Most bricks made in Malta do not meet European Union safety standards because the government has failed to implement the rules, MEP candidate Peter Agius said Saturday.

“We joined the EU for higher standards, but the Labour Government’s incompetence is depriving us from our EU rights. Government has a guilty conscience when it comes to raising standards in the construction industry as it failed to implement EU rules for construction products including bricks and concrete pre-cast products,” he said.

Agius said that he presented the information to the Jean Paul Sofia public inquiry, which is investigating the death of the 20-year-old when a building under construction collapsed in Kordin.

Industry sources indicate that out of 11 Maltese brick producers only 2 have the necessary CE marking, he said.

Agius said the European Union in 2013 adopted a Regulation on Construction Products which lays down detailed rules for all construction products including bricks, concrete cast materials and also products to be integrated in the building like aluminium and wooden apertures and any material destined to be fixed in the finished building. Such materials are supposed to be on the EU market only if they bear the CE marking attesting their safety and their declared performance. 

“Ten years down the line from the entry into force of the EU Regulation, we still have the majority of brick producers in Malta which are still not in line with EU standards in the Regulation, so much so that most products locally do not bear the EU’s CE Mark,” Agius said.