Malta has filed a complaint before the Court of Justice of the European Union against Mobility Package 1.
The package of measures adopted by the Council and the European Parliament last July, which was originally intended to modernize EU road transport rules, included in its final adopted version two specific rules: the ‘Return-Home of Vehicles’ rule and the ‘Cabotage Cooling-Off period’ rule. Both these rules were not part of the original proposals presented by the European Commission but were only added towards the end of the legislative procedure, notwithstanding the objections of several member states, including Malta.
These measures were therefore not subject to a proper impact assessment by the EU institutions. A KPMG study commissioned by the government shows that both these rules are expected to have a negative impact on Malta, making road haulage operations more costly, mainly as a result of Malta’s geographic position, and having also a negative impact on the environment.
It is the government’s view that the adopted measures violate the EU Treaty provisions and lead to distortion of the EU Single Market by including measures that serve to disrupt road haulage operations, increase costs for consumers and exports, and disproportionately and adversely affect a peripheral and island member state like Malta. Malta is therefore requesting the Court of Justice to annual these measures.
Like Malta, there are other European Union member states that have initiated or are in the process to initiate a similar annulment action on the same or other measures within the Mobility Package. This is the first time, Malta is challenging a measure in the CJEU.
