Rejection of application for Naxxar fair ‘invalid and null’

A group of businessmen, who were last year prevented by the Commerce Department from organising a trade fair in Naxxar, yesterday felt vindicated by a ruling of the Licensing Appeals Board.

The board declared the Commerce Department’s “baseless” decision as “invalid and null”.

This is because the department should have only considered aspects related to the site, like ensuring it had the necessary space for the crowds, adequate parking spaces and necessary health and safety requirements. But instead, the department had based its decision on the planning authority’s Central Malta Local Plan of 2006 which lays down that Mepa should not permit the continued use of the Naxxar site as a trade fair once activity there ceased.

The department had argued that it could not go against such a public policy as approved by Parliament, and neither could it undermine the rights and interests of the people in Naxxar with regard to traffic and parking problems.

Trade Fair Exhibitors Association Ltd (TFEA) had applied to hold the trade fair on April 14, intending to organise it in July when it would have competed with the one organised in Ta’ Qali.

In its application, TFEA indicated that the grounds were licensed to hold fairs, citing reactivated Licence 44/130. But the application was refused since the licence, issued in 1975, was “to keep an office for the managing of the Malta International Fair at Nos. 4 and 5, Ġwejda Street, Naxxar”.

TFEA took the case to court, which decided it had the necessary licence and no development permit was required. It ordered the Commerce Department to “consider” the application for a commercial fair within four days and said its ruling was to be applied provisionally until a judgment was reached by the Court of Appeal.

The department appealed both decisions but said it had considered the application for a commercial fair licence without prejudice to its appeals. It decided that the application should be denied.

The decision of the Licensing Appeals Board does not give TFEA a licence but vindicates the company’s claims of unfairness. Now, the company must await the civil court’s appeal ruling to see whether the Naxxar grounds can be used as a trade fair again according to the interpretation of the 1975 licence.

The Naxxar local council had been the primary objector to the fair being held there.

In a press statement, TFEA said the “wrong decision” of the refusal of the Director General of Commerce had resulted in the suspension of the organisation of all fairs and other activities in Naxxar.

“The cost and losses of lack of these opportunities has been to the detriment of all exhibitors and the general public from January 2010 till today.”

When contacted, TFEA’s Paul Abela said the ruling showed “how right we were”.

“We have to evaluate the ruling to see how we will proceed. But it shows the decision of the Commerce Department was unfair... It is still early to see what we are going to do. We have shown we are still there because we still mean business, but decisions have to be taken as a group.”