DONATED SUPPLIES (PROHIBITION OF SALE) ACT (prohibitionofsale)

DONATED SUPPLIES (PROHIBITION OF SALE)

CHAPTER 145

DONATED SUPPLIES (PROHIBITION OF SALE)

ACT

To provide for the prohibition of trading in supplies received in Malta

for free distribution to indigent families.

20th December, 1955

ACT XLIV of 1955, as amended by Emergency Ordinance XIV of 1958;

Ordinances XVII of 1961 and XXV of 1962; Acts XXXI of 1966, XI of 1977

and XIII of 1983; and Legal Notice 409 of 2007.

The short title of this Act is the Donated Supplies

(Prohibition of Sale) Act.

(1) Any person who, for the purposes of trade or business,

buys or otherwise acquires, sells or keeps or exposes for sale, or

disposes of any supplies or goods received in Malta by the

Government of Malta or any other authority or person from any

country abroad for free distribution to indigent or deserving people,

shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on first conviction

thereof, to a fine (multa) of not less than one hundred and sixteen

euro and forty-seven cents (116.47) but not exceeding one thousand

and one hundred and sixty-four euro and sixty-nine cents

(1,164.69) and, on a second or subsequent conviction, to

imprisonment for a term of not less than three months but not

exceeding twelve months, and, in either case, the supplies or goods

to which the offence relates shall be forfeited.

(2) If the person convicted of an offence under subarticle (1) is

a trader, all his trading licences shall be suspended for a time of not

less than one month and not more than six months.

For the purposes of article 2 -

(a) any trader who has any such supplies or goods as

therein mentioned or containers thereof in his shop or

place of business shall, unless he produces written

authority to that effect from the Minister responsible

for the Department of Social Services, be deemed to

have acquired those supplies or goods for the purposes

of trade or business and to be keeping the same for sale

for those purposes;

(b) any trader who has any such supplies or goods as

aforesaid in any premises under his control other than

his shop or place of business shall be deemed to be

keeping the same for sale for the purposes of trade or

business, unless he proves that he acquired the same as

a recipient on a free distribution made to indigent or

deserving people;

(c) any person who disposes of any such supplies or goods

as aforesaid in favour of a trader otherwise than by

DONATED SUPPLIES (PROHIBITION OF SALE)

way of his entitlement in a free distribution to indigent

or deserving people shall be deemed to have disposed

of such supplies or goods for purposes of trade or

business;

(d) any person having any quantities of such supplies or

goods as aforesaid for free distribution to indigent or

deserving people or for the use of the inmates of any

institution who disposes of any such supplies or goods

otherwise than for that purpose for valuable

consideration shall be deemed to have disposed of

such supplies or goods for purposes of trade or

business.

The provisions of articles 7 and 22 of the Probation Act,

shall not apply in respect of offences under this Act.