Author: SME Chamber

Member States
must step up their work to prevent, detect and report fraud affecting EU funds,
according to the Commission's annual report on the protection of financial
interests (PIF report).

The report sets out detailed recommendations on areas
that national authorities should particularly focus on in this respect. The
report finds that detected fraud in EU spending accounts for less than 0.2% of
all funds. Nevertheless, the Commission believes that greater efforts at
national level both on combatting and detecting fraud should be deployed. The
annual PIF report therefore recommends, amongst other things, that Member States
review their controls to ensure they are risk-based and well-targeted.

On the
positive side, the report notes that good progress is being made at national
level to implement new rules and policies which will strengthen the fight
against fraud in the years ahead. Moreover, at EU level, the past 5 years have
seen major advances in shaping a stronger anti-fraud landscape. These
initiatives can have a marked impact on fraud levels, once they are fully
implemented.

According
to the report, fraud affecting the EU budget, which was detected by national
authorities, decreased slightly in 2013 compared to 2012. On the expenditure
side, €248 million in EU funds were affected by fraud, equivalent to 0.19%
of the expenditure budget. This compares to €315 million the previous year
– a drop of about 21%. On the revenue side, suspected or confirmed fraud
amounted to €61 million, representing 0.29% of traditional own resources
collected for 2013. This compares to €77.6 million the previous year, also
marking a drop of 21%. While the overall financial impact of fraud affecting EU
funds decreased last year, the number of cases reported in EU spending
increased compared to the previous year. This may be the result of stronger
measures to detect fraud at an earlier stage, thereby reducing the overall
amount of funds affected. It also may signal better reporting of fraud by some
Member States.

As you might recall some years back the Government had
launched an advantageous scheme to encourage businesses to set up their
website. The scheme was very successful however it closed and no scheme to
replace it was issued ever since.

The Government has acknowledged the importance of
online selling and has earlier this month launched a consultation paper that
will lead to a new E-Commerce scheme for businesses.

GRTU is holding a consultation session to explain the
plans the Government has and gather your feedback on what you think the new
scheme should look like, including what support and funds you would need to
develop your own website.

The session will be held as follows:

Date: Tuesday 4^th August 2014

Time: 14.00 – 15.30

Venue: GRTU, Exchange Buildings, Republic Street, Valletta

The Fast Track
to Innovation scheme will be open to applications from January 2015. It will
support small consortia of three to five organisations with strong business
participation to give promising ideas the last push before entering the market.
It is open to ideas in any area of technology or application and to any legal
entity established in the EU or in a country associated to Horizon 2020.

The contests
for the five innovation prizes will start in late 2014 and early 2015. The
prizes, worth €6 million in 2015, cover three different thematic areas of
research: health ("Reduction of the Use of Antibiotics Prize",
"Food-Scanner Prize"), the environment ("Reduction of Air
Pollution Prize") and ICT ("Collaborative Sharing of Spectrum",
"Optical Transmission Prize").

The updated
Work Programme adopted confirms details of the calls for proposals for 2015
first announced last December and specifies the deadlines for proposals. All
funding opportunities under Horizon 2020 are accessible from the Participant portal which can be accessed at: http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/home.html

On 20 March,
the European Council declared not to recognise the illegal
"referendum" in Crimea, considered in clear violation of the
Ukrainian Constitution, and condemned the illegal annexation of Crimea/Sevastopol
to the Russian Federation, committing not to recognise it. in this context, the
European Council asked the Commission to evaluate the legal consequences of the
annexation and to propose economic, trade and financial restrictions regarding
Crimea/Sevastopol for rapid implementation.

Therefore
it was decided to develop an Information Note to Business in order to outline
the impact of the illegal annexation on business and to give information to EU
business present in Crimea/Sevastopol regarding the situation on the ground.

This
note can be accessed through:

http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/where/neighbourhood/documents/info-note-to-business_en.pdf

This
joint European Commission/EEAS document has been drawn up following
consultation with business associations, sectoral associations. Member States
and other stakeholders. This Note is not intended to constitute legal advice
and should not be seen as providing guidance/recommendations. Moreover, it
should be considered as a 'living document' and may, thus, be subject to
revision in light of the continuously evolving situation.

The sixth round of EU-US trade talks, the Transatlantic Trade
and Investment Partnership (TTIP), concluded in Brussels on 18 July.

Mr Fenech specified that GRTU is all in favour of the
integration of ex-convicts into the world of work as everybody deserves a
second chance. The relationship with the employer in this process however must
also be catered for specifically. It must be transparent, disclosing of the
persons' past and emphasizing on how the person wants to work to be able to
give this person a chance to give a meaningful contribution. He also expressed
GRTU's intention to collaborate as would be required to support the businesses,
the Authorities, the NGOs and the individuals seeking integration.

GRTU has organized an information and
training session in collaboration with the Central Bank of Malta in view of the
introduction of the €10 from the new Europa series of banknotes on 23rd
September.

This new banknote was unveiled
at the very beginning of the year, in January. It will be the second banknote
in the Europa series and, like the €5, will incorporate several new security
features which aim to maintain the trust that 334 million people across the
euro area have in their money.

The banknotes of the Europa
series are being introduced gradually over several years. The €5 was introduced
in May 2013 and during the coming years the remaining denominations of the
Europa series will also be issued.     

Participants were also given
samples of the new €10 Banknote and trained on the new security features. While
the new €10 resembles the one first issued in 2002, it has been given a fresh
look and has several new and enhanced security features. Like the first series of
euro banknotes, the new €10 banknote will be very easy to check manually and
visually, using the "feel, look and tilt" method. In addition to the portrait
of Europa in the hologram and the watermark, the notes include an emerald
number, which changes colour from emerald green to deep blue when tilted. The
€5 and €10 banknotes of the Europa series are more durable as they have a
protective coating. This means that the banknotes will need to be replaced less
frequently, thus lowering costs and reducing the impact on the environment.

In the new Europa series one can
also find little Malta which has been included in the map on the banknote as
well as ‘BĊE' written in Maltese fonts for Bank Ċentrali Ewropew.

The Eurosystem is taking steps
to support the adaptation of cash-handling machines and authentication devices
by the September launch date. Owners of such equipment are advised to contact
their suppliers or manufacturers as soon as possible in order to get ready for
the new €10 note.

The Central Bank of Malta
offered to provide direct training to the staff of companies that would like to
learn how to recognize counterfeits especially for employees that do not have
easy access to machines such as drivers that work outside the premises.

One of the clarifications
following the meeting is that the detector pens work on ES 1 and ES 2 notes
equally. The pens contain a solution of iodine which shows a brownish colour
when reacting with starch. Unlike banknote paper almost all commercially
available papers contain starch. That is why counterfeits usually show the said
colour reaction. The coating on the ES 2 banknotes has no influence on the
test.

MIP has today issued a notice that it was extending the
deadline of the Expression of interest (EOI) for the installation of
Photovoltaic Panels on factory roofs in Industrial Parks in Malta and Gozo and
stating that it was awaiting a ruling from the State Aid Monitoring Board. No
further clarifications in relation to the questions made during the
clarification meeting or the meeting held last week between GRTU and MIP were
given.

GRTU immediately expressed its clear concerns on the
EOI with MIP and last week met MIP CEO Joshua Zammit and emphasized that much
more clarification was needed in relation to this EOI. The project requires
some necessary changes as currently no serious bid could be made with the
current state of this EOI and without the necessary information. GRTU's
members, the majority of the sector, all said that if one should adhere to the
conditions of the tender and EU regulations vis-a-vis asbestos and other OHSA
regulations, they could not consider this EOI both in their own merit, as consortia
or even if they involved their foreign partners and mother companies. This
because of very valid reasons which GRTU explained in detail and therefore GRTU
on behalf of its members would have every reason to question any successful bid
at this stage. In its current state fulfilling the requirements of the EOI
without knowing the rate of return, soundness of roofs, other expenses involved
and basic details such as who will own the PV's at the end of the contract,
simply does not make sense.

Well aware of the limitations of the area available
for these kinds of projects GRTU feels that giving Maltese enterprises the
chance to participate is very important. GRTU wants to make sure they do not
lose out on this golden opportunity for other reasons that are beyond our
members' control, such as size of company or past experience that Maltese
companies could not have because of the size of the market. GRTU has already
given MIP suggestions of how this can be worked out.

GRTU's words are backed by its members, the experts in
this sector. Such expertise should not be taken for granted and that is why we
constantly urge the Authorities to effectively involve GRTU and its members
during the drafting phase of such projects so that we avoid these kinds of
situations. Just recently a scheme launched by Malta Enterprise had to be
retreated because of poor consultation and planning and as GRTU we can recall
countless other schemes that concerned this sector which were also evidently
planned by people who did not have enough knowledge of this sector. GRTU has
success stories to tell, one clear example of this are the schemes managed by
MRA. The only people that deserve merit for these successes are our members for
their continuous feedback and goodwill from the authorities and their
employees. There is nothing reasonable that could hinder MIP from following
suit. The expertise we have in our industry is valuable and should be utilized
in the best way possible for the benefit of MIP itself, the tenants, installers
and their employees and the country as a whole. GRTU would be more than happy
to help and avoid the wastage of a great deal of time and money for all parties
involved.

The Employment and Training
Corporation (ETC) and Identity Malta wish to announce the establishment of a
one-stop-shop application service for the majority of Third-Country Nationals
(TCNs) wishing to reside in Malta for the purpose of work.  This service will commence on the 21^st July 2014.

A single simplified
procedure, for TCNs, excluding those who fall within the categories listed
below, will require the submission by the individual of only one application to
the Department for Citizenship and Expatriate Affairs at Evans Building, St
Elmo Place, Valletta.

This means that employers
do not need to submit any applications for their prospective TCN
employees.  Applications need to be
submitted by the prospective employees themselves. However, employers must previously
endorse the application.

Does
this procedure apply to all TCNs?

The single application
procedure will be available to all TCNs other than those who fall within the
following categories:

TCNs who are awaiting or have been granted
temporary protection and beneficiaries of either international or national
protection.

TCNs who have long-term resident status.

TCNs who are self-employed workers.

TCNs who are students recognized under the
Students Regulations (Legal Notice 29 of 2008).

TCNs working in Malta for up to 6 months only.

TCNs working in Malta on the basis of a visa.

Posted TCN workers and intra-corporate
transferees.

The above will continue to
require the two separate procedures at ETC and Citizenship, as per current
regulations.

Further
information?

Procedures applicable to
individual cases are available on www.mhas.gov.mt (‘MHAS
Services' – ‘Residence') or by contacting the Department for Citizenship and
Expatriate Affairs on 2590 4800 or by email on .