Category: Archive – 2010

The European Commission has decided to recommend the opening of accession negotiations with Montenegro. Now it is up to the Member States to confirm the start of membership talks. However, the European Commission is not planning any form of fast-track for the country.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Montenegro's accession would be good news for European retail and wholesale, enhancing legal security in a very promising market with a huge growth potential. Furthermore Montenegro would expand the single market by 700.00 consumers.

The College of Commissioners also discussed the application of Albania. Since the general elections in June 2009 the country has been paralysed by an opposition boycott of parliamentary proceedings. This is the main reason for the Commission not to recommend the opening of membership talks. Other problems include weak administrative capacity as well as crime and corruption.

Malta Enterprise is organising a business delegation to Algeria & Libya between the 21^st and 27^th of January 2011. Promising areas of investment, trade and technology commercialisation include: Oil & Gas, Financial & Professional Services, ICT, Travel & Tourism, Education & Training, Construction and Building Materials and Food and Beverages.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Organisation of Meetings

Malta Enterprise will endeavour to organise match-making meetings for participants through its institutional networks. However, participants are encouraged to organise additional meetings through their own contacts and links to ensure a good number of meetings.

Refund by Malta Enterprise

Malta Enterprise will refund up to 60% of flight costs and per diem allowance. Malta Enterprise will refund one representative per participating company.

Contact Abigail Mamo for more information

The GRTU EU Desk has this
week held and information session / consultation meeting on the new Consumer
Rights Directive.

This Directive will be transposed into Maltese law by end of
the year and members were invited to learn what this Directive will introduce
and to give their opinion on certain options given to all Member States by the
Commission that Malta can choose to uphold.
The regulations will be published into Maltese law by
13 December 2013 and shall become applicable from 13
June 2014.

 

Purpose

The purpose of this Directive is to achieve a high level of
consumer protection, provide consumers with more confidence when purchasing
from the single market and contribute to the proper functioning of the internal
market.

Replacing which Directives

The Directive replaces the Directive on the Protection of
consumers in respect of contracts negotiated away from business premises
(Doorstep Contracts) and the Directive on the Protection of consumers in
respect of distance contracts (Distance selling).

 

Definitions

Distance contracts (a contract concluded without the physical presence
of the trader and the consumer)

Off premises contracts (in a premises that is not that of the trader
or concluded during an excursion organized by the trader with the aim or effect
of promoting)

 

Exclusions

The Directive does not apply to contracts in: Social
Services, Healthcare, Gambling, Financial Services, Transactions to immovable
property, Package travel, package holidays and package tours, Timeshare and
most aspects of passenger travel.

 

Pre- contractual info to be
provided for contracts concluded at the trader's premises

The main characteristic of the good or service

Identity of trader – Trade name, address and telephone number

Total final price including taxes and applicable charges

Payment and time of delivery

Trader's complaint handling policy

Reminder of existence of legal guarantee and any after sales services
and commercial guarantee

Duration of contract or if indefinite duration, the conditions for
terminating contact

 

Pre-contractual info to be provided
for distance and off premises contracts

The main characteristics of the goods and services

Identity of trader – address, telephone and fax number, email

Total final price including taxes and applicable charges

Payment and time of delivery

Trader's complaint handling policy

Reminder of existence of legal guarantee and any after sales services
and commercial guarantee

Where applicable consumer will have to bear the costs for withdrawal
from the contract and returning the goods

Duration of contract or if indefinite duration, the conditions for
terminating contact

This information is to be provided on durable medium

 

Formal requirements for
off-premises contracts

The information is to be provided on a paper or another durable medium

The information is to be legible and in plain, intelligible language

 

The trader is to provide the consumer with a copy of the signed
contract

 

Formal requirements for distance
contracts

The information is to be provided in a way
appropriate to the means of distance communication used in plain and
intelligible language

If a distance contract by electronic means places
an obligation to pay the traders is to make the consumer aware

If placing an order entails activating a button,
the button shall be labeled in an easy legible manner only with the works
‘order with the obligation to pay' or something similar

 

Right of withdrawal

 

 

 

Exceptions from withdrawal rights

 

 

 

Surcharges for the use of credit
cards and hotlines

 

Other consumer rights

 

The consultation, including the draft Legal Notice and the EU
Directive can be accessed at:

http://www.mccaa.org.mt/en/consultations

GRTU has been alerted with the important change on the light bulbs market. The changes concern the new light bulb packaging information which is available from 1st September 2010 onwards. As you may know, the old-style incandescent bulbs will stop being produced (gradually from 2009 until 2012), helping the EU to switch to greener lighting. The alternative light bulbs have new characteristics (lifetime of the bulb, number of switches on/off etc) which will have to be displayed on the light bulbs packaging through some icons.

Every bulb manufacturer is free to choose the icons to display the mandatory information, provided the icons are understandable.

It is crucial that retailers can help consumers to identify this information and help them make the best choice when buying light bulbs. For this reason, kindly contact Abigail Mamo @ GRTU to receive a factsheet in Maltese that could be distributed internally and to your sales force in order to help understand the changes. This document explains all the new characteristics and provides a short guidance to the new icons.

The Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Area was on the agenda of a meeting between EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht and Trade Ministers of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) in Brussels. Participants also discussed how to enhance economic integration and how to boost Euro-Mediterranean trade and investment.  The Conference also saw the launching of the EU Export Helpdesk in a fifth language, Arabic.

 

Co-chaired by Egypt, France, Belgium (as presidency-in-office of the EU) and the European Commission, the conference highlighted the importance of pursuing a common and ambitious trade agenda beyond 2010. Ministers endorsed measures to facilitate the trade of Palestinian products to Euro-Mediterranean markets. These include a future proposal by the Commission to grant duty- and quota-free access for all Palestinian products, the possible accession of the Palestinian Authority to the Agadir Agreement and the strengthening of the Palestinian administration in the area of trade.  

Moreover, Ministers set Euro-Mediterranean working priorities for 2011. They agreed to focus on initiatives that can bring the partnership closer to economic operators, such as a Trade and Investment Facilitation mechanism to provide centralised information on trade and investment flows, regulations and conditions in the Euro-Mediterranean region. Jointly combating piracy and counterfeiting is another priority. Key representatives of the Euro-Mediterranean business community attended part of the meeting and contributed a useful practitioners' angle to the debate.

Background

The Euro-Mediterranean partnership, launched in 1995 and revamped in 2008 with the creation of the "Union for the Mediterranean", has strengthened trade relations between the EU and Southern Mediterranean countries. The key objective of the trade partnership is to create a comprehensive Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Area, that goes beyond trade in goods and basic provisions and aims to substantially liberalise trade between both the EU and Southern Mediterranean countries (North-South), and Southern Mediterranean countries themselves (South-South).

The EU is the most important trading partner for the region, covering more than 40% of its total trade. In 2009, EU-Southern Mediterranean countries' total trade in goods amounted to almost €200 billion.

There is a need for more focus on cultural and creative industries (CCIs). This is the essential message in a recent Opinion adopted by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), which also comments on the Commission's Green Paper entitled "Unlocking the potential of cultural and creative industries".

 

Whilst the share of manufacturing industries in the European economy diminishes, culture and creativity are essential assets for Europe's future. CCIs -investments, jobs- are expected to grow disproportionately. The EESC calls for an "internal market" and a "European space" for creativity.

To that end, it pleads for a better definition of the sector, for more accurate statistics and for attention for the social impact of creativity clusters.

Among the main aspects to take into account, is the requirement to offset the vulnerability of the sector's businesses -especially SMEs- and the shaping of a "critical mass" of investments, smart tax concessions, new funding models and instruments and the protection of intellectual property. It can also be useful to draw up Europe-wide business plan guidelines for creative projects/services/works, as well as performance indicators.

The full text of the Opinion in all EU languages is available on: http://www.eesc.europa.eu/?i=portal.en.creative-industries along with information on related CCMI activities in Valencia and Essen.

Director General Vince Farrugia is one of Malta's representatives on the EESC and amongst others also member of the Consultative Commission on Industrial Change (CCMI)

The European Commission has launched a public consultation on the successor to the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme 2007-2013 (CIP). The CIP is the main EU budgetary instrument targeting competitiveness outside the research and skills areas. Its main priorities are SMEs, access to finance, innovation (including eco-innovation), take-up and use of information and communication technologies (ICT), energy efficiency and renewables. Through the consultation, the public is invited to have its say on what the priorities of future competitiveness and innovation EU funding should be. The consultation will remain open until 4 February 2011.

 

The public consultation on competitiveness and innovation EU funding is part of an impact assessment and of a broader reflection on the next financial multiannual framework of the European Union after 2013. The scope and objectives of the future programmes are not yet decided, but the public consultation will help to design a possible successor to the current Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP 2007-2013).

The EIP supports innovation and SMEs in the EU, focusing on:

better access to finance for SMEs through venture capital and loan guarantees;

providing services to business via the "Enterprise Europe Network" centres in and beyond the EU;

support for innovation;

eco-innovation pilot and market replication projects for the testing of innovative technologies.

The ICT-PSP aims at stimulating the uptake of innovative and interoperable ICT based services through:

funding pilot and networking actions;

stimulating the demand for ICT based innovation in areas of public interest such as ICT for health, ageing and inclusion, energy efficiency and smart mobility, and improved public services;

analysing, monitoring and benchmarking the uptake of digital services in Europe.

The IEE contributes to delivering the EU's climate change and energy targets through:

addressing the non-technology barriers to sustainable energy deployment;

facilitating investments in sustainable energy projects at the local and regional level;

developing training and qualification schemes for energy efficiency and renewable energy in the building sector;

supporting development and implementation of the EU sustainable energy policy.

Reference is made to the articles which appeared in today's media regarding the operations of Green MT. The facts are as follows:

Green MT was licensed to operate up to December 2009. The process of issuing the licence for 2010 was delayed due to technical discussions between MEPA and Green MT. The discussions were concluded in June 2010 and a permit was issued.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The permit issued in 2010 ensures that all Green MT members who contracted Green MT are covered for the whole of 2010 in view of the fact that Green MT has undertaken to report for the entire year at the end of 2010.

In the meantime, Green MT continued to carry out their responsibilities in the interest of their members and in the interest of the residents of the local councils with whom Green MT has contractual obligations.

The Approving Body, set up to determine which companies should be exempt from paying eco-contributions, issued provisional exemptions to those companies which applied for such exemption and which prima facie satisfied the conditions as set out in Legal Notice 84/2010. Applications were received through Green Pak and Green MT, the two licensed waste collection schemes.  All certificates issued by the Approving Body are provisional and will become final once the information submitted is duly audited. The Approving Body, after studying the facts as outlined above, issued provisional exemptions to Green MT members including for the period January 2010 to June 2010.

Zball storiku tal-Kamra tal-Kummerc – Ma terfghax ir-Responabbilta u tmaqdar lil min jaghti ezempju tajjeb – Il-GRTU

Inkredibbli f'liem livell baxx waqghet il-Kamra tal-Kummerc li ma tiflahx ma tizzeffinx fin-nofs biex taghmel hsara lil GRTU anke akkost li taghwweg il-fatti u bli tghid tkun ta' hsara lin-negozji Maltin u lill-membri ta' Green MT li kwazi kollha huma wkoll membri tal-GRTU. Qatt f'sittin sena ta' relazzjonijiet bejn il-Kamra tal-Kummerc ma kien hemm tmexxija fil-Kamra tal-Kummerc li halliet lil min fil-Kamra ghandu l-lanzit ghal GRTU  jiehu l-mazz f'idejh u jinqeda bil-Kamra biex jobzoq kontra l-GRTU akkost li jirredikola lil l-istess Kamra u dan fi zmien mill-aktar minn piki u firda n-negozjant Malti jrid l-ghaqda.

 

Mhux vera li xi hadd ghamel pjacir lil Green Mt u hareg licenzja retroattiva kif ivvintat biex tikkalunja il-Karma tal-Kummerc. Il-fatti juru li kien hemm permess li hareg fis-sena 2009 li kien validu. It-tigdid tal-permess ghas-sena ta'wara haiz-zmien tieghu minhabba fatti maghrufa minn kulhadd. Il-fatti wkoll juru li sett ta' regolamenti facli,  li tahthom mar tajjeb haddiehor,  meta l-korpi li jirrapprezentaw il-kummerc inkluzi l-Kamra tal-Kummerc kienu iddecidew li jhaddmu skema huma f'isem il-kommunita tal-kummercjanti Maltin, inbiddlu u l-kondizzjonijiet saru hafna aktar onoruzi. Il-Kamra tal-Kummerc bezghat mir-risponsabbilta enormi li timponi t-thaddiem ta' skema nazzjonali ghar-riciklagg kif jitolbu l-ligijiet Ewropew imma l-GRTU ma bezghatx ghax fir-rapprezentanza taghha tal-kummercjanti l-GRTU kuntrarjament ghal Kamra tal-Kummerc mhux qehda hemm biss biex tparla u tipproponi imma wkoll biex flimkien, mal-kummercjanti Maltin tmidd ghonqa u terfgha r-responsabbilta tat-treggija fejn ikun fl-ahjar interess tal kummecjanti.

Fil-kas ta' l-immanigjar ta' skema nazzjonali biex jingabar skart tal-ippakeggjar, kienet ir-responsabbilta ta'ghaqda responsabbli bhal GRTU li hadet ir-responsabbilta. Jekk il-Karma tal-Kummerc bewxet ghax bezghat kellha issa talaq halqa u mhux timbex bhat tfal iz-zghar.

Id-dewmien fil-hrug tal-permess lil Green mt m'ghandhu x'jaqsam xejn ma dak li nsinwat b'mod malinn il-Kamra tal-Kummerc, imma sempliciment kawza ta' diskussjonijiet teknici li kienu ghaddejjin bejn il-MEPA, l-istess Green MT u l-facilita ta' l-Irkupru Wasteserv Malta Limited. L-istess Kamra tal-Kummerc taf li l-mekkanizmu li issa dahal fis-sehh, biex kummercjant jigi ezenti mill-Eko Kontribuzzjoni, mitlub hekk rigoruz mill-GRTU, biex jinhargu l-Avvizi Legali mehtiega, ha tul tieghu.

Haga ta' l-iskantament li l-Kamra prattikament ma ghamlet xejn hlief xi zewg stqarrijiet l'hemm u l'hawn, u mhux is-sighat twal u l-isforzi ma jiefqu xejn li ghamlet il-GRTU biex jinhargu l-Exemption orders inkluzi ukoll investiment ta' eluf ta' Ewro fuq Skema u hlas ta' kuntratturi u pagi li setghet sfumat kieku il-Gvern baqa ma zammx kellmtu u ma harigx l-Exemption orders li illum qedghin igawdu minnhom l-istess membri tal-Kamra tal-Kummerc. Il-GRTU kburija li meta pajjizna ried li n-negozjant Malti jerfa l-piz biex pajjizna ukoll bhal kumplament tad-dinja civilizzata jerfa l-piz halli l-ambjent jidnaddaf u li politika ambjentali gdida tithaddem il-GRTU ma bezghatx u li n-negozjant Malti mexxietu bil-fatti u allavolja bit-tbatija lejn is-sewwa, u dan il-GRTU ghamlitu bl-imbiex kollu u bil-ksuhat ma jieqfu qatt tal-Kamra tal- Kummerc li ghal pika u ghal ebda raguni ohra baqghat barra milli tiehu sehem fl-iskema li pproponiet u qed tithaddem b'success il-GRTU.

Il-fatti juru li z-zejt dejjem jitla f'wicc l-ilma u xejn ma jhassar dak li hu fatt: il-GRTU hadmet u ghanda ir-rikonoxximent tal-kummercjanti Maltin. F'dan il-qasam il-Kamra tal-Kummerc harbet u issa qed tara ikrah lil min irnexxa.