Author: SME Chamber

The conference was
held on the 6^th and 7^th September 2012 at the Charlemagne
Building in Brussels. GRTU was represented by Marcel Mizzi. The conference was
addressed, among others, by the Commission President, José Manuel Barroso, the
President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, the President of the
European Council, Herman van Rompuy and the Secretary-General of the OECD,
Angel Gurria.

The conference was structured around
five main topics, namely, Building a dynamic European labour market, Impact of
the crisis on employment, Sectors with high job creation potential, Employment
policy throughout the life cycle and 
Pathways to full employment.

José Manuel Barroso opened the
conference with a speech emphasizing how important this conference was and that
it was being held at a very opportune time. He highlighted the problems being
increasingly faced by European young people to find jobs and how jobs had
become more precarious for those already employed. He highlighted figures that
show that more than 10 million people across the Member States are facing long
term unemployment. He stated that the commission would soon publish details of
a Youth Package establishing a youth guarantee scheme and a quality framework
to facilitate traineeship.

Barosso said that he was worried about
the way negotiations are going as regards a common European Social Policy.
Although ultimately the social dimension has to be first tackled at government
level, the EU must have a holistic social approach. He stressed that the EU
must adopt a job centered approach to solve these problems, starting with
boosting the demand for labour by adopting supply side policies, promoting
skills matching across borders and making employment governance crucial by
providing multi lateral surveillance.

Barroso concluded by saying that the
economic and financial crises has had significant impact on EU economic growth
and society as a whole. Dismantling the welfare state is not an option. We must
pull our resources together to overcome these challenges and make Europe the
social Europe everyone wants to build.

Van Rompuy also started by stressing
the importance of the European employment challenges and the importance of the
conference. He also outlined employment statistics and explained that
employment levels have gone down in most member states and that in Spain and
Greece the situation had reached monstrous proportions. The speaker dissected
the phenomenon into distinct divisions, namely, the competition from well
educated foreign workforces and the problems in the job supply side.  He looked at the problem from a
competitiveness point of view and that if we tackle European competitiveness,
everything else should ultimately fall into place. He also firmly believes that
the Commission should promote targeting specific groups and promoting promising
sectors such as Green Jobs, White jobs and ICT Jobs which he called "Copper
Jobs".

Van Rompuy gave a timeline of what the Commission
has been doing since 2010 to tackle this issue, namely by directing available
EU funds, incentivizing employers to hire more people, and setting out clear
targets. He concluded by emphasizing the role of the social partners in the
changes and reforms that have to be made.

Martin Schulz's introduction was
perhaps the most dramatic. He sighted high youth unemployment as threatening
the legitimacy of the EU and undermining the legitimacy of democratic
institutions. Unemployed people see the EU as the anonymous bureaucratic power
that has money to save the banks but no money to guarantee employment for them.
Schultz cited a "job_intensive" financial recovery plan which the Commission
has already called for. In spite of these initiatives the outlook is still
bleak.

Schultz iterated that Europe needs to
guarantee that young people in the member states are either employed or in
further training within four months of leaving school. He said that a draft of
this proposal was on its way to the European Parliament. He concluded by saying
that in spite of the challenges he sees that the problems we face can be
overcome by reflecting on our values and strengths.

During a later part of the conference, the delegates were
separated into groups and various related subjects were discussed in detail.
Presentations were made by academia as well as by Members of the European
Parliament and other experts. Representatives from countries outside the EU
were invited to share their experiences and best practices were discussed in
detail. The adoption of measures in effected countries was also discussed at
length.

Il-Kunsill
Lokali San Pawl il-Bahar u Green MT jiddeploraw bil-qawwa kollha l-vandalizmu
li sehh fuq diversi settijiet ta'
bring in sites fi zmien hamest ijiem, kif ukoll atti vandali ohra
fil-lokalita' ta' San Pawl il-Bahar.

Aghar minn
hekk il-Kunsill Lokali San Pawl il-Bahar jikkundanna kull tip ta' theddid fuq
hajjet l-Impjegati. Il-Kunsill jappella lil pubbliku ingenerali sabiex
jirrapportaw kwalunkwe' att vandalu u kriminali lill-Awtoritajiet /
Dipartimenti, kif ukoll lill-Pulizija Ta' Malta sabiex tiehu l-mizuri adekwati
sabiex tissalvagwardja l-interess komuni tal-lokalita'.

Fir-rigward
ta` gbir ta` skart riciklabbli San Pawl il-Bahar jaqa taht ir-responabbilta ta'
Green MT. Ricentement kemm il-kuntrattur ghal gbir tal-iskart imhallat kif
ukoll il-kuntrattur ghal gbir tal-riciklabbli gew mibdula.

GRTU would like to draw the attention
of importers that since 16th February 2012 the European Commission has been
investigating Chinese originating tableware and kitchenware on and anti-dumping
duties on these products imported into the EU might start to be applied on the
16th of November 2012.

The duties are planned to be significantly
high. This means that if the
anti-dumping duties are imposed on 16th November 2012, the ceramic tableware
and kitchenware imported from China will start costing much more, which will be
charged on import. The prices of such products sold to the consumer would
therefore increase in price, probably even double and become unsustainable.

The product
may be of porcelain or china, of common pottery, stoneware, earthenware or fine
pottery, or other materials. Examples include, but not limited to, porcelain
plates, cups and saucers.

GRTU is of the opinion this would
represent a protectionist measure, which would negatively affect Maltese
businesses and consumers. GRTU therefore opposes this anti-dumping proceeding
and is calling for input from importers to be able to measure the impact that
this imposition will have. GRTU will be
holding a consultation meeting in collaboration with the Economic Policy
Division in order to explain what are the European Commission's plans and give
feedback on how it affects the Maltese businesses and consumers.

ERDF
Impasse Solved – GRTU renewable energy section has resolved that it should take the
bull by the horns to clamp down the erection of unsightly PV installations on
the islands. Following a meeting for the renewable energy section and a
vote, Noel Gauci, President of the Renewable Energy Section within GRTU shall
formally inform MEPA that retailers of Photovoltaic installations are willing
to be held responsible for their own installations.

Noel Gauci reiterated that GRTU wants to promote professionalism in
the sector and following the vote in favor it is clear that our members are
operating in good faith and are eager to see the sector prosper in an orderly
manner.

Furthermore during the latest meeting held last week, the Section
President also informed the members and beneficiaries of ERDF funding that
together with Malta Enterprise (ME) and the Ministry of Finance, the Economy
and Investment (MFEI) a solution has been found to resolve the impasse. The
members acknowledged that the solution offered was in their best interest and
accepted the conditions imposed even though this could have legal or financial
repercussions on them. Installers may now carry on with installations of PV
systems on the commercial premises which had been granted funding, and an
extension of the deadline to finish works has also been conceded to make for
the time lost during the investigations.

GRTU is pleased with the outcome of negotiations and thanks ME and MFEI for their collaboration. We now look
forward for more collaboration with MEPA as well as MRA on the next domestic PV
scheme to once again see the sector prosper. The RES is greatly boosting the economy through the creation of jobs thus reducing
the demand on social benefits, CO2 emmissions and utility bills for the Maltese
families and businesses that invest in renewable energy systems.

Il-politika
tat-tkabbir tal-UE wara bosta deċenji wriet li tista' tkun ta' inċentiv qawwi
għat-trasformazzjoni tas-soċjetà u tal-politika fil-pajjiżi kkonċernati.
Permezz tal-politika tat-tkabbir, l-UE testendi ż-żona tagħha ta' paċi,
stabbiltà, demokrazija u prosperità.

Biex
jissieħeb fl-Unjoni Ewropea, stat jeħtieġ li jissodisfa l-kundizzjonijiet
ekonomiċi u politiċi msejħa l-kriterji ta' Kopenħagen li jeħtieġu gvern
demokratiku stabbli li jirrispetta l-istat tad-dritt, il-libertajiet li jmorru
miegħu u l-istituzzjonijiet. Skont it-Trattat ta' Maastricht, kull Stat Membru
attwali u l-Parlament Ewropew għandhom jaqblu li kwalunkwe tkabbir jkollu
il-konsens tal-partijiet konċernati kollha.

F'dan
il-kuntest, il-MEUSAC flimkien mal-Ministeru tal-Affarijiet Barranin ser
jorganizzaw laqgħa li fiha jingħata aġġornament dwar l-aħħar żviluppi
fil-politika tat-tkabbir tal-UE u l-pożiżżjoni ta' Malta rigward pajjiżi
kandidati għas-sħubija. Mehmuża għandek issib nota informattiva dwar dan
is-suġġett.

2 ta' Ottubru 2012 10:00 – 12:00 Dar L-Ewropa, Triq San Pawl, il-Belt Valletta

Biex It-Tlieta, tirreġistra, inti ġentilment
mitlub(a) tibgħat l-interess tieghek lill-MEUSAC sa mhux aktar tard minn
nofsinhar tal-Ġimgħa 28 ta' Settembru 2012 fuq l-indirizz elettroniku .

After many months of standstill, the
Indian government announced reforms by opening foreign direct investment and
allowing the establishment of a modern retail system.

For the multi-brand sector, foreign
owned companies will be allowed to take a share of 51 percent in retail stores
in a local partnership (in the participating Indian states) after India's
government reversed that decision in December because of political opposition.
Companies must spend half of their investment on infrastructure such as
processing, manufacturing, storage, warehouses and packaging.

For the single-brand sector the
sourcing norms for FDIs have been relaxed by the government. For FDI beyond 51
percent in single-brand retail, 30 percent sourcing will be done "from India,
preferably from SMEs, village and cottage industries, artisans and craftsmen,
where is feasible".

(Source:
I Review: Department of Industrial and Employment Relations) – In most cases, the differentiation
between the inherent characteristics of a self employed individual plying his
or her trade or profession and those of an employee are readily apparent. Such
a differentiation of status has various consequences, not least being the lack
of regulatory protection to self employed persons which is provided through
employment law to employees.

However, there are some instances when
the boundary, usually sharp and clear, between what constitutes an employment
relationship and what constitutes a self-employed one is nebulous at best. The
phenomenon of bogus self employment has always existed, but there is anecdotal
evidence that the recent improvement in basic working conditions of part timers
may have tempted less scrupulous employers to try to avoid their new legal
obligations.

Up until a few years ago, only a part
timer working more than 20 hours per week was entitled to the pro rata
entitlements due to the equivalent full timer. This has been addressed by the
recent legal amendments which brought about an equivalence in conditions
between a part timer, irrespective of the weekly number of hours worked, and
the equivalent full timer. A minority of employers may have considered that
classifying their existing or prospective employees as self-employed
individuals, and requesting them to register for VAT purposes and having them
issue VAT receipts, could exclude them from their new obligations. This is
abusive. The usual sectors often quoted are the cleaning, health and security
sectors, but it would be unfair to limit one's attention to these sectors and
it would be equally unfair to lump all employers in a particular sector in the
same basket.

Also of concern is the fact that the
avoidance of complying with regulatory requirements, in this case regarding
conditions of employment, can result in cost savings giving an unfair
competitive edge to ‘bad' employers, possibly resulting in loss of contracts
being awarded to more scrupulous employers. This is unacceptable as it could
result in a race to the bottom insofar as conditions of employment are
concerned.

Employment
and Industrial Relations Act

The Act defines an "employee"
as ‘any person who has entered into or works under a contract of service, or
any person who has undertaken personally to execute any work or service for,
and under the immediate direction and control of another person,….' Thus any
person who works under the' immediate direction and control' of another person
is considered to be an employee in terms of the Act. However this can be very
subjective and in itself depends or may be influenced by various factors. There
was also no specific provision in the law to cater for the effects of a
declaration by the court that a relationship is not one of self-employment but
of employment.

Issues where it was felt that there was
such a legal lacuna include those related to commencement of probationary
period, length of notice and quantification of wages due to a person whose
status has been declared to be one of employment.

National
Standard Order (NSO)

In this scenario, it was felt that a
Legal Notice was necessary to address these issues. This set out both the
criteria which would be considered in order to determine the existence of an
employment relationship and what the consequences of such a categorisation
would mean in practice. After discussion with the social partners through the
Employment Relations Board, the result was the Employment Status National
Standard Order, LN 44/2012, which came into force on 31st January 2012.

Main features
of NSO

1. Applicability

a. The LN prevails over any declaration or agreement with
regards to employment status.

b. The LN does not prevail over any other law defining or
regulating specific conditions of employment of employees falling under that
law.

2. Criteria.

The LN sets out eight
criteria which need to be considered in assessing whether a relationship which
is nominally self employed is actually one of employment. If 5 of the criteria
are satisfied, the relationship is to be considered one of employment. The criteria
are that the person concerned:

a. depends on one single person for whom the service is
provided for at least 75% of his income over a period of one year;

b. depends on the person for whom the service is provided to
determine what work is to be done and where and how the assigned work is to be
carried out;

c. performs the work using equipment, tools or materials
provided by the person for whom the service is provided;

d. is subject to a working time schedule or minimum work
periods established by the person for whom the service is provided;

e. cannot sub-contract his work to other individuals to
substitute himself when carrying out work;

f. is integrated in the structure of the production process,
the work organisation or the company's or other organization's hierarchy;

g. performs an activity which is a core element in the
organization and pursuit of the objectives of the person for whom the service
is provided;

h. carries out similar tasks to existing employees, or, in
the case when work is outsourced, he performs tasks similar to those formerly
undertaken by employees.

3. Exemptions

The Director is
empowered to consider requests made by any person to exempt relationships from
being considered as being of employment if there are particular grounds for doing
so long as such a request is made prior to the commencement of such a
relationship. The possibility was also given to seek an exemption within 6
weeks of the date of entry into force of the NSO with regards to relationships
entered into before 31st January 2012.

4. Effects of presumption of employment
relationship

a. contract automatically considered at law to be one of:

i. indefinite duration

ii. Whole time, unless
otherwise specified in writing

iii. date of
engagement to be the date of first initial continuous provision of services

iv. probationary
period to be considered to

1. be over if the
relationship was entered into before the entry into force of the NSO

2. commence on the
date of engagement to provide services if the relationship was entered into
after the entry into force of the NSO

b. Wages –

i. same wages of
comparable employee

ii. if there is no
comparable employee, same remuneration received in return of services rendered
on a self employed basis.

c. Other conditions of employment as those of comparable
employees or, in the absence of comparable employees, as provided by law.

d. Penalty clauses in relationships entered into prior to
31st January 2012 became null and void unless authorised by Director. However
the right is retained for the possibility to initiate civil procedures for
damages which may have been available to either party in relation to events
occurring before 31st January 2012.

e. Information to employees – signed statement or letter of
engagement to be delivered:

i. In case of persons who were to be considered as employees
on date of entry into force as soon as possible but within not more than eight
weeks from 31st January 2012

ii. If a request for
exemption has been refused, within 2 weeks of such a refusal

5. Conversion of contract of employment to contract for
service only allowed if authorised by Director.

6. Public Service and Sector Employment

Employment in the
public service or public sector can only occur if the necessary constitutional
provisions are respected. Thus a person employed in the public service or
sector whose relationship is nominally self employed but who is in reality an
employee because he satisfies 5 or more of the 8 criteria cannot expect to have
his relationship converted into one of employment as this would bypass the
relevant Constitutional safeguards and would be an invitation to commit abuse.
In this respect the NSO provides for a penalty in the form of one week's
compensation for every year or part of in that relationship. This redress is
possible through recourse to the Industrial Tribunal at any time during the
relationship and, only in this particular scenario, up to 4 months after the
relationship is terminated.

7. Redress

An employee may refer
his case to the Industrial Tribunal in cases where there is alleged
infringement of any right conferred by the NSO within 4 months when the
employee became aware of the alleged infringement.

Six months on

Over the past 6 months, the Department
has investigated the status of 453 individuals. Table 1 is a breakdown of the
findings.

As can be seen, almost 60% of the
persons whose status was investigated had a correct status [49% correctly being
considered as self employed and 11 % correctly being considered as employees].
However, the status of 40% of the total individuals whose status was
investigated was incorrectly classified as self employed, although in this
segment, there were 88 persons [19% of total investigated] who had particular
circumstances justifying their exemption (73% of which were in the private
sector and 27% in the public service or sector). Nine other requests for
exemption were refused. Thus after excluding this segment, it transpires that
in 95 cases [21% of cases investigated], there was a false self employment
status.

It is, as yet, too early to say whether
the NSO is having the desired effects in addressing abusive declarations of
self employment in the medium / long term. However the introduction of LN
44/2012 has served to delineate better the margins between self-employment and
employment and thus serve as a clearer guide as to what is acceptable and
unacceptable.

A reduction in the price of e-books
for consumer in the EU is foreseen following an investigation by the European
Commission on the price fixing of e-books. Concessions have been made by the
leading e-book publishers in order to avoid financial sanctions. Apple had sold
e-books at set prices on their stores but according to agreements, other
distributors would not be allowed to sell at a lower price. This goes against
EU competition rules which ultimately could lead to higher costs for the
consumer.

For more information please visit: http://ec.europa.eu/competition/elojade/isef/case_details.cfm?proc_code=1_39847

MCCAA would like to inform interested
stakeholders of the draft proposal on the sound level of motor vehicles. The objective of the proposal is to
ensure a high level of health and environmental protection and to safeguard the
Internal Market for motor vehicles as regards their sound level.

The proposal aims at reducing
environmental noise by introducing a new test method for measuring noise
emissions, by lowering the noise limit values, by including additional sound
emission provisions in the type-approval procedure. It aims also at ensuring
road and occupational safety by introducing requirements regarding the minimum
noise for electric and electric-hybrid vehicles.

This proposal will introduce a new test
method for measuring the noise emissions and change the limit values for the
type-approval of motor vehicles. It will also address for the first time the
issue of the minimum noise level of electric or hybrid electric vehicles.

The draft proposal will repeal
Directive 70/157/EEC on noise emissions of four-wheel motor vehicles and its
subsequent amendments. Compared to the existing act, the draft proposal will
lay down new requirements: new test protocol, new limit values, additional
sound emission provisions and minimum noise for electric and electric-hybrid
vehicles.

On the basis of the results resulting
from tests and research an impact assessment has been prepared with different
policy options for the noise test method and corresponding limit values.
According to the most preferable option the limit values for light and medium
size vehicles will be lowered in two steps of each 2 dB(A) and for heavy
vehicles in a first step of 1 and a second step of 2 dB(A). This will result in
a reduction of the noise impact of about 3 dB(A) for free flowing traffic and
up to 4 dB(A) for intermittent traffic. The reduction of the number of highly
annoyed people will be 25 %.

The cost-benefit ratio for this measure
is estimated to be around 20 times in favour of the noise reduction compared to
no action taken.

– Additional sound emissions
provisions:

The representativeness of the new test
method for the noise emission during normal traffic conditions is considered
good, but it is less representative for noise emissions under worst case
conditions. Therefore it was necessary to implement Additional Sound Emission
Provisions. They are preventive requirements intended to cover driving conditions
of the vehicle in real traffic outside the type approval driving cycle. These
driving conditions are environmentally relevant and it needs to be ensured that
the sound emission of a vehicle under street driving conditions does not differ
significantly from what can be expected from the type approval test result for
this specific vehicle.

– Minimum noise of electric and
electric-hybrid vehicles:

The increase of hybrid and electric
vehicles on European roads is welcomed because it is serving to significantly
reduce air pollution and traffic noise. But these positive environmental
benefits have produced the unintended consequence of removing a source of
audible signal that is in particular used by blind and low vision people to
inform them of the approach, presence, direction or departure of road vehicles.
A working group on minimum sound levels for silent vehicles has been set up by
UNECE. Taking into account the discussions and the information provided in this
group it is proposed to amend the noise legislation with an Annex harmonising
the performance of 'Approaching Vehicle Audible Systems' if they are fitted to
a vehicle. The fitting of such systems however shall be voluntary and remain an
option under the discretion of the vehicle manufacturers.

There is a general transitory period in
the proposal in order to allow sufficient lead time for vehicle and component
manufacturers and administrations. The proposal provides for simplification of
legislation as Directive 70/157/EEC and its subsequent amendments will be
repealed.

Within three years following
implementation the Commission shall carry out a detailed study to ascertain
whether the noise limits prove to be appropriate. On the basis of the
conclusions of the study, the Commission may, where appropriate, present
proposals for amendment to this Regulation.

Please direct feedback and queries on
by Friday 5th October.