ACT No. II of 2015 AN ACT to amend or repeal certain laws.

I assent.

M ARIE L OUISE

(L.S.)

C OLEIRO P RECA

President

20th February, 2015

ACT No. II of 2015

AN ACT to amend or repeal certain laws.

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 Laws (Amendment and

Repeal) Act, 2015.

(Article 2)

Second Column

Extent of Amendment

Immediately after article 2 thereof there shall be added

the following new article

"2A. The office in the Island of Gozo of Provicar of the

Archbishop of Malta having ceased, in any case, in which, for

the election of any marriage legacies founded for that Island,

the intervention of the said Provicar was required according to

the foundations or according to any law, the Vicar General of

the Bishop of Gozo, or another ecclesiastic who shall for the

purpose be deputed by the said Bishop, shall intervene instead

of the said Provicar.".

Immediately after sub-article (3) of article 7 thereof there

shall be added the following subarticles

"(4) Any law, inflicting the punishment of death,

imprisonment, solitary confinement, fine (multa or ammenda),

detention, or reprimand, shall be deemed to inflict the

corresponding punishment established by this Code for all the

effects and consequences of this punishment, in the same

manner as if the provisions of such law formed part of this

Code, subject, however, to the limitations laid down by such

law.

(5) Any law inflicting, in general terms, the

punishments established for contraventions, shall be deemed to

inflict all the punishments which, under the provisions of

articles 341 and 344 may, separately or cumulatively, be

applied to the contraventions referred to in this Code.

(6) Any law directing the ascent or descent from one

punishment to another shall be deemed to refer to the scale of

punishments and to the other provisions contained in article 31.

(7) Any other provision of this Code shall be applicable

in the case of any offence referred to in any special law, unless

such provision be inconsistent with the provisions of such

law.".

Immediately after sub-article (3) of article 2 thereof there

shall be added the following new sub-article

Second Column

Extent of Amendment

"(4) Notwithstanding the provisions of sub-article (3),

the provisions of the Vienna Convention on Consular

Relations, signed in Vienna on the 24 th April 1963 shall be

applicable to the provisions of this Act.".

Immediately after article 371 thereof there shall be added

the following new articles

371A. Where the Authority has reason to believe that

any person is being kept in custody on board any merchant ship

in consequence of a sentence of a foreign tribunal, or in order

to be tried in a foreign country, he shall forthwith give notice of

the fact to a magistrate, who shall, without delay, inquire into

the circumstances of the case, and make a report thereon to the

President of Malta for the purposes of the provisions contained

in the following articles.

371B.(1) If the magistrate finds that the person

aforesaid is being kept in custody under a written order made

by the competent authority of a foreign State for any offence

(other than a political offence), including mutiny, desertion

from military service, or any other offence against military

discipline, it shall be lawful for the President of Malta to direct

that such person be left on board the ship, for the continuation

of the voyage to the place of his destination or, according to

circumstances, that the said person be conveyed to a public

prison, there to be kept until, at the request of the consul, or

other person exercising the functions of consul of the said

State, he may be taken back to the same or to another ship for

the continuation of the said voyage.

(2) The magistrate shall receive any evidence which

may be tendered to show that the offence for which the said

person is in custody, is a political offence; but, until the

contrary is proved, it shall be presumed that the nature of the

offence is correctly stated in the order under which such person

is in custody.

Second Column

Extent of Amendment

371C. Where, upon a declaration on oath made before

him by the master of the ship or by any other person, the

magistrate is satisfied that the order of the foreign authority

mentioned in the last preceding article existed but has been lost

or inadvertently left in some place outside Malta, the

magistrate may grant a time, not exceeding two months, for the

production of the order, or of an authentic copy thereof,

provided the master shall enter into a recognizance, with

sufficient security, up to the sum of five hundred euro (€500),

to pay any damages which may, according to law, be due to the

person detained in respect of such detention.

371D. (1)If the prisoner is being kept in custody on

board a foreign merchant ship, not under a written order of a

public authority, but for the purpose of being conveyed to a

port in the State of his or the ship's nationality, there to be tried

for an offence committed on board the same ship during the

voyage, it shall also be lawful for the President of Malta, at the

request of the consul, or any other person exercising the

function of consul of the State to which the ship belongs, to

direct that such prisoner be left on board the ship, or, according

to circumstances, that he be kept in a public prison until he may

be taken back to the same or to another ship, in order to be

conveyed to the said port, provided however the magistrate,

after hearing the prisoner and the evidence adduced, finds -

(a)

that, according to such evidence, if the

offence had been committed within the jurisdiction of

Malta, there would be sufficient reasons for committing

the accused for trial;

(b) that the offence is an extradition offence

under any law relating to extradition in force in Malta,

even though such law may not apply to fugitive criminals

of the said State.

(2) The provisions of this article shall not apply in any

case in which the accused may, according to law, be tried in

Malta.

371E. It shall also be lawful for the magistrate, at any

time until he forwards his report to the President of Malta, to

direct that the person kept in custody on board a ship, be

conveyed to a public prison.

Second Column

Extent of Amendment

371F. The maintenance of any person conveyed to a

public prison in any of the cases mentioned in the foregoing

articles, shall be at the charge of the master of the ship on board

of which such person was brought to Malta.

371G. In no case shall any such person be kept in

custody in Malta, whether on board any ship, or in a public

prison for more than two months to be reckoned from the day

on which he was brought to Malta.

371H. If it appears from the magistrate’s report that

the circumstances are not such as to justify the making of an

order by the President of Malta under articles 371B and 371D,

the President of Malta shall order the person in custody to be

discharged.

371I. Where the person aforesaid, before an order is

made by the President of Malta for his discharge, escapes from

the ship or from the prison in which he is kept in custody, he

may be arrested by the Police in any place in which he may be

found and taken back to the ship or the prison, as the case may

be.".

The enactments shown in the First Column of the First

Schedule shall have effect subject to the amendments shown in the

Second Column thereof.

(Article 3)

Sanctuary (Abolition) Law

Ecclesiastical Offices or Benefices (Appointment by Foreign

Power) Ordinance

Coal (Sale) Ordinance

Cereals (Sale) Ordinance

Bishop of Gozo (Extension of Privileges) Ordinance

Burials Ordinance

Addolorata Cemetery Ordinance

Prisoners on Board Merchant Ships Ordinance

Punishments (Interpretation) Ordinance

Exportation of Certain Articles (Prohibition) Ordinance

Carrier-Pigeons Ordinance

Public Weighers Ordinance

Encouragement of New Industries Act

Lighting Control Ordinance

Insanitary Areas Ordinance

Tobacco Growing (Control of) Ordinance

Personal Injuries (Emergency Provisions) Ordinance

Emergency Compensation Board (Transitional Provisions) Act

Distribution of German Enemy Property Ordinance

This Ordinance shall be repealed on such date as the Minister may, by notice in

the Gazette, establish.

Conditions of Employment (Regulation) Act

Distribution of German Enemy Property Ordinance

This Ordinance shall be repealed on such date as the Minister may, by notice in

the Gazette, establish.

Sanitary Inspectors (Change of Designation) Act

Enemy Property Act

This Act shall be repealed on such date as the Minister may, by notice in the

Gazette, establish.

Existing Laws (Reprint) Act

Animal Food and Feeding Stuffs Act

Hospital for Mental Diseases (Change of Designation) Act

Bearer Accounts Levy Act

Employers Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act

Marine Pollution (Prevention and Control) Act

Development Plan for Malta 1981-85 Act

Public Curator Act

Filfla Nature Reserve Act

This Act shall effectively be repealed once the Nature Reserve Regulations,

2015 come into force.

Local Manufactures (Promotion) Act

Small Enterprises (Loan Guarantee) Act

Budget Measures Implementation Act

Budget Measures Implementation (2005) Act

Budget Measures Implementation (2007) Act

2008 Budget Measures Implementation Act

Budget Measures Implementation (2009) Act

Budget Measures Implementation (2010) Act

Budget Measures Implementation (2011) Act

Budget Measures Implementation (2013) Act

Budget Measures Implementation (2014) Act

Passed by the House of Representatives at Sitting No. 238 of

the 11th February, 2015.

A NĠLU F ARRUGIA

Speaker

R AYMOND S CICLUNA

Clerk of the House of Representatives

€0.36

The enactments shown in the Second Schedule shall be

repealed, without prejudice to anything done or omitted to be done

thereunder.