Author: SME Chamber

GRTU
President Paula Abela formed part of Malta's tripartite delegation that took
part in the ILO held in Geneva in June.The
ILO was founded in 1919, in the wake of a destructive war, to pursue a vision
based on the premise that universal, lasting peace can be established only if
it is based on social justice.

The ILO became the first specialized agency of
the UN in 1946. The
unique tripartite structure of the ILO gives an equal voice to workers,
employers and governments to ensure that the views of the social partners are
closely reflected in labour standards and in shaping policies and programmes.

Guy
Ryder, executive director of the ILO, reaffirmed his commitment to
implement "Seven Centenary Initiatives" – covering governance, standards,
enterprises, green jobs, poverty, women and the future of work – which were outlined in his report to the
conference and which received broad support from the over 4,700 delegates
who attended the ILC. Ryder said that the initiatives would give the
organization the tools and strategic direction it needed to make its work
better, more relevant and influential.

Speaking
of a Future of Work Initiative, the ILO Director-General said that "a
forward-looking examination of the place of work in our lives and societies is
needed. It will frame policy choices and it will be appropriate to the marking
of the ILO's 100th anniversary."

He
said there had been "strong convergence" on the need for the ILO to establish a
platform of engagement with enterprises – as proposed in the Enterprise
Initiative.

"In
addition, there was widespread interest in defining and implementing an ILO
role in respect of global supply chains and more generally in respect of
corporate social responsibility," he added.

Ryder
observed that the "Women at Work" Initiative – which aims to
establish a picture of the place and conditions of women in the world of work,
and to catalyse action to realize equality of opportunity and treatment – had
received less comment than the others. He said he hoped that this reflected a
well-established commitment among delegates to this issue which did not require
further restatement.

GRTU's
participation was made possible through the assistance of the Industrial and
Employment Relations within the Ministry for Social Dialogue, Consumer Affairs
and Civil Liberties.

Ms Galea is an entrepreneur in the field of insurance and
brokerage and in the fields of training and HR development. Rosanne Galea
chairs GRTU's Labour Market Observatory and Employment Relations Committee at
GRTU.

Four Maltese
food & beverage companies have recently participated in the Canton fair in
Guangzhou, China under the umbrella of the GRTU in collaboration with Malta
Enterprise. This event is the World's largest fair, with an average of 188,000
overseas visitors (non-Chinese) per edition, as well as an equally large number
of Chinese Entrepreneurs.

 A spokesperson for one of the participating
companies, Heart of the Mediterranean, was very positive about the prospects of
penetrating the Chinese market. In fact, the company has already received a
number of small/trial orders and had requests to enter into franchise
agreements in different parts of China, especially the richer regions such as
Shanghai, Suzhou and Dongguan. Other participating companies reported similar
feedback as businesses from more than 30 different countries have shown
interest in products exhibited by the four Maltese companies.

 GRTU and China EU, the company responsible for
logistics during the fair and a main promoter, have the intention to
participate again in the next session which takes place in October 2013.
Manufacturers and traders in the following areas may apply to be considered for
participation;

Electronics,
Renewable Energy, home appliances, building materials & hardware,
machinery, industrial raw materials, foodstuffs, agricultural products,
household items, textiles and fabrics, health and beauty care products, gifts
and decorations.

More
information may be obtained from GRTU on email

Paul
Abela has been GRTU's President for the last 8 years and his practical experience is in port operation and the import and export of grains and
commodities. Paul Abela has also wide experience in manufacturing, in tourism
and in estate development.

Mr
Abela has also been approved a member of the Malta Enterprise Investment
Committee representing the interest of local entrepreneurs. GRTU has long
experience on the Malta Enterprise Board. Since its inception Director General
Vincent Farrugia represented GRTU and the interest of small and micro local
investors with his long experience in investment promotion in businesses, Vince
Farrugia is now chairing the GRTU investment advisory committee where Paul
Abela and entrepreneurs Mario Debono, Manual Azzopardi and Noel Gauci are
members.

The advisory committee analyses the position of GRTU
on various issues related to the promotion of investment and support schemes to
assist SMEs to grow within the Framework of Malta's Stability and Convergence
Plan and the National Reform Programme.

In
its Opinion approved yesterday in its Plenary Session of 10^th and 11^th July the
European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) supported EU citizens and
businesses by voting in favour of doing away with bureaucratic rubber-stamping
still necessary for the recognition of public documents across EU borders. The
Opinion was adopted with 96 votes in favour, 2 votes against and 2 abstentions.

The
Opinion was presented during the same Plenary by GRTU's Director General and
EESC employers representative Vincent Farrugia, as rapporteur general on the
opinion. Being rapporteur general implied that the opinion did not go to the
Section but went directly to Plenary. In drafting his report Mr Farrugia was
supported by two co-drafters from the other two groups and an expert.

The
Opinion was presented on the Commission's proposal for a Regulation on
promoting the free movement of citizens and businesses by simplifying the
acceptance of certain public documents in the European Union COM(2013) 228
final. This followed the Eurobarometer 2010 survey which revealed that 73% of EU
citizens demanded action to facilitate free movement of public documents in the
EU. The proposal is in fact a key initiative of the European Year of Citizens
2013.

Amongst
the documents affected are civil status records such as birth, death, name,
marriage, registered partnership, parenthood and adoption as well as other
public documents concerning residence, citizenship, nationality, real estate
& intellectual property rights, proving the absence of a criminal record,
public documents of EU businesses, their legal status and representation. The
proposal will have no impact on the recognition of the content or the effects
of the documents concerned.

It
is estimated that such an initiative will have a tremendous impact. It will
affect the over 12 million European citizens working, studying or living in an
EU Member State (MS) other than their country of origin and the 7 million SMEs
that are involved in cross-border trade, have instruments abroad or
subcontracts with companies in another MS. It is estimated that the combined
savings on legislation and Apostilles (currently required for around 1.4
million documents) along with certified copies and certified translations could
be up to €330 million per year.

The
aims of the proposal are to:

Reducing practical difficulties caused by identified
administrative formalities – cutting red tape, costs and delays, rubber-
stamping – Removal of legal and apostille requirements for acceptance of
documents

Reduce translation costs – Do away with requirement for certified
translations with a simple translation of adequate quality being deemed
sufficient. Multilingual standard forms made available

Simplifying the fragmented legal framework of circulated public
documentation with Member States

Ensuring a more effective level of detection of fraud and forgery of
public documentation

Eliminating risks of discrimination among Union citizens and
businesses

The EESC has welcomed the proposal and further outlines that
the Internal Market Information System (IMIS) is an important vehicle that
should be exploited more aggressively for citizens to exercise their
fundamental rights. The EESC also stated that future simplification exercises
with regard to public documents should target important public documents such
as those related to intra- EU mobility of workers or vulnerable persons such as
persons with disabilities.

Most importantly however the new regulation should provide
citizens and businesses with the maximum degree of certainty with regards to
the extent that public documents presented are exempted from all forms of
legislation or similar formality. Therefore the EESC specified that Member
States having reasonable doubts as to the authentication of public documents
should only be limited to 3 cases: the authenticity of the signature, the
capacity in which the person signing the document has acted or the identity of
the seal or stamp. The EESC requests that should a Member State make an
official request based on reasonable doubt, it is to explicitly inform the
person or business of the reasons why such request is being made. In addition
to this the EESC also requested that should the Internal Market Information
System (IMIS) stabilise, the maximum period for a response under the
administrative cooperation mechanism should be reduced to two weeks and not one
month as was proposed by the EU Commission. In addition to this the EESC is
further asking for extra accountability through benchmarking on a yearly basis.

This is the fourth report drafted by GRTU's Director General
and accepted as EESC Opinion aimed at improving the functioning of the single
market and the removal of obstacles within the single market for citizens and
businesses.

A trade Policy that is open to the
world – Its importance as a trading power gives the European
Union considerable international influence. The EU supports the rules-based
system of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), which has 153 member countries.
This system provides a degree of legal certainty and transparency in the
conduct of international trade.

The WTO sets conditions under which its members
can defend themselves against unfair practices like dumping (selling below
cost) through which exporters compete against their rivals. It also provides a
procedure for settling disputes that arise between two or more trading
partners.

Since 2001, through the ‘Doha round' of trade talks,
the EU has been seeking to open up world trade. These are difficult
negotiations but the EU remains convinced that, in the wake of the financial
and economic crisis, a contraction in world trade would turn the recession into
a full-blown depression.

The EU's trade policy is closely linked to its
development policy. Under its ‘general system of preferences' (GSP), the EU has
granted duty-free or cut-rate preferential access to its market for most of the
imports from developing countries and economies in transition. It goes even
further for the world's 49 poorest countries. All of their exports, with the
sole exception of arms, enjoy duty-free entry to the EU market.

The EU does not, however, have specific trade
agreements with its major trading partners among the developed countries like
the United States and Japan. Here, trade relations are handled through the WTO
mechanisms. The United States and the European Union are seeking to develop
relations founded on equality and partnership. Following the election of Barack
Obama as US President, EU leaders have been calling for closer trans-Atlantic
ties. At the G-20 meeting in London in April 2009, the EU and US agreed on the
need for better regulation of the global financial system. The European Union
is increasing its trade with the emerging powers in other parts of the world,
from China and India to Central and South America. Trade agreements with these
countries also involve technical and cultural cooperation. China has become the
EU's second most important trading partner (after the United States) and its
biggest supplier of imports. (In 2009, more than 17% of the EU's imports came
from China). The European Union is Russia's main trading partner and its
biggest source of foreign investment. Apart from trade, the main issues in
EU-Russia relations concern cross-border matters such as the security of energy
supplies, in particular gas.

Africa

Relations between Europe and sub-Saharan Africa go
back a long way. Under the Treaty of Rome in 1957, the then colonies and
overseas territories of member states became associates of the Community.
Decolonisation, which began in the early 1960s, turned this link into a
different kind of association, one between sovereign countries.

The Cotonou Agreement, signed in 2000 in Cotonou, the
capital of Benin, marked a new stage in the EU's development policy. This
agreement between the European Union and the African, Caribbean and Pacific
(ACP) countries is the most ambitious and far-reaching trade and aid agreement
ever concluded between developed and developing countries. It followed on from
the Lomé Convention, which was signed in 1975 in Lomé, the capital of Togo, and
subsequently updated at regular intervals. This agreement goes significantly
further than earlier ones, since it has moved from trade relations based on
market access to trade relations in a wider sense. It also introduces new
procedures for dealing with human rights abuses.

The European Union has granted special trading
concessions to the least developed countries, 39 of which are signatories to
the Cotonou Agreement. Since 2005, they have been able to export practically
any type of product to the EU, duty free. In 2009, the EU agreed to provide the
77 ACP countries with €2.7 billion of aid in the fields of health, water,
climate change and peacekeeping.

      21 228 843

GRTU, Exchange Building,
Republic Street, Valletta

In consultation with social partners, EU leaders have agreed
on a comprehensive approach to combat youth unemployment. They will speed up
implementation of the "Youth Employment Initiative", which should be fully
operational by January 2014, and concentrate spending in its first two years.

Running out of
options to boost the flagging eurozone economy, the European Central Bank has
taken a leaf out of the Federal Reserve's play book and promised it is not
going to put up the cost of borrowing anytime soon and indeed could cut
interest rates further.

ECB head
Mario Draghi said: "The Governing Council took the unprecedented step to give
forward guidance in a rather more specific way than it ever did in the past. It
says the key ECB interest rates to remain at present or lower levels for an
extended period of time. It's the first time the Governing Council says so."

Draghi
said the decision to issue ‘forward guidance' was driven by market volatility,
which took hold after the Federal Reserve last month set out a plan to begin
slowing its stimulus.

But he would
not be more specific on how long ECB rates would stay at record lows. "It's not
six months, it's not 12 months. It's an extended period of time."

The ECB
met as political crisis in Portugal pushed the interest rates it is having to
offer on its bonds to unsustainable levels.

Draghi
said ECB rules meant it could not intervene to help, but he had encouraging
words for Lisbon: "I think Portugal has achieved very remarkable results. It
has certainly been a painful route and the results that have been achieved have
been quite significant, remarkable, if not outstanding."

The
tensions in Portugal, and in Greece, risk sapping confidence one year after
Draghi imposed some calm by vowing to do "whatever it takes" to save the euro.

The Consumer
Scoreboard provides an evidence base for policy action and regulation that is
driven by a better understanding of real outcomes for consumers. It helps
policy makers to ensure that policies take better account of consumers' expectations
and concerns, and to identify priority areas to be addressed in order to
improve consumer conditions. The Consumer Scoreboard data also provide
important insights into how the markets function from the consumers'
perspective and are thus an important contribution to this process.

The
majority of the scoreboard data comes from the annual market monitoring survey
which measures consumer experiences and perceived conditions in 21 goods and 30
services markets accounting for around 60% of the household expenditure.
Consumer conditions in each market are assessed on the basis of the six main
criteria: comparability, trust, problems and complaints, satisfaction, choice
and switching.

According
to the Consumer Scoreboard, Malta comes in the 5th position in the overall
ranking. Major differences in the national Market Performance Indicator (nMPI)
and ranking were recorded this year and may be explained by the smaller base
size used for the country. 20 markets show large differences in the nMPI from
last years and 10 markets show large differences form the EU27 scores. The 2012
goods market ranking is very different from last year's. Fruit and vegetables
and clothing and footwear are rated above their 2011 levels both in terms of
nMPI and ranking. Entertainment goods, electronic products, and spectacles and
lenses are all assessed less favourably than last year, again in terms of the
nMPI and the ranking.

There
are obvious differences in the EU 27 ranking of goods markets with 5 markets
differing widely both in terms of the MPI and the ranking. The markets for the
meat and meat products, fruit ad vegetables, and clothing and footwear are
assessed better than average, while the markets for spectacles and lenses and
large household appliances are assessed worse than average.

The
service markets' ranking is rather different from the 2011 ranking. Private
life insurance is rated better than last year in terms of both the MPI and the
ranking, while gambling and lottery are considered less favourably for these
indicators.

There
are large differences in the EU 27 ranking. The largest is recorded for the
tram, local bus and metro market, with a difference of 14.3 points from the
average. This could be linked to the privatisation of the bus network. The
market assessments of bank accounts, mortgages as well as loans, credit and
credit cards are all better than average both in terms of the nMPI and the
ranking.