On March 12, the Cabinet Economy Policy Committee approved a Ministry of Transport and Communications proposal under which authorization to sell the government’s 100% holding in Finnish Motor Vehicle Inspection Ltd. would be sought from Parliament.
The Ministry proposal stems from the market situation in the field. Vehicle inspection and testing was opened up to competition at the beginning of 1994. This has resulted in a well-functioning market with a wider and better range of service provision. The government remains the legislator and official supervisory body in vehicle testing, but there is currently no strategic basis for State ownership.
The Ministry also wishes to create the best possible preconditions for pursuit of the gov-ernment’s ownership policy in the company. Authorization to sell the shares will put the government, as owner, in a better position to develop the company and make good use of the opportunities offered by the market.
Finnish Motor Vehicle Inspection Ltd. has been a State-owned company since the begin-ning of 1996. It has 151 testing stations and a 66% market share of annual tests. According to preliminary figures, turnover was about EUR 57 million, operating profit EUR 5 million (8.6%) and net profit EUR 3 million (5.8%) in 2001.
Today, 59 other enterprises compete with Finnish Motor Vehicle Inspection Ltd. has alto-gether 191 vehicle testing stations.
Further details:
Director-General Samuli Haapasalo, tel. +358 9 160 2472 or +358 40 548 3476
Special Adviser Leena Kostiander, tel. +358 9 160 2469 or +358 40 702 2577
