There have been four editions of The Business Observer so far ­and one theme has emerged consistently from the various stories: that the protectionist attitude of the pre-EU era has not been completely exorcised from the local psyche; and that political myopia has allowed an uneven playing field to distort free competition.

The volleys exchanged between stakeholders over imports from Sicily – of both products and services – has been extraordinary, ending up with judicial protests being filed by the operator of the catamaran, Virtu Ferries. But as The Business Observer delved more and more into the issue, it found numerous anomalies and it was clear that while some were laziness and procrastination, others were suspiciously like attempts to protect certain sectors and operators. The issue of car imports has opened another Pandora’s box. For example, there are clauses in the law governing the registration requirements for new cars which effectively give their authorised dealers a monopoly, making it impossible for anyone else to import new cars. Is this discrimination? Is this free competition? Why can there be legitimate parallel imports of detergents, books and kitchens – but not cars? How does this work in the consumer’s interest?

The authorised dealers rightly point out that they have onerous obligations as the franchisee – but the reality is that the franchisers also have to wake up to the realities of competition. The days of Henry Ford and “any colour as long as it is black” are long gone.

Consumers have tasted blood ­– over 29,000 of them realised that they did not have to go through either new or used car dealers and bought cars directly over the past five years – and it is going to be nearly impossible for dealers to ever recoup the exclusivity they had in the past, no matter how hard they stamp their feet.

The flood of cars being brought down was also an incentive for transport companies to offer car haulier services – but this logistics service soon morphed into a complete car purchase service, from sourcing to delivery. The dealers are horrified: how dare anyone else sell used cars? So explain why they want to be able to import new cars freely and without restrictions, but other companies should not be able to import used ones?

Of course, there are other aspects which raise eyebrows. A number of dealers feel aggrieved by the system used to certify emissions of vehicles imported from Japan by their ‘EU equivalent’, which gives preference to the handful of members of the Used Vehicles Importers Association based on the fact that the UVIA foots the certification bills. Would they be less aggrieved if membership of UVIA were open to all? Does membership constitute a non-tariff barrier to trade?

The dealers have other gripes. They point to online classified sites and the thousands of used cars for sale. They prefer to assume that those posting the notices are guilty (of tax evasion) until proven innocent and are challenging the revenue authorities to work with the transport authority and check whether the vehicle transfers are linked to any VAT payments.

So here we are with a situation where everyone wants to have a piece of everyone else’s pie, without realising that if this principle were to be genuinely adopted, then everyone else would be able to have a piece of their pie too.

And the consumers? They are getting wiser and wiser and more and more irritated at being taken for fools who have no other option.