“While Malta is aware that the Energy Taxation Directive needs to be updated to reflect present day realities, and to help promote the use of renewable and clean energy sources, the removal of tax exemptions on aviation and shipping fuels will have serious repercussions on many member states, including Malta, unless tackled internationally,” said Minister for Finance Edward Scicluna during the Informal ECOFIN meeting held in Helsinki, Finland on 13-14 September, according to the government’s Department of Information (DOI).

“Ships will bunker tax-free outside the EU waters while new aviation taxes would hamper connectivity of peripheral regions,” the minister added.

Current EU rules for taxing energy products and electricity are recorded in the Energy Tax Directive 2003/96/EC. The Energy Taxation Directive establishes the minimum excise duty rates that EU member states must apply to energy products for fuel and transport and electricity, according to the official website of the European Commission.

“EU legislation only sets harmonised minimum rates. Member states are free to apply excise duty rates above these minima, according to their own national needs,” the EC writes on the subpage carrying details on the ETD.

Should all EU members align with the ETD, tax exemption would be removed from the area of the European Union. Pundits expect this would result in countries in the bloc losing revenues from bunkering and refuelling, as operators would likely manage such activities in a tax exemption zone before entering the area of the European Union.

Countering hybrid threats

During the informal meeting, attending ministers also debated the resilience of financial market infrastructure and the role of the financial sector in countering hybrid threats, the next steps needed by the European Union to enhance the Capital Markets Union (CMU) as well as the European Fiscal Rules, according to the press statement published on the official website of the DOI.

Minister Scicluna said that there are elements of the fiscal framework which need to be reviewed — including the overreliance on unobservable indicators such as the output gap, and the complexity of the rules. “However, changing the rules will not be enough. What is truly imperative is to ensure that the rules are observed and properly enforced. If we do not address this core issue, the framework will remain weak,” the minister added

The post Malta shows reluctance to align with Energy Taxation Directive first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

Finland was the first country in the European Union to start working on a national AI strategy back in May 2017, publishing the first report on their progress in October 2017. In June 2018, the second report foresaw that soon one million of the country’s population would need to update their AI skills. This second report also provided 28 policy recommendations related to the effects of AI on economy and employment, the labour market, education and skills management, and ethics. Another report is scheduled to hit the international digital stalls in English in April.

AI is a hot topic nowadays, and professionals expect technology to change our private and business lives significantly. “Artificial intelligence is often acknowledged as one of the key drivers of economic growth and an area of strategic importance. Managing the transformation to the AI era is one of the key success factors as AI holds great potential due to the combination of powerful computing and massive data sets that are increasingly available. Further, AI might hold the keys solving challenges citizens face and improving lives of people,” Ms Sipinen tells BM.

Finland, in preparation for their AI strategy, created a steering group forming a secure network of experts from the public and private sectors to provide input. “We chose to use a model of ‘network of networks’ to keep a wide group of experts from industry, public sector and academia involved in the national AI strategy work from the start. This proved to be a fruitful approach and can be recommended to Malta as well,” the AI specialist says.

The steering group was appointed by economy minister Mika Lintilä in May 2017 and falls under the scope of Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment. It is led by Pekka Ala-Pietilä, CEO and co-founder of Blyk and former President of Nokia.

When approaching the matter of artificial intelligence, the steering group made sure to keep the people of Finland at the scope of their efforts and be courageous while also staying ethical. “Keeping citizens in the centre of our thinking [was the most important building block]. Our vision for AI-era Finland is to utilise artificial intelligence boldly and ethically in all fields of society and create a safe and democratic society offering the world’s best services. Artificial intelligence will help the public sector become an efficient and personalised service provider, and new technologies create significant growth for companies and through that a healthy growing economy,” Ms Sipinen says.

AI effects to show up in the long run

Finland has found the magnitude of shifting toward the AI era to be the most challenging part of their work, as the programme is primarily a preparation for the future. As such, for the time being, it is difficult to assess the result of the AI strategy as many actions having been taken by Finland mark the beginning of long-term changes.

However, having one and a half year of experience working on a national AI strategy, Business Malta asked the Finnish steering group to help Maltese stakeholders and legislators with their AI strategy efforts by sharing experience and offering recommendations.

“My advice would be to keep in mind the need to balance between kick-starting longer term, complex transformations (such as changes to the educational system to fulfil the promise of life-long learning) but at the same time also deliver on actions and projects that can be implemented right away. Also, it is vital to keep the citizens informed and engaged in the work as we can successfully apply new technologies only when there is public trust to them,” Ms Sipinen say.

“Good luck with the Maltese AI strategy work, we look forward to learning more about it!” the AI specialist concludes.

The post Finland creates bold and ethical AI strategy for all first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.