Press Release: Competition: Commission opens infringement procedure against Malta for maintaining import monopoly for petroleum products

The European Commission has decided to send a formal request for information to Malta concerning its failure to abolish the monopoly for the importation, storage and wholesale of petroleum products. Under the Accession Treaty, Malta was required to comply no later than 1 January 2006 with Article 31 EC Treaty, which forbids discrimination between Member States’ nationals with regard to commercial state monopolies. The request for information takes the form of a letter of formal notice, the first stage of formal infringement procedures under Article 226 of the EC Treaty. Malta has two months to reply.