Trading law 'meant to protect local business'

The Doulos floating bookshop was not granted a temporary trading licence because such a licence was no longer contemplated at law, government sources said yesterday.

Any business, whether charitable or commercial, now required a full trading licence. No temporary trading licences were being issued.

A full licence was even required to take part in commercial fairs, the sources said. Anyone wanting to sell or trade was obliged to apply for a licence and go through all the procedures necessary. Giving the Doulos a temporary permit would have created a precedent.

Parliamentary Secretary Edwin Vassallo said when contacted that the Doulos had applied for its licence when it was already on its way to Malta. He immediately advised the ship's agents to postpone the visit as a permit could not be issued in the circumstances.

However, the agents said the ship's schedule had already been planned and that it would not be possible to postpone the trip at that stage.

Sources close to the secretariat for the self-employed said the law, which was EU compliant, had been enacted last May to ensure a better organisational structure for the issuing of licences when and if foreign self-employed came to open businesses in Malta.

The legislation was meant to protect local self-employed against a flood of people setting up shop here once Malta joined the EU.

"In fact, in spite of all the criticism from the opposition that foreigners would invade the country if Malta became a member of the EU, this incident has proved that it is more difficult for a foreign business to set up in Malta than it was a year ago," the sources said.

The issue, the sources insisted, was not the Doulos or the sale of books per se but the country's laws and regulations which prohibited anyone from trading in Malta without a licence.

The sources said situations like that of the Doulos could be prevented by enacting legislation specifically exempting non-profit making organisations.

More than 9,000 people visited the Doulos over the weekend, which is offering visitors the chance to get Lm5 worth of books as a gift, against a donation if they so wished.

The organisers thanked the Maltese for their generosity in giving donations and said the offer, originally envisaged for just last weekend, would continue until further notice, from Mondays to Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. and on Sundays from 2 to 10 p.m.

The Malta University History Society has appealed to the authorities to issue the necessary permits so that the Doulos could sell its books.

It said most of the books on sale were not available at local book stores and, therefore, one wondered how the sale of these books could pose a threat to the local bookshops.

The Doulos crew is getting on with its programme of events, including a seminar on board on the Word of God today.

The international crew is also putting up a concert of music and dance from around the world at the university on Saturday at 7.30 p.m.