Legal wrangle over permits continues

The Road Freight Association (RFA) is set to meet the Cross-Border Road Transport Agency (C-BRTA) in the Constitutional Court in the next few weeks following a decision by the agency to appeal a court judgement against it. According to Gavin Kelly, spokesman for the RFA, they have yet to be advised when the matter will be heard in the Constitutional Court but it is expected to be early this year. “The CBRTA – as a result of a high court order secured in 2014 – was instructed to refund monies paid for permits on a higher tariff rate. The court found that the tariffs being charged were not correct and that operators were only liable for the tariff rates that existed before April 2011.” Kelly said whilst the organisation was still in the process of calculating the difference paid for cross-border permits purchased after April 2011 they had since been informed that the C-BRTA would be appealing the judgement. “Initially the organisation was starting to pay back the monies, but this came to an abrupt halt and they decided to appeal. The Constitutional Court has granted their appeal application and the matter returns to court.” Kelly said operators owed money would now have to wait for this judgement of the Constitutional Court. “We have instructed our legal team with regard to the process and are carefully monitoring the situation.” He said they were continuing to gather information regarding the outstanding money owed to operators. The C-BRTA implemented permit increases that the court found they were not allowed to raise. Operators are, in accordance with the judgement, entitled to the difference between what they paid and the April 1, 2011 permit fee. “We are still gathering this information and determining how much money is owed to operators. We will decide on any further action once the Constitutional Court ruling has been made.”