Court clears used-car imports

The court has dismissed a claim made by the Association of Car Importers Malta that importers of second hand cars are being given favourable treatment by the government through the wrong application of the law.

The ACIM had claimed that while the importers of new cars were being required to produce a Certificate of Conformity, which imposed high health and environmental standards, importers of used vehicles were only being asked to produce a Single Vehicle Authorisation (SVA) issued by a British company in Japan on the basis of standards which were never published in Malta.

As a result, the ACIM said its member companies were suffering damages and loss of sales, since half of imported cars were now used cars.

The court pointed out that two legal notices cited by ACIM in its claim established certain criteria applicable to new cars but the rules essentially imposed obligations upon the car manufacturer and were not related to importation.

It ruled that no evidence had been been produced to show that the authorities had incorrectly applied the law and dismissed the association’s claims.