EURO ADOPTION ACT

EURO ADOPTION

CHAPTER 485

EURO ADOPTION ACT

To provide for measures connected with and ancillary to the adoption of

the euro as the currency unit of Malta.

29th September, 2006

ACT X of 2006, as amended by Legal Notice 427 of 2007.

PART I

Preliminary

The short title of this Act is the Euro Adoption Act.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires

"Authority" or "Authorities" means any government department

or entity, any public officer or employee within any government

department or entity or any body established by law which the

Prime Minister may designate from time to time for any one or

more purposes of this Act;

"euro" means the currency unit of the European Union as defined

in Council Regulation (EC) 974/98 of the 3 May 1998 on the

introduction of the euro;

"Minister" means the Minister responsible for Finance;

"prescribe" means prescribe by order or by regulations made

under this Act;

"regulations" includes an order made under this Act;

"Statute" means the Protocol on the Statute of the European

System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank

annexed to the Treaty;

"the Treaty" has the same meaning assigned to it by the European

Union Act.

PART II

Powers of the Minister

The Minister may make regulations for facilitating the

adoption of the euro and generally for the purpose of carrying into

operation any of the provisions of this Act and of the Treaty and the

Statute in respect of the adoption of the euro, and in particular, but

without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, the Minister

may make regulations

(i)

to prescribe a period or periods where it shall be

mandatory to display prices both in euro and in

Maltese lira;

(ii)

to regulate the display of prices, and the conversion

of amounts appearing in invoices, receipts,

statements and other similar documents, in euro at

any time when the euro is not yet the currency of

Malta;

EURO ADOPTION

(iii)

to limit or prohibit the imposition of charges for

converting Maltese lira into euro;

(iv)

to provide for the conversion of the value of shares

and equity securities in companies and in other legal

persons into euro;

(v)

to provide for administrative procedures, penalties

and, or fines, including daily fines for as long as the

act or omission persists, in case of infringement of

provisions or regulations made under this Act and to

designate the Authority or Authorities that shall be

entitled to conduct the said procedures and impose

the said penalties or fines

Provided that in prescribing administrative penalties

and, or fines in any regulations made under this Act,

the Minister

(a) shall in all cases provide for the right to be heard

to be respected before any administrative

penalty and, or fine is imposed;

(b) shall not prescribe any administrative fine that is

less than six hundred and ninety-eight euro and

eighty-one cents (698.81) or exceeds three

thousand and four hundred and ninety-four euro

and six cents (3,494.06) for any administrative

infringement that may be prescribed and an

administrative fine of not less than eighty-one

euro and fifty-three cents (81.53) and not

exceeding four hundred and sixty-five euro and

eighty-seven cents (465.87) for each day during

which such administrative infringement persists

after notice of the said infringement has been

given to the person accused of or found to have

committed such infringement, as such

regulations may prescribe;

(c) shall not provide for the suspension of any

trading or other licence as an administrative

penalty for a period in excess of fifteen days;

(d) shall in all cases, and without prejudice to the

right of the Minister to reconsider the imposition

of any administrative fine or penalty, provide for

a right of appeal from the decision to impose an

administrative penalty and, or fine to the Court

of Appeal (Inferior Jurisdiction) as constituted

in terms of article 41(6) of the Code of

Organization and Civil Procedure subject to

such procedures and fees as the Minister may

prescribe

(e) may provide for the enforcement pending appeal

of any administrative penalty and, or fine

subject to the power of the Court of Appeal

(Inferior Jurisdiction) to suspend or vary the

conditions of such enforcement;

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(f)

may provide that an administrative fine imposed

in terms of regulations made under this Act shall

constitute an executive title for all the effects

and the purposes of any law;

(g) may provide for powers of search and entry into

premises, for powers to demand information and

for obligations to give demanded information

and for the imposition, where he deems

appropriate, of obligations of confidentiality in

respect of information obtained;

(h) may provide for the issuing of orders for the

purpose of ensuring compliance with the

provisions of this Act or of any regulations made

thereunder;

(i) may provide for periods of prescription in

respect of administrative offences against this

Act or any regulations made thereunder which

may not exceed two years;

(vi) to comply with any regulation, directive, decision,

recommendation or other act or direction of the

European Union in respect of the euro currency;

(vii) to implement any international obligation of Malta or

any international obligation which Malta intends to

assume in respect of the euro currency;

(viii) to provide on any other matter related to the

implementation, regulation or supervision of euro

adoption.

(1) Without prejudice to the provisions of the European

Union Act the Prime Minister may, for the purpose of ensuring that

any other law properly reflects the adoption of the euro as the

currency of Malta and that Malta’s Treaty and international

obligations related to, or arising out of the adoption of the euro as

the currency of Malta are implemented, by order prescribe that any

other law be amended for the said purposes and that such

amendment shall have effect immediately subject to the provisions

of article 11 of the Interpretation Act which shall apply to any such

order.

(2) Orders made in relation to the amendment of primary laws

and subsidiary legislation for the conversion of monetary amounts

from the Maltese lira to the euro may be made in the Maltese

language only, or in the English language only where any such

legislation or schedule thereof is published in the English language

only.

(3) In this article the term "monetary amounts" includes an

amount specified in numerals, words or symbols or in a

combination of numerals, words and symbols, howsoever

expressed in the amending order even if they appear in a different

manner than in the primary or subsidiary legislation.

(4) When in referring to any conversion of a monetary amount

there are corresponding grammatical variations of words importing

the singular, the plural, the masculine or the feminine, such words

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may also be altered, if the sense so requires and notwithstanding

nothing being said in the amending order, so as to be interpreted as

the plural, the singular, the feminine or the masculine respectively

both in the order published in any one or both languages, and in the

laws and regulations, if any, in the language version other than that

which shall have been published.

The Minister may designate one or more Authorities in

Malta to ensure compliance with this Act and, or investigate any

i n f r i n g e m e n t o f t h i s A c t a n d d i ff e r e n t a u t h o r i t i e s m a y b e

designated for different purposes or fields of application of this

Act.