing with the crisis and which best practices were adopted.  The first panel was moderated by Vanessa
Macdonald and included members of the EESC Employers Group. The second panel
was moderated by Stefano Mallia, Vice 
President of the EESC Employers' Group. It discussed Europe's response to
the economic crises and whether the EU was aware of the needs and realities of
employers. The panel was composed of the Hon. Dr. Mario de Marco – Deputy
Leader of the Opposition and Spokesman on the Economy, Investment and Small
Business, Mr. Gérald Petit – Policy Analyst – Analysis of Economic Reforms, DG
Enterprise, Mr. David Curmi – President of the Malta Chamber of Commerce,
Enterprise and Industry, Mr. Arthur Muscat – President, MEA, Mr. Tony Zahra –
President, MHRA and Mr. Paul Abela – President, GRTU.  

The
closing address was delivered by the Prime Minister, the Hon. Dr. Joseph Muscat.

Written
by Melissa Lipman of Law 360 from New York on March 25th, 2010, 3.04 PM ET – Quote: "Italy's
Antitrust watchdog has hit ButanGas SpA and Liquigas SpA with nearly €22
million in fines for allegedly participating in a cartel of liquefied petroleum
gas supplies, following on Eni SpA's admission that top executives from all
three companies had been meeting to set prices for more than a decade.

Eni
escaped penalty by providing evidence of the anti-competitive activity with its
leniency application. The Autorita Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato
fined ButanGas nearly €4.9 million and Liquigas more than €17.1 million last
Wednesday. Fines were based on the severity and length of the cartel, the
Autorita said.

The  three companies operated a cartel from 1994
to 2005 to fix the retail price for liquefied petroleum gas in cylinders and
small reservoirs in Italian island-province Sardinia, though the effects of the
agreements continued to harm consumers for at least a year after the
anti-competitive behaviour stopped, according to the regulator.

The
Autorita had responded to high prices for LNG cylinders in Sardinia by opening
an investigation into that market in April 2008. Eni came forward seeking
leniency in October of that year. The regulator said it also suspended other
providers – including Fiamma 2000 SpA, Sarda Gas Petroli di Antonio Pisani
& CSAS and Ultra gas Tirrena SpA – of anti-competitive behaviour, but that
it did not expect to uncover evidence proving their involvement in the Sardinian
cartel.

In its
request for leniency, the Italian energy giant said its chief executive officer
had engaged in meeting with similarly high level executives at Liquigas and
ButanGas to create parallel pricelists for their gas products. From a statement
given by its former top executive, Eni told the regulator that the heads of the
three companies met frequently to adjust their prices based in changes in the
global rates for raw materials, according to the Autorita.

The
executives fixed process at those meetings without leaving a written record to
the agreements Eni told the regulator.

The
Autorita said its own investigation confirmed that top executives from the
three companies met regularly over that time period to lay out standard product
prices.

The
regulator further found that each company changed its price lists by the same
amount around the same time.

The
Autorita said it will broaden its investigation into the three companies to see
if they colluded to fix gas prices across the country, based on another leniency
application Eni filed in January 2009.

Representatives
for BurtonGas and Liquigas, a joint venture between Dutch Energy Giant SHV Gas
and Italy's Gruppo Brixia ITAF were not immediately available for comment
Thursday".  Unquote

The
above article was written by Melissa Lipman of Law 360 in New York.

Mr
Roberto Cappelluto of Liquigas in Malta yesterday expressed his deep concern
that consumers in Malta are not reaping the benefits of the €25million
investment – because 23 gas distributors are refusing to accept that their
territorial agreement dating back to 1992 is now null & void.

We duly
comment that these 23 distributors have held back locally what has happened in
Sardinia between 1994 and 2005.

GRTU has presented a comprehensive set of proposals aimed at
boosting SMEs. In his foreword GRTU President Paul Abela stated that GRTU
continues to emphasise how much we need to keep pushing forward to ‘build
confidence and drive growth'. He insisted that enterprises need to be supported
better also through the improvement in their working environment.

The set of proposals presented are the result of
intensive consultation with our members and research of the best practices that
have proven very successful in other countries. GRTU, as the largest national
representative of SMEs, feels that many of the schemes mentioned are the key to
unlocking the full potential of SMEs and giving them aid where it really
matters. Amongst GRTU's proposals are the following:     

1. Relaunching the
Micro Invest Scheme.

2. Establishment
of a Business Angels Matching Service and a platform for crowd funding as well
as tapping into venture capital. All of these with some facilitation by Government
could render results that far outreach the initial investment.

3. Facilitate of
start-ups especially with regards access to finance, which is essentially the
biggest obstacle, through cash-injections and the financial start-up scheme
which involves covering the costs of renting a premises for a very short period
and the capped pay of the owner for one month. This would help because it would
give the minimum amount of time required to get some initial clients and start
building a name.

4. Increasing the
services offered by the business incubation and making it more dynamic.

5. Increasing the
number of routes to Malta and attracting tourists during the slower season.

6. Boosting the
crafts sector through the organisation of the Crafts Village, establishing a
national crafts policy, quality testing and certification system for locally
produced crafts, and reduction of VAT to 7% on such goods, incentives to
upgrade factories and workshops and helping the crafts sector export.

7. An E-Commerce
strategy including awareness raising on the potential of e-commerce and free
expert advice to enterprises on the subject on what systems they could use,
which would be accompanied by incentives to set up such systems.

8. Revision of the
eco taxation mechanism.

9. Schemes to
encourage investment in employment and training that are not time barred,
simpler in their application and reimbursed by a specified deadline.

10. Increasing
activities in the localities though permitting for change of use of empty
buildings to back-office, etc and accompanied by a tax-credit incentive,
incentives for the establishment of boutique hotels and B&Bs in the
localities as well as investment in the general infrastructure of the
localities through private public partnerships.

11. Granting of
title of emphyteusis in lieu of lease to private enterprises over Government
owned properties. GRTU also encourages Government to consider the sale of
properties that have been leased or granted under title of emphyteusis to the
private sector for a substantial number of years.

12. Incentivising
the involvement of the private sector in healthcare.

13. Scheme for the
restructuring of current industrial facilities. Some of these are currently in
very precarious situations.

14. Financial
measures that support innovative investments projects by SMEs, providing
research assistants with subsidised pays, an R&D Research and Development
Grant Scheme and a dedicated helpdesk.

15. Creation of
networks for internationalisation. This would help businesses expand into new
markets and increase their exports through increased collaboration and sharing
of contacts.

16. Increasing
competition in land based gaming and regulate illegal operations in this
sector. Introduction of High Stake control and limit the amounts played on the
Hot Numbers.

17. Fiscal schemes
to attract the buy-to-let sector through lower VAT rates and fixed income tax
rate for income generated from the rent of properties. GRTU also called for the
clarification in the regulation of the applicable licences required to lease a
property.

18. Encourage SMEs
to take a more proactive approach in the servicing of large scale renewable.

19. Immediate
Introduction of the Property Market Value Index.

20. Establishment
of an Early Warning Foundation where consultants offer free advice to
enterprises in difficulty on the improvement of their management skills and
helps them in their banking negotiations. The foundation would help companies
avoid bankruptcy and help those that have no other choice to extract themselves
from impossible situations and live to fight another day.

21. Upgrade of
current boat yards and tackle the shortage of marinas and pontoon berths.

22. Incentives for
upgrade and investment in commercial vehicles and Limited Mileage Incentive.

23. Overhaul of the
National Policy in respect to recovery of mixed waste and the setting up of a
Producer Responsibility Enforcement Committee to monitor the implementation and
enforcement of the Packaging Waste Directive, WEEE, Construction and Demolition
Waste, End of life Vehicles and Batteries.

24. Act on the
injustice whereby the percentage charged by banks or by the operator (in the
case of smart cards) for electronic payments is charged not only on the price
of the product but also on the VAT element.

25. A widespread scheme for Gozo enterprises to help them mitigate the
transport cost of transit between Malta and Gozo. Increase the efficiency of
the Gozo Channel and set up a scheme to mitigate the imbalance in employment
many Gozitan enterprises go through between the summer and the winter months.

26. Introduction of a night tariff and the decrease in rental fees on the
meters for commercial users.

27. Revisit the new strategy of online public procurement and set up a
helpdesk to help SMEs with the process. GRTU also proposes reducing the costs
for tendering.

28. Remove the need of audits for micro companies and exempt non-trading
companies from the audit requirement.

29. Severely beef up efforts to tackle VAT and Eco Tax evasion on goods
coming into Malta and sold for commercial purposes.

30. Specific course for females in entrepreneurship and a campaign
targeting women and their role in society and the economy.

31. Exposing young people with ideas to potential investors. Fostering
entrepreneurship amongst our young through courses and taking inspiring
entrepreneurs to schools to give their testimony.

32. Allow self-employed to receive their pension early where this is
possible without the need to remain idle for one year. On having access to
pension individuals should also be allowed to continue working without having
to pay for NI.

33. Foster deeper
relationships between business and academia and initiative a wave of
accreditation for skilled self-employed and manual workers. GRTU also calls for
the facilitation of transfer of skills and the establishment of Sector Skills
Councils (SSCs).