Yachting industry seeking guidance

A number of yacht marinas are finding it difficult to deal with requests, particularly by the owners of super yachts, for duty-free fuel.

The marinas claim they were not given any guidelines following a decision by the European Commission last year to stop such transactions.

The Commission decided to terminate the derogation granted to Malta and other member states on the purchase of duty-free fuel for pleasure craft as from the start of this year.

Sources close to the yachting industry told The Times they have been kept in the dark on the issue as none of the authorities has told them in writing what they should do.

"The only information we have is from articles which appeared in The Times last year. We have called for a clarification meeting on the issue with the government and we are still waiting for an appointment," the sources said.

"At the same time, we have had to turn down requests from super yachts who wanted to fill up in our marinas.

"When we informed them we cannot guarantee duty-free fuel any longer, they either decided to fill up in Port Said or they reduced their take."

Last December, the European Commission turned down an application by Malta to extend the transitory period granted during the accession negotiations allowing the owners of yachts and pleasure aircraft travelling outside the Maltese territory to avail themselves of duty- free fuel.

The Commission decided these derogations should stop because they go against Community environmental policy and because there is no reason why private use of these means of transport should be given preferential treatment.

Similar derogations, given under the Energy Tax Directive, were also turned down in the case of Belgium, UK, France, Sweden and Portugal.

The Maltese yachting industry last year lobbied aggressively with the government and the EU to retain this derogation, because it was considered to be one of the advantages the island can offer to be able to compete with other marinas.

A delegation from the industry has also held talks in Brussels with Commission officials, however the Commission insisted there should be no extensions.

"We accept the Commission's decision, even though we don't agree with it as it means a big loss of revenue. However, we need government guidelines. The government should have told us what to do and how to administer the new system by the end of last year," the sources added.

A government spokesman said only that the issue was being looked into.