NEWS | Wednesday, 28 May 2008

Government mum on autonomy of OFC following Commission for Fair Trading decision

Charlot Zahra

Government has kept mum about the Commission of Fair Trading (CFT)’s decision on the case that the Office of Fair Competition (OFC) brought against Federated Mills to stop them from raising the price of flour last December, which called for real autonomy for the OFC.
Asked for Government’s reaction on the decision, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Finance and Investments, which is politically responsible for competition, told Business Today: “We are presently evaluating the implications of the judgment delivered by CFT and at the present time there are no comments to be made on this judgment itself.”
In that decision on 28 April, the CFT, presided over by Magistrate Silvio Meli, accused the Government, through the entities at its disposal, of stopping the price increase in December “to gain an additional period of time without a price increase, and avoid being faced with an unpleasant situation in a critical and sensitive period” for the country.
In its ruling, the CFT also said that “it would be wise if serious international advice were heeded and the office responsible for fair competition is removed from under the official direction of the government.”
Asked whether the Government will heed the advice of the CFT and give autonomy to the OFT, like MEPA or the BA have, or not and when did the Government plan to grant this autonomy to the OFC, the Ministry spokesperson avoided the question.
“The Ministry wishes to reiterate that the Office for Fair Trading has always given such office the due importance it deserves, and proof of this is the recent recruitment of a number of professionals to strengthen the Office’s capabilities,” he said.
After this decision, talks between the Government and the Bakers’ Cooperative about the future of the subsidies system in view of the ever-rising prices of wheat on the international markets were held, leading to an agreement on 16 May.
This agreement led to a final rise of EUR 0.07 in the price of a large loaf and EUR 0.04 in the price of a small loaf as from 19 May.
However, the bread market will be liberalised for good at the end of this year. The price order fixing this price will be the last one and will expire on December 31.

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