Customs procedures remain unchanged

Malta Freeport says it is up to Customs to step up inspection of Iranian vessels in line with EU and UN sanctions but the procedure adopted by the Customs Department with regard to containers onboard Iranian ships remain unchanged.

Customs director general Joseph Brincat said the department was conducting the usual verification of documentation and act when inspectors had reasonable suspicion that something was wrong.

He said the department noted the sanctions imposed by the EU and the UN on Iranian shipping companies, including Royal-Med shipping agency, the new name of the Iranian shipping line IRISL, set up in 2009 shortly after the US and the UK hit the line with trading bans over its alleged role in supplying Iran's nuclear weapons programme. The company handles about 10 per cent of the containers that pass through Malta Freeport.

Foreign Minister Tonio Borg said the sanctions against Iran did not prohibit Iranian ships from entering the territorial waters of EU member states. He said the EU and UN sanctions called for "closer scrutiny and monitoring of cargo carried on Iranian-owned ships" and the freezing of financial assets of Iranian companies, including IRISL.

The Maltese government, he said, was already giving "legal force" to these obligations.

A legal notice published last week stipulates that it shall be unlawful for citizens of Malta, companies registered in Malta or vessels or aircraft using the Maltese flag to engage in any commercial activity with Iran involving uranium mining, production or use of nuclear materials and technology as designated by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

It also provides for the freezing of any funds, other financial assets and economic resources which are in Malta and are owned or controlled directly or indirectly by Iran or persons or companies acting on its behalf. The legal notice makes it unlawful for anyone in Malta to make available any funds, financial assets or economic resources to or for the benefit of such people/companies.

The EU and UN sanctions impose on member states to "inspect... all cargo to and from Iran in their territories, including seaports and airports, if they have information that provides reasonable grounds to believe that the cargo contains items the supply, sale, transfer or export of which is prohibited under this decision".

When contacted, a spokesman for Malta Freeport said it was "business as usual" in the case of Iranian vessels. "We are not doing anything about it because we were not told or forced to do anything about it. Customs officers carry out the inspections not us, so it is up to them to carry out the closer scrutiny imposed by the sanctions," the spokesman said.