EU has not yet given green light on car registration scheme

The European Union is still not in a position to say whether the local car registration regime recently brought into force is compliant with its rules.

A European Commission official said Brussels is still waiting for the final text of the new rules from the Maltese authorities before it can pass judgement.

The issue arose during a meeting of the European Parliament's Petitions Committee yesterday which considered complaints filed by two British citizens about the previous registration tax system. The petitions were submitted by Graham Unsworth and Nicholas Zelle.

Mr Unsworth asked the European Parliament to complain about the minimum registration tax charged when used cars were transferred to Malta. He referred to the exorbitant sum demanded by the authorities for the registration of an 11-year-old Saab 9000 CSE, which he consequently left behind in the UK when he moved to Malta in 2004.

Mr Zelle cited a similar example involving his 24-year old imported Honda Accord. He argued that the registration tax imposed on imported cars infringed EU principles concerning the free movement of goods.

The committee decided to keep the two petitions open.

The Commission had already found the old car registration system to be in breach of EU law and had opened infringement proceedings against Malta, a Commission official told the committee. Two meetings were held after that in order to discuss changes to the old system to bring it in line.

Nationalist MEP Simon Busuttil asked the Commission to confirm whether the new car registration tax system, introduced a few weeks ago, conforms to EU regulations. The official said the Commission was still waiting for the final version of the new legislation.

Changes to the car registration scheme were made following pressure by Brussels particularly with regard to the importation of second hand cars which were being subjected to high taxes while VAT was also charged on those taxes.

A Commission spokesman yesterday told The Times that the Commission will only be in a position to close its pending infringement procedures against Malta when its services give the green light to the new regime introduced by the Maltese authorities.