Chambers Ireland Weekly Digest – 7th August 2018
1.European Parliament of Enterprises 2018 – Registration now OPEN
This year’s European Parliament of Enterprises (EPE) will take place in Brussels on Wednesday the 10th of October 2018.
The Irish delegation will have 11 spots (in parallel with the number of Irish MEPs) with an attendance fee of €300 per person attending, and the purpose of the event is to promote and discuss the various issues of concern to business and to the top decision makers in the EU.
The event itself is targeted at entrepreneurs, so we would suggest that you promote this event to Chamber members/Directors/council members.
Registration is now open and will be made available to Chambers of a first come first served basis, with one member per Chamber being allocated initially and any additional spaces to be made available after that.
Our EU & International Affairs Manager, Emma Kerins, will be sharing regular updates in the coming weeks.
2.Chambers Ireland Economic Survey 2019
The annual Chambers Ireland Economic Survey 2019, in collaboration with Eurochambres, is *now open* and will run for two months until the 28th of September.
The survey takes no more than 2 minutes to complete.
The survey is available from this link – https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SWMM929
If you have any questions, please contact emma.kerins@chambers.ie
3.European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform
The Department of Communications, Climate Action & Environment has received a request from a colleague working on the European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform, looking for good practices, knowledge, strategies etc from Ireland to feature on the platform. Currently there are only two Irish examples on the platform and the department hope to feature more.
If you or your contacts have any information on any relevant good practices, knowledge or strategies, please contact Dr Irene Cadogan, irene.cadogan@dccae.gov.ie, who will put you in touch with their colleague working on the Platform.
4.Future of Europe / European Elections 2019
As you may know, the European Commission has an ongoing public consultation concerning the Future of Europe (open until next year) and the Irish Government has also been holding a number of public events on this matter.
Our colleagues in Eurochambres plan to draft their own European Chamber position paper on what the wider Network feels should be the priorities for the EU going forward.
They have asked for our views on what business believes the priorities of the EU should be going forward.
We believe having a business friendly position on the Future of Europe will be very important ahead of the European elections in May 2019.
Please feel free to contact our EU & International Affairs Manager Emma Kerins to discuss this by phone on +353 (0) 1 400 4303,
alternatively please send on your feedback or comments directly to emma.kerins@chambers.ie before Monday, 20th of August.
5.Department of Business, Enterprise & Innovation – Brexit Preparedness Notices
The European Commission has sought to clarify what the situation will be for a number of business sectors in the event that no agreement between the UK and the EU is reached.
A list of notices in respect of industrial products, company law, trademarks, auditing and import and export licenses as well as a range of other areas have been published and are available to view on the Commission’s website: European Commission Brexit Preparedness
The Department of Business, Enterprise & Innovation (DBEI) is encouraging firms to review these notices and consider relevant actions that may be required in terms of Brexit.
If you have any queries, please contact our EU & International Affairs Manager Emma Kerins: Emma.Kerins@chambers.ie
6.Peninsula – Employers Warned Over Excessive Working Hours
Peninsula, the professional advice service, have provided a new article focusing on the importance of employers understanding their responsibilities in ensuring that their employees do not exceed the legal time periods of labour, following a recent ruling from an Irish Labour Court ordering an employer to pay a former business development executive €7,500 for persistent breaches of the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997.
Section 15 of the Act states that employers shall not permit an employee to work more than an average of 48 hours in each period of 7 days.