Author: SME Chamber

Il-Burdnara Sectional Committee fi ħdan il-GRTU tistqarr it-tħassib tagħha dwar id-dewmien żejjed u l-mod li qegħdin jiġu trattati burdnara li joperaw mill-Port Ħieles

Dan id-dewmien b’mod partikolari, qiegħed jinħass nhar ta’ Tnejn fejn jidħlu ammont kbir ta’ trailers. Il-GRTU tirrimarka li kienet ressqet suġġerimenti minħabba n-numru kbir ta’ trailers li kull ma jmur qegħdin jidħlu fil-Port Ħieles. Fid-dawl ta’ dan, bl-istess mod għandhom jiżdiedu r-riżorsi u l-investimenti tal-Malta Freeport Corporation biex il-ħruġ jkun faċilitat. Il-GRTU ilha żmien twil tisħaq biex tiġi miftuħa gate oħra eżistenti u jiżdied l-istaff biex b’hekk jitħaffef l-proċess u jittaffa d-dewmien esaġerat li jiffaċċjaw ma’ wiċċhom il-membri tal-GRTU ta’ kuljum. Din il-gate għandha tintuża għal ħruġ ta’ Roro trailers u xogħol ieħor konvenzjonali bħal żrar u ħadid li żdied fil-Port Ħieles. Il-gate prinċipali u eżistenti għandha tibqa’ tintuża biss għal ħruġ ta’ containers.

 

Il-GRTU tinnota li l-proċedura li bdiet titħaddem fl-aħħar xhur fuq li scanning tal-containers qed toħloq dewmien żejjed u spejjeż żejda għan-negozju tal-burdnara. Il-GRTU tinsisti, li l-containers li dwarhom tkun meħtiega scan, mal-wasla tagħhom f’Malta, għandhom jintbagħtu għal dan l-scan, immedjatament meta l-container jinħatt minn fuq il-vapur fi triqtu lejn il-post fejn se jinħazen ġewwa l-Port Ħieles. Dan anke fid-dawl li l-Port Ħieles jieħu ħlas ta’ €194.97 fuq containers tal-għoxrin u €306.38 fuq containers tal-erbgħin pied. Għaldaqstant, l-scan hija parti mir-responsabilità tal-Port Ħieles u mhux tal-burdnara. B’riżultat ta’ dan il-GRTU tinsisti li għandu jkun hemm iktar effiċjenza f’dan l-proċess.

Fuq il-banda l-oħra, l-GRTU ilha żmien twil tisħaq li għandhom isiru iktar sforzi biex titwaqqaf il-kompetizzjoni nġusta speċjalment fuq xogħol li għandha titħallas SISA fuqu u li jiġi fi ‘groupage trailers’. Dan wara li ġie nnottat li l-groupage trailers mhux kollha qed jitilgħu Hal Far Groupage Complex meta jiġu mil-Portijiet Maltin, imma xi wħud qed jittieħdu direttament f’bondijiet privati. Tista’ d-Dwana tikkonferma li xogħol li ġej bill-baħar u fi ‘goupage trailers’ qiegħed jiġi sottopost għal-istess livell ta’ skrutinju bħal ma jiġi sottopost xogħol li jgħaddi mill-Hal Far Groupage Complex? Dan għaliex merkanzija oħra li tgħaddi minn Hal Far Groupage Complex, fejn il-Membri ta’ dwana huma preżenti, tiġi ċċekjata u jsiru l-kontrolli kollha biex jiġi aċċertat li l-merkanzija tiġi ddikjarata, tkun konformi mall-liġi u kull ħlas neċessarju ikun sar. B’riżultat ta’ dan, tista’ id-Dwana tikkonferma kif qed isiru kontrolli fuq trailers li jintħattu f’bonds privati bl-istess mod li qegħdin isiru fil-Hal-Far groupage Complex? F’dan ir-rigward il-GRTU issostni li biex titwaqqaf il-kompetizzjoni nġusta anke fuq l-importaturi li l-merkanzija tagħhom tiġi iċċekjata u proċessata kif tgħid il-liġi, l-Groupage trailers li jġorru merkanzija u li jkunu suġetti għal SISA, għandhom jintbagħtu fil-Hal-Far Groupage Complex.

Il-GRTU tinnota li diġa’ attendiet għal diversi laqgħat mal-Awtoritajiet kollha responsabbli fosthom id-Dwana u l-Port Ħieles iżda ma kien hemm l-ebda żviluppi fuq dawn l-proċeduri nkwetanti għal burdnara u għall-operat ġust tal-verifiki marbuta mal-merkanzija. Il-GRTU tinsisti li dawn it-talbiet u mistoqsijiet jiġu ndirizzati mingħajr dewmien. Il-GRTU se tkun qed tistenna li l-Gvern jikkomunika mal-GRTU f’perjodu ta’ 10 t’ijiem biex jiġu ndirizzati b’mod effettiv dawn l-materji. Fin-nuqqas ta’ qbil jew azzjoni effettiva, il-GRTU se tkun qed tieħu l-azzjonijiet kollha meħtiega. 

As the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into force today, GRTU Malta Chamber of SMEs would like to note that whilst supporting the rights of citizens and the importance to protect their personal data, we need to give more times for fuller implementation by businesses.

The aim of the GDPR is to bring all member states in line under one common regulation. The GDPR increases privacy for individuals and aims to ensure that personal data gathered is gathered lawfully and with the individuals’ full consent. The new regulation also gives regulatory authorities more power to act on those who do not comply. In this regard, local authorities can now impose harsher fines with up to 4% of annual turnover or Euro 20 million, whichever is greater.

 

 

In order to prepare its members for this regulation and in light of the serious implications this regulation brings about, GRTU has for the past months organised a number of information sessions, seminars and conferences for its members. Through these seminars, members where given the the necessary information and tools to bring their business in line with this regulation.

GRTU however notes that the GDPR is unfortunately not the easiest legislation to comply to. It is cumbersome in many ways, failing to make a distinction between SMEs and larger organisations. Moreover this regulation is also very subjective and in many ways open to interpretation. 

Although GRTU believes that its members are doing their best to comply with this regulation, one cannot expect business to become fully compliant right from the start. 

GRTU joins the rest of EU employer organisations, and encourages local enforcement authorities to guide above all and give out warnings rather than impose fines, during the first year of implementation. This is being proposed with full respect toward EU and local legislation and without the aim of undermining such legislation.

GRTU will remain available to assist its members throughout the process.  

Following a number of queries GRTU would like to notify its members to be cautious of a fraudulent letter being sent by a company calling itself ‘European Business Number (EBN)’ addressed to their business asking for verification of their Maltese VAT number details and offering ‘free’ advertising services.

 

Stqarrija għall-istampa maħruġa minn Transport Malta din il-ġimgħa ħabbret ammont ta’ tibdiliet fil-mod ta’ kif isir it-test tal-VRT. Dawn huma tibdiliet importanti sabiex il-ħarsien tas-sigurta’ fit-toroq jiġi mħares. Huma tibdiliet li l-istazzjonijiet tal-VRT ħejjew ruħhom għalihom u ġew milqugħa. Kif pero l-Gvern iddeċieda li jinkludi fl-istess stqarrija referenza li l-prezzijiet għat-test tal-VRT ser jibqa’ l-istess hi xi ħaga inkonċepibbli.

Il-Gvern jaf biċ-ċar li l-GRTU ilha għal dawn l-aħħar snin tistaqsi għal żidiet fil-prezz tat-test li jagħmlu dawn l-istations. Tant hu hekk li l-GRTU ipprezentat lil-Gvern studju indipendenti minn konsulenti ewlenin li jispjega għaliex hemm bżonn ta’ dawn iż-żidiet u kif dawn għandhom jingħataw. Tajjeb li wieħed ikun jaf li l-istazzjonijiet tal-VRT ilhom bl-istess qliegħ għal għoxrin sena sħaħ u l-prezz tal-VRT hu l-inqas fl-Ewropa.

 

Il-GRTU tistaqsi liema mestjier, impjieg jew spiża inżammet u baqgħat fl-istess livell għal għoxrin sena sħaħ? L-Operaturi kellhom jaraw kif imantnu n-negozji tagħhom bl-ispejjeż dejjem tilgħajn filwaqt li jagħtu ż-żidiet lill-impjegati biex jipprovaw iżommuhom jaħdmu magħhom.

Hija ta’ sfortuna li l-istrateġija tal-Gvern għas-sigurta’ fit-toroq tinkludi l-isfruttar ta’ dan is-settur. Din hija strateġija li taħdem kontra u żgur mhux favur is-sigurta’. Fl-Istqarrijja l-Gvern qed jgħid biċ-ċar li għal darba oħra qed jistenna standards għola minn dawn l-istazzjonijiet u ma japprezzax li wasal ż-żmien li l-prezzijiet jiġu ttranġati mqar biex miżerjament ikopru l-għoli tal-ħajja. Dan hu prekarjat iddettat mill-Gvern.

F’Ittra lill-Ministru Borg, il-GRTU spjegat li m’għadx hemm żmien għal diskussjonijiet fuq dan is-suġġett u talbet laqgħa immedjata sabiex is-sitwazzjoni tiġi rimedjata minnufih.

 

GRTU Malta Chamber of SMEs has today organised a seminar for business owners to assist Maltese SMEs in becoming compliant with the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The new GDPR, enters into force in a month’s time, on the 25th of May 2018. For the first time, this new regulation will create a common set of EU rules to enable the flow of data in the EU Digital Single Market and give stronger rights to citizens and consumers.

GRTU remains committed to ensure that SMEs are provided with all the information which would enable their business to become compliant and avoid the hefty fines that could be imposed by this regulation. GRTU insists that there is no one-size-fits all and that the implementing authorities shall continue with their awareness educational campaign before opting for penalising genuine omissions. This is a learning process for all stakeholders.

 

GRTU President Paul Abela said that ‘’with the advancements of electronics, IT and social media, the level of interactivity of businesses has increased dramatically, something that GRTU itself encourages. At the same time however, this has sometimes resulted in an overkill and consumers growing tired of constantly being targeted with marketing material and feeling that their privacy is being stepped into.’’ ‘’We hope that the General Data Protection Regulation will iron out these issues and help us understand how we can improve our enterprises to give an even better service to our customers, because the solution, in our opinion, should never be to retract but to improve and advance.’’

Addressing those present, Parliamentary Secretary for Consumer Protection and Valletta 2018 Hon. Deo Debbattista said that ‘’The General Data Protection Regulation should not be considered as an obstacle and should not be turned into a fear for fines or new administrative procedures. Rather, I feel that this regulation should be considered as an opportunity to strengthen trust between us and with those we serve.’’

During the seminar, the Commissioner for Information and Data Protection explained the new regulation and discussed it with expertise from the private sector. ‘’Data Protection is a fundamental human right.’’ ‘’It is in businesses’ interest to comply with the GDPR’’ he said. Furthermore, those present had the opportunity of directly putting forward their questions and/or concerns.

The seminar will be available online for the benefit of business owners who could not attend today. Interested parties may get in touch with the GRTU Malta Chamber of SMEs for more information.

This seminar was organised with the support of the Parliamentary Secretariat for Consumer Protection and Valletta 2018 and the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has been recently finalised and is set to come in force on the 25th of May 2018. Following two successful information sessions, GRTU felt the need to organise a half day seminar focusing on the essential information required. This seminar is being aimed to give you nothing more than that required by the regulation and the tools needed in order to ensure that your business is fully in line with the new GDPR.

Those present during this seminar, will be given the opportunity to address questions directly at the Office of the Information and Data Protection Commissioner.

The agenda includes opening messages followed by an overal explanation of the new GDPR followed by a question and answer session with a panel of experts.

Date: Wednesday 25th April
Time: 08:30 – 12:00 (Followed by a networking lunch)
Venue: Montekristo Estate
Fee: Registration is Free

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER – FEW SEATS REMAINING

CLICK HERE FOR PROGRAMME

Places are limited and will be strictly be allocated on a first come first served basis.

This event is being organised with the full support of the Parliamentary Secretariat responsible for Consumer Protection and Valletta 18.

In 2014 the European Commission published Directive 2014/55/EU which has the objective of promoting the uptake of electronic invoicing in public procurement. The directive also aims to ensure interoperability and legal certainty between member states on this subject. Electronic invoicing has the benefit of allowing the automated generation, transmission, reception and processing of an invoice. The implementation of a common European Standard on electronic invoicing is a guarantee that these benefits are reached in the context of the European internal market.

On 28 June 2017, the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) published the semantic data model for the European standard on eInvoicing. A study on the practical application and implementation of the European e-Invoicing standard was also carried out, which confirmed the suitability of the newly created standard. The Directive stipulates an implementation deadline of 18 months at the national level and 30 months at the regional and local level. The creation of a European standard for eInvoicing in public procurement prevents Member States from creating their own different standards which would lead to increased complexity in term of cross-border interoperability.

The European Multi-Stakeholder Forum on Electronic Invoicing (EMSFEI) was created for this purpose and Malta is represented by employees from MEIB (Ministry for the Economy, Investment and Small Business). In March 2018 MEIB called a meeting and invited Maltese Social Partners such as GRTU, MEA, MBB, COC and others. During this meeting, background about the directive and its implementation was given and attendees were informed that a National Forum on eInvoicing would be created shortly. It was also announced that a new member on the EMSFEI must be nominated from amongst the stakeholders to join in the EMSFEI meetings in Brussels. It was noted that ideally this new member would have a technical background as the representatives from MEIB did not have this knowledge. The new member must also be from an organization which is listed in the Transparency Index. The only organist ions around the table that are listed were GRTU and MBB. Both organizations nominated a member and Marcel Mizzi from GRTU was selected to join the EMSFEI. Mizzi’s job will be to report details from the EMSFEI to the Maltese National eInvoicing Forum which has just been created and to relay the concerns of the Maltese Forum to the EMSFEI. Mr. Mizzi attended the seconf EMSFEI meeting on the 11th and 12th April 2018.

Electronic invoicing will at first only pertain to Government procurement and at the start it will be voluntary only and only on high value procurement, later on becoming obligatory. Eventually all business to business invoicing will be done electronically but this is still some years away and only envisaged to happen after the successful implementation of the B2G and G2B phases.

There are numerous issues with the implementation of this directive even during these early stages. Perhaps the most difficult one to solve is disseminating the standards. CEN, the organization that created the standard charges a fee for them. The fee varies from €20 in one Member state to €250 in another. The standards document is required by software development companies as they need to use it to create extensions to their existing applications so that they can produce and process electronic invoices. This was discussed at length during the EMSFEI meetings on the 11th and 12th April. Suggestions were made to mitigate the issues although because of the way the Commission works, some suggestions are irrelevant at this stage. However, it was decided that at least a detailed FAQ would be created to make legal licensing issues better to understand. The EMSFEI meets every 6 months and so far has met twice. The meetings also divide into sub groups, namely one group on “Guidance on the implementation of the EN and Directive”, another on “CIUS (Core Invoice Usage Specifications) and technical implementation” and a third group “Additional requirements and opportunities”. These groups break down the transposition, standards and eventual implementation into manageable chunks and these are then studied and discussed and recommendations are made. These groups will be dismissed when their work is completed and new ones created to tackle remaining issues.

Some member states are lagging behind while others have progressed ahead. Some do not even have the political backing and a Government entity that owns the eInvoicing initiative. The EMSFEI and its components are chasing these countries. CEF (Connecting Europe Facility), which is part of the EMSFEI forum is also organizing training sessions in the Member states themselves and webinars that may be accessed from anywhere. These are all free except for the cost of hosting the presenters. One will be organized shortly in Malta.

For more information please contact