Author: SME Chamber

GRTU has recently invited various wedding service providers to attend a meeting that focused on the promotion of this sector within foreign markets. The scope of this meeting was for GRTU to announce that it will be starting an initiative to promote ‘Malta as a Wedding Destination’. The reason being, that Malta is considered as an ideal destination to get married. As an island surrounded with inspiring churches, idyllic beaches and exceptional wedding spots it is a beautiful location to enjoy one’s wedding day.

The first action brought to the table was the concept of boosting weddings in Malta amongst the Irish community by participating in two of the wedding fairs organised by the renowned ‘Wedding Journal Show’ that will be held in the coming months. Although GRTU has selected these fairs as the stepping stone to build this initiative, it was also made clear that the organisation needs the assistance of the wedding professionals to determine what needs to be done to efficiently implement this action as they are the experts.

GRTU also expressed that representative from this industry should pool their resources to obtain mutual benefits and with the assistance of GRTU they will be able to prosper and continue to grow within this sector. Interested participants in this initiative have been invited to attend another meeting on Monday 9th May 2016 at 5:30pm – GRTU. Kindly register your participation by sending an email to

Contrary to the impression given by a media release issued by the Planning Authority earlier today 15th April 2016, entitled ‘SHOP SIGNAGE EXEMPT FROM REQUIRING PLANNING PERMISSION AND LICENSE’, GRTU clarifies that the new LN103/2016 implies that any such signage which is not under 0.5 square metre in size falls within the remit of the new law.

In practice this means that nearly all shop signage and any other advertising would need to undergo procedures through MEPA and be subject to respective fees emanating from this law which also include Eur1500 yearly fees per sign/advert to Transport Malta. Non-compliance may lead to fines of up to Eur5000.

Businesses in the signage sector have reported a sudden halt of sales and cancellation of orders. The retail sector is also strongly alarmed by the situation.

GRTU remains gravely concerned on the implementation and repercussions of this law. GRTU’s position remains that the law should be repealed in its entirety with immediate effect.

Following heavy protest raised by the GRTU, the Government has today approached GRTU to discuss a way forward.

GRTU is organising a general meeting for all businesses tomorrow Saturday 16th April at 16:00hrs at the MFCC, Ta’ Qali. 

Early in January 2016 the Prime Minister of Republic of Malta Joseph Muscat visited the Prime Minister of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic. Three months after there have been important meetings and signing of agreements between business entities.

The Prime Minister of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, said that he is grateful to Malta for the supporting  Serbia in the European integration process and

 announced that the meeting of the working group for enlargement of the European Union will be held in Belgrade in the beginning of 2017, when Malta will take over the EU presidency.

GRTU is protesting against the ‘Billboards and Advertisements Regulations, 2016’ and the clandestine move by which this was introduced.

The Legal Notice that was introduced on the 29th of March 2016 by three separate Ministries is unacceptable and entered without any form of

 consultation with GRTU as a social partner whose members will be directly and gravely hit by this hurried law.

The law that may have had scope to perhaps orderly organise the billboards that we see scattered around our roads has stretched to cover any form of advertisement. Advertisement is defined as any word, letter, model, sign, placard, board, notice, device or representation, whether illuminated or not for the purposes of advertisement, including any boarding or similar used for the display of advertisements, including a billboard.

The Regulations go on to state that no advertisement shall be displayed or be illuminated in any place that is visible from the road without the permission of the Authority. This in practice literally means that all advertisements that are visible from a road will be regarded in the same manner, irrelevant if these are done within one’s private property or on public land, and will require a Planning Authority permit at a fee and will also pay a yearly license of Eur 1,500 every year to Transport Malta.

GRTU is shocked that the law goes as far as including shop signs and other advertisements that might be affixed to the façade. This with the exception of signs not more than 0.5 square meters in area that are fitted flat against the façade or fascia and is not a projecting sign and as long as there are no more than two such advertisements per shop.

Another disturbing requirement is that any advertisement, including a shop sign, must bear the Authority’s reference number for its permission and this must be included as an integral part of the advertisement design in a permanent, clear and legible manner. This negatively impacts the design of logos and signage both future and even more so those existing and overlooks the fact that this goes against the branding rules of franchises.

GRTU is aggravated by the fact that the Legal Notice has overnight placed great strain on the sector that is now faced with a situation where it is not able to honor advertisement commitments made before the law was published. Operators were put under pressure to resubmit the paperwork of their permits with the Planning Authority by Monday 11th April after Planning Authority officials reportedly called the clients of billboards operators informing them that if the billboard is not regulated a fine of between Eur 1000 and Eur 5000 will be applied.

GRTU condemns the method in which this law came into force in total disrespect of the principles of transparency and consultation. The law has hastily attempted to address an issue that has been in existence for a lengthy amount of years in the most incorrect of manners. Moreover, the Planning Authority has been sitting on the permit applications for over two years without giving any form of feedback.

The law has not assessed the significant impact it will be having on enterprises across Malta and has induced a money making mechanism for the benefit of the Planning Authority and Transport Malta that will throw enterprises in an even more precarious situation.

GRTU publicly calls for the repeal of the law and will be meeting the relevant Ministries shortly to ensure that the law is put into force only following drastic changes.

• Receiving requests for collection from Local Councils and processing such collections through WEEE Compliance Schemes,
• Establish market share of each Scheme and delegate individual responsability to Schemes,
• Ascertain that Recyclers do not receive unidentified WEEE
• Make sure that self compliant producers report all WEEE movement in real time
• Verifies amounts received by Wasteserv Malta Limited and provides theformula required to make sure that WEEE is proprtionately distributed to Schemes, by volume and category.
• Establishes an educational campaign together with MSDEC
• Establishes rebate value to be given to all Local Councils after discussions are held through Local Councils Association to reduce their current cost for collecting this material.
• Provides timely information to the Regulator, either MEPA or ERA
• Establishes fines to for non compliance to legislation by Schemes, Producers and Recyclers and individual duty of care obligations.

Download the full survey document here

GRTU’s 2015 Business Performance Survey shows an overall positive result which to a great extent reflects Malta’s economic achievements. This is especially when considering an increase of over 10% of respondents reporting improvements over last year, when compared to the feeling expressed by enterprises in the 2014 Business Performance Survey.
In 2015, the positive feedback submitted by businesses supersedes the negative feeling both when businesses assess their overall performance and their sales during the festive season.

GRTU however believes that the figure of 25% of total respondents reporting a negative going of business is not an insignificant one and merits a thorough analysis to assess what the underlying issues causing this disparity are. GRTU is also not satisfied with the 27% of enterprises that felt that they remained in the same situation of last year because the economic performance of the country should have translated into improvements across the board.

Enterprises outlined a number of factors that they felt contributed directly to their overall performance in 2015. Interestingly, even though the results of the survey are generally positive, respondents mention a higher number of negative factors and some elements are even cited by businesses as having had a negative contribution while others attribute the same elements to their positive performance.

An extended period of good weather was frequently mentioned as having had the strongest positive impact on the going of their enterprise because people were encouraged to go out and shop. The weather was however also seen in a negative light by businesses that do better when the weather requires the thicker clothing they sell. Another main positive factor was the successful strategy adopted by the enterprises themselves, including advertisement and promotion strategies, good customer care and the selection of products sold. Consumer spending power was also said to have contributed towards positive business performance.
The negative comments were both numerous and familiar, with competition being the most unfavorable factor reported. Enterprises complained about too many businesses competing for the same consumers with the same products, driving down profitability; however their complaints also include the ever-increasing challenge posed by online shopping as well as unfair competition. The issue of unfair competition is affecting businesses in all sectors. This ranges from imports that are evading taxes, the sporadic issuance of licensing and the unsustainable enforcement efforts of the authorities.

Traffic, roadworks and parking were also very common sources of complaints with a vast number of respondents arguing about lack of sufficient parking facilities in many localities, accessibility issues in Valletta, the need to increase loading and unloading bays and the need to utilize wardens to help rather than castigate.
Insights into the festive season show that the best time for business sales was Christmas Week (21st – 27th December). The introduction of Black Friday sales (27th November) were reported as a successful initiative despite takeup by businesses may have been low in its first year. As one may expect, January has been so far a slow month for business.
The survey further resonates issues and concerns which GRTU has been honing about. There is a clear need for a stronger environment towards boosting competitiveness such as initiatives to help businesses go online. One point which continues to surface as a stumbling block for outward online shopping is excessive postage costs to sell abroad. Running costs also need to be diminished to encourage competitiveness. GRTU’s call for reduction in utility tariffs would definitely be of great support to this end, allowing businesses to instead be in a better position to invest and innovate.

Access to finance remains largely an unaddressed business concern with the survey referring to bank interest charges. Administrative burdens and bureaucracy also hinder business growth.

Setting an outlook on expectations for 2016, a good 34% of businesses reported intentions to expand over the next year whilst only 5% reporting downsizing expectations for the upcoming year.

GRTU – Malta Chamber for SMEs supports all calls and initiatives towards social integration of persons with disability and it is pleased to note an increased uptake of employment of persons with disability by the private sector.

Announced in the Budget 2015 Speech, the re-invigoration of a dormant legislation of having a minimum of 2% of employees being persons with 

disability for businesses with at least 20 employees, has led to an encouraging increase in employment of registered disabled persons (RDPs). Data made available during an MCESD meeting by the ETC Chairman shows that the private sector, above the 20 employee threshold, is employing over 350 RDPs.

GRTU believes that the private sector is showing its willingness to support this initiative not just because it is legally obliged to do so but because it also values its return. There are in fact 700 enterprises that even though not obliged by law, still employ people with disability and this does not include the employment of people with disabilities that are not registered in official national registers and are therefore not taken into consideration by the law.

The employment of persons with disability should not be seen as a mere statistical exercise or push employers into an easy way out of paying a contribution instead. It should be a hand-in-hand approach with employers to look into the needs of the specific business operation and how those persons with disability who are looking at participating in the labour market are matched through a process.

GRTU has over the years welcomed initiatives and incentives that encourage employers to find the necessary support to reach out and bridge persons with disability into the active labour market.GRTU often acts as a point for outreach towards bridging employers and businesses to policy implementation and initiatives.

The implementation of this legislation could have been handled far better. GRTU was in fact disappointed that ETC did not feel the need to consult with social partners before reactivating a law that was introduced in 1969 and never implemented. GRTU expected ETC to place greater emphasis on the several incentives already available to positively encourage employment and assist them directly in finding an individual that matched their employment needs.

Sending out of invoices to employers without proper consultation and hand-holding for implementation would only result in counter-productive exercise to the message of social inclusion. This would portray the need to integrate persons with disability as a burden or a form of bill whereas the spirit should be one of understanding business needs and matching the capabilities and potential of persons with disability with specific job roles, just as in any other case.

Having said this, GRTU feels that ETC has now recognised its pitfalls in the implementation process and looks forward towards a renewed approach which recognises issues faced by the private sector and which has fine-tuned its methods to better support employers. As a result GRTU welcomes ETC’s decision to waive the contributions due by employers should they become compliant with the law.

GRTU believes that much more can be done in terms of close cooperation and partnership between the public and private sector when it comes to inclusion of persons with disability. Employing a person with disability should never become a burden on the enterprise and the Government should do its utmost through a tailor-made approach, hand-holding and the use of support schemes to facilitate the process.   

Following a meeting held earlier this week with Enemed Chairman Kevin Chircop, GRTU presented its arguments as to why the Unleaded Super Fuel should be distributed widely amongst fuel stations and therefore the stations interested should be given the opportunity to sell the new product.

GRTU is pleased to announce that following this meeting an agreement was reached whereby all fuel stations that express their interest in selling the

 Super Unleaded Petrol will be supplied as soon as the necessary preparations are completed from the fuel stations’ end.

A list of the fuel stations that would like to be supplied with the Super Unleaded Petrol has already been passed on to Enemed.

GRTU and its members have the same interest of Enemed, of pushing the new product and have it effectively penetrate the Maltese market.

GRTU would like to thank Enemed for accepting GRTU’s arguments and providing equal access to all fuel stations. GRTU also thanks Minister Konrad Mizzi for his intervention in the matter that was instrumental in facilitating discussions and finding an amicable solution.