Retailers in Valletta and Sliema, but also those in other localities, are upset by the mushrooming of street vendors, many of whom may not even be licensed to carry out their activities in what many consider as ‘mismanaged informality’. Local authorities and the police seem to be either indifferent to this problem, as they may have other more important issues to resolve, or impotent because years of tolerating such informal and often illegal activities inhibit them from taking corrective action.

Street vending is an important issue because informal economic activities, which in some underdeveloped countries are the norm, continue to thrive in developed countries. But they are a cause of concern for many who have a modernist conception of the way cities should be managed in a developed economy.

It seems that a parallel set of rules is tolerated by the public authorities whereby street vendors enjoy negligible restrictions while formal retail outlets are burdened by heavier regulation and financial burdens including rent, permits and utility charges.

This parallel set of rules seems the more unfair when it comes to the sale of food, where regulations to ensure proper hygiene to protect consumers seem to be waived for the informal street vending community.

In an advanced economy, retailers insist on the need for enforcement of national legislation that is often hostile to informal entrepreneurship. So it is not surprising that the Chamber for Small and Medium Enterprises (GRTU) is protesting loudly about the expansion of the street vendors’ network in Valletta, Sliema and other localities.

Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day are typical examples of how informal street vendors often compete unfairly with formal retail outlets. People involved in informal economic activities oppose more controls and argue that it is their right to earn a livelihood. Enforcing even existing legislation on street vending carries its own risks. Many remember how, in 2010, a city employee from a provincial town in Tunisia confiscated the produce of a street vendor who self-immolated in protest, sparking revolutions and civil wars in the Arab world.

Entrepreneurs who invest heavily in the retail and tourism business are justified in insisting that proper enforcement of rules on informal street vending should be practised to ensure they are not faced by unfair competition.

Moreover, the public has a right to be protected by proper food hygiene regulations to ensure that the food they buy is safe for consumption.

Street vendors, when properly organised, can add colour to life in the various localities, especially in the eyes of visitors who look out for quirky novelties when on holiday. Still, being properly organised means that informal vendors’ stalls – some examples hardly deserve to be termed as such – do not spoil the beauty of our historical towns and villages. This is especially the case in Valletta.

The Valletta flea market may have lost much of its attraction with local consumers but making the whole country a giant flea market is certainly not desirable. The time is right to strike a balance between interests of formal retail outlets and informal street vendors by revising the regulations that apply to hawkers as well as to formal retail outlets.

The ‘managed informality’ that ought to result from such a revision of regulation should be inspired by concepts of fair competition but also the encouragement of entrepreneurship that operates within the  parameters of the law.