Easygas has instituted a constitutional challenge of a two-week-old legal notice which regulates gas cylinder ownership but the court did not accept the company’s request to suspend the new law immediately.
The gas supplier’s lawyer Georg Sapiano accused the government of abusing its powers on this issue by playing businessman, adjudicator, legislator and regulator.
The dispute stems from the fact that the government sold the old Enemalta cylinders to Liquigas during the privatisation process, even though, Easygas argues, the cylinders belonged to the customers who possessed them.
The legal notice says cylinders should be returned to the company that placed them on the market. According to Easygas, this means those who possess the cylinders are being forced to give them up against their will. In such cases, the Constitution says people who are made to give up what is in their possession should be given adequate compensation, the right to challenge the compensation amount in an independent tribunal, and the right to appeal the decisions. These essential items were ignored in the legal notice, Easygas says.
However, the Malta Resources Authority told the court that Easygas could never become the owner of gas cylinders belonging to another company (Liquigas) without the latter’s consent.When consumers bought gas cylinders, they were buying the contents, but the actual cylinders continued to belong to the companies which issued them. So much so, that the companies were licensed to sell gas, not the cylinders. If Easygas had opted to collect the other company’s cylinders from consumers and distributors – for €25 each – it did so at its own risk. Since the use of the cylinders was being regulated in the interests of consumers and public safety, Easygas did not have a right to compensation.Furthermore, Easygas still had to show how many Liquigas cylinders it had in its possession, from where it had bought them, and at what price.
The MRA therefore objected to the request by Easygas for the suspension of the legal notice.The court refused Easygas’ request to suspend the legal notice, but the case will continue in January.
Meanwhile, MRA recently warned gas operators to abide by the legal notice, an appeal that was backed and accepted by Liquigas.
The regulator said it held “lengthy discussions” last week with both operators, and with the distributors, to ensure everyone fulfilled their obligations.