Billboards and Advertisements Regulations, 2016

L.N. 103 of 2016

ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT PLANNING ACT

(CAP. 504)

Billboards and Advertisements Regulations, 2016

IN exercise of the powers conferred by article 61 of the

Environment and Development Planning Act, the Parliamentary

Secretary for Planning and the Simplification of Administrative

Processes, Minister for Sustainable Development, the Environment

and Climate Change and the Minister responsible for Transport and

Infrastructure, have made the following regulations

The title of these regulations is the Billboards and

Advertisements Regulations, 2016.

Ħlasijiet Dovuti lil Transport Malta

Il-ħlas annwali dovut lil Transport Malta għandu jkun ta’ elf u

ħames mitt euro - (€1,500).

(1)

In these regulations, unless the context otherwise

requires -

"the Act" means the Environment and Development Planning

Act;

"advertisement" means any word, letter, model, sign, placard,

board, notice, device or representation, whether illuminated or not, in

the nature of and employed wholly or in part for the purposes of

advertisement, announcement or direction, including any boarding or

similar structure used or adapted for use for the display of

advertisements, and includes a billboard;

"advertising vehicle" means a vehicle used or intended to be

used for the displaying of an advertisement;

"appropriate fee" means the fee to be paid for an application to

display an advertisement established under the Act;

"the Authority" means the Malta Environment and Planning

Authority established by the Act;

"billboard" means any advertisement which is mounted on any

structure whether permanently or temporarily, which is used to

promote or advertise products, services, events or activities that are

not directly related to the primary use or activity occurring on the site

of the sign;

"designated sites" means those sites designated by the Authority

with the endorsement of Transport Malta as identified in a subsidiary

policy approved under the Act;

"enclosed land" means any land which is surrounded on all sides

by a boundary wall, fence or marker as to provide or indicate an

enclosed area of land;

"existing advertisement" means an advertisement which is on

display on the date of the coming into force of these regulations and

which is covered by permission granted by the Authority;

"illuminated advertisement" means an advertisement which is

designed or adapted to be illuminated by artificial lighting, whether

directly or by reflection;

"Local Councils" means the local councils established under the

provisions of the Local Councils Act;

"new advertisement" means any advertisement which has not

been displayed, whether wholly or in part, before the coming into

force of these regulations;

"permission", in relation to the display of an advertisement,

means a permission granted by the Authority pursuant to these

regulations;

"person" means an individual, a body or other association of

persons, whether corporate or incorporate as well as any local

council, any government department, agency or authority established

by law;

"political advertisement" means any advertisement, including a

billboard, which is used for the display of material which relates

exclusively to a general election or to a referendum or to an election

for local councils and which is displayed not earlier than three months

before the date on which such election or referendum is to be held and

not later than one week from the official announcement of the result

of such election or referendum;

"road" includes any street or road however categorised and

includes, in relation to any such road

(a)

any road which has already been built or which is in

the planning or the construction stage;

(b) the carriageway thereof as well as any border or

other public open space adjacent and ancillary thereto, including

side margins, central strips, roundabouts, traffic islands, foot

ways and pavements;

(c)

the foundations, sub-surfaces and surface dressing

thereof;

(d) sub-ways, overpasses, junctions and intersections,

whether multi-level or otherwise;

(e)

road drainage works and access thereto, trenches

and trenching works for utilities including access thereto,

ducting, conducting and the like for the distribution of utilities

or the provision of services, including works connected

therewith or ancillary thereto and manholes or other means of

access to such utilities or works;

(f)

poles, light fittings, billboards, hoardings, benches,

kiosks and any other thing that may be affixed to the surface

thereof excluding buildings; and

(g) road traffic signs or signals, road markings and

traffic calming measures, traffic control equipment and related

lighting equipment, speed cameras and other road traffic

facilities used for traffic management and control;

"shop" means premises intended for the retail sale or display of

goods or services, where the sale or display of goods or services is

principally to visiting members of the public.

(2) Any expression defined by the Act shall have, in these

regulations, the same meaning as it has in the Act.

These regulations, except with regards to billboards, shall

not in any way prejudice any developments for which a permit has

already been issued by the Authority, except that is in the case of any

permit issued for billboards.

(1) No advertisement shall be displayed or be

illuminated in any place which is visible from the road, and no

advertising vehicle may be placed on the road or on a place which is

visible from the road, without the permission of the Authority, unless

it is an advertisement to which regulation 5 applies, being

advertisements which are exempted from the provisions of this

regulation.

(2) With respect to existing advertisements, the foregoing

provisions of this regulation shall not apply unless the Authority has

either

(a)

served a notice on any person displaying an existing

advertisement requiring such person to forward to the Authority

a copy of the permit, licence or other authority permitting such

display, within a period specified in the notice; or

(b) published a notice in the Gazette requiring any

person displaying all or any forms of advertisement, or any

particular advertisement, or any such advertisements in any area

or areas as may be specified in the notice, to forward to the

Authority a copy of the permit, licence or other authority

authorising such display, within such time as may be specified

in the notice; or

(c)

and in any such case if any person to whom the

notice applies forwards to the Authority a copy of the permit,

licence or other authority permitting the display of the

advertisement by the Commissioner of Police or Transport

Malta within the period specified in the relevant notice, such

permit, licence or other authority shall thereafter and for all

purposes be deemed to be a permission given by the Authority

pursuant to these regulations

Provided, however, that the holders of any permits,

licences or other authorizations permitting the display of such

existing advertisements, shall nevertheless be obliged to apply

with Transport Malta in order to obtain a licence from the said

Transport Malta for which the yearly fee established in the

Schedule shall apply.

(3) Any existing advertisement which has been put on the road

or in a place which is visible from the road without a permit, licence

or other authorization permitting the placement of such advertisement

shall be removed by the Authority without the need to issue an

enforcement notice

Provided that neither an appeal from any notice issued under

sub-regulation (2) nor an application for the permission of the

Authority for the display of the advertisement shall suspend the

operation of the said notice, and upon the expiry of the period

specified in the notice, the Authority may forthwith enter on the land

and remove the advertisement, and article 90 of the Act shall apply

accordingly.

(1) Subject to the provisions of this regulation, the Exemptions.

following advertisements or the display thereof shall be exempt from

the requirements of regulation 4

(a)

an advertisement which is displayed on enclosed

land and which is not visible from any road;

(b)

an advertisement which is displayed on or in a

vehicle which is normally employed as a moving vehicle and

not on an advertising vehicle;

(c)

a political advertisement;

(d) an advertisement required by any law or ordered by

a competent court;

(e)

an advertisement for a national or town or village

feast, including sponsored advertisements, provided it is

displayed for not more than 30 days prior to the date of the

feast;

(f)

a traffic sign;

(g) a sign announcing the name of any city, town or

village displayed by a government or a local council;

(h) the national flag of any country or international

organization or other locality flag provided there is no

advertising of any commercial activity related to it;

(i)

an advertisement displayed on the fascia or facade

of a shop provided it is not more than 0.5 square metres in area,

it is fitted flat against the facade or fascia and is not a projecting

sign, and there are not more than two such advertisements per

shop;

(j)

an advertisement displayed for the purpose of

identification, direction or warning with respect to the land on

which it is displayed and which advertisement is not

illuminated, does not exceed 0.5 square metres in area, is not

more than 3 metres above ground level and in which no letter,

character or symbol is more than 0.5 metres in height;

(k) an advertisement relating to any person, firm or

partnership carrying on a profession, business or trade at the

premises where it is displayed which complies with the

requirements and measurements set out in paragraph (i), and

only if not more than one advertisement is displayed per street

frontage in respect of the same person, firm or partnership;

(l)

an advertisement relating to an institution of a

religious, cultural, recreational, medical or similar character, or

to any hotel, bar or club, displayed at the premises of such

institution, hotel, bar or club and which does not exceed 0.5

square metres in area or has any part of it more than 3 metres

above ground level and in which no letter, character or symbol

is more than 0.5 metres in height and only if not more than one

advertisement per premises is displayed;

(m)

an advertisement displayed inside a building;

(n) an advertisement in the form of a flag displaying a

company logo or name on the roof of any commercial building,

provided not more than two flags are displayed;

(o) an advertisement approved as part of the Traffic

Island Embellishment Scheme, provided it complies with the

size limitations of the scheme of 1.2m by 30cm, and not more

than two advertisements are displayed per traffic island.

(2) Any advertisement referred to in sub-regulation (1) shall

be such and shall be displayed in such manner as not to constitute a

hazard either to traffic or to persons and shall not be fixed to any tree,

shrub or rubble wall.

(3) No such advertisement may be fixed to any pylon, pole,

sign or other property belonging to any government or parastatal body

without the permission of that body.

(4) In the event that these conditions are not complied with,

the Authority shall have power to require, by notice served on the

person displaying it or on the owner of the land on which it is

displayed, or both, the removal of the advertisement or the carrying

out of such works as the said Authority may deem necessary, and the

person or persons on whom such notice is served shall forthwith, or

within the term stated in the notice, comply with the contents of the

notice

Provided that where such an advertisement is displayed

without the requisite permit and is affixed to any tree, shrub, rubble

wall, pylon, pole, sign or other property, the Authority may

immediately enter the land and remove the advertisement, where it

deems it expedient and necessary to do so in the interests of public

safety or amenity, in lieu of the service of the notice referred to above.

If the Authority is satisfied that it is necessary that the Non

forms of advertisement described in regulation 5 should not be applicability.

displayed unless permission is granted by the said Authority on

application, it may give a direction that the said exemptions granted

by regulation 5 shall not apply to as specified in such direction.

(1) Any person who wishes to display an advertisement Applications.

for which the Authority’s permission is required, shall apply to the

Authority for the said permission. Such application is to be made

according to the procedures established by the Authority and against

the payment of any such application fees as may be imposed by the

said Authority.

(2) Billboards, except for political billboards, may only be

placed at such designated sites as are established by the Authority

from time to time.

(3) Advertisements, other than billboards, may only be placed

at such designated sites which are established by the Authority or

such other sites as may be allowed by the said Authority.

(4) All applications for advertisements, including billboards,

shall be submitted to and be processed by the Authority. The

Authority shall require the clearance from Transport Malta prior to

the issue of any permits for the placing of all advertisements, with the

exception of shop signs.

(5) When permission to display an advertisement is issued by

the Authority, the applicant shall, in addition to such fees payable to

the said Authority, also pay a yearly licence fee to Transport Malta as

established in the Schedule.

(6) All billboards, as well as advertisements of such

dimensions as the Authority may determine, shall bear the

Authority’s reference number for that permission. Such reference

number shall be

(a)

affixed to and shall form an integral part of the

advertisement; and

(b) be of such a form that it is permanently, clearly and

legibly displayed.

(1) Every permission granted pursuant to these

regulations, on a designated site in the case of billboards, or on sites

which are deemed by the Authority to cause a threat to public safety

or a traffic hazard shall be subject to review having regard to any

development plans and to other material considerations; and the

Authority, having regard as aforesaid, may through a review of the

subsidiary policy approved under the Act, remove a designated site

from the list of designated sites and by notice served on any person

displaying an advertisement, require an advertisement to be removed

therefrom. The said notice shall indicate the time within which such

requirement shall be complied with, which time limit shall lie at the

Authority’s discretion.

(2) Saving the provisions of sub-regulation (1), the provisions

of articles 86 to 90 of the Act shall apply to any development made

and/or any permission granted pursuant to these regulations

Provided that neither an appeal from any such notice nor

an application for the permission of the Authority for the display of

the advertisement shall suspend the operation of the said notice, and

upon the expiry of the period specified in the notice, the Authority

may forthwith enter on the land and remove the advertisement, and

article 90 of the Act shall apply accordingly.

(1) Any permission or clearance given by the Authority Permission or

under these regulations shall not exempt any person from the need to clearance.

apply and obtain any permit or authorisation howsoever described as

may be required by law.

(2) Transport Malta shall notify the Authority that an applicant

has failed to pay the yearly fee payable to Transport Malta and the

Authority shall have the power to execute all such necessary

enforcement procedures in terms of the Act even with regards to

billboards for which the permission from the said Authority has

already been granted.

(1) In any of the circumstances specified in these Serving of

regulations, in which the Authority may serve a notice on the person notices.

displaying an advertisement or on the owner or occupier of the land

on which it is displayed, the said Authority may, where it deems it

more expedient to do so, or where it is not possible to discover the

identity of the person displaying the advertisement or of the owner or

occupier of the land, serve the notice on the company, organization or

other body or person to which the advertisement refers or which

advertises any product, service or event related to such company,

organization, body or person either directly or indirectly.

(2) Where the notice requires the removal of an advertisement,

and the advertisement is not removed by the expiration of the

stipulated period, the Authority shall have the right to remove the said

advertisement itself and the company, organization or other body or

person to whom or to which the advertisement refers shall be liable

for payment of the expenses incurred by the said Authority in

exercising its powers vested by these regulations. Furthermore, in the

event that the company, organization or body or person to whom or to

which the advertisement refers fails to claim the said advertisement

within 7 days of the removal of said advertisement and to take

possession thereof upon the payment of such fees which shall be due

in terms of these regulations, the Authority shall have the right to

dispose of such advertisement in any such manner as it may deem fit

and the company, organization or body or person to whom or to which

the advertisement refers shall have no right at law to claim any

damages of whatsoever nature from the said Authority.

Any person who is found guilty of contravening these

regulations shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine (multa) of not less

than one thousand euro (€1,000) and not exceeding five thousand

euro (€5,000) for every offence

Provided that the Authority shall not impose both the said

fine and daily fines at the same time. In the event where daily fines

are applicable, the Authority shall have the right to choose which

fines to impose but in no event shall said fines exceed five thousand

euro (€5,000).

SCHEDULE - Fees due to Transport Malta

[Regulation 4]

The yearly fee due to Transport Malta shall amount to one thousand

five hundred euro - (€ 1,500).

B

€0.90