Category: Archive – 2012

EU consumers want to be sure that the products – whether produced in the EU or imported from third-countries – are safe. The good news is that thanks to the increasing effectiveness of the EU's rapid alert system for non-food dangerous products ("RAPEX") dangerous products are detected earlier and more effectively and are more promptly removed from the EU market. This process involves a chain of actions including upstream efforts to design out risks at source, better risk assessment and close co-operation between EU authorities, notably customs, to identify risks at the points of entry.

John Dalli, Commissioner in charge of Health and Consumer Policy, said: "The fact that fewer dangerous items enter the EU market is good news for consumers. But we must remain committed so that we can tackle the challenges of the global supply chain and address any new product safety issues as they emerge. That is why building the system of 'Seamless Surveillance' by strengthening co-operation here in the EU and enhancing co-operation with international partners remains a key priority".

RAPEX : a rapid alert system to keep EU consumers safe

RAPEX has matured significantly since 2004 (when the General Product Safety Directive was transposed into national law). Member States have spent up to 100 million € and employed up to 6000 inspectors to work on product safety enforcement. The 2011 report highlights the achievements:

• earlier detection
• better market surveillance and product safety enforcement by national authorities, including through specific projects;
• better risk assessment by authorities;
• more focus on quality and usefulness of notifications;
• growing co-operation with customs authorities;
• continued network-building and training coordinated by the European Commission.

RAPEX 2011 Report: what about the countries of origin:

Although China remains – with more than half of the RAPEX notifications – the number one country for the number of notifications on products, there has been a decrease from 58% in 2010 to 54% in 2011.

19% (293 notifications) were of European origin. 15% were from other countries. 8% were of unknown origin (compared to 23% in 2004 – decreasing steadily with better identification).

Dangerous products of European origin accounted for 293 notifications (19%), including 44 products of French origin (3%), 43 products of German origin (3%) and 32 products of Italian origin (2%).

Notifying countries – all Member States involved:

All Member States participated in the RAPEX system by detecting and notifying new dangerous products and ensuring appropriate follow-up actions. The most active countries were Spain (189 notifications), Bulgaria (162 notifications), Hungary (155 notifications), Germany (130 notifications), and the United Kingdom (105 notifications). Notifications sent by these countries represent 47% of all notifications on products posing a serious risk sent via the system.

Clothing and textiles, toys and motor vehicles are on the top of the list.

Clothing and textiles were the most frequently notified products (423 notifications concerned suffocation and irritation risk), followed by toys (324 notifications mainly for choking risk), motor vehicles (171 notifications for risk of injury), electrical appliances (153 notifications for risk of electric shock) and cosmetics (104 notifications for chemical risk), which together account for 74% of all notifications on products posing a serious risk in 2011.

What next:

• Build the system of 'Seamless Surveillance';
• Enhance the co-operation with third countries, in particular, bilaterally with China and trilaterally with the US and China (the next trilateral meeting is scheduled for June 2012), and make progress on the co-operation with the US, Canada and Australia on an important work on pooling recall information under the auspices of OECD;
• Finalise proposals for a comprehensive legislative package on product safety and market surveillance;
• Promote greater awareness among businesses of their obligations.

 

The Consumer Affair Council will be meeting on the 16th of May 2012. For this reason we are kindly asking you to bring forward any issues which you wish to be discussed during the said Council. At the moment this Council is drawing out a list of issues which it will be discussing throughout this year. The scope of this council is to advise the Minister regarding measures to be taken for the protection of the Consumer.

Mr Mario Cutajar our representative on the Council will be keeping the GRTU informed of any outcome affecting our members and will be also consulting the GRTU for guidance on issues where the need arises.

I await for your feedback as Mr Cutajar will be representing GRTU's recommendations during the next meeting which is going to be held on the 16th of May 2012.

Kindly forward your suggestions by not later than the 15th of May 2012 on email;

Join the Malta 2012 FP7 ICT Brokerage Event in Malta, to network with research organisations from across Europe. It is an opportunity to learn more about ICT FP7 calls, projects currently under development and opportunities for you to participate.

Pen the date…

The Brokerage Event – organized by the Malta Council of Science and Technology in conjunction with the Slovenian Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport – will be held on the 28th of June 2011 at Villa Bighi, Malta.

The aim of the event is to create potential synergies between participants interested in submitting topics under Pervasive and Trusted Network and Service Infrastructures and Technologies for Digital content and Languages, under last calls of FP7 ICT.

Sending your interest in attending to  . Registration closes on 4^th June 2012.

 

Why did you become an entrepreneur? It has been our family business for over 40 years. How have you come to choose your line of business? It was natural for me to continue in the family business and the fact that there is a constant increase in motor vehicles we opted to expand and invested in a petrol station

Where did you go on your last holiday?

Liverpool – To see a football match and it was a present to my son for his Confirmation.

What is your earliest memory?

When I went for my first holiday in Rome.

If you could chose to be someone famous who would you be and why?

Steven Gerrard – a great footballer and does his utmost for the Liverpool club

From 1 July 2012, the European Union's mobile roaming regulation will be extended to include price caps for data downloads which will mean significant savings for those using maps, email and social networks when travelling. For a typical businessperson travelling in the EU this will mean savings of over €1000 per year. A family taking an annual holiday in another EU country can expect to save at least €200. (Full details of these data roaming case studies are in Annex II).

Overall, the improved EU roaming regulation – taking into account calls, SMS and data – will deliver consumers savings of 75% across a range of mobile roaming services, compared to 2007 prices. This year Europeans will spend around €5 billion on roaming services, a saving of around €15 billion compared to what the same services would have cost under 2007 prices.

Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes said: "By putting price caps on data we have created a roaming market for the smart phone generation. More than that, we have ended the rip-offs familiar to anyone who has used a mobile phone while travelling abroad. I am pleased that year after year the European Union is putting money back in the pockets of citizens."

"From 2014 we are also delivering a permanent solution to the roaming issue, something better than any price cap. We are bringing full competition to this market by making it easy to choose a separate roaming provider. If you can find a better offer compared to your standard contract you'll be able to do it in a few simple swipes, just like when you choose a wifi network."

From summer 2012: data downloads get much cheaper

Since 2007 the EU has placed price caps on calling and texting. Now data is being brought under the same system. The new prices caps, which will enter into force on 1 July 2012, are:

• 29 cents per minute to make a call, plus VAT
• 8 cents per minute to receive a call, plus VAT
• 9 cents to send a text message, plus VAT
• 70 cents per Megabyte (MB) to download data or browse the Internet whilst travelling abroad (charged per Kilobyte used), plus VAT.

Downloading data previously cost more than € 4 per Megabyte from many operators in July 2009 – now those prices will be cut by around six times. By 2014, as prices are cut further, the maximum cost of downloading data will be just 20 cents per Megabyte, plus VAT, a saving of 90% on many current rates.

Operators are free to offer cheaper rates. Price caps are a maximum level, acting as a safeguard, and competition should drive them lower.

Bill shock: information when travelling outside the EU

To help avoid "bill shock" from 1st July 2012, people travelling outside the EU will get a warning text message, email or pop-up window when they are nearing €50 of data downloads, or their pre-agreed level.

Consumers will then have to confirm they are happy to go over this level in order to continue their data roaming.

This extends the alert system currently in place within the EU.

From 2014: competition will deliver cheaper roaming

From 1 July 2014, customers will have the option to shop around for a separate mobile roaming provider – either through a contract or by choosing a provider at their destination, like they would choose a Wi-Fi network. All with the same number.

Mobile network operators in visited countries will have an incentive to offer such services at rates close to national prices, on the basis of their own low national network costs. As people's mobile data use intensifies, and they want to use their devices anywhere, any time, many travelers are likely to find this Wi-Fi – like option very attractive. These forces will reinforce each other to create lower prices and better network coverage.

Price caps will stay in place until 30 June 2017 as an extra safety net for consumers.

Workshops on Local Action Plan on Renewable Energy – Local residents, local administrators, private sector representatives and technical operators are encouraged to attend. Interested participants are requested to register for this seminar by sending an email on or by phone on 22955116/22955184. For more information view our website www.mra.org.mt Date: Monday 21 July 2012 Venue : Europa House Valletta Time: 8.30am – 1.00pm

 

A total of 200 applications which between them are requesting grants amounting to €13.9 million have been submitted in the latest call for applications issued by Malta Enterprise for five schemes co-financed through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

The scheme most in demand was that for Innovation, for which 85 applications were submitted, evidence of the local entrepreneurs' increasing awareness about the need to constantly innovate their products, service offering or processes they implement in their operations as a means of ensuring their long term sustainability and competitiveness.

Almost 50 applications were submitted for assistance through the International Competitiveness scheme, which assists enterprises to seek and enter foreign markets; around 30 for the Small Start-Up scheme; and around 20 each for the Environment and the R&D schemes.

As for the previous calls of these Schemes, through which Malta Enterprise approved almost €35 million in assistance to around 570 beneficiaries – albeit these also included the Energy and eBusiness schemes – the response has been very encouaraging.

Indeed, the amount being requested reaches €14 million and thus significantly exceeds the remaining budget of €8.5 million from the ERDF funds. The value of the projects for which applications have been submitted is envisaged to reach a global investment of around €35 million.

Wholesale and retail trade businesses accounted for 20.4 per cent of the total registered business units in 2011, according to this week's latest release by the National Statistic's Office. In 2011, the number of registered business units rose by 2.8 per cent to 64,933 from 63,139 in 2010.

The majority of the increase are micro businesses. By legal organisation, 64.3 per cent of all business units were ‘sole ownerships/partnerships'. These amounted to 41,739 registered units.

2011 has registered the lowest number of births and deaths of business units since 2006. In 2011 births amounted to 4,160 and deaths amounted to 1,594.

Size of businesses in 2011 were recorded as follows:

Micro Enterprises 0-9 employees: 62,979

Small Enterprises 10-49 employees: 1,512

Medium Enterprises 50-249 employees: 361

Large Enterprises 250+ employees: 81

The total business units amounted to 64,933. The majority are Micro Enterprises totaling 97.0 per cent of all business units.

GRTU Director General and EESC Employers Representative Vincent Farrugia has this week participated at the EESC Transport, Energy, Infrastructure and the Information Society, which amongst several other papers discussed the draft EESC Opinion on: Digital market as a driver for growth. Mr Farrugia was Rapporteur of a related paper on Expanding the use of eProcurement in the EU, which was adopted as EESC Opinion last year.

The digital economy profoundly alters habits and affects the entire social and economic fabric of our societies. Its security and interoperability are crucial. The Union's Digital Agenda is one of the flagship initiatives of the EU 2020 strategy.

Aware of the challenges, the Danish presidency has asked the EESC to identify what needs to be done in order to make it a driver of growth. Any consideration of the digital economy should involve social and civil dialogue, as well as agreements and partnerships.

The market for the market's sake is not an end in itself. ICTs must be a means to serve the economy and must not threaten our economic, social, human and cultural gains. Producing and trading online and developing the digital economy changes the employment market. The EESC called for more visibility and information for entrepreneurs and consumers, and appropriate safeguards for all.

The EU is lagging behind the great designers and providers (United States) and the great manufacturers (Asia). It should urgently implement the whole of its digital strategy and shift its approach towards confronting the challenges, both short-term (IPRs) and long-term (ageing of the population). The EESC's priorities are:

Triggering growth through ICTs

Creating growth by means of confidence in the digital economy

Developing productivity and inclusive growth

ICTs as a lever for sustainable growth