Small and micro businesses will soon be able to take advantage of new measures listed in a White Paper that aims to make entrepreneurs’ lives easier.
The measures fall within the proposed Small Business Act, a draft version of which was launched for public consultation by the Parliamentary Secretary for Small Business and Land, Jason Azzopardi.
The draft legislation proposes a so-called test that will bind any ministry to carry out an impact assessment exercise before presenting any legal notice to Parliament to see how it would affect small businesses, Dr Azzopardi said.
He explained that any law that would impact small businesses would have to pass through the test for small businesses to ensure the proposed legislation would not have a negative impact. “This test makes sure all laws approved by Parliament are small business friendly,” he said.
The draft law proposes the setting up of an enterprise consultative council that will act as a channel of communication between regulators and businesses. The council, which would be made up of stakeholders, would have the power to draw up and present recommendations to the government on the needs of small businesses, Dr Azzopardi said.
The proposed law will also attempt to solve the problems small businesses face when dealing with different entities and regulators by setting up another entity called the College of Regulators. Dr Azzopardi explained that all regulators, such as the standards, resources and planning authorities, would be represented in the college.
“There has to be more consistency in standards so that small businesses know exactly what is expected from them,” he said.
Describing them as the “backbone” and “lung” of the economy, Dr Azzopardi said the government had introduced many schemes over the years in favour of small businesses. These paid off because the number of such businesses rose by 51 per cent between 2001 and 2009. Over 22,000 new businesses opened in the same period, increasing the total to 65,600 from 43,600. Over half, 52 per cent, were micro businesses with fewer than 10 employees, Dr Azzopardi said.
The draft law, which will be open for consultation until December 2, also encourages organisations representing small businesses to introduce a code of ethics.
New legislation for small businesses will become more user-friendly through explanatory notes and user guidelines. Dr Azzopardi admitted that new laws, published in the Government Gazette, were usually written in pedantic language, making it hard to understand. Also, not everyone read the Government Gazette on a regular basis, so it was easy to miss any laws that came into force.
“We are proposing a two-month period where small businesses will be informed and educated about the new legislation that concerns them,” he said.
Vince Farrugia, director general of the Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprises – GRTU, urged the government to set up the post of a Commissioner for Small Businesses, who should have a rank equivalent to that of permanent secretary.
The GRTU expressed its satisfaction that the White Paper was published but pointed out it could only succeed if accompanied by a strong training programme about its implementation for civil servants.