Cyprus did not break European Union law over its regulation of the import of vehicles with potentially faulty airbags manufactured by Japanese company Takata, at least in part because there are also “gaps” in the EU’s legislation on the matter, the transport ministry’s permanent secretary Marina Ioannou Hasapi said on Thursday.

Speaking in front of the committee formed to investigate the history of faulty airbags in Cyprus, she said she has not found “any gaps … in terms of compliance with regulation 858/2018”, which regulates the approval and market surveillance of vehicles and their components.

However, she said, “the regulation itself presents gaps since it does not regulate in detail the recalls of ‘grey’ vehicles” – those which are imported second-hand.

She was also asked whether “proper supervision was exercised in the road transport department” over the matter of such vehicles but was quick to point out that she was only appointed as the ministry’s permanent secretary in November and that as such, she “does not know what preceded” her appointment.

She said she had asked the ministry’s archive to “locate all the relevant documents in order to deliver them to the committee”.

Additionally, she highlighted the problem of understaffing inside the road transport department, saying that a letter had been sent to her ministry in December requesting that priority be given to a number of vacant positions inside the department.

She said a total of 16 new people were hired in relevant positions in November, and that she had also spoken with department directors in January, requesting “comments on the effects of understaffing and proposals for reducing bureaucracy”.

On the matter of the EU regulation, committee member and bar association chairman Michael Vorkas asked her whether checks were carried out on vehicles in line with the regulation.

She replied that inspections are being carried out, but that due to understaffing, those checks are only being carried out “on a very small scale”. She also pointed out that there is no independent market supervision authority on the matter, meaning that such checks must be carried out in-house.

Her predecessor Antonis Koutsoullis, who served between July 2023 and September last year, was next to speak before the committee.

He also spoke on the matter of understaffing, saying there were “understaffing problems at all levels” during his time in office, and that he managed to fill “all the management positions” which were empty when he took office.

On the matter of airbags, he said Transport Minister Alexis Vafeades had “shown great interest in the road transport department and the issue itself by holding frequent meetings”.

However, he said, he and the ministry were never presented with a report on the matter. He then added that “the ministry should be informed by the relevant competent authority” and that it “never received official information” from the road transport department.

This view was largely corroborated by his predecessor Stavros Michael, who was next to speak to the committee. Michael had served between December 2018 and June 2022.

He said that during his time in office, there was no information given to him by the road transport department regarding Takata airbag replacement efforts abroad.

He then added that he had first heard about the issue of Takata in 2023.

The issue of airbag safety stems from the production of faulty airbags manufactured by Takata. The company’s airbags suffer a fault related to exposure to high levels of heat or humidity, which means they have a tendency to explode when released under such circumstances.

This explosion shoots the airbag’s metal inflator outwards and in the direction of the person it was designed to protect, potentially causing further injuries or, in some cases, death.

Vafeades in February decreed the recall of over 80,000 cars which are fitted with potentially fatal Takata airbags, all of which are to be replaced by October. Exactly 276 vehicles were immobilised immediately, and as such have had their road tax and MOT certificates rescinded.

The committee was created in February to investigate the history of the matter, with previous hearings suggesting that the number of vehicles with unsafe airbags on Cyprus’ roads may have been as high as 90,000, while certain vehicles manufactured by American company Ford were also immobilised earlier this month.

Owners of recalled vehicles not on the immobilised list are entitled to use them without restrictions but are required to make an appointment with their car’s manufacturer’s Cyprus-based distributor within eight months to have their airbags replaced. Their road tax and MOT certificates remain valid.

The transport ministry “recommends” that those with recalled vehicles do not use them and use other vehicles and other methods of transport. However, there is no obligation for people to follow this recommendation, and motorists are not at risk of paying a fine for using their vehicles.

Motorists can check whether their vehicles have been subject to vehicles on the transport ministry’s website.