EU court decides in favour of Malta

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has again decided in favour of Malta in a court case instituted by the European Commission on an alleged infringement of EU law.

In a judgement delivered by the Luxembourg-based court this morning, the ECJ rejected the Commission's claims that Malta had broken an EU law with regards to the use of halons by Maltese flagged ships and said that the Commission "had not met its obligation to prove its case against Malta."

The Court also decided that the Commission should pay all the costs related to this case.

In 2009, Brussels had taken Malta to court claiming that the island failed to decommission fire protection systems and fire extinguishers containing halons for non-critical uses on board ships and to recover such halons according to an EU rules.

However, Malta contested the Commission's interpretation of the law and said that it was conforming to the law.

The Commission this morning sided with Malta and dismissed the Commission's claim for lack of proof.

Malta has been quite successful recently in cases instituted by the Commission in front of the ECJ.

A few months ago, the court dismissed another Commission claim that Malta had infringed EU rules in relation to the award of a tender to Gozo Channel for the provision of passenger services between the two islands.