Author: SME Chamber

European Economic and Social Committee
(EESC) employers` representative at EESC has this week attended the
Consultative Committee for Industrial Change meeting where an EESC draft paper,
for which Mr Pezzini is rapporteur, "Trends
and consequences of future developments in the area of personal social, health
and educational services industries in the European Union" was
discussed.

The EESC believes
that in Europe, personal social, health and educational services form an important
cornerstone of the European social model. These services, which are
interdependent and mutually reinforcing in their effectiveness, form a
"golden triangle" essential to the smooth functioning and quality of
society.

The EESC believes
that more awareness is needed of the fact that as the population ages and
demand for care grows due to the falling number of family caregivers (due,
inter alia, to the growing participation of women in the labour market), better
planning and programming has become essential, in terms of requirements and
training for healthcare workers on the one hand, and in terms of budgetary
funding priorities on the other.

The sector is very
important in terms of its contribution to EU gross domestic product, the
significant employment prospects it offers in terms of job and new-business
creation, as well as its capacity to deliver innovative, quality responses to
the structural changes and needs in European society.

Mr Farrugia stated that in the same way
in which we managed great success with Airbus by verticalising, we have to do
the same with the health sector. A list of qualified persons should be made
available as even though there is supply in Malta, for example, we still end up
employing people from Bangladesh and India. As far as possible such employment
should be filled by EU nationals. 

GRTU has on Wednesday held a very
interesting half-day seminar on health and safety in business. This seminar was
successful in raising awareness on key issues that employers must be aware of,
for the benefit of their business and that of their employees. The seminar was
sponsored by Atlas Insurance PPC Ltd.

GRTU President Paul Abela opened the
seminar by thanking the employers present for their numerous attendance and
highlighted the role organisations such as the GRTU and the Occupational,
Health and Safety Authority (OHSA) play in reaching out to business in order to
help them become aware of how health and safety can be applied in their
business and how the simple things can make a big difference. Mr Abela
emphasized that health and safety legislation should not be difficult to apply
and must be sensitive to business especially SMEs. Mr Abela concluded by saying
that many small businesses are family run so keeping a safe and healthy
environment is more important for them.

Silvio Farrugia from OHSA highlighted
that implementing H&S policies in a business is easier and less costly than
facing an incident, fines and possibly having to run a business with an
employee less because the employee has suffered an injury at work. In addition
to this the company would be enhancing their corporate image and featuring in
the newspapers because an incident happened on the place of work doesn't look good.
Employers found in breach of their H&S obligations can receive a fine or be
even taken to court with the worst case scenario be imprisonment. It was
also highlighted that employers who have adopted a voluntary occupational
health and safety management system such as ILO-OSH 2001 or OHSAS 18000 series
had the opportunity to compete and receive recognition awards – e.g. OHSA good
practice awards. This year only very few companies applied which is a pity as
surely more companies have good health and safety work practices which they can
present.

Dr. Alessia Zammit Mckeon, a lawyer,
gave a more legal perspective and stated that an enterprise employing more than
4 workers must conduct a risk assessment, document this and update it. A risk
assessment must be carried out every time the company's environment or
circumstances change such as purchasing new equipment or employing a new member
of staff. For such an assessment one must check factors such as level of
hygiene, accessibility to emergency exits, whether equipment is properly
maintained and so on. An employer must remember that apart from assessing and
informing oneself about H&S, it is also important to inform, instruct and
supervise its employees.

Gaston Degiovanni, a
safety engineer gave practical tips of how to approach safety issues and how to
avoid incidents that can harm the company's employees by giving the most common
examples they encounter on a daily basis. The most common problems include:

 The final speaker in the conference
Abigail Mamo from GRTU presented practical tips to have a safer working and
shopping environment with regards to third-party violence, which means violence
though insults, treats and injury from a parson outside the enterprise on someone
that works within the enterprise. This for instance can be a client or a thief.
It was mentioned that an employer must protect its employees from third party
violence through training and preparing them for any eventuality. Employees
that have suffered third-party violence tend to absent themselves from work
more, have low working morale or quit, therefore it is in the interest of the
employer to tackle the issue. 3Million people around the EU working in commerce
experience some form of violence at work therefore EU Social Partners decided
to work together and issue a toolkit that can be applied by SMEs, full of
inexpensive practical tips. The main points from the toolkit presented was to
conduct an evaluation of the risk of the enterprise and the employees,
prevention by improving the shop layout, and training in conflict management
and being prepared for shop-lifting and robberies.

Several participants asked questions
with problems they encounter related to H&S on a daily basis. From the
questions it became evident that the law is very severe on businesses and
sometimes even if they have nothing to do with a case because they are only the
owners of a premises that was rented out to someone that did not observe the
conditions, or they have done everything in their power and an accident still
occurs, they are still kept responsible. GRTU will be taking up the issue to
see that an employer can carry the requirements and have a guarantee that he is
safe at law, irrespective of other people's negligence.

 The feedback was very positive
from participants and GRTU and its members would like to thank Atlas Insurance
PPC Ltd for sponsoring the event and organising it in collaboration with GRTU.

Vincent Farrugia GRTU Director
General has this week participated at a conference in London in the framework
of the Single Market Week as panellist in representation of the EESC, of which
he is a member.In his intervention Mr Farrugia had
the opportunity to present the EESC Opinions related to the Digital Agenda and
eProcurment, the latter for which he was rapporteur.

Single European Transport Area: Ease
the movements of citizens and freight, reduce costs and enhance the  sustainability of European transport.

Recovery of cross border debts:
Current fragmentation of national rules on enforcement severely hampers debt
collection within the EU.

Faster cross-border insolvency
proceedings: If companies and individuals with business activities or economic
interests in EU countries other than where their core activities are located
become insolvent, there may be direct implications on the proper functioning of
the internal market.

Double taxation: In the absence of
common corporate tax rules, the interaction of national tax systems often leads
to over-taxation and double taxation.

Cross border relief: Relief for
losses sustained by companies and groups is limited to the profits realised in
the Member State in which the investment was made, meaning that companies and
groups may have to pay tax on an amount in excess of their real results at EU
level.

Financial havens: Europe's internal
market, the well-being of the financial and commercial market and the sound
development of an economy that keeps to the common rules adopted in order to safeguard
the general interest must face up to the huge amounts of money salted away in
areas and countries of convenience.

Present for the conference was also
Lord Leon Brittan, ex Trade Minister in the time of Thatcher and European
Commissioner for Trade and European Commissioner for External Affairs.

Sometimes it takes some time before
tangible results can be secured in the world of lobbying – this week however we
have achieved a goal that EuroCommerce, representing us in Brussels, and GRTU
as their national members pursued since 2005. The European Commission has
announced the withdrawal of its proposal for a mandatory origin marking scheme
for certain imported products, better known as "Made-In" label.

As the Commission's justification for
the withdrawalconfirms: "In addition to lack of agreement in the Council
and recent developments in the legal interpretation of WTO rules have rendered
this proposal outdated".

If adopted, this proposal would have
created an obligation to indicate on certain imported non-food products
(leather, footwear, clothing, …) the country of origin. This would have been
costly and bureaucratic for EU importers and retailers, whereas EU
manufacturers would have been exempted from that obligation – a classical
non-tariff barrier to trade.

If you are entering Valletta by car
and would like not to find any difficulty in finding a suitable area were you
can park car, why not use the ARRIVA: Park and Ride services. Parking is
available 24 hours a day, on a first come first served basis. Please be aware
that bus services from Park & Ride sites will be generally available from
05.00 to 23.00, but please refer to specific timetables on their website. Once
you park your car in one of the parking places you can take a shuttle bus that
drops you off at Auberge de Castille.

Overnight parking is also available
365 days a year in dedicated zones and is defined as being between the hours of
1900 hours and 0700 hours. Overnight parking and for those people who intend to
leave the site after 1900 hours is restricted to designated 24 hour parking
zones.

Persons who park their vehicle at the
Park & Ride site shall be charged the following maximum parking fee/s:

24
Hour Parking (Valid for one P&R Zone only) €1.50

7-day
ticket valid for all hours €7.50

GRTU director general Vincent
Farrugia will represent European employers in London on 5thNovember as a
speaker in a conference on the single market 20years on. Mr Farrugia will make
a presentation on his reports on e procurement in the single market and on the
removal of tax obstacles effecting citizens in the single market and on his
reports on double taxation in the single market and another on inheritance
taxes in the single market.

The Malta-EU
Steering and Action Committee (MEUSAC) and the Malta Competition and Consumer
Affairs Authority (MCCAA) will be holding an information session on Regulation
(EC) 1924/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council on nutrition and
health claims made on foods and Regulation (EU) 432 of 2012 establishing a list of permitted health claims
made on foods, other than those referring to the reduction of disease risk and
to children's development and health.

The aim of
the provisions of the Regulation is to ensure that food products placed on the market are labelled according
to Regulation (EU) 432 of 2012 so as to ensure that health claims stated on the
food labelling are permitted and authorised and not misleading for the
protection of consumers and to facilitate their choice. Contact MEUSAC for
further details.

The information session is aimed at
manufacturers, importers and distributors of foodstuffs with health claims
stated on the packaging, labelling and advertising.

The information session will be held
on Tuesday, November 13, 2012, between 10:00am and 11:00am, at MCCAA offices,
Mizzi House, Blata l-Bajda.

If you are interested in attending
the session, please fill in the registration form below and send it to MEUSAC
not later than Friday, November 9, 2012 on the following email address:

GRTU held a meeting for its members
in the hospitality sector on Malta Enterprise incentives for the hospitality
industry (hotels, restaurants, snack bars, guest houses..). The schemes
presented were the following:

Business First

Business First implementing to set up
a one stop shop for businesses. This will set up a Point of Single Contact
(PSC) for businesses with will include:

Microinvest

Supports micro enterprises and
self-employed (employing up to 9 persons) to invest in their business to
innovate, expand, implement compliance directives. Assistance available is
capped at €25,000 or 40% of eligible expenses for enterprises in Malta.
Enterprises in Gozo is capped at 60% of eligible expenses, up to a maximum of
€25,000.

Eligible expenses under this scheme
include:

This scheme has extended to include
investments made in 2012                                              

Quality +

Encourages SMEs to improve the
quality of their products, services and processes by achieving quality
certifications and quality marks, environmental certifications, franchise
licences and licences required for participation in a value chain. It is
granted on approved projects on a maximum of €20,000 in eligible costs and
deduction from taxable income equivalent to 150% of eligible costs.

The following are example of
certification marks:

ISO 9001:2008, ISO17025:2005,
ISO17020, ISO 14001 (Environment)

EMAS & Ecolabel

ISO 22000 (Food Safety & Hygiene)

Hazard Analysis Critical and Control
Point (HACCP)

MSA EN 14804:2005 (Language Study
Tour Providers)

Halal certification &
MS1500:2004 

CE Mark & BSI Kitemark

Interest Rate Subsidies for
Hospitality Sector

Supports hotels; guesthouses;
hostels; farmhouses; snack bars and restaurants in upgrading their operations
and product offering so as to provide new and improved services. Assistance
granted in the form of an interest subsidy ranging between 1% and 3% on a loan
taken up to fund tangible assets used in furbishing and upgrading of premises
including extensions, modifications and extensions to premises; the acquisition
of plant, machinery, apparatus and instruments;

Once approved project costs must be incurred
and paid for between the date the project is approved and 31st December 2014.

For further information kindly
contact Abigail Mamo at GRTU.

The issue affecting the livelihood of
gas distributors appears to remain beyond governance resolve. GRTU believes
that it is incredible that a government takes four long years to resolve a
relatively minor issue. An issue which does not take a genius to resolve
provided there is a will and there are no hidden agendas. Gas distributors have
since 1992 served the country well carting on their back gas cylinders on a
door to door basis for a pittance as a service charge.

All Maltese governments labour or
nationalists have respected the contracted signed in 1992 by GRTU on behalf of
the gas distributors and Enemalta the then monopoly gas provider and also the
Energy licensing authority. Instigated by Liquigas know as the successors of
Enemalta as the dominant gas cylinders providers government is now determined
to change all this. This is the Bus tragedy all over again. They never learn,
they changed the old bus system to give us a new that serves the community in
no clear advantageous way. Now they want to do it again with gas distribution,
they want to smash the old distribution system just to have a new monopoly lead
by foreigners to dominate and dictate the way we buy gas in Malta.

GRTU has told the Prim Minister load
and clear that this is not acceptable there is no evidence what so ever that
the consumers want change form the Known to the unknown. It is ARRIVA all over
again. GRTU has given notice to government that if they want to proceed with
their incredible design to smash the old distribution system and pauperise the
old gas distributors who have served the public well for 20years they will find
the resistance not only of GRTU but of all those who have had enough of this
silly privatisation exercises which have delivered nothing but pain to the
community.