Author: SME Chamber

The Office for Competition within the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority (MCCAA) undertook a fact-finding exercise on the supply of school uniforms and drew up a preliminary report on its findings.

 

A number of state, church and independent schools at different educational levels were selected to obtain information on school uniform prices and the manner by which school uniforms are supplied. A series of price comparative exercises were conducted to determine the minimum, mean and maximum prices of frequently compulsory school uniform items.

The Office found that uniforms specific to the school bought from specific points of purchase reflect higher prices and a lack of choice on quality and retailer. It was also noted that prices of certain uniform items appear to be considerably high across all three types of schools. Basing itself on the conclusions derived from the numerous exercises conducted, the Office proposed a set of recommendations on how the conditions of competition in the market for the supply of school uniforms may be improved to the benefit of parents and stakeholders.

In view of the above, the Office considers that there is further scope for investigation of this market in terms of the Competition Act.

The report is open for consultation:

https://secure2.gov.mt/consumer/consultations?|=1

Comments should be sent to

 

GRTU has this week met the Malta Communication Authority (MCA) to discuss the New Trustmark. GRTU was represented by Council member and IT section President Marcel Mizzi.

 

During the meeting the MCA gave some background on the old Trustmark system. They said the Trustmark used to be in line with the Euro Label which was already in itself no longer effective so they went to cabinet to trash the euro label and revamp it into a new label for Maltese websites. The old Trustmark had to be reviewed in 2008, which review took place in 2010. The MCA also explained that the involvement of the other entities and authorities was very limited, in fact it will be limited only to market the website.

The MCA said that it would very much like to cooperate with the GRTU and market this new initiative through its membership base. On behalf of GRTU Marcel Mizzi said that website owners are having problems with PayPal as there is an issue of trust. Mr Mizzi suggested that the Trustmark should give same kind of recognition and weight. In addition to this he suggested that the Trustmark should be available not only for commercial websites but also for information websites. The MCA took up Mr Mizzi's suggestions and will take action accordingly.

The MCA is currently in the process of finalizing the documents for the Trustmark criteria and they will launch them trough an event. The MCA stated that it had already used to check websites through the Commerce Act being Regulators.

Mr Mizzi further suggested that the Trustmark should be tiered and for instance in the next tier there should be included features such as accessibility for people with disability through FETA. The GRTU stated that it would like to review the criteria with the MCA at this stage.

The MCA said that there would be a nominal fee for the companies wanting to have acquire the Trustmark. The MCA said that in return all those who have acquired the Trustmark would be listed on their website and marketed as part of a bigger consumer campaign as Trustmark users.

The GRTU will also be collaborating with the MCA to hold a seminar for website developers which would be aimed to push the Trustmark forward.

This year the retail community in Valletta was pleased to note a record of cruise liners entering our ports. Unfortunately however we also noted less cruise liner passengers walking into Republic Street after being dropped off by the coaches.

 

Whereas before a good number of tourists used to enter Valletta through City Gate, after being stopped in front of Valletta's main entrance, therefore Republic Street, this year all this has been eliminated primarily due to the embellishment works as part of the Valletta regeneration project.

GRTU believes that the development at City Gate should not be considered as a detriment but we have to find a way to include the foreign visitors in the project. Tourists, especially those visiting Malta as part of their cruise, should be adequately educated and informed about what is going on and what the project aims to achieve. We have to find a way to get the tourists to look at the project in a proactive manner by involving them, even through competitions and other interesting activities.

Another suggestion the GRTU would like to make is that from the cruise liners to Valletta the tourists would be driven on the old Maltese transport busses. This to add character to the visit and give them a more interesting experience.

GRTU was very pleased to note the change in the Park and Ride charge timings. GRTU had this week written to the Ministry for Infrastructure Transport and Communications and Arriva stating that unfortunately it had learnt that after 19.00hrs vehicles parked at Park&Ride are charged a hefty overtime rate. GRTU emphasised that as the Ministry is certainly aware shop hours are till 19.00hrs, meaning it is impossible for shop owners', shop employees' and shop consumers' cars parked at Park&Ride to avoid the overtime charge. In addition to this, shoppers using the Park&Ride facility must leave Valletta earlier than 19.00hrs if they have to be out of the parking facility by that time.

 

GRTU had thought that the whole idea behind this reform was to discourage parking in Valletta while encouraging shopping. With this new system parking at the Park&Ride is discouraged and due to this shopping is being limited by a shorter time window. GRTU complained that it couldn't understand how such an obvious problem was missed.

GRTU pointed out all the difficulties Valletta shop owners have been going through with the endless projects that have and are still to take place and the extreme constraint they are finding with limited parking places in town. GRTU also made it clear that although it is in favour of the project, it is not acceptable that this project would be of detriment to its members. 

The Park and Ride was originally devised as a safety valve to Valletta parking problems and in support of the Valletta shop-owners requests on the Parking shortage and the planned strategy to shift more of the morning shopping to late afternoon and evening. What is happening at Park & Ride now with these excessive after 19.00hrs charges is in direct contradiction of the original plan.

Green mt, the National Waste Packaging Compliance Scheme has this week distributed recycle bags to the residents in Zurrieq and also in Rabat Gozo. Agreement was reached with the Zurrieq Local Council to distribute the recycle bags from the Local Council premises on Saturday 17th September and also on Friday 23rd September 2011. Over 60,000 recycle bags were distributed in these two days to the residents of Zurrieq which is today one ot the largest Local Councils on the south of Malta.

 

 

The amount of packaging material being collected from Zurrieq increases weekly and the distribution of recycle bags

should further increase the said recovery figures.

Recycle bags were also distributed throughout last week to the residents of Rabat Gozo. Over 20,000 bags were provided to residents in this locality. Green mt Eco Councillors were in attendance the whole week from Monday to Saturday to effect distribution and advice residents on waste separation.

To date, Green mt has provided over one and a half million bags to residents in  Malta and Gozo in  Local Councils , where Green mt has a responsibility to recover recyclable waste.  During the first six months of 2011, Green mt recovered well over 6,000 tons of packaging waste.

Green mt, continues to prove that it is by far the best practice Waste Packaging Compliance Scheme for the Maltese Islands.

The Malta Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprises, GRTU, yesterday met Dr Mario Demarco MP , Parliamentary Secretary for  Tourism,  The Environment and Culture and discussed at lenght the National Environment Policy Document issued for consultation .

 

GRTU, led by its President Paul Abela outlined that this document is a very ambitous project and Government should make sure that it will not only has the resources to manage and implement such a policy but also the required funds to make sure that this National Environment Policy is implemented without hiccups.

During the meeting, Parliamentary Secretary Dr Mario Demarco outlined that this Policy document is not a ‘fait accompli'. It is now in the interest of the Government to make sure that consultation is held with all the stake holders. Dr Demarco duly noted that prior to the issue of this Policy Document, Government Authorities were consulted and their commitment to the Policy Document was included.

Dr Demarco further outlined that this Policy Document covers a ten year period up to the year 2020. However most of the polices or measures to be implemented would take longer. Dr Demarco continued to state that the community deserves a better environment and the Government is obliged to provide the frame work to make sure that the measures of this Policy when finalised are put in place. He further outlined that in some areas of the document, the Government decided to go beyond EU requisites. 

GRTU stated that the final result of this National Environment Policy should make sure that in respect to the measures relating to ‘Greening the Economy' , mainly market based instruments, environmental taxation, green jobs, and enabling the private sector, should take into consideration the result of an impact assesment which should take place before any of these measures actually come into force.

On measures relating to Waste, GRTU was asked to prepare a document and forward this to the Office of the Prime Minister for evaluation. Other issues discussed during the meeting included resources such as stone , soil and land.

In relation to renewable energies, GRTU representative Noel Gauci outlined that measures taken up for this sector need to be sustainable and in the long term. A number of measures towards more use of solar energy, photovoltiacs, wave energy should be taken into consideration but measures of a specific nature in relation to the sector need to be tailor made for Malta.

GRTU finally noted that the National Environment Policy is a step in the right direction, however the Authorities working on such a document needs to continue to keep its feet to the ground at implementation stage.

The number of issues GRTU has with the Government keeps growing. GRTU has no settlement on the long standing issue with pharmacy owners even though an agreement was signed, written black on white, giving owners 200% tax credit of expenses needed for each pharmacy joining POYC. Now Tonio Fenech denies this and threatens pharmacy owners with licence castigation, Minister Austin Gatt threatens VRT Stations, Minister George Pullicino threatens Gas Distributors.

 

Tonio Fenech again withdraws from an agreement signed with Petrol Station Owners. Jason Azzopardi and Mario De Marco threaten confectioneries. Joe Cassar drags retailers of cigarettes to court for selling cigarettes from stock without pictorials. George Pullicino dithers on waste-carriers claims. Jason Azzopardi promises heaven on earth with his Small Business Act.

Dr Gonzi's Government's must decide: Do self-employed and small business owners still matter for this Government?

Malta Enterprise in collaboration with the European IPR Helpdesk shall be organizing a basic IPR training on the 4th October 2011. IPR stands for Intellectual Property Rights.

Why should SMEs deal with IP/IPR issues?

 

Why should IP be an integral part of an SMEs business strategy?

Which are the first steps to be taken?

These are a few points that will be tackled by the European IPR Helpdesk whilst delivering the basic training on IPR. SMEs interested in participating in an FP7, are strongly encouraged to attend to inform themselves on IPR issues. This will help them to consider and tackle such issues at the early stages of the preparation of their project and to negotiate any relevant questions with other participants before commencing the project. It is fundamental for potential participants to identify which information is going to be used and shared in the project according to its purposes.

The main trainer shall be a Member of the European IPR Helpdesk team. A Malta Enterprise representative shall also be informing the participants on the assistance provided by Malta Enterprise in relation to IPR.

For further info contact the Enterprise Europe Network at Malta Enterprise on 25420000

For more details on FP7 contact the Malta Council for Science &   Technology.

The European Commission welcomes these Guidelines on the Use of the Common European RFID Sign, which it initiated in 2010 in order to provide relevant additional support to the work specified in Section 11 and Annex E ("Common European RFID Emblem and Sign") of the Coordinated ESO response to Phase 1 of EU Mandate M4361.

 

The purpose of the common European sign is to support the raising of public awareness as to the presence of RFID and thereby build greater confidence and trust in RFID applications across Europe. In order to achieve this purpose it is important that there is consistency in the way the common European sign appears and also in how, where and how often it is displayed. This guidelines for use document focuses upon the use and deployment or the common European sign.

The foundational reference to the common European sign is the European Commission RFID Recommendation.

The RFID Recommendation wording deliberately draws a close alignment with the European Data Protection Directive and the European ePrivacy Directive.

These voluntary guidelines exist primarily to assist those deploying the common European sign.

Through appropriate and consistent application of the common European sign, consumers benefit from being notified in a way which neither confuses nor alarms them. It is recognised that many of those who will implement the common European sign will not have benefited from participating in its development and therefore may need or appreciate guidance. Thereby this document supports the wider European adoption of RFID applications through establishing broader public confidence and trust.

This document provides a detailed level consideration of the practical consequences of a broad range of public domain RFID application implementations and, the practical considerations of introducing the common European RFID sign. It has been developed referencing the ‘RFID in

Europe' public document "D5.1.3.1 & 2 Call for ideas – or – Compilation of existing signs and their conditions of use "Guidelines For Use" Position Paper "9.

The guidelines complement initiatives defining the design of the common European RFID sign and, including initiatives related to the common European RFID sign's standardization.

Those interested can contact GRTU for the guidelines document.