Fees charged for food and beverages exports

In a letter to the Minister for Competitiveness and Communications, Censu Galea, the Malta Federation of Industry (FOI) complained, on behalf of a number of its members involved in the manufacture and export of food and beverages, against the fee being charged by the Health Department for the issuing of Combined Health Radiation Free Certificates.

The FOI explained that, up to April, Malta-based exporters used to furnish their export clients with such certificates prepared by the Port Health services. This certificate was issued by the Department on the strength of the periodical checks carried out throughout the year in the manufacturers' premises.

Prior to legal notice 134 of 2004 these certificates were issued free by the Health Department. The legal notice imposed a fee of Lm25. Such certificates are often a legal requisite of the importing country and it is impossible to pass on this charge to the export client.

Thus, the FOI strongly believes that this charge is definitely disproportionate to the real cost of issuing such a certificate and keeps adding onto the excessive port charges which are already among the highest in Europe.

The FOI has requested an urgent meeting to review this matter with the respective authorities the past months, as it strongly believes that the charge is contributing further to the erosion of our exporters' competitiveness. The federation is also awaiting the Minister's intervention to resolve this issue with the Department of Health.