Rather than help the competition watchdog to get its teeth back after three years in limbo, a recently-tabled draft law would only serve to make it ineffective, the consumers’ association warned.
The long-term solution should be to amend the Constitution so that public authorities could take remedial action while safeguarding the right to a fair hearing of anyone allegedly committing a breach, it said.
The association was commenting in a statement following the latest development in the Competition Office saga, which has been dragging on since May 2016. Then, a Court of Appeal had upheld a previous judgment ruling that certain provisions of the Competition Act were unconstitutional.
The case had been instituted by the Federation of Estate Agents, which had felt aggrieved by the decision of the Director for Competition to proceed against it over alleged breaches of the law. The federation argued that only a proper court could deliver a decision on the matter given that, in case of ‘guilt’, it could be fined up to €1.25 million.
Subsequently, the director of competition within the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority refrained from imposing fines.
On its part, the…
