A company yesterday filed a judicial protest in court against the Malta Environment and Planning Authority and the Customs Comptroller claiming that these were stopping it from exporting 22,000 used car batteries to Italy to be recycled and re-used. JL & E Enterprises, the owners of Schembri Batteries Limited in Marsa complained that it had struck an agreement with a company based in Rivoli in Italy for the sale of 22,000 used car batteries. However, when the company tried exporting them, the Customs Comptroller stopped it and referred the case to Mepa. In its judicial protest, the company said Mepa declared the goods as waste since, according to the authority, the batteries were “spent batteries”. However, the company said these batteries were not spent since they were going to be recycled and re-used.

The company said the authorities were misinterpreting the Maltese and European laws they were quoting. The company held the authorities responsible for the damage it may sustain as a result of this refusal to grant permission to export the goods to the tune of E57,200.