Category: Archive – 2015

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is a specialized UN agency established to encourage creative activity and promote the protection of intellectual property throughout the world. WIPO Legal Head Marie-Paule Rizo visited GRTU offices this week to discuss possible applications of Geographical Indications in the case of Maltese products.

Geographical Indications are signs used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin. Some well-known examples of such names are for example Roquefort, Cognac, Basmati rice. However this is not limited to food and agricultural products but may also be related non-food products. For instance, Swisswatches represent a quality indication that is reflected through their design, manufacturing and relationship with Switzerland. Therefore high quality watches can be produced all over the world but cannot be labelled Swissif it does not fulfil specific criteria and is manufactured in Switzerland.

This therefore implies that geographical indications are not mere names or symbols and if not protected, it could be used without restriction and its value diminished and eventually lost. Protecting a GI enables those who have the right to use the indication to take measures against others who use it without permission and benefit from (and perhaps tarnish) its reputation free-of-charge.

GRTU representatives gave feedback to WIPO on the current situation regarding various products, both of agricultural and food nature as well as those which are non-food products, such as specific crafts. GRTU explained various challenges being faced by businesses who manufacture or deal with such products and discussed measures which could support and protect their uniqueness through positive measures such as promotion. WIPO will be producing a report upon its fact-finding mission also built on the input provided by GRTU which reflects what such businesses face on the ground. GRTU shall continue following the subject with WIPO in a bid to improve the situation also perhaps on a legislative level if necessary, whilst GRTU welcomes any feedback from its members.

 

GRTU’s Deputy President Philip Fenech has met Superintendent of Public Health Dr Richard Zammit and Environmental Health Director Clive Tonna following GRTU’s earlier communication on developments and implementation of policies related to fines and penalties on smoking in entertainment and leisure premises.

GRTU maintained its support towards continuous efforts by the Health Ministry over the years to promote healthier lifestyles without smoking. GRTU has over the past months however raised concern on the implementation of fines and penalties to venue owners that seek to be compliant. GRTU emphasized that such policies need to be implemented

 positively in a proportionate and reasoned manner. GRTU intends to build on its previous cooperation with the respective health directorates so that cooperation by owners is encouraged and rewarded.

During this meeting measures of enforcement were discussed in a sense that does not impinge unnecessary burdens to compliant owners whereby owners would have taken all necessary measures to deter tenants from smoking within their premises. Attention was drawn to the situations of business owners and venue managers who would have sought to abide by the law but are penalised for the actions of tenants beyond their control. A logical and practical approach needs to be adopted.

The smoking issue is to be extended to further curtail smoking in public areas to encourage healthier lifestyles and promote well-being. GRTU remains in support of initiatives to ensure that business owners fulfil their duties in terms of the law and in support of public health but also seeks to ensure that the policies which are intended to promote public health are not implemented in manners which create illogical burdens to business owners who comply.

 

Fl-laqgħa kordjali mal-Kap tal-Oppożizzjoni Dr Simon Busuttil, Paul Abela, President tal-GRTU qal li huwa importanti li l-GRTU tiltaqa’ mal-Partit Nazzjonalista biex iżżommu aġġornat fuq il-problemi li taffaċċja minn żmien għal żmien. Il-GRTU mill-bidu kienet ilha tinsisti mal-amministrazzjoni ta’ qabel u se tkompli tinsisti mal-amministrazzjoni preżenti biex il-parti tal-ftehim tal-konċessjoni tal-logħob bejn il-Gvern u l-kumpanija Maltco li tikkonċerna lir-riċevituri tal-lotto għandhom ikunu magħrufa. Illum il-GRTU tirrapreżentha 180 riċevitur tal-lotto li huma kollha self-employed.

Dr Simon Busuttil qal li s-settur tal-logħob kiber b’rata mgħaġġla fi ftit snin minn dipartiment li kien jirregola l-lottu pubbliku għal wieħed mill-ikbar setturi fl-ekonomija Maltija. Hu qal li l-Partit Nazzjonalista qiegħed jisma’ d-diffikultajiet li qiegħed jaffaċċja dan is-settur sabiex jkun jista’ jindirizzah fit-tfassil tal-politika tiegħu fil-ġejjieni.

Flimkien ma’ Paul Abela kien preżenti Alfred Muscat, President tal-Lotto Receivers Union u Marco Rossi, Segretarju.

 

GRTU CEO Abigail Psaila Mamo has this week met Mr Jerome Ompen, Candidate for Honorary Consul for Malta in the Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. During the meeting the business opportunities for Maltese and Congolese businesses were discussed and the prospects are indeed very interesting.

Overview

The Democratic Republic of the Congo, is a country located in Central Africa that borders with 9 other countries. It borders the Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Zambia and Angola. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world. It has a population of over 75 million. The

 language spoken is French however English is widely used for business. Kinshasa is the capital and the largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, it has a population of 11 million. 

Business Environment

Mr Ompen described the Democratic Republic of the Congo as a safe place to do business, especially sine 3 to 4 years ago, and where the Government has launched a new policy to protect business and a number of tax incentives and PPP possibilities to attract foreign investment. The Democratic Republic of Congo is also a member of the World Trade Organisation and benefits from duty-free, quota-free EU access under the EU’s “Everything but Arms” scheme.

Opening a business is easy and on the same level for foreigners as for Congolese. In Kinshasa businesses will also find a good banking set up with a number of European banks.

Connectivity

Kinshasa has daily flights going directly from France and visas are obtained by applying through the Embassy in Rome. The Consulate is also able to facilitate the Visa process.

 

1.  Agriculture:

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has a strong agricultural sector and specialises in a number of specific products that it would like to offer for export. Congo is strongest when it comes to coffee and cocoa production predominantly as well as maize, tea and bananas. It can also export very good and effective pest control solutions. Apart from this there is a vast amount of land that can be invested for agricultural purposes as well as partnerships in agriculture such as investments in the production of peanut, peanut oil and palm oil. There is an agricultural cooperative one can deal with directly and the Climate is tropical.

 

2.  Infrastructure

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is not very developed when it comes to infrastructure and facilities and this is an area where the Government is seeking to attract a lot of investment and would consider Public Private Partnerships. They need to build schools, hospitals, recreational family facilities, water dams to produce energy, a public transport system, investment in aviation and internal flights.

 

 3.  Tourism

Tourism is currently mostly limited to business mainly. 40% of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is covered in forest and there is a lot of potential to arrange parts of it as a park for tourists to enjoy and organise safari tours as well as excursions for back packers. Hotels are very expensive and of low quality because they are very few. There is a lot of potential to build hotels.

 

4.  Exporting goods to Congo

Congolese drive cars that are both left hand and right hand drive and there is a market to supply spare parts for vehicles as well as the car hire market. Many today own a vehicle and are seeking to become insured, which provides an opportunity to service providers. Goods imported into Congo are generally low quality and the Congolese would like to see better products on the market, even at higher prices. The Chinese and Indians are currently dominating the market and they would like better quality when it comes to medicine and clothing.

 

Further information can be found on the following website:  http://www.pagewebcongo.com/index_en.html

Anyone interested can send an email on

 

GRTU CEO Abigail Psaila Mamo participated in a round table discussion organised by the European Commission Representation in Malta on the 2015 Country Report for Malta.

The Commission representative explained that in 2014 both the economy and the labour market continued to perform well and the outlook for 2015-

2016 is favourable.

The report specifically on Public Procurement

“Despite improvements, Malta’s competitiveness continues to be hampered by structural challenges in the business environment and the innovation framework. The length of public procurement procedures has been reduced considerably but still remains somewhat above the average for the EU.”

The report specifically on Access to Finance

“Investment has been muted, despite the favourable economic performance. Limited capital accumulation to some extent reflected the changing structure of the Maltese economy towards less capital-intensive service activities. However, the analysis also pointed to a number of structural weaknesses that hinder private investment, such as difficulties in the access to finance and inefficiencies in the business environment also related to shortcomings in the energy and transport sectors. Investment is projected to rebound in the medium-term, although it is unlikely to reach its pre-crisis levels.”

In her intervention Ms Psaila Mamo stated that the Government has a number of initiatives that are relatively recent and ongoing which could not have been taken into consideration in the Commission’s report because the report is based on figures mostly from 2013 or mid 2014. These initiatives should result in further positive developments however the initiatives must be timely and we must make them count. Paper exercises will do very little, we need to translate good paper exercises into measures and actions that benefit SMEs in real terms.

On access to finance the GRTU CEO reiterated that while there are a number of elements that may have contributed to a low level of investment, GRTU is a firm believer that Access to Finance is the main one. In a survey GRTU is currently conducting its members appear divided on how they assess the ease of accessing finance, some report that this is easy and some report that this is difficult. This probably depends on the type of project they present. Members however unanimously agree that accessing funds is very costly and this relates to both bank charges which are disproportionate, interest rates which vary significantly and go up to 8% and excessive collateral requirements which are sometimes even five times the loan amount.

On public procurement the GRTU CEO stated that Malta is still lagging behind the EU average, this even though an improvement in number of days was registered. Ms Psaila Mamo argued that introducing an electronic procurement system was necessary but making electronic procurement mandatory, therefore eliminating the option of submitting a written bid, was a step backward. This, compiled with the fact that you have to apply for an e-ID on the company (2 weeks), you have to attend a course to understand how the system works and the system in itself is full of pitfalls that makes it easy to make mistakes and have you bid disqualified, makes access to public procurement difficult. This is preposterous in this day and age. The ease of access to public procurement should not be measured simply on the number of days it takes to submit a bid but on how many bids are submitted compared to other countries and according to the size of the enterprise, and how many bids are disqualified due to silly IT related mistakes.

A representative from the Ministry for the Economy, Investment and Small Businesses recognised GRTU’s claim and said that in fact Government was currently carrying out a study to understand why Malta ranked very high in the amount of eGovernment services it offers but then ranked very low in the level of use of e-gov services by enterprises.

 

GRTU has today met the Hon Leo Brincat in a meeting that was requested by the Minister himself. The Minister informed GRTU that according to Budget 2015 the Government decided that the eco contribution will be removed on all electronic and electrical products and instead Malta will start conforming to the WEEE Directive. The Minister presented the draft Legal Notice and gave a short explanation on the plans Government has in this regard.

GRTU welcomed the consultation however GRTU also informed the Minister that, without any reservations, it requires a clear guarantee by the Government that it will first exempt all those operators that between 2007 and 2015 were carrying their 

environmental obligations under eco contribution, from the legal obligations under the WEEE Directive covering the same period.

This is a cardinal point for the GRTU and a priority because it is not acceptable that an operator pays an environmental tax twice on the same product. GRTU will be evaluating the draft Legal Notice and will be consulting its members before presenting its official comments to the Minister in the coming weeks.

 

Local operators in the PV sector will soon be given the opportunity to carry out installations at an area which the Government will be allocating for such investments at a price of Eur 0.50c per sqm.

This is an initiative GRTU has, during the past months, been lobbying for and is now very pleased that Government has seen the validity of its proposal and Minister Konrad Mizzi has committed himself to make it work.

This development and commitment came after GRTU publicly expressed its disappointment when it read on the papers that a significant amount of land was being made available to Shanghai Electric Power at very advantageous rates.

The GRTU argued that Maltese enterprises should not be treated any less. The Ministry understood this complaint and immediately expressed its willingness to provide a similar opportunity to Maltese enterprises.

What the initiative will actually involve is giving local PV sector operators (importers, retailers, installers) the opportunity to carry out works on a piece of land during periods when work is slow.

In the last years GRTU has been working with the renewable energy sector GRTU has learned that this sector is very volatile because it is dependent and therefore affected by the Government schemes (MRA schemes). When a scheme is open the sector experiences a sudden spike in work load for which they have to prepare with additional human resources. On the other hand, it experiences the exact opposite effect when the scheme closes, with the instant halt of work and many employees become idle. The sector has had to learn to diversify and shift its operations however, it cannot do this effectively enough to shift and occupy full capacity until another scheme is open.

A survey conducted by GRTU found that the sector employs in total around 750 installers alone and these are employees that are at high risk when the level of installations is low. The number of employees continues to increase if one had to include non-technical employees. We consider non-technical employees to be low risk and therefore a much lower percentage of these employees, when compared to the technical employees, are at risk of becoming redundant.

When one considers that the latest scheme closed in March 2014 and the sector took till around September 2014 finalising installations, it is evident that the sector has now been struggling for a good seven months in its efforts to keep all technical people in employment.

This will however not be the only positive element that will come out of the initiative. Every now and then governments state that small portions of a PV farm shall be put for sale and available to families that have no roof space. GRTU is a great believer in equal opportunities, in fact it has launched the PVPFS scheme to aid families who have a roof but do not have the financial means to take out the initial investment and be able to install PV panels on their rooftops. This initiative should take us a step further and offer the perfect platform to enable families that do not have access to their roof to purchase or lease parts of the proposed PV farm. This will help families get access to more affordable energy prices as well as possibly getting some financial return on their investment.

One of the biggest challenges Malta, like many other countries, faces today is the security of energy supply. Unlike other counties Malta however has very scarce resources and this puts our country in an even more precarious situation to overcome this challenge. It is however also true that the country, its residents and enterprises, cannot afford not to have an aggressive and constant energy policy that increases Malta’s independence when it comes to energy supply and drives down energy prices for users. In addition Malta is also under pressure to reach the EU 2020 targets for energy generated from renewable energy.

We feel proud to say that both the GRTU and its members in the private sector have been both very instrumental and of service to our country in contributing to the energy policy, reaching the EU set targets, reducing our dependency of imported resources and driving down prices for those who saw the value of such investments. This however could not have been possible without the essential contribution of the public sector that over the years has helped in directing and driving investment in the renewable energy sector. GRTU firmly believes that the experiences undertaken so far have been positive for all involved and that the public sector has found a valuable partner in the private sector to support it in its initiatives.

 

The European Commission has recently launched a Green Paper on building a Capital Markets Union and two flanking consultation papers on securitisation and a review of the Prospectus Directive.

This Green paper was launched as an initiative to break down existing cross-border barriers in European investment which prevents businesses from accessing finance at reasonable cost, give savers more investment choices as well as enhance the efficiency of the system that channels such funds.

GRTU President Paul Abela and Deputy President Philip Fenech attended an event organised by the European Commission Representation in Malta to present the Green Paper on Capital Markets Union in more detail and provide a platform for the sectors’ stakeholders to exchange their views and contribute to the consultation exercise.

During the discussion GRTU President Paul Abela emphasised that the European Commission should look beyond banks if it really wants to facilitate access to finance for SMEs. Finance facilities must target also SME organisations, within an agreed framework, that will promote access to finance and really have SMEs at their heart. Banks will always first and foremost priorities profits, low level of risk and promote their own products. These are far from the priorities of the European Commission and SMEs.

 

GRTU has followed reports in the media where it was stated that 300,000 square meters of space had been granted to Enemalta, so as to be made available to Shanghai Electric Power, at the mere price of Eur 0.50c per square meter.

GRTU is very disappointed by such an announcement after it has been lobbying for Government to make an area of land available to local businesses for PV investments.

Instead of leasing it to local businesses for investment and rehabilitation it was leased to a Chinese company. An area of this size could have easily provided for 2 years’ work for the Maltese enterprises and their employees involved in this sector. It would have made up for the quiet periods this sector experiences when MRA schemes are closed and their staff are idle.

To add insult to injury the price at which the Government owned factory roofs are being offered for lease is Eur 3.35 per square meter. If what is reported in the media is correct, this is almost 7 times more expensive than the rate given to Shanghai Electric Power.

In GRTU’s opinion, this is a case of two weights and two measures, where a foreign company is being given advantageous terms in respect to many local companies.

GRTU is incensed that Maltese businesses are being treated as second class citizens in their own country. GRTU feels that Maltese companies should get first preference by right, ahead of foreign businesses and if there is an opportunity Maltese businesses should always be given first priority.

GRTU is not against foreign direct investment but at least we require that Maltese companies are treated with dignity and given the same opportunities at the same price of foreign businesses.

GRTU demands an official clarification and if the facts are as reported, then GRTU demands corrective action in this regard so that Maltese enterprises are placed on equal footing.