Legislation to be given 'SME-friendly test' before passing in parliament

This council should lead for the basis of structured and regular meetings between the Government, the regulatory authorities and business representatives.

They will be sitting on the same table to discuss themes that concern the economic sector, together identify solutions for problems that this sector was already facing, as well as identifying ideas which could lead this sector to progress.

Fenech insisted that this council was going to be a means which would permit the Government to be nearer to the needs of enterprise. In this way, Government would be in a better position to “better understand” its needs when taking decisions.

He recalled how during the economic and financial crisis, the Government had chosen to speak with particular economic sectors and identify the initiatives needed to assist specific cases.

“In the same manner, this council should work to improve the life of businesses by identifying those issues that are limiting its growth, development and competitiveness,” the Finance Minister concluded.

On his part, Parliamentary Secretary for SMEs and Land Jason Azzopardi introduced the discussion on the Small Businesses Act.

He insisted that this Act was going to lead for “better legislation” for Maltese SMEs.

Among other things, this law will be providing for the introduction of an SME test from which each new law that had a impact on SMEs had to pass to ensure that it does not a negative impact on SMEs, especially small enterprises.

Other provisions in the new law will be a two-month cooling-off period between the publication of laws, and the that had an impact on SMEs and their implementation, and the publication in the Government Gazette of user friendly guidelines for the laws which affect SMEs to explain what was expected out of operators.

Moreover, a college of regulators will be set up to give advice to the Government on its regulatory policy for this sector, while Government entities will have to conduct regulatory and independent surveys about the service that they give to client SMEs to ensure that they continued giving thier services in an efficient manner.

Finally, all information necessary for SMEs will be collated in single online reference point to facilitate consultation by SME.

The most controversial proposal, maybe, is for all organisations representing SMEs to have their own Code of Ethics.