Author: SME Chamber

GRTU has this week written to the Hon Dolores Cristina Minister for Education, Employment and the Family enquiring about Government's implementation of the:

• Framework Agreement on Inclusive Labour Markets signed by EU Social Partners
• The Bruges Communiqué on enhanced European Cooperation in Vocational Education and Training

This following the request by GRTU's EU level Social Partner representative, UEAPME, The European Association of Craft Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises. GRTU has on its own account carried out the implementation of a number of policies falling within the scope of these two items. The EU however is requesting an annual report which provides a comprehensive explanation of not only GRTU's and the other social partners` actions but also of Government.

The Framework Agreement signed by the Social Partners abides Government in Member States and the Social Partners to implement on a 3 year period policies in line with the agreement. Implementation of this framework agreement will contribute to the Commission's objective of achieving inclusive growth as part of a renewed Europe 2020 strategy. The main aim of the Framework Agreement is to:

• Consider the issues of access, return, retention and development with a view to achieving the full integration of individuals in the labour market;
• Increase the awareness, understanding and knowledge of employers, workers and their representatives of the benefits of inclusive labour markets;
• Provide workers, employers and their representatives at all levels with an action-oriented framework to identify obstacles to inclusive labour markets and solutions to overcome them.

While on the Framework Agreement GRTU is awaiting for a meeting from the Ministry in order to exchange knowledge and form a national report, on the Bruges Communiqué GRTU is simply awaiting for information from Government.

The Copenhagen Declaration of 29-30 November 2002 launched the European strategy for enhanced cooperation in Vocational Education and Training (VET), commonly referred to as the "Copenhagen process".  Today in 2010 on the basis of our 8 years of European cooperation, we have defined the long-term strategic objectives for the next decade (2011-2020).

In view of the new grant launched by the MRRA, GRTU and MRA, where €3,000 shall be granted to around 2,000 families to install a PV system, Euromed Eco Power Co Ltd together with Banif Bank are launching a scheme that facilitates the purchase of photovoltaic panels.

With this scheme clients can purchase a Sharp 1.84 kW system that usually costs €6,500 for just €1,437, paid over a period of 3 years at the rate of €39.89 per month, after deducting the income from the feed in tarriff paid for the electricity generated. This means that families wishing to install a high quality photovoltaic system nowadays do not need to fork out the capital anymore, and the total amount of money they need to take out of their pocket is reduced to €1,437, spread on 3 years with an easy payment term of €39.89. In this way anyone who owns a roof is able to install a PV system and generate clean electricity.

This scheme is clearly intended to facilitate the purchase of PV systems and encourage people to invest more in green energy, also helping the country reach its renewable energy targets.

More information may be acquired from any Banif Bank branch or call 21 804474, 79010757 or on the web; www.euromed-ep.com

The Tunisian Foreign Investment Promotion Agency (FIPA) will be organizing, under the auspices of the Ministry of Planning and International Co-operation, the first International economic event of the post-revolution era in Tunisia, "Tunisia Investment Forum 2011".

This manifestation, which will take place on the 16^th and 17^th of June 2011 in Remada Plaza, Gammarth (Tunis) will present the new prospects characterizing the business environment in Tunisia and the action implemented to support the expansion of the foreign direct investments over this transitional period, in the process of leading Tunisia towards more entrepreneurial freedom and increase investment opportunities.

Tunisia Investment Forum will bring together experts and investors who will present the new features of the business environment, free from the repressive grip that has long discouraged many operators to settle in Tunisia. This forum will be also a privileged place for informal networking between Tunisian and foreign operators seeking new partnership and business opportunities. During these meetings FIPA-Tunisia  will seek to  optimize the visit of its foreign guests who will also have the opportunity to discover the International Trade Show for Industrial partnership and Innovation "Tunis Med-Industry 2011" and the International Forum for Electronics "Fortronic" which will be held concomitantly with the Forum.

In this regard, the Embassy would like to inform that details related to the participation in this forum as well as hotel booking could be found in the following website: www.tunisiainvestmentforum.tn

Parliament has stopped short of full-targeted harmonisation of consumer rights: commerce regrets that the chance has been missed to boost cross-border e-commerce. GRTU welcomes most aspects of today's agreement but has concerns that the Consumer Rights Directive does not go far enough. Commerce applauds the rejection of the proposed obligation on traders to deliver anywhere in the EU and to pay all returns above 40 Euros.

However, we regret the failure to provide businesses with sufficient incentives to increase their online cross-border activities.

After more than two years of discussion the European Parliament has adopted the Consumer Rights Directive. Many improvements have been made compared to the previous Parliament text and the minimum harmonised chapters have been deleted. However, provisions remain which will allow divergent member state rules and result in legal fragmentation in particular for on-premises contracts.

As the directive now stands, there is a high risk that there will be even less consumer choice and an increase in product prices due to some provisions.

A positive element of the directive is that it sets a common set of rules on information requirements, but the list is too extensive and will severely complicate day to day activities for businesses. The requirement to supply consumers with confirmation of orders placed over the phone on a durable medium will prove impractical in many cases: for example for flowers to be delivered in a few hours. In addition, member states can impose a rule that the consumer is only committed once he has signed the offer or sent written consent, whether by durable medium will depend on the member state. This obligation will create more obstacles not only for traders but also for consumers.

A rule that traders must reimburse consumers before they have received back return goods opens up the doors for fraud. This will be detrimental for businesses – in particular for small businesses. Written confirmation that the consumer has sent back goods is not a guarantee that the trader will in fact recover the same goods or that they will be intact.

GRTU has this morning met representatives of the ETC regarding the Employment Aid Programme (EAP). ETC representatives very encouragingly stated that the amount of applications they had envisaged to receive has actually been acceded and a total of 1700 jobs employing disadvantaged groups have been generated with the help of the EAP.

Over €8m in funds have been allocated but a significant number of employers have not yet claimed reimbursement back as they are eligible for half the wage and NI costs of the person they have employed under the EAP. Various reasons were attributed to this, such the cases where the employer chooses to benefit from another scheme, however it was agreed that the GRTU and the other bodies together with the ETC and the MCESD would contact the employers individually and give them direct assistance to help them claim back the reimbursement. In addition to this a general campaign would run parallel to this initiative.

ETC will also introduce new initiatives that will directly ease reimbursements and will also keep an eye open for possible improvements in relation to future schemes.

GRTU has today welcomed Hon Jason Azzopardi, Parliamentary Secretary for Small Businesses and Lands, following an invite by the National Executive Council to present the Small Business Act. Hon Azzopardi was accompanied by Finance Ministry Permanent Secretary Alfred Camilleri.

GRTU's President Paul Abela emphasised how important the private sector is and we regret to see such a negative bias against the private sector. GRTU's Director General stated that the GRTU considers Hon Azzopardi to be ours, the advocate of the private sector in the world of Government. He continued saying that the private sector does not want subsidies but we don't want any more burdens. Therefore the Small Business Act (SBA) is a very important doc for us.

Hon Azzopardi thanked the GRTU for the opportunity and this is the second formal meeting with the GRTU and stated that he looks forward to more regular meetings. Hon Azzopardi  made reference to President Paul Abela's comment that there is prejudice against the private sector within the public sector and he admitted it is a problem and he is fighting against it and if there is nothing in the SBA, it should be commended as sets the scene for a cultural change in this respect. There is however a determination from Government to combat the bias and introduce the mental change.

Hon Azzopardi stated that the Micro Credit Scheme is to the credit of GRTU. BOV has already approved 30 applications with the value of €4.1m. 300 other applications are to be processed with a total value of €20m.

Hon Azzopardi made reference to the white paper launched yesterday for consultation in relation to the street markets. He outlined that it took great courage to initiate this kind of policy. It will not change the world but it will make a difference, differences which are important for retailers.

On the SBA Hon Azzopardi mentioned 5 important points which will change the way businesses are treated by the public sector:

• In the original draft there was no reference to the European Charter for Small Enterprises and now there is a specific reference. The Charter is a self-commitment from the Member States to improve the business environment for small enterprises
• For the first time there is a standstill period of 2 months before compliance with a new law
• Guidelines in the legal notice that explain the law in layman terms for the users
• Everything would be available online. The one stop shop in Malta Enterprise will be launched very shortly by the Minister.
• SME Impact Assessment: All laws must be tested against this. The Prime Minister will not accept any legal notice without it. The Economic Policy Division will be beefed up and will have the task of implementing this.

In addition to this Hon Azzopardi stated that he was invited by Commissioner Tajani to make a presentation on the Malta Small Business Act as a best practice.

Mr Farrugia stated that a there should be more than just a reference to the European Charter Government has to see what Malta as a country has not yet adopted from it. Especially the issue of 2^nd and 3^rd chance.

Mr Farrugia stated his disappointment that he learned certain very important information today  which GRTU should have been informed about earlier. He said that it is horrible how detached this Government is from the constituted bodies.

In conclusion Mr Farrugia said that we have no doubt that the law is good but the implementation is still to be seen. There were many good Government initiatives over the years but implementation was always very poor.

GRTU Council members were also given the opportunity to voice their thoughts to the Parliamentary Secretary. GRTU also took this opportunity to thank Mr Alfred Camilleri who is a first class and reasonable civil servant and takes issues concerning the well being enterprises seriously.

Il-GRTU f'isem l-President, l-Kunsill Ezekuttiv, d-Direttur Generali, l-amministrazzjoni u l-membri, ssellem lil Mary Fenech Adami, mara li dahlet fil-qlub tal-Maltin kollha ghas-semplicita' u tjubija taghha u ghal dak kollu li ghamlet b'kuragg u mhabba waqt zminijiet difficli fl-istorja ricenti ta' pajjizna.Il-GRTU testendi l-kondoljanzi lil Dr Edward Fenech Adami u lil familja Fenech Adami.

Vince Farrugia, European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) Maltese Employers representative, has this week participated in the EESC Plenary Session where two important papers for which he was Rapporteur were adopted as EESC papers.

The first Report on e-procurement based on the European Commission (EC) consultation taking the form of a Green Paper which seeks the views of interested parties on how the EU can help Member States to speed up and facilitate the procurement process. E-procurement refers to the use of electronic communication and transaction processing by government institutions and other public sector organisations when buying supplies and services or tendering public works.

In his paper Mr Farrugia makes a number of conclusions and recommendations to the  EC. Implementation of an inter-European e-procurement framework  is a cornerstone for the proper functioning of commerce within the internal market given the importance of public procurement vis-à-vis the GDP of each Member State.

The approach whereby every Member State adopted its own time-frame vis-à-vis e-procurement implementation failed to meet the desired results and instead led to further distancing from the desired objective of an agreed unified system. It is now of paramount importance for the EC to adopt strong and effective leadership to achieve an integrated, inter-operable, and business/technology standardised e-procurement framework across Member States. This would ensure that while no activity by any individual Member State is affected that further endangers the achievement of the desirable target, action is actually implemented that furthers the implementation process over an agreed time-frame of an approved cohesion approach.

All calls for public procurement in Member States – below as well as above the threshold – are published in the portal of the national contracting authority. SMEs would be assisted either through direct capacity building initiatives, setting up of e‑procurement Facilitating Support Centres by national, regional contracting authorities or constituted bodies representing SMEs through national and EU financing – to ensure that SMEs and micro-enterprises embrace and leverage e‑procurement.

Following unanimous approval by the section this paper yesterday achieved formal approval when it went straight to the vote.

The second paper adopted concerned the EC Communication which outlines the most serious tax problems that EU citizens face in cross-border situations and announces plans for solutions. When individuals move or work or invest abroad, they can encounter double taxation and other difficulties such as in claiming tax refunds and in obtaining information on foreign tax rules.

In the paper the EESC makes a number of important recommendations:

· the establishment of one-stop shop services whereby citizens can acquire information, pay taxes and receive the necessary certificates and documentation to be used across the entire EU;

· the simplification of administrative procedures applied to cross-border situations to be undertaken on bi-lateral and multi-lateral bases across Member States, including inter alia the removal of double taxation and the utilisation of administrative instruments to ensure the seamless operation of the numerous existing double taxation agreements;

· the provision of advance tax rulings giving information on the final tax liability outcome which is specifically tailored to the individual taxpayer;

· the setting-up of a Cross-Border Taxation Observatory exercise under the auspices of the European Commission to gain, on an on-going basis, a detailed and practical understanding of existing tax barriers and their evolution

· the efficient undertaking of tax procedures in cross-border situations should not be put down on the individual citizen, but that there should be proper mechanisms in place to ensure that the operating procedures are simple and clear enough for the citizen to be able to cope with. While recognising the valid contribution made by available facilities for citizens to report tax obstacles, the effort of policy to remove such obstacles should progress beyond this.

The taxation paper  receive 74 votes in favour, 0 against and  abstentions.

It is an outright lie that Green MT is responsible in any way for the current penalties being placed by MEPA, the Competent Authority, on producers/importers who have not complied with Waste Packaging Regulations, legally binding since 2006.

MEPA was fully aware that in 2006 alone, 1700 producers registered with the same Authority as producers of Packaging Waste in the market. At the time they stated that these 1700 producers place 60,000 tons of packaging waste on the market. However despite registering with MEPA, only a handful went any further and registered as members of Authorised Waste Packaging Compliance Schemes.

It was only recently that MEPA decided, based on the figures that it had in hand, that those who did not comply to the legislation, should not only be made further aware, but also set up a penalty procedure for those who continue to be free riders, by not joining an Authorised Waste Compliance Scheme following registration with MEPA.

Let us be very blunt. An importer is responsible for placing his packaging waste in the market. It is not only a legal obligation but also a moral one. Those who think otherwise are guided wrongly. At GRTU we have been insisting with all sectors of the business community that the responsability and the legal obligations are both there. We have not only stressed this, but have worked hard to make sure that importers and producers both register with the Competent Authority and also join Authorised Waste Packaging Schemes.

And yes we are proud to state that Green MT has the largest amount of producers registered today, over 1000 who declare that they together place over 16,000 tons of packaging waste in the market. This is the tip of the iceberg. Green pak have also increased their membership base and their respective volume of tonnage placed on the market by their members. However when one adds the volumes of both Schemes, the figure currently does not exceed 30,000 tons. So somewhere out there, producers and importers are placing a further 60,000 tons of packaging waste which is neither reported or registered with the Competent Authority, MEPA, and thus neither contributing in any way to the financial burdens of the system. It is estimated that 90,000 tons will be placed in the market in 2011.

Of course, MEPA stood up to be counted. Someone might say it was quite late in the day, but better late then never. And yes some producers were strictly let off scott free for the years 2006 to 2009! Just a €50 penalty per year for not complying. For 2010 MEPA decided to charge a €100 per ton for any packaging placed in the market as an administrative penalty for non compliance.

For those who registered after May 2nd 2011, this penalty applies. For those who are registering with MEPA and a Scheme as from July 01, 2011, a penalty of Euro 120 per ton is in place. And yes, this penalty will continue to increase until MEPA decides it is fair and reasonable for all producers to come on board.

The message is loud and clear, comply now and respect your obligations to the Environment. If a producer is caught as a free rider six years down the line from now, he will be liable of administrative penalties back to 2006.

On another perspective to these penalties, GRTU is perplexed by those who should know better. And even more perplexed when we realise that a member of Parliament who of course has a right to own a business, continues to blatantly state that he is paying the salary of Green mt staff, because MEPA imposed penalties for his non compliance to the legislation since 2006. It is disgraceful, to say the least, that a prominent member of Parliament has the audacity to literally phone the Scheme and state such words.  

The members of the highest institution in the country have a responsability to shoulder. They should shoulder it without fail and not be the prime movers of insinuations of the sort.

The legal and moral obligations in respect to Waste Packaging Legislation is here to stay. GRTU is proud that through its subsidiary, Green mt, this responsability is being shouldered for the good of both the members of the Scheme and also the community in general, on a not for profit basis.

Taking care of our environment is not only our responsability, but also the responsability of each and every member of Parliament too. Let those who have ears listen!