Small Business Act sees light of day in Malta

GRTU is extremely pleased that after years of incessant pressure at national and EU level for the establishment of the necessary legal framework to safeguard and promote the interests of small and micro enterprises, that Malta is finally taking the right step to establish the Small Business (Malta) Act.

"GRTU has since the establishment of the EU Small Enterprise Charter at Fiera in 2000 been insisting that an announcement of principles and words in favour of Small Businesses is not enough, these words must be backed by the right legislative framework. GRTU lobbied hard with Government to ensure that even though at EU level the SBA is not an ‘actual act', the Maltese Government would still commit himself from an early stage to implement in Malta the provisions of the SBA framework. It is now essential that Government launches immediately a training programme for all civil servants so that the whole bureaucracy of Government starts practicing what is now being boldly set in the SBMA." stated Vincent Farrugia GRTU Director General.

In its proposals for Budget 2011 (www.grtu.eu) GRTU has once again emphasised "that the "Think Small First" principle is not a reality yet and so far it is not correctly interpreted. The real "Think small first" principle means that the starting point for all legislation (new and revised) should be the smallest enterprises, i.e. the overwhelming majority of enterprises. Rules written for a small business can be easily scaled up to cover bigger enterprises, while the contrary is terribly complicated. Rules must respect the majority of those who will use them. This principle should be used consistently and with more ambition throughout the whole regulatory and implementing process. Applying this principle will dramatically ease administrative burdens. The principle is extremely important but the result is heavily depending on how it is interpreted in the regulatory or implementing situation".

Vince Farrugia has this morning during the launch of the SBA congratulated Dr Jason Azzopardi for the launch of this white paper and insisted strongly that the post of Commissioner for SMEs should be created at a rank equivalent to Permanent Secretaries so that this officer would have the power to ensure that all ministries and authorities submit to the fundamental pillars of the SBA. "GRTU will be monitoring developments and requesting from the Parliamentary Secretary regular reports on the implementation of the SBA" concluded Vince Farrugia at this morning's intervention.