Updated - Adds reaction by Virtu Ferries - The Chamber of Commerce is seeking more effective market surveillance and action to deter unfair competition, a parliamentary committee was told.
Chamber president David Curmi said the Chamber was deeply concerned by the creation of an uneven playing field arising from abuse of import regulations by Sicilians.
Speaking before the parliamentary economic and financial affairs, which was discussing abuse of the free movement of goods, Mr Curmi emphasised that the Chamber had no wish for any protectionist initiatives.
He said that while there was the perception that the market was a level playing field and self-regulating, the reality was that there were operators who were suffering from unfair competition caused by non-payment of duty and no after sales service.
These problems, particularly noticeable but not restricted to the furniture industry, were resulting in inferior service to the Maltese customer. The Chamber, he said, regretted the lack of fair and effective market surveillance particularly since abuses centred mainly around the issue of fiscal evasion.
The Chamber, he said, was calling for a critical analysis of importation laws and procedures with the aim of weeding out superfluous regulation and enforcing a credible set of rules. It was also suggesting the setting up of a market surveillance authority to provide a multi-departmental approach to information gathering and dissemination.
Labour MP Karmenu Vella said that one had to distinguish between legal competition which may need a competitive advantage to nullify adverse foreign initiative. He said that the problem arose with the aspect of illegality. The problem is that Malta had no product which would be cheaper for the Sicilians if bought in Malta.
Joe Bugeja for the Chamber said that the main problem was that what came off the catamaran was not adequately inspected and submitted to customs intelligence. A time and motion study carried out by the Chamber showed that any cargo vessel leaving the catamaran was off the boat and on the road in six minutes.
Committee Chairman Silvio Schembri (PL) said experts would be called by the committee to study the issue in consultation with the departments concerned and propose a way forward on the issue.
VIRTU FERRIES REACTION
In a reaction, Virtu Ferries said they agreed with the Chamber that effective market surveillance should be in place.
It said the Maltese customer knows exactly what side his bread is buttered on; hence customers choose to make purchases in the vast single market just 90 minutes away by catamaran, where the advantages of the economies of scale are only too evident in everyday life.
"The Chamber need not be so overprotective in preventing Maltese customer from getting an “inferior service”, it’s kind of them that they are, it is however totally unnecessary."
Henri Saliba, Managing Director, said they were not quite sure whether Mr Bugeja had declared his conflict of interest before he addressed the Parliamentary Committee for Economic and Financial Affairs on the catamaran service between Malta and Sicily. Mr Bugeja, it was pointed out, is the general manager of a competing maritime transport service provider, which service is a beneficiary of Maltese state aid in the form of a PSO.
"We confirm his observation that a time and motion study showed that commercial vehicles disembarking from the catamaran were on the road in six minutes; we endeavour to reduce this to under five, in line with ports on mainland Europe. We cannot concur with his suggestion that the main problem is that commercial vehicles are not adequately inspected and submitted to customs intelligence. To do so would amount to promoting an illegality; it would also not qualify as market surveillance," Mr Saliba said.
He said that one would have thought that the Finance Minister’s statements, as reported in Times of Malta (17 April), would have discouraged the Chamber’s statements to the Parliamentary Committee on the catamaran service.
Firstly, the minister had said, “They (Customs) were actually given a warning, although the EU did not go so far as to issue an infringement. It was made very clear to us that if we continue to stop every van and car, they would issue an infringement”.
"Is this what a few importers, members of the Chamber of Commerce, wish to bring about - harassment by the authorities of Maltese customers exercising their right to make purchases at lower prices? Is this the Chamber’s interpretation of market surveillance?, Mr Saliba asked.
Secondly, he said, the minister had also asked: "Can the Police or Customs stop someone from Mellieha to St Paul’s Bay? Yes but only based on a suspicion and risk assessment. The same applies to those coming down from the catamaran.”
Mr Saliba said it is Virtu Ferries company policy to assist, in every possible way, both Customs and Police whenever we are requested to do so, a policy that has been in practice since the high speed ferry commenced operation in 1988. It is also company policy to operate within Maltese and EU regulations and to ensure that our customers have the full benefit of the single market.