'Sound basis' for agreement on eco-contribution refunds

The "ongoing saga" of the eco-contribution system was finally moving towards an agreement with the government, according to chamber president Helga Ellul.

The Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry was pushing the government to publish the long-awaited regulations that had been pending since 2005, Mrs Ellul said.

In 2005, the government introduced a system whereby companies registered in a scheme that involved domestic door-to-door waste collection would be refunded the eco-contribution paid on certain products.

The system, however, did not work well and did not receive the necessary fine-tuning, leaving many businesses without their refund.

Speaking at the chamber's annual meeting last week, Ms Ellul said the system led to abuse. "Eco-contribution has also increased the problem of abuse in free movement of goods because illicit traders are attracted to products that carry the highest levels of taxation."

Mrs Ellul referred to a legal notice published last month, which she claimed did not benefit the chamber's members as these still had to pay both the eco-contribution and the charges for their waste management schemes.

But, after recent talks with the Small Business and Dialogue parliamentary secretaries, there was a sound basis for an agreement on the refunds, Mrs Ellul said.

However, she had harsh words for the government's attitude: "It seems time does not have the same bearing in the public sector as in business. It seems to be quite acceptable in the public sector that years go by with us incurring extra costs without any action taken to give us what should have been rightfully ours since 2005."

The government had to finally get its act together and stop passing the buck from one authority to another, she added.

The Chamber has insisted for several years on the necessary mechanisms to safeguard fair competition. Precious time continued to be lost where members were losing business, government was losing tax revenue and consumer interests were undermined, she said.