The parliamentary secretary for small business and the self-employed yesterday announced reductions in trade licence fees issued by the Trade Licensing Unit (TLU).
Announcing the new fees during a media conference yesterday, Parliamentary Secretary Edwin Vassallo said the TLU would no longer distinguish between the area or locality in which shops operated, when it came to issuing trade licences.
The annual fee of shops in prime areas and localities used to be calculated on the basis of eight per cent of the shop’s rental value, compared to the five per cent calculation that used to be made on shops in areas and localities not considered to be situated in prime areas or localities.
This measure had first been announced in Budget 2007, so the new fees would also be applicable on trade licences issued this year.
As a result of the new procedures for the issue of licences approved by the government, the TLU will calculate annual fees according to the size of the shop’s footprint, meaning that if the shop consists of five storeys on top of each other, the fee will be calculated according to the area of the ground floor.
The new fee for a footprint that is smaller than 200 square metres will be Lm30 / EUR69.88, Lm60 / EUR139.76 for footprints between 201-400 square metres, Lm180 / EUR419.29 for footprints between 410 and 800 square metres and five per cent of the shop’s rental value for footprints larger than 801 square metres (the minimum payment for which will have to be Lm500 / EUR1,164.69.
As for shops in Gozo, an additional 25 per cent reduction will be applicable on the annual fee owed according to the shops’ footprint.
During yesterday’s media conference, Mr Vassallo also released the latest statistics issued by the Trade Licensing Unit, which showed that the number of trade licences issued between January and September this year (764) was more or less the same as the number of licences issued during the same period last year (762).
As for statistics showing the efficiency or otherwise of the TLU, Mr Vassallo said there was an increase of about four per cent in the number of processed trade licence applications between January and September this year.
The number of processed trade licence applications stood at 72 per cent this year, compared to 68 per cent in the same period last year.
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Getting ready for
Christmas shopping
As from today shops will be able to choose to remain open till 10pm every day of the week – including public holidays – to be able to make the most of the Christmas shopping period, the Parliamentary Secretariat for Small Business and the Self-Employed said yesterday.
This measure, which will be applicable until 7 January, was introduced for the first time last year after amendments to the law were made, and it automatically applies to all shops licensed with the Trade Licensing Unit.
The government had introduced the measure due to an increase in commercial activity and wanted to ensure the best working conditions, particularly in the Christmas shopping period, for shops wishing to open for business.