The European Commission today cleared Malta of a claim it might be discriminating against non-Maltese residents in the use of the public transport, breaching the principles of the single market.

The claim was made in a question by MEP Daniel Dalton (ECR) on behalf of a constituent on October 28.

The Commission said that the Maltese authorities ensured that the personalised smart card was accessible to anyone irrespective of nationality or place of residence. The card could be obtained with a non-Maltese identity document and was delivered to postal addresses outside Malta, provided that the applicant paid the relevant postal costs.

The Commission also told Nationalist MEP Therese Comodini Cachia that the Maltese Government was working on the transposition of the directive on measures to reduce the cost of deploying high-speed electronic communication networks.

In a question on November 12, Dr Comodini Cachia asked about Malta’s preparedness to implement the directive. She asked whether the Commission was satisfied with the progress made in Malta with a view to ensuring that by 2020 all of its citizens would have access to much higher Internet speeds (above 30 Mbps), and that more than half of its households subscribed to Internet connections with a speed above 100 Mbps.

The commission said the Malta Communications Authority and Transport Malta were advising the government on its transposition. A widespread consultation with various government entities was being carried out and a public consultation closed on November 6.

The government was also proposing amendments to the Utilities and Services (Regulation of Certain Works) Act and other laws, such as the Electronic Communications (Regulation) Act and new regulations under the Building Regulation Act.

Malta completed its broadband coverage and all connections were at least 30 Mbps. The take up of fixed broadband was well above EU average and by the end of 2014 most consumers had migrated to fast broadband services.

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