Category: Archive – 2011

The Cleaner Technology Center has launched the 6th Edition of the Environment Award for Enterprise with the aim of acknowledging the contribution of industry in favour of sustainable development.

 The aim of these awards is to give recognition to industries or organizations which, through their policies, practices and processes help bring about, social and economic development while reducing the impact of their operations on the environment. Another aim of the awards is to act as a spur for more organizations to take measures in favour of the environment.

 The environment award will be given in three categories;

• Cat ‘A' – Management Award for Sustainable Development
• Cat ‘B' – Conservation Award for Sustainable Development
• Cat ‘C' – Environment Protection Initiative Award for SMEs

The winners in the last edition were: The General Soft Drinks Co Ltd, Medichem Manufacturing (Malta) Ltd and Mater Dei Hospital. Honourable Mentions were given to HSBC Bank (Malta) Ltd, Intercontinental (Malta) Hotel, Yellow Pages (Malta) Ltd & The Hilton (Malta) Hotel.

 This year, another award namely ‘'THE WASTE MINIMISATION AWARD'' instituted by WasteServ Malta Limited in conjunction with The Cleaner Technology Centre will be given. This award is intended to recognize businesses and organisations on the Maltese Islands that have implemented successful waste reduction, reuse and recycled product procurement programmes.

Application Deadline: August 2011. Applications will be assessed by a special committee consisting of experts from various sectors. The winners in each category are awarded a specially commissioned trophy made by Mdina Glass and a certificate. The winners will also be assisted to compete in the European Environment Award Programme run by the DG Environment of the European Commission.

Further details and application forms can be obtained from the: Cleaner Technology Centre E-mail:

The EU Korea FTA Agreement entered into effect of 1^st July and it is envisaged that it will have significant benefits for EU exporters and also for EU Importers. The benefits will be most felt at the beginning, for the first 6 months, after which other countries such as the US and Japan will also get the benefits but the EU at the moment has exclusivity.

The FTA has meant almost immediate full liberalisation of all economic sectors but the total full harmonisation will be achieved within the 7^th year of implementation of the agreement. This has also involved Europe and Korea accepting each other's standard. From the information and figures available it transpires that Malta exports a significant amount of micro-electronic products as well and fish. As far as imports are concerned Malta most importantly imports cars, electronics and electrical machinery, plastics and articles of plastics.

The Commission has now established a functional mailbox at the following address: in order to be provided information about any difficulties when trading with Korea. This is also the central e-mail address for any comments or questions which Member States or business representatives may want to share with the Commission with respect to the implementation of the EU-Korea FTA. We encourage Member States and business to share this address widely with companies and to use it as single entry point. This will ensure timely and coherent internal processing of the comments and questions within the Commission.

The following are additional links with information on the EU-Korea FTA:

• Free Trade Agreement: http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/press/index.cfm?id=443
• Quick reading Guide: http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2009/october/tradoc_145203.pdf
• 10 key Benefits of the EU-Korea FTA: http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2010/october/tradoc_146695.pdf and
• New link on the Market Access Database (MADB) related to the EU-Korea FTA: http://madb.europa.eu/mkaccdb2/indexPubli.htm
• Also note that, on the MADB an operator can check the duties, export procedures and other possible barriers he/she will face if it wants to export to Korea.
• If an importer wants to see the EU tariffs on imports from Korea it can check these through
• the EU Export Helpdesk: http://exporthelp.europa.eu/thdapp/index_en.html or
• through the TARIC system: http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/dds2/taric/taric_consultation.jsp?Lang=en&redirectionDate=20110708.

If one had to carry out a survey among SME's the response to this question will be an overwhelming yes. This is not the first time that this question has been asked. GRTU has regularly asked this question to its members and has often written and spoken about the subject. Why does it take so long to reduce or even remove bureaucracy? When running an SME and especially at a time of an economic downturn the
business person does not want to be over burdened with bureaucracy.

The first priority of a business is to get work to sustain itself; to have enough funds to cover wages, costs such as electricity, water, transport and other running costs. Filling in documents is not a priority.

It is now becoming common practice to receive forms accompanied by a letter stating that if the forms are not filled in and sent in due time, fines or other penalties will apply. The reason for this being that the general environment in Malta has become anti-business, pro-regulation driven economic thinking.

The recent farce on the regulations and penalties and loss of licence threats imposed on retailers for simply wanting to service customers late show that there is a strong resurgence in government of this anti business pro regulation thinking.

The problem is that these same people in government offices who take these decisions are paid by the taxes gathered from the private sector. Yes it is true that they themselves pay taxes but of course this only covers a small percentage of the total wage they receive. Where is the balance coming from? From the private sector and from our younger generation who must work and sacrifice themselves in order to sustain the debt burden being run up by the current massive recurrent government expenditure.

Europe 2020 strategy talks about structural reforms to increase market flexibility. Malta has a problem of market size and therefore it stands to gain a great deal from greater market integration and better institutional settings. Somehow Malta must find the formula to help businesses overcome the problem of market size. Making its institutions more efficient is one of the ways of doing this. Malta is still lacking behind among most European countries in terms of its competitivity. Out of the 26 EU countries Malta occupies the 21^st position. Only 5 countries out of the 26; countries such as Greece, Bulgaria and Latvia are behind Malta and that does not say much!

98% of entrepreneurs in Malta run small businesses and the vast majority do this against all odds.

I am one of the 98%. I am a woman entrepreneur with offices in Floriana. Every 2.5 hours each and every one of my staff has to leave the office to change the parking metre on his car or move the car around Floriana. Recently one of the staff got fined. The warden in question said that the car has to be taken out of Floriana and cannot return for one hour. Can you imagine what this female employee said? How can you introduce a policy that makes employees leave the office and not return for one hour right in the middle of the working day? Can't someone somewhere realise that this is a hopelessly wrong decision?

Unfortunately most local councils are anti business and therefore council decisions are taken to drive away business from the locality not to welcome it. How about introducing a system whereby our licence fees go to the local council instead of to some authority somewhere that does not give a hoot about business? Surely my council in Floriana would be very happy then to have me operate in Floriana!

Take away all the nice talk and the nice phrases and all the schemes that finally after years of GRTU agitation are now in action; only a very small ratio of all these entrepreneurs receive any form of assistance. An SME lacks resources, cannot afford to fill in forms after forms. An SME is today fighting to survive. GRTU is not asking for subsidies. We have never asked for subsidies. All we have asked for are schemes that mitigate for the problems caused by small size; for the mitigation of the excessive costs of meeting the exceptional level of bureaucratic and government induced costs.

Why do companies have to fill in the NSO forms asking for turnover, gross profit, expenses and so on when this same information is passed on to the MFSA – registry of companies every year? Is this not a waste of time?

Can you believe that the Department of Education asks for a copy of the recognition letters issued by the Malta Qualifications Council instead of getting them itself from the council? This means that the private training provider has to photocopy documents for an office issued by another office falling within the same ministry.

Private training companies for instance have the public sector to compete with but this competition is not on a level playing field. Courses are offered by ETC, OHSA, MFSA and others that are already offered by the private sector. Why does this public sector have to compete with the private sector? Of course their courses are cheaper. They do not have to factor in staff costs because the private sector is paying for this cost! If anything authorities and other public sector entities should offer training not covered by the private training industry.

In order to understand the level on bureaucracy, one has to cost it. This means that an exercise has to be carried out on the percentage of overall costs that bureaucracy is costing business. We need to understand the weight per capita on small enterprise. There are more people than ever being dragged to court on silly excuses like posting tax returns late or for falling behind in payments of tax when in 2008, 2009 and 2010 Malta was passing from the worst recession in 30 years. Unfortunately, but I say this with conviction, the anti-small business feeling in the public service rather than diminishing is growing. There is a stench of jealousy and prejudice. Of course, and I have no doubt that there are hard working and genuine public sector employees but unfortunately the actions of a few, because these few are occupying high positions and are among the policy makers spoil it for the rest. There is this us and them mentality instead of all of us working for the benefit of this country.

The Small Business Act will help no doubt but unless the overall mentality changes GRTU believes we are still uphill. Indeed our Director General has only this week described the general feeling of state bureaucrats and government politicians in general as the worst over 2 decades. Why is this? Some of the younger elements in Cabinet do not appreciate the importance of the private sector. Few politicians have a business background; most are lawyers; hence the explanation whey Malta has become a regulation driven rather than a business driven economy. The result is that Malta is not becoming more competitive. Having retained its place at the 50^th Ranking in the Global Competitivity Ranking as per the World Economic Forum Report it is behind countries such as Cyprus, Italy, Portugal and Slovenia; wages cannot go up like they have in some other countries because businesses are not doing well. It is not the business person and his/ her family which suffer as a result of wrong policy making. It is the employees too and their families. It is the vast majority of the population.

I am a woman in business. For many years I have spoken in favour of encouraging women into business. A business cannot be run part time. What has the government done to encourage women to open up their own business? I am not talking here merely about women returners to the labour market. (Malta has the lowest percentage of women in the labour market in the whole of the EU!). That is another topic for another day. I am referring to those women who have the courage to open up their own business. Extending school days, real tax incentives, other family friendly measures are only a few of the many ideas that we have now been taking about for years.

As in every business, the public sector needs to do some soul searching; should look at itself, should learn to co-ordinate and work with itself before it attempts to work with others. Stream line forms; make them easier to fill in. Do not ask for double information or information which takes us nowhere.

Policy makers in Malta must take measures to improve basic competitive requirements by strengthening institutions making them more efficient. Policy making must be effective and help businesses be more competitive.

Public sector employees should learn to empathise with the business person; make life easier so that business can flourish. Only then can we stand up and be proud that our country is pro business and anti bureaucracy.

Rosanne Galea- Director Future Focus

GRTU has welcomed the adoption of the retail market monitoring report and its recognition of the central role played by commerce in economic growth, employment, the fight against inflation in Europe and more globally to achieve the goals of the EU 2020 strategy.

In particular, commerce supports the Parliament's emphasis on the need to properly enforce internal market legislation and to work towards removing the barriers to retailer's freedom of establishment across the EU.

Parliament has taken the right approach in supporting self-regulation over the current top-down regulatory view. However, there is still much work to be done to help optimise the potential of the commerce sector in the Single Market.

GRTU commends Mrs Corazza Bildt for her relentless effort to strike a balance, yet continuously championing the Single Market. We particularly appreciate her efforts with regard to business-to-business contractual relations and commercial practices. We greatly appreciate the proposal's holistic approach to the retail sector and its relations with other players in the supply chain.

The Parliament's IMCO committee and the European Commission should continue work on defining and delivering the European Action Plan for Retail. This Action Plan should provide concrete solutions to real challenges faced by our companies in their daily operations. It will be key to alleviating remaining barriers and obstacles to the further development of commerce, employment and consumer's purchasing power in Europe.

GRTU Council Members Marcel Mizzi, Patrick Cutajar and EU Desk Coordinator Abigail Mamo have met officials from the Malta Council for Science and Technology (MCST) with the aim of initiating a collaboration to help micro and small enterprises access FP7 and national research funds so as to increase Malta’s R&I capacity.

It was explained that there are the local and the EU funds. There are €1.1m in national funds from the local Government and the MCST receives around 40 applications, 8 of which are selected. €5b is the amount available in EU funds out of which Malta won €9m. MCST provides assistance to the Maltese enterprises to apply, last year there were more than 80 applications. 10% is the success rate of the applications submitted. This might seem low but it is good compared to the EU average.

GRTU was informed that a number of training seminars have already been initiated and it was proposed that a general one would be held at the GRTU for the GRTU members in order to inform them of the very good opportunities available sometime at the end of September.

MCST told the GRTU that the fund aims to address the gap between industry and academia. They emphasise on technology transfer so industry would partner with the university to conduct the project. The school would research and industry would develop.

The end product must be a product that is placed on the market at the end of the day to be sold.

GRTU representative Abigail Mamo has this week attended the – Joint Announcement and symposium on Good Practices in Gender Mainstreaming. The project falls under the European Union Programme for Employment and Social Solidarity PROGRESS (2007-2013), which was awarded for implementation to the National Council for the Promotion of Equality (NCPE) and the Ministry for Education, Employment and the Family (MEEF). The Symposium was part of the official launch of the project.

This is a new project which aims to also deliver an understanding of gender mainstreaming. The EU has introduced the principle of equality between the sexes ever since the Treaty of Rome in 1957 and has its legal base embedded in the treaty of Amsterdam. Gender mainstreaming is the principle to arrive to gender equality. Today the EU has issued a Women's Charter which constitutes an important milestone on the subject. In Malta Equality and Gender mainstreaming have been on the agenda for long and Government has made various commitments in conjunction with the NCPE.

The aim of the project is directly aimed at the implementation of Gender mainstreaming in public administration, creating an understanding and guidance in achieving it. This will include training from a team of consultants and meetings with the heads of Ministries and Departments. The project will evaluate the effect of policies on gender mainstreaming and how this is dealt with at Ministerial level .

Gender mainstreaming is a strategy to achieve gender equality. Treating people equally does not mean treating people the same as people are different. Gender mainstreaming means the process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies and programmes, in any area at all levels. In order for gender mainstreaming to work men must understand it is also to their advantage.

Noel Gauci, Membru tal-Kunsill tal-GRTU u rapprezentant tas-sezzjoni ta l-energija alternattiva iltaqa' ma' uhud mir-rapprezentanti tal-MRA, Anthony Rizzo CEO, Annette Vella u George Cassar, biex tigi diskussa l-iskema tal-photovoltaics.

Waqt il-laqghga gie diskuss l-ammont ta' fondi li l-PPCD allokat ghal skemi ta' ghajnuna fuq il-panelli fotovoltaici, fejn il GRTU irnexxiela ggib fondi ghal madwar elfejn familja, pero aktar tard l-MRA ikkummentat li rnexxiela ggib ‘unlimited funding' mill-PPCD.

Waqt il-laqgha s-Sur Anthony Rizzo ikkjarifika li l-PPCD ikkommettew ruhhom li jaghmlu ghad-dispozizzjoni fondi ghal elfejn familja ohra, cioe total ta' erbgha t'elef familja, u li jekk ikun hemm numru ta' applikazzjonijiet iktar minn hekk, il-PPCD tikkunsidra li terga' zzid dawn il fondi.

Noel Gauci ssuggerixxa u insista li l-applikazzjonijiet ghandhom ikunu numerati skond kif dawn jaslu ghand l-MRA sabiex b'hekk, jekk il-fondi disponibbli jispiccaw, ikun car min hu elegibbli ghal fondi u minn ma jkollux din l-elegibbilta'. Din il-proposta giet rifjutata mill-MRA ghaliex hassew li l-ammont ta` fondi ser ikun bizzejjed.

Tressqu ukoll punti ta' kif l-iskemi tas-solar heaters jistghu jahdmu ahjar u kif it-teknologija tista' tigi sfruttata ahjar bl-introduzzjoni ta' standards ta' efficjenza. Dawn ghandhom jigu diskussi f'aktar dettal aktar il-quddiem.

GRTU Malta Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprises has always stated and will continue to state that Eco Contribution legislation enacted in September 2004 remains the most haphazard and illogical tax ever placed on the Business community.

With this consistency GRTU has strived with the relevant Authorities for these last years to make sure that Businesses are not made to double pay for their environmental obligations.

Statements made by Greenpak are not true. Enterprises that chose to join GreenPak back in 2006 effectively were paying double for their environmental obligation, paying GreenPak and also Eco Contribution. These same enterprises are now only being refunded for the period 2005 to 2008, a percentage of what they contributed to Greenpak and not even a full Eco Contribution Refund. This is specifically outlined in Legal Notice 158 of 2011.

Packaging waste producers (importers) who joined Green MT after 1^st July 2009 are exempt from the payment of Eco Contribution as outlined by Legal Notice 84 of 2010. This Legal Notice is of course applicable to one and all. GreenPak members were in the doldrums in respect to refunds until Legal Notice 158 of 2011 was issued in May 2011. That is definately the truth.

If you were a producer and did not join a Scheme sometime between 2006 and 2009, MEPA, as the Competent Authority, has issued an administrative Compliance fine of Euro 50 per year for Compliance. Enterprises that joined GreenPak in those years paid much more in fees to Greenpak, and now can only expect to take back a percentage of the fees paid to Greenpak and nothing in respect to Eco Contribution payments in the same period. This percentage refund only if you were an Eco Contribution payer. If not the enterprise surely paid more in GreenPak fees than the administrative penalty of €50 imposed by MEPA today.

As for the sweeping statement that ‘these penalties ran into thousands of Euros' it is to be noted that those producers who did not comply in 2010 and were not members of any Authorised Packaging Schemes were liable to pay Euro 100 per tonne for 2010 Compliance.

"Such statements by GreenPak are a mere attempt of placing GRTU and Green MT in a bad light. Green MT is today by far Malta's National and largest Authorised Waste Packaging Scheme, with well over 1100 members" states Green MT Ceo, Joe Attard.

GRTU has always insisted with the Authorities that a fair and level playing field had to be established for all sectors of industry. Every importer places packaging in the market. Whilst GRTU has been working on Packaging waste legislation with consistency and honesty, GreenPak continues to try and thrive on untruths. GreenPak is aware of the reality.

The statements issued recently by GreenPak are not only outright lies but only try to distabilise a growing commitment by the Business community to further take up responsibility of their own packaging waste.

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