GreenPak to launch legal proceedings against eco-contribution approving body

The waste packaging recyclers GreenPak have filed a judicial protest, calling upon the approving body of eco-contributions, which monitors the payment of importers' taxes for waste packaging, to reconsider an "unlawful decision" against them.

Greenpack said the approving body is acting against free competition after turning down the approval of four firms' exemption from eco-tax payments, after switching to GreenPak from its rival Green MT, the GRTU's waste recovery firm.

The case arose after the approving body of eco-contributions in the packaging waste retrieval scheme decided to act against the four companies - Margarine Manufacturing, Poultry Products, Edible Oil Refining Company, and Food Industries Ltd - who gave up membership of Green MT in May 2011 by joining GreenPak.

"Their 'offence' was to end their membership of the GRTU scheme to join the GreenPak Scheme, which they felt suited their needs better," GreenPak said in a statement. "The companies' switch to GreenPak had been approved by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority."

The GRTU's Green MT and GreenPak operate rival, packaging waste retrieval schemes. GreenPak last year won the 'Management Award for Sustainable Development'.

GreenPak said the government's approving body, made up of representatives of MEPA, the resources and finance ministries, informed the company it would not be approving these four companies' exemption from the eco-contribution on products whose waste would have been recovered under the approving scheme.

"The behaviour of the approving body is in direct clash with the provisions of Legal Notice 74 of 2008, which says in part that when a producer who obtains an eco-contribution exemption ceases his participation in the scheme for which he applied, he would lose the exemption entitlement and the producer would have to pay the eco contribution, with interest - but when a producer ceases participation in an approved scheme in which he would have participated continuously for at least six months in a calendar year, the exemption entitlement for the relevant calendar year would not be forfeited," the company said.

GreenPak added in its judicial protest that the four companies had not stopped taking part in an approved scheme during the calendar year in question, so much so that they immediately were registered as members of the GreenPak scheme it itself operates, and their membership for that year had been for more than six months.

It called on those notified of the judicial protest to, within a week of being notified of the judicial protest, remedy the unjust and anomalous situation. In reply, MEPA filed a counter-protest claiming that it does not have anything to do with this matter.

GreenPak is now considering taking the matter to Court to obtain redress for its members. It also intends to rope in the EU Commission including the Directorate-General for the Environment whose main function is to make sure that Member States correctly apply EU environmental law.