A court judgment passed in May has left the competition and consumers watchdog unable to order that legal breaches be rectified, the Times of Malta is informed.

This was confirmed by the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority itself. It said that, after an investigation of more than a year and a half into competition in the fuels market, it could not take effective remedial action.

“It seems the government is in no hurry to propose the required legal amendments even though Malta is effectively without a competition watchdog,” sources close to the MCCAA said.

“Proposals have been made to the Ministry for Social Dialogue, Consumer Affairs and Civil Liberties, but it seems this is not a priority,” the sources added.

In May, the Court of Appeal confirmed an earlier ruling in a case instituted by the Federation of Real Estate Agents. Upholding the case against the MCCAA, the court ruled that the Director General for Competition could not decide cases over alleged breaches of rules and impose fines, because only a proper court could guarantee a fair hearing.

It also ruled that certain parts of the Competition Act were in breach of the Constitution and had to be amended.

The decision effectively froze all pending cases before the MCCAA, as it cannot take any effective decisions without the necessary legal amendments first being made.

A spokesman for Consumer Affairs Minister Helena Dalli confirmed the problems, adding: “A number of options involving legal amendments are currently being considered for discussion when Parliament reconvenes”. That will be in October.

The spokesman denied that the MCCAA was in a position where it could not function in relation to competition breaches. “The Office for Competition is still performing all its functions under the Competition Act, including carrying out investigations,” he insisted.

“The authority can still investigate and issue the outcome of its investigations. At this stage, the authority is not issuing fines until there are the necessary amendments to such procedure to bring it in line with the court’s decision,” the spokesman said.

When asked about an ongoing competition issue on the sale of fuel at pumps and what stage it had reached, a spokesman for the MCCAA said the authority “is not in a position to issue a decision”.

“Without prejudice to any action that the Office may take with regard to the case, in view of the judgment, delivered on May 3, 2016, by the Constitutional Court, at the moment, this Office is not in a position to issue its decision”, the spokesman said.

He added that the MCCAA had effectively investigated the case but was unable to proceed. “The Office for Competition issued a statement of objections to the investigated parties last January and also granted access to the file. The parties concerned presented their written and oral submissions in March.”

However, he added, the Office was not in a position to act because of the court judgment.

When told that the MCCAA’s position jarred with that of the Ministry, the MCCAA spokesman amended his original statement, saying now that it had assessed the court judgement, the Office is still conducting investigations “and may issue decision”.

In his new reply, the spokesman sent a copy of his e-mail to the Ministry. Asked to forward the decision on the fuel case, the spokesman failed to do so.

The fuel investigation was started by the MCAA in January 2015 following a decision by the owner of a Rabat fuel station to cut the price of diesel by two cents a litre when complaints we being made about high fuel prices.

He immediately suspended the reduction, however, saying the suppliers (Falzon Group), had ordered him to reverse the price or else lose the higher profit margin afforded by the company. This led to complaints of an EU competition rules breach, and the MCCAA started investigating the case.

ivan.camilleri@timesofmalta.com

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