ACT No. XXXIII of 2025 AN ACT to amend the Health Care Professions Act, Cap. 464.

I assent.

(L.S.)

MYRIAM SPITERI DEBONO

President

17th October, 2025

ACT No. XXXIII of 2025

AN ACT to amend the Health Care Professions Act, Cap. 464.

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:-

(1) The short title of this Act is the Health Care Professions

commencement.

(Amendment) Act, 2025 and this Act shall be read and construed as

one with the Health Care Professions Act, hereinafter referred to as the

"principal Act".

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

Minister responsible for health may by notice in the Gazette establish

and different dates may be so established for different provisions and,

or purposes of this Act.

Article 2 of the principal Act shall be amended as follows

(a) immediately after the definition "Council for the

Professions Complementary to Medicine" there shall be added

the following new definitions

" "decision" includes any order or measure against a

person in accordance with articles 32, 35 or 38;

"Disciplinary Committee" means the Disciplinary

Committee e stablished in accordance with the

Disciplinary Proceedings Regulations;";

(b) immediately after the definition "health care

professional" there shall be added the following new definition

" "interim measures" means urgent measures

addressed to a health care professional or the person being

investigated and issued by the relevant Council in the

course of an investigation or by the Disciplinary

Committee in the course of disciplinary proceedings due to

the risk of serious and irreparable harm to the reputation

and integrity of the health care profession, the well-being

of the injured party or public safety;";

(c) immediately after the definition "overriding reasons

of general interest" there shall be added the following new

definition

" "personal data" shall have the same meaning as

assigned to it in Article 4(1) of Regulation (EU) 2016/679

of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April

2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the

processing of personal data and on the free movement of

such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data

Protection Regulation);";

(d) immediately after the definition "professional

experience" there shall be added the following new definition

" "Professional secret" or "secret" shall have the

same meaning as assigned to it in the Professional

Secrecy Act;";

Article 31 of the principal Act shall be amended as follows

Amendment of

article 31 of the

principal Act.

(a) sub-article (1) thereof shall be substituted by the

following new sub-article

"(1) The relevant Council shall have the power,

either on the complaint of any person or of its own motion,

to investigate and subsequently, if it deems it necessary,

initiate disciplinary proceedings before the Disciplinary

Committee in respect of alleged professional misconduct

or alleged breach of ethics by a health care professional

falling under its supervision

Provided that the relevant Council shall

conclude its investigation on the conduct of the health care

professional within three (3) months from receipt of the

complaint or from the date when the relevant Council

decides to conduct an investigation of its own motion, which

period may be extended if the matter so merits, or if the

investigation could not be concluded earlier, through no

fault of the relevant Council, for a further period of three (3)

months.";

(b) in sub-article (2) thereof the word "inquiry" shall be

substituted by the word "investigation";

(c) in sub-article (3) thereof the word "inquiry" shall be

substituted by the word "investigation";

(d) sub-article (4) thereof shall be substituted by the

following new sub-article

"(4) The disciplinary proceedings referred to in sub-

article (1) before the Disciplinary Committee established

in accordance with the Disciplinary Proceedings

Regulations shall be concluded within a period of one (1)

year from the date of filing of the application by the

relevant Council before the Disciplinary Committee and

no adjournment beyond the said period of one (1) year

shall be permitted except for exceptional reasons to be

recorded by the Disciplinary Committee.".

Immediately after article 31 of the principal Act, as amended,

there shall be added the following new articles

(1) An offence shall not be committed against

secret information.

article 257 of the Criminal Code nor shall there be a

breach of the Professional Secrecy Act by any person

disclosing in good faith a professional secret or secrets to

the extent that such disclosure is proportionate and

reasonably required

(a) to the relevant Council for the purposes

of filing a complaint, or in connection with an

investigation that shall be, or that is being carried

out by the relevant Council in terms of article 31;

or

(b) before the Disciplinary Committee

during the course of, or in connection with

disciplinary proceedings before the Disciplinary

Committee.

(2) The relevant Council may order the disclosure

of secret information by any person bound by

professional secrecy in connection with an

investigation that shall be, or that is being carried out

by the relevant Council.

(3) The Disciplinary Committee may order the

disclosure of secret information by any person bound by

professional secrecy during, or in connection with

disciplinary proceedings before the Disciplinary

Committee.

Without prejudice to Regulation (EU) 2016/679

of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27

April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with

regard to the processing of personal data and on the free

movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/

EC (General Data Protection Regulation), as amended

from time to time, the collection, use, storage and

transmission of personal data

(a) to the relevant Council for the

purposes of filing a complaint before it, or in

connection with an investigation that shall be, or

that is being carried out by such relevant Council

in accordance with article 31; and

(b) to the Disciplinary Committee during,

or in connection with disciplinary proceedings

before it,

shall be deemed to be a necessary measure for the

establishment, exercise or defence of a claim and for

proceedings before the Disciplinary Committee.".

Sub-article (1) of article 32 of the principal Act shall be Amendment of

5. article 32 of the

amended as follows

principal Act.

(a) the words "If after due inquiry, the relevant Council

has found that a health care professional falling under its

authority -" shall be substituted by the words "If after due

investigation and disciplinary proceedings it is established that a

health care professional:";

(b) the words "the relevant Council may direct any one

or more of the following measures, that is:" shall be substituted

by the words "the relevant Council shall adopt, as its own

decision, any one or more of the following measures taken by the

Disciplinary Committee:".

Article 33 of the principal Act shall be substituted by the

6. "33. Any investigation carried out by a relevant Council

and any disciplinary proceedings initiated before the

Disciplinary Committee shall be without prejudice to any other

criminal, civil, administrative or disciplinary proceedings which

may be taken against the person concerned under the provisions

of any other law.".

In article 35 of the principal Act the words "entered in the

7. register" shall be substituted by the words "re-entered in the register".

Article 36 of the principal Act shall be amended as follows

8. (a) sub-article (1) thereof shall be substituted by the

following new sub-article

(1) Where a relevant Council takes any decision,

decision of Council

following a decision of the Disciplinary Council against

a person in accordance with articles 32, 35 or 38, the

registrar of the respective Council shall within fourteen

(14) days from the day that any such decision is taken

by the relevant Council, serve the person concerned

with such decision and shall within the period of

twenty-one (21) days also serve the competent

authorities of each Member State with such decision.";

(b) sub-article (2) thereof shall be substituted by the

following new sub-article

"(2) Any decision imposed by the relevant Council

shall only be enforceable upon the expiry of the term

prescribed in sub-article (4) or, in the case an appeal is

filed, once the appeal decision is deemed final by the Court

of Appeal (Inferior Jurisdiction).";

(c) in paragraph (a) of sub-article (3) thereof the words

"sub-article (2)" shall be substituted by the words "sub-article

(d)

sub-article (4) thereof shall be substituted by the

following new sub-article

"(4) At any time within thirty (30) days from the

date of service in accordance with sub-article (3), the

person concerned may appeal to the Court of Appeal

(Inferior Jurisdiction) constituted in accordance with

article 41(9) of the Code of Organization and Civil

Procedure, on points of fact and law.";

(e) immediately after sub-article (8) thereof there shall

be added the following new sub-articles

"(9) The Court of Appeal (Inferior Jurisdiction)

shall without delay, appoint a date for the hearing of the

appeal which date shall in no case be later than three (3)

months from the date of the filing of the said appeal.

(10) The Court of Appeal (Inferior Jurisdiction) shall

hear and decide the appeal within six (6) months from the

date fixed for the first hearing of the appeal. No adjournment

beyond the said six (6) months shall be granted except either

with the consent of both the appellant and the respondent or

for an exceptional reason to be recorded by the Court, and

such adjourned date shall not be later than that justified by

any such reason.".

Article 38 of the principal Act shall be amended as follows

9. Amendment of

article 38 of the

principal Act.

(a) sub-article (1) of article 38 of the principal Act shall

be substituted by the following new sub-article

"(1) If after due investigation and disciplinary

proceedings it is found by the Disciplinary Committee that

any health care professional is unfit to continue to practise

his profession on account of some physical or mental

infirmity, the relevant Council shall order that his name be

erased from the appropriate register.";

(b) in sub-article (4) thereof the word "inquiry" shall be

substituted by the word "investigation".

Immediately after article 38 of the principal Act there shall be Addition of a

10. new article to

the principal

Act.

added the following new article

(1) The relevant Council may, during the

"Interim measures.

course of an investigation, and before filing an

application for the initiation of disciplinary proceedings

before the Disciplinary Committee, adopt interim

measures in cases of urgency due to the risk of serious

and irreparable harm to the reputation and integrity of

the health care profession, the well-being of the injured

party or public safety generally

Provided that the relevant Council shall only

adopt interim measures if it is satisfied that prima facie

there appears to have been any of the grounds mentioned

in paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of article 32(1), article 35

and article 38(1).

(2) The decision of the relevant Council to adopt

interim measures shall be enforceable immediately upon

the taking of such decision. Such measures shall be

without prejudice to any subsequent decision to be taken

by the relevant Council.

(3) Interim measures shall be proportionate and

appropriate and shall apply for a specified period of time

which shall be determined by the relevant Council

Provided that the interim measures may be

renewed by the relevant Council in so far as they are

necessary and appropriate

Provided further that the interim measures

shall cease to apply when the interim measures were

adopted during the course of an investigation by the

relevant Council and the relevant Council subsequently

decides to take no further action and closes its

investigation.

(4) The decision of the relevant Council in

accordance with sub-article (1) shall state all the facts

known to it and the reasons why it deems that the

adoption of interim measures is required.

(5) The decision of the relevant Council in

accordance with sub-article (1) or any extension in

accordance with the first proviso to sub-article (3) shall

be served on the person concerned by the registrar of the

relevant Council within two (2) days from the date that

the decision is delivered by the relevant Council.

(6) The registrar of the relevant Council shall

within six (6) days from the date of the adoption of

interim measures in accordance with sub-article (1) serve

the competent authorities of each Member State with any

such interim measures, and the person concerned may

within six (6) days from date of service of interim

measures, file a request for a reconsideration to the

relevant Council stating the reasons thereof

Provided that when a request for a

reconsideration is made, the relevant Council shall issue

a final decision within ten (10) days from the date of

filing of the said request, which final decision shall be

served on the person concerned in accordance with sub-

article (5)

Provided further that in such cases, the term to

file an appeal application in accordance with sub-article

(7) shall commence from the date of service of the final

decision.

(7) An appeal from the interim measures adopted

by the relevant Council in accordance with sub-article

(1) shall be filed by means of an application filed before

the Court of Appeal (Inferior Jurisdiction) within six (6)

days from the date of service of the decision, and the

relevant Council shall reply thereto within six (6) days

from the date of service of such an application.

(8) A request for reconsideration in accordance

with sub-article (6) or an appeal filed in accordance with

sub-article (7) shall not have the effect of suspending any

interim measures imposed by the relevant Council.

(9) The Court of Appeal (Inferior Jurisdiction) shall

decide on the application in accordance with sub-article

(7) within the shortest time possible, but not later than

one (1) month from the date of filing of the reply of the

relevant Council.".

11. With effect from the date of the coming into force of this Act, Transitory

any decision, order or measure imposed by the relevant Council provision.

against a person concerned in accordance with Part VII of the principal

Act, shall be subject to a right of appeal before the Court of Appeal

(Inferior Jurisdiction) in accordance with articles 36 and 38A of the

principal Act.

Passed by the House of Representatives at Sitting No. 387 of the

13th October, 2025.

ANĠLU FARRUGIA

Speaker

ELEANOR SCERRI

Clerk of the House of Representatives

€0.90