This is a government that cares, which is focused on its goals and is working hard to push our country forward. Our priority remains that of creating more jobs while stimulating economic activity. By achieving further economic growth we enable people to have better disposable income and an improved financial position. This is by no means an easy task to achieve. We are surrounded by a difficult economic climate since our neighbouring countries have complicated hurdles to overcome. Still, Malta in on the right track as the PN government was bold enough to take difficult decisions when it mattered most. Recent figures by Euro stat have confirmed that Malta’s deficit has gone down below the required 3 per cent to 2.7 per cent in 2011, with the EU average standing at 4.5 per cent. These statistics clearly indicate that we are moving forward and that there is a base foundation of stability in our country, a hard earned constancy that attracts investment and jobs to our shores. The government is clearly taking the right decisions, creating innovative jobs and increasing commercial activity in the process. We are witnessing further investment by the private sector, with the result that in the last four years nearly 20,000 new jobs were created. These encouraging signs show that the private sector is employing more people while the small and medium enterprises are encountering more opportunities to expand. More qualitative jobs are being created; at the same time the government has increased expenditure in the health, education and social sectors.

Malta has the fifth lowest rate of unemployment in the EU. But we must remain determined to achieve our aspirations to have a first-rate economy. In the last four years, Malta Enterprise approved no less than 130 applications and extensions to new factories with an investment of €323 million. Thanks to the ‘Micro invest’ tax credit scheme, in these last two years alone, more than 1,000 micro businesses have benefited from up to €25,000 each in tax reductions, generating 247 new jobs and investing almost €16 million in the economy. Other businesses have also benefited from the ‘Microcredit’ scheme, consisting of special loans and investing no less than €24 million back in the economy. Last January, Minister Fenech and myself launched the ‘Business First’, a first rate facility offering more than 50 government services under one roof, which allows our small businesses to facilitate their day to day operations while supporting their growth. More than 1,700 enterprises, most of them small, have made intelligent use of this service and this is a clear indication that we are eroding bureaucracy in a concrete way.

We know what we have achieved but at the same time we know that we need to be creative and assist businesses in the best way possible. We are a government that listens, that considers favourable proposals and that takes distinctive action. It is for this reason that we have just launched a six-week public consultation period so that those interested can put forward their propositions on a number of proposals that the Ministry for Fair Competition, Small Business and the Consumers has put forward with the aim of reducing bureaucracy. Concretely, we are putting forward six innovative ideas that we feel will further reduce paperwork in a substantial way, thus enabling entrepreneurs to establish their business in a more convenient manner.

We are proposing that:

A small business only needs to send a notification to the Commerce Department in order to establish itself. As a result of this new proposal, those commercial businesses, which until today required a licence to operate, would not need to apply for one anymore. Now, you only need to inform the Commerce Department that you will be starting a business.

In order to promote more efficiency, we are proposing that small businesses that are setting themselves up can send a front payment together with their notification. In this case, they would not need to receive a confirmation from the Commerce Department in order to start operating. Before, we had a lengthy procedure where the Department would have to first deal with the application, then process the payment and finally inform the applicant. Now this procedure will be eliminated to pave the way for a more straightforward method

We are also proposing to do away with the presentation of documents when submitting the application to start a business. We are proposing to remove the present obligation of submitting a Mepa permit and a floor plan. Instead, the applicant only needs to provide the Department with the Mepa permit number for the property in question. If incorrect information is submitted, it will render the application void.

We are also proposing a reduction in licensing fees. At present, a business licence for manufacturing or other commercial activity that exceeds a footprint of 800 square metres is required to pay five per cent of the value of the property’s rent. It is being proposed that the maximum that one needs to pay in this case is €1,000. This will lead businesses to acquire no less than €164 on the present actual minimum.

Another suggestion is the removal of inactive licences, which means that businesses need to have their annual payments in place only up to the term of operation. Current legislation states that licence fees need to be paid till the licence is cancelled, irrespective of whether the business is active or not. This means that if a cancellation is not made, payments will continue accumulating year after year and a licence would only be cancelled after one pays all the pending licence fees. This anomaly has lead to a situation where we have a number of inactive business licences with pending high bills. The Commerce Department would only be able to cancel these fees by going through legal procedures that are quite lengthy. As such, we are proposing that payments will only be due up till the operating period and the Director of Commerce will cancel any pending licence fees of those businesses that did not operate for four consecutive years, and

Our sixth proposal consists of removing the transferability and re-activation of business licensing. In a business environment where there are no restrictions on the issuing of licences, it doesn’t make sense to have such restrictions in place.

With these proposals, the government is aiming to achieve more flexibility and less bureaucracy. In the coming days, 18,000 businesses will be receiving an information leaflet with these proposals. Those concerned can send their comments either by email to [email protected] or by post to Business Care Unit, Commerce Department, Lascaris, Valletta. For further information contact the Commerce Department, Monday to Friday between 1:30 and 3: 30pm. This is a government that listens and we await your feedback.