The Association of Car Importers filed an application yesterday calling on the court to order the authorities not to issue their authorisation for the importation of second-hand cars since, they claimed, these are not bound by the stringent rules and regulations, as well as environment and health standards, by which new cars are bound for their importation.

The car importers filed their application in the First Hall of the Civil Court.

They said that while they were bound by various legal notices and stringent European standards, all second hand car importers needed was a certificate of conformity and a Single Vehicle Authorisation, which are not regulated by law in Malta. They said that this is discriminatory, was bringing about market distortion and was effectively resulting in great losses and additional expense.

The application was filed in court against the Malta Transport Authority (ADT), the Malta Standards Authority (MSA), the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (Mepa), the Roads and Urban Development Ministry and the Competitiveness and Communi-cations Ministry.

The association claimed that Mepa, the MSA and the ADT were responsible for implementing various legal notices regulating vehicles, including imported second-hand ones, while the ministries were responsible for the operations of these authorities. The authorities, it said, were failing to ensure a level playing field.

The association called on the authorities to stop issuing the necessary authorisation for the importation of second-hand cars into Malta, since the Single Vehicle Authorisation, which is required for the importation of such vehicles, discriminated against the importers of new cars.

The association said it was holding the authorities and the ministries responsible for the damage they were suffering and could suffer in the future as a result of what it describes as “abusive behaviour”.