Category: Archive – 2013

Il-GRTU illum kellha laqgha
mall-iSpeaker, l-Onorevoli Anglu Farrugia fejn it-tmexxija tal-GRTU pprezentat
lill-President tal-Parlament Malti, Dossier intitolat Making Business Grow. Dan hu dokument li l-GRTU qed titlob
lill-Parlament Malti jiehu konjizzjoni tieghu fit-tfassil tal-Ligijiet b'emfazi
ekonomika u socjali.

Il-President tal-Parlament l-iSpeaker
Dr Anglu Farrugia spjega li huwa jixtieq jkun President attiv u li jressaq
dejjem aktar lil Parlament lejn l-poplu in generali u b'mod partiklari lejn
l-imsiehba socjali u s-socjeta civili organizzata. Id-Direttur Generali
tal-GRTU spjega li l-GRTU tixtieq tara t-twaqqif ta' Petitions Committee fil-Parlament Malti li jahdem fuq l-istess
linji tal-Parlament Ewropew. Id-Direttur Generali semma li bhala kwistjoni
mmedjata li l-GRTU tixtieq tressaq hi dik dwar l-Ligi tal-Kera fejn iz-zewg
nahat ta' l-ahhar Parlament kienu ghagglu ghaddew Ligi bi ftehim bejniethom li
wegghet b'mod qawwi lil eluf ta' sidien ta' negozji Maltin. Din hi Ligi li
ghaddiet minghajr ma tkejjel l-impatt ekonomiku attiv fuq dawn is-sidien li
l-bicca l-kbira minnhom huma zghar.

Il-Parlament ma ta' l-ebda
konsiderazzjoni ta' protezzjoni permanenti lil sidien ta' negozzji zghar biex
dawn ifendu ghar rashom minghajr tgheddida ta' zgumbrament fi zmien li jkunu
ghadhom ma koprewx l-investiment li jkunu ghamlu fi proprjeta mikrija minghand
haddiehor.

Il-President tal-Parlament Dr Anglu
Farrugia spjega li huwa ser jirsisti biex l-Kumitat Socjali tal-Kamra jidhol
f'aktar kwistjonijiet li jolqtu aktar lis-sidien iz-zghar. Il-President tal-Parlament
qal ukoll li huwa ser jaghti s-sehem shih tieghu biex jitwaqqaf il-Kumitat
Parlamentari ghall-Affarijiet Ekonomici u Finanzjarji.

Il-GRTU qablet ma dan is-suggeriment u
semmiet b'mod partikolari l-kwistjoni serja tax-Shadow Economy li llum
f'pajjizna qeghda tikber u mhux tickien miz-zewg lati partikolari;

l-ewwelnett, haddiema li minhabba numru
ta' rigiditajjiet fis-sistema tal-assistenza socjali qeghdin isibu ruhhom li
jkollhom jahdmu minghajr ma jiddikjaraw d-dhul taghhom

it-tieni, li hi l-akbar nkwiet
ghall-imsiehba tal-GRTU, in-numru li dejjem jikber ta' operaturi, Maltin u
barranin li qed jimpurtaw iqassmu u jbieghu,  jghamlu xoghlijiet diversi
ta' tiswijiet, kostruzzjoni, u sub
contracting ohra bla ma jiddikjaraw id-dhul u jhallsu kontribuzzjonijiet
socjali u taxxi ohra.

l-istatistika qed turi li l-expenditure side tal-GDP juri volumm
ta' infieq akbar min dak li hu dikjarat fir-revenue side tal-kejl tal-GDP. Il-verita hi, ssostni l-GRTU li
hemm volumm ta' infieq, li fih innifsu hu tajjeb ghall-ekonomija izda, hu hazin
ghax huwa l-frott ta' kompetizzjoni ngusta ta' individwi li qed jaqilghu b'mod
ingust ghas-skapitu ta' imprendituri onesti Maltin. Il-GRTU ghalhekk temmen
illi l-Parlament ghandu jkollu rapport aktar dirett ma organizazzjonijiet bhal
ma hi l-GRTU biex ic-channel of
communications ma jkunx biss mall-Gvern imma ukoll direttament
mall-Parlament.

Finalment il-GRTU appellat
lill-President tal-Parlament li hu, bhala Speaker jiehu role ikbar f'dak kollhu li jigi propost dwar tibdil fil-kostituzzjoni. 
I-bicca l-kbira tan-nies inkluzi l-membri tal-GRTU m'ghandhomx ideja ta' x'inhu
jinghad dwar l-kostituzzjoni u jkun tajjeb li l-President tal-Parlament jidher
li ghandu rwol fundamentali fuq dan is-suggett.

Dr Anglu Farrugia irringrazzja lill-GRTU
ghal laqgha kordjali u ghas-suggerimenti li sarulu u assigura lill-mexxejja
tal-GRTU li hu  ser jizgura lill Kumitati tal-Kamra jzommu kontinwament
il-htiega ta' komunikazzjoni diretta mall-imsiehba socjali u s-socjeta civili
organizzata.

Prezenti ghall-Laqgha Paul Abela, President, Vincent Farrugia, Direttur Generali, Philip Fenech,
Vici President, Policy & Strategy,
Joan Haber, Vici President, Trade
Sections & Crafts, Carmen Borg – Senior Executive. 

The Culture Programme 2007-2013 aims at enhancing the
cultural area shared by Europeans through the development of cooperation
activities among cultural operators. The general objectives of the Programme
are the promotion of the trans-national mobility of people working in the
cultural sector, the support for the trans-national circulation of cultural and
artistic works and products and the promotion of inter-cultural dialogue. The
Programme is divided into 3 strands as follows:

Strand 1:
Support for cultural projects

Cultural organisations are given support for projects
that involve working together across borders and the creation and
implementation of cultural and artistic activities.  The thrust of this
strand is to help organisations such as theatres, museums, professional
associations, research centres, universities, cultural institutes and public authorities.
This strand is divided into categories as shown in following table:

Strand 2:
Support for organisations active at European level in the field of culture

The grant under
this strand assists with operation costs incurred by beneficiary organisations
implementing their work programmes. The categories eligible under this
strand are ambassadors, advocacy networks, festivals and policy support
structures for the Culture Agenda.

The maximum amount of grants available varies from EUR
100,000 and EUR 600,000, depending on the category applied for.  EU
Support is limited to 80% of total eligible costs, or the costs estimated in
the proposed work programme. The upcoming deadline for this strand is 15
September 2013.

Strand 3:
Support for analysis and for the collection and dissemination of information
and for maximising the impact of projects in the filed of cultural cooperation

The programme
also supports the collection and dissemination of information and activities in
order to maximise the impact of projects. The upcoming deadline for Strand 3 is
1 October 2013.

More detailed information, including submission
deadlines for 2013, is available at: http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/culture/funding/2013/index_en.php or contact the
Cultural Contact Point in on .

In its Report of 4 May 2007
the Commission evaluated the use of phosphates in detergents. It has been
concluded that the use of phosphates in consumer laundry detergents should be
limited in order to reduce the contribution of phosphates from detergents to
eutrophication risks and to reduce the cost of phosphates removal in waste
water treatment plants.

Those
cost savings outweigh the cost of reformulating consumer laundry detergents
with alternatives to phosphates.

When
excessively discharged into water, phosphates, like nitrates, can raise the
amount of nutrients to an unsustainable level, eventually causing algae to grow
at the expense of other aquatic life. This phenomenon is known as
'eutrophication' or, more commonly, 'red tides' or 'green tides'.

The main
sources of discharge of phosphates into surface waters are agriculture and
sewage with detergents coming in third position.

Phosphates
are primarily used in detergents to ensure efficient cleaning in hard water.
Phosphates originating from detergents and discharged into waste water have to
be removed through costly chemical or biological processes at waste water
treatment plants. Not all treatment plants in the EU are equipped with the
necessary technology to carry this out.

Efficient
alternatives to phosphate-based consumer laundry detergents require small
amounts of other phosphorus compounds, namely phosphonates which, if used in
increasing quantities, might be of concern for the environment. While it is
important to encourage the use of alternative substances with a more favourable
environmental profile than phosphates and other phosphorus compounds in the
manufacture of consumer laundry detergents, such substances should, under their
normal conditions of use, present no risk, or a lower risk, to humans and/or
the environment.

Regulation
(EC) No 648/2004 on detergents was amended by Regulation (EU) No 259/2012 to
limit the use of phosphates and other phosphorous compounds in consumer laundry
detergents and consumer automatic dishwasher detergents. The Regulation
proposes a phosphorous content limit of 0.5% of the total weight of the product
in all laundry detergents on the EU market. This will apply as of 30th June
2013, to allow detergent manufacturers to minimise the costs of modifying the
composition of laundry detergents in a normal product life cycle.

Irish Presidency secures agreement on key remaining part of
Single Market Act I. This Directive will cut red tape for SMEs and increase
transparency with inclusion of "country-by-country" reporting. The agreement secured this week in Brussels by the Irish
Presidency on the Accounting Directive is another major step in reducing red
tape for European SMEs, according to Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and
Innovation, Richard Bruton TD, current chair of the Competitiveness Council.

The Directive is one of the final outstanding parts
of the Single Market Act I. Minister Bruton – "At the heart of this
Directive is the drive
to cut red tape and reduce the administrative burden on SMEs. That is
why this
agreement is so important".

One of the Directive's key proposals is the simplification of
accounting rules for SMEs. Among the measures contained in the draft Directive
are the reduction of reporting requirements for SMEs and the introduction of an
exemption from preparing consolidated financial statements for small groups.

The Directive also incorporates a number of measures designed
to enhance financial transparency. The provisions made for Country-by-Country
Reporting will dramatically increase the transparency of payments made to
governments by European companies involved in the extractive industries. The
Reports will assist the citizens of resource-rich countries in holding their
governments to account for the use made of payments received from EU
undertakings active in the extractive industries or in the exploitation of
primary forests.

The agreement reached week will require final approval by the
Committee of Permanent Representatives.

Europe Direct Valletta is one of many Europe Direct
Information Centres (EDIC), almost 500, around the EU. EDICs are one of the
Commission's main tools to offer information to citizens at local level and to
gather citizens` feedback for the European Institutions.

Europe Direct Valletta provides any one with general
information about EU and answers to questions on any European Union policy. It
provides practical and easy to understand information on dozens of subjects:
for example, how to get your qualifications recognized, what are my health
rights when travelling within the EU, how to complain about unsafe products,
etc… We also give advice to help the citizen overcome practical problems with
exercising their rights in Europe. Where required we provide also contact
details of relevant organisations the citizen may need to deal with.

Europe in 12 lessons               Lesson 1: Why the
European Union?

The beginning

During the 20th century, the European continent was ravaged
by several wars. However, a new kind of hope emerged from the rubble of the
Second World War; people were determined to put an end to international hatred
and rivalry in Europe and create lasting peace.

Between 1945 and 1950, a handful of courageous statesman,
Robert Shuman, Konrad Adenauer, Alcide de Gasperi and Winston Churchill, began
to lay the foundations for a new Europe, based on shared interests and founded
upon treaties guaranteeing the rule of law and equality between all countries.

On 9th May 1950 Shuman proposed establishing a European Coal
and Steel Community. Whereby raw materials of war were being turned into
instruments of reconciliation and peace.

The European Union encouraged German unification after the
fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Afterwards, when the Soviet empire crumbled in
1991, the countries of central and Eastern Europe, were released from the ‘iron
curtain' and freed to choose their own destiny. Eight of them joined the EU in
2004, the same year in which Malta joined, and two more followed in 2007. The
process of EU enlargement is still going on. Croatia, for example, will be the
28th member state of the EU in May 2013.

Security, Economic and Social
Solidarity

Europe in the 21st century still faces security issues and
has to work constructively with the regions just beyond its borders, like the
Balkans, North Africa and the Middle East. The fight against terrorism and
organised crime requires the police forces of all EU countries to work together
closely. Making the EU an ‘area of freedom, security and justice' where
everyone has equal access to justice and is equally protected by the law is a
new challenge that requires close cooperation between governments. Bodies like
Europol, the European Police Office and Eurojust also have to play an active
and effective role.
From an economic point of view, European countries must continue pulling
together if they are to ensure economic growth. No individual EU country is
strong enough to fare alone in world trade. To achieve economies of scale and
find new customers, European companies need a broader base than just their
national home market, and the European single market provides it, a market of
500 million consumers.

Another important pillar is Europe-wide solidarity. This has
clear tangible benefits for European citizens. The "Structural Funds" encourage
and supplement the efforts of National Authorities to reduce inequalities
between different parts of Europe. Such funds are used to improve the transport
infrastructure, invest in renewable energy sources, education and training,
etc… The global financial crises in 2008 required for the EU to provide
financial assistance to the hardest-hit countries. In 2010 the EU led Member
States to make a concerted effort to reduce their public debt. The big
challenge of the EU countries is that in the years ahead together they will
stand to face the global crises and find a way out of the recession into
sustainable growth.

According to its values, the EU seeks to ensure that
humankind is the beneficiary, rather than the victim, of the greater global
changes that are taking place. The EU stands for a model of society that the
great majority of its citizens support. Europeans cherish their rich heritage
of values, which includes a belief in human rights, social solidarity, free
enterprise, a fair distribution of fruits of economic growth, the right to a
protected environment, respect for cultural, linguistic and religious diversity
and a harmonious blend of tradition and progress.

The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union sets
out all rights recognised today by the EU's Member States and their citizens.
Shared rights and values create a feeling of kinship between Europeans. To take
just one example, all EU countries have abolished the death penalty.

In the long run however, all EU countries benefit. Sixty
years of European integration has shown that the EU as a whole is greater than
the sum of its parts and this is an added value in acting together and speaking
with a single voice. Working together does not mean erasing the distinct
cultural and linguistic identity of individual countries. On the contrary, many
EU activities help promote regional specialities and the rich diversity of Europe's
traditions and cultures.

      21 228 843

GRTU, Exchange Building,
Republic Street, Valletta

The European
Chemicals Agency has launched a public consultation on the Restriction proposal
for Lead and its compounds in articles
intended for consumer use (EC: 231-100-4, CAS: 7439-92-1).  The
full report on this Annex XV restriction has been published and can be
downloaded from the following link: http://echa.europa.eu/documents/10162/80f7edca-b6c1-4433-8734-854594530db2

Lead has been deemed a non-threshold toxic substance for
neurotoxic and neurodevelopmental effects, in particular in children. This
means that it is not possible to establish a "safe" level of lead in the blood
of children. Consequently, their exposure to lead should be avoided as far as
possible.

Children's exposure to lead is still above the highest
tolerable level. All additional exposure to lead, from food or non-food
sources, should therefore be avoided as far as possible. There is hence a need
for further regulation.

Lead and its compounds have a wide use and have been found in
a great variety of applications, some of them being articles intended for
consumer use. Lead is usually present in metal alloys (notably brass), in
pigments/dyes, and to a lesser extent as stabilisers in plastic and as pure
metal. It cannot be determined through a simple analysis which lead compound is
present in a specific material. Neither can it be simply established whether
lead is present as pigment or as stabiliser in a plastic. Therefore, all lead
compounds should be targeted by any further action proposed.

The main route through which children are exposed to lead
from these articles seems to be the mouthing (sucking and chewing) behaviour
exhibited by small children. Of the consumer available articles that are frequently
placed in the mouth by children, and that are not covered by other regulations,
around 10% can be estimated to contain lead. The average lead concentration in
these articles is around 1%. When children exhibit their normal mouthing
behaviour, this lead may cause risk of impaired development of their central
nervous system. The health risk to children who suck or chew lead containing
articles has recently been subject to a restriction under REACH, namely that of
lead in jewellery (entry 63 of Annex XVII).

The action proposed is a restriction in which articles
intended and available for consumer use, which can be placed in the mouth by
children, may be placed on the market only if they do not contain lead above a
limit value of 0.05% by weight. The limit value, which is supported by the
tolerable lead content calculated in this report, should also apply to
individual parts of the articles in question. Such a restriction is aligned
with the similar restriction of lead and its compounds in jewellery items,
which enables a harmonised regulation on lead in the whole range of consumer
articles.

Kindly submit comments on the
restriction proposal by Friday 28^th
June 2013 on 23952000 or

EU-wide testing plan for horsemeat DNA and phenylbutazone (an
anti-inflammatory drug used as a painkiller in veterinary medicine for pets and
horses) has revealed that less than 5 %
of the tested products had horse DNA and that about 0.5 % of the equine carcasses tested were found to be contaminated
with phenylbutazone.

The purpose of the testing plan was:

to
detect the presence of unlabelled horsemeat of food destined for the end
consumer and marketed as containing beef through controls to be carried out,
mainly at retail level;

to
test for the possible presence of bute in horsemeat.

To that end, 7,259 tests were carried out by the competent
authorities in the 27 EU countries, of which 4,144 tested for the presence of
horsemeat DNA and 3,115 tested for the presence of phenylbutazone. Of those
tests, 193 revealed positive traces of horsemeat DNA (4.66%) and 16 showed
positive traces of phenylbutazone (0.51%).

Member States reported another 7,951 tests for the presence
of horsemeat DNA performed by food business operators (producers, processors
and distributors). Of these, 110 contained horsemeat DNA (1.38%). The positive
samples found in relation to horsemeat DNA combined with the very low levels of
bute detected represents a small part of the overall production in EU.

Commissioner Borg has declared that these findings have confirmed that this is a matter of food fraud and not
of food safety and that restoring the trust and confidence of consumers
and trading partners in the food chain is now of vital importance for the EU
economy given as the food sector is the largest single economic sector in the EU. 

Next steps

The Commission and Member States will meet on 19 April to
discuss whether the plan should be extended.

The situation in Malta

The authorities found no presence of horsemeat in beef
products in Malta, according to an EU-wide report issued this week.

The EU said these results correspond with the joint statement
published by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European
Medicines Agency (EMA) yesterday,  which concluded that the risks
associated to phenylbutazone were of "low concern for consumers due to the
low likelihood of exposure and the overall low likelihood of toxic effects and
that, on a given day, the probability of a consumer being both susceptible to
developing aplastic anaemia and being exposed to phenylbutazone was estimated
to range approximately from 2 in a trillion to 1 in 100 million."

Duties later this year may be applied
retrospectively to cover imports from April 2013 – The latest important development is that the duties may be
applied retrospectively before the coming into force of the provisional duties.
From 6 March the European Commission started keeping registration of such
imports in the EU in case it decides to impose provisional duties and apply
them retrospectively – 90 days before the coming into force of the provisional
duties. rent estimate).

This whether or not the purchase order was made in advance of this
date. Even though the retrospective application of the duty is not guaranteed
there is a very high probability this is applied.

Background

GRTU had informed members in a
consultation meeting back in November 2012 that the European Commission had
initiated investigations on instances of anti-dumping and anti-subsidy on
imports of solar panels originating from China. The products subject to
registration are classifiable under the following Combined Nomenclature (CN)
codes: ex 3818 00 10, ex 8501 31 00, ex 8501 32 00, ex 8501 33 00, ex 8501 34
00, ex 8501 61 20, ex 8501 61 80, ex 8501 62 00, ex 8501 63 00, ex 8501 64 00
and ex 8541 40 90.

Timeline

If the Commission investigation concludes that the situation
is leading to injury of the EU industry and that the imposition of measures
does not go against overall Community Interest, provisional measures will be
implemented within 9 months of the initiation of the investigation (6th June 2013 for anti-dumping measures and 5th August
2013 for anti-subsidy measures). If the Commission decides on imposing definite
measures, anti-dumping measures will be imposed on 5th December 2013 and anti-subsidy measures would be imposed
on 7^th February 2014.  These would be applicable for 5years.

Tariffs

The exact level of any tariff that may be imposed by the EU
is not known but the tariff will aim either to remove the effects of dumping
the imported goods in the EU or to remove the injury caused by the dumping,
whichever is lower. The amount of duty imposed, either provisionally or
definitively, should not exceed the margin of dumping. i.e. the Council may
impose a tariff that levels out the cost of the imported goods (subject to the
dumping tariff) and the goods produced in the community that have been
adversely affected by the dumping. However, if a lower duty would be sufficient
to remove the injury caused to the community industry, then a lower duty should
be imposed. The duties are paid on importation in the EU and are at valorem and
the same in the whole of the EU, but may vary from Chinese manufacturer to
manufacturer or amongst Chinese exporters.

According to the Commission Regulation, the allegations in
these investigations estimate the amount of 60 to 70 per cent for dumping and
10 to 15 per cent for subsidisation (meaning 60 per cent to 85 per cent in
total by cur

A meeting for you're
the Renewable Energy Sector will be held to update the Sector on: PV Purchasing Facilitation Scheme (PVPFS), Anti-Dumping on Renewable Energy Systems, MRA domestic PV scheme

The meeting shall be held as follows:

The meeting shall start with a presentation to the media to
promote the scheme. Following which you will be able to ask questions about the
schemes, and a representative of BOV will also be available to answer your
questions. Presentation of certificates to the GRTU APPROVED companies will also
take place.

Date: Monday 15^th
April

Time: 12.30

Venue: GRTU, Exchange
Buildings, Republic Street, Valletta

Registration with or 21 232 881 is required