ACT No. XXI of 2005 AN ACT to amend the Trading Licences Act, Cap. 441 and to make consequential amendments thereto.

I assent.

E DWARD F ENECH A DAMI

(L.S.)

President

23rd December, 2005

ACT No. XXI of 2005

AN ACT to amend the Trading Licences Act, Cap. 441 and to make

consequential amendments thereto.

BE IT ENACTED by the President, by and with the advice and

consent of the House of Representatives, in this present Parliament

assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows>-

The short title of this Act is the Trading Licences (Amendment) Short title.

Act, 2005 and it shall be read and construed as one with the Trading Cap. 441.

Licences Act, hereinafter in the Act referred to as “the principal Act”.

In article 2 of the principal Act, for the definition for Amendment of

article 2 of the

“commercial fair” there shall be substituted the following definition>- principal Act.

“ “commercial fair” means any commercial activity, which

includes the exhibition of goods or the sale by retail of goods<”.

Article 3 of the principal Act shall be amended as follows>

Amendment of

article 3 of the

principal Act.

(a) in subarticle (3) thereof, for the words “such registers”

there shall be substituted the words “such registers, records or

databases”< and

(b) in subarticle (4) thereof, for the words “any other

authority” there shall be substituted the words “any other authority,

entity”.

Article 5 of the principal Act shall be amended as follows>

(a) in subarticle (1) thereof, for the words “by the Minister.”

there shall be substituted the words “by the Minister>” and

immediately thereafter there shall be inserted the following proviso>

“Provided that where the Chairperson is not the head of the

regulatory authority, there shall be an additional member to the

said Committee who will be either the head of the regulatory

authority himself or a person designated by him for such purpose.”<

(b) in paragraph (a) of subarticle (3) thereof, for the words

“commercial sector” there shall be substituted the words

“commercial sector, who will be substituted as may be necessary

in their duties by three other substitute members appointed by the

Minister specifically for that purpose”< and

(c) for subarticle (5) thereof, there shall be substituted the

following>-

“(5) (a) For the purposes of subarticle (4) the Minister

shall, in consultation with the particular commercial sector,

appoint a panel of persons who in his opinion best represent

the interests of the various commercial sectors.

(b) The Minister shall on a yearly basis publish a

list of persons appointed to represent a particular commercial

sector for that particular year.”.

Article 6 of the principal Act shall be amended as follows>-

(a) in subarticle (1) thereof, for the words “at least once a

month” there shall be substituted the words “as necessary” and for

the words “three members” there shall be substituted the words

“two members”< and

(b) for subarticle (3) thereof, there shall be substituted the

following>-

“(3) Where advice is requested by the Committee in

accordance with this Act, its conclusions to the Minister shall

reflect all the opinions of the representatives as expressed in

the Committee.”.

In article 7(2) of the principal Act paragraph (e) shall be Amendment

article 7 of the

renumbered as paragraph (f) and immediately after paragraph (d) thereof principal Act.

there shall be added the following new paragraph (e)>

“(e) monitor the administration of the provisions of this

Act and report thereon as necessary to the Minister and to the

regulatory authority<”.

In paragraph (b) of subarticle (4) of article 9 of the principal Amendment of

article 9 of the

Act, immediately after the words “regulatory authority” there shall be principal Act.

added the words “or the local council as the case may be”.

For article 13 of the principal Act, there shall be substituted Substitution of

article 13 of the

the following>-

principal Act.

“ 13. (1) Subject to the provisions of article 4, it shall not

be lawful for any person to open or keep any commercial premises

unless he holds in respect of such premises a licence from the

regulatory authority.

(2) It shall not be lawful for any person to organize

and hold a commercial fair from any premises or any street without

the licence from the regulatory authority>

Provided that for the purposes of this sub-article “premises”

includes any enclosed area or any other venue, not being a

commercial premises whether it is movable or immovable.”.

Article 14 of the principal Act, shall be amended as follows> Amendment of

article 14 of the

principal Act.

(a) for paragraph (a) of subarticle (2), there shall be

substituted the following>–

“(2)(a) The provisions of subarticle (1) shall not apply

when a person or a group of not more than six persons, in any

street, play any musical instrument or otherwise display their

artistic talent and collect money in the form of voluntary

donations from passers-by who stop to watch the performance,

but shall apply when a person, in any street, produces on site

and sells a work of art on site.”<

(b) in paragraph (b) of subarticle (2) thereof,

immediately after the word “produces” there shall be inserted

the words “on site”< and

(c) in subarticle (3) thereof, for the words “articles 38,

40 and 41” there shall be substituted the words “article 41”.

Immediately after article 16 of the principal Act, for the

heading “Part IV – Registration of Commercial Activities and Premises”,

there shall be substituted the following>-

“Part IV – Registration of Non-Premises Based Commercial

Activities”.

For subarticle (2) of article 20 of the principal Act there shall

be substituted the following subarticle>-

“(2) Saving the provisions of subarticle (1), a Local Council

shall not issue a permit for any activity where the sale by retail,

and or the provision of goods and services against a donation is

involved, being charitable or otherwise, without the consent of

the regulatory authority.”.

Passed by the House of Representatives at Sitting No. 335 of 7th December,

2005. A NTON T ABONE

Speaker

R ICHARD J. C AUCHI

Clerk to the House of Representatives