The owners of a fuel station who had been prohibited from allowing customers to pay at the cash desk when they used automatic pumps were awarded €242,000 in damages by a court to compensate for a loss in sales.
The case had been instituted in 2011 when the former owners of Hompesch Petrol Station of Zabbar had filed a request for damages, saying that the fully-automatic pumps, which they had been forced to install by Enemalta, were much less popular with consumers that the older system. The complainants had bought the fuel station in 2000 and sold it 10 years later.
The court heard how a 1997 agreement between the Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprises (GRTU) and Enemalta had increased the commission on the sale of petrol and diesel for distributors from 2.95c to 3.88c. The rise was subject to the pump owners installing fully-automated pumps.
During this time the complainant had installed the pumps but allowed consumers to fill up the vehicle themselves and pay at the cash desk rather than insert money in the automated machine.
The complainant said that this system proved to be very popular to the point that their sales had significantly increased. They added that following pressure from other GRTU members, Enemalta had ordered them to stop the practice or they would no longer qualify for the increased commission.
A new clause in the licence conditions for fuel distributors introduced in 2001 by Enemalta had banned the opening of fuel stations outside normal hours with the exception of those having automatic pumps.
In 2002, the Malta Resources Authority ruled that Enemalta had to pay the full commission to distributors “as long as the complainant offered a 24-hour service to the consumer, irrespective of the mode of operation of such a service”. The MRA had also ordered Enemalta not to discriminate on the basis of the distribution methods between semi or fully automatic pumps.
Nevertheless, the corporation did not abide by this decision. Meanwhile the new condition was eventually included in a LN 102 of 2002 and subsequently replaced by LN1 of 2006 which is still in force. In 2003, the complainant installed automatic pumps, but informed Enemalta this had been done without prejudice as they would still be seeking redress.
In 2005, the owners filed a complaint with the EC but this referred them to the Commission of Fair Trading which in 2009 recommended lifting these rules. However, it said it had no power to declare LN1/2006, as anti-competitive as it did not affect business between member states.
In 2010, the Commission for Fair Trading declared that the 1997 agreement and subsequent legislation “hindered” fair competition. The commission even deemed LN 1/2006 as “as in contempt of all principles of fair competition as understood in the EU” and sent the decision to the authorities to take action.
During proceedings the owners had presented an estimate of the loss in sales they had suffered between 2003 and 2010 when they sold the station. According to their records the introduction of automatic pumps had resulted in a decrease in sales of 1,955 litres of fuel per day, which equated to €32,700 per year. Hence they said that over a seven-year period they had suffered €242,000 in lost sales.
On its part the MRA argued that the correlation between the changeover in the pump system and the level of sales had not been clearly established.
The court ordered Enemalta, the MRA, the Energy Ministry and the GRTU to pay the owners €242,000 in damages.