FOI meets ministers

FOI President Anton Borg, accompanied by vice-president Joe Pace and myself, met Competitiveness and Communications Minister Censu Galea and Health, Elderly and Community Care Minister Louis Deguara on September 27.

The FOI had requested this urgent meeting to discuss the new fees on export certificates that are being charged by the Health authorities to exporters of food and beverages. The federation made its initial representations to the Permanent Secretary of the Health Ministry and held discussions on the subject for the past several months without any response.

During the meeting the FOI delegation explained that Malta-based exporters are requested to furnish their export clients with Combined Health/Radiation Free Certificates, which are issued by the Port Health Services Department on the strength of the periodical checks carried out throughout the year in the manufacturers' premises, irrespective of whether the products are for local or foreign consumption.

Before legal notice 134 of 2004 these certificates were issued free of charge by the Health Department. However, with the implementation of the legal notice, the Health Department started charging a fee of Lm25 per container. These certificates are often a legal requisite of the importing country and, as the exported products are low value, it would be impossible to pass on this charge to the export client.

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

The FOI officials also pointed out other problems that are putting additional pressures on the Malta-based exporter, including the removal of the export credit insurance scheme, as well as the problems at the ports.

It was agreed that the ministers, who were accompanied by Louis Cilia, permanent secretary at the Ministry for Competitiveness and Communications, and John Attard Kingswell, acting secretary of the Food Safety Commission, would refer these problems to Cabinet and study the possibility of reviewing or removing this charge. The federation urged the ministers concerned to give this matter high priority and is awaiting an early positive response to resolve the issue.