Author: SME Chamber

At a special
meeting of the European Council on 30 August, European leaders called for
speedy implementation of the 2014 European Semester country-specific
recommendations endorsed on 27 June as well as of the Strategic Agenda with its
strong focus on jobs, growth and competitiveness.

The European
has launched its public consultation to collect ideas and feedback on how the
"Small Business Act" for Europe (SBA) can be reviewed in order to ensure a European
policy that continues to support Small and Medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and
entrepreneurs 2015-2020.

The SBA was adopted in 2008 and reviewed in 2011 so as
to recognise the considerable role of SMEs in the European economy. Europe
2020, the Commission's chief reform strategy, also places SMEs on the pedestal
due to their high potential for employment. In fact SMEs account for 87 million
employed citizens and 85 per cent of net job creation.

Through
its public consultation, the Commission seeks to ensure the SBA is in a
suitable position to deal with future challenges. This can only be done by
receiving input from all the interested parties, including both entrepreneurs
and business organisations. Interested parties can answer an online questionnaire
at http://ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/runner/NewSBAsurvey2014 and voice their
opinions on which future direction the Commission should take with the SBA.
This consultation will remain open until 15 December 2014.   

The
Commission aims to preserve emphasis on the current key action areas. These are
increased access to finance, a reduction of administrative burdens, easier
access to markets and the promotion of entrepreneurship and innovation. In
addition to this, a new pillar has been added which focuses on skills
development. Although European SMEs are so significant in job creation, they
can only create jobs when they in turn grow. In order to grow they require
workers that possess relevant skills, which highlights the importance of this
new pillar. The SBA is an initiative that is beneficial to all EU citizens and
with this public consultation it can now be revised in order to better handle
future obstacles.

In October
2014, EU countries that heavily rely on coal are expected to receive billions
in funding to cut greenhouse emissions. Specifically, EU leaders are expected
to stimulate Eastern European countries to sign up for the new 2030 climate
goal, which aims to cut emissions by 30%.

This new target comes after a review
of the Energy Efficiency Directive by the European Commission. Although some
countries (like Germany) are expected to meet the goals ahead of time, other
counties (like Bulgaria and Romania) face industrial challenges that require
extra funding.  

To learn more
about the EC's 2030 policy framework for climate and energy, visit 

http://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/2030/index_en.htm

On the 21st of
August the private research group Markit published its Flash Eurozone Composite
Output Index. This showed that the Eurozone economy continues to recover
however at a very small pace that only predicts very limited growth for the
near future.

With increased
globalisation comes the need to translate language and services to be
recognisable across countries and continents. Two such examples, the IBAN and
BIC, deal with the banking sector and facilitate swifter electronic
transactions. An IBAN (International Bank Account Number) is a series of up to
34 alphanumeric characters that was established in order to standardise the
identification of bank accounts worldwide.

Thus the
IBAN allows bank accounts to be recognised from anywhere in the world in order
to allow international payments to and from Europe, including the 34 Single
Euro Payments Area (SEPA) countries. The existing bank account numbers are not
replaced as the IBAN simply adds more characters. Along with the IBAN, the BIC
(Bank Identifier Code) is another important code that is composed of either
8-11 alphanumeric characters. These codes allow customers to effect payments
electronically and therefore problems arise when service providers fail to
display their IBAN and BIC on the invoices they issue.

Article
4(4) of EC Regulation 924/2009 states that:

"Where appropriate, with regard to the nature of the payment
transaction concerned, for all invoicing of goods and services in the
Community, a supplier of goods and services that accepts payments covered by
this Regulation shall communicate its IBAN and the BIC of its payment service
provider to its customers."

This
Regulation has since been amended by Regulation 260/2012, which states that 1
February 2014 was the set deadline in the euro area for compliance with the
Regulation's core provisions. For countries external to the euro area the
deadline will be 31 October 2016. In most SEPA countries, a national website
dedicated to SEPA is available. The Malta Bankers' Association provides useful
information on SEPA at the following link: http://www.maltabankers.org/sepa?l=1.

Russian
sanctions on food products, a response to EU action following the ongoing
crisis in Ukraine, could have a significant impact on the stability of prices
in the retail sector. The restrictions, which apply to the farming sector, have
been places on the trade of food products such as fruits and vegetables, dairy
and meat products.

On the 26th of
August, EU negotiators have aborted talks concerning better market access for
EU reinsurers over the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).
The abandoning of talks recognizes that it is unlikely to remove rules forcing
the industry to post as much as 100% collateral against their American
liabilities.

On the 18th of
August, deputy EU Justice Commissioner Martine Reichers gave a speech
concerning the progress on the data protection reform directives. Just when
progress is accelerating, opponents are trying to slow it down by using the
recent ruling of the European Court of Justice regarding the right to be
forgotten.

However Reichers says she will not allow them to use this vital
ruling to stop the opening of a single digital market for EU companies and
better privacy protection for EU citizens. The ruling asks for a balance
between the legitimate interests of Internet users and the fundamental rights
of citizens. Negotiations concerning the data protection reform have been
ongoing for more than two and a half years. Heads of State and Government want
to adopt a strong EU General Date Protection framework by 2015.

Further information on data
protection can be found at: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/data-protection/

The European
Court of Justice has yesterday upheld the Commission's 2007 decision on
MasterCard's multilateral interchange fees, wholly rejecting the card scheme's
appeal. Following this ruling, the adoption of proposed regulation for open,
transparent and lower card fees for all payment users must be a priority.

EuroCommerce, the original
complainant in the MasterCard case and a party throughout the proceedings,
wholly welcomed the opinion and trusts that it will provide great impetus to
the Council and Parliament to proceed quickly with the proposal for EU
Regulation which should bring great benefits for European commerce and all
consumers.

The ECJ affirmed all the
findings of the General Court, holding in particular that the interchange fees
could not be regarded as ‘objectively necessary' as ‘the system was still
capable of functioning without these fees.'

GRTU is very pleased with this
decision and augurs that MasterCard will re-assess its fees, not only
cross-border but at national level also. We call on the regulators to move
swiftly to adopt the proposed EU Regulation by the end of this year. Indeed, we
see the ruling as giving support to the European Parliament's extension of the
original Commission proposals. We urge the Council to follow the Parliament's
excellent lead.

In particular, GRTU calls on
the Council and Parliament to:

set interchange fee caps at 0.2% for
debit and 0.3% for credit as an absolute maximum, with the option for member
states to set lower or fixed caps;

include a fixed cap of maximum 7
cents for debit transactions;

include commercial cards in the fee
caps and;

implement both
domestic and cross-border fees within 6 months.