INTERPRETATION ACT

CHAPTER 249

INTERPRETATION ACT

To make provision in respect of the construction and application of Acts

of Parliament and other instruments having the force of law and in respect

of the language used therein.

4th February, 1975

ACT VII of 1975, as amended by Acts XLIX of 1981, XXXV of 1990, I of

2001, IX of 2003, XIII of 2007, I and XIII of 2009, XXVI of 2014, IX of

2017 and XXIII of 2017 and XXV of 2024.

The short title of this Act is the Interpretation Act.

(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires -

"Act" means an Act of Parliament and any other Act passed by

the Legislature of Malta and includes any code, ordinance,

proclamation, order, rule, regulation, bye-law, notice or other

instrument having the force of law in Malta other than an

instrument to which the Act of the Parliament of the United

Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland entitled the

Interpretation Act, 1889, applies;

"pass", and any derivative thereof, used in relation to the word

Act, includes the making of any instrument having the force of law.

(2) No provision of this Act limiting its application, or that of

any of its provisions, to certain Acts shall be construed as implying

that other Acts, or any provision thereof or any expression

occurring therein, are to be interpreted, construed or applied in a

manner different from that provided in this Act.

(1) In this Act, and in any Act passed after the

commencement of this Act, unless the contrary intention appears -

"Act of Parliament" means any law made by Parliament;

"amend" includes repeal, add to and vary;

"Constitution" means the Constitution of Malta;

"contravene" includes fail to comply with;

"document" means any matter expressed or described on any

substance by means of letters, figures or marks, or by more than

one of those means, intended to be used or which may be used for

the purpose of recording that matter;

"enactment" means a written law or any provision thereof;

"function" includes power and duty;

"Gazette" means the Malta Government Gazette or any other

official journal substituted therefor and published by order of the

Government;

"Government" means the Government of Malta;

"House" means the House of Representatives of Malta;

"law" includes any instrument having the force of law and any

unwritten rule of law, and "lawful" and "lawfully" shall be

construed accordingly;

"name" used in relation to an individual includes surname;

"Parliament" means the Parliament of Malta;

"repeal" used in relation to a law includes rescind, revoke, cancel

and replace;

"words" includes figures and symbols;

" w r i t i n g " i n c l u d e s p r i n t i n g , l i t h o g r a p h y, t y p e w r i t i n g ,

photography and any other mode of representing or reproducing

words in a visible form.

(2) In this Act, and in every Act passed either before or after

the commencement of this Act, "Malta" means the Island of Malta,

the Island of Gozo and other islands of the Maltese Archipelago,

including the territorial waters thereof.

(3) A reference in an enactment, whether passed before or after

the commencement of this Act, to a part, article or schedule shall,

unless the contrary intention appears, be read as a reference to a

part, article or schedule of that enactment; and references in any

such enactment to a sub-article, paragraph or sub-paragraph shall,

unless the contrary intention appears, be read as a reference to a

sub-article, paragraph or sub-paragraph of the article, sub-articles

or paragraph, as the case may be, in which the reference occurs.

(4)

(a) Any reference in any law to ''international law'' shall

be construed as a reference to int ern ational law

interpreted where required in accordance with such

international instruments, if any, to which Malta may

from time to time be a party.

(b) Any reference in any law to Malta’s international

obligations shall be construed as a reference to the

obligations of Malta assumed under international law.

(c) The terms ''crimes against humanity'', ''crimes against

international law'' and ''political offence'' shall have

the same meaning assigned to them under customary

international law in general and in international

instruments to which Malta may be a party in

particular.

(d) The authentic text of international instruments to

which Malta may be a party shall be that which the

Minister may cause to be published on an internet site

in exercise of the powers conferred by article 11(a) of

the Statute Law Revision Act, 1980 and the text shall

be consolidated with subsequent amendments,

provided that a notice be published in the Gazette

giving the address of the website wherein the said

treaties or other international instruments are

published.

(e) For the purpose of publication of the legal instruments

of the European Union to which Malta has acceded in

accordance with the European Union Act, publication

of the legal instruments on the Official Journal,

judicial notice of which is authorised according to

article 5(2) of the said European Union Act, and the

official websites of the European Union shall suffice

for the requirements of publication and it will not be

necessary for the Minister to publish a notice to this

effect with regard to all past, present or future legal

instruments of the Union.

In this Act and in every other Act whether passed before or

after the commencement of this Act, unless the contrary intention

appears -

(a) the definition of any word or expression shall extend

to all grammatical variations and to cognate

expressions of the word or expression so defined;

(b) words importing one (1) gender shall include all other

genders;

(c) the words "spouse" and "husband and wife" shall be

construed as referring to a spouse of either sex who has

contracted marriage in accordance with the Marriage Act;

(d) words in the singular shall include the plural, and

words in the plural shall include the singular;

(e) the expression "person" shall include a body or other

association of persons whether granted legal

personality, in accordance with the provisions of the

Second Schedule to the Civil Code, or not.

(1) In this Act, and in every Act passed either before or

after the commencement of this Act, the expression

"commencement", when used with reference to an Act, shall mean

the time at which the Act comes into operation.

(2) Where an Act of Parliament passed after the

commencement of this Act, or an order, warrant, scheme, rule,

regulation, bye-law, notice or other instrument made, granted or

issued after the commencement of this Act under a power conferred

by any Act, whether passed before or after the commencement of

this Act, is expressed to come into operation on a particular day, the

same shall be construed as coming into operation immediately on

the expiration of the previous day.

In any Act, whether

passed

before

or

after

the

commencement of this Act -

(a) where such Act confers a power or imposes a duty,

then, unless the contrary intention appears, the power

may be exercised and the duty shall be performed from

time to time as occasion requires;

(b) where such Act confers a power or imposes a duty on

the holder of an office, as such, then, unless the

contrary intention appears, the power may be

exercised and the duty shall be performed by the

holder for the time being of that office;

(c) where such Act confers a power on the holder of an

office, and such power relates to any business of the

Government, or is exercisable as part of the functions

of a department of Government for which

responsibility has been assigned to a Minister under

the Constitution, such power shall be exercisable by

the holder of that office, and except to the extent that

the holder of that office is expressly declared by any

law not to be subject to the direction or control of any

other person or authority, the Minister responsible for

that business or department of the Government shall

have power, even where such power is expressed to be

exercisable in the discretion (whether absolute or

otherwise) of the holder of that office, to give such

direction in writing relative to the exercise of that

power (including a direction ordering the reversal of a

decision) as such Minister may deem fit

Provided that on employment, promotion or

disciplinary matters in relation to individual

employees, such direction may only be given by the

Prime Minister and in such a case the head of

department shall inform the Public Service

Commission;

(d) where such Act confers a power to make any rules,

regulations or bye-laws, the power shall, unless the

contrary intention appears, be construed as including a

power, exercisable in the like manner and subject to

the like consent and conditions, if any, to rescind,

revoke, amend, or vary the rules, regulations or bye-

laws, and such power shall be exercisable without

prejudice to the making of new rules, regulations or

bye-laws.

Where a law provides for a Board, Committee, Authority or

other entity established by law to be composed, wholly or in part, of

persons nominated by specified holders of office, authorities, persons

or bodies and any person or persons required to nominate any person

to sit on the said Board, Committee, Authority or other entity, fails to

make such nomination within one week from when it is asked to do so

in the absence of a stipulated term in the law in which the said

nomination is asked for, the said Board, Committee, Authority or other

entity shall be deemed to be validly constituted according to law and to

be entitled to exercise all its powers and functions and to fulfil all its

duties under any law notwithstanding any vacancy therein arising from

any said failure to nominate any person as aforesaid, without prejudice

to any quorum requirements in respect of the meetings of any said

Board, Committee, Authority or other entity.

Where an Act passed after the commencement of this Act

is not to come into operation immediately on the passing thereof,

and confers power to make any appointment, to make, grant or

issue any order, warrant, scheme, rules, regulations, bye-laws,

notice or other instrument, or to give notices, to prescribe forms, or

to do any other thing for the purpose of the Act, that power may,

unless the contrary intention appears, be exercised at any time after

the passing of the Act, so far as may be necessary or expedient for

the purpose of bringing the Act into operation at the date of the

commencement thereof, subject to this restriction, that any

instrument made under the power shall not, unless the contrary

intention appears in the Act, or the contrary is necessary for

bringing the Act into operation, come into operation until the Act

comes into operation; and the provisions of this article shall apply

to anything done under or in respect of Acts passed before the

commencement of this Act as they apply to things done under or in

respect of Acts passed after such commencement.

Where an Act, whether passed before or after the

commencement of this Act, confers power to make, grant or issue

any order, warrant, scheme, rules, regulations, bye-laws or other

instrument, expressions used in any such instrument made after the

commencement of this Act shall, unless the contrary intention

appears, have the same respective meanings as in the Act

conferring the power.

Any law made after the commencement of this Act by

virtue of a power conferred by any Act passed either before or after

the commencement of this Act may, unless the contrary intention

appears in the Act conferring that power, be made to operate

retrospectively to any date which is not earlier than the

commencement of such Act or, where different provisions of such

Act come into operation on different dates, the commencement of

the provision under which the subsidiary law is made

Provided that no person shall be made or shall become

liable to any punishment in respect of anything done or omitted to

be done before the commencement of the subsidiary law.

Where by virtue of any Act, whether passed before or after

the commencement of this Act, power is conferred to make

subsidiary laws, any subsidiary law that may lawfully be made

thereunder shall be valid and shall have effect whether or not it

purports to be made in exercise of those powers and even if it

purports to be made in exercise of other powers.

(1) Where an Act of Parliament or other Act passed by the

Legislature of Malta or an Ordinance confers power to make rules

or regulations or other subsidiary legislation of a like nature, any

such legislation made by virtue of those powers after the coming

into force of this Act shall as soon as may be after it is made be laid

on the Table of the House and if, on a motion tabled within the

period of twenty-eight days after it is so laid, the House, within a

period of sixty days after the said laying, resolves that it be

annulled or amended, the same shall thereupon cease to have effect

or shall be so amended, as the case may require, but without

prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder or

to the making of new rules, regulations or other subsidiary

legislation of a like nature.

(2) In reckoning for the purposes of sub-article (1) any period

of twenty-eight days therein referred to, no account shall be taken

of any time during which the House of Representatives is not in

session or during which it is adjourned for more than seven days.

(3) Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this article,

where the principal law conferring the power to make subsidiary

legislation makes different provision in respect of any of the

matters aforesaid, those provisions shall apply to any subsidiary

legislation made by virtue of those powers in preference to the

provisions of this article in respect of those matters.

(1) Where any Act passed after the commencement of this

Act repeals any other law, then, unless the contrary intention

appears, the repeal shall not -

(a) revive anything not in force or existing at the time at

which the repeal takes effect;

(b) affect the previous operation of any enactment so

repealed or anything duly done or suffered under any

law so repealed;

(c) affect any right, privilege or liability acquired or

accrued or incurred under any law so repealed;

(d) affect any penalty, forfeiture or punishment incurred in

respect of any offence committed against any law so

repealed, or any liability thereto;

(e) affect any investigation, legal proceeding, or remedy

in respect of any such right, privilege, obligation,

liability, penalty, forfeiture, or punishment as

aforesaid,

and any such investigation, legal proceeding, or remedy may be

instituted, continued, or enforced, and any such penalty, forfeiture

or punishment may be imposed, as if the repealing Act had not been

passed.

(2) Where an Act, whether passed before or after the

commencement of this Act, amends any other Act passed either

before or after the commencement of this Act, or any provision of

any such other Act, the Act or provision so amended, as well as

anything done thereunder or by virtue thereof, shall, unless the

contrary intention appears, continue to have full effect, and shall so

continue to have effect as amended, and subject to the changes

made, by the amending Act.

(3) For the purposes of sub-article (2) "amendment" means and

includes any amendment, modification, change, alteration, addition

or deletion, in whatsoever form or manner it is made and

howsoever expressed, and includes also a provision whereby an Act

or a provision thereof is substituted or replaced, or repealed and

substituted, or repealed and a different provision made in place

thereof.

Where any offence under or against any provision

contained in any Act, whether passed before or after this Act, is

co mm itted by a body o r oth er ass ociation of p erso ns, be it

corporate or unincorporate, every person who, at the time of the

commission of the offence, was a director, manager, secretary or

other similar officer of such body or association, or was purporting

to act in any such capacity, shall be guilty of that offence unless he

proves that the offence was committed without his knowledge and

that he exercised all due diligence to prevent the commission of the

offence

Provided that, except in respect of offences under or against

a provision contained in an Act in which a provision similar to that

of this article occurs, the provisions of this article shall apply only

to offences committed after the commencement of this Act.

Without prejudice to the provisions of any other enactment,

an Act of Parliament passed after the commencement of this Act

may be enacted, in whole or in part, in the Maltese or in the English

language only if the bill for that Act of Parliament, or part of such

bill, is presented to the Clerk of the House and published in one

only of the said languages and if the Act when passed contains a

provision authorising the enactment thereof, or any one or more of

its parts, as the case may require, in that language only.

Any Act of Parliament may be altered, amended or

repealed in the same session of Parliament; and the provisions of

this article shall apply to anything done in respect of any enactment

before the commencement of this Act as they apply to anything

done in respect of an Act of Parliament after such commencement.

Where any act or document is required to be published in

the Gazette, it shall be sufficient that such act or document is

published in electronic format on CD Rom or is made available at a

publicly accessible website on the internet and notice of such

publication in electronic format on CD Rom or the availability of

the document on the website is published in the Gazette

Provided that where an act or document is so published in

electronic format on CD Rom or is so made available on a publicly

accessible website on the internet, a hard copy thereof is made

available for public inspection during normal office hours at a

government department or office and notice of such availability is

also published in the Gazette.