Cecilia Wikstrom, the Chair of the Committee on Petitions of the European Parliament, has informed the Malta Automobile Club that its petition, No. 0042/2016, concerning the lack of competition in the import, storage and wholesale of oil products in Malta is admissible, in accordance with the Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament.
The Committee on Petitions has asked the European Commission to conduct a preliminary investigation into the various aspects of the problem.
The Malta Automobile Club does not understand why the Committee on Petitions does not conduct its own preliminary investigation on the matter.
The European Commission has formulated its opinion on the matter bringing up all kinds of excuses no doubt fed by the local authorities. The Malta Automobile Club will be replying to the opinion of the European Commission in the coming days.
The discrimination which existed in October 2006 between Maltese consumers and other member states nationals with regard to commercial state monopolies, and on the basis of which an infringement procedure was opened against Malta, still exists to this day when it comes to the importation, storage and wholesale of petrol in Malta.
The same discrimination also exists when it comes to the sale of diesel in Malta. In which EU member state do we find that all the prices of petrol and diesel are the same throughout the whole country? In which EU member state are the prices of petrol and diesel announced and fixed by the government, as is the case in Malta? Is this not discrimination?
The European Commission has referred to the legal framework for granting licences for the import, storage and wholesale of petroleum products introduced by the local authorities. The problem is that the European Commission closed the infringement procedure without waiting to see how the new policy was going to be implemented!
The European Commission also referred to the misleading list of importers published by the Malta Regulator for Energy and Water Services (REWS). The European Commission needs to take a look at the recent International Trade statistics for October 2016, published by the National Statistics Office (NSO).
https://nso.gov.mt/en/News_Releases/View_by_Unit/Unit_A4/International_Trade/Documents/2016/News2016_198.pdf
Between January and October 2015, Malta imported €1,494 million in mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials, and during the same period of time it re-exported €1,280.7 million of mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials.
Malta does not produce oil, so the majority of the importers listed in the REWS list are simply involved in bunkering and re-exporting fuels.
Between January and October of this year, Malta imported €1,430.2 million in mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials, and re-exported €735.1 million in mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials during the same period of time.
The majority of licences referred to by the European Commission are simply being used to re-export fuel from Malta. Enemed Company Limited is still the sole importer of petrol in Malta, so its monopoly is still there.
In the case of diesel, there are two other minor importers, but Enemed still enjoys a dominant position in the local market.
In which other EU member state are the storage facilities for the local market practically all owned by the government, or its state-owned companies? How can the local representatives of the foreign oil companies compete with Enemed when it or the government can increase the storage fees at will? How can the local representatives of the foreign oil companies compete with Enemed and plan their marketing strategies when the government can terminate the storage lease at will?
There is no other EU member state where consumers do not have any idea what brand of petrol or diesel they are purchasing. There is no other EU member state where consumers do not have any idea whether the unleaded petrol that they are purchasing contains ethanol or not!
The European Commission has also referred to the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority (MCCAA). Apparently, the European Commission has not read the findings of the MCCAA on the Rabat diesel case of January 2015, where no action has been taken because the MCCAA is not a court!
How could the Falzon Group, a minor importer, offer a higher margin of profit to retailers of diesel on condition that they sell it at the same price as that of Enemed? Is it not obvious that Enemed is making an abnormal margin of profit on diesel because of its dominant position in the market?
Maltese consumers who do not wish to continue to be discriminated against in their own country are invited to support the petition submitted by the Malta Automobile Club to the European Parliament.
To access Petition No. 0042/2016, consumers need to enter the keyword “competition” and select the year “2016” and the country “Malta” on the European Parliament Petitions portal. They also need to register online on the EP portal in order to support the petition.
https://petiport.secure.europarl.europa.eu/petitions/en/petition/search-by-keywords?keyWords=competition&_allYears=on&years=2016&_years=1&_anyTheme=on&_searchThemes=1&_anyStatus=on&_statuses=1&_anyEuCountry=on&countries=MT&_countries=1&searchRequest=true
Alfred A. Farrugia
Malta Automobile Club