ACT No. IX of 2020 AN ACT to amend the Counselling Profession Act, Cap. 538.

I assent.

(L.S.)

GEORGE VELLA

President

20th March, 2020

ACT No. IX of 2020

AN ACT to amend the Counselling Profession Act, Cap. 538.

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 Counselling Profession

(Amendment) Act, 2020, and this Act shall be read and construed as

one with the Counselling Profession Act, hereinafter referred to as the

''principal Act''.

Article 2 of the principal Act shall be amended as follows

(a) in the definition "the Council", the word "of" shall be

substituted by the word "for";

(b) in the definition ''counselling supervisor'', the words

"is trained in the area of supervising counsellors" shall be

substituted by the words "has read a training course in

counselling supervision" and immediately after the words "not

less than 30 ECTS" there shall be added the words "at level 7

within the Malta Qualifications Framework";

(c) immediately after the definition ''counselling

supervisor'' there shall be added the following new definition

" "counselling trainee" means a person who is

registered by the Council in a register kept for Counselling

Trainees and is undergoing training in counselling which is

recognized by the Council, according to article 24;";

(d) in the definition "counselling with specialisation"

immediately after the words "not less than 30 ECTS" there shall

be added the words "at level 7 within the Malta Qualifications

Framework";

(e) in the definition "the course" immediately after the

words "personal development" there shall be added the word

" , research";

(f) in paragraph (b) of the definition "practise",

immediately after the words "by a person registered" there shall

be added "by the Council"; and

(g) in the definition "temporary warrant" the words "who

does not have adequate experience to practice the counselling

profession" shall be deleted and immediately after the words

"warrant kept by the Council" there shall be added the words

"who can practice the counselling profession under supervision

of a counselling supervisor and according to guidelines issued by

the Council".

In paragraph (b) of sub-article (4) of article 3 of the principal Amendment of

Act, the words "as mentioned in the foregoing sub-article." shall be article

principal Act.

substituted by the words "as mentioned in the foregoing sub-article:";

and immediately thereafter there shall be added the following new

proviso

"Provided that when the person who is practicing the

counselling profession on a part time basis does not perform one

thousand (1,000) hours of supervised counselling under the

supervision of a counselling supervisor within six (6) years, he

may request the Council to be granted an extension of the said

time.".

Article 4 of the principal Act shall be amended as follows

(a)

sub-article (1) thereof shall be amended as follows

(i) the word "of", also in the marginal note, shall

be substituted by the word "for";

(ii) in sub-paragraph (ii) of paragraph (a) thereof,

immediately after the words "from the public sector" there

shall be added the words "whilst the other member is to

represent that Association which comprises the largest

number of Counsellors in Malta and Gozo";

(iii) in sub-paragraph (iii) of paragraph (a) thereof

the word "seven" shall be substituted by the word "five";

(iv) in paragraph (c) thereof, immediately after the

words "one counsellor," there shall be added the words "in

possession of a full warrant" and immediately after the

words "Social Wellbeing at the University of Malta" there

shall be added the words "and who are also in possession

of a temporary or a full warrant in counselling";

(b) in sub-article (6) thereof, the word "original

engagement" shall be substituted by the word "seat"; and

(c) in sub-article (7) thereof, the word "present" shall be

substituted by the words "in order".

Immediately after sub-paragraph (vi) of paragraph (d) of sub-

article (1) of article 5 of the principal Act there shall be added the

following new sub-paragraph

"(vii) Register for Counselling Trainees;".

In the proviso of sub-article (10) of article 6 of the principal

Act, the word "word" shall be substituted by the word "title".

In sub-article (3) of article 13 of the principal Act, the words

"the Council and upon" shall be substituted by the words "the Council.

Article 20 of the principal Act shall be amended as follows

(a) in sub-article (2) thereof, the words "For the purposes

of article 3(3)(d), any" shall be substituted by the word "Any";

(b) in paragraph (a) of sub-article (3) thereof,

immediately after the words "has a diploma" there shall be added

the words "at level 7 within the Malta Qualifications

Framework"; and

(c) in sub-article (4) thereof, the words "Faculty of

Education" shall be substituted by the words "Faculty for Social

Wellbeing".

Article 23 of the principal Act shall be amended as follows

Amendment of

article 23 of the

principal Act.

(a) in sub-article (1) thereof, the words "six months"

shall be substituted by the words "sixty six months"; and

(b) immediately after sub-article (2) thereof there shall

be added the following new sub-article

"(3) A person shall only qualify to be registered in

the Register for Counselling Trainees unless he

(a) is a citizen of Malta or a citizen of the

EU, or is otherwise legally entitled or authorised to

work in Malta;

(b) is in possession of a clean conduct and is

of a good moral character;

(c) has full legal capacity;

(d) has obtained a Bachelor's degree in one of

the human and/or social sciences; and

(e) has been accepted for training in a

Masters degree in Counselling recognized by the

Council.

(4) No person can function as a Counselling

Trainee unless being registered in the Register for

Counselling Trainees.".

Passed by the House of Representatives at Sitting No. 310 of the

16th March, 2020.

ANĠLU FARRUGIA

Speaker

RAYMOND SCICLUNA

Clerk of the House of Representatives

€0.54