With regard to existing debts, after continuous interventions by the Advocate to the Ministry of the Interior, their deletion or omission of certification is foreseen, as long as the responsible declaration of non-use has already been submitted or be submitted within six months from the entry into force of the law.
Especially according to the above article “properties, in which the electricity supply is interrupted, are exempted from the payment of a single compensatory cleaning and lighting fee, from the date of submission of a declaration by their owner or his legal representative to the relevant municipality that they are not electrified and that they are not going to be used. Until the submission of the above declaration, the fees are due per property category and are paid according to the provisions of article 21 of 24.9/20.10.1958 b.d. (A’ 171). If, despite the submission of the declaration, electrification or use of the property is established, the fee corresponding to the time of exemption and an equal amount of fine shall be imposed on the debtor. Debts from cleaning and lighting fees, which correspond to a period of time until the entry into force of this, during which the electricity supply to a property was interrupted, according to a certificate from the competent network manager and it was not used, according to a responsible statement of the owner or the legal representative, their certification is deleted or omitted. If the above declaration has not been submitted by the time this comes into force, it shall be submitted within six (6) months from this. Amounts that have been paid are not sought.”
The Advocate considers positive the deletion or failure to certify the fees for citizens who submitted the prescribed responsible declaration as well as the provision of the 6-month grace period for those who have not submitted the declaration at all. The Authority had however pointed out, already before the passing of the law, the following:
- The absolute connection of the start of the exemption from the submission of the responsible declaration raises legal and practical issues. The responsible declaration can only concern present or past events, but not future ones, and it cannot be preferred or prevail over other means of proof, such as the entry of the empty property in the tax declaration
- It remains unclear status of properties that were never electrified after their completion and were not used. We believe that these properties also fall into the same category and should be exempted for exactly the same reasons, since they do not produce waste
- For the citizens who paid the fees, seeking to appear consistent, consideration should be given to solution of offsetting the amount paid with future debts
- There is no provision for citizens who have been subject to regulation for the payment of fees and have already paid a certain amount installments, but have not paid the entire amount. It should be clearly specified that they are not obliged to pay the remaining installments. As for the amounts already paid, in installments as part of the regulation, their offsetting with future debts should be considered.
The above issues were not regulated finally with the legislative provision. However, the Advocate considers it necessary to deal with them immediately and in a timely manner, in order to avoid further problems during the implementation of the law by the competent departments of the municipalities.
