ATT Nru. X ta’ l-2006 ACT No. X of 2006 ATT ma]ru[ b’li[i mill-Parlament ta’ AN ACT enacted by the Parliament of Malta.

Suppliment tal-Gazzetta tal-Gvern ta’ Malta, Nru. 17,946, 25 ta’ Lulju, 2006

Taqsima A

MALTA

ATT Nru. X ta’ l-2006

ACT No. X of 2006

ATT ma]ru[ b’li[i mill-Parlament ta’

AN ACT enacted by the Parliament of

Malta.

Malta.

ATT biex jipprovdi g]al mi\uri konnessi

AN ACT to provide for measures connected

ma’ u an`illari g]all-adozzjoni ta’ l-euro

with and ancillary to the adoption of the

b]ala l-valuta legali ta’ Malta.

euro as the currency unit of Malta.

I assent.

E DWARD F ENECH A DAMI

President

25th July, 2006

ACT No. X of 2006

AN ACT to provide for measures connected with and ancillary to the

adoption of the euro as the currency unit of Malta

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>-

PART I

Preliminary

(1) The title of this Act is the Euro Adoption Act, 2006.

(2) This Act shall come into force on such date as the

Minister may appoint by notice in the Gazette, and different dates may

be so appointed for different provisions and different purposes of the

Act.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires>-

“Authority” or “Authorities” means any government

department or entity, any public officer or employee within any

government department or entity or any body established by law

which the Prime Minister may designate from time to time for any

one or more purposes of this Act<

“euro” means the currency unit of the European Union as

defined in Council Regulation (EC) 974#98 of the 3 May 1998 on

the introduction of the euro<

“Minister” means the Minister responsible for Finance<

“prescribe” means prescribe by order or by regulations made

under this Act<

“regulations” includes an order made under this Act<

“Statute” means the Protocol on the Statute of the European

System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank

annexed to the Treaty<

“the Treaty” has the same meaning assigned to it by the

European Union Act.

PART II

Powers of the Minister

(1) The Minister may make regulations for facilitating the Power to make

regulations.

adoption of the euro and generally for the purpose of carrying into

operation any of the provisions of this Act and of the Treaty and the

Statute in respect of the adoption of the euro, and in particular, but

without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, the Minister may

make regulations>

(i) to prescribe a period or periods where it shall be

mandatory to display prices both in euro and in Maltese lira<

(ii) to regulate the display of prices, and the conversion of

amounts appearing in invoices, receipts, statements and other

similar documents, in euro at any time when the euro is not yet the

currency of Malta<

(iii) to limit or prohibit the imposition of charges for

converting Maltese lira into euro<

(iv) to provide for the conversion of the value of shares and

equity securities in companies and in other legal persons into euro<

(v) to provide for administrative procedures, penalties and,

or fines, including daily fines for as long as the act or omission

persists, in case of infringement of provisions or regulations made

under this Act and to designate the Authority or Authorities that

shall be entitled to conduct the said procedures and impose the

said penalties or fines>

Provided that in prescribing administrative penalties and, or

fines in any regulations made under this Act, the Minister>

(a) shall in all cases provide for the right to be heard to

be respected before any administrative penalty and, or fine is

imposed<

(b) shall not prescribe any administrative fine that is

less than three hundred liri or exceeds one thousand five

hundred liri for any administrative infringement that may be

prescribed and an administrative fine of not less than thirty

five liri and not exceeding two hundred liri for each day during

which such administrative infringement persists after notice

of the said infringement has been given to the person accused

of or found to have committed such infringement, as such

regulations may prescribe<

(c) shall not provide for the suspension of any trading

or other licence as an administrative penalty for a period in

excess of fifteen days<

(d) shall in all cases, and without prejudice to the right

of the Minister to reconsider the imposition of any

administrative fine or penalty, provide for a right of appeal

from the decision to impose an administrative penalty and, or

fine to the Court of Appeal (Inferior Jurisdiction) as

constituted in terms of article 41(6) of the Code of

Organization and Civil Procedure subject to such procedures

and fees as the Minister may prescribe<

(e) may provide for the enforcement pending appeal

of any administrative penalty and, or fine subject to the power

of the Court of Appeal (Inferior Jurisdiction) to suspend or

vary the conditions of such enforcement<

(f) may provide that an administrative fine imposed in

terms of regulations made under this Act shall constitute an

executive title for all the effects and the purposes of any law<

(g) may provide for powers of search and entry into

premises, for powers to demand information and for

obligations to give demanded information and for the

imposition, where he deems appropriate, of obligations of

confidentiality in respect of information obtained<

(h) may provide for the issuing of orders for the

purpose of ensuring compliance with the provisions of this

Act or of any regulations made thereunder<

(i) may provide for periods of prescription in respect

of administrative offences against this Act or any regulations

made thereunder which may not exceed two years<

(vi) to comply with any regulation, directive, decision,

recommendation or other act or direction of the European Union

in respect of the euro currency<

(vii) to implement any international obligation of Malta or

any international obligation which Malta intends to assume in

respect of the euro currency<

(viii) to provide on any other matter related to the

implementation, regulation or supervision of euro adoption.

(1) Without prejudice to the provisions of the European Power to amend

laws.

Union Act the Prime Minister may, for the purpose of ensuring that any

other law properly reflects the adoption of the euro as the currency of

Malta and that Malta’s Treaty and international obligations related to,

or arising out of the adoption of the euro as the currency of Malta are

implemented, by order prescribe that any other law be amended for the

said purposes and that such amendment shall have effect immediately

subject to the provisions of article 11 of the Interpretation Act which

shall apply to any such order.

(2) Orders made in relation to the amendment of primary

laws and subsidiary legislation for the conversion of monetary amounts

from the Maltese lira to the euro may be made in the Maltese language

only, or in the English language only where any such legislation or

schedule thereof is published in the English language only.

(3) In this article the term “monetary amounts” includes an

amount specified in numerals, words or symbols or in a combination of

numerals, words and symbols, howsoever expressed in the amending

order even if they appear in a different manner than in the primary or

subsidiary legislation.

(4) When in referring to any conversion of a monetary

amount there are corresponding grammatical variations of words

importing the singular, the plural, the masculine or the feminine, such

words may also be altered, if the sense so requires and notwithstanding

nothing being said in the amending order, so as to be interpreted as the

plural, the singular, the feminine or the masculine respectively both in

the order published in any one or both languages, and in the laws and

regulations, if any, in the language version other than that which shall

have been published.

The Minister may designate one or more Authorities in Malta

to ensure compliance with this Act and, or investigate any infringement

of this Act and different authorities may be designated for different

purposes or fields of application of this Act.

Passed by the House of Representatives at Sitting No. 421 of 19th July, 2006.

A NTON T ABONE

Speaker

R ICHARD J. C AUCHI

Clerk to the House of Representatives

Mitbug[ fl-Istamperija tal-Gvern — Printed at the Government Printing Press