A company yesterday filed a judicial protest in the First Hall of the Civil Court calling upon the authorities to allow it to export rechargeable batteries to Italy.

In its protest, JL & E Enterprises Ltd said it had contracted with an Italian company to purchase 22,000 vehicle batteries. The batteries were used and could be recharged by a simple process.

One of the conditions of the sale was that the company had to export the batteries to Italy. But when it had tried to do so, it was stopped by the Controller of Customs and the Malta Environment and Planning Authority.

After the matter was brought to its attention by the Controller of Customs, Mepa had concluded that the exportation was to be deemed as an exportation of waste material, and that therefore its approval was required.

But the company submitted yesterday that Mepa had referred to the wrong laws when it had issued its ruling. According to the company, Mepa had not taken into consideration the Waste Management (Permit and Control) Regulations of 2001 and the Waste Management (Batteries and Accumulators) Regulations of 2002.

Neither of the two laws required the company to notify the authorities regarding the exportation of the batteries.

The company said the rechargeable batteries were not waste items, for the company did not intend to discard them.

Nor did the batteries fall under the definition of waste in terms of EU Directive 259/93, for they were not spent batteries but batteries that could be recharged.

In conclusion, the company said the two authorities would be in violation of the principle of free movement of goods if they persisted in refusing to allow it to export the batteries.

The company also held the authorities liable in damages.

Lawyers Malcolm Mifsud and Cedric Mifsud signed the protest.