Legislation on capital requirements for the banking sector to enter into force

On 17 July, the so-called
CRD IV package which transposes -via a Regulation and a Directive- the new
global standards on bank capital (the Basel III agreement) into EU law will
enter into force. The new rules which will apply from 1 January 2014 tackle
some of the vulnerabilities shown by the banking institutions during the
crisis, namely the insufficient level of capital, both in quantity and in
quality, resulting in the need for unprecedented support from national
authorities.

They set stronger prudential requirements for banks, requiring
them to keep sufficient capital reserves and liquidity. This new framework will
make EU banks more solid and will strengthen their capacity to adequately
manage the risks linked to their activities, and absorb any losses they may
incur in doing business.

Il-GRTU ma taqbel xejn mal-mod kif il-Gvern appunta ic- Chairmen tat-Tribunali Industrijali

Meta tfasslet il-Ligi tar-Relazjonijiet tal-Impjieg u
Relazzjonijiet Industrijali, il-Ministru responsabbli dak inhar kien ferm
attent u zamm konsultazzjoni sakemm kwazi kien impossibbli li jaghmel aktar
biex intlahaq ftehim bejn l-imsiehba socjali u il-Gvern biex il-Ligi tkun tista
tithaddem bl-inqas intoppi possibbli. U hekk gara matul is-snin li ilha tahdem
il-Ligi. Twaqqaf ukoll Bord tar-Relazzjonijiet Dwar ix-Xoghol li fih hemm
rapprezentati l-imsiehba socjali ewlenin kollha u kull ligi li l-Gvern jipproponi
jew kull haga li tigi mill-Unjoni Ewropea kif wkoll kull strategija jew bidla
fil-politika tal-Gvern kienet tigi diskussa.

Issa tela' Gvern Laburista li minnu wiehed kien jistenna
aktar partecipazzjoni mill-imsiehba socjali fil-politika dwar ix-xoghol u
l-ewwel rajna talba stramba ghal ahhar biex ic-Chairmen tat-Tribunali
Industrijali, kollha nies mahtura ghall-integrita taghhom u bi ftehim
mal-imsiehba socjali u maghzula b'interessi u esperjenzi bejn wiehed u iehor
ugwali bejn esperti fil-qasam ta' min ihaddem u ta' min jirraprrezenta
il-haddiema, u issa decizjoni mill-Gvern li jahtar bhala Chairmen individwi
zbilancjati b'mod esagerat favur ir-rapprezentanza tal-haddiema u x'uhud
b'konflitt ta' interess kbir ghaliex jaqghu taht influwenza diretta tal- akbar
employer ta' Malta, is-settur pubbliku. Aghar min hekk imma il-Gvern nehha
b'daqqa ta' pinna individwi li ghalkemm kellhom is-sigurta tal-post ghal
perjodu li ghalih kienu imlahhqa u kellhom ir-rispett ta' kull min resaq
quddiemhom u ta' min hadem maghhhom fit-tribunali.

Ghall-GRTU din hi xi haga li ma tista taqbel maghha
qatt. Wara hafna snin il-GRTU irnexxiela tizgura li fost ic-Chairmen ikun hemm
persuna li ghandha esperjenza diretta fil-qasam imprenditorjali tal-intraprizi
zghar u li prattika fil-kwistjonijiet ta' intraprizi tal-artigjanat. Is-Sinjura
Joan Haber li kienet nominata mill-GRTU u accettata mill-imsiehba socjali
kollha u mill-Gvern hi intrapritendici min Ghawdex b'esperjenza kbira
fl-intrapriza zghira u b'esperjenza kbira bhala persuna li thaddem. Hi mara u
min Ghawdex u tat lit-Tribunal esperjenza utli li kienet mhux tant qawwija
qabel. Kull min mill-qrib raha tahdem bhala Chairman tat-Tribunal kullhad
accetta kemm kienet  korretta, gentili u
ppreparata.  Meta intalbet biex toffri
ir-rizenja ghalkemm il-parir legali li kellha kien li tirrifjuta il-pressjoni
ghax hi fiha innifisa offiza skond il-ligi, hi b'umilta accettat.

Is-Sinjura Haber u ic-Chairmen l-ohra qatt ma kellhom
jkun suggetti ghal xi forma ta' pressjoni. Hi qatt ma kella tigi soggetta ghal
pressjoni biex toffri r-rizenja ghax tokkupa post li bhal dak ta' Mhallef
m'ghandu jkun qatt suggettat ghall-pressjoni ghax jekk jaccetta awtomatikament
isir zlejali. Is-Segretarju Permanenti bhala gwardjan tal-ligi u tal-procedura
koretti kellu jara li pressjoni bhal dik ma ssirx u  mhux ikun strumentali biex issir. Li saret
qabel jekk saret m'hijiex skuza. Il-pajjiz il-quddiem irid jimxi u mhux ihares
lura. Il-GRTU kienet tistenna li s-Sinjura Haber tigi mitluba u tkompli u
ghalhekk ma hassistx li ghandha taghmel nominazzjonijiet godda ghax anke
bic-Chairmen l-ohra mitluba jirrezenjaw ma kienx hemm problemi u ghall-GRTU ma
kienx hemm postijiet vakanti.

Kapaci kemm huma kapaci, il-GRTU ma trid tnaqqas
il-meritu ta' hadd, nies li zammew pozizzjonijiet f'settur tat-trade unions jew
mal-Gvern jew mal-Employers Associations m'ghandhomx jinhattru Chairman jekk
mhux b'kunsens unanimu u f'cirkostanzi eccezzjonali. Ic-Chairmen m'ghandux
ikollu pozizzjonijiet fis-settur pubbliku u ghandu ikun hemm bilanc fin-numru
totali bejn dawk b'esperjenza fil-kamp ta' min ihaddem u tat-trade unions u
b'rapprzentanza ta' individwi mil-qasam tal-intrapriza iz-zghira li f'pajjizna
jaghmlu 98% tal-intraprizi kollha u jhaddmu 77% tal-haddiema kollha li jahdmu.

Il-GRTU tappella il-Gvern biex jaghraf jimxi b'mod
dekoruz biex f'Malta jkollna l-ahjar relazzjoni tax-xoghol kif jixraq lil
pajjiz b'ekonomoja moderna membru tal-Unjoni Ewropeja.

Card transaction fees to be capped under EU proposal


Lucrative
fees to process card transactions are to be capped under a proposal by the
European Union's executive aiming to draw a line under a battle with payment
groups such as Visa Europe and MasterCard.

Under a draft
European Commission plan, a ceiling would be introduced for charges on all
consumer debit and credit card transactions, scaling back a multi billion euro
revenue stream for EU banks.

The measure stops
short of a full ban on debit card fees, a more far-reaching intervention
envisaged in earlier drafts. Even so, the assault on fees will be a setback for
the payments industry, which has warned it will raise banking fees for
consumers rather than cut retail prices.

In addition, the
draft plan requires payment card schemes and the entities that process
transactions to be legally separated – a forced split that would remake the
business model for the main payment groups.

The Commission
proposes a 0.2 per cent ceiling on all consumer debit transactions and 0.3per
cent cap on credit card transactions, introduced after a two-year transition
period where the ceiling applies only to cross-border fees.

According to
Commission estimates, this will cut total EU debit card fees from around €4.8bn
to €2.5bn, and credit card fees from €5.7bn to €3.5bn.

The cap is broadly
based on the proposed antitrust deals with Visa and MasterCard and aims to give
"legal clarity" but it reaches deeper into domestic card markets, where fees
can vary dramatically. Typical debit card fees range from 0.1 per cent in
Denmark to 1.6 per cent in Poland. Average credit card rates in Germany stand
at 1.8 per cent, compared to 0.5 per cent in France.

GRTU Position paper on Proposal for a directive

– on measures facilitating the exercise of rights
conferred on workers in the context of freedom of movement for workers – As a matter of principle, GRTU
welcomes measures facilitating free movement of workers within the European
Union. In order to facilitate a better enforcement and implementation of the
various pre-existing directives and regulations dealing with the free movement
of workers, the new proposed directive should use existing infrastructures and
bodies already in place for rights enforcement and information provision.

GRTU acknowledges that
free movement of workers within the EU can be one of the important means for:

  • Contributing to the supply of qualified workers in
    countries and regions where the economy and notably SMEs are suffering from a
    lack of skilled workforce,
  • Facilitating
    a better matching between labour supply and demand since in several EU
    countries there is an increasing gap between unemployment rates and job
    vacancies,
  • Promoting
    the internationalisation of SMEs through the hiring of EU migrant workers.

However in order to fully grasp
the economic benefits of freedom of movement for workers and to avoid unfair
competition, GRTU considers that it is equally important to complement it with
a correct and full enforcement of rules within the single market. This should
notably apply in the case of posting of workers. In the same way, GRTU recalls
the need to tackle the risks of fraud and breach of what has been qualified as
"social tourism".

As regularly highlighted,
European citizens including European workers are still showing a rather low
mobility rate. According to the Eurobarometer on free movement for workers only
10% of European citizens have worked in another Member State in 2011, but more
than half of the EU population is simply not interested in working abroad. The
main reasons for that are the language barriers and family considerations.

GRTU sees it necessary to put
more efforts  into dissemination of
information, changing mindsets, making people more aware of work and career
opportunities abroad as well as on their rights and obligations, which is one
of the EURES network's main tasks. This might also be supported by more active
foreign language learning.

As a good means to promote
mobility of workers within the EU, GRTU would like to emphasise the importance
of fostering learning mobility of young people during their education pathways
notably for those in vocational education and training. Having a mobility
experience duly recognised in education should become the rule. The
implementation of the European Credit

Transfer Systems in Vocational
Education and training (ECVET) is the right way forward.

On the current proposal for a
directive, GRTU takes note of the four objectives:

Lessening
discrimination against EU migrant workers on the grounds of nationality

Closing
the gap between EU migrant workers' rights on paper and their exercise in
practice

Reducing
the incidence of unfair practices against EU migrant workers

Empowering
EU migrant workers to ensure their rights are respected

 

However while supporting the
main objectives GRTU would like to insist on the importance to prevent and
tackle unfair competition for small companies as well as to apply the European
commitments for a simplification and better regulation agenda. It should
materialise in this new legislative proposal by avoiding red tape, new
administrative obligations and additional requirements for small businesses.

GRTU positively assesses the
current EC proposal for facilitating the freedom of movement of workers, which
we consider being too low in Europe while avoiding unfair competition.

However this might also be a
good opportunity to further assess existing national legislation and apply the
simplification and better regulation agenda if need be.

Green MT – Educational campaign in collaboration with KLABB 3- 16


Green MT the national authorised
waste packaging compliance scheme, has set out an educational campaign targeted
at students who are in the summer months attending KLABB 3 – 16. Kristina
Casolani and Eco councillor Romina Schemri are taking care of this three week
long campaign which will take them across 20 centres in Malta and 3 centres in
Gozo.

Teaching young students
from a tender age about minimising waste and separating waste and recycling is
the primary target of this campaign. Hands on experience is being provided by
having actual coloured separation bins on site and students are given material
resources i.e. plastic bottles, metal cans, carton and asked to deposit in the
correct coloured bin.

Green MT continues on
these educational campaigns with vigour. We believe that it is only through education
that future generations can be much better then we are today in relation to
environmental issues.

Green MT currently has
just over 1300 producer members who financially contribute so that the scheme
effects their environmental obligations in respect to packaging waste
regulations.

Any producer interested
in joining the scheme is to contact us on 21232881 or 79002263.

Tahwid Dwar is-CVA tal-Belt – Kulhadd irid jikkopera biex tinstab soluzzjoni bla privileggi


Is-CVA hi sistema' teknika kif ikun ikkontrollat il-flow
tat-traffiku gol-Belt u kif ikunu razzjonati in-numru ta' parking places disponibbli
fiz-zona ta' gewwa tal-Belt. Is-CVA hi 
imhaddma min nies teknici. Jekk hux qed jithallas hafna jew ftit jara
l-Gvern.

Pero is-sistema flok b'parking meters li jimblukkaw u jkerrhu
il-bankini gol-Belt, tickets li n-nies iridu joghqodu jixtru kull darba,
is-sistema tahdem bil-cameras li jirrekordjaw min jidhol u fi x'hin jidhol u
min johrog u fi x'hin johrog u s-sistema, lil dawk li m'humiex privileggjati,
tohrogilhom il-kont.

Din is-sistema idahhlet ghax qabel it-toroq tal-Belt,
qabel it-tmienja ta' fil-ghodu kienu jkunu ppakjati mill-haddiema li jidhlu
kmieni l-Belt u jibqghu hemm sal-hamsa. Ir-Rizultat kien li tal-hwienet u kull
min irid jixtri jew jinqeda mis-servizzi tal-Belt, Dipartimentali, Qorti, etc
ma kienu jsibu post jipparkjaw imkien. Dan barra l-hsara kbira ambjentali. Il-Policy
dwar kif tithaddem is-CVA hu l-argument u mhux is-sistema. Id-decizjoni ta'
kemm parking slots huma disponibbli ghall-pubbliku, klijenti u negozji,
jiddependi minn kemm il-Gvern jew is-Sindku tal-Belt jaghtu permessi biex
jinghalqu toroq u fuq kemm ikun hemm postijiet ta' parking riservati. Illum
in-numru ta' parking spaces b'kaxxa bajda disponibbli ghal min irid jinqeda
bis-servizzi tal-Belt naqas sew u fil-Belt hemm tgergir kbir ghax ghax dan qed
jaghmel dannu lin-negozji u jdejjaq lin-nies.

L-Istess il-kwistjoni tal-hlas. Mhux is-CVA operators
jiddeciedu kemm trid thallas (u kemm jiffranka min b'daqqa ta' pinna jezentawh)
imma l-Gvern (Malta Transport Authority). L-Istess f'liema granet u f'liema
hinijiet tithaddem is-sistema.

Il-GRTU qed tikkonsulta man-negozji kollha biex
tistabbilixi l-ahjar pariri li tista taghti lil Gvern ghax kif inhi il-policy
li thaddem is-sistema tas-CVA illum mhux taghti rizultati tajbin. Zgur li
thaddmet hazin u r-rizultat hu li hemm tgergir kullimkien. Biex tinstab
soluzzjoni gusta ghas-sidien tan-negozji, ambjent, residenti, u l-eluf ta'
cittadini Maltin u turisti li jridu jinqdew u jgawdu l-Belt, irid ikun hemm
ko-operazzjoni minn kulhadd.

Hadd ma jrid jippretendi li hu akbar minn haddiehor.
Kulhadd ghandu drittijiet imma privileggi m'ghandu jkollu hadd.

The European Consumer Credit Directive (CCD)

Did you
know that you have consumer credit rights when applying for a loan? The European
Consumer Credit Directive (CCD) adopted by the EU and transposed into our
national legislation as of the 18th of January 2013 ensures a high level of
consumer protection and empowers consumers to make informed choices when taking
out credit.

The European Commission launched an information campaign on the
subject within a number of Member States, amongst which Malta. The campaign in
Malta was officially launched in May. Amongst
others the Directive introduces the obligation for clear and easily
understandable credit terms. This in order for consumers to understand the
terms they are being offered and be able to compare them. Enterprises providing
credit facilities should check out the new rules.

Blue Belt: Commission eases customs formalities for ships


Shipping within
the EU is not reaching its full potential – mainly due to considerable
administrative requirements which cost time and money and make shipping less
attractive than other modes of transport.

The ‘Blue Belt' initiative will
provide seaborne transport with a true internal market without barriers, where
vessels and cargo can move between EU ports with minimum administrative controls,
while at the same time still meeting the requirements for safety, security and
customs. The ‘Blue Belt' will ease custom formalities for ships – reducing red
tape, cutting delays in ports and making the sector more competitive.

Number of Erasmus students tops 3 million


Figures
released reveal that more than 3 million students have benefitted from EU
Erasmus grants since the exchange scheme's launch in 1987. The statistics,
covering the 2011-2012 academic year, show that more than 250 000 Erasmus
students – a new record – spent part of their higher education studies abroad
or took up a job placement with a foreign company to boost their employability.
33 countries participate in the Erasmus scheme: EU Member States, Iceland,
Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey.

Androulla
Vassiliou, European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and
Youth, said: "The latest record figures are testament to the enduring
success and popularity of the programme. Erasmus is more important than ever in
times of economic hardship and high youth unemployment: the skills and
international experience gained by Erasmus students make them more employable.
Looking to the future, I'm delighted that our new Erasmus+ programme will
enable 4 million young people to study, train, teach or volunteer abroad in the
next seven years."
Malta Chamber of SMEs
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