Arias Vasquez pledges crackdown on unregistered Spanish businesses operating in Gib

The Gibraltar Government will from January crack down on “illegal trade” by unlicensed Spanish companies operating in Gibraltar, Business Minister Gemma Arias Vasquez said.

Ms Arias Vasquez was replying to questions from GSD MP Craig Sacarello during the recent session of Parliament.

Mr Sacarello echoed concerns raised during a recent GFSB seminar by small businesses who said they were competing with Spanish businesses that operate in Gibraltar “unpoliced and unregistered”, creating an element of unfair competition that is causing serious challenges in some sectors.

“According to local businesses, the impact of cross-border unregistered trade has significantly worsened,” Mr Sacarello said.

“When will the government uphold its manifesto commitment and tackle this illegal trade as would be the case in the reverse scenario?”

Ms Arias Vasquez said the Government was already working on “detailed options to be the first Government in our history to tackle this issue.”

The initial phase is an awareness campaign primarily in Spain, but this will be followed by tougher enforcement action as from January.

She added she had recently met with a group of concerned business representatives who had welcomed the plans that the Government was putting in place.

“The [Gibraltar Government] intends to tackle the illegal trade as from next year,” the Minister for Business said.

“So up until January 2025 we've embarked on an awareness campaign with these businesses in order to educate…them on the requirement to be registered and licenced in Gibraltar.”

The awareness campaign has included the display of a bilingual video on the LED screen on the Spanish side of the border, which will have been played in excess of 25,000 times when the campaign closes this month.

The video, which was produced in-house by the Government, has also been promoted on Facebook and Instagram, targeting up to a 20-km radius beyond Gibraltar.

The video has received 20,000 social media users with over 70,000 impressions, Parliament was told.

“The majority of this engagement is outside Gibraltar which is where we're targeting,” Ms Arias Vasquez added.

The Government has also published a two-page infographic in Spanish providing basic information on the registering and licencing requirements of foreign businesses operating in Gibraltar.

The infographic was also produced in-house and was designed and implemented in close consultation with the GFSB and the Chamber of Commerce, both of which welcomed and supported the initiative.

The Chamber of Commerce has shared the infographic with all of its sister organisations across the border in order that these associations make their members aware.

“The initiatives are designed to raise awareness amongst businesses prior to any enforcement campaign being launched against unregularized businesses operating in Gibraltar,” Ms Arias Vasquez said.

The next phase will be an enforcement campaign as from January, bringing together several Government departments, agencies and authorities.

These include HM Customs, the Department of Employment and the Office of Fair Trading.

But it is not just businesses that be made aware of the rules. Consumers have a responsibility too.

“There is also an element of education for consumers who have to be made aware that whilst they can receive the delivery of goods from a foreign business to Gibraltar, they are unable to receive services from a non-Gibraltar business which isn't properly registered in Gibraltar,” Ms Arias Vasquez said.

“These services extend to installation of a kitchen or a bathroom, for example, or the assembly of furniture.”

“We've met with affected traders and explained the above strategy.”

“These businesses have also been invited to provide evidence to us on the businesses that appear to them to be unlicensed and or unregistered and are operating in Gibraltar.”

“These businesses are being contacted and informed of the legal requirement to be licenced and registered.”

“It is expected that come January 2025, this will move on to a more visible and active enforcement process.”

“It's been explained to the business community that they know their sectors best and they are therefore best placed to identify whether there is a competitor business that may be unlicensed or unregistered.”

“This will mean that any activity from HMGOG is targeted against potential offenders and also the sectors that are most impacted by the unregularised trade.”

Mr Sacarello commended the minister for talking what he said was “a big problem for businesses” in Gibraltar that impacted negatively in the job market.

But he urged the Government to devote more resources to enforcement and ensure the campaign has “more teeth” to produce a better outcome.

Customs, Mr Sacarello said, “have the legal ability at the moment to implement [existing rules] but aren't.”

“And Labour inspectors are found wanting when it comes to this as well.”

Ms Arias Vasques said Customs were already involved in the process and would be a part of the solution to this problem.

She said that after Brexit, there had been “a sustained educational process” to inform traders of the need for them to register in Gibraltar and that they could no longer simply enter and provides services as before.

“We believe that we have the staff available in order to implement these procedures and we believe that it is easy to identify people that are not registered in Gibraltar simply by other traders telling us where the problems are,” Ms Arias Vasquez said.

“So we do believe that we have the resources available in order to enforce the campaign.”