Author: SME Chamber

Based on first preliminary
estimates for 2012, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita expressed in
Purchasing Power Standards (PPS) varied from 47% to 271% of the EU27 average across
the Member States.

The highest level of GDP
per capita in the EU27 was recorded in Luxembourg with a level of more than two
and a half times the EU27 average. Austria, Ireland, the Netherlands and Sweden
were around 30% above the average. Denmark, Germany, Belgium and Finland were
between 15% and 25% above the average, while the United Kingdom and France were
around 10% above.
In Italy and Spain, GDP
per capita was just below the EU27 average. Cyprus was around 10% below the
average, while Malta (at 86%), Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Greece
and Portugal were between nearly 15% and 25% lower. Lithuania, Estonia, Poland,
Hungary and Latvia were between 30% and 40% lower than the average, while
Romania and Bulgaria were more than 50% below the average.

These figures for GDP per
capita, expressed in PPS, are published by Eurostat, the statistical office of
the European Union. They cover the 27 EU Member States, three EFTA countries,
one acceding state, four candidate countries and two potential candidate
countries.

Actual Individual Consumption per capita in the Member States
ranged from 48% to 141% of the EU27 average

While GDP per capita is
often used as an indicator of countries' level of welfare, it is not the only
such indicator. An alternative welfare indicator, better adapted to reflect the
situation of households, is Actual Individual Consumption (AIC) per capita.
Generally, levels of AIC per capita are more homogeneous than those of GDP but
still there are substantial differences between the Member States. In 2012, AIC
per capita expressed in PPS ranged between 48% of the EU average in Romania to
141% in Luxembourg.

The first stage in the search for Europe's best solution
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions has come to a close. The World You Like
Challenge invited the most creative minds from across the EU to put their
low-carbon innovations to the test. The most practical, cost-efficient and
effective climate solutions, which can also be applied in other European
countries, will be rewarded. Now it is time to vote for the winner.

From 19 June onwards, the public will be able to
decide which ten European projects should go on to the next stage through an
online vote. These projects will then be put to a jury led by Commissioner
Hedegaard, which will select three finalists to be honoured at the Sustainia
Award Ceremony in Copenhagen this autumn.

Vote for your favourite project in the
EU-wide low-carbon contest, through the following links:

http://world-you-like.europa.eu/en/success-stories/

http://bit.ly/RsiKVx @EUClimateAction
#worldulike

The European Commission is
expected to publish proposals concerning the fees charged on payments using
electronic cards. The card scheme MasterCard has been pursuing an aggressive
media campaign against such regulation. EuroCommerce calls on the European Commission
not to be pressurized: all European businesses and consumers need and deserve
strong regulation against these fees.

Christian Verschueren, Director-General of
EuroCommerce said, "These fees, which only benefit the banks, are wholly hidden
from consumers but increase the price of all goods and services whether or not
a card is used to pay. Many cards also carry ‘free gifts' such as air-miles or
money-off coupons. But these gifts are not free. All consumers pay for them
through the hidden interchange fees."

"Much
consumer complaint has come from the practice of surcharging," commented
Christian Verschueren. "But retailers would rather not surcharge: they are
forced into it because of the huge costs associated with payments by credit
card. The removal of this cost burden would allow merchants to offer lower
prices and better services to all consumers."

The fees, known as multi-lateral
interchange fees (MIFs), are interbank fees charged on most card transactions.
They do not correspond to cost and, for some debit and most credit cards, they
are charged as a percentage of the price – up to 2% in some countries. They are
borne directly by merchants but ultimately increase costs for all consumers.

MasterCard's MIF system
has been condemned, by the European Commission, as a price-fixing cartel in
breach of European competition law. The European Court upheld the decision
against MasterCard, finding that MIFs are not necessary for the card schemes to
function and that they distort competition across the whole payment market.
Some progress has been made on cross-border fees through the competition cases.
But regulation is needed urgently to address domestic MIFs which remain
unjustifiably high.

EuroCommerce urges the European
public not to be misled by media articles which claim consumers would suffer if
the MIF system were subject to regulation: the opposite is true. All consumers
would benefit. It is in the nature of the retail business to be highly
competitive: this fact alone would dictate that savings made by the sector on
MIFs would be passed on to consumers.

The current MIF system,
and associated card scheme rules, also act as barriers to new payment operators
entering the market. If these barriers were removed, new providers could offer
effective competition with new payment methods. This, in turn, would also
reduce costs to the benefit of retailers and consumer alike. The ultimate
benefits would be an expansion of cross-border and e-commerce trade which would
bring new goods and services to consumers at more competitive prices.

GRTU's
EU Desk has this week attended an important consultation organized by MEUSAC on
the trademark system. – A
trade mark serves to distinguish the goods and services of a company. It is the
mark through which a business can attract and retain customer loyalty, and
create value and growth.

The
proposed package of reforms aim to improve conditions for businesses to
innovate and to benefit from more effective trade mark protection against
counterfeits, including fake goods in transit through the EU's territory. It
also aims to foster innovation and economic growth by making trade mark
registration systems all over the EU more accessible and efficient for
businesses in terms of lower costs and complexity, increased speed, greater
predictability and legal security.

So what is being proposed?

Graphical
representation: The need for a graphical representation removed to be replaced with
other more advanced methods which according to the European Commission will
help companies more in complying with such a requirement. It is not as yet
clear how this requirement will be replaced.

Rights
conferred by a trademark: e.g. as regards goods brought into the customs
territory: improving the means to fight
counterfeiting by allowing/clarifying possibility of seizure of counterfeit goods in transit or shipped to end consumers

Protection of geographical
indications and geographical
terms. This is applicable to goods that specifically come from a particular
region.

Protection of trade in comparative advertising. This is very much linked to competition law however comparative
advertising using another trademark where there is an issue of misleading in
the advertisement will be controlled to ensure protection.

Trade marks included as objects of property (transfer,
licensing, levy of execution and insolvency)

Designation
and classification of goods and
services, including use and interpretation of class headings. As it is
currently the case with the national authority, when there is an application
for a trade mark one has to list what goods and services will be associated
with it and the relevant classification.

Ex officio
examination will become only
limited to absolute grounds for refusal. Currently the examinations deal with
also partial grounds for refusal however these are seen by the European
Commission as adding bureaucracy and going beyond the result they seek to
achieve and therefore proposes to limit examinations strictly to absolute
grounds.

It will become mandatory to have both administrative opposition
and cancellation procedures.

Harmonisation of rules on duration of protection
and renewal.

Whereas before a fee could be paid for multiple classes chosen the Commission is proposing
that the fee is applicable for each class chosen so as to discourage
unnecessarily choosing classes.

Filling of
application via national
offices abolished

Including a filing date obligation to
pay the fee linked with the filing of the application (one month period
abolished)

Searched – current search regimes abolished to be
replaced by modern IT tools

The consultation runs till 04.07.13. For further details of to send
comments by email: .

GREEN MT is for the second year
running collecting recyclable packaging waste from Bahar ic-Caghaq Caravan Site
limits of Naxxar. All 220 families residing at the caravan site
have been provided with a ‘ Bag for Life' so that it can be used to collect
recyclables and deliver to four sets of bring in sites for separated waste,
also provided by the scheme.

Earlier this week Eco Councillors visited
residents and distributed these bags and also provided literature underlining
where each material should be deposited.

GREEN MT, the National Authorised Waste Packaging
Compliance Scheme continues to lead the way in such initiatives, which although
costly, are the future best practice at community level.

Agreement to recover such materials at at
source from Bahar ic-Caghaq Caravan Site was reached after discussions with Mr
Vince Perry, cairman of the Bahar ic-Caghaq Caravan Site.

In addition, GREEN MT also effected a clean up
of the area on 15^th June. The clean up was effected by Birkirkara 1^st Scout Group
ably led by leader Caroline Borg.

Nhar il-Ħamis 20 ta' Ġunju l-Kunsill Lokali Naxxar
sejjaħ laqgħa għas-sidien tan-negozji fin-Naxxar.  L-iskop ta' din il-laqgħa kien biex ikunu
diskussi suġġerimenti li jwasslu biex ikun hemm koperazzjoni akbar bejn
il-Kunsill u s-settur tan-negozju kif ukoll biex tikber l-ekonomija lokali.

Fil-ftuħ tal-laqgħa s-Sindku Dott. Maria
Deguara  ħeġġet biex ikun hemm aktar
komunikazzjoni bejn iż-żewġ partijiet biex il-Kunsill ikun aktar konxju
tal-ħtiġijiet tan-negozjanti.  Hija
appellat biex kulħadd jagħti s-sehem tiegħu ħalli l-ambjent tan-Naxxar
jissebbaħ.  Hija tat diversi suġġerimenti
ta' inizjattivi li wieħed jista' jieħu dwar dan bħalma huma tisbieħ tal-faċċati
u l-bankini bil-fjuri.  B'dan mhux biss
jissebbaħ il-lokal iżda jattira aktar nies u klijenti għall-istess
negozji.  Ir-riżorsi huma limitati għal
kulħadd iżda, jekk il-piż jinqasam, igawdi kulħadd, qalet is-Sindku Deguara.

Is-Sindku imbagħad esprimiet ix-xewqa li jkun
iffurmat kumitat mill-komunità kummerċjali biex jiffaċilita l-komunikazzjoni
bejn iż-żewġ partijiet.

Tkellmet ukoll il-Viċi Sindku Anne Marie Muscat
Fenech Adami li għandha r-responsabbiltà tan-negozji tan-Naxxar.  Hija saħqet li mhux bilfors ikun hemm qbil
fuq kollox iżda wieħed irid ifittex dak li jqarreb lil xulxin biex finalment
kulħadd jirbaħ.

Il-Viċi Sindku Muscat Fenech Adami elenkat xi
ħsibijiet li għandu l-Kunsill li iżda xtaqet li jkunu diskussi f'aktar dettall
flimkien għaliex ma kinitx l-intenzjoni tal-Kunsill li jimponi iżda li dak li
jagħmel ikun aċċettabbli u bi qbil man-negozjanti.

Fost l-inizjattivi li semmiet hemm voucher book
biex jitqassam man-Naxxarin, BiżNiss (id-direttorju tan-negozji li ġie
ppublikat dan l-aħħar) fuq website u application għal-fuq smart phones, tabelli
ta' direzzjoni b'uniformità u korsijiet u sessjonijiet ta' informazzjoni.

Preżenti għal-laqgħa kien hemm ukoll is-Sinj.
Carmen Borg f'isem il-GRTU.  Hija
esprimiet is-sodisfazzjon tagħha li saret din il-laqgħa u faħħret lill-Kunsill
Lokali Naxxar għall-inizjattivi li jieħu favur is-settur tan-negozju.  Hija appellat biex anki s-settur tan-negozju
jagħmel il-parti tiegħu.  Is-Sinj. Borg
semmiet li, fi stħarriġ li għamlet il-GRTU fi żmien il-Milied, ħareġ li
l-Kunsill tan-Naxxar huwa l-unika Kunsill f'Malta li joħroġ l-ispejjeż kollha
tat-tiżjin tal-Milied waħdu. 
Għall-kuntrarju, fil-lokalitajiet l-oħra kollha l-komunità kummerċjali toħroġ
is-sehem tagħha.

Is-Sinj. Borg faħħret ukoll inizjattivi li hemm
maħsuba mill-Kunsill biex flimkien jissebbaħ l-ambjent u li l-Kunsill huwa
kommess li jisma u jiddiskuti.  Hija tat
informazzjoni wkoll fuq is-servizzi offruti mill-GRTU b'mod partikulari bħala
aġenzija EuropeDirect.

Preżenti kien hemm ukoll is-Segretarju
Eżekuttiv tal-Kunsill, is-Sur Paul Gatt fejn wieġeb għal xi mistoqsijiet li
saru min-negozjanti.

CD Power
Solutions Co Ltd – Bajada New
Energy Ltd – Solar Solutions
Ltd – BT Commercial – Alberta Fire
& Security – Renergy Ltd – Wurth Ltd – Prime Solar
(Malta) Ltd – Frank Borda Ltd – Panta Marketing
& Services Ltd – Solar Engineering Ltd – International
Sales Direct – Eco Save Ltd – Titan
International Ltd

In the EU27, participants in vocational training
courses spent on average 25 hours each on training in 2010, an amount which
varied significantly between Member States, ranging from 14 hours per participant
in the Czech Republic and 15 hours in Latvia to 42 hours in Portugal and 40
hours in Malta, second highest in the EU. As regards costs, vocational training courses
accounted for 0.8% of total labour costs of all enterprises in the EU27 in
2010, varying from 0.4% in Italy, Latvia and Romania to 1.5% in France and 1.4%
in Malta, second highest in the EU.

Among those enterprises providing vocational training
in the EU27 in 2010, almost half (48%) of their employees participated in such
training. The highest proportions of employees participating were observed in
the Czech Republic (72% of all employees in enterprises providing training),
Slovenia (62%), Luxembourg (60%) and Slovakia (58%), and the lowest in Hungary
(27%), Lithuania (31%), Austria and the United Kingdom (both 37%). In the EU27,
a slightly higher proportion of employees in large enterprises (49% of
employees) do training than in medium-sized enterprises (45%) and small
enterprises (46%).