The European Commission wants to simplify the process of re-registering a car in one member state that has been bought in another, saying the different national systems were a bureaucratic nightmare for citizens.

Five per cent of all complaints received by the Commission in recent years have involved citizens’ uphill struggles with their national administrations over re-registration, according to recent surveys.

Brussels aims to streamline the systems across the EU so that a simple registration transfer would become “really simple”.

Launching a public consultation yesterday in Brussels, to be followed by legislative proposals, Industry Commissioner Antonio Tajani said the Commission’s aim was to save time and money for consumers, businesses and national registration offices.

Meanwhile, a Commission official said infringement procedures started against Malta in 2009 over its new car registration system, introduced two years ago, were “still pending” although “progress has been registered lately in discussions with the Maltese government”. Last September, the Commission requested more information from the authorities.

“The case concerns not only passenger cars but also commercial vehicles for which the registration tax has been changed in 2010. Contacts between Commission’s services and the Maltese authorities are intensive and very fruitful on this matter, and we hope that soon the case will come to a positive close,” the official said.

Commission sources said the pending issue involved the way depreciation was being calculated by the Maltese authorities.

Since Malta joined the EU in 2004, the island had to overhaul its car registration system as it wasn’t considered to be in compliance with EU rules.

Following a previous set of infringement procedures against it in 2007, the government made radical changes to the rules and started implementing them as from the beginning of 2009. The new system is now based on more pro-environment calculations instead on a purely monetary basis. The changes boosted the importation of second-hand luxury cars from the UK.