The reason why the Customs Comptroller did not allow Schembri Batteries Ltd to export 22,000 used car batteries to Italy was because the company did not have all the required official stamps on its application, The Malta Independent on Sunday has learnt.

This was stated in the reply to a judicial protest filed by Schembri Batteries Limited against the comptroller and the Malta Environment and Planning Authority on 27 July. The official stamp missing was that of MEPA.

Schembri Batteries Limited has 22,000 used car batteries that are ready packed in three containers awaiting exportation. The company had reached an agreement with a company based in Rivoli for the sale of the 22,000 used car batteries, for which it would pay Schembri Batteries Limited €57,200.

The Italian company will re-charge and resell them as used car batteries. However, the authorities stopped the company from exporting the used car batteries since, they maintained, a permit was needed because the batteries fell within the parameters of waste according to EU laws.

The company challenged this decision to classify the batteries as waste saying that the authority referred to the batteries as “spent batteries” when in fact they were not spent since they were going to be recycled and re-used.

The company claims that the authorities have misinterpreted the Maltese and European laws they quoted.

The used car batteries were collected by Schembri Batteries Limited after it introduced a collection scheme years ago in which a discount on a new battery was given to customers who left their used battery at the company’s premises in Marsa.

In their judicial protest, Schembri Batteries Limited held the authorities responsible for the damages it is sustaining as a result of their refusal to grant permission to export the batteries.

In its reply to the company’s judicial protest, filed by the Attorney General’s Office, the Customs Comptroller said that the application to export the batteries did not have MEPA’s go-ahead so the application could not be processed.

The Customs Comptroller said the Customs Department could not be held responsible, as the original application filed by the company could not be processed since it was not complete.

Sources close to MEPA said that in order to export the used batteries, the company needs a special permit, because according to the Waste Framework Directive, the contents of the containers are classified as “hazardous waste”. However, an official reply to the judicial protest has not been filed yet.