ACT No. XXVIII of 2015 AN ACT to amend the Civil Protection Act, Cap. 411.

I assent.

M ARIE L OUISE

(L.S.)

C OLEIRO P RECA

President

13th October, 2015

ACT No. XXVIII of 2015

AN ACT to amend the Civil Protection Act, Cap. 411.

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 Civil Protection Short title.

(Amendment) Act, 2015 and it shall be read and construed as one

with the Civil Protection Act, hereinafter referred to as "the principal Cap. 411.

Act".

In the definition "the Force" in article 2 of the principal Act, Amendment of

immediately after the words "article 8;" there shall be added the words article

principal Act.

"consisting of the Chief Assistance and Rescue Officers, the Station

Officers, the Leading Assistance and Rescue Officers, the Assistance

and Rescue Officers and the Trainee Assistance and Rescue

Operatives, or any officers in equivalent grades performing equivalent

duties;".

Immediately after article 11 of the principal Act, there Addition of new

articles to the

shall be added the following new articles

principal Act.

" Pensions

(1) The Minister, with the concurrence of

regulations.

the Minister responsible for Finance, may make

regulations for the granting of pensions to persons who

have served in the Force.

(2) Any regulations made under this article may

with retroactive effect confer a benefit upon or remove a

disability attaching to any person or class of persons.

(3) Any pension granted under this Act shall be

computed in accordance with the provisions in force at the

actual date of the officer’s retirement.

(4) No regulation made under this article shall

have effect unless it has been approved by a prior

resolution of the House of Representatives.

There shall be charged on and paid out of the

Consolidated Fund all such sums of money as may from

time to time be granted by way of pension in accordance

with this Act.

It shall be lawful for the Minister to remove

from his office at any time an officer of the Force who

(i)

is considered unlikely to become, or has

ceased to be, an efficient officer of the Force;

(ii) is incapable by reason of some infirmity

of mind or body of discharging the duties of his

office when such infirmity is likely to be permanent;

and

(iii) it is considered, having regard to the

conditions of the Force, the usefulness of the office

thereto, and all the circumstances of the case, that

such officer should in the public interest no longer

serve as a member of the Force.

No pension shall be granted to any officer of

the Force except on his retirement from the Force in any

one of the following cases

(i)

on or after he has completed twenty-five

years service in the Force;

(ii) on the abolition of his office;

(iii) on compulsory retirement for the

purpose of facilitating improvement in the

organisation of the Force, by which greater

efficiency and economy can be effected;

(iv) in the case of termination of employment

in the public interest as provided in this Act; and

(v) on medical evidence to the satisfaction

of the Minister that such officer of the Force is

incapable by reason of infirmity of mind or body of

discharging the duties of his office and that such

infirmity is likely to be permanent.

Subject to any regulations made under this Act

determining the maximum pension grantable to an officer

of the Force as may be in force from time to time, where a

person has been appointed an officer of the Force, any

period previous to that appointment during which that

person has served as an officer of the Force, prisons

officer or as a member of a disciplined force as defined in

article 47(1) of the Constitution shall be deemed as

service as an officer of the Force for the purpose of any

pension that may be granted under this Act or any

regulations made thereunder.

Where the services of an officer of the Force

are terminated on the grounds referred to in article 14(iii),

and a pension cannot otherwise be granted under the

provisions of this Act, such officer may be granted a

pension not exceeding in amount that for which he would

be eligible if he retired from the Force in the

circumstances described in article 15(v).

Pensions, gratuities and allowances payable

under this Act to any officer of the Force shall also be

payable to the person entitled thereto in other Member

States of the European Community net of any taxes and

transaction charges in accordance with Article 5 of

Council Directive 98/49/EC of the 29th June, 1998 on

safeguarding the supplementary pension rights of

employed and self-employed persons moving within the

Community.

Where any officer of the Force is posted in

another Member State of the European Community, such

officer shall be entitled to receive adequate information as

to his rights under Article 7 of Council Directive 98/49/

EC of the 29th June, 1998 on safeguarding the

supplementary pension rights of employed and self-

employed persons moving within the Community.".

Passed by the House of Representatives at Sitting No. 298 of the

7th October, 2015.

A NĠLU F ARRUGIA

Speaker

R AYMOND S CICLUNA

Clerk of the House of Representatives

€0.54