Car importers warn of job losses

Scores of workers could be driven out of their jobs unless the government transposes strict EU regulations on "environmentally harmful" second hand cars, car importers have warned.

The growing popularity of second hand cars, especially Japanese, was dealing a massive blow to car importers and the redundancies will be massive unless a fair level playing field is established, Association of Car Importers representative Georg Sapiano, said.

ACIM is incensed at the government's decision to transpose the End of Life Directive solely for new cars and as a protest the association has decided to pull out of this year's Trade Fair. But such a move is only the tip of the iceberg, the association said.

There could, however, be light at the end of the tunnel for ACIM's demands. When contacted, Environment Minister George Pullicino said that a joint memorandum about the matter had been drawn up with Roads Minister Jesmond Mugliett.

Mr Pullicino said the issue will be taken to Cabinet in the coming weeks but did not elaborate.

The bone of contention is the EU's End of Life Directive, which requires the phasing out of most applications of mercury and other heavy metals. It also imposes on EU member states the creation of facilities to safely manage waste from end of life vehicles.

Malta is a haven for vehicles - with the latest statistics showing there was over 272,000 vehicles clogging the roads. According to ACIM, Malta is becoming a dumping ground for second hand cars with the average age of a private vehicle being 11.8 years.

The second hand car industry has more than eaten into the business of brand new car importers. New car imports in the last five years have plummeted - from 12,000 in 1999 to 7,003 last year. Brands like the Toyota Vitz remain hugely popular in the used-car sector.

Dr Sapiano protested that all directives purporting to protect individuals from heavy metals were astonishingly applied exclusively to new imported cars rather than to the "harmful" second hand cars.

He explained that ACIM members have taken on added infrastructural and labour costs.

EU membership allows for a free market and anybody may import any of the car brands. This, however, means that importers have to abide by certain specifications, have qualified staff to offer technical assistance and offer a proper after-sales service.

"The problem is that while we have to abide to certain standards and procedures and conform to so many rules, there is nothing regulating the second hand car industry."

Dr Sapiano strongly rebuts claims that ACIM is resorting to protectionism or wants to see the back of the second hand car industry for good.

The association's members agree to any measures intended to protect the environment - provided they are adopted across the board. "As things stand, the government is giving a discount to those harming the environment," he said.

Dr Sapiano asked whether consumers were aware of their used vehicle's history, whether they could verify its true mileage or even whether it had been stolen.

In 2003, the government gave the used car importers the polluter pays treatment, increasing registration for engines between 1300cc to 1500cc by Lm600. But, used car importers went round the short-term fix and started importing more engines below 1300cc.

Dr Sapiano called for incentives to encourage motorists to buy a new car and dump their old one.

"The government seems to want to control the importation of cars through registration taxes. Why not lower registration taxes and give incentives to owners of cars older than 10 years to buy a new one or a clean second hand one," he asked.

Dr Sapiano agrees that the price of new cars is very steep but blames the government for this.

As motorists find it too expensive to buy a new car, they are going for cheaper, second best alternatives.

This, he said, was being reflected on the job sector. About 1,000 people are employed by ACIM members. Recently a major car importer shed 42 workers and others are set to follow suit, Dr Sapiano warned.