Author: SME Chamber

Europe Direct Valletta is one of many Europe Direct
Information Centres (EDIC), almost 500, around the EU. EDICs are one of the
Commission's main tools to offer information to citizens at local level and to
gather citizens` feedback for the European Institutions.

Europe Direct Valletta provides any one with general
information about EU and answers to questions on any European Union policy. It
provides practical and easy to understand information on dozens of subjects:
for example, how to get your qualifications recognized, what are my health
rights when travelling within the EU, how to complain about unsafe products,
etc… We also give advice to help the citizen overcome practical problems with
exercising their rights in Europe. Where required we provide also contact
details of relevant organisations the citizen may need to deal with.

Europe in 12 lessons               Lesson 1: Why the
European Union?

The beginning

During the 20th century, the European continent was ravaged
by several wars. However, a new kind of hope emerged from the rubble of the
Second World War; people were determined to put an end to international hatred
and rivalry in Europe and create lasting peace.

Between 1945 and 1950, a handful of courageous statesman,
Robert Shuman, Konrad Adenauer, Alcide de Gasperi and Winston Churchill, began
to lay the foundations for a new Europe, based on shared interests and founded
upon treaties guaranteeing the rule of law and equality between all countries.

On 9th May 1950 Shuman proposed establishing a European Coal
and Steel Community. Whereby raw materials of war were being turned into
instruments of reconciliation and peace.

The European Union encouraged German unification after the
fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Afterwards, when the Soviet empire crumbled in
1991, the countries of central and Eastern Europe, were released from the ‘iron
curtain' and freed to choose their own destiny. Eight of them joined the EU in
2004, the same year in which Malta joined, and two more followed in 2007. The
process of EU enlargement is still going on. Croatia, for example, will be the
28th member state of the EU in May 2013.

Security, Economic and Social
Solidarity

Europe in the 21st century still faces security issues and
has to work constructively with the regions just beyond its borders, like the
Balkans, North Africa and the Middle East. The fight against terrorism and
organised crime requires the police forces of all EU countries to work together
closely. Making the EU an ‘area of freedom, security and justice' where
everyone has equal access to justice and is equally protected by the law is a
new challenge that requires close cooperation between governments. Bodies like
Europol, the European Police Office and Eurojust also have to play an active
and effective role.
From an economic point of view, European countries must continue pulling
together if they are to ensure economic growth. No individual EU country is
strong enough to fare alone in world trade. To achieve economies of scale and
find new customers, European companies need a broader base than just their
national home market, and the European single market provides it, a market of
500 million consumers.

Another important pillar is Europe-wide solidarity. This has
clear tangible benefits for European citizens. The "Structural Funds" encourage
and supplement the efforts of National Authorities to reduce inequalities
between different parts of Europe. Such funds are used to improve the transport
infrastructure, invest in renewable energy sources, education and training,
etc… The global financial crises in 2008 required for the EU to provide
financial assistance to the hardest-hit countries. In 2010 the EU led Member
States to make a concerted effort to reduce their public debt. The big
challenge of the EU countries is that in the years ahead together they will
stand to face the global crises and find a way out of the recession into
sustainable growth.

According to its values, the EU seeks to ensure that
humankind is the beneficiary, rather than the victim, of the greater global
changes that are taking place. The EU stands for a model of society that the
great majority of its citizens support. Europeans cherish their rich heritage
of values, which includes a belief in human rights, social solidarity, free
enterprise, a fair distribution of fruits of economic growth, the right to a
protected environment, respect for cultural, linguistic and religious diversity
and a harmonious blend of tradition and progress.

The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union sets
out all rights recognised today by the EU's Member States and their citizens.
Shared rights and values create a feeling of kinship between Europeans. To take
just one example, all EU countries have abolished the death penalty.

In the long run however, all EU countries benefit. Sixty
years of European integration has shown that the EU as a whole is greater than
the sum of its parts and this is an added value in acting together and speaking
with a single voice. Working together does not mean erasing the distinct
cultural and linguistic identity of individual countries. On the contrary, many
EU activities help promote regional specialities and the rich diversity of Europe's
traditions and cultures.

      21 228 843

GRTU, Exchange Building,
Republic Street, Valletta

The European
Chemicals Agency has launched a public consultation on the Restriction proposal
for Lead and its compounds in articles
intended for consumer use (EC: 231-100-4, CAS: 7439-92-1).  The
full report on this Annex XV restriction has been published and can be
downloaded from the following link: http://echa.europa.eu/documents/10162/80f7edca-b6c1-4433-8734-854594530db2

Lead has been deemed a non-threshold toxic substance for
neurotoxic and neurodevelopmental effects, in particular in children. This
means that it is not possible to establish a "safe" level of lead in the blood
of children. Consequently, their exposure to lead should be avoided as far as
possible.

Children's exposure to lead is still above the highest
tolerable level. All additional exposure to lead, from food or non-food
sources, should therefore be avoided as far as possible. There is hence a need
for further regulation.

Lead and its compounds have a wide use and have been found in
a great variety of applications, some of them being articles intended for
consumer use. Lead is usually present in metal alloys (notably brass), in
pigments/dyes, and to a lesser extent as stabilisers in plastic and as pure
metal. It cannot be determined through a simple analysis which lead compound is
present in a specific material. Neither can it be simply established whether
lead is present as pigment or as stabiliser in a plastic. Therefore, all lead
compounds should be targeted by any further action proposed.

The main route through which children are exposed to lead
from these articles seems to be the mouthing (sucking and chewing) behaviour
exhibited by small children. Of the consumer available articles that are frequently
placed in the mouth by children, and that are not covered by other regulations,
around 10% can be estimated to contain lead. The average lead concentration in
these articles is around 1%. When children exhibit their normal mouthing
behaviour, this lead may cause risk of impaired development of their central
nervous system. The health risk to children who suck or chew lead containing
articles has recently been subject to a restriction under REACH, namely that of
lead in jewellery (entry 63 of Annex XVII).

The action proposed is a restriction in which articles
intended and available for consumer use, which can be placed in the mouth by
children, may be placed on the market only if they do not contain lead above a
limit value of 0.05% by weight. The limit value, which is supported by the
tolerable lead content calculated in this report, should also apply to
individual parts of the articles in question. Such a restriction is aligned
with the similar restriction of lead and its compounds in jewellery items,
which enables a harmonised regulation on lead in the whole range of consumer
articles.

Kindly submit comments on the
restriction proposal by Friday 28^th
June 2013 on 23952000 or

EU-wide testing plan for horsemeat DNA and phenylbutazone (an
anti-inflammatory drug used as a painkiller in veterinary medicine for pets and
horses) has revealed that less than 5 %
of the tested products had horse DNA and that about 0.5 % of the equine carcasses tested were found to be contaminated
with phenylbutazone.

The purpose of the testing plan was:

to
detect the presence of unlabelled horsemeat of food destined for the end
consumer and marketed as containing beef through controls to be carried out,
mainly at retail level;

to
test for the possible presence of bute in horsemeat.

To that end, 7,259 tests were carried out by the competent
authorities in the 27 EU countries, of which 4,144 tested for the presence of
horsemeat DNA and 3,115 tested for the presence of phenylbutazone. Of those
tests, 193 revealed positive traces of horsemeat DNA (4.66%) and 16 showed
positive traces of phenylbutazone (0.51%).

Member States reported another 7,951 tests for the presence
of horsemeat DNA performed by food business operators (producers, processors
and distributors). Of these, 110 contained horsemeat DNA (1.38%). The positive
samples found in relation to horsemeat DNA combined with the very low levels of
bute detected represents a small part of the overall production in EU.

Commissioner Borg has declared that these findings have confirmed that this is a matter of food fraud and not
of food safety and that restoring the trust and confidence of consumers
and trading partners in the food chain is now of vital importance for the EU
economy given as the food sector is the largest single economic sector in the EU. 

Next steps

The Commission and Member States will meet on 19 April to
discuss whether the plan should be extended.

The situation in Malta

The authorities found no presence of horsemeat in beef
products in Malta, according to an EU-wide report issued this week.

The EU said these results correspond with the joint statement
published by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European
Medicines Agency (EMA) yesterday,  which concluded that the risks
associated to phenylbutazone were of "low concern for consumers due to the
low likelihood of exposure and the overall low likelihood of toxic effects and
that, on a given day, the probability of a consumer being both susceptible to
developing aplastic anaemia and being exposed to phenylbutazone was estimated
to range approximately from 2 in a trillion to 1 in 100 million."

Duties later this year may be applied
retrospectively to cover imports from April 2013 – The latest important development is that the duties may be
applied retrospectively before the coming into force of the provisional duties.
From 6 March the European Commission started keeping registration of such
imports in the EU in case it decides to impose provisional duties and apply
them retrospectively – 90 days before the coming into force of the provisional
duties. rent estimate).

This whether or not the purchase order was made in advance of this
date. Even though the retrospective application of the duty is not guaranteed
there is a very high probability this is applied.

Background

GRTU had informed members in a
consultation meeting back in November 2012 that the European Commission had
initiated investigations on instances of anti-dumping and anti-subsidy on
imports of solar panels originating from China. The products subject to
registration are classifiable under the following Combined Nomenclature (CN)
codes: ex 3818 00 10, ex 8501 31 00, ex 8501 32 00, ex 8501 33 00, ex 8501 34
00, ex 8501 61 20, ex 8501 61 80, ex 8501 62 00, ex 8501 63 00, ex 8501 64 00
and ex 8541 40 90.

Timeline

If the Commission investigation concludes that the situation
is leading to injury of the EU industry and that the imposition of measures
does not go against overall Community Interest, provisional measures will be
implemented within 9 months of the initiation of the investigation (6th June 2013 for anti-dumping measures and 5th August
2013 for anti-subsidy measures). If the Commission decides on imposing definite
measures, anti-dumping measures will be imposed on 5th December 2013 and anti-subsidy measures would be imposed
on 7^th February 2014.  These would be applicable for 5years.

Tariffs

The exact level of any tariff that may be imposed by the EU
is not known but the tariff will aim either to remove the effects of dumping
the imported goods in the EU or to remove the injury caused by the dumping,
whichever is lower. The amount of duty imposed, either provisionally or
definitively, should not exceed the margin of dumping. i.e. the Council may
impose a tariff that levels out the cost of the imported goods (subject to the
dumping tariff) and the goods produced in the community that have been
adversely affected by the dumping. However, if a lower duty would be sufficient
to remove the injury caused to the community industry, then a lower duty should
be imposed. The duties are paid on importation in the EU and are at valorem and
the same in the whole of the EU, but may vary from Chinese manufacturer to
manufacturer or amongst Chinese exporters.

According to the Commission Regulation, the allegations in
these investigations estimate the amount of 60 to 70 per cent for dumping and
10 to 15 per cent for subsidisation (meaning 60 per cent to 85 per cent in
total by cur

A meeting for you're
the Renewable Energy Sector will be held to update the Sector on: PV Purchasing Facilitation Scheme (PVPFS), Anti-Dumping on Renewable Energy Systems, MRA domestic PV scheme

The meeting shall be held as follows:

The meeting shall start with a presentation to the media to
promote the scheme. Following which you will be able to ask questions about the
schemes, and a representative of BOV will also be available to answer your
questions. Presentation of certificates to the GRTU APPROVED companies will also
take place.

Date: Monday 15^th
April

Time: 12.30

Venue: GRTU, Exchange
Buildings, Republic Street, Valletta

Registration with or 21 232 881 is required

A practical guide to eco-innovation
addressed to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is now published. The
booklet overviews emerging business opportunities eco-innovation has to offer
to companies that reconsider business models, develop new products,
technologies or services, or improve production processes. The guide summarises
key business issues, questions and lessons learnt for SMEs as well as presents
selected eco-innovation good practices.

This guide is divided into six
sections. The opening chapter introduces the concept of eco-innovation. The
focus then shifts to the key issues, challenges and opportunities of
eco-innovation for SMEs. The guide includes sections on:

business model and value
proposition

process eco-innovation

product eco-innovation

getting eco-innovations on the
market

online resources for
eco-innovation.

This guide is addressed above all to
companies that have not yet embarked on any eco-innovation activity, but are
interested in exploring the potential offered by eco-innovation for their
business or new business idea. The publication will be equally useful for
business support organisations providing-or planning to provide-eco-innovation
support and coaching services to SMEs.

The guide can be downloaded at: http://www.eco-innovation.eu/images/stories/Reports/sme_guide.pdf

GRTU was delighted to learn of the
news of the further antitrust action taken by the European Commission against
MasterCard's inter-bank fees. This is excellent news for consumers
and retailers across Europe who have suffered long enough from the
unjustifiably high fees and the anticompetitive practices of the card schemes.

The new investigation will cover
issues not yet addressed in the Commission's decision of 2007, which was upheld
on appeal by the European General Court in May 2012. The court confirmed that
MasterCard's cross-border multilateral interchange fees (MIFs) were in breach
of European competition law. However, since MasterCard has taken the case to
further appeal on points of law, many national competition authorities still
have not taken action.

The new investigation will look into
restrictive rules on cross-border acquiring and the honour all cards rule
(HACR): these have long been of great concern to the retail sector. The HACR
compels merchants to accept some cards which carry very high fee levels. Card
scheme rules on cross-border acquiring prevent the commerce sector from
creating efficiencies through the use of centralised acquiring and so keep
costs unnecessarily high.

Europe deserves an electronic payment
system which is open, competitive and offers a cheap basic way to transfer
money within and across national borders. This is the way forward for payments
in Europe.

The European Commission initiated an
interim review investigation of the anti-dumping measures applicable to imports
of bicycles originating in the People's Republic of China. The request contains sufficient
initial evidence that  the anti-dumping
measures on imports of bicycles originating in the People's Republic of China
are being circumvented by means of transhipment via Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri
Lanka and Tunisia and by means of assembly operations of certain bicycle parts
from the People's Republic of China.

This temporary review on anti-dumping
underlines the following:

The
R546 General Disclosure Document reveals all the details on the anti-dumping
interim review as well as the investigation on China allegedly subsidizing
Chinese bike exporters.

The R563 document reports on DG Trade's circumvention investigation into bike
companies based in various Asian countries evading the 48.5% dumping duty
through transhipments of bikes made in China in their export to the European
Union.

DG Trade's R546 General Disclosure
Document says on China subsidizing Chinese bike exporters that: "The
Chinese aluminium market is distorted due to significant intervention of the
State." DG Trade comes to the same conclusion for the country's steel
market. On this and numerous other investigation findings DG trade concludes
that Market Economy Treatment (MET) should be rejected for the Chinese groups
that requested such treatment.

On the existing 48.5% anti-dumping
levied on bikes imported from China, the R546 General Disclosure Document says:
"The continuation of measures on imports of bicycles originating in the
PRC would clearly be in the interest of the Union industry and the Union
suppliers of bicycle parts. It will allow the Union industry to grow and
improve its situation caused by the dumped imports.

Furthermore, the importers would not
be substantially affected since fairly priced bicycles would still be available
on the market from the PRC and other third counties. Also, due to the extensive
use of the existing exemption scheme by the Union industry, it was concluded
that the existing measures had no significant negative impact on the
users/consumers. In contrast, if measures were repealed, Union bicycles
producers will likely close production, thus also threatening the existence of
Union bicycle parts producers."

Intended to help domestic
manufacturers, antidumping duties cause considerable damage to EU importers. To
improve the system, it is essential to consider traders' needs properly.

Proposals are a moderate package that
will please no economic operator entirely. But, with some amendments, it could
well pave the way for a viable compromise to be agreed with the Parliament and
the Member States.

Importers need predictability. They
need to calculate price, quality and quantity in due time. Orders are binding
and paid for a long time in advance. A shipment clause covering average
transport times would mitigate the loss of planning certainty incurred by EU
trade defence.

The new guidelines on the Union
Interest Test (to ensure the respect of overall economic interests in the EU –
importers, manufacturers, consumers) and three other procedural issues are an
important contribution to more legal certainty. However, they still need to
better reflect the reality of an importer's business. The consultation launched
today is a good opportunity to get this right.

Finally, optimised rules for reviews
and refunds, an upgraded helpdesk for SMEs and facilitated cooperation for
importers are helpful additional proposals contained in the package. On the
negative side, the Commission intends to water down the lesser duty rule and to
initiate trade defence investigations ex
officio.